Final Showdown
As soon as Darth Bane left the Gremory Mansion, Sirzechs, Azazel and the other Satans had contacted the other mythologies about Heaven's destruction, which was confirmed by a military investigation unit. Other devil and fallen angel units recovered the remaining angels that were in other realms when Bane destroyed Heaven. Thankfully, Michael and Gabriel were at a meeting in Grigori when the attack happened, and thus were able to avoid a tragic death. However, 97% of all angels in existence, including the Seraphs Raphael and Uriel, were killed by Bane's Force Storm.
As such, an emergency meeting was held in Asgard where the world's faction leaders and other gods agreed to join forces against the Sith Lords. Every mythology, except for the Egyptian, Shinto and Persian factions, mobilized their armies to the Underworld under a temporary alliance against Bane and Zannah's Khaos Brigade and Carmilla Faction. The first battle of the war started two days after Heaven's destruction.
During the ninth day of the war, Captain Osamu's Khaos Brigade regiment had discovered a huge supply cache that the Asgardians founded at the edges of a jungle territory in the Underworld. This supply station housed massive amounts of food and medical supplies for the troops of Asgard and other factions outside of the Underworld. It is difficult to constantly transport supplies between realms, so the alliance built this station to act as a forward warehouse for the front line.
Osamu's Khaos Brigade forces succeeded in destroying the entire warehouse, with Vali and Bikou defeating the Valkyrie team in a good fight. Osamu's forces took heavy losses, but with the help of Cao Cao and the others, they were able to defeat the Asgardian army at the facility. Although the loss of the warehouse would slow down the mythological alliance's supply network for weeks, it was only a moderate setback for the giant forces of the factions. Ever since that battle, General Deschanel organized raids and hit-and-run attacks at several other locations. He didn't want to have another open and direct battle like that again unless it was absolutely necessary.
Now a few days later, Cao Cao and the entire Hero Faction was with Darth Bane in one of the vacant rooms of the secret basement level of the Sith Sanctum. Darth Zannah had gone off with Alexa and another hired agent to a secluded location in the Underworld. She took all of the devices containing the stolen powers with her so she can do some final studying and preparation for the wormhole ritual. She even took Bane's holocron with her. There was a reason for her to take all those things to a secret place.
"I wonder when they are going to show up," said Heracles.
"Hopefully they will be here soon," Siegfried added. "I'm getting tired of waiting."
"Same here," Jeanne acknowledged.
"Patience guys," Cao Cao advised. "The gods and Satans will be here soon enough."
Bane planned on fighting the gods and Satans in the largest chamber of the Sith Sanctum's subterranean level with the Hero Faction. He and Zannah carefully orchestrated the events of the war to create an intentional opening in their defenses large enough for a large strike team or even a small army to teleport to the Sith Sanctum. They also made sure that the events of the war would encourage the faction leaders to come to them for an ultimate showdown. God knows what will happen to the above-ground portion of their castle when the gods arrive; that is why Zannah took all of the power devices and Bane's holocron to a secluded location. They couldn't risk having all their progress destroyed or taken away from them, plus this gave Zannah some space and time to conduct final preparations for the imagination ritual. This leaves Bane and the Hero Faction to deal with the gods themselves.
Bane was meditating on the floor in the middle of the empty room where the entire Hero Faction sat against the walls around him. Even he wondered when, or if, the gods and Satans will show up. Bane had sent messengers to the faction leaders, inviting them to his estate for a fight that would decide the fate of each side in the war. If they agreed to show up, Bane strictly advised them to show up with a strike team or a small army at the most, or else he will destroy the planet with a Force Storm or with another one of his devastating rituals that he learned from Darth Revan's holocron years ago.
After a few more minutes, Bane could sense the arrival of several people outside the outer perimeter wall at the surface. He couldn't identify who they actually were, but he could sense that they were a mixture of males and females, enough of them for a large team. It had to be the gods and Satans.
Bane opened his eyes and lifted his head. "They're here."
[...]
Sirzechs looked at the Sith Sanctum in the distance, not too far away.
"Bane and Zannah did a good job fixing up the place," Sirzechs admitted.
"Yeah, it seems more well-defended than I expected it to be," Thor pointed out.
"And soon it will be not so well-defended," Typhon joked.
The three of them led the rest of the gods and Satans towards the fortress. The tightly packed group consisted of gods, Satans, and a few grim reapers, with a total number of 34 people. They had some more grim reapers and Valkyries on standby acting as the reinforcement group; they are waiting at another location not too far away from the Sith Sanctum. The factions were smart about who would go to fight Bane and who would not, because if things went sour in the fight against the Sith Lord, at least they had some gods left over to lead their mythologies in their absence.
Asgard sent Odin, Thor, Freyr and Heimdall to fight Bane, while Vidar was elected as the temporary chief god of Asgard to lead the other Norse gods who stayed behind. The Greek faction sent many gods to fight Bane, and their warriors made up a large chunk of the god task force. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Typhon and several other Greek gods walked towards the fortress along with the others. The Greeks chose Apollon to be the chief god of Olympus that would look over Aphrodite and the others while Zeus and his comrades were gone. The Hindu realm sent Shiva, Vishnu, Indra and Hanuman to fight while Brahma stayed behind with Mahabali to lead their armies. It was crucial that Brahma stayed behind, for he may be the world's last hope of stopping the Sith Lords should the strike team fail.
Lugh from the Celtic faction, and Gautama Buddha, Enma, Vaisravana, Virudhaka and Dhrtarastra from the Buddha faction walked with the others towards Bane's fortress. Serafall Leviathan led the devil military while Sirzechs, Ajuka and Falbium took the challenge of battling against Bane. And lastly, Azazel walked with the other gods while Shemhazai and Baraqiel ran things back in Grigori.
Not only did they make sure that their mythologies wouldn't be left without leaders, but they also ensured that they didn't take any evil gods with them intentionally or unintentionally. Gods like Loki and Angra Mainyu would use the fight against Bane as an opportunity to backstab their fellow gods mid-fight, or possibly even switch their allegiance and fight for Bane instead. The strike team could not afford any setbacks like that.
The group members up at the front stopped as they noticed many guards standing in front of the reinforced gate and others up in the scouting towers. All the other gods halted as well as they realized that the estate seemed to be on high alert.
"I guess it's time for you to take the lead, Falbium," Sirzechs called to the back of the group.
Falbium Asmodeus walked to the front of the group and took some steps away from the pack. The god team elected Falbium to be the task force leader for their operation. They didn't choose him for his power or combat abilities, but for his intellect; Falbium is the Underworld's (and possibly the world's) greatest tactician and strategist. Some of the gods questioned this decision due to his lazy and unenthusiastic attitude, but when it comes to war and strategy, Falbium shows focus and a burning passion that no one ever thought he had. His tactical brilliance could prove to be vital for the task force, and the strategist is worthy of no other role than directing the team's actions. The gods also chose Shiva to be the team's second-in-command due to his mixture of great magical power, combat skills and wisdom.
Hermes looked at the devil guards surrounding the estate. "There's no way they would attack their own Satans."
Falbium shouted, "Fellow devils, we do not mean you any harm. As the Satan Asmodeus, I ask that you return to your homes and-"
The guards interrupted his speech by opening fire on him and the gods. They would much rather attack their blood-related leaders than deal with Bane's wrath.
"Nevermind, I take that back!" Hermes said while dodging an energy bolt.
"Let's squish some puny devils!" exclaimed Typhon.
The gods created magic circles that blocked incoming attacks and launched their own offense. Although the estate was well-defended, its security compliment was not designed to repel gods, let alone a full strike team of them. If it was an army of regular soldiers, the guards would have stood a chance, but they were massacred by the immense power of the gods. Sirzechs launched a stream of his Power of Destruction at the armored gate, demolishing it in a smoky explosion. The god team ran through the threshold and into the front courtyard where they encountered the other half of the Sith Sanctum's security forces. Poseidon ran his trident through two guards, while Thor sent a guard flying with a smack of his hammer Mjolnir. Everyone else unleashed their own attacks until the security guards were defeated.
They then proceeded to enter the castle through the front doors where they saw a bunch of maids, butlers, chefs and other servants hiding behind the furniture of the front lounge. Some of the servants stood in the middle of the room holding broomsticks and lamps as weapons. They were all scared.
"You are all free to go," said Ajuka.
The servants dropped their objects and emerged from cover, running around the god team and hustling out the front doors. A man was sitting on a couch, initially hidden behind the servants who were armed in the middle of the room. He wore the same uniform as the security guards, but unlike the other guards he had gold detailing around his cuffs and collar. It was the guard captain.
"I'm not armed," the captain said while holding out his left arm.
The captain looked depressed, probably at the fact that all of his men were slaughtered. Not only that, but he seemed to have been physically abused very badly. He had a cast around his broken right forearm which was supported by a sling around his left shoulder, and had a cast around his neck to protect his weakened trachea; these were the injuries he suffered from Bane just after the assassination attempt. Once she found out about that attack, Zannah had also brutally punished the man as well. She gave him several blows to the head and took out his right eye, evident by his eye patch and heavily bruised skull.
"Are you going to kill me?" the captain asked emotionlessly.
Sirzechs approached the man on the couch. "Who gave you those injuries?"
"The Darths, Lord Lucifer," he replied. "I did my job to the best of my ability, but in their eyes I had failed badly one time. I'm surprised they didn't kill me."
Sirzechs then said, "Go home, Captain. Things may get messy here soon."
The guard captain blinked in confusion for a moment. Then he got up and walked around the strike team and left through the front doors. The gods looked around suspiciously; they found the place awfully quiet. They carefully searched the entire palace high and low for the Sith Lord that challenged them to a fight, but he was nowhere to be found. Where was Darth Bane? They returned to the front lounge not knowing where Bane is.
Hades was frustrated. "Come out, Bane! Show yourself!"
Hades wanted to get this fight done and over with. He was the one behind the assassination attempt on Bane, and he felt guilty about the deaths of the gods he sent in to kill Bane that day. He didn't really care about them personally, but Hades regretted sending them in, especially when they could have helped him and the others out with this upcoming fight. This pissed him off to the point where he formed a magic circle and launched a magic attack that blasted through the towering ceiling of the lounge. This caused the whole castle to shake.
Azazel raised his eyebrows and looked around. "Did you guys hear that?"
Everybody gave confused looks and some of them shrugged.
"Hades, shoot at the ceiling again," Azazel suggested.
Azazel pressed his ear to the floor while Hades shot another magic attack through the ceiling. As the estate shook, Azazel heard faint echoes and vibrations coming from somewhere beneath the castle.
"There's something under this castle," Azazel stated. "Possibly a secret basement level."
"Everyone, look for hidden entrances or switches," Shiva said loudly.
The team split up to look for any concealed clues. Odin entered one of the storage rooms that they searched earlier. He looked in cabinets, under tables, and in crates. Finding nothing, he then felt the walls with his hands. At the back wall, Odin felt one of the wooden planks press inward, causing something in the floor to shift. Machinery sounded as the floor slowly opened to reveal a stone staircase that went far underground.
"Well now, what do we have here?" Odin said to himself.
Odin inspected the secret passage. "I found something!"
Azazel, Shiva and the others ran to the storage room to meet up with Odin.
"Let's see where this passage takes us," said Odin.
The team descended for a ways until they reached the subterranean level of the estate. They walked down long hallways and searched rooms along the way. They were proceeding down one passage way when the ceiling lights suddenly went out.
"Who turned off the lights?!" Poseidon shouted.
"Maybe it was Bane," said Lugh.
The gods created magic circles that emitted enough light for them to see properly. A magic bolt suddenly flew towards them from the hallway to their left, and the attack went over their heads and impacted the wall on their right side. The Hero Faction member retreated and sprinted around a corner.
"Who the hell was that?" Zeus asked.
"Who cares?" said Erebus. "Chase him!"
The gods went after the mysterious figure. They ran down a few hallways until they saw the figure up ahead at the end of one of the central halls. The robed man opened a large door and slammed it shut. By the time the gods reached the two grand doors, they heard several locking sounds from the other side.
"That person locked the doors," Hanuman said while pulling the door handles.
"Something tells me Bane is inside that room," Vishnu expressed his gut feeling.
Sirzechs pressed his ear against one of the doors. He could hear the faint sounds of voices on the other side, one of those voices being deeper than the rest. He recognized Bane's voice right away.
"He's in there," said Sirzechs. "I can hear his voice."
Asmodeus looked around at the members of his team. "Hades, Typhon, Nyx, Pluto, Azazel, go around the side and see if you can find another entrance."
The five members nodded, then they ran to the left and turned a corner. The two ultimate-class grim reapers followed right behind Pluto.
After a minute or so, a magic circle formed next to Asmodeus' ear. After Azazel spoke to him for a moment, then kept the magic circle active.
"They've found another locked entrance on the opposite side," Asmodeus told his team. "Everyone, get ready. We will bust down the doors on both sides on my mark."
The gods around Asmodeus got their weapons and magic ready. Sirzechs repositioned himself next to his friend Ajuka Beelzebub.
"Well, this is it," Sirzechs expressed. "Regardless what happens once we go in, I just wanted to say that it's been a pleasure working and fighting alongside you for all these years."
"Same goes to you," Ajuka smiled. "Good luck my friend."
[...]
Bane could sense his opponents behind both sets of doors, most of them behind the doors in front of him in the distance. He and the Hero Faction stood in the center of the massive chamber, so big that it was about the size of a main hangar bay on a Republic capital ship. The humongous room was empty and void of detail except for the bright ceiling lights. Even by reading the blueprints, Bane still didn't know why Lord Marbas needed a chamber that dwarfed everything else in the subterranean level.
Bane looked back at the Hero Faction behind him. "There are seven people at the secondary entrance. Deal with them while I fight the others at the main entrance."
"Got it," Cao Cao acknowledged.
Bane activated his hook-hilted lightsaber and slowly paced the floor back and forth, ready to destroy his opponents. A few moments later, the doors exploded and the strike team rushed in through both entrances. The Hero Faction ran towards Hades and his six allies while Bane charged at the main group. With his lightsaber being held above and behind his head in his right hand, Bane closed in furiously at the main group whose members were hurrying to get into position.
Before they arrived at the Sith Sanctum, Brahma briefed the gods about the Keetak on Bane's body, which was initially brought up by Sirzechs and Azazel when they saw him wearing the strange creatures in the Gremory Mansion. The Trimurti god told them about the Keetak's perceived invulnerability to magic and even its weakness to frigid temperatures, but they all realized that they couldn't exploit that weakness. A few of the gods know some ice magic techniques, but even if they used ice spells, they would have to find a way to restrain Bane for an hour or more in order to kill the Keetak. Serafall Leviathan joked that they would need to discover an element far colder than liquid nitrogen or deep space in order to kill the Keetak in seconds. So they would have to find a way to get around his armor in the midst of combat.
Demeter, the Greek goddess of harvest and agriculture, charged at Bane alone while dual-wielding her magic sickles. She slashed both blades at the front of Bane's left thigh, hoping that his legs weren't covered in parasites. Her hopes were crushed when she saw Keetak through the cuts in his pants, and she was disheartened even more when Bane steamrolled past her, body-checking her out of the way like a rampaging bull. Bane continued his relentless charge at the main group, and after seeing Demeter get smacked away like a fly, Ajuka delved into his Kankara Formula to amplify the power of his allies.
Magic circles surrounded him as he put all his effort into using equations and formulas to help his allies, with the sheer concentration rendering him immobile. He could not amplify everyone at this side of the chamber though; Shiva, Vishnu and Indra were left unamped. Ajuka would have also tried using the Kankara Formula to turn Bane's attacks against himself, but Ajuka would need to have a basic understanding of the Sith Lord's Force powers to do that. Even if he did comprehend Bane's powers, Ajuka's specialty move had no shot at influencing an omnipotent and omnipresent energy field that binds the universe together.
Vishnu, Thor and Zeus stepped forward to unleash ranged attacks at Darth Bane. A magic circle formed in front of Vishnu, shooting out a continuous energy beam that struck Bane's armored chest. At the same time, Thor shot a bolt of lightning from the top of his hammer and Zeus unleashed his own lightning bolt from his right fist. Bane got closer and closer while the attacks washed across his chest and stomach, doing no damage to him.
"Come on…" Vishnu said to himself.
A moment later, the three gods stopped their ranged attacks once Bane got too close, replacing their offense with defensive magic circles. Bane slashed and struck their magic shields as he immersed himself into a completely offensive style of Form V (Djem So). He smacked their shields with his lightsaber while hitting the circles of other gods across the room, appearing as a blur that seemed to teleport all over the place. None of the gods knew that they were going to be facing such a fast and ferocious opponent.
Just like when he donned the orbalisks, Bane's altered style of Djem So was brutish but effective. He deflected attacks with his lightsaber if they were near his hands, and he let his armor absorb any attack that was far from his hands. With armor like this, Bane didn't have to spend as much time and effort into defense, which he used to his advantage by suddenly moving his assault to the right side of the room. There, Bane broke some magic shields and stabbed through Virudhaka's chest. The Buddhist god fell to the floor dead, and a moment of attacks later, Bane struck down Hypnos with his lightsaber.
The fight had just started and two gods were already dead. The gods quickly repositioned themselves to avoid getting cut down by the madman before them, spending most of their time and effort defending themselves. Bane was so fast that they couldn't attack him properly, many just shot or slashed at where they thought the blur of a person was at the time.
Asmodeus observed Bane aggressively chasing down five gods at the left side of the room. "Sirzechs, call in the reinforcement team! NOW!"
"On it!" Sirzechs replied as a magic circle formed next to his ear.
[...]
Azazel briefly looked at the swirling whirlwind of red around Bane in the distance. "Mother of god…"
The Governor General saw Bane swinging his lightsaber around wildly like a lunatic, but little did he know that Bane's strikes were actually complex sequences of Form V lightsaber combat. The Sith Lord was just so blindingly fast that Azazel didn't know what to think of it.
Currently, Azazel was in his Down Fall Dragon Another armor and dueling against Cao Cao to a stalemate. Not too far to their left, Hades, Typhon, Nyx, Pluto and the other two ultimate-class grim reapers were fighting the rest of the Hero Faction. Despite the entire Hero Faction participating in the battle, Georg realized that he and his teammates were losing fast. The humans were on the defensive the whole time, trying to ward off the gods' attacks with great effort. Something told Georg that Hades and Typhon were holding back.
"Georg, we have to figure something out!" Siegfried shouted over the sound of battle. "Or else we're toast!"
Hades was looking over at the opposite end of the chamber, seeing Bane chase down some gods at the left side of the room. The Skeleton King also saw two bodies already laying down on the floor motionless, which made Hades change his battle plans.
"Typhon, Nyx, go help out the others fighting Bane," said Hades. "My grim reapers and I can handle the humans."
Typhon and Nyx saw Bane greatly pushing back the front of the group in an unstoppable assault. It made sense why Hades wants them to go over there. The two gods then abandoned their fight against the Hero Faction and ran to the other side of the massive chamber to help out their allies against Bane. Georg was glad that they now only have to fight Hades, Pluto and the two ultimate-class grim reapers, but he knew that it would still be a very tough battle.
[...]
Bane swung his lightsaber down diagonally across his body, slashing deep into Morpheus' chest. The dead god fell to the ground and the front lines of the strike team retreated while Indra, Shiva and Vishnu stepped forward to hold off the Sith Lord, giving the others a quick break. The three Hindu gods formed magic circles to attack the Keetak covered man and to defend themselves from his onslaught. Bane slashed against and through magic circles while slapping away the occasional stab from Shiva's trident (known as a 'trishula'). Although Shiva, Vishnu and Indra were also being pushed back, they fared a lot better than the other gods whose magic were amped by the Kankara Formula.
The reinforcement team arrived twenty seconds after Sirzechs contacted them. The teleportation delay lasted that long due to the connection interference between the surface and the sublevel. Bane once read in a magic book that when teleporting from the surface to somewhere underground or vice versa, the typical immediate teleportation would be delayed; the more earth there was between both points, the longer the delay would last. Bane chose to fight the gods underground so that if the gods tried to escape via teleportation, the delay would give him some extra time to cut them down.
The large magic circle on the floor disappeared while a dozen Valkyries and a dozen grim reapers took their positions. Shiva, Vishnu and Indra stepped away as the two dozen beings swarmed Darth Bane to buy them some time to regroup. Falbium Asmodeus ran to the other side of the chamber were one remaining member of the reinforcement team watched Bane battle from afar. This little girl wearing a black gothic dress was the main reason for Asmodeus' request for the reinforcement team.
Asmodeus knelt down in front of the cute young girl. "Ophis, we need your help."
Ophis gazed at Bane in a frozen stare, feeling his dark aura that covered the entire planet. It was the same thing Great Red felt when he encountered the Sith Lords, and just like the Red, Ophis had no clue what she was feeling.
"Ophis, I need you to focus," Asmodeus added.
Ophis snapped out of her gaze. "What would you like me to do?"
"I need you to bless everyone at this side of the room, put all of your effort into granting us more speed and better reaction times," said Asmodeus. "Can you do that for me?"
"Yes," she replied.
Ophis ran to the back of the chamber adjacent to Ajuka. She put her palms together and closed her eyes, emitting a green aura from her body. Ophis did exactly as Asmodeus asked; she amplified everyone's speed and reaction times including Shiva, Vishnu and Indra's. Putting all her effort into her Blessing Inducement ability, she would also be immobilized like Ajuka due to the sheer concentration and effort required to maintain the blessings.
Bane unleashed a powerful burst of Force lightning at two Valkyries and three grim reapers to his left, frying them inside and out on contact. The lightning was so potent that the surrounding air remained charged with electricity, irritating the reinforcement team members' skin as Bane cut more of them down with his lightsaber. All of the Valkyries were dead, and there was just one high-class grim reaper left when the god team rushed forward towards Bane. Their significantly increased speed took Bane by surprise, forcing him to go on the defensive. Bane backed up as he used Form III (Soresu) to deflect the gods' attacks with tight and energy-efficient sequences. He took more steps backward, then decided to Force push his opponents off of him with a quick thrust of his left hand. The gods were shoved backwards, some fell down while others stabbed their bladed weapons into the stone floor to stop their momentum. Lugh's sword carved a deep gash in the floor as he grinded to a halt, looking up to see Bane prepare another attack.
Bane shot Force lightning from both hands at the strike team. The dozens of purple lightning forks bounced off magic barriers and tore through other circles, and the forks were so bright that nobody could look at them directly. Heimdall, the guardian god of Asgard, was caught off guard by the lightning attack and only had enough time to form a circle in front of his torso. Unfortunately, he was struck in the head and the foot by two large lightning forks that sent monstrous amounts of voltage through his body. Heimdall spasmed uncontrollably as his skeleton appeared and disappeared from view over and over through his flesh.
"Heimdall!" Thor cried out.
Odin grabbed his son by the wrist. "Don't touch him! It's too dangerous!"
A number of seconds later, the lightning attack stopped, energizing more of the air in the room with electric charge that will stay for a while. Heimdall was killed within the first few seconds of the lightning barrage, and the continuous voltage made the corpse's flesh steam and blister. Heimdall's dead body still continued to spasm from leftover tetanic contractions.
Bane approached his evermore frightened opponents, ready to account for their spontaneous and significant increase in speed. The Sith Lord returned to his offensive version of Form V, hacking away at his enemies, though this time he couldn't drive them back as fast or easily as before. Before the reinforcement team arrived, Bane felt like he was eventually going to speedblitz the strike team, but that wasn't quite the case now.
Bane slowly advanced step by step, slashing at more magic barriers and warding off melee weapons or ranged attacks that came close to his hands. The Keetak were feasting on his body heat, and they responded by pumping more chemicals into his bloodstream, influencing him to move faster and to strike more aggressively. That combined with his growing anger, Bane gained more and more speed.
Although the gods' movement speed and reaction times were heavily increased, another problem for them emerged: the formation and regeneration speed of their magic shielding. Bane had gained so much speed and momentum from the parasite chemicals and his inner fire that his strikes actually began to outpace their magic shield formation. His lightsaber cut through shields and maneuvered around harder-to-break ones, giving several gods superficial marks and slashes. These hits would have killed or incapacitated regular people, but their immense durability allowed them to push through and continue fighting well.
The gods realized that if Bane continued to gain speed, those superficial hits would turn into something a lot more damaging, fatal even. At the command of Asmodeus, the frontline of the god team retreated a few paces and prepared to hold Bane within a box of magic circles. The Dark Lord sensed this danger beforehand, and in early response he unleashed a Force wave that floored everyone in front of him. The telekinetic wave shattered the few magic circles that began taking shape around him, and moved out to sweep the gods off their feet, sending them all hurtling across the room. The wave slammed some into the back wall, pinned others to the floor and smacked some more against the ceiling. They were all stunned at the moment, many of them with internal damage.
At the left side of the chamber, Enma and Zeus escaped most of the wave's concussive energy, merely tripping backwards from its backlash spreading to the sides of the room. In a desperate attempt to protect their dazed and vulnerable teammates, the two gods charged towards Bane with the hopes of acting as a distraction. The Sith Lord slashed through some barriers, then used his incredible speed to seemingly teleport behind Enma, where he then struck the god down with a deep strike through the spine. Zeus fired a blue lightning bolt from his right fist, which Bane caught on the blade of this lightsaber. The electricity was absorbed harmlessly on the red blade, with Bane lunging forward to strike down diagonally at the Greek god. The lightsaber hit off one magic circle, then struck Zeus' metal shield Aegis on the other side. Bane followed up with a knee to Zeus' stomach, making the god hunch over in pain. The Darth then raised his lightsaber above his head with both arms and swung directly downward in a power strike, severing Zeus' head from his body.
By the time Zeus was killed, several gods got back on their feet ready to give everything they had against Bane. To their surprise, the Sith Lord never charged at them, instead he ran towards the back wall at the left side of the room. He had a new target in mind, and he charged towards that person with his lightsaber high above his head in his right hand. That new target is Ophis.
[...]
Hades looked over at Cao Cao and Azazel, checking the progress of their duel. It was an endless stalemate between the two spearmen, one of them would gain an advantage for a handful of seconds before it would change in favor to the other fighter, over and over again. Hades and his three grim reapers were winning against the rest of the Hero Faction (though not as prominently as with Typhon and Nyx), until Leonardo resorted to some very unorthodox tactics. Surrounded by many magic shields made by his fellow humans, Leonardo put all his effort into spawning endless hordes of monsters from his Annihilation Maker, sending them all at Hades. It seemed to be working quite well, for now, but the drawback is that his concentration and effort made him immobile, thus needing other humans to defend him. The rest of the Hero Faction dealt with Pluto and the two other ultimate-class grim reapers.
Hades killed three more monsters to his left. "You can't keep this up forever, boy!"
Hades saw the strain on Leonardo's face as he killed another five monsters. Leonardo hoped that his allies could dispatch some of their enemies soon so he can have some more help. He then thought of Bane and realized that help might arrive soon enough.
[...]
Ophis had only noticed Bane charging towards her when he was only a couple meters away. She formed a wall of magic barriers, forcing her to stop her blessing powers on the others. Bane slashed against and through magic shields with power strikes, and used Force speed to maneuver around the wall. Ophis had readjusted her wall, but Bane was still able to land a hit on her left shoulder, creating a super hot graze mark. Bane swung and thrusted at more barriers when he noticed many gods closing in behind him, distancing them for now with a Force push.
Some of Ophis' circles launched green colored attacks at Bane's armor while he slashed and maneuvered again. Ophis was then forced to catch the front end of the lightsaber with her left hand, the blade slowly melting its way through her immensely durable flesh. Bane pushed forward, digging his lightsaber deeper into her hand and making Ophis' feet slide across the stone floor. Ophis used her right hand to unleash a thick green beam of energy at Bane's center of mass, hoping to damage him or at least slow him down. Bane was slowed down at bit, but his lightsaber finally burned all the way through her hand, moving through the hole to clip the side of her neck. Despite Ophis having about the same power levels as Great Red, it was harder to damage her because all that power is concentrated into a much smaller body, making her more dense.
Bane pulled his lightsaber from the hole in Ophis' hand, then he grabbed her by the neck with his left hand and slammed her against the wall. He slammed the little girl over and over, cracking the huge wall and making the chamber shake, all while squeezing his hand tighter around her neck. Bane sensed a person approaching from behind, but he ignored that enemy, feeling that his armor will deal with the blow. But the odd nature of the attack caught Bane off guard.
Bane stumbled backwards from Poseidon jumping on his back, dropping Ophis in the process. Poseidon was in his own fit of rage from seeing Zeus' severed head on the floor, no longer caring about tactics and his own personal safety. The Greek god of the sea attacked like an enraged monkey, trying to use his trident in his right hand to choke Bane while using his left arm to smack the Dark Lord's face with Aegis (which he scavenged from his fallen brother). Bane formed a Force barrier around his head to block the metal shield while removing the trident from Poseidon's grasp. With his left arm, Bane then elbowed the god in the side of the head, making Poseidon drop from Bane's back. The Sith Lord quickly turned around to give Poseidon a savage headbutt to the forehead, then Bane stepped towards the stunned god laying on the ground.
With a twirl of his lightsaber, Bane pointed his blade to the floor in a reverse grip, ready to stab down at Poseidon to finish him off. The tip of Bane's blade was just over a foot above Poseidon's chest when it was unexpectedly stopped by Shiva's trishula. The blade sparked against the magical properties of the Trimurti god's trident, and with his left hand Bane backfisted Shiva in the side of the face. Bane stepped towards the god who had just recovered from stumbling back in a daze, and Shiva was being amped by Ophis' blessings once again. The Hindu god twirled his trident in figure-eight patterns: a personal ritual to gather every bit of strength he could muster, and a challenge request. Bane noted the god's fighting technique from minutes ago and his stylistic twirls now; Shiva has a defensive and patient approach to combat, fighting elegantly and striking hard when there's an opening to do so. The Hindu god's technique reminded Bane a lot of Jedi Master Valenthyne Farfalla's skills.
Bane raised his lightsaber and swung a quick flurry of strikes. The first few swings hit Shiva on the arms, creating superficial burn marks and cuts, but the god was actually able to deflect one or two strikes with his trident. Shiva couldn't tell what kind of strikes he blocked because they were too fast to be properly observed, but he used his extensive combat experience to follow the blurs and, with some guessing and luck, deflect some strikes. Bane landed shallow hits on the god's shoulder and upper chest while Shiva blocked a few more strikes. Many exhausted and injured gods watched Shiva deflect some of Bane's strikes without the use of any magic circles, sparking a small sense of hope in them. Excluding Darth Bane, Shiva is the most skilled and effective combatant in the room.
But Shiva's immense durability and amplified speed did him no more good as he was disarmed from two of Bane's power strikes, sending his trident flying behind him. Bane followed up with a kick to Shiva's torso which launched the god meters backward. Bane turned around and immediately switched his attention back to Ophis who was standing not too far away. Force lightning erupted from his left hand, crackling against Ophis' flesh and invading her nervous system. She formed a magic circle in each hand to negate some of the lightning, though Ophis was still taking a beating from it. To her, the continuous electric attack felt like the heat and intensity of a dozen suns.
A moderate distance away, Asmodeus was with the other gods trying to quickly think of something that could stop Bane. Just a few moments ago, the Satan noticed something near Bane's hand that was a different color from the rest of his outfit. At the appropriate angle, he was able to see that color change again at Bane's wrist, now realizing what it is. It was unprotected skin! Asmodeus' eyes widened, then he waved at Shiva several feet away.
Shiva stopped and said quietly, "I hope you came up with a new plan."
Asmodeus nodded. "Look at Bane's right wrist. See the color change? I think that's bare skin!"
Shiva saw it as well. "I think you're right."
The Hindu god put his fingers to his mouth and whistled to Poseidon and Demeter. They looked over at Shiva, seeing him pointing at Bane then tapping his own wrist. They both knew exactly what he meant: strike at Bane's wrist. In synchronization, they charged at the Sith Lord with their blades drawn.
Bane finally stopped his lightning barrage. The purple forks charred Ophis' clothes and singed her skin, even deforming her skin in certain places. Her ridiculous durability allowed her to tank many seconds worth of lightning that could instantly disintegrate high-class devils and kill Satans or gods in a heartbeat, but she now found herself at the mercy of the Dark Lord standing over her. Bane held his lightsaber in his right hand, tilting the blade at Ophis in a straight hold. He could sense three people approaching him from behind, ignoring them entirely. Certain that victory was his, Bane thrusted the lightsaber on a trajectory to plunge through Ophis' left eye, a spot that had no chance of withstanding a lightsaber blow.
Shiva, Poseidon and Demeter struck at Bane's wrist when the lightsaber was a third of the way towards its target. Demeter's sickles and Poseidon's trident sliced against Keetak a few centimeters off target, but Shiva's trishula met its mark. Bane felt his hand go numb and limp as Shiva's trident cut through skin and tendons, with the lightsaber falling out of his hand. The sound of the deactivated lightsaber hilt hitting the floor sent Bane's frustration through the roof, looking back at the three gods with tremendous hate. His wounded wrist completely healed half a moment later thanks to the Keetak's healing benefits, but what followed was outright terrifying. Bane unleashed a bloodcurdling scream, racking everyone in the room with pain. The Force scream shoved Shiva, Demeter and Poseidon several meters back, smashing into them like a shockwave. The yell also caused mass disorientation and made ears bleed, stopping Hades and Cao Cao's fight at the opposite end of the chamber, giving them agony as well.
Once the scream was over, lightning cracked around Bane's body and in his hands. Now fed up with these imbeciles, Bane channeled his dark side power to charge up a Force storm. It was not the ritual-styled storm that he used to destroy Heaven, instead it was a variant of the standard Force lightning ability. With this, Bane could create an omnidirectional explosion of electrical energy directed at all foes in the vicinity. In the past, this tornado of energy was described as being apocalyptic to all enemies caught within its area of effect, creating a great disturbance in the Force. Bane now built up that power to annihilate his foes right here, right now.
Brief glimpses of electrical discharge filled the room while Bane slowly lifted into the air, with lightning rods shooting into the floor from the bottom of his feet and hands.
"TAKE COVER!" Asmodeus screamed.
Every one of the 24 remaining gods and Satans on Bane's side of the room encased themselves inside their own boxes of magic shields, including Ophis who had tumbled away from Bane and the charging storm's epicenter. Random lightning bolts began striking the floor and magic shields while Bane levitated higher in the air, soon ready to unleash the storm's energy. He looked up at the ceiling the whole time, feeling that his enemies weren't worthy of his attention.
[...]
Darth Zannah heard an unnatural scream of bloodlust and hate echoing from one of the sublevel rooms. The scream irritated Zannah's ears, and caused some pain to Alexa and another fallen angel agent named Ruhiel Atheed.
"What the hell was that!?" Ruhiel shouted.
"My Master," Zannah replied. "We need to hurry!"
Alexa looked back at the male agent. "Pick up the pace, Ruhiel!"
The two fallen angels carried several duffle bags that held all of the power devices, while following Zannah down another hallway. One would think they were here to help Bane kill the gods, but they were actually here to stop him. After conducting her final studies and practice with the sealed magical powers, Zannah realized that she made a mistake in analyzing and interpreting the effects of her and Bane's ritual. They had enough magical power after all, what they actually needed was more life essence. Great Red's power contains a significant portion of his life essence, same with the other stolen Sacred Gear powers; she had been treating them like energy sources that came from non-living sources, like natural gas or uranium. What she found out was that the stolen powers, along with the ritual itself, are far more connected to the aspect of life than she ever thought.
Zannah felt like a complete idiot. She had learned from Freedon Nadd's holocron about ancient Sith rituals and sorcery techniques that oftentimes needed more life essence than dark side power to utilize correctly. A few years ago, she had even collected inconclusive accounts of Darth Vitiate using the wills and life energies of thousands of Sith to conduct a ritual that consumed the entire surface of the planet of Nathema. Zannah never believed that mythological magic had any sort of similarities whatsoever with Sith sorcery, but she now realized that her initial beliefs were wrong.
Zannah and her agents turned right at the three-way hallway intersection, seeing a bunch of rubble scattered across the floor. They entered through the destroyed entrance on the left hand side, seeing some members of the Hero Faction fighting the two ultimate-class grim reapers, while everyone else, like Hades, Pluto, Azazel and Cao Cao, stared at Bane in the distance, unsure of what to do. Zannah activated her double-bladed lightsaber and struck down both ultimate-class devils with strikes to their backs, saving those humans from trouble. She then saw her Master levitating in the air, preparing to unleash a lightning storm at the opposite end of the massive chamber. Zannah put her hand forward and pulled it back in a quick yank, just a moment or two before the power of the Force storm was unleashed.
Bane felt himself flying through the air backwards, his eyes still looking up at the ceiling. He flew several meters until he landed on his back at the far end of the chamber, sliding across the floor until he halted at Zannah's feet. He looked up at his apprentice with a crazed look in his eyes, furious that she Force pulled him away from the storm, which had now completely dissipated.
"Bane, please listen to me!" Zannah said rapidly, knowing that her Master's rage might sway him to attack her. "I made a big mistake with the ritual, we have enough magical power. What we actually need is life essence...a lot of it. We need the gods alive! They are the last key to unlocking the full power of the ritual!"
"What?" Bane blinked.
Zannah continued, "When I conducted my final preparations, I did some tests with the ritual in the forest. The surrounding wildlife added power that was never seen with the devices. I discovered that mythological magic has a connection with life, similar with Sith sorcery. I believe that if the gods meditate with us, their life energies can allow us to spawn the portal to Ambria."
Bane's anger subsided as logic and rationality returned to him, staring up at Zannah while he pondered on her words. He then got up on his feet, reaching out to call his lightsaber hilt back to his hand.
Bane caught his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. "I understand what you mean. I don't know why I never realized that fact myself."
Bane felt like a fool. Though he wasn't as knowledgeable as Zannah in the sorcery department, he still knew many devastating rituals that gave him enough insight into the properties of Sith magic. Bane regretted fighting the gods, seeing that they might be the last step to creating a wormhole to Ambria.
"Do we have enough gods to do the ritual?" Bane asked.
Zannah looked at nearly three dozen bodies scattered across the floor in the distance. She was able to identify which corpses were gods and which ones weren't, then she noted the gods and Satans who were still alive.
Zannah nodded. "Yes."
Everybody in the chamber was able to hear Bane and Zannah's conversation. Poseidon stepped forward with devastation written on his face.
"Wait…" said Poseidon. "You're both saying that you need us alive? You tried to kill us, and now you need us alive?"
Tears streamed down the god's face. "You're telling me that Zeus died for nothing?"
Artemis stepped forward. "None of us could have known that, Poseidon. We all did our best."
"Don't give me that!" Poseidon screamed. "'Doing our best' clearly wasn't enough, now was it? Talking about 'best', if you didn't suck so much with the bow, my brother would still be alive!"
"Excuse me?" Artemis was shocked.
"Shut up, Poseidon!" Hermes shouted. "You didn't do jack shit!"
"He did a lot more than you, twinkle toes," Thor said mockingly. "All you did was dance around the room the entire time."
The room erupted with taunts and shouts back and forth, many people mocking one another. They yelled until Shiva lost his patience.
"ENOUGH!" Shiva shouted.
The gods immediately went silent.
Shiva looked at Bane and said loudly, "So if I'm understanding this correctly, you now need us alive for this 'ritual'?"
"Yes," Zannah replied. "You will not be harmed by it. The ritual will simply amplify from your life essences."
"After all you and Bane have done, why should we help you?" Shiva questioned.
"Because you have no other choice," Zannah answered. "If you refuse, I will do this."
Zannah reached out with the Force to dominate the mind of the last surviving high-class grim reaper from the reinforcement group. He was fortunate enough to have survived up to this point, but now his luck ran out.
The grim reaper began mindlessly smacking his head against the stone wall over and over. He then stopped and walked over to his scythe that was on the floor, with a blank and clueless look on his face. The reaper then picked up his weapon and slit his own throat, joining the rest of the reinforcement team in death.
The gods and Satans were dumbfounded, their mouths hanging half open. Zannah is just as much of a monster as Bane, and in certain ways even more so. After a long moment of silence, Asmodeus gathered the whole strike team to discuss what they should do. They talked amongst themselves while the Sith Lords and the Hero Faction waited.
The huddled group of gods scattered a bit, then Vishnu asked, "This ritual of yours, it's not some secret plan to destroy the world?"
"We have no interest in destroying this world," Bane replied. "The ritual will open a gateway back to the planet of Ambria. What effects will it create, I do not know. All Zannah and I want is to return home."
After some thought, Vishnu answered, "Okay, we will help you."
Unknown location, Underworld
Everyone in the underground chamber at the Sith Sanctum teleported to a secluded location amongst the Underworld's forests and plains, quite a distance away from any city. Bane had also taken some time to remove the Keetak with the power of cryokinesis and dispel their poison, putting on simple clothing afterwards. The gods and Satans were now sitting in the grass, forming a large circle around the Darths. Between the Sith Lords and the gods were the power devices and god-class weapons (like Mjolnir and Aegis), separated equally. Bane and Zannah didn't need all of the devices and weapons, but they decided to use them all since it increased the chance of creating a more stable portal.
Alexa, Ruhiel and the Hero Faction watched the ritual gathering from a distance, feeling on-edge. This is the first time in history that many of the gods and most powerful beings in the world gathered together to join their powers. It was something almost unthinkable.
Bane looked around at the gods while Zannah prepared to generate the ritual's components in the form of Sith sorcery.
"At last, all the power of the world has come together!" Bane shouted. "For the first time ever, we will fold time and space to connect to a world so far away that it might as well not exist."
Bane spread his arms out to his sides. "For once, focus your power together as one. Look deep within yourselves, find your inner passions. Forget about the world around you and allow the aspect of freedom to give you strength!"
Ophis, Shiva, Hades, Thor, Sirzechs, Azazel and all the other gods and Satans closed their eyes and looked into their inner fires. A red, crackling stream of energy emitted from every individual in the circle, arcing overhead within Zannah's purple and black radius of Sith sorcery. The arcs then descended at Bane, who absorbed the energy into his body. Zannah had finished spawning the sorcery field, walking a few meters to join Bane in the very center. She held Great Red's power device in her hands, holding it out in front of her so her Master can hold the other side. The energy arcs then absorbed into Zannah and Bane equally, with the other power devices and god weapons emitting their own red streams towards the center. Bane and Zannah then began speaking in the Sith language, citing several sentences and keywords.
The temperature around them plummeted, and the sphere of sorcery ejected palpable waves that seemed to almost distort reality. Once they built up enough power within themselves, Bane and Zannah each thrusted out an arm in the same direction while opening their eyes. One hundred feet away, a blue swirling vortex spawned a few inches above the ground. Its black edges warped reality, creating a creepy effect. The 27 mythological beings in the circle opened their eyes while the field of Sith sorcery dissipated, looking at the portal in astonishment.
"A gateway to another world…" Indra said to himself.
Bane fiddled with his personal holocron in his pocket while he and Zannah looked back at the bystanders in the distance. Cao Cao, Alexa, Ruhiel and the rest of the Hero Faction waved goodbye, which the Darths acknowledged by giving them a nod.
Zannah then looked at Bane. "You ready?"
Bane nodded. "Let's do this."
The Sith Lords sprinted towards the portal, and with a leap, entered through it.
Caleb's hut, Ambria
Zannah blinked while her eyes adjusted to the time of day on Ambria. She was laying down in the dirt next to Bane who had just woken up as well. Once they entered the portal, they immediately fell into unconsciousness until they awoke outside Caleb's hut. The Huntress, now Darth Cognus, was searching the area when she spotted Bane and Zannah up ahead. The female Iktotchi ran towards them.
"Darth Bane, Darth Zannah, what happened to you? Where did you go?" asked Cognus.
"It's very difficult to explain…" Zannah replied while getting up on her feet.
Bane stood up as well. "I'm surprised you didn't leave."
"Well, you two were only gone for about half an hour," said Cognus. "I had no reason to leave yet."
Bane's mouth hung half open, getting ready to say something but never bothered. How could they have been gone for only half an hour when they spent months in the Underworld? Bane shook his head in confusion and turned around to stare out at the horizon. He began to ponder about everything that happened recently, then Bane heard the sound of a lightsaber activating. He quickly turned around to block Zannah's blade with his own lightsaber.
"Just as a reminder," said Zannah, "you and I have some unfinished business here."
Bane growled over the sound of the interlocking lightsaber blades, nothing would ever make him forget about her challenge to kill him. Darth Bane and Darth Zannah swung their lightsabers at each other in a fight to claim the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.