The man gasped in pain as he felt his very life being ripped out of him. Despite his power up, despite giving it everything he had, author Scott just did not have what it took to defeat this enemy.
His life's blood poured from his many wounds as he gazed into the eyes of his killer. Everyone around him, all of his friends new and old, had been knocked unconscious or possibly worse. All that lay before him was the certain belief that this was how his story ended.
His friends, his family from the other world had found him. They had come for him and rendered as much aid as they could in this battle, but no one was able to fight this thing. Even the goddesses had been no match. This archaic demon had sealed their powers somehow. One by one his powerful allies had been forced into their own little world, a personal hell of discipline and pain. A world they could not escape on their own.
"So, you dare to resist proper education?" asked the primordial demon of discipline as it held the horribly injured man aloft with spears of energy that seemed to ignore his body, only to pierce his very soul.
He knew he was going to die here. His author powers were nothing without plot armor. However, after all of the trauma and pain he had experienced in this last year he did not have it in him to simply give in. The man fought back in the only way he could.
"Show me a teacher with knowledge worth having and I'll be an eager student." he wheezed out, blood trickling from his lips.
The Disciplinarian snarled hatefully at him and reared back her fist in preparation to unleash the final blow. However, it was an attack that would not come. He found that he could not move his arm.
The demon looked back then widened her eyes in shock.
"Hey teacher. Leave them kids alone." remarked the man holding the beasts arm in a vice-like grip.
Author Scott glanced at the radiant figure standing behind the demon with his one good eye and barked out a laugh. The demon turned to look at the obviously deranged mortal then back at the new arrival in confusion. They looked so similar it was uncanny. Perhaps they were twins?
(AN: To see the actual battle until this point read the next chapter of Resolve once it is released)
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Chapter 10: School's Out Forever
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"So, you're really goin?" asked the feminine voice within the utter darkness.
Scott replied softly, "Yes. I have to."
"You don't have to do anything." said the feminine aspect of The Metal in response. She had a mildly petulant tone in her voice.
The former man was silent for a time but then he answered her petulance with, "I choose to go."
"Well, I won't argue with that. It's none of my business what you do anyway. Just remember, a physical body has limits even for those such as us."
The newly awakened being mentally agreed with her but did not feel the need to speak such thoughts aloud. Scott focused on his connection to his scattered soul fragments across the myriad realities. It took time to search for the right one, and he found that his fragments were all quite busy leading interesting and often frustrating lives. However, in time he did find the body that resonated most strongly with his core persona.
He immediately tried to connect with it, but found that there was just too much of him to fit into such a tiny vessel. The Metal laughed melodically at him for a time, until he understood what he had to do. He had to make concessions in order to squeeze as much as his 'glory' into the tiny vessel that once housed the entirety of his consciousness.
Scott awoke slowly as though he had been dreaming for a time and nothing more. It took him a few minutes to begin to recall things. His head felt like it might explode, as though it were full beyond the capacity to hold anything more.
In a brief span of time, however, he began to understand what had happened. His name, the names of his friends and loved ones, even of his new friends in this reality all came back to him in a rush. He was confused for a moment as the thought processes of his childlike mind were slowly integrated into the new being that was emerging within him. The old Scott was not being consumed so much as expanded. In a very real sense it was akin to downloading a spiritual expansion pack.
The man stood up from his bed and took an experimental step forward. He had to find out what was going on. He remembered his past, but knew precious little about the present.
As he stumbled forward, his body began to recall proper movement procedures. Soon he was walking almost normally. The sights and sounds of the world around him were crisp and came at him in a sensory range that he had never experienced before. Some of those senses seemed to blend together as well. It was like he had developed the capacity to truly understand reality as it was and not just as normal humanity envisioned it.
Scott opened the door of the small doctor's office that he was apparently being treated at, and stared in surprise at the sight before him. Buildings were on fire, or torn completely down. Bodies littered the streets, and a trail of carnage was carved into the area in an undeniable way.
He instinctively walked toward the nearest bodies and failed to recognize them. They were luke warm to the touch and deep within the man an unfathomable anger began to well up.
"Whatever did this, will not get away with it." he said softly to the uncaring dead before standing up and turning toward the path of devastation.
The world around him was quieter than a cemetary as he walked along. He moved through the wreckage of lives torn asunder, past the upended cars and horribly mangled bodies. On occasion he would see piles of dust or ash that seemed to be familiar to him in some way, but he ignored them. He had to keep moving.
It was nearly a half hour before the helicopters started buzzing above him warning the man away from the area in front of him. When one of those helicopters exploded suddenly the others pulled away. He would be left to his own devices it seemed.
His eyes widened in shock as he came acros figures that were seemingly encased in crystal prisms not long after. When he walked toward one he felt a vague sense of familiarity, but did not recognize them readily. It was not until he had moved further along that he heard the sound of voices in the distance.
Scott walked into a battle-strewn section of town that seemed to be heavily populated with people encased in crystal. It was not until he came across one particular crystal tomb that he stopped to take a closer look.
He began to tremble lightly not long after. The air around the man began to vibrate as his power slowly awoke in response to his growing anger.
"Rei.." he growled tightly as he gazed into the terrified eyes of the catgirl he had grown to care a great deal about. He heard the sound of voices again and turned toward the source.
As he walked along, more faces became known to him. They were friends, associates, and lovers. They were all trapped or dead. He could not be certain yet. All he did know was that they had been terrified when this happened to them.
Soon, he came across a creature out of some hentai nightmare. It was like a woman, save for the tentacles that ended in wickedly barbed hooks. He heard the creature speak, but he was too focused on the sense of anger welling up within him. He did not know how he knew, but deep down he knew this was the one responsible for the evil brought down upon Nerima.
Swirls of energy began to radiate outward from him as a low hum formed at his lips. With each step, each breath, that he took his power grew. Once he was within striking distance he prepared to attack. It was only then that he noticed what the creature was doing. It was about to kill someone else.
"So, you dare to resist proper education?" asked the demon as it held the horribly injured man aloft with spears of energy that seemed to ignore his body, only to pierce his very soul.
He knew he was going to die here. His author powers were nothing without plot armor. However, after all of the trauma and pain he had experienced in this last year he did not have it in him to simply give in. The man fought back in the only way he could.
"Show me a teacher with knowledge worth having and I'll be an eager student." he wheezed out, blood trickling from his lips.
The Disciplinarian snarled hatefully at him and reared back her fist in preparation to unleash the final blow. Scott reached forward and grabbed the distracted monstrosity's arm in a vice-like grip.
When she felt the grip tighten around his wrist, the demon looked back then widened her eyes in shock.
"Hey teacher. Leave them kids alone." remarked the man holding the beast's arm.
Author Scott glanced at the radiant figure standing behind the demon with his one good eye and barked out a laugh. The demon turned to look at the obviously deranged mortal then back at the new arrival in confusion. They looked so similar it was uncanny. Perhaps they were twins?
"Clever human, but your illusions will not defeat me. I will devour your souls just like I took the souls of your friends." cackled the creature loudly.
A riot of sound and light erupted outward from the recently restored emissary of the world song. The living embodiment of The Metal squeezed the creature's wrist with all the strength his awakened form could must. Unfortunately, it was not enough to actually injure the beast.
Scott found that the beast was actually far stronger than he had bargained for when a casual tug of her wrist sent the newly ascended being hurtling to the left at terrifying speed. His short flight was interrupted harshly by the sudden appearance of a wall. He slammed into it with incredible force and felt as though he had broken several bones. Experimental movements of his limbs told him that nothing was, in fact, broken. Even so, he still felt like he had been hit by a truck.
He looked up and watched with blurred vision as the demon snorted in disdain and and returned to her attempt to cull the other man's soul. Scott's vision cleared after a brief moment and he was surprised to note that the man was incredibly familiar. "Do I know him?" he asked softly to himself.
"You still resist me? How? You are neither god nor demon, yet your soul refuses my discipline." asked the beast in a quiet moment of curiosity.
Author Scott weakly spat a wad of bloody phlegm at the creature. The unsubtle gesture of disrespect sent the demon into a rage. The man was shaken like a rag doll then hurled upward into the air before being captured by a tentacle. The beast whipped him downward to slam into the broken pavement with bone shattering force. The man grew very still after that assault, and his doppelganger felt his rage boiling up again.
"Rage.. and fear, from skies above..." he began to sing softly. His body protested greatly as he forced himself to his feet and took a step toward his goal. He was clearly outmatched in this battle. This thing had killed or trapped a lot of people, some where his dear friends, and others felt like they should be.
The creature turned toward him and quirked one bushy eyebrow. It snapped a finger and pointed toward him decisively. Scott continued forward despite the lashing wave of fire that raced toward him.
"The fire fuels my veins.." sang out the man gently as his power wrapped around him like a warm blanket, protecting him from the flames and building to ever greater heights.
"Destruction of humanity, the everlasting flame." he continued unabated as his power grew. Radiant light erupted around him as the sound of a rapidly played guitar echoed throughout the area.
Windows began to rattle as the power of his song grew. The demon, however, was not impressed in the slightest. it had already sealed four goddesses that day. What was one more human compared to that?
"Cast away, no turning back from long forgotten shores.." sang out the man as his wildly erupting power began to flow inward. The rapid heavy metal guitar sound increased in both volume and tempo, as his power collapsed in upon itself, magnifying the force greatly.
The demon said. "You take far too long to cast a spell human." before spreading her tentacles out wide. Arcing electrical currents skittered along his frame before flowing forward to merge into an ball of lightning directly before its outstretched palm.
"We'll show no mercy as they fall! The fire burns inside!"
"Orb of enlightenment!" cried out the disciplinary demon before launched the highly destructive ball of energy at her singing foe.
"Now!" sang out the avatar of The Metal before he was hit with the incredible electrical force of the demon's blast. His body skittered and jerked spastically for a few seconds before he fell to his knees. Smoke wafted from his electrocuted form, and he knew that he must have terrible internal injuries to match his outer ones.
Quite a bit of his focused mystical energy fled from him in this moment of pain and electrical torment, but he kept just enough to gasp out, "Prepare for war!"
Fire exploded outward from the kneeling man as he felt his power rise dramatically. It was as thought every part of his being had been allowed to work to its full capacity, before stepping beyond that limit. Already he could feel his wounds beginning to heal at an even more accelerated pace than usual.
"Now, that was impressive. You took my weakest electrical spell directly and still managed to keep some of your power?" remarked the demon with a smirk.
His sentiments were matched by three figures watching invisibly from a nearby rooftop.
"Hmm, seems he has a bit of fight in him after all." remarked Hild as she watched the spectacle before her. She could not have planned this better herself. Those fools at the north pole had unleashed a creature that was far beyond their ability to control. During its reign of terror on the Earth so far it had sealed away all of those annoying goddesses, and provided her ample entertainment.
"Yes, lady Hild! I wonder if he'll win." agreed Mara excitedly. Senbei, a tiny little demon god of poverty, danced around with his own brand of excitement as he watched the battle. All of this misfortune was making him positively glow with the happiness he was receiving in turn.
"Hmm, I doubt it. That demon is old, very old. Four goddesses and that succubus working together couldn't seal it." remarked the queen of the damned as she continued watching.
"With the goddesses sealed, lady Hild, won't that demon end up destroying the Earth though?" asked the blond haired first class demon.
"If you're asking me for permission to help him, go ahead. It won't do either of you any good, but feel free to go die horribly." responded Hild with a mild frown.
Mara's mouth opened wide, showing off her fangs in her typical nervous fashion. "Lady Hild..ahah.. ha.."
"Truth be told, I don't even know if I could beat this demon as I am now." replied the queen of hell with more humility than she normally showed.
Mara's eyes widened in shock, but Senbei expressed the seriousness of this statement best when he stopped moving and fell out of the air to land woodenly on the rooftop.
"S-surely, lady Hild. Your power is far greater than this demon's?" asked Mara anxiously.
"If I were whole, then yes. However, I am currently only a fragment of myself. The fight would be far too even for my liking right now."
Mara glanced back down at the fight in time to see the disciplinarian swat Scott out of the air with a tentacle. The man flew backward to slam into a nearby car with a loud crash.
The blond demoness winced and shook her head. They had talked and spent a bit of time together whenever they worked the same shift. That was a small amount of time, really. However, she had started to think of the memory challenged human as a friend of sorts. She had very few of those, and seeing such an innocent soul being brutalized was not nearly as cathartic as it normally would have been.
"Surely, there is something.." said Senbei as he collected himself and noted the situation for himself.
"Maybe there is, but why should I interfere?" asked Hild in a calculating manner.
"Well, that demon did seal your daughter." replied Mara.
"I can free her any time." countered the platinum haired queen of darkness.
Senbei hit on the proper tactic first, "You know it is shame about your dress Lady Hild."
"Hmm? What are you talking about, you tiny little man?" asked Hild while watching Scott roll to his left to avoid a series of tentacle strikes that easily shattered concrete.
"Did you not spend quite a bit of time picking out the perfect dress to finally fill him with rapturous waves of unbridled sexual desire?"
"That is true."
Mara blinked then grinned to herself. "Yes, it really is a shame. That demon is making you waste all of the time you spent."
"Waste my time?" asked Hild with one sculpted eyebrow rising in interest. She hated to waste her time on anything. It was valuable. Even when she was simply lazing about, she was always hatching schemes. The thought that someone would ultimately effect her without her consent was not something she relished.
Back on the ground Scott was already beginning to have trouble simply moving. He had been beaten and battered around so much that even his body was reaching the point of regenerative failure.
"I need time, time to breathe." he said to himself as he narrowly avoided being torn in half by a tentacle that impaled a car door next to him. He stared at it briefly as the entire vehicle was lifted up and used as a hammer in an attempt to crush him. The movement was slower than a simple tentacle assault, allowing the man to evade it. However, the point was made quite clear that nowhere that he hid would be safe.
He needed something to slow the bastard down. Even with his prepare for war spell running, he was simply not strong enough or fast enough to land any real hits. Unfortunately, not of his mastered spells really worked that way. He could drain some of the creature's life force with his Black Metal spell, but he had no restraining or binding spells.
"I need to bind this asshole, slow her down." thought the man again as he lept behind a concrete wall and raced along the narrow alleyway it protected. As he ran, tentacles slammed through the material behind him, sending clouds of thick dust throughout the area.
"Stop hiding and face your punishiment you naughty little deviant!" laughed the demon as she toyed with her prey some more.
"Go back to hell!" shouted Scott in reply, and as a means to hopefully distract the creature long enough to let him heal to the point that he could run without a painful limp.
"How dare you back-talk human! I'll show you real hell!" snapped out the malevolent douchebagel as she began to power up a new spell. As she powered up, an nearly angelic smile crossed her face.
It was then that Scott realized something. The man who had been lying on the ground previously, was no longer there. It was something he quickly tried to ignore, but it still made him wonder at the meaning briefly.
However, in that moment another thought crossed his mind as well. He could feel his power, his connection to the metal. Rock, metal, any similar type of music was a venue for his power to work through. The mention of hell made him think of something.
The power he needed, he understood then how to make it happen. He did not know if he had the strength to pull it off, but he had little choice.
While the demon powered up his strange new power, Scott focused his mind and sang out.
~An angel's smile is what you sell
The familiar lyrics opened the floodgate that controlled the flow of his power. He was using his spiritual energies in a new direction. He was not actively attacking, he was attempting to create something.
~ You promise me heaven and put me through hell.
The disciplinarian continued channeling his power, but he did wonder at what the silly human was babbling about.
~ Chains of love got a hold on me.
Mara growled lightly as she found herself dancing around erratically as the sound of a guitar reached up to their heights.
"Mara? What are you doing?" asked Hild curiously.
"I'm sorry lady Hild! I can't stop dancing whenever I hear rock music!"
"Ah, yes. That's right."
Senbei was not nearly as off-put by the idea. He too was dancing in his typical pelvic thrusting fashion. "It's only rock and roll but I like it, babyyyee!"
~ When passion's a prison you can't break free.
Scott finished up the spell he had begun, Jon Bon Jovi's classic hit had formed the power nicely into the shape he wanted, but he did not know how to release it. Unlike the damage based spells, there was no clear trigger phrase.
Finally he decided that the name of the song should be the trigger phrase and tried it.
"Shot Through The Heart!" exclaimed the haggard individual a split second before the demon shouted, "Time-out!"
The power Scott had built up seemed to disappear briefly, but it suddenly coalesced as a radiant beam of light that streaked toward the demon at incredible speed. Scott tried to avoid the demon's assault but found that he could not move out of the way in time to avoid the column of darkness that moved around him.
The world seemed to slow to a crawl, then stop altogether from the man's perspective. The demon, however, could not capitalize on the situation as the beam of light had slammed into its heart with unerring accuracy. This beam of light then shattered and reformed as dozens of chains made from pure energy.
The demon, despite her incredible power, could not break free readily. She was forced to defeat the spell one chain at a time. It angered the demonic beast greatly not to immediately break free. This anger fueled its desire to enact discipline upon this wayward fool.
Scott, however, was struggling to break free from his temporal prison as well. At the moment, they were both at a standstill, neither of them were able to actively assault the other.
The world around the man moved at a snail's pace, if not slower, but his mind worked at normal speeds. He worked tirelessly to discover some way to turn the tide of battle to his advantage, but he could not discern one. This beast was just too powerful. It had killed or trapped his friends and associates already. He did not know which was the case.
While The Metal version of Scott struggled to deal with the complexities of life trapped in temporal amber, the Author version was slowly making his way toward the Tariki Hongan Shrine. He did not have the strength left to fight, and the attempt might be pointless. However, he had a strong feeling that he would find an answer to the question of how to deal with the demon that had been set loose upon the world.
The walk seemed like it took forever. However, a few minutes into that agonizing walk the man had an absurdly bright idea. He started checking the abandoned cars nearby for keys. He began to despair after a while, but he eventually found a beat up old Toyota pick-up truck that had been abandoned by the owner while it was still running.
Scott did not know why the owner would do that, but he wasn't about to ignore divine providence. He hopped in, hissed at the pain that motion caused, and set off down the road to the shrine.
Back at the scene of the battle Metal Scott was slowly working himself free of the temporal barrier he had been placed within, but so was the disciplinarian. The ancient demoness of obedience and discipline had removed all but three of the chains that bound her.
On the rooftop Hild was considering her options. She could allow this to continue. She could intervene. She could perhaps go watch television instead. Either way, she needed to make a decision. It would not be too much longer before The Almighty sent another wave of his valkyries to deal with this situation. The first group had not faired any better than the other goddesses. However, their failure would be noted and they would change their strategy.
If she planned to get involved, now would be the time to do it. The problem was, that she really did not know if she wanted to. She was torn between watching to see what would happen, and acting to end the situation. All the carnage and misery the ancient demoness was causing certainly made her happy. The issues was that wholesale slaughter and real-estate destruction may decrease demonic shares on the Earth. There were more souls aligned with the gods than with demons presently, despite what some people might think.
"Hmm, decisions, decisions." remarked Hild in an indecisive purr. Mara and Senbei backed away slightly as the queen of the damned continued to consider her options.
Author Scott reached the shrine a few minutes later, then worked his way up the stairs. The courtyard was just as he remembered it from earlier. The sense of peace and calm here continued even as the neighboring sector of town went through hell in a literal sense.
He made a bee-line for Urd's room, expecting that anything of use in the house would be in her potion lab. He spent several brief minutes trying to decipher her symbol based code system and shook his head. "What I wouldn't give to be able to read this crap." remarked the man as he continued to search.
Her books used the same symbolic short-hand. He found no help there. "Man, I need a translator." said the dimensionally displaced author before he coughed up a wad of bloody phlegm. The minor healing spell he had used had worn off already it seemed.
"Man, this sucks."
He blinked when he heard the phone ring then snorted, "Sorry, no one's home. We're busy getting our asses kicked by the teacher from hell."
The phone kept ringing, however, and the man decided that it might be important. Considering where he was, it might even lead him to a clue.
"Hello?"
"It is I." stated a warm masculine voice from the other end of the line.
Scott blanked for a brief moment then widened his eyes. "The almighty one?"
"Yes. You seek a method of defeating the demon currently unleashing havoc on Earth?" inquired the literal voice of god.
"Yeah, I had a strong feeling I would find something useful here, but I don't know what." remarked Scott.
The voice was quiet for a moment then said, "Go to the cabinet marked with a Heart, a symbol for the sun, and the symbol of flame. Take the jar you find therein that sits upon the top shelf in the far left corner."
Scott walked over to the cabinet in question, and checked to see if he could find what the almighty had mentioned. A brief moment of rooting around allowed him to discover the jar mentioned. The contents were slightly familiar to him.
"Now go into Skuld's room. There is little time, so please be quick about this." instructed the Almighty.
The author did not argue in the slightest as he moved toward the location he was directed to. Once inside the young goddess' room he looked at the high-tech, yet archaic technology and nodded. This certainly looked like it would be her room.
"You will find a large computer system in her closet. Attach the diagnostic tool of the device to your power armor's system upload core."
"Alright." replied the man as he moved to do as the leader of heaven bid him. Who was he to argue, when he was getting the help they all might need?
The man searched the machine he discover, and located what looked like a diagnostic wand for checking engines. He pressed the thing to the central node between his shoulder blades and gritted his teeth at the brief pain he felt upon making connection.
"Enter the following series of numbers and symbols as I direct." stated the voice patiently.
Scott voiced his agreement and the Almighty rattled off a list of numbers and symbols that were hard to keep up with. The man did his best, however, and after a few minutes the screen changed to a diagnostic table that displayed its contents in the English language. It showed each of his systems primary components, and diagnoses the issue that kept him from using his power armor.
"Press the repair system option, once the program runs, press the request for upgrade option." directed The Almighty.
The man complied, then felt a sudden spasm of pain that lasted for a few brief seconds then disappeared. The computer ran a second diagnostics, declared that his systems were free of viruses and corruption, then asked if he wanted to request a system upgrade. He clicked yes.
He fell to his knees as a sudden wave of energy ripped through him. He felt as though every part of his body, mind, and soul were being torn apart and reintegrated into a whole new being. Whatever, had happened, it was more shocking than painful. It passed quickly, but he felt no different. Well, that was not entirely true. He felt like his body had been repaired completely, but other than no longer feeling like a punching bag, he had noticed no other changes yet.
Upgrade requested accepted and upgrade complete ere both mentioned with a check mark on the diagnostic screen after the wave of energy passed. Once this was finished he shut everything down as directed.
"You have almost everything that you need to remove the demon that is attacking the town. Go to the Hikawa shrine and retrieve the remainder of what is needed." instructed the Almighty before disconnecting rapidly.
"Hmm, the Hikawa shrine?" asked Scott to himself as he walked out of the room with Urd's mysterious jar of something useful.
When he reached the truck, he hopped in and considered his options. He'd never been to the shrine and had no idea how to get there. It was only when a strange voice announced, "Please enter your destination." that he realized that the battered old truck actually had a GPS system.
"Fortune smiles on me huh?" he asked with a soft smirk. As he began to make the drive as directed, he idly wondered if the Almighty really did look like Morgan Freedman.
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AN: So, here we have chapter 10. This side story is going to be wrapped up soon it seems. I'm thinking two or three chapters left.