Episode 66: Vortal Combat
The fires of war burned brightly from star to star. Everywhere the fortresses of the Empire drowned in seas of blood and ancient enemies appeared from the darkness. Sensing weakness the Angels gathered for the kill, striving to sit upon the mountain of ashes that was the Milky Way Galaxy.
News traveled quickly, even with Demon communications completely severed. It didn't take long for High Kommand to understand the scope of the threat. This was no mere raiding party. It was the first full-scale Angel invasion in countless ages.
In a bleak, featureless area in space, hundreds of ships collided into a hurricane of plasma and missiles and twisted steel. Below them a world lay in ruins, torn apart by the crashing hulks of the destroyed combatants.
The Demons quickly gained the advantage. On their side dominating the opposition was the unbelievably colossal goliath of a warship the DSS Indomitable, flagship of the legendary Snakebite Fleet.
Covering seemingly the entire sky with its sheer size, the ninety kilometer-long monstrosity obliterated practically the entire enemy fleet on its own. The fleshless heads of Astorath's champions, stacked alongside those of his defeated opponents, lay impaled upon a forest of spikes dotting the ship's monochrome dagger-shaped hull.
The Angels knew and trembled before its might. Rebels boiled and exploded into glowing fireballs. The plasma weapons of the Indomitable cut a swath through their armor like a hot machete through oleo. The enemy attempted to retaliate, but their efforts were useless against the might of the Empire.
The shattered remnants of the once-mighty battle fleet limped away, signalling a Demon victory.
A great battle cry rose from the bridge of the Indomitable. Astorath's brothers who crewed the ship cheered their glorious triumph in the name of Maledict.
Astorath himself, his exaggerated physique distorted by his baroque armor decorated with the skulls of conqueror kings, grinned. At his side rested a great two-handed mace, Decimator, capable of laying waste and bringing death to any enemy of Satan.
And then the cheer died as several more signatures began to appear from Warpspace.
"Zir, twelve Stabber-class cruisers coming from Warp!"
The stick-shaped warships charged for a full-frontal assault, flying with the speed of starfighters rather than the heavy cruisers they really were.
"Though the darkness will be rent by noise and flame, let no soul be broken in the crucible of war!" He cheered in Demonish, "Focus fire!"
Red motes of light immediately began collecting across the broadsides of the Demon escort ships surrounding the Indomitable, as they unleashed volley after volley at the Republic ships.
The tiny and nimble Republic cruisers accelerated and boosted away; the opening broadside sailed past them harmlessly before dissipating naturally in the cold void of space.
The escort ships fired more plasma beams at them, but the enemy vessels were so fast that the ramshackle warships easily maneuvered and veered around the Demon attacks. As the Republic vessels came closer and closer, the glow from the plasma grew much stronger as the ships once more attempted a final plasma torpedo attack.
No good. Just as before, they missed the speedy Jews.
Astorath realized that they were now too close for standard plasma turrets to track. "I don't want any of dem attacking my ship! Slaughter them!"
The Stabbers came upon the fleet with the fury of a hurricane. Errant 3500mm cannon fire strafed the bridge of the Indomitable. Wave upon wave of short-ranged combat drones swarmed from Astorath's escorts, pursuing and chewing through them like locusts until the remainder out of range.
Astorath sat in the Ship Master's chair quietly, with a smile on his face, as the will of the Empire was imposed on this sector.
"Rolk'tar Zir," A Hell Knight komrade saluted Astorath in the ancient Nephilim way. "We've suffered some minor damage to the Warp drive."
"Regroup de fleet and start repairs," Astorath ordered, "Jew raiding party means Angels are not far away."
His Hell Knight brothers exploded into a flurry of activity, their hulking muscles and armor clanking throughout the bridge as they continued with their duties.
Another Nephilim approached, "We're getting readings of an entryway into the Vortal Cloister anomaly."
Astorath leaned over to the console to take a look. "Of course. Bug man told me there was an opening nearby. The ship's too big though."
"Brother-Zir," Yet another Nephilim, his piloting armor decked in gold and battle trophies from slain enemies, approached. "An unidentified ship has been detected near the anomaly!"
Astorath turned with a nod and looked. He scanned the massive energy spikes, which quickly began to twist into a shape. He recognized the outline immediately, but he could not believe his eyes.
It was the Blue Typhoon.
...
Tsali awoke to the chirping sounds of birds in pine trees above him. He and Trinity were camped on a remote forest planet as they scoured to find Venus the Seedrian.
Trinity was still peacefully sleeping by him. Apparently, for a warrior, Trinity did not know how to even be alert.
The Ultimate Weapon sat up as the early morning sun started to shine over the trees.
"So much like Thyferra..." Tsali muttered. Indeed, the planet reminded him of his former home, before his life was turned upside down.
He was snapped from his thoughts by the sound of Trinity awaking from his slumber. The former prince stretched out his powerful arms and also sat up.
"Hey Tsali..." Trinity groggily greeted the Ultimate Weapon.
"Hey," Tsali replied.
"Did you get any sleep at all?" Trinity asked.
"Nope," Tsali looked at his friends straight in the eye, "I don't sleep, Trinity. I wait."
However, before he could make another move, a loud series of alien-like grunts, roars, and growls sounded far in the distance, along with the slight din of machinery and motors. Without another word, the two foxes ran off as fast as they could, for they knew all too well what was chasing them.
"We should start to get moving," Trinity said. "Hey... Do you hear that?"
As they fled into the forest, they heard loud rumbling in front of them. The two foxes ran forward a bit more, until they came into the lip of a ravine with a bridge directly across from them.
Across the bridge were what Tsali and Trinity had feared were being sent after them.
They looked upon a convoy of Stridorae, better known as Striders, escorting a group of large incubation pods mounted on wheels. Little more than giant tripods covered with weaponry and armor, they were still a force to be feared.
"How did they get so far beyond the Demon border so quickly..." Tsali muttered to himself incredulously.
"But what are in those pods they're taking along?" Trinity said.
"They carry what the Demons know as Shu'ulax'thoi," Tsali said.
"Advisor synths. I recognize that term," Then he pointed to the golden pods carried up behind them. Groups of shawled humanoids pulled them across the bridge, being whipped regularly. "And those?"
"Muslims, I think," Tsali's eyes zoomed and scanned them, "Miriams. Just as I thought. This is no mere offensive, it's a full scale invasion. There hasn't been anything like this since the Battle of Sol two thousand years ago."
"Miriams?"
Tsali looked back at his partner. "Muslim women. Those crazy towelheads seal them in pods and turn them into baby factories to spawn more Muslims."
Trinity wished he had brain bleach with him. He didn't even want to think about suffering such a fate.
"Looks like Jesus is hunting us," Tsali immediately concluded, "We need to find Venus now. Take it from me. You do not want to be a war zone between Demons and Angels."
...
Sonic and his friends all stood on the Tyhoon's bridge. A great swirling storm of energy, the unearthly combination of reality and anti-reality, lay many millions of miles ahead.
"There it is," Tails reported, "We'll be through the event horizon in just a few minutes."
"It's a good thing our ship is small enough to get through." Chris thought aloud.
"I hate it,"
"What's wrong now?" Amy tilted her head.
"Running and hiding! I hate running away like this while we watch all this death and destruction." Knuckles punched the air.
"Knuckles, I don't think you want to be in the middle of a galactic invasion," Tails did not look amused, "You saw what happened to Crucible and those other planets yesterday!"
Cosmo looked out the window sadly. Four worlds cleansed from orbit before their very eyes. Four Planet Eggs obliterated as the Typhoon warped ahead of several hundred million ships appearing right behind them.
"Don't remind me!" Knuckles crossed his arms in anger.
"There's no shame in running away Knuckles," Chris explained, "I mean look at you Sonic. You can live another day to pick your battles when you know you'll win."
"Exactly," Sonic grinned, "See Knuckles, that's why you should listen to me more often!"
The echidna grumbled, unwilling to indulge Sonic's ego any more.
"I don't like it either Knuckles, but we don't really have a choice," Chris sat back down, "We have no idea how to fight Angels or Demons. If we stay out here any longer, one side or the other will kill us all."
"We take shelter in the cloister until the fighting dies down and that's final," Tails accelerated the Typhoon full speed ahead. "Seatbelts everyone, this'll get real bumpy real quick!"
...
Astorath, using a teleportation beacon, warped to solid ground.
The Vortal Corridor was strange even by space anomaly standards. It oddly looked like a gigantic cave, even though that was really layers of thick ionized gases. Pieces of rocky ground were also scattered everywhere, floating aimlessly.
The Prince of Darkness landed on a thick piece of rock with a loud thud. He immediately scanned the area for any signs of the Typhoon.
That's when he found his target; peering though a dense forest of jagged spiky rocks was the familiar blue-and-white color scheme of the Blue Typhoon, along with the familiar shapes of Sonic and his friends standing at attention, as if knowing he was there.
"Dere you are..."
Without a second thought, Astorath ran forward with all of his strength, and impacted the rocks. With every step he took, the ground itself shook under his weight and size, and his footsteps echoed all about. If Sonic and friends had not noticed his presence before, they certainly did now.
Under the Nephilim's massive strength and size, the jagged rocks crumbled into dust like they weren't even there. He smashed a path through the rocks effortlessly, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Bellows of his insatiable rage echoed with every step. Finally he reached the other edge of the rock mass.
And immediately in front of him were Sonic and his friends. The Prince of Darkness laughed as he recovered himself and his strength.
However, his expression suddenly turned to one of indignant surprise when he locked eyes with Sonic and friends. "Wait minute, I was told we would be fighting MEN! Who sent all dese babies to fight? What sick man sends babies to fight me?"
"Babies?" Cosmo spoke without thinking, unwittingly getting Astorath's murderous attention upon her.
Astorath's expression changed as the young girl's eyes locked with the electric-yellow pupils of the giant. "B'rohlyv mynegruhl stragfigador gnuzzcxxfoy lirg tnalp."
Cosmo blinked in surprise when he realized he was trying to address her, for she only knew just a bit of Demonish from her sisters and thus had only a rough idea what he was trying to say.
She tried to respond, in a very poor and shaky dialect, "N-Nozcxyst strxxxvxcondas s-shinhjjkxxgdr"
Tails and Amy glanced at her in surprise at her response, for they had never seen her speak the Demon language. At first, the giant humanoid gave her a strange look, before pointing at her and laughing heartily.
"Ohohoho, dat slaps me on de knee!"
"Who are you?" Knuckles asked, without intending a pun. Astorath stood up, backed away, and looked down upon all of them.
"My name is Astorath, de Prince of Darkness. I have come here to beat your ass and take your glowy rocks!"
With that, Astorath effortlessly bent over and lifted an incredibly long phallic piece of jagged rock behind him, which looked like it weighed thousands of pounds.
"You are all so TINY! It's funny to me!" Astorath exclaimed as he looked down upon his cowering opponents.
"Whoa!" Sonic said.
Without even trying, Astorath threw the monolithic boulder right at our heroes, nearly barreling them over.
"Everybody, get back inside the Typhoon!" Sonic said. He knew that one of them was certainly gonna die if they all stayed out here for much longer. Tails, Cosmo, Cream, and Chris all immediately followed Sonic's order. However, Amy brandished her Piko Piko Hammer, ready to fight.
"Amy, you too!" Sonic added.
"But..."
"No time to argue! Get back inside the ship."
Amy shrugged, and promptly did as she was told.
The Lord of Battle allowed them to run. The weak and helpless were unworthy of his wrath.
Now, the playing field was leveled; Astorath vs. Sonic and Knuckles. "Oh please, it's too easy to outsmart big guys like this..." Sonic muttered as he ran in circles around Astorath, who was unfazed by Sonic's trickery.
Sonic and Knuckles gave each other weird expressions.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Knuckles asked. Astorath looked down upon him, with an utterly cruel smile on his face that could scare even a being as fearless as Knuckles.
He replied by pulling out two giant Gatling miniguns from out of thin air and aim them effortlessly with his hulking strength. The Prince of Darkness grinned as he saw their jaws drop in shock. If the two Mobians had pants, they would've shit them at this point.
"Uh oh..." Sonic muttered. Astorath laughed at their weakness.
Instantly, the dual miniguns ripped their payload, totally spraying the Blue Typhoon with plasma bullets and causing burn marks all along its thick hull.
As he circled around, getting a bead on Sonic and Knuckles, his two Gatlings ripped right through the forest of spike-rocks around them like they weren't even there, the jagged spikes crashing loudly to the ground and turning into dust.
Despite his pure thrill and bloodlust, even he realized that it would take more than just his weapons to take these foes down.
Relaxing his fingers on the triggers, the miniguns stopped firing as Astorath retargeted his opponents without burning through his plasma charges. Additionally, his weapons had overheated, and needed to cool down.
After a few seconds of looking, he noticed that they were both right behind him, whispering something to each other.
"RUN, RUN! I AM KOMING FOR YOU! " Astorath said, spinning 180 degrees with his re-cooled miniguns at the ready. "Stoopid furries must die!"
However, all of a sudden, they disappeared without a trace
"What de hell..." Astorath spoke, using his lightening-reflexes to look around.
Suddenly, he felt two beings appear and land on his huge shoulders, jumping off and running away. Using their speed, their circled around him faster than he could see. The giant Hell Knight tried to get a bead, but he was simply too slow.
"Dis is like rabbits, back and forth!" The Prince of Darkness murmured, before clearing his throat. Astorath could see he needed to switch tactics. Even his mighty cannons could not hit such fast targets.
He tossed his weapons away and the giant Hell Knight bared his pointed saliva-drenched canines and roared. "Now, let us fight man versus tiny baby men. Fight me kowards!"
Knuckles accepted his request by sprinting at the giant and leaping at the brute's throat, digging his knuckle spikes right into Astorath's fleshy neck. Taking advantage of Knuckles' distraction, Sonic went into a spindash and barreled into Astorath's body, with no effect.
Astorath made a sudden jolt to the right, the impact of his giant muscles causing Sonic to lose his Spindash and crash to the ground. Knuckles felt something grab his torso and pull him right off of the Demon leader's neck. Astorath held up the echidna in his fist as the Mobian struggled like a mouse in the paw of a cat.
The Hell Knight loudly roared as he hurled the tiny Mobian like a bouncy ball. The echidna left a huge crater as he skidded across the ground. Astorath, preparing to go at Knuckles again, rushed towards the crater.
Sonic sprinted up onto the flight deck of the Typhoon, using his height advantage to leap at Astorath's head. Before the Demon managed to step aside, Sonic unleashed a powerful kick right into Astorath's small eyes.
The Prince of Darkness howled and rubbed his eyes, flinging Sonic off with his thrashing. Sonic had not actually done any real damage to Astorath, but did give him a good hit in one of his only vulnerable areas.
Astorath, regaining his compulsion, noticed that Sonic was still near the giant's foot. He kicked Sonic like a soccer ball, sending the hedgehog skidding into yet another group of phallic boulders.
"I think little fox needs to build diaper-changing station!" Astorath glanced towards the bridge of the Typhoon and smiled at the people he knew were watching the fight from the bridge, even though he couldn't see them.
Sonic took advantage of this to contact his friends, "Tails, fire up the Sonic Driver!"
Immediately, the flight deck of the Typhoon began to open up like a giant hatch, and a large blue cannon rose and aimed at the large humanoid in front of them. Sonic sprinted up the side of the ship and jumped into the barrel. Curling his body, he went into a Spin Dash, automatically activating the weapon. Astorath noticed blue light shining out of the muzzle as the cannon aimed directly at his body.
"Go ahead, build your tiny gun. Then RUN!" Astorath challenged.
The curled blue hedgehog launched directly at the mighty Demon leader. Astorath, of course, was not fazed at all; he knew what he had to do.
Sonic almost instantly hit Astorath directly in his chest, which ironically enough was the worst place to hit him. Even though the sheer kinetic force of Sonic caused Astorath to slide back several meters and loudly hit a rock wall, it did nothing but give the Brass Lord of Battle a small tickle on his skin. In fact, most of the damage was from Astorath slamming into the nearby rock wall.
The rock crumbled and shattered underneath his massive girth. Regaining his balance, Astorath managed to grasp the spinning Mobian and toss him away. Sonic managed to land back on his feet before also hitting a phallic monolith.
Both Sonic and Knuckles stood like idiots with their jaws dropped, unable to comprehend an enemy that could withstand even their mightiest conventional attack so easily. They didn't know that Astorath was beginning to exhaust himself from both trying to fight them and from resisting their attacks.
Astorath gave his enemies a toothy grin. "You're going to need MUCH bigger guns!"
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Amy held her head in her hands.
"How... how is that possible?" Tails sweatdropped.
Sonic glared, "Look's like we're gonna have to do this the hard way."
The Lord of Battle knew he couldnt let his enemies get another opportunity. He charged towards the Typhoon.
"Hey where are you going? Get back here!" Knuckles called after him.
The demon lord ignored Knuckles completely, but he began to scale the hull of the Blue Typhoon. His massive hands dug into the metal like tissue paper. His muscles rippled as his climbed up the ship like a mountaineer. He finally made it up to the flight deck and climbed abaord Sonic and Knuckles jumped to the deck in hot pursuit.
The personal-defense laser cannons of the Typhoon had already been activated, and Tails was ready. Astorath charged and promptly was met by a barrage of high-powered laser fire. He roared in anger, the slicing beams burning his chest and scorching his skin. He did not stop, no matter how many warship-class lasers hit him.
"Look out Tails, he's coming towards you!" Sonic yelled into his wrist communicator, "Get outta the bridge!"
"Where's Cream?" He heard a sentence from Amy in the background. "She can't-"
Astorath scrambled across the flight deck with rage an murder of his mind. With the grace of a charging bear he swiped the Typhoon's cannons right off their mountings with his mace and easily disabled each one. He raised his great war club high, ready to smash the glass bridge of the Typhoon like a skull.
"I don't think so, you big meanie!" Cream floated in the air, held up with the power of her floppy ears. Her very small and very angry friend Cheese stood on her shoulder, "I'm not letting you get any further!"
"Cream, what the heck are you doing?" Knuckles roared, "Get your butt back in the Typhoon right now!"
Astorath stopped and lowered his weapon before slowly turning towards the tiny rabbit behind him. She looked like an ant compared to his great and terrible strength. His teeth gritted in anger at the disruption, but Cream showed no fear before the mighty demon lord.
He raised his arm to slap her out of the sky - and with an expert dodge, she sent a screeching Chao flying right into his eyes. Astorath was stunned. He howled in surprise and pain. He thrashed as he toppled backward with a mighty crash upon the Blue Typhoon's flight deck.
Cheese flew back to Cream's side and the two life partners gave each other a cheerful high-five. Sonic and Knuckles cheered for her as they leaped from the ground below to the flight deck.
"That was awesome!" Sonic whistled loudly.
The whole ship shook and the cloister echoed with a roar of fury. Astorath rose to his feet, his steps bending the flight deck. Blood ran from his eyes and down his cheeks.
Knuckles didn't waste any time now. He immediately leapt to the sky and gave the demon the strongest uppercut he had in him, directly underneath the chin. The blow sent Astorath reeling backwards off the flight deck and down to the rocky dust below.
Then they heard another howl more painful and genuine than the last. Their curiosity overtaking them, the three heroes on the flight deck peered to take a look.
Astorath's body lay sprawled on the ground. His body had fallen upon the jagged rocks. They impaled him, jutting directly out of his massive torso, arms, legs, and neck. He didn't appear injured though; he trashed like an animal, trying to rip his limbs and body off the pillars.
"Jeez..." Sonic recoiled at the sight.
Knuckles stomped his foot down, "Had enough?"
Astorath's eyes looked upward, focusing on Knuckles and Sonic. And then the demon began to laugh. It was slow at first, then rose to a great bellow.
Then the Lord of Battle gave one final roar and pulled with all his might. The stone shattered around him, freeing his limbs. With a thrash he ripped himself free from the field of spikes, huge pillars of rock still impaled straight through his body.
"No way..." Knuckles gasped.
The dark warrior spun and tore every single monolith from his chest. Blood flowed in torrents from every wound. His screeches of pain echoed across the cloister. He took a knee, weakened from blood loss.
"Wow... You stronger den I thought," Astorath gurgled and laughed, "But I have plan for you - more pain!"
"Put a sock in it, and be glad we don't have the Chaos Emeralds with us so we could beat you six ways to Sunday!" Knuckles taunted. Astorath was completely unfazed.
Suddenly, a loud beeping could be heard. Astorath took out a portable radio set and listened in. A distress message immediately began blaring.
"Huh?" Sonic took a step back.
The Nephilim knew that sound. He took out his communicator that was linked to his flagship.
"Zziszizzisghb atra'ghhb? Zxfhsifhg'vbyatr!" Astorath spoke in Demonish to hide his words from his opponents. A desperate voice responded in Demonish, and none of the heroes had any idea what it meant.
Astorath cursed to himself before glancing at Sonic and Knuckles. "You have won de day today, but if we meet again, I won't hold back. Next time, fight somebody your own tiny BABY size!"
Grabbing his guns, he spun around and ran off down the path he came from. Knuckles and Sonic glanced at each other.
"Well that was anticlimactic," Sonic sweatdropped.
...
Tsali and Trinity sprinted through the underbrush, fleeing from a crescendo of more alien growls not too far behind them. That's when the were suddenly mobbed by a trio of the very creatures they were running from.
They were the feared Venatorae, the Hunters.
Hunters were yet another type of synth, consisting of a white, rounded rectangular central hardened core protected by a blue armored outer skin layer, also emblazoned by a white cross on their foreheads. Standing about twenty feet tall, they stood on three quadruple-jointed legs, and saw via two vertically aligned blue eyeports.
Like a pack of wolves, the three Hunters surrounded the two foxes, squealing in their guttural language. Tsali knew that they were communicating; Hunters were smart enough to track and kill their prey tactically, although they were weren't too smart in normal circumstances.
The two foxes got into battle stance, ready for anything.
Before any of the Hunters could move, another Hunter came with them. However, this synth was slightly different. It was a bit taller than the other Hunters, and it was a bright-green color scheme instead of a blue-gray.
Without warning, Tsali immediately grabbed Trinity's hand and both of them leaped high into the air, out of the ring of Hunters. With a sweep of his hand and a flurry of Dark Chaos Spears, Tsali started a raging cobalt inferno that blinded the creatures.
Spotting a small outcropping of rock leading to the mouth of a cave, Tsali took Trinity's hand and dived underneath the outcropping.
But it wasn't a synth that Tsali heard this time. A cloud of exhaust swallowed the pine trees around them.
The beetle-like guise of a Soul Ripper gunship floated across the sky, nail drivers and plasma rockets blazing with the fury of a thousand suns. The trees around the foxes burst into brilliant flame and glittering wood splinters. Hunters burst into ash, incinerated easily by Demon firepower. Trinity's skin burned from the heat around them.
As the Soul Ripper obliviously drifted to its next target, Trinity rose from his hole under the rock.
Both foxes stared into the rocky valley nearby, a front row seat to the carnage around them. A giant convoy of Striders and Advisor pods had come under attack. Demon Spiderbots and an entire fleet of Soul Rippers fell upon them.
The horizon glowed red as the resulting exchange of railguns and plasma scorched the landscape. Monstrous machines of war clashed, their disabled husks quickly beginning to litter the landscape. Muslim suicide craft crashed and exploded against the Demon gunships, sending many of them tumbling out of the air and flattening mountains with their impacts. Frenzied cries of Allahu ackbar and nightmarish screaming could barely be heard over the apocalyptic din.
The sky quickly darkened with smoke and ash from the carnage. The dust and the fire and the smoke and the hellish haze rose up, clouding the land as crimson beams and blasting thunderbolts filled the air. The entire planet shuddered, and every crack of a magical blast was like a fist to the ears.
"Jeez... This whole world's getting torn apart."
Tsali turned to him, "We don't want to get caught in this crossfire. In here!"
The cave came upon a large mining depot, old and rusting buildings cluttering the area and various machinery fallen into urban disrepair. Derelict machines and generators were strewn about, scattered and blackened from the rusting hulks of war machines.
It was eerily quiet... too quiet.
Unbeknownst to Tsali, Trinity secretly spotted an odd shape darting around one of the roofs of the buildings. He couldn't tell what it was though.
Trinity spotted an old mine entrance leading into darkness."There it is."
"Careful, I'm reading massive Shroud signals everywhere inside," the Ultimate Weapon replied. More sounds echoed behind them. More gunfire, more frenzied cries of Allahu ackbar, more explosions.
"Shroud parasites? I didn't think those creatures would be here."
"They're everywhere," Tsali began to advanced further into the cave. He created a ball of energy in his hand, illuminating the way. "This way. Venus should be just ahead."
Trinity and Tsali heard the disgusting squelch of mutated biomass underneath their feet. Foul reddish pustules and pimples lined the rocks. They heaved and writhed as the two foxes cautiously advanced.
They found themselves in a large circular cavern. The walls were alive with activity. Shroud Infection Forms crawled across the rock. They poured from every outcropping and every corner. They crawled out of skeletons and floors and ceilings. They began to move in lockstep, reacting to the intruders to their hive.
Suddenly, Tsali began to feel something odd in the air; the unmistakable vibrations of Chaos Energy.
Before the pair could advance, the ground started to rumble a bit, and the floor of the center cracked open. In its place, large black vines started to grow, splitting the floor and waving madly. The Infection Forms retreated in terror of the dark power. Before they could react, the enormous bud of a giant poison-black flower grew out of the floor.
And as it opened, Tsali and Trinity found none other than Venus the Seedrian. Her body mangled beyond recognition, her legs little more than strings of mutated flesh, she levitated out of the bud and landed on the floor. Wires and metal bars jutted through her empty eye sockets and every inch of her visible skin.
A cruel smile suddenly crawled over her mouth, her jaw loosely hanging from her skull.
"Do you not feel it, Tsali? Your time is slowly running out!" Venus spoke hatefully, her voice having a robotic undertone echoing behind it. "Soon all will be corrupted... including YOU!"
With that, the pits where her eyes should have been suddenly glowed a bright blue, and more black vines started to grow around her body. She also pulled out her giant scythe and raised it high over her head.
"What... What does she mean?" Trinity asked, not understanding.
Tsali looked over at him and readied a barrage of Dark Chaos Spears in his hands. "No time! Get ready!"
As Venus rose in the air, the vines suddenly shot out of the ground and tried to slap the two foxes like tentacles. However, Tsali and Trinity both jumped in opposite directions, dodging the attack.
Retuning himself, Tsali launched a burst of Chaos Spears at Venus, but a vine suddenly grew and blocked the blue bolts of energy.
Before even he could react, a clump of vines appeared behind him and wrapped around his body tightly, immobilizing him.
However, Trinity jumped in, claw blades at the ready, and severed the vines with a flurry of well-timed punches. Tsali nodded at him in thanks, and the two of them stared at the unfazed Venus.
With their joint power, the duo unleashed a giant laser beam of energy, partly white and partly black. Venus attempted to block it with her overgrown vines, but the beam severed the vines in half as if they weren't even there. The beam hit Venus square in the stomach, throwing her to the floor, before fizzling out of the air.
Tsali and Trinity, both drained by the attack, now looked upon a heavily weakened Venus. Her body twitched and shook violently. Her scythe lay uselessly next to her. The vines all around the room had been vaporized in the blast, so the floor was now cracked.
Finally, she let go of the pain, and crawled towards them.
"... Tsali..." Venus was able to whisper out, coughing.
The two foxes walked towards her limp form slowly.
"Yes, Venus?" Tsali asked. There was not a single hint of cruelty in his voice, much to Trinity's surprise.
"... Take this... Please... ..." Venus replied. She slid a small electronic card across the floor. Tsali picked it up. He noticed Seedrian writing on it.
"What's this?" Tsali asked.
"It is the key... The secrets... lie on Seedrius... It is the only way to unlock... unlock..." Venus stuttered, coughing again.
"Unlock...?" Tsali asked.
"The door... the very door..." Venus tried to explain.
Tsali had nothing to say this time, but only looked at the card in his hand intently.
"Tsali... I have..." Venus asked.
"Yes?"
"Tell Cosmo... the next time you see her... I'm so sorry..." Venus weakly requested, "The darkness... has come... Give in... to the... dark..."
Before Tsali could reply, she started twitching and shaking violently again.
Without warning, before either of them could do anything to save her, a giant vine shot out of the ground right beneath Venus, brutally impaling her and slamming her form against the floor in the center of the room.
With that coup de grâce, Venus the Seedrian was no more.
Tsali and Trinity both stood there silently Tsali, for perhaps the first time in his life, suddenly felt a twinge of what normal people call compassion. It felt strange to him, having only known a life of killing someone the moment they begged for mercy.
Suddenly, a puddle of blue goop spread around Venus's body, and her dead form levitated into the air by unseen energy. Slowly, her body started to dissolve into blue particles of Chaos Energy, which finally scattered throughout the air like ashes in the wind.
Tsali picked up Venus' great scythe. He gazed at its demonic build and shifting colors with quiet interest.
"What could've done this..." Trinity asked himself, almost silently. The ground above began to shake and dust choked the chamber.
"Let's get outta here. Maledict needs to hear of this."
With that, Trinity grabbed on to Tsali's black tails and both foxes teleported out of the room.
...
Astorath reappeared inside the bridge of the Indomitable, only to be met by a scene of pure horror.
What was once the bustling kommand bridge of his flagship had become a charnal house. The consoles, monitors, doors, and halls were slick with blood. Body parts lay in piles. Corpses of his fellow Nephilim lay strewn about, laying where plasma bolt and sword had felled them.
"Dis is sad day..." Astorath spoke to nobody in particular.
Then he heard coughing from a body. It was still alive, though it was little more than a torso and a nearly-severed head. He was too far gone for his natural regeneration to heal. The Lord of Battle knew his brother's time had come.
"There is..."
"What happened here, brother?" Astorath went down to a knee and cradled his brother's head.
"He speaks... He calls to us... He knows us... His darkness is eternal..."
With that, the Hell Knight let out a groan and gave up the ghost.
The Prince of Darkness wept tears of bitter rage, determined to find who was responsible for such a massacre. Surely, his security monitors caught what happened, even if none of his brothers were still alive to tell the tale.
Astorath, wiping the blood off a nearby monitor, immediately accessed the security feed for the bridge over the last several hours.
Then he saw it. The Demon crewmates began yelling, screaming, holding their heads in agony at some unseen force. A blue glow began to illuminate the bridge. And then the slaughter began.
Astorath watched in numb disbelief as he saw the carnage. His brothers began to murder each other, shooting and mutilating each other with wild abandon. Several began to tear off their own limbs. Some disemboweled themselves on their own swords. Some gouged out their own eyeballs and wrapped the optical nerves around their heads, screaming horrid gibberish as they went violently mad. And a few shoved their arms into their mouths and ripped out their tongues and teeth. The bridge quickly emptied from the slaughter, turning into little more than an abattoir.
He turned it off. He could watch no more. Without any pause or hesitation, he found a working communication console and contacted Lord Maledict.
"Astorath? Good. I thought something happened to you and Snakebite Fleet when you didn't reply for several hours." Maledict inquired.
Astorath shook his head in shame. "Dere is no Snakebite Fleet left."
"What is that supposed to mean? You were attacked?"
"I was gone when it happened. Escorts are gone and all my brothers started killing each other, I don't know why! De Warp drive is dead too."
The Devil was not sympathetic. "And where in Hell's name were you when all this happened?"
"I went to fight Sonic and get dose Emeralds from him."
"You went to fight..." Satan echoed before stopping himself mid-sentence, "Wait... who?"
"Sonic de Hedgehog," Astorath said. "Just fought him in de Vortal Cloister. He and his baby crew tried to hide dere."
Astorath did not hear any response from Maledict, although he heard some banging and shuffling on the other end. Then he began to hear static. He could barely hear Maledict's response over it.
"You found WHO hiding WHERE?"