Chapter 16: Armageddon (Recovery Part 4)
Tenshi loaded herself into The Bastard Sun. It was a small ship, about the size of a Raptor from the 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot, but it could travel through the Blind Eternities, and that was all that really mattered. Tracking where the messages from Goreclaw had originated, she jumped, entering a world that looked a lot like the one she was currently calling home. She landed the ship and stepped out onto the new world, dropping her ultimate form so as not to draw more attention to herself. She thought about asking around for a girl that fit Zoe's description, but quickly changed her plan as smoke filled the sky.
The streets started splitting open and fire was pouring out of the cracks, filling the sky with smoke. The smoke blocked the sun, plunging the city into darkness. Jared rushed Eden back into the tavern. "Barricade the doors. Grab anything that could be used as a weapon. And be ready for anything." He barked orders as everyone stared at him, stunned by his sudden change in personality. "Get off your asses and move," he shouted.
"Shouldn't we be trying to take cover with the severe seismic activity out there?" Alix asked.
"I don't think this is a basic earthquake," Jared said grimly. Unfortunately for him, he was correct. A massive creature that looked like Decimator of the Provinces smashed through the tavern window, running right for Jared. He dove out of the way, and the beast smashed into the karaoke machine. It quickly turned to charge the large man again, but got hit with a flying table. Turning to the source, the beast started rushing Juleka. The girl was holding a table in each hand, and made use of them. The first one was shattered as she knocked the monster backwards, and the second one was used to impale it. This didn't keep it down, though, and more creatures were swarming through the windows, and the sight of them caused Rose to scream in terror.
"Everyone get behind me," Juleka said.
"Juleka, those things will kill you," Marinette pleaded.
"They can try." The goth girl got down on one knee and slammed her fist into the ground, sending a massive shockwave out in front of her and blowing all of the creatures back and killing a large portion of them on the spot. Everyone looked on in awe, except for Eden, who looked more uncomfortable than anything else. "Now that that's taken care of, I need to get my suit."
"Is there something you've been meaning to tell us?" Alya asked.
"Well, cat's out of the bag. For anyone who couldn't figure it out, I'm the hero Imperium. I'll explain everything later, but right now, I need to help stop the apocalypse." She grabbed her bag and changed into her suit faster than the blink of an eye. "Let's just hope Ladybug and Chat Noir show up soon."
Marinette walked up to her. "One of them is already here. Since today is a day of sharing secrets, Tikki, spots on." There was a bright flash of pink light, and Ladybug stood where Marinette had been. Everyone gasped. "Now, I'm trusting you girls to keep this secret between us," Ladybug said.
Jared groaned. "Enough of the dramatic reveals. We've got more of these things coming. Viirus, defend." As Jared transformed, a few people in the tavern fainted, having three superhero identity reveals in one day. "This world is way too dramatic," the bear-themed hero muttered. "Imperium, you're with me. Ladybug, I need you to start getting civilians to safe areas outside the city. Get Chat Noir to help you with that, and I'll send The Illusionist to assist as well." It was a little strange that he was taking command so quickly, but given how confident he sounded, nobody questioned him. He walked out of the tavern, Imperium by his side, and entered into Hell on Earth.
The Illusionist entered the chinese massage parlor. It looked strikingly similar to the one Alya had taken her to back on her world, including the record player on the chest of drawers. An old asian man in a Hawaiian print shirt approached her. "Excuse me. How may I help you, ma'am?"
"You're the guardian on this world, are you not?" The Illusionist asked.
"Indeed. What seems to be the issue?"
"Demons have flooded the streets of Paris, and including myself, there's only five heroes active. We need more."
"I'm afraid I cannot do that. If Hawkmoth released these creatures, it is already a risk to have this many miraculous active at once."
"It's only four miraculous. Two of them aren't even from this universe, and Hawkmoth didn't send these. They are actual, in-the-flesh, demons, not some snarky akuma. We need more heroes."
"And as I said before, it's far too risky."
The Illusionist threw her head back and let out a loud and frustrated groan. "You're useless. Honestly, I'm tempted to let Jared at you when we're done. But for now, we need reinforcements." She pulled her flute out, slamming it into the record player. The guardian screamed in terror and tried to stop her, but she knocked him out. After a few more hits, the record player cracked, revealing a large hexagonal wooden box with red markings on top. Moving the shattered pieces of wood out of the way, she grabbed the box and ran outside, hoping she would be able to get some new recruits for the apocalypse. She hadn't even moved five feet from the door when a massive tendril slammed into her, throwing her to the ground and knocking the box out of her arms. The beast the tendril belonged to loomed over her. It looked like a fifteen foot tall hairless wolf with long, lanky front legs and several tendrils whipping about from a flaming maw. Looking down, the girl realized that not only had she dropped the box, her miraculous had also been knocked off of her, leaving her completely defenseless against the demon. It glared down on Marinette, it's beady eyes drilling holes into her. Marinette tried to swat some of the tendrils away, but it was in vain. The creature opened its mouth, revealing several circular rows of jagged teeth. With her arm still extended towards the beast, Marinette screamed, and a pillar of sound shot forward from her arm, sending the creature flying upward with a yelp. As the area around her suddenly went quiet, save for a light hum, the bluenette slowly peaked her eyes open and sat up. Looking at her hands, she noticed they were vibrating, giving off the hum she had been hearing. This confused her. She knew she could perform sonic attacks, but that had only been a miraculous ability. So why could she do it naturally? But she forgot all about that she remembered the box of miraculous. She got up to go find it, but was stopped by something pulling her to the roof. Turning to see her captor, Marinette faced Ladybug.
The group of girls followed Ladybug through the city, avoiding demons and random cracks in the Earth. Everyone was fearing for their life. Everyone but Eden. She was more worried about her sister, who had just run off into the fray with only one person for assistance. "Eden, we need to keep moving," Alix shouted at her, but the girl in question just stopped.
"Juleka needs my help. I'm going back," Eden responded. Everyone looked at her in horror as she turned and started jogging back towards the heat of battle. Despite the shouts of her friends, she kept going, knowing that she needed to get to her sister. She continued running, and had finally gotten back to the tavern when someone grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back. She was half-expecting to see Alix or Alya, but was instead greeted by a man about Adrien's height with brown hair and violet eyes.
"It's not safe out there," he said. "Why don't you stay with me."
"But, I don't even know you."
"Maybe not yet, but you will." He wrapped his arm around Eden's shoulder and lead her away from the fight into a small alley. "Let's go back to the place we first met."
"What's your name?" The looked taken aback, as if he hadn't been planning on telling her a name.
"Eli," he said after a bit. "My name is Eli. Now, to the Agreste manor?"
"Fat chance," a new voice said, this one coming from the sky. It's owner floated down, revealing to be a girl in a black and white dress with light brown hair and white-gold eyes. As she touched the ground, her dress morphed into something resembling armor and a fireball formed in her hand. "You're no Eli. You're more like a skrull. A weird, freaky, telepathic skrull with murderous intent." Eli just laughed.
"You think I want anything other than to get this girl to safety, Tenshi? I swear to you my intentions are pure."
"I sincerely doubt it, so please prove me wrong. I could use a pleasant surprise today." Eli just shrugged and continued leading Eden away. Tenshi grabbed Eden's wrist, and the latter turned back to look at her. "Where is he taking you?"
"The place we first met, apparently. Agreste manor, was it?"
"Wrong answer." Tenshi lobbed her fireball at Eli, and he shrieked in pain his head was engulfed in flame. He quickly shook his head, extinguishing the flame, and when he looked up, his violet eyes were now a sickening yellow. Eden gasped in shock. Tenshi stepped in front of her and summoned another fireball, but Eli just blew at her, putting that one out too. He pulled out a knife and ran at her, swinging furiously. Tenshi just grabbed his arm, bending it back at the elbow until it snapped. He wailed in pain, and she just grabbed him by the throat, forming another fireball in the same hand. Eli started burning, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He continued screaming, and kicked furiously as Tenshi hoisted him into the air. After a minute, Eli stopped kicking and just slumped over. Tenshi dropped the body, revealing that his neck had been completely burned through. While this was shocking, what shocked Eden more was the fact that the blood that started leaking out of his singed neck was a pale green, not the usual red that all humans have. "In case you're wandering, that thing is, well, was, a demon. And a relatively tricky kind, too. It was a telepath, probes the victims mind, takes the form of the thing they most love as a way to torture the victim before killing them."
"I wish I knew who that was, then," Eden said. "But, I don't know anything about my past."
"Perhaps I could help with that." Tenshi put her hands over Eden's temples, closed her eyes, and began to hum. Her hands glowed with light energy, but she quickly pulled them away as a painful shock was sent through them. "Damnit! Uhn, that hurt," she said, nursing her hands. "Uh, sorry. No luck."
"That's okay. I didn't think you'd have much luck anyway. Now, my sister is out on the battlefield there. If you don't mind, I'd like to go help her."
"Sure, but you're going to need some protection." Tenshi held out a gold choker. "Goreclaw dropped this on the way out. It's the dragon miraculous, and you could probably make use of it." Eden reached out and grabbed the choker, and a spark jumped from it to her as she touched it. Suddenly, she saw sixteen years of someone's life flash before her eyes in a second, and her eyes went wide. She quickly put the miraculous on and gave the command. "Wings out!"
Marinette stared down Ladybug. It wasn't the Ladybug of this world, but rather the Ladybug of her world. The girl looking back at her was none other than Alya Cesaire. "Th-This isn't possible," Marinette stammered. Ladybug just grinned. "You're dead. I watched you die. I cried, I mourned, everyone mourned. There was a funeral and-wait, there's no way you're the real Ladybug. You're a demon. You have to be. A shapeshifting demon, that's what you are! Demonbug is a fitting name, don't you think?" Demonbug chuckled.
"You're a clever girl. In fact, I'd say that killing you is almost a waste. Almost." The demon spun her yoyo in the signature Ladybug fashion. "But I do love having fun." Marinette just sighed.
"Have you never heard of the term 'respect the dead'?" Demonbug laughed, which only got an annoyed eye roll from Marinette. "You know, I don't exactly take kindly to having someone try to kill me. And I've got enough on my plate with Jared's stubbornness and stupidity, so I don't really have time for you." She shoved her fists forward, and nothing. Looking at her hands worriedly got another laugh from Demonbug, who charged at her, yoyo spinning furiously. Marinette dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting shredded by a magic toy. Rolling onto her back, Marinette pointed her fists at Demonbug again, this time releasing twin pillars of sound, launching her into the air. She fell back down and hit the roof with a sickening crack, and pale green blood started pooling out from her back. Marinette blew a stray hair from her face. "I told you I didn't have time for you."
Goreclaw and Imperium had been handling the demons pouring into the city so far, but they were getting continually bigger and stronger. It wasn't long before fatigue started setting in and both heroes reached their limit. "Never had this many opponents that were this strong before," Goreclaw grunted. He swung his claymoore through another demon, but this one got back up, even after a couple dozen strikes.
"I'm kind of missing the shapeshifter demons," Imperium said with a chuckle.
"You fought your crush, couldn't have been easy."
"Easier than it would seem. What about you?"
"It's, difficult to explain. Look out, another wave comin' in!" Several hordes of demons came rampaging through, each one looking more mutilated and horrifying than the last one. Goreclaw hacked and slashed, continuously switching between his sword and his knives, and barely making a dent in some of the weaker demons in the new horde. In a similar fashion, Imperium was throwing punches left and right, as well as every other direction, with very little effect on any of her assailants. They were getting quickly overwhelmed, and the hordes were still coming. Then a miracle happened. Imperium was enveloped in a green translucent shell that took the shape of a bear. Try as they might, the demons could not damage this new armor. To Imperium, it felt like an extension of her body. She started swatting demons away, tearing through them with the bear's claws and teeth. Looking around, she found where the armor seemed to be coming from. A trail of energy was leading from Goreclaw over to her, and Goreclaw himself had been changed. His hands, forearms, and the skin around his eyes had cracked, letting off a green light, much like Janai's berserker form in The Dragon Prince. His eyes were also glowing an eerie green, and he had entered a sort of berserker rage himself, moving twice as fast with four times the power and half the control, cutting demons in half and quickly regaining the upper hand. This lasted for a while, but the demons continued to grow in numbers and power, and the two heroes soon found themselves overwhelmed again. Imperium's vision was swarmed with eldritch horrors, and she lost sight of her partner. To make matters worse, the armor began to fade, and demons were getting inside. She collapsed to the ground, demons clawing and biting at her with no way to fight back. She hadn't had her powers for long, and she was already going to die because of them. Closing her eyes, Imperium gave up, accepting her inevitable fall instead of trying to stop the unstoppable hordes. She felt warmth, but it wasn't the traditional internal warmth. It felt like something around her was putting off the heat, and she smelled something burning. Opening her eyes, she saw all of the demons that had been piling on top of her now running around on fire. Looking towards the source of the blaze, she saw a woman floating in the air, her eyes aglow and her hands spraying massive jets of flame into the hordes. In the distance, Goreclaw yelled in triumph. The woman landed in front of the remaining demons, and the two heroes joined her. She looked over at Goreclaw and smiled.
"I'm back," she said triumphantly. Turning back to the hordes, her hands caught fire, and the flames licked up to her elbows. "Get out of this city you FUCKING ASSHOLES!" she screamed as she sent a thirty foot wave of fire at the demons. The monsters shrieks could barely be heard over the roar of the flame, and when it finally died out, not one demon was left standing. The woman smiled. "My name is Zoe Carpenter, and I'm the baddest bitch around."
"No no no NO! This was not supposed to happen!" Kraull roared. The demonlord rose from his throne for the first time in centuries. "You were supposed to stay put, Zoe Carpenter. But now you leave me with no choice. You will die today! As will the rest of your pathetic allies." He grabbed one of his many weapons, choosing a large one-handed longsword, and spread his ancient wings. He had to admit that it felt good to finally unfurl them after all those years. Releasing a mighty roar, he launched into the air, determined to slaughter the humans that had invaded his world.
Imperium looked astounded and Goreclaw crushed Zoe in one of his signature lethal hugs. "How in the hell did you end up here?" he asked.
"I somehow survived the Blind Eternities and landed here. I've got a lot to tell you about those three months."
"Likewise."
"Ahem," Imperium said. "Sorry, but who are you exactly?"
"I'm Zoe Carpenter," Zoe began.
"Or Agreste, depending on the day," Goreclaw interjected.
"As I was saying, Zoe Carpenter, but like this, I'm known as Fireheart. Of course, you call me something else." Fireheart let her mask disappear, and Imperium managed to look even more surprised than she already was.
"E-Eden?" she managed to stutter out.
"Yeah. Though, not technically my name. As to where I got it from, meet my sister, Eden Imelda."
Tenshi materialized next to Goreclaw, making him visibly jump. The girl dropped her ultimate form, leaving a fifteen year old brunette standing in her place. "Hey everyone," she said cheerfully as she beamed and waved.
"Wait a second, she's your sister?" Goreclaw asked Zoe. "You never mentioned you had a sister." He turned to Eden. "So, given that I already know part of the family pretty well, it makes sense that you would be pretty accepting of me. You free tonight?" Eden Imelda turned beat red as Zoe punched Goreclaw in the gut.
"Don't you ever talk to my sister like that!" she screamed.
"Since when has a bit of harmless flirting been an issue?"
"Since it was with my baby sister, that's when!"
"Geez, okay. I'll back off. Nice to see that some things never change. So, Imperium, we can help with the clean-up for a bit, but we're going to need to hit the road soon, now that the whole Zoe amnesia bit and the demon issue is out of the way." Just as Goreclaw said this, a massive shape bursted through the Earth, slamming onto the ground in front of them. As the dust from the creature's impact settled, everyone turned to see a massive demon with pale skin, long black horns, blood-red hands, broad, black, leathery wings, a brown tunic around it's waist, and a massive sword in it's right hand. "I should've kept my mouth shut," Goreclaw groaned.
"I am Demonlord Kraull," the demon boomed. "You lot have trespassed on my world, an action punishable by death."
"Well, to be fair, you didn't exactly have any do not enter signs outside, so how the hell are we supposed to know?" Goreclaw countered. Kraull simply chuckled.
"You amuse me, warrior. It will be a shame to have to kill you." He hefted his large blade into the air, clearly ready for a fight. Goreclaw formed his claymoore, but was held back by Zoe.
"Let me handle this. A bit more of my memory was missing than I thought, so let's test something I just remembered how to do." She walked towards Kraull, holding her arms out. Clenching her fists, she appeared to be trying to activate something, but only succeeded in looking constipated.
"Uh, is something supposed to happen, or is this all part of your plan?"
"Shut the fuck up, Jared. I'm trying to concentrate." She closed her eyes and started bouncing on the balls of her feet. "C'mon, c'mon," she muttered to herself. Kraull laughed.
"I see you recalled a power from a time long past," he chuckled. "I've been watching you for a while now, Zoe Carpenter. I know of the power you once possessed. But now, that power is a mere spark in your existance. I watched you get pulled into the Blind Eternities from your ship. It was at that moment that the true potential of your power was unlocked, but the Blind Eternities is a cruel and unforgiving place. It burned through your power, the only remaining trace of it being an amplified amulet transformation. If you had not landed on this world, you surely would have died. You, Zoe Carpenter, used to be a god. But now you can DIE!" Kraull rushed forward, swinging his blade at a rapidly retreating Zoe. As his blade came crashing down, it collided with another. Goreclaw had entered his ultimate warrior form, the man-bear hybrid standing just as tall as the demon. His axe had blocked the blade, and it didn't take a genius to tell that he was pissed.
"I don't care what the backstory is," Goreclaw said. "But don't touch my friends."
"And why is that?"
"Because the last person to do so, well, let's just say that the term 'don't lose your head' no longer applies." Kraull swung his blade at Goreclaw, who blocked it and attempted to drive his axe into the demon's chest. Kraull went airborne, dodging the warrior's attacks. Goreclaw kept swinging, unable to land a hit on the demon. That's when Fireheart stepped in.
"I'll handle this guy," she said confidently. "You said my remaining power is shown in an amplified miraculous? Let's see just how amplified." She launched herself into the air, stopping above the smoke in the sky, and Kraull rose to meet her. The sun had set, and the pale moonlight glinted off of the demon's sword. He flew at Fireheart, and she roared in response, her eyes glowing a brilliant white as white-hot fire surrounded her. Using all the strength she could muster, she blasted Kraull out of the sky in one shot. This left her light-headed, though, and she started to plummet. Fortunately, she had her sisters. Imperium leapt up to catch her and Eden transformed and used her power to slow their decent. Kraull wasn't so lucky. He slammed full force into the ground, creating a decent sized impact tremor. He was covered in burns, his right wing riddled with holes and his left wind singed off. Having lost his blade, he charged in a mad fury, hoping to defeat them with blunt force, but Goreclaw had a different idea. As the demon swung at him, he sidestepped and brought his axe down on the demon's bicep, removing most of his arm. Roaring in pain, he swiped at Goreclaw with his left hand, only to have the warrior's axe embedded into his wrist. Pale green blood was spraying from the wound like a fountain, and Goreclaw wasn't done. He dislodged the axe by pulling it the rest of the way through Kraull's hand, and then swung it into the demon's head, splitting his skull. The great demonlord fell to the Earth, dead.
And here you are. The next chapter will be the last in the recovery arc, and then the adventure continues. What did y'all think? Please let me know in the reviews. Au revoir.