4-on-1. Rage and sorrow against unyielding malice.
Malus starred awestruck at the fiery eyed being standing before him. There was no mistaking it. Those eyes, that voice and that ever encompassing red soul that quivered with every restrained sounding breath the Gabriel possessed girl took.
"I don't believe it. You-you found a meister?!" Malus practically cried in outrage.
"How very peculiar."
Malus followed the sound of his mother's voice and found her above him, riding atop a smaller cousin of her favored mount. She intuitively looked over the petite girl her son was being wielded by. In turn, Gabriel stared back at the mother he had left almost a decade ago.
The witch ordered her Chimera lower so that she could stand beside Malus and confront her wayward offspring on equal ground.
"My child it has been to long." Plaguea stepped forward with her arms out wide, as if expecting her youngest child to rush into her arms. Gabriel instead lowered Sakuya respectively.
"Lady Plaguea."
Plaguea, not seeming surprised by the cold greeting lowered her arms. "Truly this is unconventional family reunion. But it is a time to celebrate! Our family is together again."
"I don't see how me pointing a katana at my friend's murderer and telling you both to leave before I burn you, can be counted as a family reunion."
"How dare you talk to mother like that!" Malus almost charged at his defiant sibling and put an icicle between his meister's eyes, but Plaguea raised an arm to halt him.
"Indeed, we seem to be on opposing sides at this moment. But, now I wonder why? Why do you deny your greater impulses? Why fight for the reaper and petty humans when yours and your brother's destiny demands so much more?" She called out to him. A mother trying to put her son on a path she believed right for him. He would have none of it.
"My fighting my impulses is the only things keeping you two from being turned to ash. But if you insist-" Gripping Sakuya with both hands and pulling her back beside him. "Ho-oh hou!"
The red crescent blast soared forth from his swing, heading straight for the unarmed Plaguea. The blast impacted against its target, sending up a cloud of smoke.
"Did you get her?" Akira, having retaken human form, asked. As the smoke began to clear, the meisters caught a glimpse of a sparkling white mass smoldering where the blast had hit it.
"Does your lowliness know no end?" Malus asked, freeing his glaive from the ground where he had used it to block the blast from him and Plaguea. "Our gracious mother has offered you a final chance to embrace your destiny and you spit it in her face!?"
"To hell with my destiny!" Gabe/Allison charged forward despite Akira's call to stop, Gurren Gari gleaming blood red in the night air. "And to hell with you!"
(Hit the music: DMC ost Now you've really crossed the line)
Fenris and Gurren Gari clashed together, sending up a blast of wind that knocked all non-combatants back. Gabe broke off first and came in with heavy handed diagonal slash. Malus blocked the two handed blow and countered with a mighty thrust forward with the Hrunting end. Gabe caught the long blade on his demonic arm, red blood flowing where the thrust had barely penetrated his scales.
Now you've really crossed the line
Your hate for me is divine
My love yearns your suffer
On your grave lurks my prosper
"Kneel!" Malus commanded as Hrunting's extending blade forced the Devil Buster back. Gabe/Allison's feet skidded against the concrete as she struggled against the glaive's mighty force.
"Gyro Kick!" Akira, wheel on his leg whirring to life dashed along side the struggling shibusen meister and knocked the long blade away with a mighty round house kick.
Allison steadied her feet back on the ground and lifted her sword up, once again preparing to meet the hateful witch blade to blade.
Taunt more as a lure but it's no use
Knots tight my excite I prepare the noose
Say no more it's time for you to make your move
My blackened soul lit by your fuel
"Hang on let's think this through." Akira grabbed the enraged meister's shoulder. "We need to come up with some kind of a plan."
"No I don't!" Allison broke free of the Bio's hold and charged, Akira, reluctantly, in hot pursuit.
"Come, and be a feast for my blade!" Malus swung his now icicle covered glaive toward the charging two, sending a spray of icy shrapnel flying right at them.
The speedy Akira easily dodged to the side, however, Gabriel was too blinded by fury to think about avoiding damage. He hacked and slashed at any icy blades that dared impede his path. Still, icicles sliced into his cheeks, legs and shoulders as they went soaring by. He could have sworn he heard a girl's voice calling out a name to him but he ignored it and continued to rush forward.
Implodes your moral and drain your pride
Too late for debate or run and hide
Time to take your life it tolls the bell
To your hell I'd like to welcome you
"Zantetsuken!" Switching to reverse hand, the Devil Buster prepared to slice his half brothers head from his shoulders but his plans were thwarted as a cyclone of icy wind knocked his katana from his hands.
"Raging Tundra." Malus sneered at his unarmed foe. "You're mine!" His pale angelic arm crackled with gray electricity as he jabbed forward. His hand was pointed directly for Gabriel's heart. No. Directly for Allison's heart!
"NO!" Gabriel smashed his own fist into Malus's open palm. Red energy crackled through his arm as an explosion of red flame knocked the witch back.
"Have you come to your senses yet?" Akira slid into position beside Gabe, Sakuya in hand.
"I told you to be careful with her! Now look what you've done!" Gabriel looked down at himself. It was true, blood flowed from multiple wounds on Allison's arms, legs and even one icicle had sliced a deep cut into her hip. This had been the first time he had allowed her to be hit in this form and the feeling of guilt left a bitter taste in his mouth.
I'm fine. We shouldn't stop and worry over me if we want to stop him.
He could hear Allison's calls of assurance, but his eyes roved back over the wound on her hip. His gaze then shifted to the sight of Daniel, cradling the body of fauna in his arms while the unmoving forms of Hana and Rosa lay next to him, his and Fauna's jackets lying nearby and covered in blood, most likely after being used to stop their bleeding. As they were, Gabriel could not tell if they were alive, the same could be said for Robyn and Angela as Marie knelt over her wounded partner; his head in her lap; and Tsubaki attempting to wrap up Angela's beaten and bruised mid section. All the while Black Star stood by. Gabe saw the blood running down his hands, he must have been protecting the others from the damage the two's duel was causing to the area. They had all been hurt by his carelessness.
"No, they're right." Gabe muttered. "I'm the one who said we need to cooperate if we want to stop Malus. I let my anger get the better of me again, I can't let that happen now."
"Understand that you are not the only one with a stake in this battle." Akira said, handing the still fuming Sakuya back to Allison/Gabe. "I want to put my fist between that arrogant sneer of his just as much as you do, but we stand a far better chance of doing that if we take him together."
"Right." Gabe raised Sakuya again. "I'll take point. While I have him distracted try to flank him."
"No problem I was trained to work in a unit, this is my specialty." He grabbed the handle that had appeared on his shoulder and ran the engine, causing it to roar to life.
All the while, Malus was pulling himself up from his impact against a far wall. He then saw the two meister's moving in unison toward him.
"Hmph. No matter if it's one, two or ten of you, I will carve up any and all who stand in the way of my ascension to godhood." Retrieving his glaive and resting it atop his shoulders the witch marched forward to face his cautious foes with an evil grin splayed across his face.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Throughout the entire clash, Plaguea had watched her youngest-born's combat prowess with clear admiration. And she scowled how easily it soon faded when he had become conscious of his meister's well being.
'How is this fragile girl suitable to be a vessel for Fury's power?' The witch pondered. 'By all logic only Malus, a being possessing a body as durable as his own should be able to wield him.' As the witch pondered this conundrum she was unaware of a presence behind her until a violet scythe blade had encircled her, its tip pointed at her throat.
"Well this is a surprise." Plaguea commented as Maka emerged from the shadows. "I had thought that my pet would be able to keep you preoccupied for the time being?"
"I'm afraid your overgrown worm only settled as an appetizer." Maka said, her green eyes gleaming with a cold edge.
"Oh how terrible." Plaguea mock sobbed. "He was a good pet, hard to breed and even harder to train."
"The let me put you out of your grief!" Maka could have easily have taken the woman's head off with the slightest twitch of her wrist, however, Plaguea's spear, Harbinger, immediately formed in her hands, stopping Soul's scythe from reaching its target.
"I'm afraid I must suffer a little longer. A mother's work is never done after all."
"I agree!"
Plaguea and Maka broke off as a miniature typhoon slammed into the spot where Plaguea had been standing. Rain pelted the spot as a red haired form stepped from the resulting cover of mist.
"Sorry we're late." Natsumi called over to Soul and Maka as Hisako leveled the shield-blade toward the witch responsible for her cities peril.
"Oh, another Death Scythe wielder. And to whom do I owe the pleasure." Plaguea curtsied mockingly.
"Fugiri Hisako, Gabriel's home room teacher." Hisako introduced.
"Death Scythe Tsuname Natsumi, Shibusen's head nurse." Natsumi followed.
"Well met. I am Plaguea Ringrose."
"I know who you are." Hisako spat. "You're the woman who spawned that monster that killed Thomas. The mother who stood by and watched as her own child was tortured by that same monster. Its no wonder he left!"
"You sound quite personal in your spite. Could you be the one who took up my role as his maternal care giver?" Plaguea almost seemed skeptical in her observation.
"I did the best I could to undo the damage you wrought." The structures surrounding the three women shook as Hisako's scarlet red soul formed around her. Pipes suddenly broke loose from the buildings and concrete around and beneath them, streams of water rising up to meet the tip of Natsumi's blade. "Now I can hope to undo a little more, by putting you out of his misery!" The water gathered, flattening itself into the form of a whirring disk.
"Tch! What a disgraceful woman. Attack!" The centipede chimera heeded the call of its master and charged through the alley at break neck speeds, its razor sharp mandibles looking to chew into the red haired woman.
"Ryuujin no kiba (Fang of the water dragon)!" With a wave of Hisako's blade the disk sprang into action, cleaving the charging beast into two.
"Impressive." Plaguea congratulated. "You seem capable with such a powerful weapon. But I wonder…" Plaguea crossed her arms over her chest as a distorted rainbow colored orb rose up around her. "…Just how capable?"
"She's going to use magic, get ready!" Maka ordered as she brought Soul up defensively. Hisako did the same, smiling as she stood beside her senior.
"It's been awhile since we've fought together. I missed this."
Maka returned the smile. "Don't get to moony eyed yet or you'll break out in wrinkles. Here she comes!" Both woman turned serious gazes to their foes as she began her chant. Just like the beautiful colors of her soul, the song she chanted was distorted. It became a tainted replica of a children's rhyme that spoke of only death.
"Ring around the rosies…
Pocket full of posies…"
She began to twist and curve her fingers in tune with her song, drawing multiple circles in the air with the tip of her finger which glowed with an eerie purple light.
"Ashes to ashes…
And dust to dust."
Her spell completed and a ring of violet circles drawn in the air before her, Plaguea glared at her opponents expectantly. She pressed her hands against the back of the ring, prompting hooked spikes to appear from each of them. "Rose Thorns!"
As one the hooks shot from their perches, still interconnected by long blood red strands.
"Here they come!" Maka took the front and began twirling her scythe end over end in her hands. Her hopes were that the strands would crash into the slicing shield that was her weapon and be destroyed. Plaguea rectified that situation with an upward twitch of her finger, causing each of the zooming spears to head skyward and around her defense.
"Watch out!" Hisako pulled her colleague back as the strands impacted against her position.
"I'm afraid you should not expect the same outcomes from a duel with me as you should with Medusa." Plaguea commented. Her point was made as the concrete where her spears had hit began to hiss, crack and slowly dissolve into a waxy melted paste.
"These things are acid tipped!" Natsumi exclaimed.
"Oh man, nothing cool about melting to death." Soul gulped.
"No choice though." Maka stated getting a firmer grip on Soul. "We have to stop her or this war will only continue. (hint hint)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(Hit the Music: DMC Taste the blood)
The flinch in your eyes calls your bluff
Feel free to die when you've had enough
Useless cause is breaking your back
Your life will end when you attack
"C'mon you ignorant insects. Swarm all you wish, insects will only ever be insects." Malus smashed his palm against the ground sending a line of frozen stalagmites that scattered the charging Akira and Allison.
"You still talk too much!" Gabe/Allison brought her burning fist around into the ground causing her own pillar of fire to demolish the approaching spires. Malus snarled in frustration at having his attack canceled out. He took a super human leap through the air, pointing his glaive downward.
Make your move
Make your stand
Make the win
(Hah) Like you can
"Die!"
Allison saw the meteoric attack coming and summoned more fire to her feet. She broke off at a run and leaped skyward, smashing her blazing dropped kick technique into Malus sword. "Lucifer Rising!"
See the war
See me rule
See the mirror
You'll see a fool
Malus hit the ground with a thud, smashing the ground with his fist and glaring at the female meister with contempt. "What do you hope to accomplish with defeating me? Can't you feel it?!"
"You're stalling." Gabe shot back.
"Am I?" Malus giggled as if he knew a private joke. "Are you telling me that even you, my own flesh and blood can't sense the change in the wind? The world is about to change drastically, with or without my aid."
"Is there a point to this?"
"The point is that you are a fool, brother." Malus pointed to extenuate his point. "I am not the evil one here, oh no he is yet to be born on this Earth. I am the one who is destined to save this world by destroying it and thus destroy him, and thus preserve peace!"
"He?" Gabriel raised his eye brow in confusion.
"Yes! HE!" Malus howled in delight. "The madness in the world quivers in anticipation of his birth. The birth of a new demon lord. A new Asura!"
To take me out you must fight like a man
(To take me out you must fight like a man)
You've yet to proven that you can
(You've yet to proven that you can)
I see your might it compares to something
That is if something is nothing
Gabe was speechless. He made no move to counter this claim, stunning though it was. He knew his brother had always had delusions of grandeur but his claims of the world's wrongness had always had basis in fact, but still…
As Gabe pondered this conundrum he did not notice that Malus had summoned more icicles to race toward him until…
Time to figure
Time to sin
Your times done
When you begin
"Gabriel!"
"Hmm?!" Gabe cart-wheeled back as the first volley stabbed into the ground at his feet. He had to roll to the side to escape the second. Malus cackled as he readied the third.
"Now that you understand, you should know that resisting me is pointless. Would you damn the entire world just for the sake of a few human lives?"
Live for suffer
Life for revenge
Know your life
Comes to an end
"The world is damned either way!" Gabe spat back. "This world does not need you and your methods. I'll say it again: To sacrifice millions of lives is not the way to save the world."
"Are you saying you know of a better way?!"
"I'm saying that if I were in your position I would never allow a single innocent sacrifice. If it were me, I would put only one life on the line, mine and mine alone!"
Taste the blood
Taste your fate
Swallow your pride
With your hate
Your last breath
Your last stance
The last of all
In your command
"That naïve viewpoint is why you are the weaker one. Do you honestly think you can defeat the Kishin alone?" He snarled summoning a gigantic icicle that rocketed its way to the waiting Devil Buster.
Gabe cracked his fist and leaped to meet the colossal projectile. "I will defeat him!" Gabe's fist flared up as he rapidly pummeled the ice block with his Jigoku Reppu technique. The icicle crumbled in the face of his counter attack as Gabe/Allison hit the ground at a roll. Gabe smirked when he met his brother's snarl. "And I'm not alone."
Knee's in the blood
With your crying pleas
Wade in your sorrow bathe
In your fear
Clear your mind
From righteousness suffered
Witness the moment your
Failures Prosper
"Spinout!" Akira took advantage of Malus's distracted state to pick up speed and flip into a handstand. He kicked his legs out at 180 degrees and rapidly began turning on the palms of his hands. Malus was blindsided by the incoming spin kick and was sent hurling into the crumbling wall of a building.
"Irksome pest!" Malus snarled as he extracted himself from the debris of the demolished wall. He raised the Fenrir end of his glaive skyward with one hand, white mist swirled around it as it grew larger and larger. "I'm going to exterminate you here and now!"
Gabe regrouped with Akira as the two watched in awe of the sheer size of their foes weapon. It had grown to be at least forty feet tall and it was covered in wickedly sharp icicle spikes.
"You with me?" Gabe asked Akira with an expectant grin his fist covered in crimson flames.
"Try to keep up." Akira smirked back a wheel appeared behind his wrist and with two twist of his handle, immediately whirred to life causing his hand to rotate rapidly.
"Let's go!"
(Hit the music: The time has come)
The time has come and so have I
I'll laugh last cause you came to die
The damage done the pain subsides
And I can see the fear clear when I look in your eye
Malus saw the two ready their attacks and snarled in challenge. "Your lives are mine! Feral Impact!" He smashed his humongous great sword downward atop the two meisters.
"Devil Dynamite!
"Accel Lancer!"
The two techniques met Malus's deadly blade, the insuing clash caused the two to grunt in strain as the heavy handed attack began to slowly overpower them.
Malus cackled in delight. "Well isn't this familiar. We've done this dance once already brother, and it will end the same!" Malus then placed his remaining hand to his glaives hilt and pushed down. Gabe and Akira cried out in pain as they were forced to hunch down, practically on their knees. "That's right kneel! Kneel in the face of your doom! Nothing can save y-!"
Shing!
I never kneel and I'll never rest
You can tear the heart from my chest
I'll make you see what I do best,
I'll succeed as you breathe your very last breath
Malus roared in pain as a thin blade stabbed through his left bicep. He glared into the tired but determined eyes of his attacker who had at some point acquired one of Angela's forgotten katanas.
"That was for Fauna." Daniel muttered. He sliced downward severing the angelic appendage from its shocked owners shoulder. "Now Gabriel!"
Gabe/Allison's left eye flashed violet as he gripped his free left hand tightly. Blue lines spread across the feminine forearm which was soon followed by raging scarlet flames that gathered in his fist. The devil buster gave a mighty battle cry and smashed his burning left fist into the side of the great blade, smashing it to icy splinters.
Now I know how the angel fell [JUST KNEEL]
I know the tale and I know it too well [JUST BOW]
I'll make you wish you had a soul to sell [soul to sell]
When I strike you down and send you straight to hell
"Impossible!" Malus cried holding the gaping wound where his left arm had been. But the Devil Buster wasn't through yet. His red eyes burning with fury, Gabe charged his wounded brother.
Now pushed to desperation, Malus swung out with the Hrunting end of his blade. Gabe slid beneath the swooping blade and turned on his opponent with his feet blazing. Malus attempted another swing but Gabe smashed the blade away with his Djinni Wing attack. He then turned on the balls of his feet and landed a series of spinning round house kicks to the side of his brother's face. "Ho-oh Senpukyaku! (Phoenix Whirlwind Kick)"
The dazed witch stumbled back from the assault; right into Akira's waiting arms.
My army comes from deep within
Beneath my soul-beneath my skin
As you're ending, I'm about to begin
My strength His bane~and I will never give in
"For Beltza and Sho!" Akira declared as he smashed his rotating fist straight into Malus's chin, hurling him end over end into the air.
"And this…" Gabe muttered as his burning membranous wings grew out from Allison's shoulders. He took to the sky, Gurren Gari slid back into its sheath. Malus watched as the red blur that was his brother swerved around him to hover over him. "This is for Thomas!
I'll tell you now I'm the one to survive
You never break my faith or my stride
I'll have you choke on your own demise
I make the angel scream, and the devil cry
Gabe dive bombed his defenseless sibling, one hand around Sakuya's hilt the other on her sheath. "Gurren…" He became a red blur as he passed his target and hit the ground at a skid, Sakuya free from her sheath. "Messatsu Giri." He twirled the katana through his fingers before slamming her back into her sheath one last time.
Malus stayed motionless in mid air. He had not seen what his brother had done, all he knew was that he, a being who had aspirations of reaching godhood, of being the savior of the new era, had met his end.
It was instantaneous. Lines of blue blood exploded from the witch's torso. Malus coughed up blood as lines of red flame ignited into the air in front of him. The lines crossed and intersected into a pattern that was a mirror image of the slashes across his top section. A single symbol that promised home for this falling god.
"JIGOKU"
And done. Long chapter with lots of action. But wait, there's more! The true final battle has just begun!
Please review.