Chapter 35: Invading the Fortress of Evil!
Spawn and Reika rushed towards the iron gate. As Spawn used his Necroplasm to melt through the iron gate, Reika began to groan as she held her head. "Argh...I can feel it. The evil of this place; it's everywhere!" Reika groaned. "If you lack the stomach to do this, then walk away right now while you still have that chance!" Spawn growled as he finished melting his way through the iron gate. Reika gave him a dark look as he said that. "I can handle myself just fine, Raizo! I'm just saying that we need to be careful, that's all!" Reika snapped. "There's no going back, Kitami. We either do this or we don't; it's that simple! Now let's get moving, and for fuck's sake, don't get yourself killed!" Spawn growled as he began making his inside.
Reika sighed as she shook her head. "I said that I can handle myself, asshole! What's wrong with you?" Reika muttered. As they ventured into the fortress, they soon found out that they weren't the only ones infiltrating the place. 20 minutes later, Spawn and Reika climbed up a platform to get a better look of the place, when Spawn caught sight of a small group of people. "Shit! That's just great!" Spawn cursed. "What? What's wrong now?" Reika asked snappishly. Spawn pointed to the direction he saw the people. "Oh no! What are those fools doing here?! They're gonna get themselves killed!" Reika gasped.
As it turns out, Sonya and Jax were sneaking through a weapons cache with Morikawa and Ichinose. "Damn! Look at all these guns; there's enough here to prepare an entire army!" Jax exclaimed. "This would give Kano a run for his money!" Sonya muttered. Morikawa nervously looked around, wondering what sort of evil was lurking in the shadows. "Hey, aren't you worried about what will happen to us next?" Morikawa asked.
Ichinose smiled at her in a comforting manner. "There's nothing to worry about, child. Everything is going to be all right!" Ichinose said simply. "Um, ok...if you say so!" Morikawa said with a sigh. Suddenly, Sonya stopped the group and motioned for Jax to come forward. "Hey, you see that bogey up there by that gate? He's blocking our only; we need to get rid of him quickly and quietly. I'll take the flank, you get behind him! Wait for my command!" Sonya instructed as she pointed towards the strange figure in black robes. "Roger that, Commander!" Jax replied.
As they got in position, Spawn and Reika watched what was going on in the distance. "Hey! Look there, Raizo. What are they doing?" Reika pointed out. "I don't know, but I think we're about to find out!" Spawn replied. "You say that like it's a bad thing, honey." Reika stated as she noticed how grim Spawn became. Back with Jax and Sonya, they were in position ready to strike. Sonya nodded her head, giving the ok to attack. Jax smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "It's showtime, baby!" Jax muttered.
But just as Jax laid his hand on the figure's shoulder, he was given the fright of a lifetime. The figure turned sharply around and revealed itself as a demon unlike anything Jax had seen before. It had pale white skin, black lifeless eyes, and wore hideous corpse paint on its face. But that wasn't the worst of it. The demon glared at Jax intensely before he unleashed a terrible demonic shriek, filled with pure malice and hate.
The noise this demon made was so unbearable, that it physically hurt everyone who heard it. "AUGH! What the hell are you?" Jax exclaimed as he was forced on his back. "Jax! Get away from there now!" Sonya exclaimed through wincing pain. "OW! My ears hurt; make it stop!" Morikawa whimpered as she clamped her ears shut. "GAH! Damn it, what the hell is that thing?! That horrible noise...I can't take it!" Ichinose shouted through tears of pain.
The demon continued to shriek as it grabbed Jax by the throat with a cold steel grip. "ARGH! Get off of me, you son of a bitch!" Jax shouted as he tried to break free. But no matter how hard he tried to fight back, the demon's grip was far too powerful. "Jax!" Sonya exclaimed as she tried to move forward. Reika watched in horror from the platform above. "My god! Raizo...what the hell is that thing? Is that a shadow demon?" Reika exclaimed. "No. It's something much worse!" Spawn said grimly. "What?! Then what the hell is it?" Reika demanded. "A true native of Hell itself; something filled with pure cold, bitter hatred and evil. A shell of what once was human, but now gone forever into the darkness. It is a Tormented Ghoul!" Spawn explained.
The demon continued to shriek as he kept choking Jax, until finally Sonya grabbed onto its neck with a garrote from behind. "Run Jax! RUN!" Sonya shouted as she used all her strength to force the demon away from Jax. "Hold on, I'm coming!" Morikawa cried as she began running out to help Jax. "What the hell are you doing? Get back here! It's too dangerous!" Ichinose exclaimed.
Morikawa ignored her and eventually reached Jax. As she helped him up and began dragging him away, Sonya was struggling to survive against the Tormented Ghoul. The horrid demon shrieked as he broke free of Sonya's grip and attempted to strangle her. Sonya was able to escape from his grasp, but her enemy was not showing any signs of slowing down. "Come on, you bastard! Come on!" Sonya shouted. The Tormented Ghoul shrieked loudly as he rose his arms in the air.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. "Oh! What's going on now?!" Ichinose exclaimed. "Whoa! Hang on, Mr. Briggs!" Morikawa cried as she placed Jax on a rock. The ground finally stopped shaking, but only for the next horrifying event to occur in its place. Several hideous corpses began rising from the ground, snarling and groaning with savage rage. The Tormented Ghoul had summoned a horde of undead zombies to feast upon the flesh and blood of his enemies. "Oh my God! What do we do now?!" Morikawa cried. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm ok now. So let me show you exactly what we're gonna do now!" Jax said as he got back up on his feet.
Jax pounded his fist on the ground, creating a shockwave that sent the zombies flying up into the air. But before the zombies could pick themselves back up, Jax fired his rocket launcher at them and blew them up to smithereens. "Come get some!" Jax cried. The Tormented Ghoul shrieked loudly, summoning more zombies. This time, some of these zombies were armed with swords, clubs, and axes. "Aw yeah, now that's more like it! Bring it on!" Jax boasted as he pumped his fists.
As Jax and Sonya began fighting off the zombies, Morikawa decided now was the time to prove herself. "I'm afraid I won't make it back home to the others...but I can't just stand here and watch these good people get hurt. I must fight against these monsters with them! HANG ON, YOU GUYS! LET ME GIVE YOU A HAND!" Morikawa cried as she rushed towards a zombie and punched it in the face.
Reika grew more determined than ever to help her friends out. "Come on, Raizo! We can't just sit here and let those bastards have their way with them. We need to help them, so let's go!" Reika cried. But just as she was about to take off, Spawn stopped her. "It's useless to fight that horde of undead, Kitami. As long as that Tormented Ghoul still lives, he'll keep summoning more of those things until there's nothing left of your little friends for them to chew on. Let it go!" Spawn said sternly.
This made Reika angry. "You're fucking with me, right? I'm not just gonna stand here and let my friends die; they need our help!" Reika snapped. "They're not our problem, Kitami! Besides, we've got our own battles to win. And we're not going to win them by playing boy scout every time some fool gets involved with something they shouldn't!" Spawn snapped back. "You unbelievable bastard! How dare you say such things! Are you really going to just abandon those people when they need you most? They're going to die if we don't help them right now!" Reika shouted. "Then let them die! That's a lot less baggage for me to put up with! The only thing that matters is killing Darrel and shutting down his little portal!" Spawn roared.
Reika's jaw tightened as she heard him say that. But much to Spawn's surprise, she didn't burst into tears or argue with him. She turned around and began running towards the battle, much to Spawn's dismay. "GRR! Damn you woman! Get back here!" Spawn snarled as he chased after her. Reika ignored him and charged her fists with powerful magic before she charged towards a group of zombies, sending them flying back. "Whoa! What the hell?" Jax exclaimed. "Oh my God! It's Reika; she's alive!" Morikawa cried out in shock and joy.
Reika cried out fiercely as she began slashing wildly at the zombies with a bound sword. She cut off their limbs and sliced off their heads, one by one. "Get back in the grave, you vile corpse bags!" Reika shouted defiantly. This caught the attention of the Tormented Ghoul, angering him. The demon began to shriek, when suddenly a chain wrapped around his neck and began choking him. "GRR! Come here, you anorexic freak!" Spawn snarled as he began punching the demon with brutal blows.
As Reika helped Jax and Sonya kill off the last of the zombies, Spawn finished off the Tormented Ghoul in a gruesome fashion. He wrapped his chains around the demon's arms and legs before he yanked them off, causing the Tormented Ghoul to howl in agony. But being the violent Hellspawn he was, Spawn wanted to make him suffer. He grabbed hold of the demon's neck and pinned him to a wall, glaring into his eyes. "Go back to Hell, you piece of shit!" Spawn snarled before he ripped the Tormented Ghoul's throat out.
To make sure that this demon stayed dead, Spawn fired a streak of Necroplasm at the Tormented Ghoul's body, completely destroying it in a fiery and acidic explosion. As Spawn stepped back, he turned to face the others staring at him. Spawn growled as he glared back at them, not caring for whatever it was they thought of him. "My God! You...you're one of them, aren't you?" Sonya said at last. "He's not going to hurt us, is he?" Morikawa asked with a nervous gulp. "It's all right, you guys. He won't hurt you; he's my friend. He might look like one of them, but he's not. He's still got his humanity, just like the rest of us!" Reika reassured.
Reika turned to face Spawn and smiled at him. "See? I told you could help them, Raizo. Now they can help us!" Reika said. Spawn approached her angrily, making a couple of the others nervous. "Uh, Raizo? What are you doing? You're not giving our friends the best impression by looking at me like that!" Reika began. Suddenly, Spawn grabbed hold of Reika and teleported them both away. "Oh! They're gone!" Morikawa exclaimed. "Where did they go?" Sonya cried. "It doesn't matter, all right? We gotta get moving! With all these explosives around, we could use them to destroy this portal. Well, come on! We haven't got much time left before more of those things show up!" Jax said after a minute of deep thought. Sonya nodded her head in agreement. "You're right, Jax. Come on; let's get to it!" Sonya replied. "But what about Kitami?" Morikawa asked. "If we can, we'll try to find them before we blow this place to hell!" Sonya assured. "Ok. I just hope that she's safe!" Morikawa replied sadly.
Meanwhile; Spawn and Reika teleported into a dark room. Spawn pinned her to a wall, glaring into her eyes.. "GAH! What the fuck are you doing?!" Reika exclaimed. "What the hell were you thinking?! I told you to not waste your time, and you deliberately disobeyed me! You could have gotten yourself killed! Don't you ever run out on me like that again!" Spawn snarled.
Reika was able to push herself free of Spawn's grip before she stood back up on her feet. "What the hell is wrong with you? I can handle myself just fine!" Reika said as she glared at Spawn. "You keep running off like this, and I'm not going to be there to save your sorry ass!" Spawn growled. "This isn't just about you, Raizo! You said you wanted my help, didn't you? Well you're gonna have to learn to trust me more!" Reika cried. "Trust you for what? Getting yourself captured again? Or killed?! I already lost you once-" Spawn began. "I'm not yours to lose, asshole!" Reika shouted furiously.
An uncomfortable silence filled the air as she said that. Reika didn't mean to say it, but she was losing her patience. Spawn and Reika stared at each other for a few more minutes until they finally spoke. "Reika, I-" Spawn began. "Just stop it, ok?! I don't want you to look at me like some damsel in distress! I can take care of myself just fine! I've been doing it for years. You know, you can't just keep fighting alone! You need friends; you need me! Why can't you see that, Raizo?!" Reika said angrily. "Is that what you told yourself before Takashiro hurt you?" Spawn snarled.
Reika's eyes narrowed in fury as he said that. "How dare you!" she snarled. "You of all people should know that nobody can be trusted, Kitami! I know it because the same happened to me; my only true friend betrayed me and murdered me in cold blood. This Takashiro of yours did the same to you, and what did you do? You did exactly what I've been trying to do to Darrel for years; you got your revenge!" Spawn said coldly.
Reika scoffed at him as she shook her head. Despite all that they went through, Spawn still refused to let go of his pride. "You know what, Raizo? You're right...I did get my revenge against Takashiro for what she did to me. And you know what? I regret what I've done; because all it's done is bring me more pain, misery, and unhappiness. What do you expect to happen if and when you do get your revenge, Raizo? Will it satisfy you? Will it ever calm your angry, bitter soul? Or are you just going to keep killing everything that stands in your way?" Reika challenged.
Spawn said nothing in response. "You know something, Raizo? I take back what I said about your humanity! It doesn't matter how human you try to make yourself look...you're still a monster! You always have been and always will be!" Reika said coldly. Reika expected Spawn to flip out or to attack her, but he said and did next forever changed her views on him. Spawn sighed sadly as he removed his mask, showing his true self. "You're right, Kitami. I am a monster. I am a murderer and a psychopath. Every time I try to do good, I only end up doing more bad. But that's exactly why it's better for me to be alone!" Spawn said sadly.
Reika gasped as he said that, immediately feeling terrible for what she said to him. "Raizo...I-" Reika began. Spawn but his mask back on and began to walk. "We should keep moving!" Spawn said. As he led the way, Reika shed a remorseful tear. "I'm sorry, Raizo!" Reika said softly.