Chapter 37: Final Death
Only one day remained until the time-machine had finished charging. The team that would be sent back in time had been chosen with outmost care. The first two members would be the great-grand-daughter of Asuna, Chao Lingshen, and her partner, the young swordmaster Isamu. The third would be one of the few remaining ninja, a man named Hiroshi Nagase, a distant relative of the legendary Kaede Nagase and an elite ninja in his own right. The fourth would be the sniper and scout known only as Yasu, a mysterious, grim man who one day had appeared outside the gates together with the survivors of a patrol presumed lost weeks ago. The fifth and last member was the giant warrior-monk Sheng, unique both in his serene attitude and this spiritual outlook on life, who was the last member of an order of monks that had safe-guarded countless dark artifacts before their temple had been overrun by the dark hordes. This collection of people was hand-picked by Asuna herself to become the people who would end the reign of the Dark One before it even could begin. They were the finest humanity had to offer and its last hope.
Three of these five people currently sat in the dining room, a large and sterile place with steel benches and a large machine in one end of the room where the food was dispensed. They were currently chewing on said, tasteless, food. The only thing they could grow in this place was the kelp that grew in the water tanks, at the same time purifying the water, and different insects that could sustain on nearly anything. The food they could create was bland and tasteless but it was sufficient to survive.
"Damn it's gonna be sweet when we get back there…" Hiroshi said as he chewed on his stew. "A chance to try real food."
"How do you know you'll even like it?" Chao asked, "Perhaps you'll find it all to be disgusting."
"Kindly don't burst my bubble here, I'm having a moment." Hiroshi replied as he took another bite of food. Chao rolled her eyes at this. The guy was incredible, they were handpicked to rewrite history and all he could think about was food.
"Hey, anyone who knows where Sheng and Yasu are?" Hiroshi asked suddenly.
"I don't know about Yasu but I think Sheng is meditating." Chao said, remembering that the large man often did that.
"Okay cool…" Hiroshi said as he finished his food. "Well… see ya, I'm gonna go poke him with a stick or something." Chao snorted with laughter as Hiroshi took his bowl and left. Isamu looked at the back of the leaving ninja and snorted too, just not from laughter.
"What does he get out of that?" He asked tiredly.
"Other than the kick that comes out of irritating people?" Chao said.
"True… I don't get why Sheng allows him to keep it up. I would have smashed his head in a long time ago."
"I don't think Sheng really minds…" Chao said, "Those two are pretty tight after all."
"Yeah, that father and son crap…" Isamu muttered.
"They draw strength from each other…" A soft voice said, the two youngsters' heads snapped to the side to see Yasu sitting only a metre away in front of a bowl of food, slowly chewing it. "…much like you." They hadn't sensed anything… Yasu really was like a ghost.
"Can you stop popping up like a devourer-worm all the time?" Isamu asked the sniper. Yasu didn't answer and took another bite. As he took a sip of the water he noticed the people who entered the dining room.
"Oh… the Shikome troopers…" Isamu said when he saw what Yasu had seen, referring to the group of people who had lost everything to darkness and become completely obsessed with vengeance. These people now formed the vanguard of the hideout's armed forces. Brutally scarred, both from battle and flagellation, and with a fanatical gleam in their eyes, there were few who didn't get uneasy around them.
"Poor bastards…" Chao said to herself. She couldn't help but feeling sad for these people. She understood them better than most; Isamu had been a member of them before he met her. The same guy now got up from his seat and knocked her on the shoulder.
"Let's go…" Isamu didn't like to be around these people, they saw him as a traitor since he had left them. Chao nodded and they both left.
"Kill!" The voice inside Rage screamed as he dashed up the slope against the humans. They had scattered in seconds when Despair unleashed a rain of ice upon them, giant shards of ice had fallen from the sky and massacred them. The few survivors were now in full flight and Rage and the Hellraiser packs were quickly closing in.
"Kill!" The voice urged him on, faster, faster; he had to reach them now! About a hundred humans were running away from him now, bloodied and battered, but they had no chance of escaping.
"Kill!" Rage was way ahead of the Hellraisers now, his bloodlust boiling over. With a mighty leap he reached one of the humans, a bearded old man who had fallen behind, and plunged his clawed hands into his body.
"Kill!" The man screamed and Rage tore his hands to the sides, tearing the man in two and killing him instantly. Rage felt savage joy rising in him at the sight and the smell of his blood, blood that now gushed over him but it wasn't enough.
"Kill!" Rage roared as he continued the chase, the humans who looked back saw a monstrous demon – covered in blood and with murderous rage gleaming out of its eyes – that was quickly coming closer.
"Kill!" The humans tried to climb up a mountain wall to escape but Rage leapt up and landed above them, seemingly unaffected by the steep slope as he stood on all fours above them.
"Kill!" He let got of the wall and fell down against the humans, tearing them off the wall as he passed. When he landed the massacre began.
"Kill, kill kill kill killkillkillkill!" the voice in him rose to a crescendo and his last vestiges of self control vanished. When he came back to reality he stood on a giant mound of mutilated corpses. The Hellraisers were scampering around him, the scent of all that blood fuelling their hunger but the presence of the monster on top of the pile made them too terrified to approach. Rage rose to his full height and howled at the red sky, the Himalayas echoing with his terrifying roar.
Yasu sat in the engineering office, the main source of all the equipment that the survivors used, and tried out the sights on the new rifle he had been given. The gunsmith beside him sounded like a proud father as he rattled off statistics on the weapon. Yasu however tuned him out and focused on the feel of the rifle. Balance was perfect, the sights detailed but still sparse. The weight was well adapted to his type of work and the barrel wasn't a millimeter longer than needed. The gun also had the ability to switch between bolt-action and semi-automatic firing mode.
"Can I try it?" He asked. The gunsmith gave his immediate approval and Yasu stepped up to the firing-range. Folding out the bipod he went down on a knee and took aim. A sharp crack echoed through the room as Yasu's shot cleanly cut through the middle of the target, a hundred meters away. Yasu folded back the bipod and inserted a magazine into the gun before he flipped the switch to semi automatic. Several new targets appeared and Yasu hunched together as he begun to rapidly pull the trigger. Target after target went down with a clean hole through it. Yasu noticed that the bullets also seemed to go quite deep into the wall behind them.
"What ammo does it have?" He asked
"Fully convertible 7.62×51mm ammunition. We decided on that caliber since it will be easily obtained in the past and we have already created several types of experimental bullets for you to use, the most noteworthy is the Witch hunter round."
"Witch hunter round?"
The gunsmith held up a white bullet, "A prototype round with several magic seals that contains disruptive magic modeled on the Zanmaken technique. In theory these bullets will be a legitimate threat to any tainted being."
"…" Yasu was quiet as he looked on the rifle in his hands, he couldn't find any real flaw in it. It was like one of the Malebranche, a born killer, smooth and efficient. "This gun will do fine." He finally said, giving his approval to the gun-smith.
The thick ice of Antarctica shattered under the humans' feet as the titanic monstrosity broke through it and rose from the water, its giant slithering body seemingly never ending and its barbed tentacles waving wildly. Over a dozen humans were caught by the tentacles and disappeared into the giant maw of the monster, screaming as they fell down between its titanic jaws.
Chaos giggled with glee as she hovered high above the carnage on her bone staff, a broad brimmed witch's hat upon her head and wide black robes on her body. She found the whole thing so funny! The way they ran like animals made her smile happily, the way they screamed like stuck pigs when the barbs of the monstrous Deep Ones pierced them made her giggle. The way the blood shot out between the tentacles at they were squeezed to death made her laugh openly. A flash of light to her left told her that he had come to watch too. She turned backwards and waved at him.
"Madness!" She shouted happily upon seeing the young man hovering about a dozen meters away from her, "Here! Here! I got the best place!" The pale-blonde man smiled as he hovered closer, seemingly walking upon the air and came up beside her, he was somewhat closer to the ground so their heads were on the same level.
"Look!" She took his hand and pointed downwards. "Look there. It's Tanpopo!" She pointed in the direction of a woman who was desperately trying to carry her child to safety. The woman made a desperate attempt to get past one of the pits where the deep ones were. As she ran with everything she had Chaos was giggling with anticipation. When the Deep One's noticed her and reached out for her with its tentacles she squealed and started to clap her hands. When the woman was caught and thrown, baby and all, into the gaping maw of the monster she yelled with excitement and threw herself around Madness' neck.
"He did it!" She squealed, "He did it! Thank you so much! Thank you!"
Madness returned the embrace and smiled at her. "It was my pleasure to help him, you know it is." He said kindly
"I was so worried over him…" Madness realized that Chaos was sniffing, "He was so small and weak… wouldn't play with the others… you saved my baby…"
"There, there," Madness took out a handkerchief and wiped away her tears, "What will your kids think?" Chaos only smiled at him and leaned into his chest. In that position they both looked upon the bloodshed below, both of them now quiet.
"Madness…" Chaos asked after a while, "When we get home…" she stopped there, a blush spreading across her face.
"What?" Madness asked, smiling at her.
"W-w-wouldyoutakemeoutonadate?" She blurted out. Madness' eyed opened wide at this. Chaos turned away when she saw his face. "N-never mind…" She laughed nervously. "I'm rambling anyway…" Madness stopped her with a light peck on her chin.
"It would be an honor." He said finally. Chaos nervous look was replaced with one of happiness. "When we are finished here I'll gladly take you out." Madness smiled gently at her and stroked her hair.
Chaos then turned to look at the carnage again and crossed her hands as she closed her eyes. The Deep Ones suddenly stopped. A shiver seemed to go through the monsters as they retreated into the water again. Chaos then opened her eyes and started to chant.
"Maranath Elthor Gasim. Let the ground be stained red with the blood of the innocent. Fall, crimson downpour, and herald the end of all things. Let all that is pure be forever marked and corrupted. Rain of tainted blood." The girl inhaled deeply and spat out a giant cloud of black smoke that spread to cover the entire sky below them. She then turned to Madness again.
"There!" She said with a bright smile, "Now we're done. Let's go, let's go." Madness couldn't help but laugh at this. She was truly one of a kind. He took her hand with a smile on his face and together they both teleported away, leaving the last humans to be tainted and twisted by the spell she had unleashed, condemning them all to dying in horrific pain in this place of endless cold.
Hiroshi's head smacked into the carpet and for a second everything spun around. The large monk who had thrown him into the floor stepped backwards and looked at him. Hiroshi groaned when he realized where he was.
"How?" He whined as he pounded his fists into the thick carpet of the training hall, "How do you always beat me?! No matter how I look upon it I'm faster than you! I should be able to beat you easily!"
"That's right…" Sheng's deep, rumbling voice said softly. "But you don't. Since you don't fight with your heart."
"…Whut?" Hiroshi said, "Fight with my heart? Whazzat?"
"If strength of body is all that's needed, shouldn't humanity be extinct by now?" The large monk said as he put his staff over his shoulders. "The demons have a hundred thousand times as many warriors as we do. But still we survive, still we win. Why is that?"
"Luck?" Hiroshi was now sitting up, legs crossed and his squinting eyes on the large man.
"No…" Sheng smiled, "Heart… We fight for something greater than ourselves. We fight for our families, our history; we fight so that humanity itself won't be extinct. And for a hundred years we have persevered since our very being cries out for victory. That's the key Hiroshi. Your great-grandmother for example…"
"No!" Hiroshi spun around, "I don't wanna hear about her! No, nope, njet and iie. No more about her! I'm fed up with that heartless bitch and I never want to be like her!"
"Hiroshi…" Sheng said, "Even if you might find your ancestor a cold and heartless woman she did everything she could for humanity. She knew that every single one of the men she led was prepared to die. The sacrifices she made, the things she did… It was all so that humanity could live for another day. And even if you cannot love her… try to understand her…" For a few seconds everything was quiet. Then Hiroshi looked backwards.
"I know Sheng…" His voice was soft now, even sad. "I know Kaede-obaasan was a great woman. She's one of the greatest heroes ever. But I can't measure up to that… I'm an embarrassment to her memory. Hers is a role I can't fill. I'm too small to walk her path… I just can't."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Sheng asked as he stepped forwards and put a hand on Hiroshi's shoulder, "No matter how you look on it you are you, and Kaede was Kaede. You are two separate people. No one can expect you to be anyone other than the one you are. And I like you for being the boy who likes to stuff sticks into my nose when I try to meditate, not for being Kaede's descendant."
Hiroshi couldn't say anything at this.
The mountains were silent, the storms had abated and a tentative silence now blanketed the area in a rare moment of peace. Not a sound could be heard, but suddenly the silence was shattered by the rushing sound of swirling cloth. Upon an outcropping of one of the cliffs a human figure appeared in a swirl of darkness. The man looked out across the mountains, his eyes stopping on a distant mountain pass.
After a few seconds the man raised his hand and clenched it, his nails elongated and dug into his palm, drawing a steaming black liquid from the wound. The liquid started to dance in his hand and rose from it, reshaping itself into a mirror. Gazing into it he spoke one word.
"Report." The image in the mirror reshaped and split into three sections. In each of these sections a face appeared. One was that of an old man with silver beard, one was that of a woman made out of ice and the third a young man with sun bleached hair.
"The attack was a complete success exalted one." The bearded man said, "The new members of the Malebranche cut through the opposition like blacksteel through an angel's flesh. None are left alive."
"The Himalayas are devoid of human life master," the woman said submissively, "As by your will they were exterminated."
"The only thing left on Antarctica is tainted masses of human flesh, in no way deserving to be called a human." The young man said with a pleasant smile. "Soon they will have frozen to death too."
"Then this will be the final thrust." The man said as the mirror dissolved, "Today the last flame of hope will die forever." He looked into the mountain pass, the darkness of a cave barely noticeable. For a second the man seemed to have been given pause before he willed the cloak to wrap itself around him and teleported away.
Chao sighed mentally and wondered what had gotten into Isamu; the scarred young man had been acting really strange these last days. Whenever she saw him he was fiddling, fiddling! Isamu! Mr steel spine! The very thought was enough to make her wonder if she was dreaming. She was in half a mind to just ask him what was wrong but she knew that he didn't like that kind of questions. In the end she decided on leaving him be. With the journey back in time only a day away she had other things to focus on anyway. She took a look on the strange clock she had created together with the scientists.
She called it "Cassiopeia" and it was this thing that would send them into the past. The giant machine that now was sparkling with energy was only the energy supplier that would give them the magic necessary to jump back in time. The key to their salvation was not bigger than a pocket watch. She ran a finger over it when Isamu suddenly entered the room. The look of nervousness was still present but also a look of determination. She looked up at him as he begun to speak.
"I need to talk with you about something…" He said and Chao raised an eyebrow.
"Sure. What?" She asked. Isamu looked to the side, was that a blush on his face?
"Tomorrow we'll make that jump and all. I was just thinking that, well… It would be for the best if we made sure we are as powerful as we can get before doing it."
"Isn't that what we're doing?" Chao asked.
"Yes but… I'm not sure we've done everything possible." Isamu said vaguely.
"Hey… come clean will you." Chao said," What are you suggesting?"
"The pactio." Isamu blurted out before he looked to the side again. Chao's eyes widened and Isamu started to talk rapidly. "I just figured that it's the best thing to do, I mean, we don't know how powerful he'll be and we should have as many aces up our sleeves as we can, it's just… uh… well."
Chao couldn't hold it back any longer and started to laugh, a loud, side-splitting laugher that echoed through the room. Isamu's face became even redder and he smiled forcedly.
"Yeah… I know… it's a stupid idea, I just though I should ask you… yeah." He turned around to walk away but was suddenly stopped when Chao grabbed him arm. Looking back he saw the young girl with a seductive look on her face.
"Let me tell you something Isamu-kun…" Chao purred as she walked forwards, forcing Isamu to back away and end up with his back against the wall. "If you want to kiss a girl… you shouldn't say it's due to practical matters…" Chao put her hands on his cheeks. "She'll take offence. It's much better to say that you want to kiss her since you love her, since she's all you live for. That way she'll feel that the gives her first kiss for something important." Her face was only a few inches away from his now. "Understand."
Isamu didn't trust his voice so he just nodded. Chao smirked as held up a hand which she pointed downwards.
"Look." She whispered. Isamu looked down on the floor and his eyes widened upon seeing the magic circle. He didn't have time to say anything before Chao captured his lips in a fierce kiss. The light flooded the room and enveloped them both. Isamu stood still at first, trying to comprehend the situation, before he regained his capability to act and answered her with all he had.
The light soon vanished, too soon. Isamu and Chao broke apart when they ran out of breath and Chao caught the card that just had been formed.
"See Isamu-kun?" She purred, "If you do it that way it's much…"
It was then that an earth-shaking explosion rocked the entire base. Chao stumbled and was thrown to the floor as the ground suddenly heaved under her. Isamu stumbled too but managed to stay on his feet.
"What the hell?!" The scarred young man yelled as he regained his footing. "What's happening?" Chaos attempt to answer him was drowned by the alarms that had begun to sound. All through the base the sirens had begun to sound, accompanied by the red lights that now were blinking intently. Chao and Isamu both stared at the red lights before they heard the loudspeakers.
"We're under attack!" A panicked voice yelled, "We're under attack! The gate has been breached! We're under attack!" suddenly the sound of struggle could be heard from the loudspeakers before the voice was replaced with another. A deeper, calmer voice now started to speak.
"All armed personnel, report to the main hall immediately." The voice of the hideout's commander said, "Shikome troopers, head to the entrance and hold them back at all costs." the fact that the Shikome troopers were sent to give enough time for the rest of the hideout to prepare sent one message. This was bad. Chao and Isamu acted on instinct as they grabbed their gear and headed for the main hall.
All throughout the hideout chaos reigned; people were running through the corridors in all directions as they scrambled to defend their home. When they both reached the main hall they saw that most of the armed personnel had already gathered there. Hiroshi was looking around confusedly and hurried up to them when he saw them.
"Hey!" He yelled, "What the hell is this? It's gotta be a drill, right?" The young ninja said before he was interrupted by the tell-tale clicking noise of Asuna's walking stick. The old woman came hobbling out into the root, flanked by two guards. Her face destroyed any hope the young man might have of this being a drill.
In the other end of the base, near the thick steel door that led to the blasted world above, fifty men and women, dressed in white and with heavy guns in their hands, were watching the door in front of them intently. Hate gleamed in their eyes as they readied their weapons and spread out to seek cover.
Beyond that gate was the airlock to the outside world, the door that had only minutes ago been breached by the invaders. Immediately upon the door's destruction, however, a chain of powerful wards had activated on the second door, making the thick steel construction impossible to get through for a few minutes. However the azure-blue glow that was covering the walls was slowly fading, the wards were vanishing.
Then, the second the glow had completely disappeared, the giant doors screamed in protest as they were forced open. The cables and electrical wires around the door burst when it was forced open and sparks started to rain down in cascades. In the crack between them the Shikome troopers could suddenly see a robed figure that held the doors apart with his bare hands, something utterly impossible. The soldiers, however, didn't hesitate a second.
"Fire!" Their leader yelled and with a wild battle cry they unleashed a swarm of glowing beams of light against the man. The man's head snapped up as the command was given and not one single bolt reached him before it was intercepted by a large disc of inky blackness that speared in front of him. Behind this shield of darkness the man stood, still holding the gates apart.
"Emptiness..." He said calmly, "Kill them" a vaguely humanoid shape shot out from the disc, faster than the eye could see, and flew towards the white-clothed men in front of the door. The first man it reached didn't even have time to widen his eyes before it had decapitated him. The red cascade of blood that shot out from his severed neck sprayed across his white clothes as his body limply fell to the ground. The other soldiers only perceived a black blur passing them before they realized what had happened to their comrade. Several of them looked back only to see the blur approaching again.
This was the last thing any of them saw. When the man, after a few seconds, let go of the doors and stepped inside the corridor it had become a slaughterhouse. All across the hallway body-parts lay. Heads, arms and legs lay strewn across the floor, blood seeping out of them and spreading rapidly, like a red deluge, across the floor. In the middle of all this a shadowy figure, one seemingly female, stood; waiting for its next command.
"Return." The man said as he walked deeper into the hideout. The shadow dashed towards the man and dived into his shadow. Like into water, the figure disappeared as it reached the shadow and the man walked on, as he walked deeper into the halls tendrils of darkness came seeping out behind him. These tentacles of shadow reached out across the floor, devouring the dead as it reached them, and crawled up along the walls and the roof. Soon this darkness was covering every inch of the hallway, following the man as he descended into the base.
"All personnel; fortify the main hall." Echoed through the base, the soldiers scrambled to defend their home and ran in all directions. Chao and Isamu was about to follow them but was stopped by Asuna.
"Not you…" The ancient woman said, "You will follow me." Without offering a word of explanation she turned around and walked out of the hall. Chao and Isamu followed her after a second. Neither knew what the old woman was planning but the tone in her voice had been one that would accept no questioning.
Following the sound of her clicking staff the two youngsters hurried through the corridor. The hall they were walking through was one that almost no one had set foot in, the private section of Asuna. Their path led to a large command central where several men were sitting in front of computer screens. Asuna hobbled up to one of these screens and pointed at it.
"Look." was all she said. They both looked at the screen and paled when they saw what it showed. The screen showed the data from a security camera near the entrance. A lone man was currently walking through the hallway, calmly and confidently he walked ever deeper into the base, darkness itself crawling behind him, crawling on the floor, along the ceiling and the walls, a churning, bubbling mass of darkness.
"That's…" Chao whispered, "…it'shim, isn't it?" She turned to her great grandmother, who only nodded.
"We won't survive this," Asuna said, "The only way out of here is back in time."
"But the charging isn't done yet!" Isamu said, fear making its way into the hardened young man. "It won't be enough to send us back!"
"It will be enough," Asuna said, "If we only send two, that is."
Chao looked at the old woman for a second.
"You are planning to leave the others here, aren't you?" She asked, though it wasn't really a question.
"Yes," Asuna said, her features immediately becoming hard as steel, "The engineers are already converting the energy, within five minutes you'll go back in time.
The soldiers of the hideout were tough people, hardened veterans born into a world that hated them. People who knew that their entire lives consisted of fighting. They were elite soldiers, deadly in both close and ranged combat. The gathered firepower and martial skill of these people, consisting of mages and swordsmen as well as normal soldiers, could stop an entire horde of demons. These brave men and women were ready to face anything.
But not this.
They could not be ready for this. Nothing could have readied them for it. The doors to the main hall exploded and the man entered, darkness following in his wake. Upon seeing him the soldiers felt a mind-numbing terror grip their hearts, paralyzing them. A human, one dressed in black, wielding dark magic. It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was. It was the traitor who had plunged the world into darkness, the man whose name had been stricken from every record, who now was known only as Thanatos; death. He had come, heralded by chaos and destruction.
For a precious few seconds everything was still, still and silent. The men were paralyzed by fear and Thanatos stood still, the hood drooping down across his face, only the mouth being visible. But still they could feel his gaze upon them, he was watching them. Watching them like insects. Fear gave, in many of them, way to despair. The terrible reverie was then broken when Thanatos raised his hand and pointed towards them.
"Die." The word echoed through the room and from behind him, hundreds of ropy tentacles shot out across the room, tentacles hungry for blood.
"Barrier!" the commander shouted, snapping his men out of the fear induced trance, and the mages, men in white robes posted through the hall, started to desperately chant. Just as the tentacles were about to ensnare the mages a large wall of energy rose between the tentacles and the humans. The tainted appendices all struck the barrier at once, like a tidal wave of corruption, and were incinerated by the bright magic. A scream rose from behind the man and the remains of the tentacles retracted behind their master.
"Hold the line!" the commander yelled, "Lock him out!" the mages reached out again and the barrier, which had weakened after the attack, flared up again. A fortification of bright yellow light now separated the dark mage form the others. Thanatos was unfazed however. The impenetrable field of light didn't seem to matter to him at all. The dark mage approached the field, the blackness behind him crawling out into the giant hallway, along the floor and up the walls. It reached the roof and soon all the men could see beyond the protective barrier was a sea of darkness.
In the middle of this abyss all the soldiers could see was two pale hands and the part of his face that wasn't obscured by the hood. In the middle of the former his mouth opened and a dead voice suddenly echoed through the room.
"Do you realize where you are making your mistake?" Thanatos asked the mages, his voice sending chills down their spines. "This barrier ends where the wall starts…" he continued after a few seconds, "Do you think solid rock will stop me?"
Before any of the men could answer the ground under them rumbled. With a ripping noise dozens of giant spikes shot out of the ground all around the chamber, each and every one of these directly below the mages. Not one of them had any chance to escape the crimson spears that now shot through their bodies. Two dozen men were lifted into the air, screaming in pain as they were impaled. With a blinding flash the barrier dissipated and Thanatos advanced.
"Hold the line!" The commander roared as the men, paralyzed with utter terror, were about to flee, "Fire! Fire damn it!" The men obeyed instinctively and started to fire their weapons. Lances of bright energy flooded the hallway as the soldiers desperately tried to stop the advancing mage. However yet again, just like at the entrance, a dark disc appeared in front of him, swallowing the bolts. Only a second later the dark shield unleashed a shadowy projectile towards the men.
It was then that Sheng made his move. The giant monk dashed forwards, blurring as he moved too fast for normal eyes to see, and met the shadow halfway. The monk roared as he spun his staff around and knocked the shadow away. The indistinct figure spun around and crashed into the wall.
"Keep fighting!" Sheng roared with a thundering voice, "Fight! For your families! For your lives! For everything!" The giant monk then leapt towards Thanatos himself, preparing to unleash a swarm of rapid attacks against the man who had forsaken his entire species.
Then he died.
Before he had any chance to act Thanatos rammed his hand through the monk's chest and tore out the heart. As the giant man dropped to the floor Thanatos held up the heart in front of his mouth and took a deep breath. He breathed out and the heart turned to dust as the man sent a giant cloud of vapors against the soldiers. The men raised their hands to protect themselves but all this gave them was a good look on their hands as the skin melted off them. They barely had time to realize what was happening before the rot reached their bodies and heads and sent them falling to the ground, screaming in pain as they fell apart.
Within a few seconds, ninety percent of the soldiers were dead. The few that remained were mostly the swordsmen, who had managed to get out in time, and a few others. These few people charged him with a courage born out of desperation. The dark mage held out his hands and let long claws grow from them before he met the charge.
The dark mage moved so fast that the swordsmen, who now charged in desperation, weren't even able to see him as he reached them and with a series of flowing motions, terrible in their grace, opened their throats one after one. As he stopped behind them they all fell to the ground, clutching their slit throats as the blood poured out.
Above this carnage however, the lithe figure of Hiroshi was flying through the air. The young man's eyes were filled with tears but his heart was filled with anger. He darted above Thanatos and flew through the air behind him. Sheng had died in front of his eyes. The brave man that was like a father was dead. Hiroshi had been paralyzed for a few seconds but when Yasu punched him in the face he had snapped back to reality.
Hiroshi flew through the air, descending towards the inky darkness behind Thantatos. But when he was only a meter away from hitting the darkness he twisted and used the technique he just had mastered, mid-air shundo, to launch himself against Thanatos' unprotected back. From the darkness, from behind, silently and deadly, everything the ninja was.
"Watch me Sheng…" was the thought that echoed through his head. "…I'll avenge you!"
Thanatos spun around, caught him by the throat effortlessly, broke it and threw him back into the darkness in the span of a second. Hiroshi didn't even have time to force out a desperate scream from his broken throat before he was swallowed whole.
But then a shot echoed through the chamber and Thanatos didn't have time to spin around again before he was struck in the back by a bullet that tore him apart. The dark mage seemingly fell apart and an inhuman scream echoed through the chamber. Those few people remaining people watched, wide-eyed, as the man that haunted their nightmares fell down to the floor, his robes sinking together revealing that his body was gone.
At the end of the hallway Yasu pulled the reloading mechanism. The Witch hunter round had worked… It had vaporized him… Yasu closed his eyes and let out a shivering breath before he noticed the rumbling.
The ground was shaking and the darkness behind Thanatos only seemed to grow thicker. Yasu rose from the ground and looked at the darkness that suddenly surged. Before any of the survivors could do anything the sea of darkness ahead moved in a tidal wave and crashed down upon them. Yasu's eyes widened as he realized something and he desperately tore out his pistol. Putting is against his head he quickly pulled the trigger, he would die clean! But the thick ropy tentacles grabbed his arm and pulled the gun out of the way of his head before he had a chance to pull the trigger completely. The bulled flew past his head and before Yasu could do anything else than scream in despair he was swallowed by the black sea.
The sea churned and boiled as it swirled together, creating a maelstrom of darkness that seemed to swallow itself and reshape itself into a humanoid being. The darkness took on the shape and look of the man that had stood in the chamber just moments before. Thanatos smiled faintly to himself as he continued down the hallway.
Asuna looked at the meter and desperately begged for it to rise faster. They still needed two minutes and the cameras had showed how Thanatos was approaching. The old woman felt the icy hand of fear clutching around her heart upon realizing that every single man and woman that could bear weapons in the hideout had been massacred in only three minutes by him. All that stood between Thanatos and the two kids she had placed all her hopes in was an old woman and some researchers.
The old woman sighed as she realized something. If she wanted to send them back… that would be the only way to buy them time. She turned to look at Chao, who was currently working with Isamu trying to push a large crate in front of the door, and prayed to whatever higher powers that was left that they would be able to do it before she walked towards the door and punched in the code.
"What are you doing?!" Chao yelled. Asuna just looked back at her and smiled.
"Good luck Chao-chan." She said before hobbling out into the corridor and closing it behind her, sealing it permanently. With grim determination she hobbled down the hallway, towards the approaching dark mage.
She met him halfway and the sight of her was enough to stop him in his tracks.
"Amusing…" his voice was nothing like how she remembered it, it was a parody of him. "Are you planning to stop me? Do they send out the old and the infirm now?"
"Don't underestimate me Negi." She said before she pulled out something form her clothes. It was the pactio card she had gotten from him all those years ago. Suddenly she noticed something in his eyes, it almost looked like expectation. However she shook it off and raised it. "Contract execution!" She yelled, "Asuna Kagurazaka. Ten minutes!" As the filthy magic rushed from him into her she emptied her mind and moulded Kanka for the first time in decades. The filthy feeling of tainted magic defiled her very soul but she ignored it all and charged into her last battle.
Thanatos smiled to himself as his old ministra made a desperate attempt to stop him. It was a pity she had fled from his captivity all those years ago; she would have become a fine member of his Bondsmen. However he wasn't there to play.
With one fluid motion he tore her head off. Her aged body crashed into the wall as it lost that which had directed it and Thanatos stepped up to the door she had exited from. With one single punch he tore it to pieces and entered. Inside he saw something that made him quirk one eye. In the giant chamber he had entered a large orb of energy was swirling in mid-air. In front of it two young humans stood and both of them had turned to look at him. The naked fear in their eyes shone like the sun and Thanatos advanced.
It was over…
That was the sole thought that went through Isamu's head as he saw Thanatos, Asuna's torn-off head dangling from his hand. His life flashed past before his eyes as each step of the dark mage was like the beating drum of death. Out of the corner of his eye he saw how Chao had frozen too.
Then a powerful magic field suddenly was created around Thanatos. On the bridge above them the head scientist stood with a wand raised, his eyes wide in fear.
"Hurry!" he yelled, "Make the jump! One of you might still make it!" That was all he could say before Thanatos shattered the barrier and shot a beam of red light upwards that incinerated him completely. However Isamu had gotten snapped out of his fear-induced paralyzation.
"I love you…" He said to Chao before he slammed a hand down on her Cassiopeia unit and drew his sword. The air around Chao lit up immediately as the energy was pulled to it and immediately shaped itself into a sphere of energy. Isamu charged. His life didn't flash by in front of him as he neared the dark mage. Instead all he saw in front of him was Chao. Memories of how he first had met her, memories of how they had become a team, memories of the kiss.
Isamu leapt at Thanatos without fear in his heart. He felt neither fear nor hesitation, not even when Thanatos rammed his arm through his chest and made his flesh turn to dust.
"Isamu!" Chao screamed as the boy she loved more than anything fell apart in front of her eyes. She was about to try to reach him but stopped right before her hands touched the field separating them. The dark mage pulled his hand out of the young man's body and as he did this his victim collapsed into dust immediately.
"I am impressed…" The smooth voice of the dark mage said; his voice totally devoid of emotions, "You all put up much more of a fight than I expected… No matter, now you die too." He raised his hand and fired a beam of blood red light against her; the girl instinctively raised her arms to protect herself. Her world exploded with light and she fell into darkness.
When she opened her eyes again that first thing she realized was that she was lying on a hill covered in grass.