Chapter 61: Depths of Evil
Que Intro (Song: Warriors; Imagine Dragons, 2WEI and Eda Hynes version)
As a Child you wait and watch from far away, you always you knew you'd be the one that work they all play, you'd awake at night and scheme of all things you would change but it was just a dream (Tatsumi looking forlorn under a red sky with his army ready) Here we are don't turn away now, we are the warriors that built this town (Night Raid assembles for battle outside Melitine) Here we are don't turn away now we are the warriors that built this town (Argardon ignites his sword and raises it up) from dust. (Swords clashing, Tatsumi fights Volgoth, Dorothea battles Izel) instrumental (Battle clashes as demons are slain and the Primus Imperator looms over the city) Here we are don't turn away now! We are the Warriors that built this town! (Looming demonic shadow) We are the Warriors that built this town (Tatsumi thrashed about as his armor is battered and his face is covered with blood) From Dust. (Empire's End logo appears with the Golden Dragon facing the Demon) Song End.
Tatsumi didn't immediately go to his troops however he first took what he thought would be his last look at Grundewick Manor, making sure to stop at Aria's room which was spotless even in their absence he took a good look at their wedding photo. As if having the same plan Aria turned up and grinned kissed him. "Taking in the sights?" Aria asked.
"Today may be the last day I see them; today may be the day that I die but I'm not going to let that stop me from taking some happiness, reflecting on the memories here and hoping to make more" Tatsumi replied.
"You know what I've said to death everytime there was the chance it would snatch me, not today; and today won't be the day that we die" Aria reassured smiling, they suddenly heard a clatter of metal and turned to not Seryu carrying an- inordinate amount of ordinance including a massive rocket launcher, both looked at her with amused grins.
"What? I thought the day wouldn't come that I'd need to use my Justice Launcher but apparently the day has come" Seryu remarked sorting thru her hardware.
"I'm not sure how useful a rocket launcher will be in a fight against a demon" Tatsumi replied, then laughed.
"Hey you never know; look at this way I figure my entire arsenal will see use by the end of the day, besides you can never have too many weapons to bring to a fight and how many evildoers expect the servant of Justice to bring a rocket launcher" Seryu replied.
"Good point, you're right be prepared for anything" Tatsumi replied, both Seryu and Aria looked at him, Tatsumi looked back and both were expecting him to have a plan, he had one; but bringing the full force he had wouldn't work with the tunnel. "We'll need to downsize, 50 of our Teigu Users will be with me; the rest will have to join the battle; for that I'll need someone to lead them; someone I can depend upon and someone that will do their best" Tatsumi replied.
"We're not leaving your side" Seryu remarked. Tatsumi sighed then thought long and hard; eventually he came to the decision that it would be best for of all people to lead that force would be to put someone he could depend on to lead them but someone who wasn't going to refuse to do it and insist on following him into the heart of evil; it took some time and frantic examination of his troops but eventually he settled on one person that could be depended on to lead those valiant souls, someone with years of military experience and savvy strategy in one word: Wave. After that there was much discussion, but eventually Tatsumi decided that his full force would accompany him underground but would divert from his elite team and march to reinforce the nearest push surprising the demons at an awkward angle.
From that Tatsumi had to choose his elite team and it proved no surprise that the entirety of Night Raid with the exception of Yami and Lubbock and the Jaegers were up for it, along with Valdis, the Teigu user bodyguards of Najenda and Seryu, with a final addition of Cordelia Budo the daughter of the late General who had married Tatsumi a couple weeks ago and had been angry to find out her father's body had been desecrated in such a way and was eager to avenge him, along with them a few Dwarven Arms users like Umber and Gala who had acquired Teigus from Umber's Father with the last members being filled by Makoto, Fal, Air and Luna, try as Tatsumi might he couldn't keep those four out of this battle he didn't want to in Makoto's case as he was remembering what Chelsea and him has discussed months ago and Makoto had even more of a right to kill Volgoth then Tatsumi did, Tatsumi had plenty of reasons for his right to kill Volgoth but Makoto's were greater; Volgoth had killed his parents in such a brutal fashion, had manipulated him into killing goodness knows how many innocent people as his regent and Prime Minister, and his duplicitous scheme to use Kobi as a weapon had resulted in the circumstances that had caused Makoto to fall into the hands of Michelle and Claudia Audette and loss his innocence along with having been tortured and violated in the worst possible way; that alone was enough to earn Makoto the right to the killing blow. Fal, Air and Luna were another matter as far as Tatsumi was concerned while they didn't have a Teigu like Makoto did who had two that were gifted to him by Esdeath and had been previously stolen and used by the tyrant Numa Saika those being the Spear Urdragil: Spear of the North and Cholas: Armor of Winter with his Rapier worn along his side, Makoto had grown a bit in the last month too and was now about 5'10 more than capable of fighting. Fal, Air and Luna didn't have any, but they were going to follow Makoto to the end, and he was not going to deny them that chance. So, with that decided he gave the signal to prepare for advance, they'd have five minutes to ready and ten minutes during which the shield would be down to get out as many troops as possible before redeployment of the shield to protect the civilians that remained inside
A half-hour later… Ieyasu and Angela took a look at a familiar tunnel entrance under Melitine's red sky about a block from the shield, Tatsumi noted the entrance that seemed grim and foreboding he had spent a few minutes fighting demons that had gotten in during the ten minutes the shield had been let down, Constantine had given him a firm look, Angela a kiss and Ieyasu a wish of good luck before leading his cavalry out into the city, after that Tatsumi had made quick progress fighting with his force to the tunnel. With a quick nod and without any words they entered the underground of Melitine, proceeding via maps downward first to the city's siege tunnels then flood tunnels then sewers and finally the dwarven Under City that according Umber was called Karaz-Valaya in years past the city outside the shield was in disrepair and Tatsumi noted rather soon the many bodies or rather skeletons of Skaven as they got down lower; apparently there had been a thriving population under Melitine itself and no one even knew about it apart from Angela and a few others, they had been wiped out to the last rat by demons much like their kin that had dwelt beneath the shield, numbers of demons had overwhelmed them and now only bones, broken armor and weapons remained.
It took about an hour to navigate the undercity and would've taken longer without the Dwarven and Skavan maps they had acquired, it was also fortunate that while things were in a state of disrepair none of the entrances and halls had collapsed, the Dwarves had built the place to last anything short of the planet being blown up a prospect that wasn't out of the realm of possibility as far as Tatsumi was concerned at this point. They kept silent and after another hour then they arrived at the Grand Crossroads, time had come for Tatsumi's team to break off from the rest of his troops, he gave Wave his direct orders, Wave saluted him and led the troops off northward as Tatsumi continued his march towards the palace.
His group arrived soon at a foreboding room with glyphs on the wall and with the statues of old Dwarven lords some of whom were still alive looming proud and stern in the dim light; there was little time spent looking for the section of wall they sought. "Amgi Hamul Vaka Roda" Tatsumi spoke, the wall moved aside opening a door with bright runes that glowed as the entry way parted to a path wide enough for five people to walk thru but wasn't as tall as he had hoped for as the passage had been made for Dwarves in mind as such those who weren't Dwarves had to walk slouching, this road continued for another hour and half as they came to the end of the passage where another door which was pressed outwards deposited them in a wide hall, which to nobody's surprise was piled up with rat skeletons and the remnants of battle.
"You know if they weren't such evil monsters I'd actually pity the rats" Sheele remarked.
"It is admirable though that they fought on despite knowing they'd lose, however the demons did us a huge favor by killing them all" Esdeath remarked, Tatsumi kicked a rat skull out of habit then turned towards a large stairway.
"There's our way up" Tatsumi remarked and the group followed him up the stairs, they came out in the city sewer systems which from their location was just about two blocks away from the palace, according to the map a secret passageway into the palace would not be too far from there.
But they didn't go too much further before they encountered trouble, ranks of soldiers, these however not demonic but humanoid stood guard; these soldiers were clad in armor and had deep white skin as white as salt and dark grey hair, they were male but also amongst them were what plain to see as robots; engineered and with the letter IZ engraved on each followed by a series of numbers that showed the model, rather than outright attacking a robot approached and projected a holographic image of a man at work in a laboratory. "What is it unit IZ-1138?" Izel asked then noticed Tatsumi and his team. "Oh, I see, I'm assuming you are the Tatsumi and your friends that my father keeps railing on about and has had me use my mind to work up means to kill you" Izel asked.
"Its more than just him Izel" Syura replied stepping forward, Izel fidgeted with his glasses registering Syura being alive.
"Syura? Well that is interesting I wasn't quite certain I believed father when he said you'd come back to life, very fascinating and I must study it; after I finish perfecting the newest of troops: the Heavies as he called them. Quite fascinating work an fusion of humans, Skaven and some animals sewed together and given life with the right amount of Rune, they are rather bulky and with some adjustments and my newest creation Hyperzene they are as strong as 20 humans; Hyperzene is a new invention and successor to my previous creation Sterogizene or 'Juice' as people called it and this time the effect even more potent" Izel explained, mention of Juice made Kurome's blood boil.
"You mean you invented that Drug they gave me as part of the Elite Seven program?!" Kurome yelled.
"Yes; a failure as while it achieved the effect of strength enhancement it did so at the price of decimating other bodily functions; I'm surprised to see you such a state of development; you- look as if you completely negated the drug's negative side effects fascinating" Izel replied, Dorothea looked at him and stepped forward with an angry expression on her normally neutral expression.
"She didn't negate the drug's effects, I created a cure for the damage it caused, she is no longer addicted to the substance and I'm shocked that you would create such a thing and not invent a cure to repair the damage it caused" Dorothea shouted.
"Ah: Dr. Dorothea, the Empire's greatest mind, I'm- surprised to see you're still alive what with the state of the nation at the moment; but you are indeed correct however it wasn't an oversight; the drug had an important side-effect that I would be a fool to cure, it insured loyalty to the Imperial cause no matter who ran the show" Izel explained.
"That's heartless you know that this drug will kill the people who've taken it slowly and painfully and when they are in the prime of their life, also to administer it to children? What kind of sick depraved monster are you?" Dorothea asked.
"I'm no monster, I'm a scientist, bent on progressing science and innovating no matter the cost, if people die as a result of my work that is a good thing because then I know conclusively that there is a fault that I need to correct; besides my work is rather sensitive and the less people that know about it the better as I don't want ignorant fools trying to interfere with my work" Izel explained, Dorothea near lost it.
"Then if you're so proud of your work are you willing to fight to protect it" Dorothea remarked, at this Izel frowned.
"A shame I'd have thought that a fellow scientist especially one as dedicated to advancing the human condition as you Dr. Dorothea would understand my logic" Izel replied.
"I had similar thoughts once, but then I remembered what my father told me as a little girl, one should never put the life of another human above the lives of the whole; every life is unique something that shouldn't be lost before its time: that is why I feed Absordex with the blood of swine both of the literal and the human variety; I've killed people but only those the world would be better without; you talk off advancing the human condition, you can make advances without sacrificing innocent life you're no better than Dr. Stylish" Dorothea replied.
"Stylish was an amateur, a man playing at being a scientist and while he may have made many innovations I've invented many of them first; my inventions serve those who can afford them and not those who cannot use them, I am a creator and inventor, you challenge me to a fight you do so at your own peril Dr. Dorothea as I am not a simple human being I'm something more; though that is of little relevance; troops kill them, but take some alive for experimentation I've need of more test subjects, you'll find that my Artificial human soldiers and IZ-Mechanized Minds will be more than a match for you" Izel replied and ordered, the machines advanced and the artificial human soldiers drew weapons with- the grace of a machine, they then attacked, Dorothea and a couple others those being Sayo, Syura and Umber cut a path thru the formation towards what was the source if the lab of Izel. When they arrived inside Dorothea having ignited her lightsaber hewed down three mechanized assistants that rushed towards them, more machines came in followed by a spider- no a man on spider legs carrying a staff.
"Fascinating, quite so; a Dwarf for one I've never seen one of your kind and you'll be fascinating to dissect, but also an interesting weapon it appears great minds think alike, and you too have created a weapon using Rykbar crystals" Izel greeted.
"I don't think we are alike in any possible way you wretched excuse for a human" Dorothea replied, Izel frowned and ignited the staff a blade came out from either end and they were blue in color.
"You'll find that I've actually a good deal of combat training, my construct and battle enhancements will make this an interesting encounter" Izel replied.
"You may have training but I've got centuries of experience something you don't have" Dorothea replied, Izel attacked, the blades clashed, Izel was remarkably quick but to his surprise Dorothea was faster, Izel ran his machine thru extensive combat computers matching blow for blow which allowed him to keep up, the hissing of plasma hitting plasma was heard around the room as Dorothea's back up fought the machines coming to assist their creator. After a minute or so of more prolonged combat Dorothea realized that while this was a fascinating event for the record she'd have to end this quick as the world was depending on Tatsumi and her saving it and thus as she parried another strike she grabbed her pistol off her hip and fired point black. The rounds about twenty in total tore open Izel's abdomen causing him to lose his advantage and drop his saber pike then to his shock Dorothea cut down his robotic attachment's limbs before deactivating her weapon she then lunged for his neck and clamped down.
"What!- I- I- s—e-eea—arg-h!" Izel half-stammered half screamed as he felt his insides being sucked; Dorothea grinning wickedly as Izel looked down to see his legs has already been sapped. "She's drinking the life out of me!" he thought, his final thought as Dorothea drained him as she had drained Belloq about a month and a half ago along with many humans that were no better than animals, she took a look at his desiccated corpse bones that had been modified and with machines meant to augment him being visible, she had felt some pity for Belloq but for Izel; for everything that mad-mind had done to her profession and done in the name of science she felt no pity as like the souls he had ravaged with his inventions he was now dead his glasses fell of the mummified skull prettified in a scream and she stomped them and the bones that remained shattering them to dust. She turned to Syura and the others before walking over to a computer marked Robot control and deactivated the machines outside; the rest of Izel's forces had been delt with and Tatsumi walked into the lab to see Dorothea her lips stained with blood and a smile.
"Izel won't no longer disgrace the scientific community with his creations; I don't think I've ever hated a human being more; I don't like killing human beings, but I had no regrets for killing him in fact I enjoyed it seeing him turned to a husk for the first and only time in my life" Dorothea greeted.
"Syura?" Tatsumi asked.
"Hey, the bastard had it coming; I would have mentioned him if you had asked" Syura commented.
"Crude machinery" Umber remarked kicking the broken remains of one of Izel's robots. "Shoddy craftsmanship too they break with one hit of an axe; but it's interesting to see that some robotics technology survived in the Empire" Umber added, Tatsumi shrugged.
"We can deal with this place later: Volgoth's waiting and I'm not going to keep him waiting any longer" Tatsumi remarked then noticed something out of the glance of his eye and opened a door inside were the bodies of people that had been experimented on. "I'm not surprised anymore" Tatsumi remarked and shut the door and they left the lab; going about half a mile underground till they found the passageway they were looking for.
This narrow passage went to a large flight of stairs; fortunately this entrance had been completely unguarded and soon after a few minutes in the light of lamps that had been hung on the walls they came to a blockage; Tatsumi pressed a button and the wall slid aside bringing him into a place he didn't expect to see. That place was a bedroom where a large portrait of a remarkably familiar woman hung on the wall but also notably were the signs of iconography of Valtor; this was the bedroom of his arch enemy Volgoth when he had still been under the guise of Honest. Tatsumi took a few seconds to reflect on the irony before rounding to the door; Mez opened it and Akame stepped in first to Honest's office which was to no one's surprise empty of any occupants but themselves. In fact Honest's office hadn't seen anyone in it in months and cobwebs were visible and dust was abundant; Tatsumi did however note some papers were on the desk; written orders by Honest to see his family evacuated from the city; something Volgoth wouldn't have done but something the real Honest who was still inside him would have done.
With all that being said the next step was to navigate their way to the throne room; this they attempted to do with some degree of stealth but when they came to the central hallway before the portrait hall they found themselves stopped by a familiar enemy: the demonic knight Mammon whom Tatsumi had met in Francia was barring the path with an entourage of elite demonic warriors: Hell Knights they were. "Welcome to the Palace of Emperor Volgoth of New Yeenkar, my lord has been expecting your return for a long time coming Tatsumi and I'm impressed you made it here three days ahead of my lord's orders; that wasn't unexpected but still impressive nonetheless" Mammon greeted, Cordelia darted in front of Tatsumi with her sword a Teigu blade called Verdant Glory and clad in her battle armor.
"You demon I challenge to single combat; you possess the body of my father General Budo of his majesty's Royal Guard the greatest man to ever lead that unit you desecrate his very being by your presence DEMON!" Cordelia challenged.
"I accept your challenge then mortal fool; my warriors will deal with your allies and if they fail and I do the same you'll still have to fight the best and General Rel'Gov" Mammon replied and charged towards her with a demonic pole axe, Tatsumi would have helped but he and the rest of the group found themselves being attacked on all sides by Hell Knights, these warriors were nothing like the hordes of lesser demons no these warriors were the equal of the greatest of human warriors and a formidable force. As Tatsumi and the others did battle with the knights Cordelia parried, dodged and countered the attacks of the demon lord looking for weaknesses in his technique which were not easy to find as he was keeping her at a reach disadvantage and his weapon was holding up to the Teigu blade Cordelia wielded.
Meanwhile outside the battle had gone into full wind as both sides met clashing all over Melitine, the fighting was chaotic and it proved difficult to form combat formations, swarms of demons met disciplined soldiers, the Giants battled colossal demonic pit fiends and abominations, the Dwarves held against wave after wave of demons as the Lizardmen tide from the south pushed with searing blasts of magic leveling ruined structures and vaporizing tides of demons whose numbers never ceased to abate any demon that fell returned and a prolonged assault kept even by the sheer advantages the armies of Order had along with the heavenly hosts that fought by their side keeping the fight from devolving into utter chaos.
Tatsumi hewed down another Hell Knight as he took a look as Cordelia's battle, Cordelia dodged another strike then used her speed to fool Mammon in attacking in a specific direction, the pole axe of her opponent found itself stuck in a wall and before the demon could pull the weapon out Cordelia decapitated the vessel with one clean strike. But that wasn't the end of their fight no from the smitten corpse Mammon materialized a demonic warrior covered with gold, silver, and jewelry along with ornate armor, his beard was long and Assyrian in style with rows of jagged teeth in his mouth and piercing crimson eyes, his horns were covered with gold and he drew and ornated battle axe. "The Abbadonic Lord of the Greed does not fall to human weaklings: I will kill you! For VALTOR! FOR HOUSE ABADDON! EXTINCTION TO ALL WEAKLINGS!" Mammon yelled and swung his axe; Cordelia side stepped the blow again using Mammon's momentum against him and swung her sword again bisecting the demon across the abdomen and Mammon's face with rage before he dissolved into fiery embers; with the fall of their captain the remaining Hell Knights retreated in a panic, Tatsumi and his force pursued and as they strode into the hall of images they saw a grizzly sight, one of the Demons one of their own cut down the retreating Hell Knights without a second thought before noted Tatsumi and sighing.
"Cowards, you can't have soldiers be considered elites if they fail to hold their lines during the worst moments of a battle" Rel'Gov remarked then looked at Tatsumi. "Ah Tatsumi, I've been expecting you and longing for this moment; the other five Arch-Devil Generals have failed to defeat you and been sent back to Lord Valtor in disgrace; I'm unsurprised for all his hatred of you Volgoth seems to hold you with some degree of respect as an enemy; you are worthy of my respect but that doesn't mean that I Lord Rel'Gov General of the Eighth Circle Legion of House Abaddon will let you pass without a fight" Rel'Gov greeted.
"I wasn't expecting to; you know you don't behave like the other demons I've met" Tatsumi replied drawing his sword Michael.
"I'll have you know I'm a demon of honor, a warrior thru and thru but I'm loyal to my cause I follow orders without question and regardless of whether they are foley, I'm a warrior who faces the strongest and worthiest of opponents I don't waste my time with cowards; I expect a good fight from you Emperor Tatsumi; prove yourself worthy of your title and defeat me: Rel'Gov, favored of Valtor's Generals and slayer of the mightiest champions: one on one and without the interference of allies lest they feel my wrath" Rel'Gov replied readying his axe and twirling it with a flourish before bringing it to the ready position.
"Challenge accepted" Tatsumi replied and raised his shield, the demonic axe came down hard, even though Tatsumi was unharmed by the strike the force did slow his counter thus causing him to bring his sword onto the haft of Rel'Gov's axe, an attack that were it a normal great-axe may have made his weapon useless did no damage to the demonic alloy the axe in its entirety was made from and thus began a duel, an unstoppable force had met and immoveable object; for all the brutal strikes Rel'Gov delivered they didn't break past Tatsumi's shield Enoch which held; Tatsumi then clenched his fist behind the shield and yelled "Curse of the Midnight Wind" Rel'Gov found himself being slowed and his guard weakened but that did little to stop his attacks and Tatsumi kept having to defend while probing for weaknesses.
"Impressive, you favor a defensive strategy quite nice; the question is will it hold long enough to keep you alive long enough to strike me down" Rel'Gov remarked.
"It'll hold or it won't I'm personally hoping I can hold so I can avenge my father, my uncle, my aunt and every one of my people that Volgoth has murdered" Tatsumi replied, Rel'Gov smiled.
"For that alone I commend you, but for your humility in admitting you may day you've earned my respect even more" Rel'Gov replied and struck again but Tatsumi noted the demon was slowing down his attacks almost as if- almost as if he was conceding the fight and when he made a foolish strike Tatsumi capitalized driving his blade into Rel'Gov's heart; the demon smiled then raised his axe in a salute. "You are a worthy opponent; we will meet again Tatsumi and I hope that on that day you will have improved further" Rel'Gov replied and vanished.
With the demise of the last of the demon generals Tatsumi didn't wait on the doorstep much longer and as he had done many times before barged into throne room this time however as a ruler and with his sword drawn along with his team at his side. In front of Tatsumi sitting on the throne that Tatsumi's ancestors had called theirs for centuries sat the Usurper; Volgoth Ugor, a demented grin on his face. "Hello silly boy" Volgoth greeted. "I've been waiting for this for a good amount of time now and I wonder if you are willing to surrender to save the lives of your friends and family" Volgoth added.
"Not a chance, I saw what you did to my father, what you did to my uncle, and most importantly to my aunt Meko: you are a monster, the worst monster to ever walk the face of Eden Volgoth" Tatsumi replied, Volgoth laughed.
"You killed my father and my mother Volgoth; manipulated me and murdered many of my fellow Imperials and thru your schemes caused me to be defiled by monsters that look like angels in comparison before you" Makoto replied, Volgoth regarded Makoto with the look one gives a fly.
"Oh, you brought back my butt-boy in the making; and he's grown nice and big too those abbs very appetizing did you bring those scrumptious morsels of his sisters with you too? If not I'll find them rape them and eat them raw in front of him and you when I've won Tatsumi" Volgoth replied, everyone regarded Volgoth with a look of utter hatred Esdeath drew her blade as did everyone else and Tatsumi looked at Volgoth with utter hatred.
"You know that I'm not surprised that you'd do such a thing Volgoth but you know saying what you just did is low and sick even from you I mean I'd think you can't sink lower but no you'll always manage to sink lower that's what you are the lowest of the low the scummiest of scum and vilest of the vile not to mention you are insane completely so; afterall what sane being would want to hurt Lin and Koko, they are sweet, kind and innocent, everything you are not; they'd never hurt a fly but you just admitted you'd rape them, children I may add who aren't even near beginning to develop into adults, and eat them alive like you did my aunt; of all the things you've done Volgoth saying that is potentially the most vile thing you've ever said I mean I wouldn't be surprised if you could say anything worse but really that's low even for a being of utter evil you act like a creepy disgusting old man more than you do a being of malevolent darkness" Tatsumi retorted, Volgoth laughed.
"Flattery will get you nowhere in a hurry silly boy: you do realize that you've fallen into my trap, the sword, the shield, and armor are new and impressive but gold breaks easy they won't save you from me: I've had a while to prepare for this confrontation: you've cut down all I had standing in between you and me and you're unstained by any blood which isn't a surprise as demons have none; you know I wonder if it is worthy of me, Arch-Demon Emperor Tar-Esh-Tavani Volgoth Ugor to waste my time on such a lesser being though really I'm willing to bet that's what I'll have to do but first a test of your skill: Lorhish, Graal; deal with him and take him alive I want to see him suffer" Volgoth ordered the two demons charged towards Tatsumi and his allies, Lorhish summoned a number of hell hounds that pinned everyone bar Tatsumi and a couple others down fighting them Graal attacked Tatsumi from the front and Lorhish went to attack from the back when suddenly his head was cut off by an axe that he hadn't expected to be there as if- someone had anticipated his attack: Ieyasu having cut down Lorhish came to Tatsumi's side. "Hey ugly: your cousin is a three-legged toadstool! Begone thot!" Ieyasu yelled and hewed Graal in half; Tatsumi then charged towards Volgoth only to find a black barriers stop him as shadows clouded the room.
(Song begin: Carnivore: Starset, Honest/Volgoth's theme) "YAHAHAHAAHAAA!" Volgoth laughed rising from his throne with his sword drawn as the shadows stitched the room surrounding everyone. "Time for my Trump card: Ephialties: Waking Nightmare!" Volgoth declared his crown glowed crimson and the shadows hardened and the throne room went black. From the shadows that hardened came something very evil then a nightmare; as light shone thru the black mist that had surrounded everyone materialized rapidly into shadowy constructs, these constructs were unlike any other shadow; they were night black in color with pierce crimson eyes and took the forms of shockingly each person in the group but also other shadows materialized some of monsters, some of people not like the others but all looked at a specific person. "Behold the true power of my Shadow Crown, what stands before you mortals are well the one thing you cannot face; yourselves; there is a darkness that lies in the heart of every person I'm a darkness that has consumed a person now your darknesses, both your dark sides and your fears are now manifest in the physical world and they are a nightmare you can't wake up from they are driven by only the goal of destroying you" Volgoth explained and the shadows receded leaving in their place life-like versions of the real people but with crimson eyes and their worst visages their faces could make present.
Tatsumi looked towards Volgoth readying his blade and saw- in his way stood not a dark reflection of himself but- something worse; his literal worst nightmare, a demented manifestation of his beloved Aria with a demonic expression and covered with blood and carrying in her right hand and axe but in the other- Chelsea's severed head. This alone would have gave him pause but what nearly broke him were the dark words spoken by this shadow Aria; cruel barbs directed not at Tatsumi but at everyone he loved and then directed at him were his failures, nearby two other shadow creations approached with weapons, the shadow creation of Spear without a face and carrying her glaive and the other well the skeletal figure of his father.
"You failed us" Chelsea's severed head spoke, Tatsumi noted the yells of his allies facing their own demons then didn't let the words scare him.
"How could I fail something that isn't real; you're nothing but a creation of Volgoth meant to torment me; I'm not going to give into the fear: Volgoth if you have any courage you'll face me now" Tatsumi challenged, the shadows attacked Tatsumi blocked the blows but didn't counter attack something held him from striking back even though he knew they were illusions his insecurities wouldn't allow him to strike down the fear he was blind however to the enemy behind him as Volgoth had been creeping up to stab his enemy in the back while Tatsumi was afraid to strike back. Fortunately, Tatsumi didn't have to strike them as suddenly a green blur struck hewing down the shadows that dissolved and then lunged at Volgoth blocking his sword to a yell of anger Tatsumi turned to face Volgoth and saw- his father's spirit once again saving his life but this time holding back Volgoth before shunting the demon back into a wall, the spirit turned to Tatsumi and removed his helmet revealing the familiar face of Isshin II, his father. "I'm sorry dad so sorry all this has happened: mom did her best to keep me safe but apparently I inherited your bravery I'm more like you then I ever realized" Tatsumi greeted, Isshin nodded. "This is my battle dad; I'm going to avenge you, and Uncle Yoritomo and Aunt Meko, and every other being that has died because of that monster Volgoth will be stopped no matter the cost" Tatsumi replied, the spirit stabbed his sword into the ground and- vanished as a black sword pierced the back, however the spirit only smiled gave Tatsumi a kiss before vanishing, Tatsumi looked forward and saw Volgoth his face demented and ugly with deep blood red skin, rows of fang teeth and tusks revealed and the piercing yellow eyes the color of piss looking Tatsumi down with all the hatred his nemesis could muster.
"You will die now!" Volgoth yelled and lept with two-handed grip on his sword towards Tatsumi. "Malus: Guardbreaker!" Volgoth declared unleashing the Darkblade's Trump card, the blade glew red as he struck and was shocked when the shield blocked the hit, Volgoth had to dodge swiftly as Tatsumi countered and narrowly avoided a stab from Tatsumi's blade that would have skewered him like a stuck boar.
(Song End: Song begin: Whatever it Takes: by Imagine Dragons)
Then the fight between the two began in earnest, blade met blade both turning and moving as powered strikes and flurries clashed Tatsumi and Volgoth's blades met many times as both constantly changed the techniques powered attacks gave way to precision probes, and the sword styles changed as if they had changed weapons one moment Volgoth was swinging his blade like a rapier and another Tatsumi was striking with his own in the slashes of a scimitar, their blades struck hard Volgoth and Tatsumi yelled out a series of Teigu declarations amping up the power contained within their armor and arms as surges of power rattled the area as blasts of energy struck towards the other both felt pain even though their armor absorbed the damage, both slashed and lunged parrying and striking with their swords striking with hatred for each other for all the reasons; inside Volgoth's body Honest tried to break his bonds to cause the demon to be distracted long enough for Tatsumi to drive a blade thru him but that was to no avail.
As the two did battle each of Tatsumi's team faced down their inner demons cutting down shadow after shadow; Ieyasu and Esdeath were the first ones to best their dark reflections and fears; the energy from the defeats struck into Volgoth's mind and suddenly as other shadows full umbral shadow energy caused a crazed lash and suddenly across the room everyone knew Volgoth's past, every detail burned in their memory as a side effect of the energy backlash the lives shown were both those of Tar-Esh-Tavani and Honest Castnir both humans but one turned a monster by choice and other unwillingly, Volgoth roared in pain Tatsumi attempted to capitalize but even in the agony of psychic backlash Volgoth still maintained an awareness of his surroundings and parried the blow Tatsumi blocked the counter. "YOU! WILL ALL! DIE!" Volgoth yelled and unleashed a surge of attacks that Tatsumi barely countered suddenly Volgoth felt a surge of pain as his tail was suddenly along with his right wing cut off by a hewing strike from Belvaac courtesy of Ieyasu, Tatsumi drove past the guard slashing across the armored chest leaving a gaping gash; Volgoth countered but his sword only scraped the shield Enoch leaving a visible gash but not even breaking it Volgoth then summoned reinforcements. Tatsumi then had to dodge as a number of shadow clones attacked him; Volgoth then bolted Tatsumi hewed down the shadows with ease and ran after Volgoth with all the speed of a wolf chasing a wounded deer; everyone tried to follow after Tatsumi but a number of hell knights blocked the path on orders from Volgoth; some tried blocking Tatsumi but he hewed them down as if he was carving a cake.
Volgoth ran slowed by his injury then came another attack by Tatsumi he countered as they kept sword strikes meeting with speed but Tatsumi bypassed his defense again cutting him across the abdomen and thru his demonic infused Teigu armor causing pain but Volgoth had something that he could do to save himself albeit for the moment. "Enough now are you going to stop me now or are you going to save those whose lives are at stake?" Volgoth rebuked.
(Song End)
"Whose lives? Its over Volgoth unless you've got more of your shadows my allies are perfectly capable of killing them!" Tatsumi replied as the swords clashed again this time Volgoth was only one-handing his blade and keeping Tatsumi at bay barely as Tatsumi had worked in the Oarburgh blade-dance with the Imperial Fist seventh ring into his technique, at this point Volgoth noted he was on the backfoot and if Tatsumi who had at this point surpassed him in swordsmanship kept up his attack he would kill him with another onslaught like the one he had just taken. But Volgoth had two last pieces he could move to play getting him out of check and allowing him to possibly win and to use the better one he was determined to use the first of the two which would delay Tatsumi just long enough to get to his final piece on the board in striking range.
"Oh you know that I've been busy well there are about 50 women that I've taken from the city specifically for you trapped in a room near here, I've more throughout the palace but these ones I've been keeping specifically for you with a little gift from me inside each of them I'm now going to give the orders for my guards that keep them in that room to kill them now; you can kill me now but you'll sacrifice their lives" Volgoth remarked then gave orders mentally; Tatsumi ran off noted demon warriors while Volgoth skulked off, Tatsumi broke down the door and arrived just in time to get the attention of a number of hell knights that were getting ready to begin executions of a number of beautiful women; Tatsumi charged in and they charged towards him. "Glaurang: Banishing light!" Tatsumi declared and bright energy burst appeared atomizing the demons and quickly vanishing the women cheered and rushed to kiss, him Tatsumi then noticed their swollen bellies all were pregnant; apparently Volgoth had been busy raping many of the women how many did he rape; well that number in the palace in terms of the living numbered about 7,500 all trapped in various rooms of the palace; and only given what they needed to survive. Tatsumi ran down the direction he last saw Volgoth and met up with his protectors the rest of the team he sent to tend to the abused women; when Tatsumi heard and felt a loud force almost as if it were an earthquake but that wasn't; Tatsumi ran towards the source of the disturbance following a trail of blood from Volgoth's not fully demonic body to find a wall that had opened with a portrait of Merraid II lying on the floor near it; suddenly outside Tatsumi felt a loud crash as the west side of the palace was torn asunder and Tatsumi saw the source of the racket as he walked into the room at the end of the passage that had been behind the wall.
Tatsumi saw it from the back but it was massive and- he'd seen it before or rather it's like under Karak Uzgor; the looming form of an Imperator class war-titan only this one was different; the Imperator titan referred to as Absalom had been built in the decorated form of a dwarven warrior; this titan was something else; it was tall; easily as tall as the palace itself but there was more to it; it was largely dark blue in coloration but its outer shell was covered in blue and black armored plates with what looked like an imperious cape being wrapped around it with gold engraved across in wirely lines around the body; the body was protected by a black armored carapace the head was human like but had no facial features apart from square black sockets in which there were red photoreceptors as eyes and a black hole that resembled a mouth with what looked like golden tasks along the ridges of the face atop the head was what resembled a crown in the center of the chassis was a large red disk that immediately screamed weapon to Tatsumi, the large arms were massive black limbs and the lower half was covered by another outer carapace of armor that was shaped like a tunic and was purple in color that concealed the legs but the machine advanced with the grace of a normal human being; Dorothea ran up alongside Tatsumi and gasped; Makoto held Tatsumi's side with Aria and Esdeath looked shocked; everyone else had mixtures of expressions of shock and amazement at the sight.
"The Primus Imperator" Dorothea said aloud.
"The what?" Tatsumi asked.
"Primus Imperator, the greatest weapon the Empire has; it was gifted by the Dwarves to the first Emperor, with it Tatsumi I forged the Empire conquering the many kingdoms and principalities into a unified nation; all either feared and respected it; it hasn't been seen since the days of the Brass Emperor over 200 years ago; I thought it was just a legend until now" Makoto clarified.
"I never did; I've seen it in action on the battlefield; I've seen it used during times of great war in past and it- is a force to behold" Dorothea explained, Tatsumi now had a grim face his brain now wondering what to do now; Volgoth was now controlling a weapon of the ages; while the Dwarves had means to stop it those were scattered across the city, and it still had power to it with weapons capable of killing hundreds of thousands of soldiers and his heart nearly stopped when he saw it turn towards the shielded part of the city and he now realized what the target was.
A loud voice broke out and Tatsumi recognized it at once for who it was. "Engage Purge Mode!" Volgoth's voice boomed out and the machine transformed, advanced layers of machinery adapted the body and numerous weapons of all times readied for battle, the massive metal war machine that had been dormant in terms of weaponry before was now covered with all manner of weapons; suddenly the large central disk acted up. "Activate King Beam: target the shield!" Volgoth declared and the large red disk powered up; a large red sphere of condensed plasma heated up. "Fire!" Volgoth declared and the central gun fired a blast, the surge of energy launched a massive beam that impacted the shield which stuttered the power integrity of it was compromised and a few more hits from that beam would overload and destroy the shield along with the buildings in the surrounding area like Grundewick Manor. "Face me if you dare Tatsumi; soon all that you held dear will be leveled by the power of the Emperors past!" Volgoth boomed and Tatsumi took a hard look and readied to take another leap into the fires of war, then turned to Syura.
"Syura open up a portal get us to a structure that's still standing near the Imperator we're going to take it down; Umber call out the weak spots we'll focus our attacks on those: the final fight starts now!" Tatsumi ordered and everyone looked at him and smiled, this would be one hell of a fight
