Chapter 62: Wrath of the Emperors

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.

From the rooftop of a building directly behind their target Night Raid took in the sight of the Primus Imperator: it was even more intimidating up close; fortunately they were to the rear and according to Umber the ancient war-machine had a major blind spot it also didn't have the sensors later models like the ones under Karak Uzgor had with that in mind they had time plan the attack. Umber had opened up a holo projector with information uploaded to her data interface computer. "The Primus Imperator is a specially modified variation of the Imperator I class war-Titan; this model has extra armor and weaponry then standard and it appears to have been further modified by someone else since thing" Umber explained.

"Ok thanks for the history now how do we beat it?" Mine asked, Umber grinned, then the holo glowed up with red dots.

"By targeting these locations; this model had a fair few weak spots and the modifications by Izel along with frequent use by previous Emperors has only exasperated them; these locations are the targets; the only thing is that we'll need to spread out the main weapon of the Imperator, the King Beam is capable of glassing entire city blocks without issue, I'm surprised that shield held but the moment Volgoth knows we are attacking he'll want to turn that weapon in our direction so whatever we do don't hold still and always be moving; also I'd recommend we divide our forces and target different spots; don't focus our efforts into hitting a single spot, hit multiple points and the Imperator should be impacted severally; our heaviest hitters should focus on the area around the midsection, that's where the armor is weakest: Su, you and Amaterasu should try and hit it there with a fusion beam and Tatsumi you and Esdeath should follow it up; everyone else needs to hit a spot and don't for any moment hold still there are A LOT of weapons and any of them could do serious damage" Umber explained.

"Well you heard her; Mine I want you and our firearm users to target this spot here above the main weapon; Seryu you, Koro, Leone, Syura, and Sheele focus the right arm take out the weapons on it, Aria you and Najenda along with Su and Amaterasu go for the midsection Cassandra you and your team focus the ass of that machine let Jervis bring his guns on the back; Esdeath you, me, Spear Sayo, Clem, Bro, and the four Rakshasas along with our other flyers will attack the head we'll want to blind the Imperator let's see Volgoth fire his guns without sight on targets; Makoto I want you to assist in the rear attack; Everyone else pick a location and hit it with your Teigus we will take down this Juggernaut or die trying also let's see if we can get him to fire that big gun at his giant nexus I'll bet it will flatten it and even the odds for everyone" Tatsumi ordered then drew his Halberd from his back and held his shield of his body; everyone who had Teigu Armor dawned it; the aerial attack team took off, everyone else darted from roof tops soon everyone was in position and Tatsumi flew in front of the Imperator. "Hey Volgoth, I'm back!" Tatsumi yelled and inside the Imperator Volgoth pressed a number of buttons trying to divert weapons in Tatsumi's direction.

(Song Begin: My Demons, Starset)

"Judgement of the Ten Heavenly Kings: number 7! Taizan's Cannon of Justice!" Seryu declared and suddenly the mother of all sniper rifles materialized in her hands the gun was easily ten feet long "Judgement of the Ten Heavenly Kings: 2 and 8!" Seryu declared and a series of Missile launchers materialized on her shoulders and her arms. "Judgement of the Ten Heavenly Kings: Justice Volley fire!" Seryu declared and fired all her weapons at once; about 60 heavy ordinance rounds that were grade of artillery shells fired and homed in on the right arm multiple weapons that had been targeting Tatsumi were impacted and destroyed. "Heketonchires: Ultimate Berserker!" Seryu declared and Koro activated his ultimate Berserker form becoming colossal, Leone and Syura jumped on his back, and lept towards the right arm all three of them then attacked the limb Leone smashing machinery while Kuro's claws tore out layers of wires, circuitry and mechanisms.

"Mursak!" Sheele declared and a bolt of green energy struck the main body, inside Volgoth glared at a computer screen that was flashing red with devastation to the right arm; he attempted to divert weapons when Cassandra's force made their rear attack: a number of Teigu users unleashed their attacks on back of the Imperator attacking the legs and making sure to avoid the crushing limbs as Volgoth advanced the weapon; Mine then along with the ranged users fired a barrage; Mine activated True focus and unleashed a salvo of shots from Pumpkin hundreds in a fraction of a single second before firing a focused shot above the central weapon. These attacks were followed up by Najenda and Aria's attack on the mid-section with Susanoo and Amaterasu activating their trump cards as the Elite Seven current and previous attacked: A grand fusion of their two mirrors and grand beam hit the mid-section; piercing the armor. Tatsumi then jumped into action dive bombing the head: Esdeath dropped a barrage of Ice meteors shredding the shoulder armor; missile launchers tried to target the team but Spear and Sayo attacked them destroying them with lightning and light arrows "Volgoth!" Tatsumi yelled and drove his halberd repeated into the skull cap.

"King beam fire!" Volgoth declared and everyone had to dodge as the focused beam fired at the shield again; Tatsumi then dive bombed again noticing that the armor on the midsection had been shredded by Susanoo's and Amaterasu's beam strikes and numerous gears and wires were now exposed and went straight inside. The Gears did a number on the Golden Dragon armor as Tatsumi hewed thru them; some even tore breaches in the armor and Tatsumi felt blood run down his body as some machine tore into his shoulders; but even then it didn't matter as he powered thru the machinery inside the bowels of the Imperator crashing thru a wall into what was a spacious hallway; not at all a surprise granted he could have chosen a better route inside but he didn't have time; Spear followed him in thru the path he had made.

"You know that has got to be the most fucking insane thing I've ever seen you do Tatsumi; you could have at least had Susanoo and Amaterasu hit that spot a second time!" Spear yelled.

"Yeah; but I wasn't thinking truth be told" Tatsumi noted, his armored face mask had been torn but the armor was repairing itself; and tending to his injuries.

"Don't do that again" Spear remarked.

"I'll likely never have to now let's see if we can cause some havoc: I've got a plan lets get to a control room, I'll distract Volgoth and you divert the King Beam and have it fire at the portal" Tatsumi replied.

"That's crazy!" Spear replied, Tatsumi grinned at that.

"Crazy enough to work I know but there should be a manual control for that thing near its location" Tatsumi replied.

"Better idea we both head for the control room and we both kick Volgoth's ass and I keep you from doing something life-threatening for yourself" Spear replied, Tatsumi shrugged and then nodded both then ran upwards; Volgoth activated automated defenses but Spear and Tatsumi destroyed those with ease, both then navigated a series of hallways and stairwells before coming to a large sealed door with the words cockpit written above it in the Imperial script and language; the door was solid titanium: Tatsumi and Spear grinned at each other then began attacking it with their Teigu blades, Tatsumi at this point having drawn his sword and placed his halberd on his back. Surprised by the sudden arrival of Tatsumi inside the cockpit Volgoth was taken aback but drew his blade and targeted Spear who was unfamiliar with his attack; Tatsumi lept in front and parried the strike Spear then went towards the abandoned controls and veered the Imperator slowly about, noting the very big red button labeled 'Death Ray' written by a snarky past Emperor who thought the name way better then King Beam she also noted that the power cycle for it had nearly finished charging; fortunately one of the optics was still intact and as Tatsumi and Volgoth battled it out in the corner she acquired the new target of the Imperator's main weapon: the Grand Nexus Volgoth had ordered constructed then fired.

A bright red beam came once more from the central chest everyone was confused as the beam now targeted the main portal striking the target and causing the black and red structure to be disintegrated, across Melitine demons withered and skies opened to blue once again Spear then pressed another button marked shut down, and powered down the machine as it was once again hit by Susanoo; Tatsumi cut off Volgoth's left arm but before he could finish him off Spear grabbed him and they bolted thru out finding an emergency hatch and flying out as red lights lit the halls and as they exited explosions with ruined systems light up the structure of the Imperator as the midsection shattered the head went flying from body and everyone ran as the machine fell crashing into a number of abandoned buildings while the head crashed half a mile away in an abandoned park.

(Song End)

There was no cheering as Tatsumi bloodied by the fight led them towards the ruined head in a familiar park that Tatsumi noted had been where he met Aria months ago, he then grinned as he found as he expected Volgoth unfortunately still living but rather fortunately pinned under a large metal buckhead. "Its over Volgoth" Tatsumi remarked as he approached at his side were Esdeath, Aria and Chelsea along with Merra and his bodyguard Empresses, Makoto was near at hand.

"This wasn't how this was supposed to go: not remote: you were all supposed to die; this world was to be mine!" Volgoth ranted but was unable to move or even use his powers to teleport as his limbs had been skewered by the metal buck held and his bones had been broken; in fact, some could be seen protruding from it.

"No this is how does end; Volgoth Ugor, for high crimes against the Empire including murder, rape, larceny, embezzlement, fraud, pedophilia and destruction of public property along with High Treason and general disregard for life and other crimes too numerous to list but foremost among them the murder of two Emperors my father Emperor Isshin II and uncle Emperor Yoritomo along with your vile twisted rape and cannibalism of my aunt Empress Meko you are sentenced to death" Tatsumi declared.

"So, this is how it ends; well boy; you've won but it's not over yet; do you have the courage to end the life of a defenseless demon an act of cold-blooded killing; you and I aren't to different afterall" Volgoth remarked.

"No: though I've more than enough reasons to remove your putrid head myself that honor will go to the one you've wronged more than me: Makoto, he's all yours" Tatsumi replied, Volgoth smirked as Makoto walked over clad in Teigu armor and with his rapier drawn.

"You murdered my father with this blade, it was his own sword, he passed it down to me in his will, its only fitting that you die by it Volgoth: because of you my parents are dead you murdered my father, raped and ate my mother alive! You manipulated me into killing goodness knows how many of my own people, disgraced my image in the eyes of many to a point that Tatsumi had to fight a bloody war against the Revolutionary Army just to eliminate those souls that wanted me dead for your crimes, you soiled my throne with your presence usurped the rightful Emperor, and threatened to eat my sisters alive! And there is more; because of you four great evils were committed as a result of your actions, first off you denied the rightful Emperor my cousin the life he rightfully deserved by murdering his father and scaring his mother into raising him in hiding, you also destroyed the Empire that was rightfully his forcing him to start from scratch along with ruining the life of a good man by possessing his body and warping his children but worst of all because of your schemes to replace me with a puppet I ended up wandering out of the palace and ended up in the hands of two monstrous sisters who tortured me, branded me, whipped me, molested my fiancés with their sick hands and robbed me of my virginity, innocence and my relatively normal childhood in addition to my faith in humanity: because of you Volgoth I have to live with the scars of what those monsters did to me, those women compared to you were angels, they won't ever do what they did again and they'll live as broken shells but you Volgoth are too evil for this fucked up demented world we call home, a World of Blood and Lies that you've made worse than it has ever been; a world that you and your kind will torment no more, for my parents, for everyone you've killed, for all the lives you destroyed, for every abomination you did on the sight of Eden and before the sight of our suns: in the name of the Goddess Asha the goddess of Justice and Order I purge thee vile villain from the face of Eden you will die and let that be an end to this war" Makoto declared then looked Volgoth in the eyes put out one of them then drove his Rapier down repeatedly into Volgoth's throat, blood powered forth and then Makoto swung it down on his neck until Volgoth's head was removed, the demon let out one fell scream of agony as Makoto killed him; that head rolled before Makoto then brought his boot down and stomped it into a bloody pulp; suddenly a surge of energy powered forth from the body and- a spirit materialized, standing before Tatsumi and everyone with him but specifically Leone, Syura, Valdis, Nancy and Lillianna was Honest Dietrich Castnir as he had been in his prime but unlike the monster Volgoth had possessed this Honest was happy, also unlike the spirit of Tatsumi's father the specter of Honest was- lifelike with an aura of white surrounding him and was clad in white like an angel.

"Father?" all five said at once, the spirit hugged them then turned to Tatsumi. "Take good care of my daughters Tatsumi Gildenstrom; take good care of the world; and Makoto Gildenstrom; Thank you for freeing me from that monster" the Spirit of Honest spoke.

"So, you're the real Honest?" Seryu asked surprised.

"Indeed I am Seryu Gildenstrom and for twenty long years apart from brief moments of resistance I was a prisoner in my own body and would have remained that way but now I'm free; Asha calls for my soul but be warry this battle is not yet over" Honest replied then everyone noticed something; deep black-red barbs of energy were materializing outward, the sword and armor and crown of the fallen Volgoth were glowing red and deep umbral purple suddenly the weapons flew upward and dark energy flowed out from the body and- the dark energy flowed upwards as a shadow cloud massive in size in fact about as large as the recently vanquished Primus Imperator materialized; as dark energy seeped in; in fact the dark energy flowed in from all over the world as demons of the lesser variety vanished and Blackstone ruins across Eden did likewise; all that energy was pouring in word and a loud primordial roar loud as a thunderstorm rocked the face of Eden; everyone across the world heard that noise and those near at hand covered their ears but fortunately were not deafened by the sound; then the cloud fused into- a body.

"Shit" Tatsumi muttered as the new body was alight with flame the crown armor and sword flew upwards growing in size and fusing to the newcomer. The newcomer was as large as the smitten Primus Imperator when it had been intact, a hide of deep blood red scales covered the skin as black armor covered most of the skin the head of this monster was like unto that of Volgoth's but now was festooned with horns dozens of them bright orange in color and alight with fire and over different shapes some were ramshorns but others were like those of a goat or those of a gazelle, the face of the monster was Volgoth's eyes bright yellow with a jaw full of thousands of teeth more than any shark could have in his whole lifespan. Arms as long the wings of Dragon were outstretched with the now massive Darkblade in one claw hand and massive fiery axe in the other. The wings of this monster were as large as those of Glauradrost, his tail longer than that that of any dragon with more spiked barbs then any hedgehog had on his body, the feet of the monster were like unto those of a dragon and legs were large, the blade armor covered the body and the Arch-Demon Volgoth in his true form looked down on Melitine looking for one person.

"DESTROY! DESTROY! BURN! BREAK! KILL! DESTROY! TATSUMI!" Volgoth roared and from then on well the demon roared and Tatsumi looked up at the true form of his nemesis then sighed.

"This day couldn't get crazier" Tatsumi thought then turned to those who could fly. "He wants to destroy me: Well let's destroy him first" Tatsumi said aloud and Volgoth looked downward as if having heard the challenge, the final battle for Eden's fate had begun and the Clash of the Emperor and Demon would go down in record as the greatest fight in the history of that world.