5 minutes ago
In the preparations for the ritual at the seal room that was located at the top of the Tower, Aresia slit the palm of her hand with the Sword of Cerberus and dipped her blood into the bowl, mixing it with the one she extracted from the Flash. After she'd done that, she placed the crown on the top of her hand. In the last few months since her plan of eradicating the male population was averted, she'd been thinking about ways of gaining revenge on the world that wronged her since she was a child. The horrors she had witnessed as a child had taughted one thing: the world only see sense if you force it to.
"Perfect." Aresia said smiling to herself. "Soon enough I will extract my vengeance on man and women that sided with their oppressors. Ironic. Years of plotting and hundreds of gold coins spent of hiring mercenaries to do my bidding and none of it bore fruit. No, it was the Prince of Darkness Mundus and his Amazonian lover Iorena who I have to thank for."
She'd never felt more confident than she was in this moment. But of course there were some outside forces that threatened to undone her work. The forces of Justice League that no doubt were heading her way having being aware of Hipployta's kidnapping. But that's what she's counting on.
XXXX
Present
"I. Have. Not thought this through!" Flash screeched as he found himself riding on one of the heads of the God Cerberus that tried to shake him off. Hipployta was using the discarded weapons left by the those before them that had perished in combat to hurt the Cerberus but they were too rusted or too old to make considerable damage against his hardened skin. Needless to say that they were not fairing well.
"That thought may have entered my mind, Flash!" Hipployta retorted. Flash threw her an annoyed look before the gate keeper finally shook him off, tossing him into the wall.
"Useless humans! Meek mortal flesh." God Cerberus gloated as it tried to eat the Amazonian Queen who used a broken sword to put it in his gap, stopping it from eating her. Flash moaned as he peeled himself off the wall. That really hurt.
Hipployta rushed over to check on him. "Are you hurt?" She asked a bit concerned.
The speedster smiled weakly as he was being helped back to his feet. "Just my pride. And possible a couple ribs." He replied, shaking his head off the cobwebs as God Cerberus spat the sword out of his mouth. "We gotta figure how to stop that thing."
"Well, if you have a suggestion I'm all ears. None of those weapons work." Hipployta said, gesturing to the broken swords laying around.
"Why don't ya just use the big chandelier." Flash deadpanned, pointing to the objective above the three headed hound. Hipployta frowned. "Sorry. Bad idea."
Hipployta shook her head as she began to formulate a plan to finish the God Cerberus based on the incredulous suggestion. "Wait. You might be onto something. But I need you to keep Cerberus occupied."
Now that was something he can do. "On it." Flash obliged as he sped in front of the three headed demonic hound, blowing a raspberry, taunting the big bad dog. "C'mon Clifford! That's the best you got, huh!"
"I will not stand for this insolence!" The God Cerberus growled as it spat balls of fires to the Flash who avoided it with little effort thanks to his super-speed. Another of the three head tried to electrify the speedster but it only seemed to boost his abilities when it came into contact with him. "Stand still, you human!"
The Flash fake yawned, simply bored out of his mind. "So much for being the god of dogs, uh! You're not even trying!"
The God Cerberus took offense to that and proceeded to swipe its large paws across but Flash had no difficulty, evading them because it was too predictable. As the God Cerberus was too busy trying to get rid of the quick peasant, Hipployta saw it as an opportunity to climb up on the Cerberus back and used a broadsword that was not broken to cut the chain that held the chandelier up. It descended down, the sharp piece piercing through its chest and into the heart. Cerberus roared in pain before collapsing to the floor with a thunderous thud, perfectly still.
Flash tsked in disappointment while shaking his head while Hipployta returned to his side by hopping off the deceased Gatekeeper as God Cerberus disintegrated into ashes leaving nothing more but a white soul that floated to the Flash. "Bad dog." He muttered curious of seeing the orb before grabbing it. It turned into a pair of gauntlets and greaves strapped to his forearms and feet along with a pair of nunchucks in his hands. "Nifty."
"If we're done admiring new accessory, we're losing time." Hipployta said a bit sternly while heading to the gates.
XXXX
As the duo finished the gatekeeper off, Batman was busy avoiding the sword swipes of the Angelo demon. One thing he noticed that was the Angelo demon was reliant on the shield that it carried on its left hand. So he used its momentum when it tried to bash the shield into his face to slid under and in the process snatched the sword off him and thrusted through the chest into the heart. Normally he doesn't condone killing but in this case, he'll make an exception. Besides, A demon is technically dead already.
Hawkgirl however had a more interesting approach as she used her mace to bash the shield repeatedly until it broke in pieces and then proceeded to take its head off. "That's one headless Demon to scratch off my bucket list." She said, flipping it.
The Green Lantern ducked his own head from the sword before chopping the head off cleanly of the Angelo he was fighting against. "Mine too."
Dante simply unloaded onto one of Proto Demons with his hand guns before using the Rebellion to make slice kebab of him and then proceeded to decapitate him. Trish leaped over the last one, stealing the sword from its hand and slashed vertically, dissecting the body in two.
"That was too easy." Trish said.
"I know. The demons must be getting sloppy these days." Dante quipped.
Aresia and Wonder Woman were still on the ground grappling one and other as they both struggle for control. "Have you not brought enough shame on our Amazon honor?!" Wonder Woman grunted, trying to gain the upper hand.
"I'm sorry, sister. I never meant to be the byproduct of your mother's lies." Aresia spat, hitting the Amazonian Princess in ears, causing her to let go and push her away with both her legs. She went for a right hook but it was blocked by Diana who then twisted it behind her back and suplex her to the floor, she still kept the blonde's arm twisted behind her back. But Aresia was quick to turn the tables by biting on her hand. Diana yelped in surprise at the dirty tactic before being head butted and thrown into the wall. The Amazon Princess quickly recovered as she parred a right hook and went for a left hook, stunning Aresia for a moment before standing on one hand, wrapping her legs around her neck, flipping her over onto the floor.
"Had enough, yet?" Wonder Woman said, pressing her elbow on her throat to keep her in place. Aresia responded by ramming her head into her nose, making Diana let go of her before the misandrist Amazon kicked the Amazonian Princess in the stomach and slugged her, keeping her down momentarily.
She went to take something from her pants and slit her wrist. Diana grunted, as her bloody wrist was starting drip blood. "Thank you for your blood donation, sister." Aresia said.
She ran onto the circle that contained the demonic artifact and proceeded to place the blood coated dagger into the bowl. That was the last piece she needed. Time for the end of the world. "Open." She poured the blood into the seal which led to the seal room beginning to tremble as a black hole began to form, wind starting to pick up from the immense power the hole emitted as it shaped into a portal.
"No." Wonder Woman muttered in shock. What had she done?
Aresia smiled. "Trap and inflict." She said in Greek using a spell she learned from her study of magic. Wonder Woman didn't have any time to react as she found herself trapped by electric chains wrapped around her body on the floor as something incredibly sharp pierced her body causing her to scream in distress.
"Diana!" Batman tried to come to her aid but he suffered the same fate as his colleague once his hand touched the bonds, it caused him to be confided by the very same chains that and be pierced by a carbon copy needle that Wonder Woman was experiencing.
"Repeat." Aresia recited in greek, the others endured the same thing the two heroes were going through. Seeing her enemies in the same predicament , Aresia was now content with watching the world burn.
XXXX
Flash and Hipployta were now at the seal room and unfortunately they were a bit late to the party.
"We're too late. It's already starting." Hipployta murmured in horror seeing the portal appear behind Aresia.
"What's starting?" Flash inquired.
"The ritual. Aresia has now established the connection between the our world and the Underworld." Hipployta informed him. "It's only a matter of time before Mundus notices and comes through the portal."
That was not good. "How do we stop her?" Flash asked her.
"We must sever the connection by removing one of the demonic artifacts from the circle." Hipployta said pointing towards the devil arms laid in a perfect circle. "But it'll be difficult. One of us must keep Aresia distracted while other disrupts the ritual."
Something sparkled in his head as he laid eyes on Hawkgirl's discarded mace not far from where the Thangarian native was. "And I think I know how. I have an idea." Flash said.
XXXX
Hell
Somewhere in the depths of Hell, The Fallen Demon King Mundus was staring down at the blood flood with a vengeful look cursing the name of the Dark Knight Sparda and his bloodline.
But then something unexpected as a dark blue portal appeared above him. "Is that?" He murmured wondering before realizing it was. This was his chance.
A glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes as Mundus made his way to the portal.
XXXX
Temen Ni Gru
"It's called The Anguish of Tartarus spell." Aresia sneered, relishing the torment she's put the Justice League along with Dante and Trish. Wonder Woman was withering in pure agony as she trashed on the floor. It felt like hot sharp needles piercing through every spot of her body. "A quick neural simulation of your pain receptors, all of them. Imagine the worst pain you've ever experienced in your life, times a million. Now visualize that pain continuing endlessly until your heart stops beating from shock."
Aresia quirked an eyebrow of seeing her Amazonian adversary barley endure the torment. "I'm impressed, Diana. Any ordinary person would've died within seconds." Aresia commented. "But don't worry, your pain won't last for much longer. " She picked up the dagger from the bowl to carve out her heart and hand it over to Mundus as a gift.
Something tapped her on the shoulder, stopping her. "Excuse me."
She turned around only to see a gloved fist smash into her face causing her to stumble back. She shook her head off the surprise punch and glowered harshly at the speedster who somehow got free from his chains.
"That all you got, Flash?" Aresia taunted the Central City Native.
"Not quite." Flash retorted. Aresia threw a punch which the speedster caught it easily and judo throw her into a wall. That only seemed to infuriate the misandristic amazon as she picked herself up and threw a series of punches and kick, hitting nothing but air as The Flash simply dodged them with super speed before tripping her over with his foot, making her land face first onto the floor.
Aresia was getting a bit agitated by the man in red as she got back up again. "Foolish man. Do you really think you could beat me, an amazon?"
"Oh, I'm not trying to beat you. I'm trying to stall you." Flash said with hands behind his back in a rather smug fashion.
Aresia's eyes went wide as she immediately understood what he hinted. Behind her back, Hipployta used Hawkgirl's mace to destroy the bowl, severing the connection between the underworld and the human world. The portal ceased to exist soon after.
"No!" Aresia screamed as she turned, allowing Flash to sneak up on her and use a taser formed by the nunchucks he had in his pocket to stun her. Aresia howled in agony as electricity coursed through her body. It caused the spell she cast to break, freeing his fellow Justice Leaguers and the Devil Hunters from the electric chains and torture they'd just withstood, barley.
Aresia fell to her knees, weakened from the shock she'd just received.
XXXX
Hell
"NOOO!" Mundus shouted in anguish as the portal closed before him, leaving him on his knees as his one chance of escaping Hell had now vanished in a blink of an eye. He cursed whoever stopped his return from conquering the humanity endlessly.
XXXX
Temen Ni Gru
Not willing to go down with some fight that was left in her, the man hating amazon criminal picked up the sword of Cerberus and held it. "This isn't right. How did you free Hipployta?" Aresia spat.
Flash smirked smugly at her misery. "I could've gotten her out anytime but I figured that we'd stick around and wait for back up to arrive." He replied.
Furious that she'd been outsmarted by a man she deemed inferior, Ariesia swung the sword wildly in anger towards the Flash who side stepped the attack. He caught Hawkgirl's mace that was tossed by Hipployta and used it to whack her across the face. It felt like she was hit with a sledgehammer. Aresia groaned in pain, stumbling backwards before swaying back and forth in daze. She pointed her finger while glaring at the speedster with venomous hate.
"You. Are. Despicable." Aresia hissed before she fainted to the floor.
Flash grinned in victory. "Well, ain't I a stinker?"
XXXX
After averting Mundus's return once more and saving the world again, the Justice League along with Dante and Trish were watching Aresia being led in cuffs by Hipplotya's elite guard with a look of disdain to the ship that will take her back to the Amazonian Island to await her trial at the docks. Hipployta had assured both the heroes and the devil hunters that Aresia will be punished severely for her violation against the Themyiscran law.
Speaking of the Amazon Queen, Hipployta stopped by to speak to the Scarlet Speedster. "You remember what we agreed on?" She asked him.
Flash nodded with a smile. "Yep. The care package is already in place." He said with no hesitation.
The Queen was pleased with the answer before she went to board the ship. The League looked at the Flash puzzled about the exchange.
"What was that all about, hotshot?" G.L. asked the question the heroes had.
Flash simply smiled as he happily strolled towards the Javelin leaving a group of bewildered Leaguers as the ship took off.
XXXX
Space
Watchtower.
Back at the space station that orbited the planet Earth literary a day after the events at the Temen Ni Gru, Flash was showing off his new accessory to the other league members. Trish was watching the interaction with amusement from the background. Batman was in the process of storing the demonic artifacts in a secure location to prevent the risk of them being used again for devious purposes.
"You got this from a dog?" Green Lantern inquired incredulously, studying the gauntlets and nun chucks that the speedster had in his hand.
"A dog that is as huge as the Chrysler Building." Flash said, flaunting them for the eyes to see. "With three heads that sprouted fire, light bolts and ice all at once. You should've been there."
"Sounded like you had your hands full with that Cerberus demon." Hawkgirl said.
Flash dismissed it with a hand wave. "Eh, it was all bark and no bite. "I am God of the Cerberus tribe! You shall not pass!" He scoffed as he made an mock impression of the God Cerberus. "Pfft! More like the puppy of the tribe."
"So I see." Hawkgirl noted then she looked over his shoulder to see Trish waiting. "Hey, G.L. Want to fill the field report?"
Green Lantern got the hint when he followed her glance towards the devil hunter in the doorway. "Sure." The two Leaguers left to the monitor room leaving the love birds alone.
"I'm impressed. Not many that faced a Cerberus lived to see another day." Trish said walking up to him.
"Funny. Diana's mom said the same thing earlier at the tower." Flash recalled.
"Seemed that you have gotten close with the Queen of the Amazons." Trish wiggled her eyebrows in suggestion which made his eyes almost pop out.
"What?! No!" Flash stammered as he blushed slightly. Trish smirked. He's just too easy to tease. "I'm no way interested in her. She's way too old for me."
"Relax. I'm just joking." Trish reassured him. "Ya know, if you're interested, I was hoping that we could continue where we left off at Milano."
Flash was frozen stiff. "Really?" he asked trying to contain his excitement.
"Mhmm. That is If you're up to it. Wally." Trish sauntered away from him, swaying with her hips to lure him like viper stalking on its prey before it strike.
Flash thought about the offer for a sec or two before speeding to catch up to her. There was no way he would pass up on that chance. Besides, it's been a really good day for the Flash. The bad guys went down and nobody got killed. It's a win-win.
XXXX
Redgrave City.
Dante with a solemn smile walked up to his old family home with two red and black roses in his hands with Diana who wanted to join him to pay her respects after her appearance on a charity event at the local hospital in Dante's hometown.
"Is this where you grew up?" Diana asked him, studying the ruined home that the devil hunter once lived during his adolescent years with his twin brother before the tragic attack under the orders of Mundus. Even in imprisonment, the Prince of Darkness still held a considerable leverage within the supernatural community.
"At the start. Some of my finest memories took place right here." Dante said, reminiscing about the birthdays he shared here with Vergil as they were now in the living room. Their mother would make chocolate cake along with strawberry sundaes, their respective favorite pastries and ice cream.
The Amazonian Princess looked at him with sympathy. She can only imagine the horrors that took place here to ruin such a happy home. "I'm sorry to hear that." She told him. "It's a shame that I never got to meet your father again. Would've liked to thank him for saving my home all those years ago."
"Well, now's your chance to do so." Dante said as he kneeled down, placing the roses on the edge of a fireplace where the family portrait was placed above it. It was of his parents with himself and Vergil as young boys a year before Sparda's disappearance. Everything went to hell after it was made.
Diana appreciated the noble gesture before turning to the portrait wanting to say the one sentence she's been itching to make since she appeared in Man's World. "Thank you. May the gods look after you and your wife, Sparda." She expressed her gratitude before bowing her head in respect as she sent a prayer to the Heavens while Dante silently mourned about the loss of his childhood innocence.
Nothing is permanent in this world, not even the past traumas.