Chapter Seventy-Six: Sacrosanct
Note: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed the break! Sorry, the chapter is about 2 hours late. I got carried away writing the chapter for Friday and lost track of time. Either way, I hope you like this one! I had a blast writing it on Monday!
(-~-)
Hanging in the sky like a foreboding ornament amidst the darkness the moon glowed a scarlet red, the pitch-black clouds surrounding it only interrupted by the abundance of stars and their requisite starlight, glittering in the haunted night like god rays in a storm. They glittered and gleamed, defiant against the midnight clouds that now swirled around the blood-red moon, no hint of the comforting white night that normally accompanied snowfall. But as a gentle gust carried the snow in its grasp, further below there was nothing but ash and dust, remnants of a battle unseen by the wider world but no less for its sake. And one that could not continue forever but might very well need to.
Panting, the man with the fiery red hair stepped back and out of the path of an oncoming attack. He knew that his current pace was completely unsustainable, but it was required. Anything less and he would be pushed back entirely, ejected from the altar of his opponent's destruction. But anything more and he would cave. He needed to save his strength for what was to come, but an opening to do what needed to be done had yet to present itself.
And he needed that opening. Fast.
Gathering himself he took a few deep breaths. He had to compose himself before he acted again. If his enemy had even the slightest combat experience then his method of attack had to be somewhat familiar to them by now. He could only alternate so much of the same formula before he needed to change it entirely, lest he become predictable and entirely too easy to read.
The summoner seemed to register his apparent tiredness, summoning a frankly surprising amount of speed as he charged at him. Expecting him to simply try to stab him again with his long spear, he was admittedly taken aback somewhat as the summoner instead jumped at him and lunged, managing to catch him in the shoulder, sending him tumbling backward and nearly onto the ground, the mixture of surprise and pain something that he had not been expecting. Sirrus reached up with his right hand and seized the summoner by the collar, snarling at them as he quite literally tossed them to the side like so much refuse out of a car window on the side of a highway. That was it. He had had enough of this. Perhaps it was time that he fed a more primal source of power.
Blood trickled down his left shoulder and onto his hand as he clambered gracelessly to his feet. He spared a glance at the man he was fighting against. They were charging at him again from the other side of the field, running full pelt against the icy wind that seemed to encircle the altar they were battling in. But as he watched the blood run down his hand and onto the hilt of his blade, he knew that it was time. He'd been fighting this petulant fool for nearly an hour. One person only had so much energy, and drawn-out battles like this were a rarity in his personal experience.
Agreus needed to be stopped here and now. It was the only thing that he could do that might be of some use to V and his family given the situation. If he could break Belial's hold here, it would weaken him. Killing him here in the human world was frankly impossible without being able to entrap him, and he didn't possess that kind of power, but if he could just wound him…
"Yes… then you do have it. I can feel it surging, begging to break free." Agreus said between his pants, the dark echo of Belial's presence still lingering in every deathly breath he dared take. Sirrus almost wondered how much of what he was saying was his master. How much of him was still in there. But did that even matter? "Show it to me."
His breath now still and under his control again, he could feel the strength returning to his muscles. It was as if cool water had just been injected into his veins, imbuing him with an essence he had not previously possessed. A second wind, perhaps?
"Well then, when you ask so nicely," Sirrus said, running his right hand down the flat edge of his blade. He spread his blood across the smooth metal surface, noting how the swirls embedded themselves into his blade. He could only do this for so long. If this did not work then he would have to move onto plan two… and he didn't particularly want to do that. It was entirely too costly. A little blood was something that he could spare, but that…
Belial's puppet stopped dead in its tracks as the once dark blade glowed a vibrant, sickly red, dripping red. Each elongated drop grew sharp and hung towards the ground like a stalactite, paper-thin but razor-sharp, almost transparent but no less glowing. Sirrus looked down at the blade for a moment, noting that his wound had nearly closed itself again. Good. The last thing he needed to do was hemorrhage while doing this. That would not only be useless but also fatal.
Charging forward at the hooded summoner, he watched as they readied themself for his attack, holding up their longer weapon in anticipation of a frontal assault. A mistake that opened them up to the exact kind of assault that he hoped it would. He sidestepped them to the right instead of the left this time, forcing them to pivot to meet him, and then he swung his blade, letting loose a volley of ice sickle-like blood spikes that embedded themselves in their right side and lower back, sending them reeling back as they cried out in apparent shock. He then liquified them, attempting to intertwine his blood with their own but finding no notable success, much to his dissatisfaction. It seemed that Belial's hold on them had already corrupted their blood beyond bondability. That complicated things, but at least he had managed to do some damage.
"Hmmm… Blood sorcery. Heretic Magic. I have not seen that since the closing of the Hellgates 2000 years ago. Then you come from that accursed bloodline. How does a descendant of the Sanguine line still live?!" The Devil Prince's disdain was evident in every syllable that exited his meat puppet's mouth, hatred and disgust lingering on every breath that he took. "How dare a mortal possess such primal strength."
Releasing his hold on the spell he'd had to use to pull that move off he exhaled, recentering his stance. To slouch would be to show weakness and invite violence. He would not yield, especially not to Belial. He was utterly beneath contempt. "Mortal. You jest. Those who share my blood have not been mortal for at least a few centuries now. It seems you have fallen behind on the times. But no matter. I would expect no less from a prince playing at kingship. A petulant child who thinks himself a king simply because the crown fits upon his head. Let me dissuade you from your delusions. Disassociate your faltering mind from your malignant spirit."
Sirrus stepped forward calmly, now sure of his purpose. Each step that he took pulled the darkness that surrounded them forward with him like a tide breaking across a rocky shoreline. It dissipated in flowing ashy dust and smoke around him, both enveloping him and proceeding him as he was enveloped by the very shadows that shrouded the rest of the world from their view. And then that darkness parted and ignited to reveal flames. Black flames. Flames that had turned his red hair black, dripping like a sort of oil from the bottom of his hair despite the fact that his long locks showed no signs of actually being wet. The dark fire seemed to absorb all light that dared touch it, spreading around his entire being and blowing in the wind in a manner that simply wasn't congruent with the nature of flame; more akin to oil in water than heat interacting with air.
And Sirrus opened his eyes to reveal the same darkness within them, the effects of the moonlight no longer held at bay. The same darkness that V had only seen a glimpse of that night on the balcony. Oh, how a part of him reveled in the cold embrace of the night. This was his natural state. The light was warm and inviting, yes… but he had been born in darkness and it was such a relief to return there, even if only for a moment. He had finally allowed the celestial darkness that only touched him during the darkest of nights under a full moon to consume him almost entirely, and despite the fact that his entire body was shrouded in the darkest kind of darkness, a small sliver of silver slight still kissed the edges of his flames, separating his power from his physical self ever so slightly. It wasn't something that he could sustain for long periods of time, but he had the feeling he wouldn't need to.
"But to answer your question. Why do we continue to linger in the dark? To spite you. To remove filth like you from existence. To separate light from shadows by being both at once. And I myself perhaps more literally than you might be ready to contend with."
"To kindle one's self inside and out but not burn… You are not what I thought you to be. How can this… " Belial almost seemed to pause for a moment, forgetting himself. Blood magic was powerful, yes… but this. This was not a power born of his lineage. His darkness surely was, but this? This was the result of a forbidden union. Darkness had danced with light to create this, and he had not come here equipped to deal with this kind of transcendent power. He could only hope that he didn't know how to control it. "You possess power and the knowledge to utilize it, but only a fool thinks that they can fight darkness with darkness. I am the night. I am fear personified. I am inevitability!"
"You may be right. But perhaps it is time that the nightmare experiences fear. Any living thing can feel dread if they dare look into the eyes of death. Now face me. I do not fear you."
Traces of silver flames lapped at the edges of the black flame as he coated them onto his blade, not only doubling the reach of the weapon but vastly increasing the lethality of what had otherwise been a conventional weapon with exceptional craftsmanship. And it had to be exceptional to withstand what he was about to do to it.
As the flames embedded themselves into the blade, he looked Belial in the eye and swung, sending a shockwave of blackness towards his enemy that was several times taller than he was. He slashed a second time as he pivoted his stance, forming a sort of criss-cross that he then charged towards the Devil Prince from behind, propelling himself upwards and through the opening formed by the two slashes, diving downward and towards the ground in a diving spiral, slamming down onto the ground and cutting a fissure in the stone beneath him like a cleaver going through warm butter and nearly cutting its hapless opponent in half in the process.
Barely managing to sidestep the attack, the summoner was caught off guard by a partial remnant of one of the former slashes, igniting himself and being forced to shade a portion of his garment as it turned to ash instantaneously rather than simply igniting. Sirrus then charged at them, the almost feral darkness that teetered on the edge of consuming him still somehow under control just enough for him to use his bare hand to grasp and shatter the staff that his opponent was holding as Agreus attempted to block his oncoming strike.
Now holding two pieces of a broken weapon that would serve him very little purpose in a follow-up attack, the summoner barely managed to raise them in time to parry another follow-up attack, this time an upward dragging slash from Sirrus that cleaved an even deeper fissure in the ground than his diving attack had, cutting the ill-fated staff in half a second time as the X shape he'd managed to form out of the two half at the last second were easily cut through by the flaming sword, leaving white-hot metal scorch marks on both sides of the now-defunct weapon that welded the two pieces of metal together upon contact.
Dropping them to the floor and stepping backward to dodge a follow-up attack from the Adjudicator, Agreus almost seemed to panic, his master's hold on him strong but increasingly useless. There was practically nothing that he could do to defend himself now in a hand-to-hand setting. He would need assistance if he was to survive even a moment longer.
"Mictlantecuhtli, ascend!" Agreus called, jumping back as a large crack formed in the ground between them, barely averting Sirrus's path of attack. A set of curved horns followed by a set of large bat wings protruded from the crack followed by a lower, slightly smaller set of wings, its large gaping maw flanked by two more wing-like appendages that were tucked just behind its ears. It let out an ear-shattering scream that sent Sirrus reeling back in mind-numbing pain, its master barely managing to cover his ears in time to avoid total hearing loss. Sirrus was not so lucky, falling to his knees and breathing heavily as he barely managed to withstand the intense vibration that accompanies the sound wave. Nausea and shooting pain-wracked seemingly every inch of his body as he allowed his flames to subside somewhat, dying down and retreating until they had reached a more neutral purple flame; one that was significantly easier for him to sustain for a long period of time. With his opponent's weapon broken, he didn't need to keep doing this to himself. But still, he would allow smaller traces of his black flame to linger within their purple counterpart. That would be much less taxing to control.
Attempting to get up, his head spun and everything around him felt as though it were going several miles per hour faster than it had been. Even standing still felt like the most sickening thing he'd probably ever experienced, and he was genuinely worried that he might be sick. He slumped over onto the ground, breathing heavily and unable to orient his movements, struggling to get his eyes to focus on anything for more than a few seconds. And when he uncovered his hands and lowered them to his sides to try and push himself up off of the ground again he was only slightly surprised to find blood on them. He's probably shattered his eardrums, hasn't he? That was new. And thoroughly unpleasant.
It seemed that Agreus was still barely climbing to his feet, more than likely not in much better shape than he was, especially considering the fact that he probably didn't possess a superhuman healing factor to help mitigate the damage he'd probably just done to himself. He had to make a note to tell V to never make a pact with one of these accursed things. The last thing he needed was hearing damage whenever he summoned help. It seemed that for all his strength Agreus didn't possess the control and skill needed to control his summons. And that he had shredded his old ones in favor of new, much stronger ones. How wonderful.
Diving down towards him the Mictlantecuhtli opened its mouth as though to swallow him whole. He summoned the darkness again, rapidly moving out of the way and slashing up at the colossal creature as it attempted to end his life. He managed to tear a hole in one of its lower wings, throwing it off balance as it teetered slightly to the right, clearly nonplussed as to its condition and thoroughly enraged as to its treatment at the hands of the man who had just injured it. It snarled, opening its mouth in an attempt to let out another screech. But before it could a bolt of what had to be blue lightning came down and hit it in the mouth before an unseen force slammed into it and sent it flying back through the forest, leveling countless trees as the building-sized bat slammed into the ground and left nothing but ragged stumps where the tall trees had been previously. A large glowing bird soared overhead before flying low and perching on something just behind Sirrus, forcing him to turn and see where it had gone. He could feel the crackle of static electricity behind him as he turned to see none other than Magnolia standing behind him in a set of what he could only describe as a set of flowing floor-length white and gray robes adorned with metallic silver accents. Static electricity flowed off of her and the artic blue and blackbird that perched on her shoulders as she looked down at him, an intense focus in her eyes that he'd never seen before. It seemed that the power she had forsaken so many years ago had returned to her. The Stormcatcher of house Ludwig had returned.
Mere moments later Willow stepped forward, her matching blue robes hanging off of her as she crossed her arms, looking over the battlefield in front of her with an intense look of displeasure. So this was the place where their ancestors forsook every principal they stood for in the name of revenge? A fitting place for the devil prince to die, then.
To Magnolia's left, Aluta approached, her black robes hanging behind her as she raised both hands to lower her hood, her eyes glowing with a sort of otherworldly white and her dark hair levitating, spread out around her head and flowing like it was underwater as she no doubts tapped into the power that had cost her so dearly as a result of the misdeeds perpetrated of his father. He had no idea what she was capable of, but it looked like it would be a very bad time for Agreus if the silent, cold furry that was radiating off of her was anything to go by.
By his own guess, Magnolia had saved him. But all three of them were here to end this.
And they all looked pissed.
"If I was going to hazard a guess, I'd say you have a bad case of Vertigo and Tinnitus, Sirrus. You might want to wait for your ears to heal. We will take care of this." Willow said calmly as she rested a hand on Sirrus's shoulder, tilting his head slightly and taking notice of the way his ear was bleeding. His state of extraordinary exhaustion and pain was not something that went unnoticed by her. He needed time to recuperate and regain his strength. At the very least they could give him that. And with Aluta and Magnolia here? Well, maybe more. But they would die before they let Belial take his life. "You can thank young Brenowin and his sister for alerting us to your plight once you return. He had a bad feeling about how things were going when he and Morgan departed and came to track us down. But until then, there is work to be done."
Lacking the strength to even attempt to argue that point, Sirrus simply slumped over on the ground and sighed. Anything to make the spinning stop. His powers would make short work of it, but she was right. He needed to be still and focus on something, anything but how bad everything from the neck up on his body felt. A challenge to be sure, but still easier than the ones his aunts were getting themselves into. They were not as durable as he was. He feared for them. "Thank you. And be careful."
Aluta unclasped her hands as her sister released Sirrus's shoulder, an eerie white, crackling light pulsating up her fingers and down her hands before disappearing up her long black, bell-sleeved sleeves. She was clearly ready to kill something, and that something was the young summoner and his summons, the second of which was now emerging from the ground behind him; a demonic cluster and hands and fists the size of small cars, no doubt a manifestation of the Hekatonkheires, denizens of the Infernal. It was a good thing she had done some studying in her downtime after the meeting earlier that week. "The daughters of house Ludwig die standing. We bow to no demon… But you will kneel to us."
"What house Ludwig starts, house Ludwig ends. And no one else shall die on lands defiled by our ancestors." Magnolia said calmly, stepping forward and pointing her staff towards Belial's overtaken puppet. This would end here and now. For the sake of their honor and the entire human race, the devil prince would not live to see the dawn of this extended midnight. "By my renewed authority as Matriarch of the house of Ludwig, I sentence you to Death."
(-~-)
Sirrus has some Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower shit going on but worse. He should get that checked out. Also, fun fact: there is an Infernal Demon in Bayonetta 2 named Malphas, too. And one named Phantasmaraneae who is a huge flaming spider that shoots fireballs… and a frog with a little crown on called Baal… Hmmm… Where have I seen them before… hehe.
Also, remember that open birdcage that was in Magnolia's house in her living room back in like, I don't know, like chapter 5 of Soliloquy? Well, yea, the bird was there the whole time lol! I've been waiting so long to mention that. Magnolia's ability to make invisible barriers is air magic. She's a storm mage, and the bird is her familiar. It just isn't a demon. That's part of why she found the nature of V's pact so curious.
I hope you liked the chapter! The fight was a blast to write, and revealing their powers was something I was really looking forward to seeing your reaction to. I hope my little hints throughout the story leading up to now didn't seem too random and undercut the reveal as a result. See you all on Friday!