The skies began to grow dark over Centra, and the moon began its eclipse. A large, dark portal opened in the sky far above the ground, and any person looking into the portal would most likely die of fright where they stood. Because what came from that portal had ravaged many worlds, killed many people and destroyed countless lives. Out of this portal of darkness came the legions of the Shadow Claw. Wave upon wave of horrid, nightmarish demons came from that portal. Eyes like fire, claws like knives, fangs that were red with blood, bodies that were twisted and horrid. These were the Shadow Claw demons, and they had finally reached their destination. As the last of her escort landed, Ranka herself came from the portal on black featherless wings. Tall, dark and foreboding, the leader of the Shadow Claw landed lightly on human feet and scanned the area with human eyes. Anybody that looked at her would never guess that Ranka was a demon in human form. She stood at around 6'1, had dark grey eyes and even darker black hair. Her body was covered by a tight-fitting dress that flattered her too-perfect figure and showed off a lot of her flesh, covering only her breasts, and showing off most of her too-perfect legs. She had a large black sword on her back that fed off of human blood. It was Destiny's counterpart, it was Oblivion, the mighty blade forged in the fires of Hades, and cooled with human blood. The dark runes on its black blade gave it powers that went beyond the imagination, but it came at a terrible price: once every three thousand years it must feed on the blood of a human.
And three thousand years had
passed, and Oblivion cried out silently for human blood. Ranka took the sword
from her back and held it lovingly like a mother would hold her newborn babe.
"Do not worry Oblivion," she
said in a sweet, almost seductive voice. "You will feed on the one they call
Eve Angelheart."
The sword glowed darkly, and
Ranka put the sword on her back and looked around. So this was the place where
she and Sarah would fight each other at long last. Ranka allowed herself a
small smile.
"I will destroy you, Sarah
Phoenix, and then I will destroy this world!" she thought. She turned to
her army. "Come, my minions, we will send Sarah and her new friends a message!
Haladar!"
A large and black snake-like
demon with (surprise, surprise) dark wings, glowing green eyes, a long forked
tongue and large poisonous fangs slithered up to his mistress.
"Yessss, my mistressss?" he
said, hissing.
"I want you to take 300
lesser demons and attack that Garden that Clifford told us about. Balamb
Garden," Ranka said. Haladar bowed low.
"At onccceeee, my
mistresss," he said, turning and picking out the 300 soon-to-be-dead lesser
demons. He soon had them all picked out, and they disappeared into astral
space. Ranka smiled to herself; Haladar was one of her most loyal minions, but
she knew that he would not come back alive. Sarah had started training
these…SeeDs so that they could battle her on an even level. That was what
Clifford had said, right before he became Haladar's dinner. Ranka waved her
hand and a dark, ominous castle appeared just above the Demi Drawpoint. Ranka
nodded in approval and went inside for a much-needed rest. It had been a long
trip, and even demons needed to sleep.
----------------------
Sarah stared in horror at
the skies above Balamb. They had turned black, the first sign of Shadow Claws'
arrival. Next, the moon was eclipsed, sending day into night and banishing the
light into oblivion.
"It's beginning," she thought. She
used the astral plains to get back to Garden.
"Squall, the Shadow Claw
demons have arrived! They'll be here soon! We have to prepare for the attack!"
she said, appearing in front of Squall.
"WHAT?!" Squall exclaimed.
He pressed the emergency intercom button on his desk. "Attention! Garden is
going to be under attack very soon! Prepare our defences! Remember what Sarah has
taught you! Zell, Selphie, Quistis, Rinoa, Irvine and Seifer, get up here on
the double!"
Squall looked at Sarah with
a worried look on his face. "I guess this is where we see if we can win or
not," he said.
"I guess so," replied Sarah.
She unsheathed Destiny. "I can feel them, they're close. We must be ready."
------------------------------
Haladar and his small army left
astral space just outside Balamb Garden. The demon horde let off an unearthly
howl to announce its arrival, and Haladar issued the Challenge.
"I am Haladar, minion of the
almighty Ranka, leader of the SSSShadow Claw demonsssss! I am calling you out
to battle, humansssssss! Come and meet your doom!" Haladar hissed out the
challenge, but he never expected them to be as prepared as they were. The
forests seemed to come alive as SeeDs and students alike rushed into battle. The
demon horde was taken completely by surprise, and the humans managed to cut
down most of them before disappearing into the forests again. Haladar let off a
mighty roar.
"Cowardly humansss!" he
hissed. "You dare to strike us from the shadowssss!?"
"Oh boo-hoo for you!"
There was a streak of green,
grey, blue and brown as something cut its way through Haladar's army. At least
twenty demons were killed, and their blood soaked the ground and polluted its
soil forever more.
But their assailant was
nowhere to be seen. It was as if he or she had simply vanished into thin air.
"Who daresssss to attack us
like thisss?" Haladar demanded. "Have you no honouuuurrrrr?"
"You know nothing of
honour!" said a young female voice. Somebody came out of the forest and looked
at him.
"Who are youuu?" Haladar
asked.
"My name is Eve Rebecca
Angelheart," said the girl. "And I'm the first offensive! Now, prepare to meet
the second offensive!"
Eve disappeared back into
the forest, and a large shadow appeared above the demons. The looked up just in
time to see Bahamut charging up his Mega Flare and firing it straight into the
demon horde. The blast incinerated nearly half of them, and Haladar himself was
badly wounded. Next came Leviathan, conjuring up a mountain and washing away
even more demons with his water.
Next came Pandemona, then Ifrit,
and Shiva…until finally Eden himself appeared and vanquished the small army
with his power.
"Ranka will
desssstttttrrroyyy you aaallllll!" Haladar yelled with his dying breath. The
huge snake demon collapsed and dissipated into nothingness.
They had won the first
battle, but the war was only just beginning…