Sympathy for the Devil, Part 5 - And You Shall Know the Truth
First, Beelzebub whipped at Sailor Mercury with one of his rotten appendages, only to be effortlessly stopped by her shield. One knock of her rod on the floor later, and the Guardian of Waters created a chilling wave that not only caught but outright snapped the legs of the Legionnaire of Gluttony like toothpicks.
Sailor Jupiter and Leviathan had a test of strength when they clashed weapons and tried to push each other away - Her war hammer and lance going against his sword and crosier. With some effort, the Guardian of Thunder gained the high ground and managed to not only disarm the Legionnaire of Sloth, but to push him all the way to the back of the room.
When Belial attempted to mash Sailor Mars with his fiery axe, the Guardian of Fire somersaulted immediately and fired her bow with a flurry of multi-colored blazing arrows. The barrage seemed endless and completely overwhelmed the Legionnaire of Wrath until he fell on his back, causing a reverberating thud on the room.
Sailor Venus slid beneath Belphegor's centaur legs, using her chain to tie them together. With some help of her new-found force, she managed to tumble down the Legionnaire of Envy, whose fall made the walls resound even further. To add injury to insult, the Guardian of Love used her sword to open a skin-deep cut on his left side, enough to make him yield.
"Excellent job, girls!" Sailor Mars commended her sisters-in-arms, who were all beaming with joy and hope as they hopped towards the exit. "You saw them, didn't you?"
All of them nodded since all of them knew what the Guardian of Fire meant: Their lovers appeared in their Dreamscapes and gave them the energy boost they needed to recover their strength - And helped materialize their brand new equipment.
"Once we are done with them and we rescue Usagi, we will bring them all back," Sailor Venus affirmed. "That's a promise!"
"Not if I have a say on that," a smooth but ominous voice echoed in the hall. The sound of this speech and the sight of the beaten Legionnaires being teleported away startled the heroines, who promptly got in a fighting stance once more.
"Damn coward! Show yourself already, whoever you are!" threatened Sailor Jupiter.
"Oh ho, I get so giddy when I am flattered like that, hee-hee-hee..." mocked the voice. "Why would I appear before you? It seems my voice alone is enough to stop you on your tracks."
"Just who are you?" Sailor Mercury queried.
"A concerned father who came to the aid of his bullied children," the voice answered. It did nothing to quell the doubt.
"Be careful, girls," Sailor Venus tentatively recommended her companions.
"No need to be up in arms," the voice spoke once more. "I am not here to fight, just to take my dear Legionnaires to a safe place before you hurt them further. Once more, I have to commend you and your tricks. I never thought the descendants of my dear brother's concubines would grow up to be so powerful."
"Huh!? What do you mean by that?" Sailor Mars made vocal the confusion in the heroines' minds.
"It's a very, very long story and I rather not bore any of us with it. Let's just say you are, in a way... My sisters-in-law."
(xx)
"BIRTH OF THE GUARDIANS"
Grammaton yearned for the love and company of his beloved Gaia, but knew not where to search for her. To make matters worse, everywhere he went across the Galaxy, he saw an onslaught of fear and loathing. His only hope was that he could find Gaia in a place where she could be needed - places ravaged by struggle and sin - but to no avail. He did not know of Gaia's affair with Lucifer, who passed as him for his own motives.
More and more, Grammaton's desire and despair grew. He eventually met five different Om women in five different planets - Pallathena in Mercury, Ninnava in Venus, Moeru in Mars, Iyabo in Phaeton, and Dannan in Jupiter. Upon these women, Grammaton saw the image of Gaia, for they were as fierce, caring and beautiful as she was. And the women, in turn, became smitten with his Angelic appearance and advanced on him with lustful intentions, which he did not deny. As a testament to his love and trust, he did not pull out when he emitted his sperm into their wombs. But each time, whenever he was done satisfying his momentary lust, he would feel guilt and fly away, feeling he had betrayed Gaia somehow.
However, the women that Grammaton fecundated did not bear children, nor did they develop any symptoms of pregnancy. Matter of fact, after their intercourse with the Angel, they forgot all about it the following day. But when they received their speck of the Golden Crystal, the result of the struggle between Gaia and Lucifer, the women immediately developed powers upon the elements of matter and nature. And wanting nothing more than to use their powers to achieve peace once more in the troubled times that befell their respective planets, they set on personal crusades to heal their people and restore their livelihoods and hope across the planets of the Galaxy.
By that time, the planets had already been named after old ruling Gods. As mentioned before, Grammaton found solace and satisfaction with women from Mercury, Venus, Mars, Phaeton and Jupiter. To Saturn through Pluto, he gave out four of his spare seed (residue which spilled out of the genitals of the women Grammaton had intercourse with) to the most well-meaning Gods he found - Thanatos in Saturn, Caelus in Uranus, Okeanos in Neptune, and Chronos in Pluto - and explained how to use them. The last seed was intended for a God in the final planet, upon which he found nothing. Unbeknownst to him, the Om and the Gods of the dark planet Nemesis succumbed to a deadly war that left literally and absolutely nothing standing on its bases, due to the influence of Lucifer. Grammaton then flew back to the Galaxy Cauldron and tossed the final seed into it, but did not retrieve anything.
But the Angel himself was alone. He knew Eden, the Qu and the El Angels were no more, and that Lucifer was once again on the loose with indescribable power within his reach, so he spent quite some time flying across the Galaxy in preparation to the assault of the Fallen Angel. As he observed the women developing force of their own, however, he knew there was some purpose to those reckless acts of his. And upon seeing how well they cared for humanity, just like Gaia would, he knew they would all be in good hands. Grammaton returned once more to the North Pole of Planet Terra, and there he stood, just him and his hope that things would work out well for everyone... including himself.
Book of Titor, Chapter II: The Age of Angels, Section V, Part I
(xx)
"Wait!"
Yet another male voice reverberating across that dreary hall of cages startled the Sailor Guardians while they scoured the place for clues about Usagi's whereabouts. Fortunately, it was none other than Artemis, who finally managed to find Minako and the others after several days of searching. "Girls! Oh... I'm... I finally..."
"Oh my, Artemis!" Sailor Venus addressed him with concern. "You look terrible... But I'm glad you're fine."
"I would say the same," the wise cat answered as he still caught on his breath. "But you don't look... Any worse for wear, though. In fact, look at that... Where did those weapons come from? Did something... Something happen in the meantime?"
"It's a long story, and you may not believe it," Sailor Mercury stated. "We'll tell it all later, right now we need to find Usagi. The Legionnaires took her somewhere..."
"And we're not even sure if it's even here," Sailor Jupiter lamented. "This is a damn maze, and I feel like we are walking in circles.
"And just another thing," Who was that who spoke with us just now?"
"That one was... My father, Lucifer."
"Venus?" Sailor Mercury asked. "Was that you?" Indeed, it was Sailor Venus who moved her lips as that male and guttural voice spoke.
"It... It was me!" the Guardian of Love revealed with a tint of confusion as to how she did that.
"I could explain this just fine," the voice out of the Guardian's throat said again. "I was once your foe, but now I am willing to help you, for I was betrayed."
"Okay, there better be an explanation for this," Sailor Mars demanded.
"This guy who is speaking through me... He was that strange guy in a mask and a robe who kept following us around when Astar first came around," Sailor Venus explained.
"Indeed," the voice confirmed. "My means were less than ideal for my ends, this I admit. However, if I were still with belligerent intentions, I would have already acted accordingly."
Sailor Venus spoke again: "He helped me out when my parents handed me to the police, and he suggested going after whoever of you girls would be available. I ended up reaching Makoto's condominium, and the rest is history."
"I see... So, you say the guy who spoke to us is the Devil himself?" Sailor Jupiter resumed. "And that... He is your father?"
"Yes. I was tasked to carry his duty on Earth alongside Fréamund, the God of Freedom, but apparently, I failed him somehow. Anyways, long story short, he wants the Prophesized Princess captured and for all of you to bear demonic seed, so that he can guarantee that the Palace of Sheer Crystal serves him and him alone."
"Palace of Sheer Crystal..." Sailor Mercury repeated incredulously at Dis Pater's tale. "Wait, do you mean Crystal Tokyo!?"
"Perhaps... It must be the name you have given to it already, or in the converging future. It is the place that converges timelines and dimensions of Existence, and it is led by the wielders of the primordial Crystals."
The explanation was enough for the Sailor Guardians plus Artemis to realize it is indeed Crystal Tokyo, and that the mentioned wielders of Crystals were Usagi and Mamoru - Or better yet, Serenity and Endymion.
"And again, if this what you say is all true... why would you help us?" the wise cat enquired.
"This has nothing to do with me and whatever ambitions I may have had," the former villain spoke once more. "Your fate is interwined with that of humanity itself. This is since an immeasurable time. I just... Want to make sure you are able to make your choices regarding your role."
(xx)
"CYCLE OF THE TRUE STAR SEEDS"
Recognizing a catastrophe would befall their people, the Guardians led as many as they could into safe bunkers protected by their magic. They then stood behind to face the hecatomb that would befall when the wicked children of Gaia and Lucifer would bring forth complete destruction. Predictably, they lost their lives but still managed to eliminate the vast majority of wretches that plagued the surface of their planets.
Their sacrifice, however, was not in vain: Upon their deaths and subsequent ascension to the Galaxy Cauldron, their Star Seeds promptly returned to their respective planets of origin, and they were reborn once more as women. The Universe, it seemed, managed to see some order out of the chaos it created. And it had chosen the women who bore the love and life essence of Grammaton to carry on the sacred duty of bringing this order upon Existence - Thus beginning the Cycles.
In the dying days of the Age of Angels, they would defend humanity from the continued scourge of Lucifer's children. During the Age of Gods, they would lead different tribes against the yoke of the rebel surviving deities. And in the Age of Humanity, their power would be consolidated to the point they would be recognized as the natural leaders of humankind. These parts are to be better exploited in later sections of this tome.
Book of Titor, Chapter II: The Age of Angels, Section V, Part II
(xx)
"I can only assume you want something in return," Sailor Mars curtly interjected. "Spit it out already."
"Hey, don't speak to him like that," Sailor Venus requested.
"But she is right," the voice of Dis Pater spoke again. "I do want something, if it's not too much to ask... I want either redemption or rest for my soul. I've been alive for too long, aimlessly doing what I thought I was bound to do, and I just... I just want to move on, and be sure I will be free from my infernal fate. That is all."
The heroines pondered silently for a short while, and Sailor Mercury answered for all of them: "We'll see what we can do about it. For now, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt and see how you can help us prevent the rise of Lucifer."
"There is no need to look for me."
To the shock of all present, Usagi herself had appeared before them on her own. She wore the regal dress of the Moon Princess, and upon her face was a blank stare and a placid look. She no longer had her bullet wound or any symptoms of the severe blood loss she underwent in the last few hours.
"Thank goodness!" Sailor Mars managed to say. "I don't know what just happened, but we're all glad to see you here, alive and well. Now come on, we need to..."
"I am sorry, girls," the leader of the Sailor Guardians interrupted. "But I have chosen to go with Lucifer."
"What!?" all of them affirmed.
"That can't be Usagi speaking!" Artemis added.
But just as she approached her friend and leader, Sailor Venus felt an enormous shock through her body, to the point it made her fall to her knees. The others went to her aid soon after.
"I shall follow my destiny and help raise Crystal Tokyo. With this, humanity will finally rise above all of its problems and have purpose. " Having said this, Usagi disappeared from their sight through the shadows of the wall behind her.
Sailor Mars tried to go after her, but ended up face-first on the wall. All she could do was punch it in discontent. "Dammit! DAMMIT!"
"No... This can't be right!" Sailor Jupiter complained. "This has to be the work of the Devil!"
"Very keen of your part," resonated the voice of Lucifer across the hall.
"Where the fuck is Usagi!?"
"In a safe place within my reach," the Fallen Angel kindly answered. "Oh, and Dis Pater... I had such wonderful plans for you, my son, but as it turned out, you were a bit too human to be part of my unholy pantheon. Plus, another eager soul was all too willing to sell herself to me, so I obliged her and now she leads legions of her own. I must thank you for your efforts so far, though. They were good stepping stones towards the Apocalypse."
The former villain said nothing through the mouth of the Guardian of Love.
"Ah well, never one to speak your mind. Now if you excuse me, I must dispose of some bothersome vermin. Fare you well now, and keep yourselves safe. It's hell out there already, heh heh heh..."
"What are we supposed to do now?" Artemis frightfully asked.
"We have no idea where Usagi was taken," Sailor Jupiter lamented. "At this rate, nothing short of divine intervention will help us out..."
"That... Could be arranged, somehow," Dis Pater finally spoke. "How did I not think of this before?"
"How so?"
"It is simple... We summon the Angel once more."
(xx)
"THE FALL OF LUCIFER AND GRAMMATON, AND THE CONQUEST OF HELL"
When it came time to scourge the Galaxy, the Fallen Angel and his damned spawns found that the Om, now fully evolved into human beings, resisted mightily and even countered their temptations with virtues of their own. Not only that, but they were also combatted on equal terms by women that controlled different aspects of nature and existence: The Guardians. Even if the beasts did manage to slay them, they always came back, over and over again. One by one, the children of Lucifer were slain by the Guardians.
Desperate, Lucifer flew once more to the North Pole of Planet Terra, where he had possessed Gaia and where he hoped he could dupe her once more to bear even mightier children. All he found, however, was Grammaton. Emaciated and weak, he barely held on waiting for his beloved Gaia, who never came to him and whose whereabouts would never be known thereafter. He only had enough energy for one final speech using the Power of the Word:
"You who were cast away from the heavens, I still remember the role you stated I would have in your ascension. Since you bring nothing but pain and hatred and misery to the places you walk upon, then I swore that my role would be to oppose you in every way. Wherever you brought hate, I would bring love. Whenever you pushed despair, I would build hope. Wherever you planted discord, I would sow togetherness. Whenever you spoke of darkness, I shouted of light. And if I am not there to combat your ways, may the bearers of my essence carry these duties until you are no more. Now fall with me, and leave things as they should be."
Having said this, Grammaton accepted his fate of complete destruction, seeing that the most wicked and dangerous foes the Universe had seen would fall with him to oblivion. He fell lifeless on the frozen field, and just as he had dictated, Lucifer also perished... But not before uttering his own curse: "All that exists has no reason to be, and as long as there is Existence, I shall be there to lead it my way. Death will not be the end: It shall be my triumph. I shall bring forth a reason for things to exist, and if I need to destroy everything and everyone, or freeze everything in a sole moment of time, so be it. This is not the end, Grammaton. In fact, there will never be an end..."
Rather than ceasing their own existence, they were transported to the Underworld. At the time of their final confrontation, the Gods Hades and Persephone used their Star Seeds to mount a plane of Existence out of the remnants of Eden where they would judge and punish wicked souls before sending their Star Seeds back to their intended cycle of rebirth.
Lucifer reunited with his children, and they wasted no time in taking over the plane, decimating any rebel that opposed them and turning the Hades into their personal fiefdom. Each child would rebuild their legions, leading large battalions of undead warriors and fearsome demons of their own, ready to lead humanity into the path of doom and damnation once more. Instead of rebirth, the punishments for the dead would be eternal, and should any of them desire so, the souls would form part of one of the Eight Legions of Hell - Each led by one of Lucifer's children, and each responsible for what would be known as the Cardinal Sins, the comprehended causes of human decay.
In Hell, all of us are one and the same, equal in pain and suffering.
When he woke up from his eons-long stasis, Grammaton saw himself surrounded by fire, brimstone and rotting mass. He tried to use the Power of the Word to no avail. Matter of fact, he no longer saw Angel-like features over his body. His legs and his waist were covered by some kind of soft fur, and the sheathed wings on his back did not feel like feathers, but membranes. And on his brow, he felt two small protuberant horns.
Lucifer had already taken full control of Hell by the time Grammaton woke up, and in his sleep, the new ruler of the Underworld soaked him in the waters of the rivers that cut through the Hades - The boiling Cocytus, the frozen Lethe, and the shallow and tempestive Styx - thus washing him of most of his memories and his sacred power. The Legionnaire of Lust created a special crest for humans to summon him, and he would have a constant craving for sex and carnal desires that would never be quenched, as he would only sate them in the ephemeral moments of dreams. And from that moment on, the Angel Grammaton would be known as Astar, the Incubus.
Book of Titor, Chapter II: The Age of Angels, Section V, Part III
(xx)
When Usagi came to her senses, she saw absolutely nothing, and only felt what seemed to be a soft bed beneath her. The first thing she did was to feel around his torso and see if she was no longer hurt - And indeed, she felt no signs of the bullet that pierced through her guts, not even a scar or dried blood. Little by little, candles of different sizes started to ignite around her, finally bringing light to the cell she was brought to.
The sight that surrounded her chilled her spine: It was a more ample room than the personal cells of the Detention Center... but all around her were corpses of men and women, all dressed in fine suits and dresses, and all hung on hooks that pierced the nape of their necks. The grueling smell was a mixture of a slaughterhouse and a septic tank, and it twisted Usagi's stomach to the point of nausea.
"You will have to excuse the sight and smells," spoke a mild-mannered but eerie voice. Just the sound of it made Usagi feel her spine tingle and her hair stand up. "This was the only way we could heal you."
"Who is... Who's there?"
"Still, is it not lovely to see the so-called elites of this land hanging dead like mere pieces of meat? All the wealth and power they amassed could not prevent such dreadful fates."
From the shadows came a slim but well-built male figure, whose eyes and wicked smile emitted an eerie red glow. Even if his appearance did not denote it outright, Usagi could feel a pestilent aura exuding from his body, which only made her feel even worse - she even had to gulp some gall that crept up her throat.
"Many are my names and descriptions," he spoke. "You may call me Lucifer."
"Oh... Oh no! H-help...!" Usagi wanted to scream, but she was so frozen with fear that her voice could barely break a whine. "Somebody... Please..."
"No one will hear you and no one will save you. Now settle down."
With no other choice, Usagi sat on the bed and tried to calm down and find some sense in all that barbarism. "So it's true... The Devil exists, and it's you... But why are you doing this to me and my friends?"
"I could offer an explanation, since I do not act without reason. Care to hear it?"
Usagi could only resign herself to a fidgety nod.
Lucifer sighed and then began his tale: "Back in the unregistered time known as the Silver Millenium, I was supposed to be wed and possess your mother in an unholy communion. For you see... Your mother and I shared the same vision of the Universe and of humanity. A fickle, chaotic place where nothing had intrinsic value and sense, inhabited by people so advanced and yet so primal, bent on pure satisfaction of whims. We wanted to control the impulses of the Universe, and she had the tools and the willingness to go ahead, which is why she made a pact with me."
"What..."
"In truth I speak. Serenity was one-of-a-kind, an ambitious warrior and ruler with aspirations that went beyond the usual notions of success. She inherited a whole Queendom, material riches that nobody could ever match, the love of men and women across the Galaxy... And it was still not enough to satisfy her soul. She was even willing to summon me to guarantee her ultimate plan would go ahead. And she was willing to let me borrow her body for it. You owe your existence to a woman who sold her soul to the Devil!"
"This... This cannot be true! You're lying!"
"I see no reason to lie to you now," the Fallen Angel resumed his exposition. "Our child would be the ultimate being, the Prophesized Princess, made to rule upon all aspects of the Universe... But then, she betrayed me, and had her child with someone else. Tragedy of tragedies, I shudder to speak of this, even now! She bamboozled me, the ultimate swindler! All so she could rule alone in an everlasting and all-encompassing regime where everything and everyone would follow the same path, for the so-called greater good of humanity and the Universe. What a twisted joke!"
"Is... Is this why... Serenity wants me to go ahead with my rise as Neo-Queen Serenity?"
"Oh, I see you're not entirely clueless to your old mother's plans! That makes things easier. Long story short, yes, that is why she wants you to become Queen of the World. She essentially only ever saw you as a means to an end. She even fused her soul with the Silver Crystal, so that she could be next to you to carry on this particular quest, and so I could not punish her in Hell as she deserved for such an unspeakable act of betrayal. Advantages of self-earned godhood, methinks, but that is neither here nor there."
The bun-headed girl was completely dumbfounded. There was so much she did not know about her past... And yet, so much she was hearing and did not believe. Especially in regard to her past mother.
"In the end, her dear Queendom crumbled by an act of mere chance. Serves the bitch right! But I digress. Now it is time to complete the transaction that should have been delivered in times of yore. If I could not have Serenity, then I shall have Selyne! Come now, Prophesized Princess! Wash the absurdity of Existence with the blood of your broken hymen! Be mine now, and let our child bring forth the final Cycle, the Holy War to end history as we know it!"
This was not the first time she was paralyzed in the presence of an evil man with violating intent. But the greatest difference the Guardian felt was that she was not bound because of any power she felt within her. It was her own fear that made her such easy prey.
"Be not afraid," the Fallen Angel jocosely requested. "Perhaps I should make myself more attractive to you?"
With a quick tilt of his head, Lucifer took a shape that the Guardian never thought she would ever see again. "...Seiya!?"
"Oh, so that's how this one is named?"
"No! You're not Seiya! YOU'RE NOT HIM!" Usagi managed to bellow.
"Eh, this one messed with your desires, but you never quite gave yourself to them. Let's try something different." With another head tilt, he took the shape of none other than Mamoru Chiba.
"Stop! No matter who you look like... I will never, ever..."
"You have no say in this matter, lass. You know what? Confound it all!" He returned to his normal shape. "Now close your mouth, and open your legs."
Usagi was completely powerless and on the verge of swooning. Her limbs felt heavy, and her head spun. It all felt like the worst nightmare she could possibly conjure up, and it would be the perfect opportunity for the Fallen Angel to forcefully possess her... But as soon as he reached out to her, Lucifer felt some sort of shock.
"Something... Is impeding me... How!? Why!?"
The Lord of Light tried again and again to touch Usagi, and every time he felt hurt before he could even graze his skin against hers. It then occurred to him what could cause this: "That damned Angel! Even from beyond the confines of flesh, he still works his Power of the Word upon me!"
An Angel... Astar!?
Are you not entertained? I sure hope so!
Eternal gratitude to all readers, followers and anonymous passers-by who are still following this fic. Especialmente a tí, litakino1987 ;)
Next chapter: More revelations, more battles, and whether Lucifer manages to have his way with Usagi or not.
Greetings from the Hospitaller Knight.