Chapter 15.
The trek across the plain under the view of the castle seemed to take an inordinate amount of time. Each member of the small group could feel imagined eyes on them as they all but crawled over the dusty ground. Of course they knew that their suits would hide them from any such casual gaze and that they could see that their efforts not to kick up dust were bearing fruit. It just wore on their nerves like a blunt hacksaw. Now that they had reached the filed of discarded bones around the base of the tower things had only got worse.
Ranma was a noted exception to this false feeling. He was consciously blanketing their auras with a careful construct of his own, hoping to blend his darkness in with the ambient energies of the area. With every step it got easier. His senses were telling him that his fears were more than justified, the fortress was built on a dark font.
The demonic rulers of the hold would be directly drawing their energy from the outpouring. Much as Ranma's torturers ,and indeed he himself, had done these demons would be bolstering their own abilities with the all energies they could absorb. It meant they would be faster, stronger and, perhaps worst of all, nearly indestructible due to fantastic healing rates. It was not good news, but nor was it entirely unexpected.
The key lay in two things, firstly a demon's ability to absorb and utilise the energy was limited by all sorts of factors, including willpower and intelligence and secondly the font could be capped.
Which is why the team weren't going for the obvious strike. Ordinarily any attack on a fastness such as this would be aimed squarely at the master of the hold, kill him and any degree of truce between the other devils would break down, destroying the effectiveness of any counter attack. Much as had happened when Ranma had killed the Marquis the other demons would fall on each other in an orgy of violence, desperate to enforce their dominance and the right to succeed the fallen. This attitude was so entrenched in demon thinking that the 'kill the leader' tactic had been used effectively since before mankind ever existed. The fortress, the tactics of its defence and indeed the power structures below the top devil were all built around this very idea.
"Ami" Ranma asked. The four of them were currently hanging two dozen feet off the ground by the ropes they had recently fixed for this very purpose. As one they were waiting with baited breath for Ami's judgement.
"Looks good" she replied, turning her face from the wall she had apparently been studying so intently. The others let out a small sigh of relief, this was the fourth site they had tried and every moment they spent doing this brought them closer to discovery.
"Good" rasped Ranma. The others were all too aware of the change that had come over him as they had got closer. One result of his cloaking had been an inversion of it's emanations, the result of that had been the girls being bathed in his ever growing power. With every step closer to the font he had grown darker and more demonic. Now his eyes were dark pits of evil power, his claws solid lengths of dark metal, even his armour seemed to have metamophasised into an eviller version, one that accommodated his all but solid wings.
As Ami watched Ranma drew back one clawed fist and pounded it into the wall. It gave way inwards as if it was made of icing sugar, crumbling and cracking in a spray of dust. Inside was revealed an irregular chamber. Perhaps a cell of some kind, there was a door set into the far wall.
Without another word the demon touched man led the way through the new hole. With another swipe of his claws he destroyed the cell-door, turning it into so many splinters. The girls fell in behind as fast as they could, automatically falling into a well drilled formation.
Several small demons came to investigate the noise, running from a guard room a couple of levels above. They were small winged creatures, armed with fan, claw and whip, but otherwise defenceless. They also lacked the true intelligence necessary to connect the sudden destruction with the apparent humans who seemed to be invading.
Ranma swatted the first into the wall, where it hung bonelessly for a few moments before slowly sliding down, leaving a trail of cracks and gore behind. The second pushed home it's attack at Ranma's flank, It was squewered through the chest by the prongs of Neptune's trident, the holy energy killing it deader than ever should have been possible. The third and forth attempted to flee, suddenly realising that the intruders were beyond their abilities. They never made it, two neat blasts from Pluto sheared them into pieces as neat planes of existence slid trough them.
"Down" commanded Ami, simultaneously sparking up the subroutines designed to search for their comrades.
With a small gesture of acknowledgement the team moved on, shifting Ami into a more defended position as they did.
"I am reading a much larger concentration of creatures above us" she announced, "they appear top be surrounding a powerful source of dark energy."
"The lord of the keep" Ranma surmised, "they were waiting for us."
"Then the princess is-"
"Probably in the middle of that," Ranma agreed. "It won't take them long to realise what we are up to," he added, tactical adjustments racing through his mind.
"We'll cap the font" Setsuna suggested, "You give them what they want." Ranma nodded quick agreement, right now his blood was singing for mayhem and this seemed the best way to get it.
"Go" he ordered, letting them rush past him.
"Be careful" Setsuna warned, more than the others she knew how tempting surrendering to the madness was. She saw her words hit home, saw a glint of blue break though the darkness in Ranma's eyes. He nodded again and they were gone.
O
O
Vorlaag was a proud creature, he had fought his way up though the ranks of hell to reach his place at his master's right hand. With ruthless cunning the two of them had murdered, begged, weaselled and lied their way to power after Balthazaar's death. Now the moment they had both been waiting for since that fateful time had finally arrived, the foolish being that had stolen the essence of their Marquis had returned. Now that power would finally be his. That was the key word here of course, Vorlaag meant 'his' and not 'their's' the moment had come for him to slip out of his master's shadow and seize power for himself. He would drain the soul out of the fool and use it to challenge the new 'Baron.'
"Mistake" rasped a voice. Vorlaag had just enough time to realise that in his daydreams he had lost track of how far he had travelled. The enemey had apparently reversed course and turned back to attack them, what should have been a foolish ploy. Vorlaag had brought a host of lesser devils to slow the intruder down long enough for him to deal with it. Only the bastard wasn't playing fair.
Pain exploded across Vorlaag's face, his skull was literally stripped to the bone and then some as four dark claws tore off the demon's features. He threw up his own upper right arm to stop a second blow only to find the limb severed neatly at the elbow. Then Vorlaag finally realised the depths of his mistake, the intruder was not only tapping the dark energy but doing it at a rate far higher than himself. A sudden bitterness filled his twisted spirit, his master would have known all too well the discrepancy, and yet had sent him down to face the intruder. In doing so the Baron had betrayed their trust and sentenced Vorlaag to death.
"Die!" commanded Ranma, blazing with dark energy. As his left knuckles reached the belly of the beast he used the used the same trick that killed the Marquis, he grabbed at the energy contained in the demon and tried to siphon it off.
"No!" burbled Vorlaag in an almost incoherent cry of fear and rage. At the same time he hurled himself bodily into the nearest wall. He managed to drive Ranma's claw all the deeper through him, severing his horned spine but also managed to distract the martial artist from his lethal technique.
With another supreme effort that was more desperation than skill Vorlaag threw his assailant off of him, losing any hope of victory in the process as Ranma finished the process of severing his torso. In agony he had not known for centuries Vorlaag fell to the floor, his entrails splayed out about him. Already he could feel flesh and carapace crawling its way back across his face, regenerating the damaged tissue. Soon he would he able to see again, if he only had the chance.
Somewhere nearby he could hear the sounds of his minions dying in their droves. Every so often a spay of fluid splattered across his fallen form, gory testimony of another fallen asset. The sound was getting quieter, the chittering cries of his troops less constant, Vorlaag knew what it meant and cold fear settled into what was left of his gut.
Then it went quiet, only the quiet sounds of settling gore broke the sudden oppressive silence. By now Vorlaag could just about make out some hazy shapes, his retina were healing by the heartbeat.
"You should'a brought more goons" rasped a voice, suddenly large in the silence. "It wouldn't have changed nuthin' but you might've at least got to see what killed you."
"Clurck You!" bubbled the fallen demon. Then there was only pain as Ranma grasped a clawed hand around his heart and tore the energy from Vorlaag's spirit, shredding the lieutenant's existence once and for all.
O
O
Downstairs Pluto was leading the way. The three of them were hurrying down into the bowels of the fastness, barely touching the stairs as they went. All the girls could easily make out the sudden burst of violence that echoed down the stairwell and it served to concentrate their minds all the more.
"Twenty feet" announced Mercury, her final warning before they reached a large metal bound door. Down here, so far below ground level the only light there was had been brought by the girls themselves. Nevertheless it was more than enough to make out the deep runes carved into the brass of the door bindings.
"Mercury?" Pluto asked, recognising the demonic script but failing to understand it further.
"Wards" Ami surmised, "set to harm whoever tries to pass the doorway."
"Can you…" Pluto prompted, receiving a confident nod in reply.
Mercury immediately set about studying the sigils, waving her good arm across them to follow their twisted, entwining patterns. Meanwhile the two other girls gave her space and listened to the sounds from above.
"He'll be alright" asserted Neptune, thinking aloud "You know how powerful he is now."
"That is part of what worries me" Pluto confided, "that sort of energy does you no good" she whispered. Neptune only nodded, her thoughts far above them.
"There!" Mercury announced, triumph written across her face and pointing at a particular point on the door, "Wipe that out and the wards will fail," she explained.
"Fine!" agreed Pluto turning her staff to point at the door. She felt the other girls get clear and then began summoning the energy she would need for a temporal shear.
"There may be a little-" Mercury began warning, but not fast enough. Pluto released the energy, creating a two-dimensional temporal shift. The molecules along the magical line were torn from each other, their bindings severed by irresistible force.
"BOOM!" said the door.
The sudden explosion enveloped the eldest senshi, concussing and torching her as it threw her backwards. Luckily for her the other senshi were there to break her fall. The three of them hit the far wall with a bone-crunching impact. The small corridor was filled with smoke, glittering in reaction to the magical fallout.
"Ow" cursed Pluto, Mercury agreed. Neptune would have joined in but her mouth was currently full of Pluto's elbow.
"Geerrroff" Neptune ordered, pushing the larger girl off her.
Professionalism kicked back in and soon the three of them ere stood at the ready, waiting for whatever lay beyond the door. Only nothing came. The smoke cleared and still nothing attacked.
"Weird" Neptune observed, looking to Mercury.
"Nothing" the other girl replied. Pluto took the decision and led the girls inside. They moved with all the precision that Ranma had beaten into them, covering the approach arcs, weapons readied and scans piercing the darkness around them. Still nothing happened.
"Very weird" Mercury agreed.
"The boss demon can't have trusted any of his minions so near the source of his power" Pluto guessed, looking around the room. "But where the hell is it?" she asked aloud.
"The readings are way off the scale" Mercury observed.
"So why can't we see it?" demanded Neptune, looking around the large circular chamber with a heavy frown. She could feel the dark energy, feel the alien impulses to do harm pressing at her mind but like the others could not see the source.
"Could he have disguised it in some way?" Pluto asked, musing aloud.
"Shifted it somehow?" Neptune guessed.
"I'll try adjusting the scanner parameters" Mercury suggests.
"I got the door" Neptune offers, moving to a guard position. Pluto nodded and took up her own position opposite, staff at the ready. All they could do was wait.