DARKSTALKERS: VAMPIRE HUNTER
Chapter Six: The Will To Fight
Fanfiction by Louis the Rogue
(Based on original story by Capcom Inc.)
The sky above London was a riot of colors ranging from brightest yellow to deepest red, the stilled spiral of fires eyed by a yellow disc brighter than even the sun. Above the burning buildings of the skyline, this shape coalesced into a humanoid form.
As His eyes fell over the ruined gem of England, Pyron's expression stagnated into a disinterested glower, "So this is London… there is little left for me to obtain here."
"So, you're it", a low voice growled from below, "The Great Destroyer."
Pyron's gaze drifted over a figure, lupine in appearance and wreathed in blue and white fur, perched atop the only building in this area that was still structurally sound.
"I am many things", the golden giant's voice seemed to loom as He spoke, "But today I am your Aries."
"Spare me the monlogue", Talbain barked, "You're a spoiled child at heart; you take whatever you want for a moment, then lay it down to burn. Well your toys are all broken, and now you'll have to play a harder game!"
Leaping forward from the rooftop, the noble wolf warrior assumed a comet-like aura that flashed in blues and golds simultaneously as he hurled himself into the fiery form of his opponent, headbutting him at the nose.
His head barely budged by the incredible blow, Pyron returned the gesture, slamming His face into Talbain's muzzle hard enough to knock him away. "You mortals are all the same to Me", Pyron scoffed as His opponent fell to the ground below, "Weak and arrogant. I have yet to meet a one that could be called a challenge."
"And who are you?", Talbain sneered as he crouched there, streaks of red matting the fur over his skull, "Do you paint the sky with the fires of your imminent grace?"
"I shape the world with My POWER!", Pyron fired back, His roar resounding for miles as He hurled himself earthward, fist thrust forward.
Springing at his full speed, Talbain's leap was not quick enough, and a dog-like yelp rang from his throat as a burning hand gripped round his ankle, slamming him face-first into the pavement.
"So, all that training… and this is what you get…", Talbain sputtered the words, accompanied by an undue amount of his own blood, through his gritted teeth, "I can't even take out an overgrown bag of hot air. Some warrior I turned out to be…"
As Pyron's boiling hot hand rested down over the face of His would-be challenger, the steam rising off, a ray of golden light shot down, pelting Him in the cheek hard enough to knock him asunder, a flurry of gold bats escaping from the wound.
As He caught Himself on a foot and glowered up, Pyron caught sight of His attacker as well. The lovely figure hovering there was none other than Morrigan Aensland. Her expression was a complacent, yet focused, stare.
"To what do I owe your presence, Oh God of War", the deadly beauty mused.
"That which is obvious", Pyron crossed his arms, "I seek one so great as to challenge My Power."
"Well…", Morrigan closed her eyes, one arm crossing her chest as she gave a slight nod before opening those enchanting eyes again to stare down at him, "If it is a challenge you seek, I give to you now the greatest warrior yet seen by the Demon World. Myself."
"You would challenge Me so openly, with such little pretense?", Pyron inquired.
"Of course", she smiled that whimsical smile of hers, "Our desire is one and the same. We are the elites, deities among Our kin, and Ours is a destiny filled with pathetic wars won with little or no effort."
"At last, one who understands…", Pyron hovered into the air to greet his opponent, a ferocious smile dawning on his abstract face, "Very well then. I accept your offer, Victorious Nike. Let the battle of battles begin!"
As the titanic Pyron ascended to meet her, Morrigan's gaze drifted briefly to the fallen warrior below, glaring up at her from a puddle of his own blood. "Until you are ready, Son of Kreutz, this is where we part". Her voice stabbed like a warm knife into his broken spirit.
As she turned to face her suitor in battle, Morrigan was resolute. Hurling themselves at one another with a mighty shout, the two entities locked in a shoulder-to-shoulder grapple and vanished in a flash of blinding light, the shockwaves from their impact tearing into the damaged city like a hurricane.
As a sudden blackness swallowed the world around him, Talbain lay still, a single thought drifting through his shattered mind, "Kreutz… why am I fighting…?"
A massive grey zeppelin glided low above the city of Athens, barely high enough to miss the Parthenon atop the Acropolis as it passed. From behind one of the many windows on either side of the mechanical flying behemoth, Demitri brooded toward the horizon.
"Mars", he called to the bright lights beyond, "Why have you deigned to dirty your hands on such pathetic wretches as these? And yet…", he closed his eyes, "Ah, now I understand. A few examples must be made to draw out the true challengers. I can sense one now… Morrigan, is that you…? What valor… and yet, I cannot allow it. The God of War is mine to kill, and mine alone."
Thrusting his elbow through the glass, Demitri made an exit the size of an airplane door with the mere wave of his hand. Letting himself fall through the crack, he caught himself in a mid-air glide, his cape waving wildly behind him as he shouted to his servant, who himself looked on in shock, "I go now to intercede the bout! You are dismissed!"
The elderly vampire looked on, a mix of concern and consolation in his eyes, "As you wish, Milord."
As they appeared somewhere over Greece, the force of impact repelled Pyron and Morrigan from one another, each catching their stance in the air.
A ball of solar power forming in one hand, Pyron rumbled a cruel laugh, "An amusing display, Milady. And now we move on to phase two of the experiment."
"Experiment?", Morrigan scoffed, a ball of shimmering light forming at her fingertips, "You put too much thought into it. A battle is something you feel."
Released in twin throws, the projectiles collided, their impact sending explosion after explosion of light and sound through the atmosphere.
Pulling her wings around her as a makeshift shield, Morrigan sulked from between the black membrane cloak, "Oh, he's good, but I'm not satisfied yet."
A sparkling aura enveloped the warrior temptress as she split into two identical twins, each initiating a rocket-powered charge, which circled around to either side of Pyron, each taking full advantage of a flanking high kick to his chin.
Reeling from the blow, Pyron twisted his momentum into a spin, launching a large ball of fire at each of the twins as if flares from a star.
Both of her selves made a reflexive flip over their pursuing projectiles, which in turn spun round and caught the lady warrior from either side just as she fused back into one being.
As the flames surrounded her, Pyron watched with a pensive look on his face, "Could it all be a fluke, this warrior's apparent strength? Do I remain yet unmatched?"
His question was answered as the nuclear ball he had created drew inward, and Morrigan stood unscratched before him, her perfect skin more radiant than ever, as if a fire glowed from within.
"Tell Me", Pyron demanded, "What is the source of this power of yours?"
As she answered, Morrigan's eyes flashed with another emotion; pity, "Without the will to fight, power is but a fading dream. In doubting yourself, you have sealed your own defeat. This way it comes; can you feel it?"
With a startling, yet melodious laugh, Morrigan vanished in a flash of sparkling light.
"My defeat…?", Pyron pondered, as He looked to the form on the horizon, "What nonsense is this?"
Within a few moments, what had been a mere speckle of light emerged in sight as the figure of a man, dark cloak pulled tight around him as he hovered above the same mountains as Pyron, well within shouting distance.
"Then you are meant to defeat me?", Pyron shouted to his challenger, the thought somehow amusing to him in its' sheer absurdity.
"I will not defeat you, Red Mars", Demitri let the words roll out with a rasp, "I will destroy you."