Ch. 44
Abaddon suddenly awoke, gasping for breath.
"What the fuck?! What happened?! The last thing I remember was-."
A flashback of the fight with Cuchulainn and the sneak attack from Ferdiad played in Abaddon's mind.
"Right….I was knocked out," Abaddon thought. "Now…where the hell am I?"
All around him, all the faunus could see was darkness. He couldn't hear, see, or smell anything. The void around him was empty. He began walking forward but stopped, thinking it would not make a difference. The area he was in now made him feel small, made him feel trapped. Although, he was not alone. He felt an immense presence near him. It was terrifying, but also… strangely familiar.
"We finally meet again…"
Abaddon didn't hear the voice traditionally, he felt it in his mind. He turned around, towards where he felt the voice was coming from. His eyes went wide at what he saw. A giant orb of faint light lay half submerged in the emptiness Abaddon stood on, but what stood upon the orb was a monster he could never have imagined seeing. It was a dark and ghostly massive creature with six limbs and several thin branch-like fingers on each limb. Its own body seemed somewhat stable and yet a light essence was rising from every part of its body like its skin was writhing. Its neck was long, and it had no facial features, except for a mouth filled with menacingly sharp teeth. It screeched at the faunus.
"I did not think I would discover you in such a weakened state, champion…."
A bad taste filled Abaddon's mouth at the title. "I-I am not your champion!"
The boy gasped. He didn't mean to reply with those words. It was pure instinct, but it was as if he had said them before.
"I see…Your memories have been progressively returning to your being…."
"What memories?"
"Dreams…visions…Have any of them seemed abnormal to you…?"
Abaddon stopped to think. "Yeah, I have been seeing some strange shit, especially the last few years. But if they're memories, who do they belong to, 'cause they sure as hell aren't mine!"
"If you want answers…you will find them here, in this maelstrom below me…"
Abaddon looked at the giant orb and shook his head. "How can I trust you!? I don't know what's in that thing?! I don't even know who or what you are?!"
"You don't have to trust me…but you must hurry, as your beloved has engaged Ferdiad on your behalf..."
"Kathleen?!"
"Yes…and you must know that Ferdiad is not alone…. There is another…and she will be at risk once he arrives…"
"Dammit," Abaddon growled.
He couldn't trust a word the monster was saying, but he did believe Kathleen would try to look for him. And if she was fighting Ferdiad, with another enemy like him coming her way, then Abaddon needed to be there. He nodded toward the monster and walked toward the light orb. As he neared it, he started to hear voices coming from it. The orb began to light up and a powerful force gripped the faunus. He began struggling against it as he was quickly pulled through the air, but it was no use, and he was absorbed into the orb's depths. Once he had entered, the orb's core glowed red and the monster above it screeched loudly.
"At last,…. the true champion of the abyss has returned…!"
XXXXXXX
Kathleen flew into the air as she dodged another assault of black fireballs from seven miniature versions of Ferdiad.
"My Fools are now as powerful as I am. It would be in your favor to exercise caution, dear Empress," Ferdiad said.
The Jester fired a volley of fireballs. Kathleen dodged them but the flames circled and began following her. The huntress flew around in random directions trying to shake her adversary's attack, but it wasn't working. Looking ahead, she saw that Ferdiad's Fools were now in a vertical circle formation and had created an electric net in between them. Kathleen headed straight towards the net at full speed. She momentarily became an ice mist. This surprised the Fools. She flew through the net, solidifying as soon as she was clear. Then, she looked back and watched as the fireballs that were chasing her crashed into the Fools. Screams filled the air as the miniature clowns were destroyed in a fiery explosion. Kathleen grinned at her success but left herself slightly open. Suddenly, a black and gold spear violently pierced through her left shoulder.
"Aauuugghh!"
She fell and crashed into the dirt on the other side of the village. Kathleen groaned as she lay on the ground and yellow ichor dripped from her wound. She tried to stand, but yellow electricity began to emit from the spear. It tore through her entire body, immobilizing her.
"What the hell is with this spear?! It's draining my power every time I try to move! And my regeneration isn't working!"
"To think I could fell the former queen of ice with one simple throw of my spear. What a disappointment."
An eight-legged horse strode into her view. It had whitish grey hair, a white mane, a tail with red-orange tips, and bright blue eyes. It wore horned chrome black armor with gold highlights, and ghost-white aether emanated from each of its hooves. On its back was a black, white, and gold skull-faced knight with ornate curved horns and a buckler shield on his left arm. He stared Kathleen down with white eyes.
"Odin?! What're you doing here?!" Kathleen grunted.
"I am glad you asked. I am here because I wish for a challenge, but this is nothing new to you." Odin held out his right hand and his spear removed itself from Kathleen's body. Odin caught the weapon while Kathleen stifled a painful scream.
"You….your presence feels like a voidsent, but also a-," she told Odin.
"A sin eater," Odin said, finishing Kathleen's sentence. "I gave my body to the void with the promise of forever finding and defeating worthy adversaries, while also devouring the light of one of the surviving Gravewardens, incorporating its power into my being. You may call it foolish, but that is what my existence is about: Battling those who are worthy of my blade. At this moment, the one I seek is none other than your mate, one of the great devourers, Amaruq."
"Then you've come to the wrong world. Amaruq is dead." Kathleen looked him dead in the eye when she said it.
"It appears he is not, oh great knight. He is alive, but he is mortal. He is no longer a threat to our lord's plans," Ferdiad added, giving Kathleen a wicked smile.
Odin sighed. "Unfortunate. Nevertheless, I will extinguish his life as I was ordered. Where is he?"
"He is there, trapped in an abyssal prison of my own making. But as I said before, he is of no thr-."
Ferdiad was cut off when an audible heartbeat struck their ears. Everyone slowly gazed at the black orb Ferdiad had carried earlier. It was touching the ground now but had grown in size, now big enough to rival Ferdiad himself in size. Another beat emanated from the orb again, then another, and another, until it held a steady beat every three seconds. The center of the orb began to glow a dull red. Odin threw his spear at the orb, but it was easily deflected by a black whip that emerged from it. Ferdiad rushed forward to strike it, then was slapped away by another whip. A pool of black ichor spread from underneath until it reached a radius of seven feet from the orb's bottom. Odin was prepared to charge with his horse, Sleipnir, but just then several vaguely humanoid masses rose from the pool. They stood in awkward stances with featureless black bodies. They began chanting one name.
"…Apollyon…"
"…Apollyon…"
"…Apollyon…"
"…Apollyon…"
"…Apollyon…"
"Clown! What foolishness is this?!" Odin yelled at Ferdiad.
Ferdiad had no words to reply with. His throat felt soar, a chill went down his spine, and his entire body shook with each heartbeat. He unconsciously put up his guard, as his entire being felt threatened. Odin stood up straighter, hoping the challenge he was looking forward to would face him any minute now. Kathleen gazed in awe at the orb, not just of what was happening, but who she could sense inside it. For her, someone she had once known had seemingly come back from the dead.
Suddenly, the orb let out one final massive heartbeat, letting out a wave that shook the ground. The black humanoid figures sunk back into the pool of ichor as it started to recede into the orb. Then the orb began to disappear, bit by bit, from bottom to top.
After only a minute, Abaddon stood before them, but he had changed even more than during his fight with Cuchulainn.
He was slightly bulkier, and he now stood two feet taller. His skin was darker and there were more scars than before on his body. He had a mane of wild black hair that faded to grey and then white at the ends and reached down to his lower back. He gained four small red eyes that sat above his dominant pair. There also was a massive scar on his face around his dominant eyes. He had four horns: two jutting out the back of his head and pointed in reverse and two horns curved forward from either side of his head. His fingers and toes had retractable black claws, and he had a long, thick black tail with thin hair and a bladed tip. On either side of his mid-torso was a set of gills. He also had pair of large black wings that were covered in red fur and had prehensile claws. His forearms and lower legs were also covered in red dermal plates with sharp, blade-like protrusions.
Abaddon blinked, then smiled menacingly, revealing his enlarged canines and sharpened teeth. In a flash, he attacked both the voidsent and the gravewarden with his wings. Ferdiad was sent flying while Odin was pushed back, having blocked with his buckler shield in time. Abaddon then helped Kathleen to her feet.
"It's you! B-but I thought you were gone for good!" Kathleen told him.
"Well, a few friends bent the rules for me." Abaddon stuck out a forked light purple tongue and proceeded to lick Kathleen's wound.
"Hahaha, that tickles!"
"There, you should be able to regenerate," Abaddon said after he finished. A second later, the hole in Kathleen's shoulder began to close.
"Are you two done?" Odin said impatiently.
"How did you find this planet Odin? And who helped you gain such power?" Abaddon stared the knight down, waiting for an answer.
"Fool! I did not come here to be questioned; I came for battle!"
Odin's spear point morphed into a large, curved sword.
"You finish the clown. Odin's mine." Abaddon claimed.
Kathleen nodded and flew towards where she saw Ferdiad recovering. Ferdiad saw her and pointed at her. From the forest behind him, five wyverns flew out. There were two Phantomtails and three Tailbunkers. All four drakes spiraled through the air in her direction, prompting Kathleen to flee up into the air herself. The wyverns gave chase. Kathleen stopped, then dove straight down towards Ferdiad. The jester jumped back, but the huntress was too quick and rammed into him. Ferdiad gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, but Kathleen wasn't done. She grabbed onto him and flipped, then kicked off him, allowing the wyverns that were previously chasing her to fly into their master.
"As usual, lesser voidsent aren't the smartest. You should've just manifested your Fools again instead," Kathleen told him.
In frustration, Ferdiad released a burst of power around him and disintegrated the wyverns' bodies. Five purple cores were all that were left, floating around the clown. With a wave of his hand, the egg-shaped cores fused into one and Ferdiad devoured it whole. This not only healed the damage he took but also boosted his strength.
"Die!"
Kathleen dashed to her left as her opponent's weapon flew past, slicing through several trees. It quickly came back to Ferdiad's hands. He took a striking stance with his scythe, which glowed with orange and blue energy. Ferdiad swung his blade, producing a blue and orange blade beam. Kathleen stopped the beam with her bare hands. It slowly began pushing her back as she pushed against it. With some effort she managed to divert the beam, sending it up into the air. Using that attack as cover, Ferdiad closed the distance, crouching low to the ground. He swung, aiming for her mid-torso. Kathleen quickly spun into the air horizontally, avoiding a critical blow, and used the momentum to slash through Ferdiad's right arm. The clown grunted in pain. He struck at Kathleen with his foot, sending her a short distance back. To his dismay, all Kathleen gained was a bruise. Ferdiad immediately regenerated his arm and grabbed his scythe once more. He prepared another beam to launch at her but stopped when he saw her hold her polearm in front of her. The weapon shattered into small bits of ice before reforming into a nodachi.
Ferdiad knew he had to proceed with caution, as he had seen that blade in action before. It was the same weapon that cut down his old master. Ferdiad channeled most of his energy into his scythe and swung several times, creating a larger and more powerful blade beam. Meanwhile, Kathleen launched herself forward. Her blade met the beam. The blast bisected right at the sword's edge, annihilating the forest behind Kathleen.
"Impossible." Ferdiad mentally shit himself.
Without a word, Kathleen rushed Ferdiad and sliced through his body. He stood in shock as his body began to separate horizontally into two before both parts exploded in a shower of red, black, and gold confetti. The huntress grunted in frustration. She knew better than to let Ferdiad escape, but for now, the battle was won. Now, she just had to wait for Abaddon to finish his fight.
XXXXXXX
Moments earlier….
Odin grunted as Abaddon rammed into him, knocking him off his stead. Odin landed on his back, with Abaddon on top. He prepared to slash at the knight's face, but Odin struck the wolf in the chin with his shield, followed by a kick to the chest that knocked Abaddon off him. The knight stood up and raised his blade.
"Zan…tetsu…ken!"
Abaddon dashed to the right as a blue light flashed past him. The ground where he stood now had a small fissure that went along the ground and into the forest behind him.
"As you have done before, you evade my strike. Never taking it head on. But I will cut you down with my blade all the same."
Abaddon smiled. "Of course! You developed one of the strongest techniques to ever be used."
"Flattery will get you nowhere."
"I'm just giving credit where it is due. In fact, I should thank you for creating Zantetsuken. I even made my own version of it, which saved my ass when I needed it most."
"Do you plan to take my technique from me?!"
"Not really. But if you don't stop and give me some answers, I will have no choice."
"Ragh!" Odin threw his swordspear with great strength.
Abaddon spun, grabbing the staff of the spear, and using the momentum to throw it back. Odin rushed Abaddon, grabbing his spear in a twirl, and slashing at him. Abaddon ducked to avoid the attack, then sprung back up and headbutted Odin. He quickly moved to Odin's left side, and with his fists raised together into the air, he slammed them into Odin's head. The knight was smashed into a crater in the dirt. Abaddon didn't plan on letting up and stomped on the knight's head. His clawed toes dug into Odin's helmet, and he threw the knight into the distance. Abaddon grinned as his opponent blew through several ruined houses before crashing into a pile of rubble.
"Still placing too much faith in your weapon. You can't win if you don't adapt buddy," Abaddon said.
A javelin blew out of the rubble and towards Abaddon. He sidestepped the spear, thinking Odin was still just lashing out.
POW!
Abaddon was struck in the gut hard enough to push him back a short distance. Odin stood before him, his right first thrust forward and shaking.
"Don't underestimate me heathen."
Abaddon spat up some saliva. "Damn. I knew you'd throw a hell of a punch. Now I'm sure you don't need this."
Abaddon held Odin's weapon over his head with his tail, which he had stolen the same moment he was struck. He took the weapon in his hands and crushed the blade into pieces, then snapped the staff in half. Odin became increasingly upset.
"Sleipnir! To me!"
Odin's horse, who had not left its spot, neighed as it galloped to its master. Odin took his steed's face in his hands and caressed it. He whispered some words to the horse before unexpectedly plunging his hand into the horse's chest. Sleipnir gave one last neigh before his body dissolved into a cloud of thick mist. Odin then absorbed the mist into his body, all the while growing. The knight was now three feet taller and much buffer than Abaddon was. His armor took on a more vibrant shade of color, the gold highlights on him became brighter, and a blue vapor emanated from his body. This was Odin's Raiden form.
Abaddon smiled. "About fucking time."
Odin cocked his fist back and sent a punch flying into Abaddon's chest. Abaddon managed to block, but the force of the blow pushed his feet into the earth. Wrapping his tail around Odin's wrist, Abaddon tossed the behemoth in the air. The wolf then lept into the sky with Odin, where he struck down with a kick to the knight's back. Odin crashed into the ground but immediately rose to his feet. He growled as he rolled out of the way of another attack from above and struck at his adversary with a back kick. Although, Abaddon caught his foot, pulled Odin towards him, and struck him hard in the jaw. Odin tumbled on the ground until he skidded to a stop. He managed to get up on one knee but instantly looked up to see Abaddon standing over him. Abaddon elbowed Odin in the neck, knocking the knight on his back. He then kicked Odin up into the air and then punched him into a boulder. Odin lay down on a large pile of rocks as he groaned in frustration. He slowly got to his feet as Abaddon walked towards him.
"What the hell are you?! I am at my utmost potential, and yet you persist in making a mockery of me! I was on a path to great power! I thought I had surpassed all those worthless beings on Ebarona, especially you and Bahamut! But in this battle, you best me in your semi-mortal form?! I will not allow this!"
Odin concentrated his aether into his right arm. A silver, curved ultra greatsword manifested in his hand. From out of thin air, Abaddon conjured a black long sword made of abyssal energy. He poured his aether into his right arm, copying Odin.
Odin gritted his teeth. "SHIN ZANTETSUKEN!"
Abaddon focused on his target. "ZANTETSU PRIME!"
SLASH!
An eerie silence filled the area as both warriors waited to see who would fall first. Three seconds passed and then finally Abaddon heard something hit the ground. He turned around to see Odin on his stomach, his body bisected diagonally from his left hip to his right shoulder. Purple blood slowly poured from his wounds.
"Odin…I'm sorry."
"Why….why do you hate me so?" Odin cried. "I tried so hard to become one of the best of our kind….to be one of the powerful…but I could not surpass you nor Bahamut…nor would you follow my lead…You have even stolen my technique….to mock me…"
Abaddon knelt next to Odin. "Old friend…That is not what I meant to do. My mate and I have created techniques of our own, using yours as inspiration. Like I said before, your technique even saved my life once. I did not mean to offend. But why did you become an ally to that fucking beast?
"Ragnarok….it promised me so much…I could not resist…temptation…too great…I just wanted to forever be one of the strong….but I see that cannot happen."
"Odin, you were already powerful in your own right-."
"Silence…Not another word….I wish to rest…..But promise me one thing.."
"Yes?"
"Save Geri and Freki….for me….please….."
And with his last request, Odin died. Abaddon reached out for him, but Odin's body flashed yellow for a split second before completely disintegrating into tiny golden sparks. Abaddon watched as the sparks floated up into the sky above until they seemed to fade into the starry night.
"I promise."
