Chapter Seventeen: Unyielding Will
She stumbled, The darkness was all encompassing and depriving.
Time itself felt distorted, As though it had become convoluted and estranged from the space she clumsily moved through. It had all happened so quickly, Walking through the cathedrals ever darkening halls and the next thing two knew was that she wound up who knows where separated from her sisters.
She stumbled forward, Almost tripping over.
"Wha-!?".
Within an instant her surroundings had changed, Two was now standing on platform of an Obsidian material unknown to her covered in blue rings. Beyond that was a seemingly endless void of darkness accompanied by a equally vast body of water that glowed similarly to the platforms rings, Softly illuminating the innumerable number of pillars that dotted the landscape haphazardly.
"...Where...Am i?".
It made no sense, There was nothing around that looked like an entrance or exit. Did she trip some kind of trap?, Was the cathedral itself alive and picking them off for entering?, Ultimately she didn't know. Her worry over her sisters predicaments did little to help and the possibility of there being no escaped was gaining plausibility.
Then she heard footsteps.
When she turned two had hoped it was perhaps her sisters or even hades...
And indeed it was him...
But...
Besides his head he was covered in black, Red cracks ran across his body. Pitch black tendrils slowly crept up his pale skin, Then there was his gaze... There was a weary, Dogged determination to it.
"...Two. Been awhile".
"Hades!?, Are you alright?. What happened!".
He didn't answer and kept walking forward, His eyes locked in her direction.
"Not much, Lost an arm though...".
The way he spoke so nonchalantly about losing a limb unnerved her a bit but pushed the feeling aside, The fact however, That he was here meant that perhaps her sisters weren't far behind or at the very least safe.
But, Before two could ask him.
Hades brought his right arm up, Sparks flew as a blade shot from his elbow and was blocked two's sword stopping it from piercing her. She forced his blade back which had caused a look of surprise to appear om his face, Two swung her greatsword in hade's blind spot; His left side. However his blade extended further blocking her blades arc and pushing her away.
What flowed from his arm could barely be called a sword, The blade curved from his elbow its length as long as he was tall. A guillotine was the only thing she could think of that could describe the weapon poised at her.
"Wha-!?, What are you doing!?".
"...Two. Only one of us is getting out of here... And unfortunately i'm a little stubborn".
Hades rushed forth, Swinging his blade only for it to be stopped by two's weapon. She pushed his blade away and swung, Forcing him to jump out of the blades arc only to then jump back in for another swing. The two attacked and defended again and again, The monstrous strength behind their weapons countered each other in a stalemate.
However...
"Gah!".
Hades had hammered each blow harder and harder, Pushing two back more and more until she had lost her footing. With a roar hades thrusted his blade at her and again she raised her own to block, Both of their arms trembled as an unstoppable force struggled against an immovable object. Two's face was contorted by the strain of defending against her foe, The pain in her arms intensified as he pushed against her. Metal Groaned as her sword came closer and closer to her face.
With a shout she kicked her leg out.
"Wha-!?".
Two's kick had swept up his legs, As he fell she hefted her greatsword and batted him away causing hades to fly through the air. He crashed into the ground, Rolling near the edge of the platform before stopping, Lying face down.
She used her sword as a crutch to help herself up, Gasping from the effort of fending him off.
…Damnit...
Not like this... Not when i'm so close...
….All of this...All of it's nothing but bullshit.
Why... Why am i the one who has to go through all of this...Why am i the one who has to do these awful things...
Why...
Why...
Why...
I... I didn't ask for this, Any of this...
I don't want to do this...
….They didn't ask to be brought into this world.
Right... That's right.
This world...
This world...
That's the problem.
This world...
These people...
As long as it exists... As long as they exist...
Then that world...The world were my daughters can live as more than weapons...
That world will never come to be...
Then this world...
Then these people...
All of it...
Why...
Why...
"Why can't it all just disappear?".
Hades smashed his fist into the ground as he stood up.
His body was now fully covered, Pale skin and brown hair blackened red cracks running across both.
He raised his head, Revealing his eyes, Black voids filled by two red rings. A third eye opened on his forehead, Another red ring joining the pair.
A demon, That was the only word that could describe what stood before her.
"Let's go" He spoke, His voice distorted. With a kick he rushed her, The ground where he stood exploding from the force of his kick, Hades was already inches away from her face and before she knew it his fist was already closing in. Were it not for her greatsword that fist would have struck her and there was no telling what his new found strength would have done, But it was apparent already as the area of two's sword where hades fist struck had warped and Shattered, Fragments sent flying.
His arm receded, Using that moment two hefted and swung her greatsword at her foe only for him to raise his right arm, The blackened limb barely showed a scratch as the blade made contact its swing halted.
Hades countered with a kick, The black and crimson limb a blur as it rushed after two who barely had enough time to defend. She pushed his leg back, Two hefted her greatsword and with a shout swung it downwards at him.
He didn't move out of the way nor did he seem to even notice, Instead hades grabbed her sword...
With his newly grown left arm.
His fingers pierced her blade, Metal groaned as she pushed against him, The groan intensified as his grip tightened.
Tighter.
Tighter.
Tighter.
Tighter until...
"Wha-!?".
Two's greatsword snapped in his grasp.
Hades looked on at her shocked face...And softly smiled.
"...That can't be it. Right?...More...There has to be more for you to give".
He jabbed her abdomen with his right arm, Two's eyes bugged as she violently coughed up blood. Stumbling away and wrapping her arms around herself, Wincing as she glared defiantly at the demon before her.
"Yes. That's right, Show me...Just how far you can go!" With a shout he charged her, Launching a fist only for her to drop under the attack and strike under his chin with her palm causing hades to fall and roll back, Smashing his hands into the ground and launching off striking out with another kick. Two dropped under the attack again and stabbed what was left of her sword into his back, Hade twirled as he fell to the ground though he quickly got to his feet and stood up, Relaxing his posture he looked down and noticed the broken blade that was pierced through his chest.
"Oh?...Interesting" he said as he grabbed the blade that was sticking out of him and casually pulled it out, Bone cracked and popped, Flesh squelched as the weapon was pulled out of his body. The blood drenched sword fell to the ground, His body was already good as new.
That wasn't possible.
What she saw shouldn't have been possible.
And yet, The man that stood before her had done casually what should have been impossible.
"...Please...please just...just stop this..." two strained, Weak from the fight "You...You don't have to do this...".
"... Maybe...But, I can't face her again without learning how she talks, How she truly feels".
"...What".
"I get it now, What's really going on. I know what she's done, For that i'm grateful...But i am going to kill her, And i'm going to make her suffer enough to understand my true feelings".
She didn't understand.
She didn't understand a single thing he said.
"To talk on her level, I'll need to make her suffer, Make her feel pain". He spoke as he drew his arm back.
Two tried to ready herself, But she was too weak and her body was too injured to react in time.
"So...Two. Die, And become the foundation for my crimson world".
With those words, Hades let loose his fist.
The platform shattered.