Wow. It has been a while! My life has gone through a few changes since I last uploaded and I'm SURE you guys have too, considering the literal apocalypse and all. I have come across a bit of free time and decided to finish the mythical Chapter 10, which to be honest was practically done for a year, save for a few touch-ups. Sorry about that BTW. I have so much more content for the story on the way as well, so don't start thinking I'll drop off the face of the earth again. Well here it is, chapter MF 10!

Chapter 10: Serenity

The last thing Kære saw before the video call cut out was the man slashing the dashboard, leaving him unsatisfied and furious. In a raging fit he stood up and threw his chair across the room before screaming,

"Fuck!"

The door to his office slowly opened, revealing a cautious Soldier on the other side.

"M-my lord?" the Soldier whimpered.

"WHAT!?" he shouted.

"You've received a package, f-from the Reapers."

Surprised, he asked, "Well…what is it?!"

"Uhh, it's what's left of the assassin you sent. He was shot in the head."

Kære's eyes flared up in anger, his breathing quickened with rage.

Panicked, the guard blurted "Uh! There were traces of silver and holy water found in the wound! It came with a note…" before holding out the letter.

"GET OUT!" Kære shouted before throwing an ashtray at the Guard, who quickly dropped the letter and slammed the door in fright.

He stormed over to the door, picked up the note, and read it out.

"Nice try, red guy…" in Mandy's handwriting.

He quickly tore it up, throwing the pieces at the floor. Calming down, he tried to think rationally about the circumstances.

"Holy bullets, god sword, following the warehouse attack, within the span of a few days? Can't be a coincidence."

A realization came upon him, compelling him to pull up the Nightosphere portal room P.A. system and security feed, then shouted into the microphone,

"To all Soldiers in the portal room! This is an emergency! Stand guard around the portal and shut it down immediately!"

In the video feed, he saw the Soldiers huddle together around the portal, readying themselves for whatever was about to emerge. A Soldier crept up to the emergency switch beside the portal, still cautious of the portal itself. Before he could reach the large lever, a smoke grenade flew out of the portal, detonating and spinning on the floor as it released its thick, concealing cloud of smoke.

"DO IT!" A Soldier from the pack shouted.

Quickly, with little time left, and as the smoke began to fog his vision, the Soldier leaped forward and threw the switch. He let out a sigh of relief, but soon realized he was too late as an unfamiliar figure emerged from the smoke in his peripheral vision.

"Did he do it?!" a Soldier shouted.

"I don't know! A can't see!" shouted another.

The smoke cloud had quickly spread across the room and wasn't dissipating anytime soon. The Soldiers couldn't see anything or each other and cautiously wondered through it in search of something reassuring.

Kære watched as the smoke enveloped the group and flashes of light and brief but loud screams of terror came from the screen and speakers. Soon after, the smoke dispersed and revealed nothing but piles of dismembered soldiers.

"Shit!" he cursed under his breath.

Kære stormed over to the entrance of the portal room, kicking the door open, and entered ready to vent his frustration on this intruder. He walked over to the bodies and saw how their wounds sizzled, almost cauterized, and that the armor did nothing to protect them. He grunted in frustration, before scanning the room for threats. Nothing within his immediate vicinity, but looking up, he saw him. Perched on a steel support beam running across the ceiling, sword in hand, staring him down menacingly.

"You've got a lot to answer for!" Kære shouted.

Isaac replied with nothing but a soul-piercing glare. He climbed down, dangling from the beam, before letting go and landing before him.

"He was my friend!" Kære shouted, "And you murdered him, in cold blood!"

Isaac said nothing, still glaring at him, glorifying the moment, relishing in Kære's emotional tantrum.

Annoyed, Kære shouted once more "Why?! WHAT DO YOU WANT!? WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!"

"You know, I was gonna let him live." Isaac interrupted, "but I wanted to see the look on your face."

Kære roared as he leaped forward, lunging at him with his piercing claw. Isaac leaned out the way within a split second, throwing and hitting a direct punch to the ribs, knocking the wind out of him. Within this window, Isaac slashed at him with his sword, but Kære redirected the sword to the ground with his claw, plunging it into the concrete. Instead of wasting the time to pull the sword out, Isaac used it as an anchor point to propel himself into a roundhouse kick, sending Kære tumbling through the air across the room. Kære slammed against the wall with a devastating thud, sending a shockwave throughout the facility.

After ripping himself from the indentation he left in the wall, Kære stumbled forward and met eyes with Isaac before saying: "You're not human…"

Isaac pulled the sword and flourished it before replying "Not fully!".

"In that case…" cracking his neck, "…I'll have to take it up a notch!"

Quickly, Kære's slim and weak stature was replaced with towering height, muscle, and a menacing smile.

"When it comes to combat, usually I never break a sweat! It's been a while since someone's put up a real fight!" Kære admitted.

"You don't scare me, devil-man."

The two charged each other, leaping forward and attacking head-on. Isaac swung his sword from the right, while Kære jabbed at him from the left. Isaac was sure his sword would land first, but within an instant Kære's right jab had relocated, in front of his sword. Before he could react, Kære parried his sword away with impossible force, throwing Isaac completely off balance. He latched onto Isaac's shoulder with his crushing claw, squeezing hard and drawing blood until his joint popped.

"AAARGH!" Isaac shouted.

Kære felt stronger from the sound alone, then tossed him across the room. As Isaac barrelled through the air, he got clotheslined by a catwalk, sending him twirling down toward the concrete floor, smashing into it.

As Isaac pulled himself up, Kære let out a laugh, "AHAHAHA! I must admit! You had me for a second! For a moment I felt like you might've posed a genuine threat to my plans! How silly of me! Now, I presume you have the amulet. So I suggest you hand it over now, and I'll make your death quick!"

Isaac's pain quickly turned to rage. He pinned the sword into the ground and the handle against his shoulder, then slammed the dislocated joint into it to force it back into place, letting out a short grunt without even as much as blinking.

He ripped the sword from the ground, pointing it at Kære, and said, "Let's see you take it from me without any parlor tricks this time, Kære!".

Kære's eyes widened with surprised anticipation, "Ohoho! I like you! You're fun!" he said playfully.

Isaac then circled him slowly, not taking any risks this time, but the faint sound of helicopters broke the silence, followed by breaking glass raining from the ceiling. Skeleton soldiers rappelled from the broken skylights.

Noticing this, Kære shouted "Ah! So, it's the Reapers you work fo…!" only to be interrupted by a barrage of grenade launcher fire from the soldiers.

One repelled down next to Isaac, shouting "Get on!".

"No!" Isaac shouted, "I have to…"

Before he could finish, he noticed that Kære began to grow larger and angrier as more grenades showered him.

"Uh, alright! Move over!" he replied, leaping and grabbing onto the rope.

As he was pulled up into the chopper, and they began to take off, Kære busted through the roof of the building as he transformed into a giant hulking kaiju. He slashed the closest one out of the air, exploding on impact. His eyes then lit up before shooting red laser beams, slicing the tail off Isaac's chopper. As it spun out of control, Isaac gave the soldiers on board a short salute before jumping and rocketing to the last helo, just managing to grab onto the landing gear before falling. Kære made chase, so to slow him down, Isaac reached into his coat and pulled out an RPG. Despite the turbulence and wind, Isaac calmly and accurately aimed the weapon and fired. Before the rocket could reach him, Kære caught it mid-flight with his two monstrous fingers. He laughed at the feeble attempt, before noticing the rocket had the instantly recognizable nuclear symbol on the side. BOOM! The explosion sent Kære tumbling away from the choppers, sending a shockwave through the air, rattling the chopper and volcanic earth below. Isaac chuckled before climbing into the Helicopter.

"Activating stealth mode!" the pilot shouted as he flicked some switches in the cockpit.

The doors closed, and the exterior of the chopper rippled and changed colour until it was completely invisible.

As Kære pulled himself back up, he shouted "You bastard! Whoever you are! I'll kill you, and those friggin Reapers!"

A few hours later, they reached Castle Grimskull and prepped for landing. As the helicopter descended onto the helipad, Isaac could see Mandy angrily approaching it from below. As soon as he hopped off, her finger was immediately wagging in his face as she berated him. Grim and Pain watched from behind.

"You idiot! Not only does Kære know we're onto his operation, but now he knows you're involved with us!"

Before she could scold him further, he pressed the amulet into her chest and said "Abadeer is dead." then walked right past her toward the castle entrance.

After grabbing it, she turned around and shouted, "You insubordinate…!".

"Give it a rest, Mandy" Grim interrupted, "It's not'is fault dat it was his only way back. We should have given him clearer orders."

"Whatever! We have this now. Our trump-card." She said holding it up to the underworld sky.

"Deh question now is 'who's g'wan to wear it?'"

"I'll do it!" volunteered Pain, "I will do whatever is necessary to…"

"Shut up Pain." Interrupted Mandy, "You're our weapons specialist, our General and our Chef. We need you here."

"Well neider of us can do it, and everyone in dis castle is eider unqualified, a child or an imbecile."

"Well, what about someone who isn't here?" she suggested.

Grim raised his eyebrow, "What do you…wait. You can't be serious. He'll neva do it. He's always remained neutral."

"Oh, he'll do it, and he won't even know it wasn't his idea."

Isaac stumbled through the corridors toward his room, strolling as to conceal his limp. He passed Junior who noticed he was looking a little worse for wear.

"Hey, you don't look so good." Junior admitted.

"I'm aware." he clasped his ribs in pain, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm tired"

"Sure thing, dude." Junior replied sarcastically.

Isaac found himself in his room, slamming the door behind him. Leaning against the wall his pained panting turned gruff and angry, leading up to a burst of self-hatred fuelled frustration.

"Grrrragh! God dammit!" he shouted before punching a hole in the wall.

He pulled his bloody hand from the wall, then plunged it into his pockets, searching for something to ease the pain, and numb his emotions. He pulled out a container of pills with a faded label on it.

He didn't care what or how old they were and threw a few into his mouth, washing it down with the whiskey in his flask. He collapsed into the bed, not caring what he'd dream about, or if he'll wake up, just wanting this terrible day to end, and found a sliver of serenity in that moment before descending into a deep sleep.