Chapter 33: Serpent Devouring the Horizon
Towering over all, the pale devil eclipses the moonlight, motivated only by his carnal appetite. His faceless gaze no longer seeing his three enemies as anything more than seeds of grain in a field of crops.
The trio were shaking but none felt it worse than Lunis, who began to mumble ill omens to herself, "S-Sins...the end of days...Dying...of the light...!"
Mew faced her and shouted, "H-Hey! You holding up ok there?!"
His voice snapped her out of it for now and she swiftly apologized, "S-Sorry!"
"Its fine..." Mew said and let out a mildly exasperated gasp to stop shaking, "This...caught me by surprise too."
"How the HELL are we supposed to fight something this big?!" Joe Dark exclaimed, a loosened grip on his blade.
"Relax will ya? This is like, the second biggest thing I've ever fought!" Mew bragged but, this foe was sending shivers down his spine.
Last time he fought something this big he was still confident he could win. Now? This beast gave off a powerful, ancient, and foreboding vibe. This was an evil long kept sealed, older than the oldest gods, finally, awakened from his eternal slumber.
And it didn't feel like there would a way to seal it back up.
Mew couldn't stop staring at this pale devil, whose motionless only made its reason for existing all the more unreachable.
"Well, at least he's giving us ample time to think of a plan."
The confines of Ba'al's abyssal maw began to stretch and creak, and Mew felt his body being tugged on.
"Scratch that! Crap!" He instinctively dug his claws into the ground while his allies did the same with their weapons, bracing against the screaming vacuum of a thousand wailing souls the pale devil used to start eating away at the planet.
Long standing settlements of rock and dirt were treated as frail as paper and torn up from the ground in massive chunks, disappearing into Ba'al's gut.
They would be his meal too, it was only a matter of time.
"Anyone got any ideas?!" Mew hustled against the ear-bleeding sounds around him.
"I-I might have one!" Lunis declared as she began to slowly pull her herself up, "Follow me!"
"Follow you? Where?!" Was all Mew got out before watching in shock as Lunis leaped straight for the devil's mouth.
"Has that girl lost her mind?!" Joe Dark barked.
Lunis' speed let her pull free from his all-consuming appetite just barely. She then impaled him in the forehead and a second later, the both of them vanished, enveloped in a silver flash.
As stone crashed down around them, Mew and Joe Dark stood and looked around.
"Did she...sacrifice herself?" Joe Dark murmured.
"Nah, there's no way..." Mew was having his doubts until he slowly panned his gaze up at the moon. There was a very, very tiny plume of dust being formed along the surface.
"There!" He pointed upward, "She teleported him to the moon!"
"That's crazy!" Joe Dark said through gritted teeth.
"So's this whole night so far!" Mew grabbed his brother's hand and glared at him, "We don't have time to debate this. She needs our help, fast!"
"Tsk...! I know that! Quit wasting time!" He barked back.
Mew smiled and the two of them combined their powers to rip open a dark rift that'd speed them straight up to the moon. Adrenaline rushed through their veins as they left their home behind...
Upon arriving at the lunar rock they followed the massive trench in the surface to catch up with Lunis, now hung over catching her breath, and their enemy laying flat on their back.
Mew patted her on the back as she passed her by and said, "Good thinking! Catch your breath, we can handle him for a bit."
The pale devil pulled itself upright and swept away all around it with its tail. Mew and Joe Dark stayed a couple hundred feet away and raised their arms against him.
"This tainted rock..." Ba'al smashed his claws upon the ground and ripped plumes of dust up as he screamed, "Will not satisfy me!"
Even with no air to speak of, the atmosphere trembled in fear of his manic hunger. Mew tightened his fists in anticipation and proclaimed, "Get ready, here he-!"
He couldn't have anticipated the devil bounding at them like a frog and lashing his claw down.
His eyes widened and the two of them split off. The devil ripped the ground up and bashed it into Mew as a makeshift club.
Joe Dark attempted to cut the devil from behind, only to accidentally get smacked by his tail, whipped in a frenzy.
Ba'al smashed the stone across Mew's body twice more and it broke. Then Mew tripled the size of his fists and stretched them out to punch the devil's forehead.
The low gravity made it possible to force this heavy beast off the ground, thankfully. And with his enemy frazzled Mew dug his claws into the beast's bony flesh and pulled right in, kicking with all his strength.
The two of them went flying off the ground, but Mew propelled himself just a little bit further ahead and tried to haul the entire beast overhead.
His muscles gave their all but shock of shocks, the gluttonous beast was heavy, and he winded himself slamming them down on their back.
Joe Dark provided the follow-up in his stead, summoning a rain of black blades to impale the pale devil all the way down to the tip of his tail. Then, he set them to explode, each one making the beast squirm.
During the onslaught the beast pulled itself upright and prepared itself to lunge up at them. The two got out of the way and the devil whipped right back around, leaping at them again.
Mew and Joe Dark dove in and cut through their foe's sides in tandem, their efforts amounting to the equivalent of a paper cut. Joe Dark looked at his blade right after and noticed that it had gotten chipped, and clicked his tongue in frustration.
Mew primed his fists full of darkness and warped straight to the beast's forehead to start wailing on it. Each punch rippled through the planet's surface, covering the two of them in dust.
The devil had adjusted to the gravity and nailed itself to the ground, using its incredible girth to drag Mew down on its forehead.
Mew stretched his limbs out and looked back to quickly open a dark rift that'd catch him before impact. But in darkness' sanctuary he still felt the moon's surface crack apart.
The tremors continued, and grew louder over time. The beast was eating away at the wall between dimensions with his own body.
Mew grit his teeth and swung through the darkness to arrive above the beast's silhouette sneaking through. He then spun out through a rift and barreled into the back of the beast's head like a cannonball.
He jumped right up and smashed his feet down the second time, and when they tried to fight back he went in a third time.
"Stay down will ya?!" He grunted out in frustration, as the beast rose yet again, this time with such immense force that Mew went tumbling hundreds of feet back.
And at the bottom of the beast's staggering jaw dragged yards of darkness turned to rubber, mixed in with ivory stone. The strands snapped into his closing maw, and drool slowly oozed from the sides.
"More...! I need more...!" The pale devil shrieked and darted forward on a one way course for the bright blue planet in the distance.
Only for a large black hand to latch onto the end of his tail, and force him back down out flat upon the moon's surface.
"You're not getting any more!" Mew hollered as he snapped all the way over to his hand, then sprung straight for the beast's backside. His fists clenched at his sides, and the velocity warping around his body like a bubble.
He hit his mark and the only thing the beast ate was a good half a mile of dirt across his face. Yet still it rose to full height immediately.
Ba'al turned around and split its gaping maw all the way open, snagging Mew in its vacuum. Mew dug his feet into the air and tried to pull away, but couldn't, even giving it his all. He tried to stretch one of his limbs to the ground but the arm was pulled right towards the devil's mouth.
Joe Dark suddenly flew up beside the vortex and thrust his hand out, "Hurry! Grab on!"
With a little clever use of the vortex's pull Mew stretched his hand out and grabbed his brother's own to pull free, "Thanks for the save!"
But Ba'al simply redirected the vacuum's pull towards them. However, it was slow, and the two backed away to coordinate an attack on their preoccupied foe.
Joe Dark coated his blade thick with darkness and drove a cross shaped slashed into the devil's forehead. Then Mew wound up his fists full of black flames and struck in the center, forming a violent purple-black "X" overlapping the cross.
The two forces of darkness burst apart into a towering pillar of flame, and for a moment the beast shrieked in agony...
Only for the flames to subside, and little more than soot marks to have marred the devil's skin. Mew clutched his fists and scoffed, "Oh come on! What is this thing made of?!"
Joe Dark raised his blade towards the beast and grunted, "Damn thing has to have some sort of weakness!"
The devil turned towards them and his soul bound gaze left their bodies feeling cold as he whispered, "That hurt..."
He lunged up and immediately had his claws inches from their bodies. They grit their teeth and slammed their arms against the devil's bony palms, only for them to be slammed together, and then bashed down into the moon.
The devil crushed them under palm, his thick, ivory fingers making the perfect cage bars, "I will mince you up, and feast on your innards...!"
Mew reached out at the ground to try and open a dark rift to freedom, but the sound of his bones crunching made it hard to concentrate.
Suddenly the devil's hands swung up and began flailing around, as he was assaulted by copies of Lunis repeatedly stabbing their sickles into his flesh.
Before Ba'al hit them with his tail, the real Lunis scooped them up to safety, while the devil fed on her clones one by one.
And immediately he turned on them and leaped, swinging his entire heaving body around to attack with both claws and tail. Mew and Lunis separated from Joe Dark by the force of the gale from his tail and tried to pull back.
But somehow the beast kept on them just by slashing his claws out diagonally. No, it was more than that. He was eating away the space between them, making speed a non-factor.
Mew grit his teeth and coated his hands in darkness, then turned to Lunis with a nod, "I got an idea. Think you can make some ice for me?"
Lunis held her hands out and created a wall of it directly between them, then nodded back. Mew quickly thrust his palms against the ice and with how thin it was, it acted as glass to amplify the darkness twofold, sending a blazing bright black streak straight through the top of the devil's head.
Aaaaand he would immediately regret doing that. Not for damaging the creature finally, but because what lied beneath the skin were a plethora of squirming, decaying maggots that acted as the beast's flesh, and quickly multiplied to stitch the wound back together.
And thus the devil continued onward without pause, batting the fearstruck Mew into the ground and hoisting Lunis high over its gaping mouth.
It began to drop her right in. Mew hastily stretched his hand out and caught her in a dark rift, then shut it before he could slice it open.
She was dropped out onto the ground with a rather rough landing, but it was the best he could manage. The devil cared little. He found his next meal in Mew and plunged two claws down, impaling the ground beside him and then attempting to hoist him up like his fingers were chopsticks.
Mew ducked back into a dark rift not a second too late and then sped up to get behind the devil. He came out whipping his whole body around, repeatedly bashing his fists into the back to force Ba'al into the ground.
In turn this raised the tail in the perfect position for Mew to do something else. He had a couple ideas and, apologizing in advance to his muscles, decided to go for the more painful option.
He grabbed the tip of the tail in both hands and pulled it over his shoulder, dragging the beast's face against the ground. It tried to turn around and suck Mew in through its vortex.
But this just gave Mew an ingenious idea. He yanked the tail below his body and pulled back as best he could, watching as the beast sucked in his tail and chomped down on it.
This left him in immense agony and he began flailing around, busting up the ground as he turned over and back again.
Mew wound up his fist and dove straight into the devil's forehead, nailing him flat down. He then kept punching away for a few seconds, until a shadow began to grow over his body.
He looked back and narrowly evaded the regrown tail's attempt to grab him...only to wind up in the grasp of his right claw.
As the claw arched towards the mouth Joe Dark flew in and impaled his sword into the beast's wrist, forcing the fingers open.
Mew and Joe Dark got some distance while Ba'al rose for yet another round. Mew hung his head slightly and his panting, while subtle, was enough to get his brother's attention.
He looked at him with mild concern and Mew brushed a shoulder towards him while saying, "I still got plenty of fight in me, don't worry..."
A sweat drop fell off the side of his cheek when he grinned. He charged into battle once more, knocking Ba'al off his stance with an uppercut to the forehead.
The devil responded in kind by lashing a claw down to smack Mew away. Lunis then returned to the fray by throwing her clones into the beast's skin to impale it repeatedly.
Mew snagged the top of the devil's head on one claw and pulled it into the ground. Then he summoned a hundred hands to help keep him down. But the claws and tail played havoc with his plans with their incessant flailing.
The Lunis copies continued attacking away at the creature's back, but to what avail? The devil seemed immune to harm, and only seemed to care for pain when a large chunk of its flesh had been torn asunder.
Joe Dark joined in, dropping down from high above to impale his sword into the center of the creature's back, unleashing a powerful black bolt along with it.
They kept striking away at the devil and it seemed like it wouldn't escape. That is, until, the beast made use of its ravenous maw and started devouring the ground below. It tunneled into the moon like a feral worm and its sudden descent forced Mew to let go.
It wasn't long before Ba'al cast his horrible shadow upon them from behind, rising and diving down to try and eat them in one fell swoop.
The three backed off to see who he'd pursue. And as chance would have it, he went after Mew. Mew rolled out of the way and threw a quick punch clean into the devil's side, but he didn't budge.
He clicked his tongue and felt the ground tremble violently beneath his feet. It broke apart, and he found himself in the center of the devil's mouth.
He stretched his limbs out to the gap between his teeth and held on tight before he was lost to the avoid however. The devil ascended into the dark depths and floated there, using its powerful suction to try and force Mew's surrender.
His grip was slipping. One finger, then two, pulled away from the skin. He trusted his friends to come save him though, and held on with that hope well in his heart.
He heard an explosion go off stronger than the sound of his vortex, and the beast spat out in pain. Mew freed himself immediately and arched behind the beast, watching as a blistering scar formed on its back, glowing with black and red light.
Joe Dark was a few feet away with his hand blistering hot, and his sweating face panting. He acknowledged Mew with a brief glance, then summoned his blade back into hand.
"I can't keep wasting energy bailing you out like this...!" He grunted, showing that he cared...In his own way.
"I could've gotten out of there on my own...!" Mew joked back. His vision fogged up a little, but he rid himself of that with a blink of the eyes.
"Enough!" Ba'al shrieked. As he descended upon the moon he twisted around violently, dragging all three of his foes into him, where upon his landing they'd be flung far, far away by his tail.
He then made a beeline across the ivory surface towards the Earth. Joe Dark landed on his feet first and widened his eyes as the devil braced himself on the ground and stretched his arms in loving embrace towards the blue planet.
"Such a succulent world...I will take great pleasure in consuming it all!"
He expanded his jaw to its limits and unleashed a powerful vacuum towards the planet. The thick clouds and some of the ocean seemed to be gravitating towards the center of his vortex, away from the planet's pull.
Joe Dark gripped his sword in both hands, rallied up darkness to ignite the blade, and swung a powerful slash into the creature's back.
It cut deep and left a bright red gash in the skin, and after one shriek Ba'al turned around and eyed his assailant glaring him down.
"We're not through yet you devil!"
The devil slithered straight for him and Joe Dark readied his blade. Mew, meanwhile, flew in from behind and flung a large spiraling orb into the devil's sealing wound.
The orb drilled its way through and took out a spherical chunk of the beast's flesh when it exploded, part the blast being seen from Joe Dark's side.
The devil refocused its effort onto Mew and lashed its claws out, Mew rolling and weaving his way around as he got in closer to punch him in the forehead.
And with the skin there weakened, Lunis came in and stabbed her sickles in deep. Then the two of them retreated, with Lunis covering her exhaustion with a slow, steady breath, "I wish I could go more to help..."
"We're doing everything we can here, don't worry about it!" Mew noted to rally her falling spirits.
And on cue, Joe Dark followed through on their efforts by delivering a slash through the devil's back, the energy flying out his mouth a moment after.
The devil whipped its tail back and hit Joe Dark, who stabbed his blade into it. He was dragged further into the ground as Ba'al carried him around and around, the whirlwind made keeping Mew and Lunis from helping out.
The devil released Joe Dark when he was centered before the other two, upon which he leaped at them with his open maw.
The two split and Lunis summoned her clones to throw their sickles into his skin. The number she called up was less than they had been so far.
Mew meanwhile drove a punch into the side of the devil to keep it spinning when it tried to face him. He then rammed his right foot into the back of his head and forced him into the ground.
"Come on come on!" There was urgency in his voice that wasn't there before.
Ba'al raised his tail and wrapped it around Mew, then bashed him repeatedly against the ground. When he had his fill he swatted him away, then turned and slithered back towards the Earth.
A thousand black hands clawed into his back and dragged him away from his target. Mew braced his feet into the ground and tugged, harder and harder, as sweat drizzled down his flushed face.
Ba'al swung around and the phantom limbs snapped off. He slashed his claw down, consuming the space between him and this pesky foe of his.
Mew lingered in the devil's pale shadow with a smirk, and began hopping away as the beast spread his wings. The sky was filled by a flood of his teethed feathers that fell upon Mew.
Mew stretched his arms out and summoned an equal number of dark rifts, only to watch as the teeth ate right through them, and began cutting across his body.
"GHHHH...!" He grit his teeth and forced the pain inside as blood sputtered from all corners of his body.
Joe Dark pulled up with his sword as a brace, and could feel the strength bleeding from Mew's presence. His heart skipped a beat, and with his face turned pale he screamed, "BROTHER!"
And then he flung himself at the devil, his roar growing louder as he built up energy to slash the beast across the forehead.
Ba'al let out a chilling laugh, and swatted him out of the sky with one claw. He crashed against the top of the fallen teeth, and bounced along the moon's surface into a roll that laid him flat out.
The teeth broke apart and Mew stood where they all were, his body riddled in trickles of blood. His eyes were still wide-open, forced against their will to defy the enemy's overwhelming presence.
"Man...I just don't have any luck on the moon..." He joked, a weak show of force for a man on wobbling knees.
Joe Dark stood up and gasped the life out of his lungs. Ba'al took his right claw up over him and muttered, "So much energy drained...just to swat a few flies...I need to eat... your FEAR...and your DARKNESS...!"
The claw came crashing down, and Joe Dark began to close his eyes...But found himself swept off his feet and flying back, with Mew standing in his place.
Time slowed to a crawl as Joe Dark's eyes widened, watching Mew glancing over his shoulder with little more than a confident smile...As the devil's pale hammer came crashing down atop him.
Joe Dark stood right back up after he fell and froze there as Ba'al pulled his hand up, and Mew's body peeled right off the palm.
"I have no need of this..." The devil seemed to lose interest and turned right back around to feast his eyes and mouth upon his true prize: The Earth.
Joe Dark rushed straight to Mew's side and cradled him in his arms, giving him a light shake. He then shook him a few more times, getting a slight groan out of him in turn.
"Why...?" He asked, his voice cracking, "Why me again...?"
Mew creaked his eyes open partway and chuckled. He raised his hand to the side of Joe Dark's face and his smile widened a little more. He seemed to be saying something, but it was quieter than a whisper. Then, his hand fell, leaving a smear of blood on Joe Dark's cheek.
Joe Dark's body went cold, and he squeezed his fists taut.
"Why...Why...?" Images flashed through his mind of this same scene playing over and over again, with different bodies lying in his arms.
These eyes had seen death, even his own. Yet he continued to survive. He, who had no reason to live.
Mew was stubborn, stupid to a fault...But he was kind. Too kind. He invited a worthless person like him into his home, gave him a room, fed him, and tried to involve him in his daily life.
He was a greater man than most. He had done nothing wrong. And for that, he deserved to die? THIS was going to be his reward?
In the face of the absurdity of this injustice, Joe Dark whispered, "Why God...?"
And pulled his head back, tears torn from his shut eyes, "WHY CAN'T IT EVER BE ME?!"
He grit his teeth and his watered gaze took in the pale devil, as they readied their gaping maw to consume the Earth whole. He would again lose not just his family, but his home. And he was powerless to stop it.
A nightmare...without end.
He held Mew closer to his chest and his fists shook.
"No..." He began to rise, leaving his brother's body on the ground, "Not...again!"
Mew never gave up. Where there was a will, there was a way. And even if he was to be reduced to nothingness, then at least he'll have tried, instead of lying down and accepting death.
His body, shrouded in darkness, flew in front of Ba'al and, for a brief moment, managed to still the devil's ravenous appetite.
Ba'al's laughter did nothing to Joe Dark's silent expression, or cold glare.
"You're not even an appetizer to me..." The devil brushed the back of his right claw out and chuckled, "Begone, I have no further need for a frightened little child."
Joe Dark grit his teeth and darkness gathered in his right hand. The power to blot out a thousand suns collapsed into a single sphere no bigger than his head, and surged with uncontrollable electricity.
"Know this you devil..." He widened his eyes and a fire began to be lit up within, "I may be scared, but my love for our home...far surpasses my fear of you!"
He reeled his fist back and squeezed the energy with all his might, "AND YOU WILL NOT DESTROY IT!"
He thrust the dark sphere deep into Ba'al's gullet, and the titanic snake recoiled a few hundred feet back. A mighty explosion expanded the creature's entire body, only for the energy to be devoured within seconds.
And thus, the devil fell to the ground and laughed, while Joe Dark dropped out of the sky, losing his armor and being reduced to a man tiredly staring up on his knees.
"That was tasty...Thank you," Ba'al slithered back into place and left his shadow hanging over his defeated foe, "You gave me a few good meals. I suppose you were worth something after all..."
The devil then began to open his mouth, the end of the world seeming inevitable...
"Mew...I'm...sorry..." Joe Dark began to close his eyes, but as he did so, a dark steam began to spill forth from the devil's maw.
Ba'al screamed and recoiled back, patting the bottom of his jaw with his claws in a panic, "W-What is this feeling...?!"
"AHHHHH!" His skin turned dark, and he feverishly began tearing away at himself while flailing around in circles, "I ate your rage, your darkness, and your fear...SO WHY...WHY DOES IT BURN ME SO?!"
More steam spewed out from his pores, and he raised his upper body off the ground while clawing at the depths of space, "IT HURTS...IT HURTS IT HURTS...! AAAAAAHHHHH! AHHHHHHH!"
He flipped his tail underneath himself so that the tip entered his mouth, upon which he began chomping away at the entire thing.
"This fear...! Its so delicious! I must have more! MORE! MOOOOOOOOOOREEEE!" When there was no tail left to eat, he split the part of his mouth on the arms and used them to gnaw away at the lower part of his body.
"EAT. CONSUME. DEVOUR! BEAUTIFUL! IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL TO HAVE IT ALL IN MY BELLY!" His body twisted up into a ravenous, self-consuming vortex that grew smaller and smaller. Until eventually, defying all logic, the pale devil had eaten himself up entirely.
Not a speck, nor a sound, remained of him.
Joe Dark knelt there, staring up in utter disbelief of what had happened, or why it HAD happened.
He, like the fallen leviathan, underestimated the power of a caring heart. Fear, anger, hatred were the devil's boon. Love...was his poison.
Joe Dark pulled himself up and slowly caught his breath. This long night was over. Their enemy, had fallen. But the cost, may have been too high to pay.
He hurried on over to where Mew was and found Lunis hung over him, pressing both her hands on his chest. Her appearance was now back to normal, albeit covered in sweat and blood.
Joe Dark stared at Mew's body and felt empty in his chest. How could he smile, or be happy?
Lunis suddenly jolted upright, and turned her head to Joe Dark with a weak, wobbling...smile?
"H-He's still got a pulse...! He's going to make it!" She stammered in disbelief.
A wave of heat swept through Joe Dark's heart, and his lips spread wide as he dropped on his hands and knees. His gasps were equal to the tears shed, but he made himself add in a lone whisper, "Thank you...Thank you...!"
Lunis lifted Mew onto her back and murmured aloud, "But he oughta get back home before he runs out of air."
Joe Dark slowly rose up and muttered, "R-Right...Lets go home."
"Home." It felt...good to say that. Earth. That was his home. And that's where he was happy to be. For now, he could rest there in peace.
Alura's fallen body flashed in his mind momentarily, and his smile turned into a slow frown.
"...Except..." Him and Mew were warped back to the surface with Lunis.
The night...was not quite over.
Next Time: Twilight's Fall