Chapter 36: An Illusion or a Ghost?
"I'm dead..." That was the only thing I could say when I walked down that path. I had no idea where I was going, nor did I know what was I doing. It just felt like normal to walk... The next few moments had my head spinning as I remembered the voices of people close to me.
"You're an idiot... But you're my idiot." Naomi...
"Travelling with you has made me alive." Leina...
"Ha! Like any of us Angels could be beaten!" Nanael...
"I love where we are now. I'm really happy here." Melona...
"I lived for so long, but never seen someone like you." Echidna...
"You need to be more stern than carefree!" Alleyne...
"We'll make a big family for us and the Kingdom!" Menace...
"You just stole something from a Bandit, and that's my heart." Risty...
"Picking up a stray... Take responsibility, okay?" Irma...
"My Love for you is as strong as my love for God." Melpha...
"Try to keep up with me, okay?" Shizuka...
"My heart soothes when I'm with you..." Tomoe...
"You are quite the fool... A handsome one at that." Claudette...
Everyone I made along the road through this life of mine has been amazing. Really has... I just wish I could've stayed there for longer... When I took the next step I found myself surrounded in a familiar place. This was Gainos... When we were all together fighting The Swamp Witches minions. The grey clouded skies covered everywhere, as the wind blew lightly with the grass.
What came next was a shock, as different warriors appeared out of nowhere... Both men and women too but their faces were covered in white faceless mask with pink lines shaping into the outline of eyes. Their power felt overwhelming to me which was strange... I reached to grab my sword on back... Only to grab nothing but air!
My sword was gone. My guns were gone. I had no weapon on me but my own hands! "Son of Micheal Valentine..." One of them spoke.
"For his son to be here..."
"Is a great opprotunity..."
"Shall we do it?"
"Yes."
Voice of both men and women, some sounding youthful to elderly. It was bad... Very bad. In one moment all of them started to attack me, feeling cuts, bruises and every other wound appearing on my body. I could only scream while being impaled a total of 7 times with different weapons around me.
"Let your voice go..."
"It will be over soon..." They let me go before one of them kicked me had in my stomach sending me far away from them. Before I could get up, one of them picked me up by the collar of my shirt while examining me.
"Pathetic..." She uppercutted me in the air so far from the ground it seemed impossible... I soon found my sight covered by another one, this time a young girl looking at me before she stomped on my body. She caused my body to crash onto the ground, but she was fine like my body was her cushion.
"Where did all your strength go...?"
"Lost in thought..."
"Will only cause this to be more painful."
I thought to myself that it was pointless... There's no need to fight anymore... Until I heard something. "JUAN!" That voice... "We formed this Rebellion together!" Annelotte. She must be pissed off about what happened to me.
"It's time to die..." In that moment I saw all of them walk towards me with weapons in their hands...
"IT'S NOT OVER!" I felt a rush of strange power flowing through my body as a surge caused all of the masked warriors to get back. As I got back on my feet, I saw the backs of familiar people standing in front of me. "How can I see the whole world if you're not part of it?" One of them turned around to show... Luna Luna...
"I thought you Nephilem's were tough?" It was Yuit who turned to me with Vante. "Come on! You're better than that!"
"My debt is not paid to you yet!" Sainyang and Tarnyang... They couldn't help but give a chuckle. "You can't just leave a girl all alone, you know?"
"You helped us, so now let's help you." Sainyang had the same voice I remembered...
"P-Please! Never give up the hope you taught us!" Mirim had that face of confidence like usual.
"I don't want to be the only one left alone like this..." Laila said with tears in her eyes. For the longest time she had thought she was the only Nephilem. "Fight! I know you can!"
"A Life without Pride is not worth living," Liliana spoke with her usual tone. "But a death with nothing but regret is something you can't be proud of! Pick up that sword and fight to the bitter end!"
"You were the only one to show true strength of a Dragon." Branwen gave him an angry face to then a smirk. "Deep down there's still a flame burning hotter than any Dragon can conjure!"
"The Light of God shines on those who receives his Blessings," Sigui held her staff in the air as a Light shined down upon me. "And those who receive his Blessings are one who never give up..."
"Come on! Come on! Come on! You're stronger than me in everyway and you never gave up on me... So I won't give up on you either!" Izumi cheered with enthusiam... "Get up... Just one more time!"
"The King of Gainos would never give up a challenge! You would go through it with out a problem dammit!" That Kid... Eli. Damn kid is a pain in my ass... Heh.
"Hope, honor, loyalty, courage, love and determination..." The last to turn to me was Annelotte... Her expression was soft as she began walking to me. "That is how we got here... If it wasn't for you... Not all of us would of come together like this." The next thing she did was wrap her arms around me as "And that to us means more than anything." She walked back to the others as they all looked at each other with a confident look. "So get up. You don't have to fight alone..."
I couldn't help but let my tears falls before wiping it off. "Right... I'm never alone." I felt a surge of power appearing as everyone became surrounded in a blue flame-like aura with the light that shine on me moving to in front of me. Everyone then became pieces of light forming together into something extrodinary...
()
The figure that stood before them was a woman no doubt, but her name made them confused. If this truly was Juan... Then how did he become this? The young boy walked up to the women seeing that she was taller than him by a long shot as he was as tall as the center of her thigh. "Um... E-excuse me?" Ayumu felt a hand being placed on his head gently.
"Hold that thought for a minute." She walked away from him as a pair of beautiful angel wings appeared from her back. They flaps once as her body shot up in the air and into the arena where she landed near the two... Annelotte looked at the woman from head to toe as her percense got closer to her. "How is she?"
"Uh... Not doing well..." She didn't know how to answer her... This woman seemed like him, but... There was no way, right? What's more is that she took back from the sword that belonged to the King... Holding it with one hand like he did... Annelotte's distractions were put away when she heard the sounds of groans came from Naomi's mouth.
Everything was a blur in her vision... Nothing made sense until it cleared a little. Her eyes caught a sight to behold as a stranger was examining her. "...Who... Are..."
"Don't talk." She said to her. "We'll take care of things now." Naomi felt her body being picked up by the strange woman who cradled her close. "It's my fault you're like this..."
"Hey!" Nanael called out to them to see her with two other by her side. "I was able to get two from the Healing Magic Section to help." They landed on the ground to running at the group of three. Their eyes examined her bit by bit before smiling.
"She'll be okay." One of them told the stranger to which she gave a sigh of relief. "Her scars are deep and severe, but we can heal them."
"Please give us time." The Stranger nodded to them before she took off again, this time landing by the knight.
"Wake up kid! You don't want to miss this!" She slapped him lightly before carrying him on her shoulder to get him to see some healing magic. She dropped him by Naomi who had the stab wound disappear as the other was healing Annelotte. "After her, get this kid some treatment."
"Yes ma'am!" They nodded while seeing her leave a trail of feathers. She landed directly back on the boat as she stood right in front of the child with her arms crossed. Her aura was massive... Something about her screamed dangerous, yet gentle at the same time. Ayumu looked at her with a blush on his face as he couldn't help but stare directly into her beautiful green eyes.
The child stood back up as he tried to place his serious face on. "Are you... Really Juan Valentine? My... Father...?"
The woman dropped down to meet him at eye level while patting his head. "What kind of Father am I for leaving you and your Mom alone?" She smiled at him as she pulled the child closely into a hug to which he found... Warm. The warmth he felt was a father loving his children... "Can you forgive me?"
"Da... DADDY!" He cried in her breast as she held him close. "I thought... You were... Dead!" He cried loudly.
"I'm sorry for scaring you." She told him as he looked up to see her staring right at the giant portal in the sky. "Claudette, you guys take care of the ones on the ground... I got the sky." She let go of the child as she let her wings appear once more.
As she was about to fly away she felt a hand on her shoulder to find Leina with a glare. "Are you really him...? My husband...?" The only thing she did was kiss the Wandering Warrior on the lips which caught her off guard...
"Who else could I be?"
Fly me to the Moon from Bayonetta plays here
The woman flew away from the ship and to the battle in the sky to take on the fight in front of her! The speed she flew at was incredible like a hawk soaring down to swoop it's prey... And these demons were her prey! "COMING THROUGH!" She shouted drawing out her sword with a large swing that shot out a powerful energy wave! Many of them were blown to pieces and dust with fear in their hearts now! As some tried to turn around, the woman landed on one of them as she had her legs crossed with her guns out. "Going somewhere?"
She soon started firing at an incredible pace with many of them falling to the dirt below! She looked at the demon she hitched a ride on to see it's face full of fear. "Hello... And good-bye~!" She shot the demon in its face before jumping off and mowing them down without breaking a single sweat!
All the flying demons soon thought of a plan as they began chasing her down at an insane speed with the woman only taunting them. She saw what they were doing that they surrounded her in a tornado like way so she wouldn't escape as they started firing at her! They didn't see the face of fear on her but a smirk as she started spinning the opposite way that the tornado was going as all of their projectiles and magic were deflected off her!
The tornado began to crumble to dust as many of the demons fell one by one to the point that rest of the flying ones started to retreat! The woman licked her lips as she made the chain on Nephilem longer that she even went to the point of hog tying the rest of them! "Let this be a lesson to ya." She said while pulling them closer to her. "To never... Ever..." As soon as she got them close to her body all of them shook with fear as she had this sadistic smile on her! "Fuck with an Angel!"
She raised her sword with one swoop that seemed like it didn't do any damage until she retracted the chain and placed the sword on her back... Only for a million cuts to surround them! Many of them fell to the ground covering the streets in demon bodies before disappearing to ash leaving only bones.
"Whoa..." Ayumu were the only words he could say seeing her in action.
Music fades
"He sure hasn't changed." Claudette smiled seeing the woman in the air as she had now cleared the air. Those beautiful white wings... Those moves... The way she spoke... It truly was him.
"Amazing." Annelotte was amazed by what she just witnessed only for the winds to blow harshly! Where were they coming from?!
"EVERYONE LOOK!" Elina shouted pointing to the sky, seeing the portal reacting violently!
"What the hell is that?!" Risty questioned trying to cover her face from the wind. That question was answered... As they heard a strange voice speaking in a tongue so foreign that made the Head Angel shake!
"JUAN! EVERYONE! CLOSE THE PORTAL! NOW!" She shouted to him to which the she nodded. "DO IT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"
"HOW?!" Asked the Wandering Warrior.
"GATHER THE ENERGY IN YOUR SOULS TO YOUR WEAPONS! FOCUS IT ON THE PORTAL BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"
"EASIER SAID THEN DONE!" Luna Luna remarked. When they tried to, they heard that voice again! Soon the head of a beast appeared... It's yellow eyes with ruby flames burning with a visicious fury, it's scales was brown as the Earth along with a pair of large horns that curved back, it's fangs looked sharper than any lion or carnivore animal known.
"DO IT NOW!"
They wasted no time for it as everyone began to channel power. "I'm not gonna let it end like this!" Leina held her sword in front of her with as a golden aura surrounded her before she felt two more joining in to see her sisters. They looked at one another before nodding as their powers surged together! "We are the Members of the Vance Family..." They chanted together before feeling an incredble power flowing through both blood and soul! "With your mighty power..." Everyone was stunned when a the golden aura surrounded them aswell feeling their power was breathtaking! "COME TO US!"
The power the three sisters held was might as both the army and the Rebellion joined in... Weapons and fist alike joined together as the golden aura surrounded everyone before they pointed their weapons to the sky! Large beams of Light shot out of their weapons straight through hitting it's mark!
"It's not enough...!" The Head Angel said to herself before feeling an incredble energy spike through! She saw it coming from the Arena and there were two people with that kind of energy!
"WE'VE COME THIS FAR!" Both Annelotte and Eli stood their ground fully healed as they held their blades forward! "WE'LL KEEP ON PUSHING FORWARD!"
"WE'VE STAKED ON EVERYTHING! BOTH BODY AND SPIRIT!" Both of them had the golden aura erupt from them like a volcano, knowing that this wasn't the final battle! They shot the Light through their swords at it hit the Beast in the before shouting in great pain!
"DO IT NOW!" The Head Angel commanded as they all knew! NOW OR NEVER!The women stared at the Beast straight in the eyes as she smirked. Juan held out her blade with the golden light swirling around it before it bursted with raw energy!
The aura caused the blade to grow an impressive size to the point she wielded with two hands instead of just one, as she got a good distance. "Sorry, but this party is invitation only!" She dived at full speed as the power swirled around her body as it pierced the large demon right in it's skull! "YOU'RE DONE!" The demon was sucked back into the portal, roaring at the top of it's very lungs trying to reach out to the Nephilem. Juan noticed this before she took out both of her pistols and started firing them right into the portal with each bullet hitting Its face as nothing a painful scream escaped.
The portal closed slowly before the beautiful blue sky returned to normal, but the damage was too great from their battle. The castle was in total pieces along with some of the town that was nearby. "We did it..." Annelotte smiled before taking a deep breath, feeling relief.
"What the hell was that anyway?" Eli asked her for the Princess Knight only to shake her head. "Whatever it was, let's hope we never have to see it again."
"Nice... Job..." Annelotte turned a now healed Naomi, though one of the Angels was lending her shoulder for support.
"You're okay."
"Yeah, thanks to them and that healing magic of theirs." She looked up to see the winged figure still in the sky. "Let's meet up with everyone here."
"Right..." Eli agreed as it seemd like the best course of action now. "After everything that happened, I'm ready to fall asleep..." Who could blame him from all the excitement that just happened to them, I'm pretty sure everyone is ready for a good relaxing sleep. But not now...
Everyone met up where the two stood, some taking a seat made from the destroy rubble. "Thank you all for besting that monster." The Head Angel was very happy of that fact. "If you didn't, then this land would cease to live..."
"Who was that?" Melona asked her. "I've lived for so long but I don't know who that was."
"That was Verbodin." She answered with a shiver as cold sweat came down.
"Verbodin?" Luna Luna questioned.
"W-WAIT! THAT WAS HIM?! I THOUGHT HE LIVED ALL THE WAY DOWN IN THEUNDERWORLD!" Nanael commented with fear in her voice. "T-There's no way the Swamp Witch could be that strong already."
"It wasn't really strength, more like a panic button." Juan added to the conversation.
"What's a panic button?" Tarnyang asked the Rebel.
"Is it like a button you rip from your coat?" Elina questioned it. "How can some button cause panic?"
"Wow... Even here blondes will be blondes..." Naomi shook her head which made the Assassin Leader angry.
"Just what are you implying?!"
"Look, let me explain!" Naomi shouted back which startled them. "What Juan meant that it felt a desperation attempt... Setting off an explosion is what I mean."
"So... Your saying that was a one time only kind of switch?" Risty asked by gaining a nod. "Still, what she did was scary."
Echidna wrapped her arms around the muscled warrior like she was hugging her. "Aww... Was the Bandit scared of the Big Bad Demon?"
"I will destroy you just like the other night..." She threatened which made the Wild Elf let go.
"I'm not gonna risk it... I'm still sore from down there." She rubbed her bottom gently with a sigh. "Amazing, you don't even have one and yet you can get me sore like Juan on a good day."
"Jeez Risty, what the hell did you do to her?" Shizuka curiousity had her wanting to know, but the other side didn't.
"W-WE'RE GETTING OFF TOPIC!" Tomoe stepped in before it got worse. "Let's get back to to topic, please? You were saying, Naomi?"
The Martial Artist scratched her head with a blush on her face. "Anyway... Something like that had to cause a back drop."
"Even if that body she's using, it would take the body of a high devil to summon that thing."
"Body..." Annelotte thought about it for a long time. "Now that to mention it, she did say something like that... If that's not her real body, whose is it?" The Head Angel remained silent, fearing how these three would react to the answer. "And she said something else. Child of Werbellia... What did she mean by that?" She looked at Aldra who shrugged with no answer.
"Werbellia..." Aldra thought about it for a minute, feeling like it was familiar to her.
"I've never heard that name before, but..." Eli spoke thinking of something. "It has a warm feeling to it."
"Werbellia... Werbellia... AH!" Melona slammed her fist into her palm. "THAT'S RIGHT! She's a high class devil! That's the name that belongs to the daughter of the Demon King!"
"THE DEMON KINGS DAUGHTER?!"
"Now I remember!" Melpha started to remember from all her history. "Werbellia was known as the most powerful daughter in all of the Underworld. However, she disappeared a long time ago along with the Pope!"
"That's right... Her and the Pope battled but he never came back." Sigui spoke. "We took it as a sign of loss."
"Hold on!" Aldra got everyone's attention. "Remember what she said, that she was controlling her... That means..."
"We weren't even fighting the actual Swamp Witch..." Claudette looked down.
"Not all hope is lost!" Melona chimed in. "The thing is, she's planning on creating new body that way more powerful,"
"But if that happens then the other body will wither and die with all it's power being taken." Everyone looked up to see a familiar Wraith flying down to the group as everyone took it for a real good surprise. "It's been a long time, Everyone. Melona, Menace."
"Airi!" Menace quickly grabbed her old friend into a hug where her breast were close to her face. "I'm so happy to see you!"
"Y-you too, Menace." She quickly got out of the booby trap before turning to everyone. "I've seen this happen before for too long."
"Before?" Branwen questioned. "So then..."
"Whenever she transfers to a new host, she takes that body's energy leaving nothing but an empty husk." She glared at Melona who turned away. "Melona... You remember it all to well."
"They're not really good memories." The slime told her. "I was killing for fun back then, but everyone time I threw a body into the portal. Even I thought it was cruel."
"We can't let her take that power!" Branwen announced with everyone agreeing. "We need to head to the swamp now!"
"Without a plan? Do you want to die?" Elina mocked her. "We need an army."
"Elina is right" Juan stood up. "Even though saying it leaves a bad taste in my mouth,"
"HEY!"
"We need a plan before setting forth into a fight we're not sure we can win." She said before looking over the damaged city. "And we need a really big plan at that..."
"Then that's what we'll do!" Liliana crossed her arms. "We gather up our strength and fight on! Both on ground and air is how we'll fight!"
"Only if you guys are willing to fight... One more time." Juan looked at everyone. "We might die... We might survive... But it's better than sitting on our asses doing nothing while that bitch is still out there."
"You really think we're not gonna fight?" Risty slammed her fist together. "I've been wanting to shove my fist in her face for a long time now!"
"We all fought together before." Ymir smirked. "It'll be fun to do it again!"
"Just like hold times." Irma smirked. "Getting rid of her would make it a real lift off the World's shoulders."
"Then it's agreed. We fight as one!" Tomoe pumped herself up as she loved the idea.
"Let's do it!" Luna Luna shouted to the heavens. "I'm gonna be by my Hubby all the way through!"
"Hubby?" Juan started to sweat hearing Naomi speak. "Who's your hubby?" She had the aura of anger surrounding her as it only flared her up more when the dancer grabbed Juan's arm. "Hubby, huh..."
"N-Naomi...! WAIT! I CAN EXPLAIN!"
"TRY EXPLAINING TO THIS!" She punched the ground hard which caused a flame pillar to appear behind the now female Rebel who started running! "GET BACK HERE!"
"NAOMI! MERCY!"
"OH I'LL SHOW YOU MERCY ALRIGHT! YOUR ASS IS MINE DAMMIT!"
"PUT THOSE AWA-OUCH! THAT BURNS!"
"YOU'RE GONNA BE TOAST WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!"
"Is it normally like this?" Yuit asked seeing the Beautiful Fighters laughing with the Rebellion looking at the scene in amazement. "Damn she's scary..."
"She can take on the Swamp Witch like nothing..." Laila commented takking her Holy Milk rifle out. "You sure she ain't a demon in disguise?"
"Believe me, Naomi is something else." Claudette told the half-angel.
"Miss Naomi is very scary." Mirim quickly hid behind Melpha who patted her head to comfort her.
"PLEASE LISTEN!"
"I'LL LISTEN WHEN I HAVE YOU'RE FUCKING HEAD ON A SPIKE!"
"S-scary...!" Mirim hid behind more which made everyone laugh.
"This is my fault." Nyx said making everyone look at her. "See, it's been my dream to have a big family... And I don't mean children." The Flame Master started rub her thighs together with a lust filled face. "Surrounded by so many people to cuddle while doing THIS and THAT! It's so amazing!"
"Who would make a dumb wish like that?" Elina asked which earned her a glare from her.
"Oh I don't know... Let me ask the BITCH that ruined my childhood!"
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"
"You're right, that was horrible of me... I meant you're actually a cun-"
"AAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"
Everyone looked at the scene again to now see Naomi dragging a burnt up Juan through the ground... "Consider it redemption..." Naomi told her as she threw her husband on the hard floor. "I feel better now."
"Feels just like home and back then." Irma mentioned letting out a giggle. "Where you two would run all over the place and in the end Juan would always get punished."
"Well he deserves it!"
"This is some group we got." Izumi commented.
"He's not dead is he?" Eli asked poking the crispy body with his blade gently.
"Juan will survive... But he's gonna be doing A LOT of favors for me for the next century!" She kicked her body to add insult to injury which caused the Rebel to flinch in pain.
Though the antics caused laughter among them feeling like it was a new day. The battle was over the War waged on... The flames of this fight will continue until one side remains standing tall. Will it be the side Justice or the side of Corruption? They won't know... Unless they fight.
Back at the Swamp, things were taking a turn for the worst. "Mistress! Are you alright?!"
"OUT OF MY WAY!" The Swamp Witch clawed at one of her servants as they went through the wall. "Those... BASTARDS!" She leaned against the wall coughing madly as she felt weak... For the first time ever in her life! SHE. FELT. WEAK! "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU VALENTINE! DAMN YOU CHILDREN OF WERBELLIA! DAMN ALL OF YOU!" Her anger caused spikes of power to be unleashed as it blew away a good chunk of her servants! "MIME! MEENA! GET IN HERE!"
The two wraiths appeared before her with a bow. "You summoned us?"
"My body! Is it ready?!"
"I'm afraid not... If you transfer all your power into it an unfinished body then it all the power you have consumed will be destroyed and cause a horrible fate to you..." Mime answered.
"A fate worse than death." Meena finished.
"THEN GET TO WORK!" She shouted at the two before quickly leaving her alone in the madness that was her despair. "Werbellia... You're children are coming..." She looked in a shattered mirror seeing some of the pieces fall to the ground. "And I will make sure that I will be the LAST thing they see! I will succeed where that idiot Delmore couldn't! I WILL KILL THE VALENTINE LINEAGE AND YOU'RE KIN!"
In the coldest night where sun could never reach is the howls of a laughter... A laughter that belonged to darkness with a silence that called for help...
TO BE CONTINUED
I hate being an adult... That's all I have to say.
Sorry it took me so long. I've been playing Nier Automata and GOD do I enjoy it! 2B has the best bare of hips with the nicest ass I've ever seen! I LOVE YOKO TARO! Also, who's buying Persona 5? I know I am! I still need Breath of the Wild...
Anyway, love you guys! Bye!