Duel of the Myths
Two and a half weeks have passed since Tenebrous was poisoned. The ongoing global war has escalated into a ravaging conflict filled with destructive battles and massive mobilizations of armies. The Order of Bane and their new devil separatist allies fought against several armies of Asgardians, Greeks and devil loyalists using hit-and-run tactics, quick skirmishes and stealth to wear down their enemies. The Sith Lords' army is larger and more powerful than the one assembled by Bane and Zannah years ago, so Tenebrous and Plagueis are able to send their followers into more direct confrontations and conduct more full-scale assaults. However, their Sith followers are still horrendously outnumbered, so subterfuge and guerrilla warfare remain as the favored tactics to fight against the mythological armies.
Right now in the middle of a large deployment base, Balberith and Verrine are making their final preparations in their plan to assault Prull, the devil separatist capital. The two super devils looked out at their huge army of 50,000 artificial devils at the center of the military base in the Realm of the Dead. The army is divided into platoons of one thousand troops; each soldier stood at attention waiting for further orders. This is only half of the artificial devil army, the other 50,000 are back at Hades's castle.
Balberith and Verrine turned around at the sound of footsteps approaching from behind them. Thanatos, the strongest and oldest grim reaper, halted two meters away from the super devils and straightened his stance.
"My battalion is ready," said Thanatos. "Have you completed your preparations?"
Balberith stared out at the five thousand grim reapers standing at attention far behind Thanatos. "Yes. We should contact Hades and update him on the army's status."
Thanatos spawned a magic circle on the ground between the three of them that illustrated the figure of the Greek god of hell.
"What is it, Thanatos?" Hades asked.
"The army is set and ready for assault," Thanatos answered.
"Good," said Hades. "You and your battalion will depart immediately. The devils, on the other hand, will postpone their attack until dawn."
Verrine nearly lost it. "Another delay? This is the second time you postponed the attack!"
"I understand your frustration," Hades acknowledged. "Pluto and his men encountered more separatist reinforcements outside the city perimeter. The rebels are extra determined to defend their capital, but fear not, Pluto and his soldiers will soon have Prull's magic dome disabled and you will have a clear path to destroy all the soldiers and infrastructure inside."
"I still don't get it," Verrine shook her head. "Look at the size and power of our army! Let our men deal with the reinforcements; we can destroy the dome and the city several times over with the members we've got."
"Patience, my child," Hades advised. "We cannot be reckless with our main forces. Look what happened to the Asgardians a few days ago."
Three days ago, the second infantry division of Asgard defeated a large Order of Bane platoon in battle and had the survivors on the run. Determined to hunt down and kill the survivors, the Asgardians pursued them and stubbornly walked into an ambush set up by the Sith followers. Most of the Asgardian legion was destroyed and the commander was executed despite them vastly outnumbering their enemies.
"Fine," Verrine sighed.
The holographic image showed a grim reaper walking up to Hades and whispering something to him.
"I must attend to other matters," Hades announced. "In the meantime, relay this information to your devil troops. I assure you that victory will soon be ours."
The magic circle dissipated just after Hades's silhouette vanished. Thanatos immediately walked back to his battalion as instructed despite being the rebellious type who is constantly at odds with Hades. Moments later, Thanatos and the five thousand grim reapers teleported elsewhere to conduct their mission.
As the two super devils walked down the slope toward their army, Balberith placed his hand on Verrine's shoulder.
"Don't worry Verrine, everything is going to work out just fine," he said to her. "I promise."
Kolasi Research Facility, Realm of the Dead (Underworld)
Darth Tenebrous peered through his advanced binoculars and observed the research facility in the distance.
"There are six magic generators powering the defense dome," said Tenebrous. "Two on the central spire and one at each substructure."
He handed the binoculars to Darth Plagueis so the Muun can take a look for himself. Plagueis increased the sight magnification until he had a clear image of the facility and its components. The four substructure buildings stood in a cross or "+" shaped formation around the central tower, all oriented perfectly with north, south, east and west. The center spire towered over everything else in sight and its unique design brought an eerie feel to the land; it had a gothic and hellish architecture with high-tech glass panels and doors to create a sort of modern/medieval hybrid design. Plagueis then zoomed out slightly to observe the magic dome field that protected the facility from every conceivable angle.
Plagueis asked Georg, "How many shield generators do we need to shut down?"
Georg and every member of the Hero Faction laid prone in the dirt while the Sith Lords observed the research complex.
"At least three," Georg replied. "The secondary generators power separate quarters of the dome in the directions they are facing, while the center reactors distribute their energy across the field's entire 360 degrees. We will need to deactivate both spire generators and one at a substructure."
Understanding Georg's explanation, Tenebrous and Plagueis ordered the Hero Faction members to move up toward the facility with them. The members of the Sith task force ran across the Realm of the Dead's barren hills while using the stones along the ridges to conceal their advance. They continued across the inhospitable land until they reached a trench in the landscape just a few hundred meters away from the facility's magic barrier.
Tenebrous and Plagueis peeked over the dirt ridge and observed the facility one last time. They and the Hero Faction are here to infiltrate the research complex and retrieve Great Red's power container. Their spies and intel agents were able to narrow down the location of the device to this facility out in the middle of Hades's treacherous lands, and without another moment's hesitation, the Sith Lords gathered a team of the Order of Bane's strongest members to escort them in their mission.
Tenebrous and Plagueis can sense an energy source of immense power deep within the bowels of the complex, one much stronger than the other magic devices they found on their previous missions. This indicated that it's likely to be Great Red's power, but they can't know for certain until they get up close to it. They prayed to god that their intel isn't faulty.
"Looks like we will need to blast our way through the barrier," said Plagueis.
"Yes," Tenebrous agreed. "I just so happen to have the perfect tool for that."
The Bith reached for his belt and unclipped a comlink. He put the device up to his mouth and said, "Commence your attack run now."
Plagueis raised an eyebrow in confusion, not knowing who Tenebrous was contacting. A roaring engine sound became audible as the Mundane deactivated its stealth system and materialized into view in the distance.
Plagueis blinked in disbelief. "Who's flying the Mundane?"
"Brexan and Herman," Tenebrous replied gleefully. "Turned out that the fallen angel used to be a flight instructor on Earth before committing to the Order of Bane."
Plagueis was so puzzled that his left eyelid started to twitch. Ever since he was young, Plagueis always saw Tenebrous treat and handle the Mundane like it was his precious child, a sacred thing that no one else but Plagueis can touch. Tenebrous was even worried at times when Plagueis used the starship for his missions over the years, nervous that his apprentice would bring some sort of harm to the ship. Seeing Tenebrous allow random beings to fly his ship utterly boggled Plagueis's mind.
"This wasn't part of the plan," Plagueis expressed.
"A last-minute decision," Tenebrous replied. "I realized that we may need to utilize every available asset for our mission. Who knows what could happen."
Plagueis cocked his head slightly. "You taught them how to fly the ship?"
"Only the basic controls," said Tenebrous. "The Mundane's automated systems will be doing most of the work. I disabled the hyperdrive and enabled the collision avoidance system as part of precautionary measures."
Plagueis now understood the Bith's rationale, but it doesn't fit with Tenebrous's personality and past behaviors. It is likely that Plagueis is now seeing a side of Tenebrous that he never knew existed, one more pragmatic than the Bith's usual idealism and perfectionism, seeing that Tenebrous may be more desperate to get back to their home galaxy. Plagueis also wondered if this behavioral quirk is caused by some brain damage that he forgot to repair, but Plagueis was certain that he fully healed his Master and that no amount of Samael's poison remained.
The Mundane swooped down and opened fire on the magic defense dome from high above. The ship's two large laser cannons pelted the dome's outer layer with several rounds of laser bolts fired rapidly after the other. Once the outer layer failed, the laser cannons then bombarded the stronger inner layer powered by the central spire generators. Three proton torpedoes launched from under the Mundane's nose and hurled toward the dome along with the constant barrage of laser bolts. The torpedo impacts created three large explosions that finally killed the inner dome layer and left the facility open to ground invasion.
Cao Cao watched Tenebrous and Plagueis burst forward with dazzling speed. "Move up! Cover their six!"
The Hero Faction followed Cao Cao as he tried to catch up with the Sith. As the Mundane returned into stealth mode, the research facility went into red alert while the failed magic shields began to slowly recharge. Three quarters of the outer shield layer remained active, looking like a cut pie as the other secondary generators were spared from the starship's attack. Security personnel hustled out of the buildings to engage the blurs of red light that had already killed the few squads of armed guards outside. The Hero Faction arrived and saw Tenebrous and Plagueis cutting down the security forces with disdainful ease, and seeing that the Sith Lords seem to have all of their enemies' attention, Cao Cao ordered his members to find the shield generators as to not waste any time.
Plagueis halted next to his Master in the center of the complex after killing the rather undermanned security complement. They both looked at the central tower that likely gives access to the subterranean levels deep below the complex.
"Remain here with the others," Tenebrous ordered. "I will retrieve the power device."
"Are you sure?" Plagueis questioned. "We don't know who or what lurks in the lower levels."
"And we don't know what sort of reinforcements will arrive," Tenebrous replied. "I predict that the guards had enough time to alert outside forces about our attack, therefore we will likely be fighting on two fronts."
Plagueis quickly thought over that possibility and came to agree with his Master. "I see your point."
"Take this," Tenebrous handed over his comlink. "I will need you to give orders to the Mundane since the communication frequency works best on the surface."
"As you say," said Plagueis.
Tenebrous hustled toward the central building while Plagueis left to regroup with the Hero Faction.
Military Staging Area, Realm of the Dead (Underworld)
Elsewhere in the Realm of the Dead, Balberith and Verrine assessed their platoons while rechecking their preparations to make the time go by faster. Everything seemed normal until they received an unexpected call from Hades.
Balberith looked at the figure of his boss projecting from the magic circle. "Hades, I thought you were only supposed to call us at dawn."
"There's been a major change in plans," Hades said with a stressed tone. "The Kolasi Research Facility was overrun by Sith forces. The Sith Lords themselves were also spotted at the complex. Send your army to the facility, there you will regroup with devil division two and coordinate a counterattack."
Balberith and Verrine glanced at each other briefly with worried looks. Their current army of 50,000 devils was division one, division two is the other half of the full devil army.
"The entire army?" Verrine shook her head. "Sir, your castle will be left—"
"Don't worry about me!" Hades cut her off. "We need to destroy those Sith Lords at all costs! I would be sending in more forces with you, but the grim reaper battalions are already in battle. It is up to you to reclaim the facility and secure Great Red's power container. The fate of the world depends on it!"
Kolasi Research Facility, Realm of the Dead (Underworld)
Plagueis observed the barren hills around the facility scanning for any signs of reinforcements.
"So we basically wait here until Tenebrous returns with the device?" Georg asked.
"That is correct," Plagueis answered.
Plagueis had ordered the Hero Faction to destroy the nearest secondary generator and both primary generators so it would leave them with a way to exit the complex without having to blast through the shields again. Tenebrous had only entered the central building a few minutes ago when the first platoons of Hades's devil army arrived kilometers away. Plagueis can sense a few thousand souls not overly far away, then as the moments went by, more and more platoons teleported in.
Jeanne noticed the Muun staring out in a specific direction. "Are there any enemies?"
The Sith Lord nodded.
"How many?" asked Leonardo.
"Thousands," Plagueis replied. "Tens of thousands."
More platoons teleported in until all 100,000 artificial devils where at the scene. Plagueis sensed that they remained still for a bit until the front portion of the army mobilized toward the complex.
"The enemies have pushed some of their army forward," Plagueis warned. "I'm predicting twenty thousand."
"Shit…" Heracles mumbled.
There was nothing subtle about the forward charge. In the distance, thousands of artificial devils ran full tilt toward the complex with a quarter of the advancing force flying above the ground with their bat wings. Cao Cao was very worried; he and his human allies had never fought an army this large before…nothing came remotely close. And unbeknown to them, the average artificial devil from this army is as powerful as a typical high-class devil.
"Weapons hot!" Cao Cao shouted.
Each member of the Hero Faction spawned their Sacred Gears and other weapons and adopted fighting stances. Plagueis was the last one to draw his weapon, feeling much more confident than his subordinates as the mass of soldiers rushed toward them. Once the first few squads made it past the open gap in the magic dome, Plagueis sprinted forward with enhanced speed before either side fired their first shot.
[…]
Tenebrous sensed the presence of tens of thousands of troops on the surface as he descended down to the next subterranean level. He was deep underground within the facility section that housed many privatized labs and secret testing chambers, making his way closer to the site of Great Red's power device. Tenebrous was much more impressed with the underground security personnel since the guards consisted of Greek gods and demigods who tried to assassinate him around every corner.
The Greek mythology was the only faction that had the ability to send god- and demigod-class beings en masse to wear down the Sith Lords and their escorts. Their preparations over the past five years differed from the other mythologies, having geared toward making a larger team of god and sub-god beings that gave them a numerical advantage without the drawbacks of cannon fodder. At the request of Hades, Apollon agreed to send classes of his newest gods and demigods to serve as guardians for the underground site surrounding the apparent vault housing Great Red's device. They thought that the addition of these gods would be enough to fend off both Sith Lords (and perhaps a few of their escorts), but Tenebrous's unstoppable rampage falsified their prediction.
The Bith dissected the abdomen of a Greek demigod with his lightsaber as he set his eyes on two more enemies across the room. The two newbie gods twitched in fear as Tenebrous dropped the corpse of his victim, the latest kill among the other five demigods who were dismembered or beaten beyond recognition. The Sith Lord brought his lightsaber to bear at the rapid-firing energy attack emitted from the female god's magic circles, deflecting each projectile with perfect clarity and technique. The male god charged up a powerful attack of his own, but before he could unleash it at his enemy, Tenebrous put a hand forward and locked his body in a bubble of telekinesis.
Clenching and pulling his hand down fast, Tenebrous crushed the god's body like a tin can. The female god stared wide-eyed at the spontaneously imploded corpse, never imagining that such a brutal and graphic death was possible. The sudden shock caused the woman to lose focus on her redirected attacks, which, now with a weakened defense, allowed a magic bolt to hit her in the side of the head. Tenebrous then turned to the dazed woman and threw his lightsaber at her torso. The blade spun and flew at ferocious speed to impale her through the chest, adding on to Tenebrous's impressive killstreak.
This is the third full room he had slaughtered, not counting the Greek deities he killed in the connecting hallways. Tenebrous entered what seemed to be the last hallway that led directly to the central chamber, noting that it is much longer than the previous corridors. As expected, the four remaining warriors, two gods and two demigods, emerged from their hiding spots in a desperate attempt to stop Tenebrous. The Bith speedblitzed the demigods as an imperceivable blur that left a long arching streak of red light. He then held his hand forward and unleashed a strong storm of Force lightning that instantly traced its way toward the two gods. The red lightning forks were momentarily halted by several layers of magic circles, but after melting their way through the barriers, they struck the gods and cooked them badly. Their bodies dropped to the floor looking as though they had been baking in an oven for over an hour.
Tenebrous continued down the hallway toward his destination. He noticed that the metal ceiling began to gradually increase in height on a slope that would accommodate the height of a giant set of doors in the distance. Within the last few hundred feet, the surroundings changed from a plain and practical layout to a more high-tech appearance, displaying that whatever is ahead must be of high importance. Tenebrous was less than a hundred feet away when the huge fifteen-meter-tall doors opened and revealed the humongous chamber inside. A huge power core of unknown design stretched from the floor to the ceiling far above, and mounted in its center was a device that emitted a blinding red light so luminous that it was like staring at the Sun.
After briefly staring at his prize, Tenebrous switched his focus to the nine people standing at the door frame only a few dozen meters away. He had sensed their presence ever since he and Plagueis arrived at the facility; unknown beings with incredible life essences that far surpassed every other mythological person. Among them were a man wearing a heavy set of battle armor, a half-machine male and a little girl.
The man wearing ridiculous amounts of shiny armor stepped forward and said, "Your journey ends here, Dark Lord. I suggest you turn back now before you put your life in danger."
"Such bold words for a non-Force user," Tenebrous sneered. "You must be one of the chief gods of Hinduism."
From the general information he recalled reading in the mythological texts, Tenebrous recognized the man as Shiva. Behind the God of Destruction stood the other great Hindu gods Vishnu, Brahma and Indra, and to the sides stood Resetoras, Melvazoa, Regalzerva and Seraselbes. Ophis floated a few feet above their heads in a cross-legged pose.
Shiva nodded. "My brothers and I swore to protect the world from global threats that could harm us all. We will not let you take another step toward the power device."
"What makes you think you can stand against a Sith Lord such as myself?" Tenebrous asked.
"We have fought against Darth Bane before, and we have learned a lot since," replied Vishnu. "We anticipated the return of the Sith and made the necessary preparations to fight you off once more."
Tenebrous shook his head. "You have learned nothing. You don't even know what you are up against."
The Bith strode back and forth in a taunting manner. "Bane created a lineage based on strength where the apprentice must surpass the master, with the goal of making the succeeding generation more powerful than the last. This process went on for the past thousand years!"
The gods raised their eyebrows in suspicion.
"That's complete bullshit!" Regalzerva shouted. "Only five years have passed!"
"I know it's hard to believe, but that fact is true," Tenebrous assured. "Why don't you ask the young shapeshifter?"
Everyone looked at Ophis who had now descended to the floor. She studied Tenebrous with amazement and worry, feeling his malevolent aura that overlapped with Plagueis's own up on the surface. For some strange reason, she is the only one who can actually sense the dark side auras of Sith Lords, perhaps it being due to her being born in the bewildering Dimensional Gap. Tenebrous knew that she could feel his power, and although she rarely shows emotion, Ophis seemed to be frightened by the alien.
"I think he's right…" Ophis said with a shiver.
The other gods glanced at each other with very concerned looks. Melvazoa stepped forward next to Shiva and stood his ground despite the chilling truth about the Sith Lord before them.
"I don't care how powerful you are, Tenebrous," Melvazoa growled. "You will not walk away with Great Red's power container."
Tenebrous's head bobbed a few times as he accepted their defiance and unwillingness to surrender. Each alien hand then reached for two weapons on his body: his lightsaber hilt and the sword in his sheath. The sword strapped to his back under his cape was Brynhildr's sword, but its new features made it seem as though the weapon never belonged to the Valkyrie. After recovering from Samael's curse, Tenebrous used Sith alchemy to purge Brynhildr's sword of Norse magic and turn it into a dark side weapon. The sword is now entirely black with all Asgardian symbols removed, and the blade emitted a purple aura of dark side energy around its surface. Tenebrous calls his creation the Dark Sword, notably by the fact that its black blade is as destructive and durable as the blade of his lightsaber. Although Tenebrous does not possess the innate gift of Sith sorcery (and feeling that Bith science is far more potent), he is competent enough with sorcery to alter items and living beings.
Tenebrous brought the Dark Sword and his activated lightsaber to his sides. "It is a shame that Darth Gravid sabotaged the Sith teachings centuries ago, for if he remained true to the dark side, my apprentice and I would likely be more powerful than we are now. With such power, I would erase all of you from existence with a mere thought, but the setback in the Banite lineage gave me a different purpose…"
The gods spawned their weapons and magic circles.
Tenebrous spun his blades and crossed them in front of his face. "…to humiliate you all in a duel!"
The Bith charged forward and slammed his blades into Shiva's magic barriers before he or any of the other gods could attack Tenebrous from long range. The Sith Lord's main dueling style is a personalized hybrid of Form VII (Juyo) and Form IV (Ataru), utilizing the strengths of both forms to create an aggressive and unpredictable fighting style that retained solid defense and fluid acrobatics. Tenebrous spun and weaved around to simultaneously attack their magic shields and deflect a barrage of counterattacks, appearing as a swirling blur that pushed the nine gods back at a rapid pace.
He was much faster than anyone had anticipated, significantly quicker than Darth Bane in fact. Despite Shiva's armor enhancements which boosted his natural speed and reaction time a lot more than Ophis's past blessings, he still perceived Tenebrous as a chaotic tornado of blades that pushed him back with no room for counterattack. Tenebrous's vastly superior speed over Bane's is like comparing a human and a cheetah in a foot race.
Tenebrous began flipping over their heads side to side using aerial Jar'Kai techniques to slice through magic shields. The Bith's approach to combat isn't brutish and overpowering like Bane's, instead it was speed, cunning and technique that kept the gods in a backpedal. He continued slashing, blocking and leaping around like an imp to push everyone closer to the center of the massive chamber. Tenebrous then locked blades with Shiva's trishula and Melvazoa's wrist blades, creating a small firework of interlocking energy while the other gods regrouped further back. Tenebrous overpowered the two opponents and brushed their blades aside, giving him time and space to thrust both hands forward in a summoning of telekinetic power. The nine gods were violently tossed backwards as the wave smashed them into the floor and surrounding obstacles.
Tenebrous Force jumped onto a tall mechanism near the power core and watched the recovered gods charge toward him.
"This is the most fun I've had in decades!" Tenebrous laughed.
[…]
On the surface, Plagueis cut down another squad of devils while the Hero Faction rained down suppressive fire. The Muun did most of the killing so far, the others had a hard enough time fighting a handful of devils each while sparing the occasional moment to support Plagueis. Georg has been quite useful thus far with his Dimension Lost Longinus, using its balance breaker to trap hundreds of devils in a pocket space on the battlefield, but he can't teleport any of them away for some strange reason. He can sense some sort of magical alteration in the devils, possibly done by Hades, that protects them from certain magics like those found in Georg's Dimension Lost. Even when he traps squads in a pocket space, they break out within a matter of moments due to their sheer numbers and firepower. Georg spent most of his time creating spatial traps over and over to slow down the army's advance.
Cao Cao and Leonardo racked up a good number of kills themselves, the former using his holy weapon to stab through devils and the latter using his Longinus to create dozens of monsters to fight at his command. Even so, none of the humans compared in the slightest bit to Plagueis's contributions to the fight…not close at all. Plagueis would speed around the area slicing devils to bits, conjure Force waves to atomize squads, and throw and collapse large objects on enemies. The Muun killed thousands by himself, but as the current regiment dwindled to its last few soldiers, Plagueis remembered that there's still a lot more devils to kill yet.
With the forward regiment of 20,000 devils destroyed, the remaining 80,000 devils charged toward the research facility. Plagueis saw an enormous mass of people running and flying in the distance, each soldier determined to wreck the facility and its defenders. The Muun wiped some sweat off his face then looked back at the Hero Faction members.
"The rest of the army is approaching," Plagueis yelled. "Concentrate your efforts on limiting the number of soldiers entering through the gap in the shield dome, or else we will be surrounded."
Cao Cao and the other humans understood his order. Plagueis also kept the Mundane hidden from the action so far, worried that the devils will switch their focus and concentrate their firepower on the starship instead. He knows that the Mundane can soak up serious amounts of punishment, but Plagueis doesn't know if the devils have any magic attacks or spells that can pierce through the starship's strong shielding and damage the hull. The Mundane is such a crucial tool to getting back home that Plagueis would rather see himself or his Master get seriously injured than risk the starship being disabled or destroyed. However, with the sheer number of soldiers approaching and him wanting to get this battle done and over with quickly, Plagueis decided to call the Mundane for aerial support.
"Brexan, Herman, I need you to conduct bombing runs near the hole in the dome," Plagueis ordered over the comlink. "Avoid returning fire if possible."
"Roger," Brexan replied. "Acquiring target location now."
The Mundane materialized into view and swayed to the left to set up for its first bombing run.
[…]
Tenebrous spun his blades so fast that they turned into circular shields, using them to deflect Seraselbes's dark spear bombardment and Indra's barrage of individual Vajra lightning bolts. Tenebrous used the Force to waken the giant set of machinery surrounding the power core on the floor, and with sets of hidden circuits and hydraulics, the mechanism lifted everyone in the air on separate platforms. The Bith used his Jar'Kai sequences on the platform that rose slightly higher than the rest, clashing against the blades of Shiva, Melvazoa and Regalzerva. He blocked and dodged longer ranged attacks using acrobatics and Force barriers all while spinning his blades in clean and aggressive archs that put the three blade wielders in a constant state of defense.
Shiva thought about his current options, regretting that he didn't recruit more people for his task force. The original plan was to use the Greek gods and demigods to tire the Sith before they reached the central chamber, where they would be weak enough to be defeated by Shiva and his team. The Sith have proven themselves to be far more powerful than anyone ever imagined, and Shiva was thankful that they are only fighting Tenebrous and not both lords at the same time. Judging by Tenebrous's lack of fatigue, the Greek warriors did nothing to weaken the Bith before he arrived in the chamber. Shiva then began to believe that it was perhaps a good thing that they didn't recruit more members, seeing that all the other gods throughout the world are vastly inferior to the gods fighting Tenebrous now and likely wouldn't provide much help in the fight.
Shiva recalled that the presence of lesser gods fighting Bane years ago might have acted as a hindrance rather than a benefit, seeing that Shiva, Vishnu and Indra (with Ophis's blessings and Ajuka's formulas) fought better against Bane than all the other gods combined. The deaths of several weaker gods might have also played on the minds of the others during that fight, reducing their focus, teamwork and overall combat ability. And if they ended up being a hindrance when fighting against Bane, they certainly wouldn't provide any benefit against Tenebrous.
Also, Shiva now had Ophis engaging in direct combat rather than having her use her blessings. Him and the other Hindu gods are already significantly enhanced by their armor sets, and the ExE gods are already so powerful that any benefits they received from Ophis's blessings would be negligible. Shiva concluded that Ophis is powerful enough to inflict serious damage, so he had her fighting instead. What is rather interesting, whether Tenebrous knew this or not, is that Ophis and Indra are the weakest members of the task force and are equal in magical power. However, Indra is arguably the better fighter and smarter tactician.
The towering platforms now reached their final heights around the chamber, many of them revealing coolant systems and gas tanks in their underlying structures. Tenebrous raised his left hand in the air and unleashed powerful Force lightning that arched out in all directions. The omnidirectional Force storm struck the shields of all foes with some bolts crackling down the platform columns. Magic circles melted, coolant tanks shattered, and metal sparked as the hundreds of red lightning forks enveloped the area immediately around Tenebrous. Just as the storm destroyed the last of the gods' magic shields, Tenebrous ended the lightning barrage and pushed his hands out to his sides, creating a Force wave that spread out in all directions.
The gods were launched off the platforms and fell a few hundred feet before recovering in mid-air. They hovered in place while gazing up at Tenebrous who had several large objects under his telekinetic control. The Bith rained down detached platform tops and machinery on his opponents with a lack of strain that resembled a child throwing plastic toys everywhere. The gods dodged the raining debris as they flew up to meet Tenebrous head on, however, four of them were hit by some platforms which sent them plummeting to the ground.
Melvazoa, Resetoras, Seraselbes, Vishnu and Indra ascended over the top platform and fired ranged magic attacks at Tenebrous. The Bith held his hands forward, freezing all incoming magic attacks in place before they could reach him, then with a gesture of his right hand, he summoned fire from the sparks of broken wires on a column. In hardly a moment, the ball of fire grew into a huge blazing inferno that circled like a tornado, and with another gesture, Tenebrous sent the flames hurtling toward the five gods. The flames hit against defensive magic circles in a continuous barrage, and while the gods were preoccupied with the fire, Tenebrous launched the frozen magic attacks back at their users. The masses of magic shattered the remaining defense shields and bashed the gods into the side of the chamber, damaging their bodies and shaking the entire area.
Tenebrous jumped off his platform and freefell for hundreds of feet toward the four gods on the ground. The Bith used the Force to absorb the energy of him hitting the ground and disperse it in all directions, creating a shockwave that broke the ground and knocked three gods of their feet. Tenebrous sped forward and clashed blades with Shiva while Brahma, Regalzerva and Ophis got back up on their feet.
Tenebrous stared into the eyes of the team's strongest member and said, "I thought the God of Destruction would put up a better fight!"
Shiva grimaced and pushed harder against Tenebrous's blades. The Bith then broke the blade lock and charged toward the other three gods. Slashing through Brahma's magic circles, he then unleashed a blinding flurry of lightsaber attacks to break off large pieces of the god's armored chest plate and damage the underlying flesh. Shiva, Ophis and Regalzerva fired at Tenebrous's back while Brahma tried to flank around the side. Being the one with the least amount of combat experience, Brahma was the first member to make a mistake large enough to cost him his life. Tenebrous dodged the attacks and outmaneuvered Brahma toward the front, plunging both blades through the torso area he recently damaged. The god stumbled backwards a few paces with two holes through his heart, then he fell on his back dead.
Brahma's death caused the three witnesses to attack Tenebrous more aggressively. The other five gods flew down and rejoined the duel with Indra and Vishnu attacking from above. The Bith formed a Force bubble around himself that protected against magic attacks and slashing blades, then as he threw his arms out to the sides and arched his back, Tenebrous spawned a Force repulse that violently launched the gods around like ragdolls into the walls and across the chamber. Towering platform columns fell as the spherical shockwave disintegrated the metal and stone that kept them standing, creating flying debris that scattered everywhere. Tenebrous then sped toward Seraselbes, the first god to stand back up and the closest one to the Dark Lord. Still dazed from the telekinetic explosion, Seraselbes struggled to fend off the Bith's furious assault; whatever magic circles she created were used purely for defense. Tenebrous smashed through magic shields with his blades as more circles spawned to block his swords, and unfortunately for Seraselbes, her shield regeneration couldn't keep up with the Sith Lord's attacks. Tenebrous then maneuvered around the last two shields with a burst of speed and plunged the tip of his lightsaber through the god's left eye.
This dirty move bypassed Seraselbes's insanely durable flesh on the rest of her body and melted her brain. Tenebrous pulled the lightsaber out of her head and turned to face the seven gods who had recovered and watched Seraselbes's body drop to the floor. Regalzerva was especially angry at Tenebrous for brutally killing his sister through a vulnerable area, and with his giant battle axe, the male ExE god interlocked with Tenebrous's blades with an overhead slash.
The other gods rushed in with attacks of their own to support Regalzerva.
[…]
Plagueis atomized ten more devils with a Force wave that rocked the earth beneath him. Behind him and to his sides was a small army of monsters recreated by Leonardo's Annihilation Maker to replace the squads of monsters destroyed by the artificial devils. As the monsters attacked devils along their flanks, Plagueis zoned in on the platoon of devils charging in at him and the Hero Faction gung-ho style. With outstretched arms, Plagueis unleashed a storm of Force lightning so large that it covered the whole landscape in front of him. Countless blue lightning forks incinerated both the land and the devils as fires ignited between the buildings and out the dome gap. The electricity died out when over a thousand devils were either cooked like turkeys or outright cremated from the face of the planet.
More devils approached the dome shield when Georg's pocket barriers and magic walls failed from overwhelming firepower. Leonardo regrouped his monsters and ordered them to slow the advance of the next waves of enemies.
Heracles gazed out at the new mass of soldiers approaching in the distance. "How many more of these damn bastards are there?"
"Too many," Siegfried said while catching his breath. "I don't know if I can keep it up for much longer."
"Keep fighting guys!" Cao Cao shouted in the distance as word of encouragement. "Just focus on supporting Plagueis. Victory is near!"
Much of the enemy force has fallen, but there are still tens of thousands of artificial devils to kill.
Plagueis opened the comm channel to the Mundane and said, "Commence another attack run."
"Yes sir," Brexan replied on the comlink.
The starship appeared into view and dove down for a third bombing run. A barrage of laser cannon bolts rained down on hundreds of devils, smashing through magic shields and melting people upon contact. The Hero Faction members watched the Mundane fire salvo after salvo of laser cannon bolts, thankful for the brief rest period and grateful that Plagueis is doing most of the killing.
[…]
Regalzerva gasped for breath as his body was lifted into the air by an external force. Tenebrous Force choked the god while he fought the others in close combat, using his mental focus to apply constant pressure on Regalzerva without the need for a gesture. The malevolent god was incapacitated for a while until Tenebrous ceased his telekinetic hold over him, and for several moments afterward, Regalzerva coughed on all fours while regaining his strength. By the time he returned to his feet, Tenebrous was using a horrible, otherworldly power on Vishnu and Resetoras. From the Bith's left hand, an entangled web of purplish energy leeched on the two gods, draining them of their vitality and slowing them down considerably. Tenebrous continued his application of Force drain until Vishnu and Resetoras were too weak to even stand, and once they fell to their knees, the Dark Lord used one last burst of effort to suck up the remains of their life essences. The two gods died as corpses that looked worse than lifeless; their pale, shriveled skin and darkened eyes made them look like mummies drying under the sunlight.
Regalzerva joined in with the surviving members to attack Tenebrous once more. In a change of tactics, the five gods distanced themselves from the Sith Lord and spawned magic circles around him. They formed layer upon layer of circular shields surrounding Tenebrous in a box shape with the hopes of sealing him in place. Rather than smashing himself out, Tenebrous used the power of Force blind to overload the optic nerves in everyone's eyes and render them temporarily blind, causing the magic shields to dissipate one by one as the gods lost concentration. Melvazoa was the first one to regain eyesight, and after rubbing his eyes, he could see Tenebrous slowly walking toward Regalzerva who was on the ground injured.
The Bith had his back turned to Melvazoa and seemed to forget that the other malevolent god was nearby. Melvazoa took this as a perfect opportunity to strike down the Sith Lord while he's unaware. Supercharging his wrist blades with as much magical energy as possible, Melvazoa sprinted as fast as he could toward the Dark Lord knowing that this could be the only chance of landing a fatal blow on Tenebrous. The god stabbed his blades through the alien's back with the ends of the weapons sticking out from the other side of the torso. Melvazoa was glad to see the pool of blood forming at the Dark Lord's feet, glad to have avenged his fallen sister.
But the person he stabbed wasn't Tenebrous…
Tenebrous's body turned into that of Regalzerva. Melvazoa was stumped, unable to understand how his eyes could betray him so badly as to make him stab his own brother from behind. Melvazoa had channeled so much energy into his blades that he killed his older brother in a single blow. As the god tried to figure out what happened, Tenebrous appeared directly behind him with a smile under his respirator, content that his Force illusion worked. The Bith then grabbed Melvazoa's head with both hands and shot Force lightning through the god's body. Melvazoa's muscles seized up and spasmed as the insane voltage fried him inside and out, and after withstanding the electric current for several seconds straight, Melvazoa was weakened to the point of near-death. Tenebrous let go of the god's head and walked away as soon as Melvazoa dropped to the ground with his brother's corpse.
The Bith then used the Force to lift a colossal pillar high in the air and send it hurtling down at Melvazoa to finish him off. Shiva, Indra and Ophis had just regained their eyesight when they saw the massive column crush Melvazoa with tremendous force. Tenebrous turned around to face the three survivors who were preparing to attack him from long range.
Shiva shot a dense energy beam from the tip of his trident at the Sith Lord, but Tenebrous dodged it and reappeared at the other side of the chamber. With Ophis shooting green beams from her hands and Indra summoning his Vajra lightning, the three gods tried to hit the alien who continued to avoid the incoming firepower by dashing around the area. Trails of destruction littered the chamber as Tenebrous ran and leaped around like a demon trying to close in on his enemies. The Bith then came to a halt ten meters away from the trio and formed a Force barrier in front of himself that held a different invisible shape from a bubble. Instead as the three gods shot their ranged attacks simultaneously, Tenebrous formed his barrier in the shape of a mirror, refracting the attacks away from himself and back at the nearest foe. Ophis's beams, along with Shiva and Indra's armor-enhanced attacks, struck the Infinite Dragon God straight in the stomach, launching her back into the far wall of the chamber. The magical energy in the attacks were powerful enough to blast away her clothing, sear her flesh and damage her insides to the point where she laid on the ground motionless. She didn't get back up.
Only the two Hindu gods remained. Shiva, with newfound focus and aggression, charged forward and slashed his trident with greater speed and ferocity than before. Tenebrous parried the attacks and used both his lightsaber and the Dark Sword to push back Shiva with strong blade sequences. The Bith acknowledged Shiva as the best and strongest fighter; ever since the beginning of the fight, he knew this god was special and above everyone the mythological factions had to offer. Tenebrous put Shiva into a defensive backpedal while dodging the Vajra lightning bolts shooting from Indra's magic circles. At one point in the duel, Tenebrous roundhouse kicked Shiva in the side of the head, making the god stumble off to the side disoriented.
Tenebrous used this time to rapidly build up Force power inside of him and unleash it in the form of Force destruction. This telekinetic power enables the user to throw a massive energy field in any direction that well surpasses powerful Force waves. The energy field struck Indra with tremendous force, shattering the anterior side of his magic enhancement armor and sending him flying into the far wall. Indra coughed up blood and struggled to move as he was buried in a man-sized crater inside the thick wall.
Shiva became especially aggressive and bold when slashing at Tenebrous in another offensive charge. He had forgone blade defense and opted for pure offense with the hopes of landing just a small cut on the alien, letting his armor protect him from Tenebrous's counterattacks. The god even tried to grab the Bith's wrists and yank the blades from his hands, but that tactic failed badly. Tenebrous held his blades in an "X" formation and interlocked with Shiva's overhead slash.
"Your desperation is pointless," Tenebrous mocked. "You have failed. Nothing will save you, Shiva."
Tenebrous turned his blades to the side and disarmed Shiva. The trident flew several feet behind the god and landed on the hard stone floor, it's pronged blades refracting the red light that emitted from Great Red's power container overhead. Tenebrous lifted the god in the air with a Force grip and sent him hurtling into the far wall, dragging his body upward into the metal and stone for several meters. The Sith Lord then smashed Shiva into the two adjacent walls, then finally crashed him into the chamber floor next to his trident. Shiva got up on all fours and stared at the ground, breathing heavily as the Dark Lord walked toward him with blades drawn.
When Tenebrous was less than ten meters away from the God of Destruction, something happened that completely caught him off guard…
Shiva's eyes turned into yellow light as a massive surge of power erupted from his core, manifesting itself as a monstrous aura of magical power that sent Tenebrous flying into the wall behind him. Having the wind knocked out of him, Tenebrous saw a thick beam of light cut through the ceiling above them and arrive down on Shiva. This beam of energy vaporized the material immediately around it, wide enough to where Tenebrous could see the sky through hundreds of meters of earth above them. Among the clouds was a gigantic magic circle two kilometers wide, the mechanism that is sending the beam of yellow energy down on Shiva. The whole planet seemed to shake as Shiva roared from the immense amount of energy flowing into him and his trident.
At the other side of the chamber, Indra scrambled to take cover from the falling rubble all while observing history's greatest power-up. Shiva had activated his strongest form, akin to a Juggernaut Drive but not quite the same. Unknown to all the other Hindu gods, Shiva's armor and magic enhancements came with an overload drive that summoned power straight from the Hindu realm to relay into him, multiplying his power several times beyond his already enhanced self. This is a type of last resort ability, however, as the taxing nature of the power-up fed on Shiva's life force, diminishing his lifespan by hundreds of years.
Under his respirator, Tenebrous's puckered lips twitched in concern as the God of Destruction gathered the last bit of energy into himself. The overhead light disappeared and revealed the scorched floor that had melted so much that it turned into lava. Shiva then channeled his power into the tip of his trident and shot a dense yellow beam so bright that it far outshined Great Red's device overhead. Tenebrous threw up a strong Force bubble that protected him from the attack, but even then he could feel the sheer heat and intensity of the continuous beam of magical energy. Tenebrous realized first-hand how much that power-up multiplied Shiva's power; it was almost as though the god had turned into a completely new enemy. The heat and force of the energy felt like it came from the layers of a blue star, and it was so bright that Tenebrous had to use the Force to shield his eyes from going blind. Shiva continued to roar in a bloodlusted rage while channeling more and more energy through his trident.
Tenebrous applied the power of tutaminis into his Force barrier to absorb some of the energy into himself. He could feel the immense power coursing through his body, and with his right hand he dispelled that energy along with some of his own power back at Shiva in the form of red Force lightning. The lightning bolts, which shined equally as bright as the trident beam, struck Shiva all over his body. The intensity of the lightning forks would have vaporized anyone else on contact, but the power-up enhanced Shiva's flesh and armor durability to ludicrous levels, which allowed him to tank a continuous stream of electric voltage.
The array of energy acted as a superconducting loop that shot at Tenebrous and redirected back at Shiva. However, the God of Destruction ran into some problems. With no way to absorb and dispel the energy of the lightning forks like Tenebrous can do with his tutaminis, Shiva's body took considerable amounts of damage since the energy had nowhere else to go. Shiva's exoskeleton armor melted to his skin and his flesh blackened as the red lightning damaged him further and further. It came to a point where the god suffered so much trauma that he no longer had the strength to sustain his energy beam.
Both the energy beam and the lightning bolts disappeared as the Hindu god dropped to his knees in defeat. Tenebrous approached Shiva while using the Force to break the core protecting Great Red's device, and in the distance, Indra watched as the power device floated toward Tenebrous and landed in his hands.
Tenebrous studied Shiva who struggled to look back up at him. "You are strong, Shiva. Your abilities would even put Jedi Masters to the test, but in the end, you were no match for the dark side."
The Bith looked around the devastated chamber and saw that Indra was still alive.
"One thing I like about being in this world is the opportunity to leave survivors behind," said Tenebrous, "witnesses to carry on the accounts of traumatic events. I cannot afford to do that back in my home galaxy; therefore I will relish this moment for the rest of my life."
Tenebrous turned around and walked away with Great Red's power container, getting ready to help Plagueis and the Hero Faction back on the surface. Shiva then fell forward and laid motionless on the ground. Indra limped across the chamber with his torso hunched forward, balancing himself over debris and other objects. When he arrived at Shiva's body, Indra lowered to his knees and observed the god's injuries. Shiva suffered extreme burns and several parts of his armor had fused to his flesh, making the charred man look even worse. Indra checked his vital signs and found that Shiva is still alive, but barely.
Lord Sakra lowered his head feeling absolutely hopeless.