{Greetings from beyond the screen my fellow readers writers, Draco, Slither and Rex here with a new chapter with a few things;
1st- This is a plot bunny I've never put out into the field for a while now, it's just that I've never had the origins of the main foes and honestly I still don't have one for Vortex and Nocture.
2nd- Pariah's godly origin may not be what you're expecting but the main inspiration was chronologically before the beginning of this, one sense that I will simply refer to as "Fire Feet". If you know then you know.
3rd- I would actually like your help with something, should the powers that Danny acquires make him overpowered? In the Campione authorities can combine together, for example authorities from Mars and Fenrir would combine together due to their wolf connections.}
Ch 1- The Eighth King of Kings
Danny had woken up from being knocked out, he, Vlad and Valerie had fought and lost against The King of Ghost Pariah Dark. He could now understand why the other ghosts: as the locals call them or divine beasts from what they called themselves, ran away from him.
He had long expected his fate as a divine beast, they were powerful creatures that take up a role under the Gods. He was the Protector who saved others from the most dangerous threats, including themselves. That was his double edged sword, his obsession. Those who became emotional close to him often found themselves with an overprotective shadow until they had enough.
It was this very reason he lost a potential girlfriend in Valerie and his team best friends Sam and Tucker. He lost Valerie after he threw himself onto her to protect her from a rocket fired from Skulker, as for Tucker he drove him away by taking a few too many beatings from the jocks and then most releasity he came onto Sam a little too aggressively for her liking. The only one he managed to keep was Jazz, who actually appreciated his overprotective nature. This didn't help after the Dark Dan incident.
At 18 years old he could deal with being friendless or single but if he lost his sister it might have driven him crazy.
All of these thoughts ran through his head as he got up and checked on Valerie.
"Valerie," He whispers in a low growl as his sapphire blue eyes turn to a glowing toxic green before the door opens.
He turned protectively to the now opened door only to see his former friends.
"Oh it's just you guys," He said monotony before going back to checking on Valerie.
"Yeah thanks for the warm welcome man," Tucker said before seating on the beanbag chair.
Danny bit his lip and closed his eyes as they charged from crystal blue to a toxic green from his own self hatred. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and turned to see Sam and Tucker standing there behind him.
"Come on man, it's not your fault." Tucker said sadly.
"Isn't it? They were supposed to be my enemies," Danny said walking over to the window to see that the anti-ghost shield that his parents had put up around the town he could see the swirling green skies of the ghost zone. "Vlad, the Fright Knight, this… Ghost king… everything I thought that I could handle… but I couldn't," He closed his eyes and his head hit the window. "What do I do?"
"What you have always done, Young Phantom." A deep and timeless voice said, "You will fight and you will win."
Danny's eyes shot open and turned his head to see that everyone in the room was frozen. Putting a hand around his neck Danny found an amulet of a CW inside of a gear. Looking around Danny finally saw the childish form of Clockwork, the ghost master of time. Even with the body of a toddler, Clockwork's red eyes seemed to show his ancient wisdom from underneath his dark purple cloak. In his small arms which were covered in watches he held his staff of time.
"Clockwork… I can't," Danny said sadly looking down at his own hands. "How can I beat the king of ghosts?"
"That title is only a farce to hide his true nature," Clockwork said, shaking his head as his body matured at an unnatural rate until he was an adult. "You need to have faith Danny. The pieces are all in place. I am just here to give you the knowledge you will need to win," Clockwork lifted a hand and put it on Danny's head.
The hand began to glow with a golden light and Danny's eyes dilated wide as they filled with the same light.
After a few moments Clockwork took his hand away from Danny's head and smiled at the boy, "Everything is as it should be."
With that he was gone. Time began to tick again and Danny was left standing in front of his friends, gazing at the amulet in his hand.
"Alright let's think about ways to figure this out… Danny?" Sam said before looking at him.
"I'm going," Danny said with a look of determination passing over his face.
"What!? No Danny you can't," Sam said in panic.
"Yeah man, we can figure this out. You shouldn't throw your life away," Tucker said looking at his friend who had clearly lost his mind.
"Calm down guys… I can't explain it but… I know I can do this," Danny said as a white ring of energy passed over his body.
His raven black hair turned white, once again his blue eyes became a pulsating green. He then shot out of his window and started to fly over the town.
Some of the people on the streets looked up at him and cheered for him.
Pauline shouted, "You get them Inviso-bill!"
"My name is not Inviso-bill. It's Phantom, Danny Phantom!" Danny shouted as he flew off towards the edge of the barrier.
He was half way out of the town when he was stopped by a voice, "Wait Boy!"
Danny was surprised to see Vlad Plasmius flying towards him.
"You can't stop me, Vlad. I got to do this," Danny said, shifting to a fighting stance and his fists glowing with ectoplasm.
"I am not here to stop you. Catch," Vlad snapped and threw something at the young ghost boy.
Danny instinctively caught it and glanced down not wanting to take his eyes off of Vlad.
He was puzzled at the gift and he asked, "A key?"
It was a large and heavy green Key that had a skull shaped handle.
"It is the 'Skeleton Key', it's what the Ancients were said to have once used to seal away Pariahs and it's what I used to set him free. If you're going to fight him, then you will need it," Vlad said sternly.
"So you're… helping me?" Danny asked surprised.
Vlad scoffed, "Do not read into it my boy, as long as I had that key Pariahs would try to find me just like with the ring I gave to the Gray girl. And now that I am rid of it, I will flee until this all blows over and I will rebuild in whatever new world order has been set up. If by the off chance you win the fight against Pariahs, then all the better." Vlad said, turning his back on Danny then in a lower voice he added, "Good luck… Little Badger."
With that he flew away at full speed.
Danny actually smiled and he attached the key to his belt. Flying to the edge of the ghost-shield he transformed in midair as he was about to impact and just as he passed through the shield he transformed back. All in all it was a single movement, the first ring appeared at his head and traveled down the length of his body and as he passed the shield before a second ring appeared and once again traveled down the length of his body.
"Jazz, Val, Tucker, Sam, Mom and Dad… everyone… I will save you all," Danny muttered as he flew in the direction of near certain death.
He finally came upon the giant floating rock that housed the Ghost King's castle and paused. Standing before him on the flat top surface of the rock was a massive army of hundreds of thousands of the Ghost King's skeleton soldiers. Danny took a deep breath and charged in.
He was slowly making his way through the massive mob of enemies and towards the door. He had just kicked through two skeleton dragons when twenty of the foot soldiers piled on top of him. Danny granted as his face hit the dirt.
"Let… Me… Through!" He shouted and sent a burst of power outwards blowing the skeletons to dust. "I… I have to keep this up," Danny muttered, taking a few more steps towards the front gate.
A blast of green energy hit the group of enemies directly in front of him. Looking over his shoulder he spotted the Spectral speeder coming towards him with his older sister and former friends in the cockpit.
"What are you guys doing here? It's too dangerous," Danny said seriously as he threw off two more attackers.
"Oh, we aren't here to stay. We're just making a delivery," Jazz said and pulled a lever.
A hatch opened up out of the bottom of the spectral speeder and bright blue light came pouring out. Standing before Danny was his entire rouge gallery all prepared for a fight. The Dragon Dora wasted no time as she flew off burning a path through the skeleton army.
"How did they fit you all in the spectral speeder?" Danny asked, a little surprised.
"Hey, have you ever been stuck inside your stupid Thermos? Compared to that, it was like the Taj Mahal in there!" Ember said as she went on the offensive, shooting pink fists of energy left and right.
"Enough small talk, go and defeat the Ghost King so that I can hunt you another day," Skulker shouted, pulling dual machetes out and running into the crowds.
"Really has a way of motivating a guy," Danny said to Ember before flying over the rest of the army who were too busy dealing with the new ghosts to stop him.
He reached the front gate and kicked it open, he closed it behind him and barred the way so that he wouldn't have to worry about enemy reinforcements. He quickly found the throne room and opened the door.
Sitting on a chair in the center of the room was Pariahs Dark. A sixth sense flared in Danny, a normal ghost would send a cold feeling throughout his entire body but Pariahs was a crippling chill through his entire body. Danny fell into a fighting position and did his best to ignore his body's survival instincts that were telling him to run like hell.
"I commend you for getting this far, boy," Pariahs said with a grin that showed his sharp incisors.
His wild black hair supported a crown covered in toxic green flames that didn't give off any warmth but did give off an ominous light. His chin rested on a giant gauntleted hand that Danny could see a green ring on his middle finger. His non eye-patched eye watched Danny with an amused expression.
"I'm here to stop you, Pariahs. You can't keep hurting people like this," Danny said angrily as his fists began to glow bright green.
Pariahs scoffed at that, "Hurting people? What use are humans to a god? Their entire kind could burn and nothing would be lost."
Pariah's got up from his throne. He was two stories tall and Danny had to look straight up just to see his face. Pariahs lifted a massive mace and tried to bring it down on Danny's head. Danny jumped to the side and began to fire ecto blasts at the king.
However much to Danny's horror the blasts hit some kind of golden shield of runes that had been around the Ghost King, unseen until Danny's attack. Pariahs laughed and shot a blast of crimson energy out of the top of his mace however with his instincts as sharp as ever he pushed his ectoplasm into his fingertips and thrusted them forward. The beam was initially split in half before blowing the ghost boy back where he hit a pillar and slid to the ground.
"Don't you get it boy, I am a god. My Divinity protects me from all harm," Pariah's laughter shook the hall as he lifted his mace.
Danny got up and spat out a mouth full of red and green blood.
"I won't give up," He said shortly before rushing Pariahs again.
The mace came swinging sideways at him but he jumped over it moving into the inside of Pariahs's attack range and landing a glowing green fist in the giant's face knocking him back.
"I guess you have to put down that shield in order to attack me uh." Danny said smugly.
"Do you think that means you have a chance, boy?" Pariahs said not losing his grin.
Danny had to weave through blasts of crimson energy that Pariahs rained down upon him as he struggled to get closer to the god. But Pariahs, getting tired of the game, rushed him and brought his mace down on Danny in a two handed swing. Danny transformed back into his human form and sank through the floor before coming up behind Pariahs. He then turned back into a ghost before he grabbed the Ghost King's cape in both hands.
Taking a deep breath Danny shouted, "Block This!"
The pitch of his voice broke into a long wail that shattered the ear drums of the Death King. The sound produced a visible wave of energy that shook the throne room. The cloth of Pariahs's cape tore and the king was blasted away through the wall on the opposite side of the room.
"Now… stay down," Danny wheezed as he began to catch his breath, he had long since mastered that particular ability but that didn't mean it wasn't the most draining.
But a blast of crimson energy came from the smoke and hit Danny in the chest knocking him down and burning his stomach as he bounced and rolled across the room.
"You thought you could destroy me, a ghost beating Pariahs Dark, the king of ghosts, a god of Death?" Pariahs laughed but there was hatred behind it, hatred towards the child that had managed to hurt him.
Danny stumbled to his feet and looked at Pariahs who only had a couple of scratches on his despite the point blank attack.
"Like… hell you are the King of Ghosts," Danny said coldly even as he held his own heavily battered and bruised body.
"Oh, so you can't still stand?" Pariahs mused as Danny's body pulsated with green light indicating he was healing himself, "I see, you are not really a Divine Beast after all. You are more like a reverse of the Divine Ancestors. You are exchanging your human life force for the strength you need to continue."
Danny frowned at that before he took a step forward and lifted a hand that glowed bright green. The shot bounced off of the golden shield as Pariahs continued to laugh at the boy's vain attempts to reach him, "You can never win, boy. Just give up."
"No…" Danny said, the soft word no more than a whisper seemed to echo throughout the room despite the falling stones and the sounds of the battle taking place outside. "Too many people are counting on me to stop you, and I won't let them down," A calm look passed over Danny's face as he looked up at the king, whose smile faltered at the sudden change in the boy. "A key to close the box once opened," Danny chanted.
The green light that had surrounded him slowly turned to gold and Pariahs moved back in shock.
"Those who ventured into Tartarus often left parts of themselves, the only exception of this was the god of the persistent hunt, Zagreus," Pariahs noticed that the golden light was coming from a key on the boy's belt.
Danny took the key in his hand and continued to chant, "However the young god didn't start out as that, originally he failed at every and all jobs given to him by his father."
The key began to change in both shape and color in Danny's hand. It grew in length and the grip shifted. Once it stopped Danny had to hold it in two hands and seemed more like a large sword than a key, the new key was as long as a bastard sword. It had changed from a sickly green to a shining ebony shaff with an autumn color gradient metal decorating its surface. But it still had a key shaped form, the guard that curved back, connected to the bottom of the hilt and had the shape of a wretch. The key wards warped into a three headed dog, two of them curved inward and the last one curved outward to form the teeth of the key.
"No!" Pariahs shouted in panic and basted another shot of red energy at Danny who swatted it aside with the new blade.
"So the fire-stepping god ran, he tried to run from his responsibilities," Danny's blade began to glow brighter and he dived out of the way as Pariah tried to crush him. "Until one night he discovered the trust about his birth. Rather than being a child of the Goddess of Darkness and the Night like he came to believe but the son of the Goddess of Vegetation, Persephone," Pariahs tried again to strike Danny but he disarmed him and the mace flew across the room. "And yet through his own perseverance he reached the surface and met his mother."
"Don't… Stop these accursed words." Pariahs said, putting his hands over his ears.
"It was then revealed to him that he was stillborn. It was only then that he realized that he could have only been revived by the Goddess Nyx," Danny said.
Pariahs winced and his face looked like he was remembering old pain, "Despite all of his growth of character his father grew tired of his son's rebellious nature and imprisoned him in a sarcophagus where he was to sleep for all eternity before casting him into the pit prison that he himself had tried to escape from. And thus the persistent hunter became truly imprisoned." Danny pointed his blade at his godly opponent, "That's who you are, Pariahs, you are no king of ghosts, you are Zagreus, the stillborn son of Spring, the hunter hidden in the Dark and the fire-stepping Prince of the Underworld!"
Danny rushed forward brandishing the shining key sword. Pariahs put up his hands as if to shield himself and the golden barrier appeared between himself and Danny. But this time Danny's key cut straight through the shield and slashed through Zagreus' shoulder.
"My… my Divinity… you cut through my Divinity!" He shouted in alarm.
"No… I unlocked it," Danny said with a grin. "Once you understand the lock, all you need is the right key," He said, lifting the blade in front of him. "Now are you going to stop all this madness?"
"No! I am the King!" Pariahs yelled and ran at Danny his arms spread wide fire pouring out of him.
"Very well," Danny whispered before dashing forward with all the power he had left in his being and drove the tooth of the blade deep into Pariah's chest. "It was said that whenever Zagreus was successfully able to escape Tartarus he would die soon after and return back to the deepest parts of his father's domain."
The god stopped moving and went limp, "So… cast out by one of my own father." He said solemnly as his body seemed to dissolve, "And now I have been usurped from a kingdom from my own creation by a mere child." His lower body was completely gone, turned into golden dust, "My Authority is yours, boy… use it as you wish." His final words as his body disappeared from existence.
Danny staggered when the Death King had finally vanished completely. The battle outside and inside the castle had taken its toll on Danny who had used the last of his life force in order to win. He fell down onto the ground, his last sight before losing consciousness was the elderly form of Clockwork standing over him.
He smiles down at him and says, "You did well… my nephew."
Danny was not really sure if he was completely dead or not… The only thing he could tell was that he was lying on a surface that he couldn't see and his body felt too heavy for him to move.
"The black art that Epimethius and I left behind. The sacred birth of an illegitimate child shrouded in darkness, born of a fool and a witch. A secret right of usurpation, only possible through the sacrifice of a god." The voice of a young woman came to him through the fog and as Danny's eyes fluttered upon he saw her, she was kneeling over him in the form of a young girl, she looked around twelve with pointed ears and purple hair done in twin ponytails. "In other words all the conditions have been met and you will receive a gift from the heavens," The girl said with a kind smile.
Danny felt calm as he looked at her, despite how young she was, there was something… motherly about her so he decided to joke, "Wow that was wordy."
The girl giggled before saying with a smile, "Well I guess put simply, you sacrificed your life to slay the god, Zagreus."
"So… everyone back home is safe now. I'm glad," Danny said, smiling back. "Are
you the angel that is here to take me to the pearly gates? Or do I get to choose my
afterlife? If I do, can I be Isekaied into another word?"
The girl laughed, "I like you. You still have a sense of humor. But no, I am the all giving woman, Pandora." The girl said leaning over Danny, "And you Daniel will be reborn again… as a Campione, the God Slayer, a King among Kings, a Campione..."
Danny's vision filled with white and everything around him faded, he found himself not wanting the girl to go, "No… wait."
He shot up gasping for breath only to find himself on the floor of his basement.
"You alright, little brother?" Jazz asked leaning over her brother in concern before placing a hand on his forehead.
"Yeah… I… think so," Danny said looking down at the back of his hand. "The key," He said slowly, turning it over to his wrist to show her the new form of the skeleton key as a tattoo just below his palm. "I guess Vlad's gift paid off in the end," Danny chuckled.
"Yeah… about that," Jazz said worriedly before taking out her phone, opening the camera to selfie and showing him the phone.
Danny's eyes widened at the face in front of him, his left eye was now an emerald green and his raven hair was now dotted with a few noticeable traces of the inverted snow white.
"Wow," he whispered to himself as he checked himself out in the selfie.
"Do you think Mom and Dad will notice," Jazz asked worriedly.
Danny pulled at the bottom of his left eyes, "It'll probably take Dad a few weeks to notice but Mom will notice immediately." He pulled back his hair like it was wet, "I'll just say I've had most ectoplasmic exposure due to not having enough protective equipment and this is just a side effect."
"Don't you think they'll try to examine you," Jazz asked rather uncomfortably.
He showed her his new tattoo again, "I may need to confirm it later but I think it'll be just fine."
"So… is it over then," Jazz asked slowly.
Danny smiled up at his sister and joked lightly, "Yeah… it's over… until the Box Ghost comes back."
That caused her to laugh. But in the back of his… being… he could feel that he was different. Like how he felt after he first stepped out of the ghost portal as a halfa.
'Campione,' He thought as he looked at the ghost portal.
"By the way Sam and Tucker are still here," Jazz whispered as she helped her little brother off of the floor.
That caused Danny togroan, "Fan-freaking-tastic."
Unknown to the siblings an ancient being was watching the two of them.
"You know that was cheating, don't you?" The voice was familiar to the ancient time keeper.
"I only gave him a key, he was the one who used it," Clockwork said, turning to his sister-in-law. "It is good to see you again, Pandora. But it isn't like you mind Daniel becoming a Campione, do you?" He asked the goddess as the little girl strolled past him to look at the image of her newest adopted son in the looking glass.
"No, he is in essence what a Campione should be; brave, good instincts, hard of hearing…" She giggled, "I believe he would have overcome Zagreus even without your help." Pandora said smiling as Clockwork nodded, "Besides I am his mother now, and all mothers love their children without question."
"You really haven't changed at all have you, Pandora? Still more than happy to watch and cheer for the beings that Epimethius and I put on earth so many millennia ago," Clockwork said gently, looking at his sister-in-law's face.
"And you're still a trickster who is playing the gods for fools and steering mankind towards that brighter future that you were always talking about, huh Prometheus?" Pandora said giggling, "Maybe that's why I love the humans so much, because they change, adapt and grow, especially my little Campione. Who would have ever even imagined a human boy becoming a Divine Beast and a Campione? I can't wait to see how he will move the world."
"Do you want me to give you a preview?" Prometheus teased.
"NO! No spoilers!" Pandora said, seriously puffing out her checks and looking displeased as her brother-in-law laughed before joining him in giggling.
"Do not worry, I will not look any further into his future, I want to witness my new nephew's destiny outside of a looking glass." Prometheus said waving a hand and the images of the future disappeared from his vision. "Good luck Daniel. Your uncle is rooting for you."
{And that's the chapter.
Okay let's get down to the brass tax; Clockwork is a true god, like Pandora. In the Campione universe gods are divided into true gods that don't mess around with the mortal world while heretic gods do.
Alright let's get this out of the way, in this AU; The Ultimate Enemy has already happened. As for Ghosts are Divine Beasts, the Ghost Zone is the section of the Netherworld known as Tartarus and some of the more powerful ghosts were really heretic gods.
What do you all think about Pariahs being Zagreus? I decided to use the Zagreus from the Hades game. If you had to choose, how would you have picked differently? Originally I was going to do Hades himself but then I remembered that in the show 'Campione' the gods disguised their true histories because it made them harder to kill.
What do you think about the skeleton key being a weapon? I'm thinking about using it as a keyblade.
Danny is the first non-human to become a Campione however in doing this the ectoplasm in him turned into magic and reverted him back into human. As for his physical changes, they are the residual results of ectoplasm, think kind of like it's the evidence of his halfa past. As a result Danny now has heterochromia and is technically a human.
Let me know what you think and remember to Like, Follow and Favorite.}