"What?!" Hades shouted as he thundered across the room, up to Koriel. "Lord Hades, Pit is accompanied by the reborn Unmei Guardian, and they have found a way to intrude our realm!" Lady Koriel exclaimed. "I heard what you said, ugly rat!" Hades screamed as Koriel shied away from her ruler slightly. "With the power they have gained, they might just defeat your mighty army!" She squeaked. Hades glared at Koriel, rage building inside of him. "My army has been destroyed- after you deployed all of my troops on suicide missions!" Hades screeched as he grabbed Koriel by the throat. "M-my L-lord, please… do not… kill… m-me…" Lady Koriel rasped, ripping at Hades's hands. "I will suck the very life force from your body and use it to destroy the line of fate!" Hades growled. Lady Koriel's eyes opened wide, her expression full of fear and shock. Although she was inverted, she still cared about the timeline of fate. "N-no my lord, no!" Koriel screeched, finally freeing herself from Hade's deadly grip. Her eyes darted around the room and she cowered in a dark corner. "Then what do you suppose I do, little imbecile?!" Hades roared, his mighty voice echoing off of the walls of Lady Koriel's inverted palace.
"They sound like an old married couple." Pit said. Pittoo smirked and Lina squeezed his hand tight. Pittoo's smirk was wiped straight off of his face when he felt his blood circulation being cut off by Lina's squeezing. The 'band of misfits' had been watching Hades and Koriel through a small portal that Drexel had created. "Lina- I can't move my arm anymore." Pittoo whispered, and Lina reluctantly let go of him. She was absolutely terrified of what lay ahead of them. Acero gently patted Lina's shoulder reassuringly, taking a moment to shoot Pittoo a glare that said 'If you want to get to my daughter, you deal with me first'. "I can feel the energy of two and a half Dragons here," Harlan said, signaling to Drexel to shut the portal. "You mean you can sense two and a half Dragons?" Pit asked. "HRR?!" Drexel asked, nearly falling over out of shock. There's a Dragon cut in half and one half is dead?! "NO!" Harlan exclaimed, staring at Drexel, wondering how he could think of something like that. "There's an undead Dragon roaming around the Underworld, and it's only emanating half of the energy it should be- which means something is possessing the poor, lost soul." Harlan explained, clenching his fists. How could somebody torture the soul of such an innocent creature? "HRR!" Drexel said urgently, while tugging on Harlan's pant leg. "Not now, Drexel." Harlan said, sounding slightly agitated. "HRR HRR!" Drexel persisted. I can sense Lady Palutena's thoughts- she's trying to contact you and she says there's an army and- "Drexel, stop it, we're fine." Harlan snapped, sounding quite angry. He shook his leg side to side, flinging poor Drexel into a wall. "No, we're not!" Lina snapped. Everyone turned to look at her- they hadn't expected her to say something like that. "Hell, at this rate, we'll never be- unless we get our butts into gear, and search for Hades and Koriel!" Lina shouted, clenching her fists. "We need to get the upper hand- fuck, at this rate; Hades could be listening to our every word!"
"And oh, how right you are." The voice of Hades boomed. "What the hell was that?" Acero asked himself as he spun around, unsheathing his swords. "I don't know, it sounds like the voice of a retard." Celina said with a smirk. "Oh, shut up! The next person who insults your new ruler will have their inside ripped out through their mouths!" Hades boomed. The group of fighters looked out into the darkness of the Underworld and watched as a massive black dragon rose from the darkness. "Hades merged with a Dragon!?" Harlan screamed, his eyes turning from green to a reptilian yellow. He spread his wings wide and growled- like a dragon. "Whoa, calm down Harlan." Celina said, placing a hand on the demi-god's shoulder. Harlan flinched slightly, and folded his wings flat against his back. "Oh, the little salamander wants to be a Komodo-Dragon now, does he?" The voice of Hades said from the mouth of the black dragon. "What did you do to the Dragon I sent after you?" Harlan asked, glaring at Hades. Dragon Hades smirked- as much as a dragon can smirk- and laughed. "Let me tell you, he makes a fine body to inhabit." He said, flicking his tail side to side. "You'll wish you never said that." Lina said, holding her free hand out to the side. Instead of a golden arrow appearing, a jet of blue fire shot from her palm and hit Hades straight in the eye. He jolted backwards, roaring in agony. "What the fuck?!" Lina exclaimed, staring at her hand. "Another ability you get- because you're the Unmei Guardian." Harlan said with a smile, his eyes turning green again.
"You won't defeat me that easily." Hades growled. He held a claw out and thousands of glowing orbs appeared. "Savior's Charms!" Celina exclaimed, clenching her fists. Two swords formed of energy appeared in her hands and she held them at a ready stance. "Nine hundred ninety nine thousand ninety eight to be exact." Hades said with a growl. "I'm missing two." He said while eyeballing the scar on Acero's forehead, then the charm around Celina's neck. "You're not going to win this one, Hades!" Pit shouted, the tips of his wings gaining a metallic hue. Slowly, the metal spread up his wings and covered him entirely. "Good, you've started to learn how to use that ability." Harlan said with a snicker. "Hades, you will fall for sure!" Harlan said, opening up his clenched fists. Resting on top of his palms where two green orbs- almost like pearls. They rippled and morphed until they solidified into two long blades. "Die, Hades!" Lina shouted as she spread her golden wings wide. She launched herself up to Hades and shot blue jets of fire at him.
"Come on, let's go!" Harlan shouted as he flew up with Drexel to join the attack. Soon most of the others followed. "Alright, I've been waiting for a good fight!" Celina shouted as she prepared to launch herself into flight. Then she noticed Pit, who seemed quite frustrated.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you flying? We've gotta fight!" Celina said to Pit. "I can't access my metal form, Celina." Pit said, sounding quite annoyed. Celina grabbed his hand, and Pit started shuddering slightly- just like he had when Celina had run a hand through his hair. "There we go. The power share is complete, now you can access the power from my Savior's Charm- it should be enough to let you transform." Celina said with a smile. "And encase we don't live through this," Celina said as she pulled Pit close. "I'll just do this now." She said as she kissed him. At first Pit was shocked, but then he started to enjoy it. They pulled apart and Celina flew away. "Damn, girl." Pit said as he accessed his Metal form and flew after her.
"I don't have enough power!" Pittoo shouted as he narrowly dodged Hades's claw. The claw didn't hit the Dark angel, but it hit his sword- which broke in two and fell into the blackness of the abyss he hovered over. "D'aww shit!" He yelled. "Eat this, angel!" Koriel's voice rang out. The next think Pittoo knew, he was on the ground, Koriel standing over him with a club. "Lights out," She said. "Everything has to happen to me, doesn't it?" Pittoo said. The next thing he knew, everything was black.
"We're starting to overpower him!" Celina called as she struck Dragon Hades in the eye. "Agh, little pest!" Hades screeched, as blood poured from his slashed eye. He scrunched his eye closed and grabbed Celina. "Now you die, pest!" Hades said as he crushed Celina in his grasp. "Let- go- of- me- now!" Celina cried as she lost consciousness. Hades threw her to the ground for Koriel to torture.
"How dare you!" Pit screamed as he flew past Hades, cutting the Dragon with the sharp metal feathers on his wings. "Well Pitty Pat, looks like you've learned to fight!" Hades said cockily. "It's you who's learning to fight!" Pit shouted as he kicked Hades in the face. Normally, that wouldn't have hurt a dragon, but a foot made of titanium hurts quite a bit. Hades was sent flying back, but sent a jet of black fire in Pit's direction. Pit was engulfed in flame, but didn't die. He just heated up, but eventually it became too much for him to handle. "F-f-fuck…" Pit stuttered as he fell, unconscious.
"Pit!" Harlan called in worry. Almost all of his friends had fallen, and now he was one pissed Dragon.
"HADES!" Harlan's voice boomed. Dragon Hades turned to look at the Dragon God. "Ah, my little boy is growing up!" Hades said with mock happiness. "Now is your time to die!" Harlan screamed as his eyes turned yellow. As he sped towards Hades, a dramatic transformation began to take place. The demi-god began to glow red. His form morphed until he was a large red Dragon- his eyes filled with malice and anger. Hades's eyes filled with shock and fear as Harlan crashed into him, clawing at his face. "Now you fall!" Harlan said- his voice sounded like that of a full grown warrior. "You cannot overpower me so easily!" Hades roared. All that time the Savior's Charms had been floating around Hades. Now they were glowing extra bright- Hades was absorbing their power! Hades shoved Harlan off of him, and the Dragon God crashed into the wall. The force of the collision knocked him out. The demi-god morphed back to his normal form, and fell onto a small ledge.
"Lina, be careful!" Acero shouted as he watched his daughter kick Hades in the back of the head- but to no avail. When the Keeper of Knowledge was not looking, Koriel took a swipe at him. She struck Acero in the head and he fell unconscious, along with the others.
"How could they fall so easily?" Lina asked herself as she fired at Hades. "Because Koriel is manipulating fate! She cannot manipulate you because you're too powerful for her weak mind to penetrate!" Hades growled, half lecturing Koriel. "Why won't you die?" Lina shrieked as she was smacked away by Hades's tail. "Because I have the power of three Gods, that's why!" Hades roared. Lina landed on a ledge and panted. This was going nowhere. She clenched her fists and felt a large wave of energy building up inside herself. She put her hands together and slowly pulled them apart. Between her hands was a purple vortex which would destroy anything in its path. "This might just kill me," Lina said to herself as the vortex widened. "But it's worth it."
Lina pulled her hands as far apart as she could and shot the rapidly growing vortex at Hades. "Die, you monster!" Lina screamed as the vortex sucked the last of Lina's power from her. Her wings fell limp and she plummeted downward. "Lina!" Pittoo shouted. He had woken up in time to see her shoot the vortex at Hades. "My lord!" Koriel screamed. Lina fell at the edge of a cliff and Pittoo watched in awe as Hades was sucked into a world of blackness. Koriel jolted and fell in a heap. Her long black hair returned to its usual silver colour, and her eyes changed back to their soft brown.
"Huh? What happened?" Pit said groggily as he sat up. He had reverted to his normal form, and the tips of his wings were black from the dirt. "I don't know…" Celina said as she walked over to him, holding her side. It was bruised and bleeding badly- the blood was soaking through her toga. "Where's Harlan?" She asked. "Here." Acero said from behind. He walked up to them with the demi-god in his arms. The poor boy had a broken arm and leg. "Where's Pittoo?" He asked as he spit blood from his mouth. "Over there." Celina said as she pointed to the farthest end of the cliff. Pittoo sat hunched on his knees, cradling Lina's head in his hands.
"Why'd you have to die?" Pittoo whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks- the first pure tears he had ever shed. "Pittoo, it's alright." Pit said as he placed a reassuring hand on the dark angel's shoulder. Pittoo shrugged the hand away and stroked Lina's cheek lovingly. "Lina?" Acero said in shock. His eyes welled up with tears and he turned away. "It's really okay, Pittoo. Sacrifices have to be made sometimes. I'm sure she loved you as much as you loved her. It's okay." Pit whispered. Pittoo stood up with Lina in his arms and whipped around to face his counterpart. "Okay?!" He yelled, causing Pit to step back a few paces. "The only person who understood me- the only one who loved me- she's dead, and you think its okay?!" Pittoo screamed. He ran away from the group and flew off to find a portal out of the Underworld. Celina ran after the dark angel, shouting after him. "Pittoo, wait, come back! You-""Don't bother; you won't be able to catch him." A familiar voice said. The group turned around to see Lady Palutena, frail and thin, walking toward them. "Mum," The crippled Dragon God said with a smile. "Harlan," Lady Palutena said with a smile. She walked up to Acero and touched his forehead. His scar glowed a bright white. "Ah, I see you have absorbed my power." Lady Palutena said. "Please, I cannot bear to see you like this, my Lady. Extract the power and heal yourself." Acero pleaded. Lady Palutena once again touched his forehead and slowly, she regained her usual form.
"We defeated Hades once and for all," Celina said cheerily, although she could barely walk. "Now, what about Pittoo? Where's he going to go?" Pit asked his patron Goddess. "I don't know. He is very distraught. We should let him be for now." Lady Palutena said. She raised her hand and her staff appeared. "Next stop, Skyworld." Harlan said before his mum could. She smiled and the group was lifted into the heavens in a flash of white light.
(Writers Note: Thank you to everyone who sent in ideas to help me with this chapter; I am re-inspired and will have the next chapter up soon!)