Chapter 17 Awake to Justice: Showdown
The flesh-like ground surrounding the prison squelched under Sparda's cloven hooves as he approached Marlene and her mother. Still in shock, they did not whether to flee or stay but they did know that this demon had just saved their lives.
"We must leave" Sparda voice was stern and calm.
"No! We, we can't, they'll kill us…." The mother retorted.
"No harm will come to you."
"But what about you?" Marlene said with a voice of naive, yet genuine, concern, "Won't your friends be mad at you?"
"Do not worry about me. I will be fine. My 'friends,' on the other hand, will not."[1] Sparda had become a new being. The cloud of darkness that had surrounded him since birth had dispersed and his vision was no longer occluded. He could now breathe in such total clarity that his mind ceased to move altogether; he no longer thought, he simply knew. This newfound certainty and stillness filled Sparda with a power of will the likes of which no demon had ever experienced before. The ground itself seemed to give way to Sparda's terrible, adamantine will.
"Come now, we must leave." Sparda picked the mother and Marlene up in both his arms and flew away. His goal was to get them back through the portal to the human world, but there was one glaring problem: the portal was easily over twenty leagues away. Another problem was, being in a remote region of Hell, he would have to pass many different Tribe[2] territories for any chance at a quick escape. The first of the territories he would have to pass was the Frost pit. He knew he would not be able just fly over with two humans in tow, yet he knew that fighting them would increase the likelihood that Marlene and her mother would be killed. It must be done, Sparda thought.
The Frost pit, though not incredibly large, was incredibly treacherous to any invader. The icy environment gave the Frosts a definite advantage; there was no real ground to on which gain one's footing, and the steepness of the surrounding walls and platforms left the opposition at a constant disadvantage of having to fend off attackers from above. The frozen stalagmites that lined the pit simultaneously provided the perfect cover for the Frosts, as well as guaranteed that any slip on the part of the aggressor would be their last mistake.
As Sparda drew closer, he descended and eventually landed softly. "You must be quiet. Do not make any sudden movements." Sparda looked Marlene and her mother directly in the eyes as he gave his orders, "Right there," he pointed to a craggy opening about one hundred yards away at the end of the pit, "That is the route we must follow. The ground is very slick, so move slowly." And thus, they entered the deadly Frost pit.
Sparda took small steps as he maneuvered through the fissure, allowing Marlene and her mother to keep up. The pit was freezing cold, and the ice created a frigid, still wind that somehow howled through the caves above. They had made it almost half-way through the pit when Marlene noticed the frozen human body on the ground and was about to scream, but Sparda placed his finger over her mouth and shook his head slowly, indicating that she must remain silent.
But as Sparda turned around, a Frost was standing right there, silently observing them. "La tjork tala kee, une LAK, mehorje len nok fru?"[3] The Frost tongue was absolutely foreign to Marlene and her mother, as were the other demonic dialects, but Sparda knew most of the language variations in Hell and knew exactly what the Frost had said. In the human language, the Frost had said: "Where are you taking those humans, General?" A simple question, yes, but a precarious one at the same time.
Sparda could feel the gaze of the other Frosts, peering down at him and the humans from their caves. He did not want to start a fight, not here, not with them here. "I am taking them for execution before Lord Mundus. He requests them now, let me pass." Sparda could feel the other Frosts coming further and further out of their caves, eager to prey on the humans. Most evolved demons in Hell considered the killing of humans a type of amusement, a game to play to escape their permanent servitude in Hell and assert their dominance over weaker beings.
The Frost stepped aside, appearing to allow Sparda and the humans to pass, but, as soon as an opening presented itself, the Frost attacked. Sparda did not have to see it in order to know that the Frost had extended its frozen claw blades for attack and was about to stab Marlene. Just as the claw was about to graze Marlene's face there was a sudden flash of light; Sparda's sword was unsheathed, and the Frost's clawed hand lay severed on the ground. The Frost stumbled back in pain and cast its jagged eyelets up toward Sparda, who stood in front of the humans, towering above him. The Frost then squinted as it observed Sparda, "There's something…something different….." Its eyes widened and it belted out, "TRAITOR! He's the trai –"
The Frost was silenced as Sparda decapitated him. Then, an eerie cacophony of screeches, like glass being scratched upon glass, began to emerge from the caves as Marlene's mother held her daughter close. Sparda realized now that there was no other way; he would have to fight his way out. I will not let anything happen to them he reassured himself. Suddenly, hundreds of Frosts flooded out of their caves all screaming the same thing in their dialect: "TRAITOR!"
Sparda had fought the Frosts before, but never had it been with the direct intent to kill them. He not only had to kill them all to stifle any possible leak of his treason, but he had to make sure none of them got their hands on Marlene or her mother.
The first wave of Frosts attempted to come down directly on Marlene but was intercepted by Sparda, whose blade was now a spear. As these Frosts were launched upward, more flooded into the pit. Sparda began to spin the spear above his head quickly, slicing off blades and limbs of the incoming Frosts. As the final falling Frost was knocked back, Sparda and the humans stood surrounded by yet one hundred more.
"Stay completely still. Do not make one move." Sparda spoke very slowly and deliberately to Marlene and her mother. They nodded in compliance.
Suddenly, Frosts were charging from all sides. Sparda did not have reason to think, so he simply acted. As the closest wave drew near, Sparda charged them head on and suddenly stopped, allow the low friction of the ice to preserve his momentum. As he slid, he made one gigantic circular slice with his blade in sword form, turning all the incoming Frosts to shards of ice. Sparda looked back at Marlene and her mother, who trembled as the other Frosts continued the charge. Sparda ran back towards them, with incredible balance on the ice, then his wings snapped backward and he sent himself barreling at the Frosts in a spiraling motion. Large gaps were created within the masses as Sparda went through the Frosts like an auger.
Not one Frost had made it within even ten feet from Marlene and her mother as the piles of frozen limbs and bodies grew larger. Over two hundred Frosts lay dead or mutilated on the ground, as a final wave approached. Sparda stood near Marlene and her mother and fought them all off in cyclic maneuvers. Sparda then smashed the permafrost around himself and the humans, cracking it, forming a gulf between them and the Frosts. He now had the higher ground and the remaining Frosts lurked back and forth, wondering how they would attack Sparda.
Then, one belligerent Frost decided to attack. It teleported over to the island but was summarily split in two but the Sparda's vertically spinning blade before he could even reach him. As his body parts fell to the ground, the other Frosts began to back away, knowing that they now did not stand a chance in single combat.
"MALLAA LARK TUR!" a voice resonated from the highest cave in the pit. The chief Frost emerged and revealed himself to Sparda. He was far more menacing than the other Frosts, with two curved blades in addition to forearm claws, icy spikes on its back, and a crown made of ice shards. "So, you are the traitor Lord Mundus spoke of…"
Sparda did not respond and fixed his glare on the head Frost. "You think you can defy the Throne?"[4]
"I will defy the Throne," Sparda spoke.
"This time you have taken your heresy too far. This is where it ends." The Frost leaped from his position above Sparda and Sparda flew directly up towards him, his sword unsheathed. The collision created a flash of bright blue light and when it died down, the head Frost had lost both its blades. "You!—" but before he could continue his statement, Sparda had stabbed him right through the throat with absurd speed. He pushed his blade in deeper and, with two quick flashes, the Frost's body fell from the sky in small pieces.
With his death, the other Frosts fearfully retreated to their caves, acknowledging their defeat. Sparda's sword emanated steam as his rage coursed through it, sublimating its encasing of frozen blood and ice. He picked Marlene and her mother up in both his arms again and flew out of the Frost's pit. Sparda had never felt better than at this moment. Killing demons in this manner brought an indescribable satisfaction to him. As he slaughtered the Frosts, one thought ran through his mind constantly, Mundus.
His body became smaller and smaller as he faded away into the darkness of Hell….
It did not take long for Sparda to come upon the home of the Shadows. Remembering the survivors from his recent run-in with the Frosts, he knew that it was now pointless to try and sneak through. If he intended to leave Hell alive with two humans, he would have to fight them eventually anyway.
The home of the Shadows was actually spread across Hell, a network of caverns deep below the ground. To try and fly across any opening with two humans would be suicide, because of the Shadows' defenses; if anything tried to fly over or came too close to their caves, a barrage of needle-like energy shards would turn them into a pincushion. For Sparda of course, due to his armor, it would be nothing more than a slight nuisance, whereas the humans would be killed instantly. Thus, alighting quietly, Sparda told Marlene and her mother to stay above ground and away from the caves. "It will not take long."
Sparda landed in the murky blackness of the Shadows' Den. All he could see were the bright red eyes of multiple Shadows peering out of the darkness, silently watching, waiting. Then, Sparda noticed one Shadow creeping its way up towards Marlene and her mother, no doubt enticed by the idea of living flesh. He sliced it in three places and it fell to the ground.
"Your miserable lives end today. Come accept your fate."
Suddenly, Shadows exploded out of hiding, taking various shapes, some resembling blades, others resembling gaping maws with razor sharp teeth. A long, narrow blade extended from the darkness towards Sparda repeatedly, trying to skewer him. He jumped up away from them and found his footing directly on them, paralyzing the Shadow temporarily. He then ran along the spike with incredible agility, heading directly for the Shadow who was shooting the blade. It was pierced right through the eyes by Sparda's sword, appropriately, as he extended it outwards with great force. The Shadow writhed in pain and took on a spherical form that glowed brightly, lighting part of the cavern.
The Shadows that had taken blade forms, suddenly hurled themselves at Sparda from both sides. He was able to dodge, causing them to crash into each other. Then, all of the Shadows fell to the ground, and surrounded Sparda. They reared back and suddenly shot out their longs spikes all at once. As they extended, Sparda ducked and dodged in a way that most other demons were incapable of doing; indeed, no demon in history had survived a similar attack by a pride of Shadows.
Sparda found himself in a web-like maze of blades, constantly changing as the Shadows extended and retracted their forms. As Sparda dodged each spike, they appeared to be in a stalemate, but that would change soon. I cannot waste time here; the humans could be discovered at any moment. It is time to end this… Sparda thought to himself.
He unsheathed his sword, drew it back and paused as arcane energy pulsed around him. A shockwave was sent through the caverns, stunning the Shadows and buying Sparda the time he needed. The aura surrounding Sparda began to shrink as all of its energy was concentrated into his sword, setting it ablaze with a crimson ardor. Transformed into its scythe mode and extended, Sparda threw it hard toward the Shadows as they continued their attack. Almost before it had left his hands, Sparda had teleported a short distance away.
He began to run towards the Shadows, through the labyrinth of skewers, ducking and dodging in the spaces in between the spikes. As Sparda leaped and slid through the gaps, he unleashed multiple bursts of hellfire in every direction. He would teleport and reappear later, sometimes in the air, sometimes running on the ground, and the fireballs that he shot from his arms and feet would connect with the bewildered Shadows. Although to an outside observer, the Shadows were shooting their spikes out at blurring speeds, for Sparda, time seemed to have slowed down. As he came closer and closer to the pride of darkness, he watched bemusedly as the spikes crawled towards him, evading them effortlessly.
Suddenly, Sparda leapt high into the air, teleporting from spike to spike, as his blade continued to eviscerate Shadow after Shadow. When he reached the highest spike, he began to run down it towards the Shadows, as spheres of molten magma formed in his hands. Now panicking, the Shadows frantically tried to pierce him, but he seemed oblivious to their striving. As he neared the ground, the caverns became blurry and shadows danced, as the air became thin. Just before Sparda unleashed his most devastating attack yet, there was a slight gasp as air rushed into the cave and ignited in a massive explosion, and the Shadows realized that they had lost.
As the smoke cleared, Sparda was left holding out his right arm. Within seconds, his blade found itself back in his hand.
The scene was now completely different; every Shadow had taken a spherical form and the entire cavern glowed with light. Sparda drew his sword to his side and charged. He slashed his sword with blinding speed as he made his way through the defeated pride of Shadows. As he made his final slash, the cavern became completely black again and the shadows danced with life no more.
Sparda flew back up to Marlene and her mother, appearing more alive than when he went in. He knew that his hellfire attack had granted them some time, having disrupted the entire network of caverns, but more Shadows would come prowling back into this Den soon enough. "There is no time to waste, we have to keep moving"
And Sparda continued on his way back to the portal. Sparda has just obliterated two of the most imposing demon clans within Hell but he knew that that was nothing compared to what he would have to face as he neared Mundus. Visions of an entire army, led by his fellow generals, heading towards him entered his mind. Sparda belted through the darkness of Hell and his mind began to race again. A far more grievous threat loomed on the horizon…..
[1] "I will be judged for my sins at a later time. My 'friends,' on the other hand, will not be granted such a reprieve." The previous is the line included in the earliest manuscript, although given the fact that Sparda is meant to be addressing a child, the translation included above seems more sensible. ~Ed.
[2] The manuscripts seem to be ambiguous in their use of "clan" or "Tribe." One apparent difference however, is that a clan seems to refer to a smaller social group, while a Tribe is somewhat akin to a larger taxon to which many clans may belong. ~Ed.
[3] This transcription is almost certainly a corruption or invention on the part of the author "Didymus." It seems to have no real syntax or grammar and was most likely used to convey the brutish uncouthness of demonic speech. The earliest extant manuscripts include a different transcription of vocalizations, but the section of the leaves are badly damaged and more time is needed for reconstruction. ~Ed.
[4] The original folio includes a reference here: Metathronos.