Arc 3: Re-start, Chapter 14.5: Cleanse the sin.
(Two Steps from Hell: Aura)
A boot stepped into the dirt. A leather boot connected to a man. A huge man. He was towering over Juge with his back turned to him. From this angel the eye-patch was barely visible. Two axes were hanging from his belt. One was huge and the other small.
"Fa-ther...?" Juge said with his mind close to fainting again.
"...stay down. We will handle this." The man said and pulled up his axes.
"Take... Morte Consumptis..." He begged. The family heirloom was the strongest weapon the Velmóns had. His father was the best hunter in the world, and this was the best weapon for him.
"I don't need that. Don't expect me to fight with your weapon. That is your burden alone." He replied stoically. His axes were glowing.
As Juge fell into the dirt once more, the man looked at the monster that was called a sin and smirked. "I thought that the cardinal Sins were nothing more than a folklore. But who knew?"
This man was none other than Travis Velmón, the father of Juge.
"Hey, how long are you going to check on the other boy?" The Velmón turned around to see a figure kneeling down next to Akashi Mayhiro. He had no expression, because a mask was covering his face. In fact he was heavily covered from head to toe. "We were called to assist, seems we're too late for that."
"…"
"What? Not going to say anything? Warmachine?" Travis look in amusement as the masked hunter stood up and walked towards him, his brown eyes barely visible between the openings of his mask lit up with anticipation and anger.
"…I'm indebted to Kagami. Without him I would be dead." He responded as he took out twinsword connected at the base like scissor. "However, I was not expecting this… I happen to have come here while investigating the village." He looked up at the snarling Sin, which was shuffling his gigantic flat hooves. The blood that escaped its mouth still dribbled down. "We didn't come in time to save all of them. What a waste."
"It's the price one has to pay for being a hunter Warmachine."
"No need to tell me Travis Velmon, everyone signs up knowing about their fate." The hooded hunter grasped his weapons tightly. "Mios, let's see if we can't sever this beast's head from its body."
Unfastening the holsters that held his weapons, Travis seized them with deadly precision and got into his fighting stance. "Fine then, you will provide the distraction via frontal attack, leave the decapitation to me."
"Fine then Travis Velmon." The masked hunter spat out. "Leave the talking for later!"
"You are taking the words from my mouth! Warmachine!"
(Change music: Naruto Shippuuden: Crimson Flames)
Hearing his name the hooded hunter rushed out in a blinding pace, leaving Travis do to his part. The Grimm was reacting by opening its mouth, more than a hundred vines - some coated in Maryjane's blood - all made their way towards Warmachine. Yet the man didn't seemed fazed as he held up his twin swords.
"Mios, time to eat."
What happened in a span of seconds felt like a mere footstep for him. The ensnaring vines which trapped Maryjane were like paper for Warmachine's weapon. In the middle of his movement the metal parts were widening and opening up, covering the hooded man's arms like a multilayered armor. At the place where his right hand was before a circular opening filled to the brim with blades and two scissor like contraptions was build. As if having a life of its own this right arm devoured all vines and shredded them apart.
The sin roared at the sight of him cutting them and followed up by sending more vines after him. Shaking his head at its feeble attempt the man started running to evade the onslaught, cutting down again and again as he got closer to it. To any onlookers he was nothing more than a colorful blur.
The sound of the Sloth Sin's roar brought his attention back. It roared again, but for another reason, it was charging straight at him with full power. The Great One was running with a tremor, shaking the shrine down with every step.
"Trying to kill me with a bold move? That is very intereting." The hunter mused. As he readied Mios in his hand, the beast had taken another step. And his brown eyes widened as he threw one half of his weapon that he had detached from the metal arm directly into the beast's eye.
While Team LARJ's weapons were useless against the Cardinal Sin, completely unable to penetrate even its retina, Warmachine easily pierced it. Why was that? The hunter had already noticed the immense wound that the monster had taken from its previous fight. Blood was gushing in fountains from the hippopotamus like body. The area below it's enormous masked head had been split open by LARJ's determined combination attack. Eventually the Great One had weakened. Life force and energy were sipping out of it and despite the healing process the wound just wouldn't close.
'In this state it is too weak to protect its skin.' Warmachine had realised that with one simple glance.
Razor tips resembling spikes on Mios suddenly vibrated and were glowing orange as he penetrated the Sin's red, red eyes. Now howling in absolute pain the beast went down to its stomach with an almighty crash, however...
...the hunter's attack wasn't over.
Using the momentum of his shot weapon to send himself flying towards the Sin at high speed he skipped ahead. Holding the other half of Mios in reversal he smiled below the mask and curved upwards as he was pulling back the sword with ease. His speed stayed unchanged as he drove both blades into the Sin's thick skin, like he was cutting bread with a vibro-blade.
"Ursa, Swarm, Hoard and even the embodiment of Sin: Mios is ready to eat anything." He calmly declared as he used the side of the Sin's body to jump off and skidded to a halt. Assessing the damage he watched as the beast rose again, this time with more murderous intent to eat another hunter. "Perhaps Mios will have to chew on his food a little instead of swallowing it whole this time."
Before he could attack again Travis placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Then get 'it' to wake up so it can 'eat'. We have injured people that need medical attention soon."
"…Don't ever tell me what I can and can't do, Travis Velmon." Violently shaking of his hand Warmachine grasped both scissor swords comign from his right armored arm tightly and breathed in and out.
"Fine, then allow me to tag myself in." Grumbled the brown haired master hunter.
(Change music: Naruto: Kokuten)
"Let's see if it's dumb enough to fall into a trap." The man hissed out as he held his twin axes.
His Previous weapon was Morte Consumptis, but that was when he was the heir to the clan, with Juge being born into the world, he passed on his right to wield it. Settling with two axes by the name of Severer and a smaller one called Bringrad Travis was still a seriously dangerous warrior.
Holding Bringrad high he threw it directly at the Sin's head, with a loud 'clang' it made a impact as it returned back into his hand like a boomerang. The Sloth looked at its attacker and ran without hesitation and opened its mouth wide, readying itself to devour again, however Travis ran away from it and made his way towards the far end of the shrine, were he had something special planned for it.
Being trained for many years, Travis knew when he was being attackd, when to move and how to counter without losing a step in his path. Just like Warmachine he cut down the vines with ease through spinning motions of his axes, before vaulting over a large tree stump which after a split second was shattered by the incoming vines.
"Just how much fertilizer did this thing eat?" He shook his head. "Now's not the time. Trap this bastard, make it feel pain, cut its head off and the rest can go back to whoever wants it."
As he ducked, slided and barrel rolled, he finally reached the place he wanted to go to. Spinning around he saw the Sin running towards him with its head lowered, preparing to impale him with the spikes on its mask.
"You may be powerful, but the pain still made you lose reason." As he spoke the Sin felt something coil around it tightly, mainly around the legs and it stopped its movements alltogether. It stopped next to four very large pillars. And it was right in the middle of them.
"Too late." He took Severer and seemingly cut thin air, but only he saw the blinking of a thin metal wire and held on to it. Heaving he pulled the right to him and the wires responded by cutting into the Sin's dark skin. Blood and red dust spilled from its ankles while the wires made contact with its bones. "And for my next act!" He picked up a hammer from his belt and threw it at the nearest pillar near him.
On contact the pillar started wobbling left to right before it finally fell onto Travis target accompanied by the loud rumbling of a collapsing building. The Sin gave off another ear-splitting roar which made Travis wince a bit. "If you have to curse anyone then its your own stupidity for falling victim to my trap."
The other pillar shook slightly before leaning towards the Grimm and piling itself onto the it as well. The Sloth collapsed under the weight of two pillars. Thanks to its weakened ankles and another pair of pillars crashing on top of it, all movement was stopped. A more weakening roar echoed out of the rubble before it went dead silent.
A few seconds went by before both Warmachine and Travis felt a massive power spike.
In a massive explosion, the Sin rose again, the red markings around its body glowing blood red as it shook off the debris. Additionally the wounds Travis and Warmachine made were slowly healing. Travis shook his head and smiled grimly.
"So that's what a deadly sin is like. A reminder to humanity's own sins."
"The true sin is being held down by the actions of the past. One must accept them, whether it's losing a loved one or killing yourself." The hooded warrior landed next to him with a thud before looking at the rampaging creature that was breaking everything in the vicinity. It was lifting the frontal legs off the ground before bringing them down with a crash. The ground was spiking up with stone mountains much larger than the two hunters.
"Split up!" Travis yelled at War and the hooded hinter reluctantly obliged. They attacked the Sin from both sides, making deep gashes and cuts as many times as they could before they would heal again.
Warmachine was sliding underneath the Sin to cut up the already injured belly, by using the chest wound and widening it. Blood, dust and guts spilled out of it in a torrent. Knowing that he was underneath it, the Sin proceeded to crush him with its weight, but that was something he had predicted. Aiming Mios at it he smiled.
"Here, Eat Mios!" As if on command, the blades opened up like a hungry bird with a beak full of spinning razor sharp teeth, cutting up a hole big enough for War to enter. He started cutting up the inside of the beast like a drill, bone and all.
"Is It tasty?! This is your first time eating a sin Mios!"
The Cardinal Sin roared in horror and pain as its insides were cut up in high speed motions, feeling something trying to come up it felt another hole being ripped open and it chocked on its own blood.
"Travis Velmon!" War looked at him in midair. "Your turn."
"…Show off." Travis threw both his axes straight at the beasts head and they dented the great One's head with force. Both axes were stuck deeply in its forehead before Travis took his hammer and ran towards the Sin.
In a last desperate attempt, it painfully opened its mouth and send forth blood covered vines, splitting the earth with stone spikes and it also sent out a roar with all its stamina, trying to knock the hunter off balance.
It didn't work fast enough.
Travis fumbled as he felt the roar collide with him, but quickly regained his running stance bypushing through with willpower, continuing to run at the sin before jumping high into the air. Using his free hand he threw his hammer at the axes. The impact and force transferred to Bringrad and Severer. That force send the axes deep into the Sin's brain and to the other side out of the back of its head. Blood spurted everywhere and the Sin's eyes started closing.
"Oh no, you don't get to die that easily! Your sins have piled up, we'll make you feel the same way as the people you tortured." He looked at War. "Let's end it now."
From behind the Sin, he got into his stance and paused. "Devour it, Mios!"
The two swords, dripping inthe Sin's blood opened up once more and glowed golden. War screamed as he ran at the Sin before spinning around at lethal speed.
"Let this sin be cleaned." Upon impact the hooded warrior slice up everything he could see before making his way towards its head, it was near death.
Travis had retrieved his axes. He twohanded Severer and it started glowing purple with his aura. Turning once, he swung.
At the same time Warmachine swung his swords in an x form, cutting the Cardinal Sin's neck. The cut was not deep enough, but when War landed on his feet...
...a purple line appeared on the Grimm's neck and the head was cut clean off. Travis had split the whole earth between himself and the other side of the Shrine. It looked like the Sin was just in the way.
Red liquid was gushing everywhere and the sound of a huge lump of meat crashing into the split earth was reverberating though their feet.
Like two dying stars the red eyes faded into nothingness and a wave of of negative energy seeped through the world. For a moment all the accumulated death and despair of the being that was an embodiment of human fault was send to the world.
The grey sky above them opened up forcefully and revealed the shining light of the sun.
The Cardinal Sin titled Sloth was slain.
Warmachine and Travis Velmón watched their bloody work before seeing the dust from its body flying into the air and become one with the air around them. It created a slight red mist.
"…" Travis was the first one to spot something from the Sin's head, it's mouth was hanging open... An object had fallen out of its jaws. A small cross chain. It was tightly grasped by a severed arm.
"Damn it… you'd think it would have eaten all of her." Travis sighed as he picked up the arm of the fallen huntress.
"My work is done." Warmachine sheathed Mios which had completely turned back into a scissor sword. "Mios is satisfied with his meal, take care Travis Velmon."
"Wait damn it!" But the hooded hunter didn't listen. He vanished into thin air. Travis sighed in frustration before looking down and then at the two young hunters. "Back to camp it is, Julia won't be happy if I keep her waiting." With much disgust towards the bloody scene, he tucked the arm holding the chain under his arm and walked towards Juge and Akashi.
"To be able to see one of the Sins is a feat in itself, to fight it is both stupid and admirable." He grabbed both of them and put either on his shoulders. "We have much to talk about back at camp." The one eyed hunter easily carried them towards the exit. His muscly arms were covered in blood and sweat, but he was barely out of breath. The working left eye was squinted.
"You very much just found this world's end."
"You just found the key to Remnant's end."
I couldn't let it at that, i;m sorry.
Johno 343 and Bugdevil signing of.