Chapter 22
Disclaimer: I don't own DGM
Levrier was furious. The report he had received was not what he had been hoping for. Instead of gaining the purest Innocence that would allow the Order to truly destroy the Millennium Earl, the sent troops had been attack by the local population, that, strengthened by the Innocence's power, drove them back long enough for the Noah to waltz in and take not only the Innocence, but the wielder as well. By now, both Innocence and user would be in Allen Walker's service. Allen Walker. That name alone made Levrier's blood boil. That boy had within a few weeks destroyed everything Levrier had worked years to build up, and did so with a smile.
First of all, in that embarrassing operation to eliminate the boy, the reputation of his most feared unit CROW, that gained respect second only to the actual exorcists, had been dragged strait through the dirt. The higher-ups knew about the planned assassination, and it's grand failure. Then the boy appeared on the enemy's side, happily chatting like nothing happened, while converting a potential exorcist with a powerful ability that would have been a valuable ally to the enemy's side. Then he ruined a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to exterminate Tyki Mikk, while killing Friedrich and somehow breaking the mental conditioning on Valkyrie Nocturn, which had taken Levrier and his men years to properly set in, and now he had robbed the Order of the tool that would have given them the power to smash the Earl and his soldiers. And all of that was being blamed on him, shoving responsibility to others and cover-ups could only do so much, after all. All in all, things were going downhill, especially considering that their newest exorcist and perhaps only way to find the enemy's weaknesses liked Valkyrie more than him, and given her new personality and foul mouth, that was saying something.
Still, Dagmar's abilities were great, and since she had shown that she could look into other minds and actually read the memories, she'd be irreplaceable when gathering data on the Noah and their weaknesses. Perhaps she could help solve the Walker-problem, although Levrier would wait for a more suitable time for that. One thing he had learned about Allen Walker, the boy ruined all plans that relied on chance, and if something wasn't planned into the last detail, it would fail if he was involved. Currently Levrier was busy strengthening the Order, while they were moving more and more of the Order into the ark, where they would be safe from opening gates that let hordes of Akuma in, as they had found out it was impossible to open a gate that lead into the ark, unless you were in the ark and sent the gateway to somewhere outside of the ark. Basically, ark - somewhere else worked, while ark - some other place inside of the ark failed. You just couldn't open a portal that led to the ark, even the portable gate-generators merely sent a signal to the ark to open a portal at their location. Which was good, since it meant that once the entire Order was stationed at the ark, with mere outposts all over the world, things would speed up incredibly, allowing them to be more efficient than ever before. Still, one day, he would get rid of Allen Walker, personally if need be.
A small shudder ran down Allen's spine, but he dismissed it. He was far too worried about what the Earl was up to. The Earl had merely smiled, given Mordred a pat on the back, saying a short "Well done everyone." and left, in a giddy mood that gave all Noah a strangely uncomfortable feeling.
Still, so far, nothing bad had happened to him and the others, although Allen knew better than to jinx it. He was currently watching over the still-sleeping Road with Tyki, Lulubelle introducing Mordred to the Noah he didn't know yet, namely Cyril and Alice. Jasdevi was somewhere in the new arc, strolling around and probably breaking stuff. Luciano was in one of the training-rooms, trying to completely master his Innocence, he was at over 98% as Allen's Innocence had revealed, but he was getting close, and Allen wondered if Hevlaska would feel it if Luciano exceeded 100%. Not that he expected Luciano to reach the level of a General anytime soon, but reaching 100% without surpassing it was a solid possibility, and it gave the Innocence a shape-shift, at least his and Lenalee's had.
Allen's Archangels were currently welcoming their newest member, or more like linking up with him, as Allen noticed they seemed to build up mental connections with each other, Michael being the only current telepathic link to Allen, although they were working on how to change that. And Nevermore was in another room of the ark, probably sound asleep, as that bird always slept when Allen didn't need him, but he had a very good feeling of when he was needed and never failed to appear just in the nick of time, or to bring Allen some stuff he'd snatched god knows where.
Still, Allen had the feeling something horrible was about to happen. And he was right.
In the shadows, a group of strange people conversed. They were wearing purple clothing and their skin seemed rather dark, as if they had been born in a very sunny place. One man, the largest one and the only on with a Afro in the group, looked around. "We know where our targets are, and we all have our instructions. Any questions?"
Two raised their hands. "Why do you get to exterminate all the strong ones while the two of us have to kill a a damned bird?! And why two of us for one bird when that guy gets four people for himself?!"
The leader looked at them. "Because our master doesn't know of its abilities and goes by the old saying: Better safe than sorry. That way, if the bird pulls out a trick that blindsides and kills one of you, the other one is warned and can kill the bird before it warns our targets. As for your second question, it was the master's decision, you are free to complain"
The two muttered, but remained silent. The leader nodded. "No more questions? Good, then let us prove our superiority to all others, especially the Noah."
All nodded solemnly.
Allen blinked. "Tyki, did you just feel that strange vibe?"
Tyki nodded. "Call me paranoid, but yes I did. Strange. I wonder what caused it. Maybe one of the Earl's new experiments, he was working on something that nearly tore the ark apart when he left."
Allen nodded. "That may be the case, but I still have a bad feeling about all of this."
Tyki shrugged. "Who can attack us in our own ark?"
If he only knew.
Luciano looked up from his training. He just got a really bad feeling, and his gut had never lead him wrong before. He decided not to completely exhaust himself, just in case.
In a single motion, all Archangels raised their heads. They had felt the bad vibe, and frowned. They exchanged looks and stood up, preparing themselves for anything that may happen tonight.
Mordred saw all Noah shudder slightly, as his own hand subconsciously moved closer to his sword. He looked around. "Am I correct in assuming that the ladies and the gentleman have also felt that?"
All three nodded. Alice spoke the thought that all Noah, Deminoah and Archangels had had. "What the fuck was that?"
Lulubelle frowned. "I don't know, but I don't like it."
Cyril seemed jumpy. "My father-senses are tingling. Something might happen to Road!"
He jumped up, only for Lulubelle to place a hand on his shoulder and push him back down. "She'll be fine, Tyki is there to protect her, and despite your hatred, Allen is not the type to take advantage of people. He's more the type people can easily take advantage of, as he's so annoyingly helpful. And if I'm wrong, I'll look the other way when you butcher him."
Cyril considered this, nodded and sat back down. If a single hair on Road's head was harmed, there'd be hell to to pay. But for now, it was only polite to focus on the young man that was standing before him. The blond-haired boy had a few things for and against him in Cyril's book.
The only thing that was really bad about the boy was that he apparently served Allen, which already cost him a few points. But if you overlooked that deficit, he was very sympathetic. He was friendly, polite and clever. He gave his actual opinion on topics, not merely speaking what the other one wanted to hear, something that Cyril liked, spending too much time with politics for his own taste. While his knowledge was limited, not surprising seeing how isolated he had grown up, he was intelligent and understood things immediately once properly explained. He seemed to have a basic respect for everyone, in he remained respectful until he evaluated how much respect his counterpart deserved and adjusted his behavior accordingly. All in all, Cyril liked the kid, especially since he had respect for women.
Cyril smiled. "So Mordred, according to your own words, you recall being THE Mordred, the son of king Arthur. While I find it rather unlikely, I'll buy it for now. Reincarnation is not that much harder to believe than using souls to power war-machines, after all. So tell me, how was the time back then?"
Mordred smiled and started to tell stories he remembered, serious ones, sad ones, funny ones, all these stories he told with great enthusiasm, gaining laughs from the Noah at the adequate times. Still, in the back of his mind, Mordred had the feeling something was horribly wrong.
A telepathic message rang through the minds of the hidden figures. "Commence the operation."
Cyril was right in the middle of lifting his glass to have a drink, when he froze and stared behind Mordred.
The blond Deminoah immediately jumped and spun, hand going for his blade, when a terrible blow to the side of the head hit him and sent him flying halfway through the wall, where he motionlessly remained.
The Noah stared at the man who had done that. He was wearing a horrible purple suit, had dark skin and snow-white hair. He wore in evil grin. "Well, one little piggy went to heaven, which of the remaining three little piggies will go next?"
Alice jumped at him, slamming both hands into his chest. Her eyes widened. "What?!"
The man staggered a bit, but when he looked up, his grin was even wider than before. "Aah, is the little piggy shocked that her magic fingers didn't do anything to little old me? Well, the little piggy has to understand that my kind cannot be altered by the likes of you, so Influence-type Noah are useless against me." He pulled his fist back. "Well, since this little piggy volunteered, I'll send her on her way next!" His fist came shooting towards Alice's face, so fast that she didn't have time to react in any way but brace for the doubtlessly bone-crushing impact.
But it never came. Cyril had jumped up and caught the fist in his hand. The man whistled. "Well, isn't that a strong little piggy we have here?" He asked.
Before he could do anything else, a serrated whip wrapped itself around his chest, before being pulled back, forcing the man into an involuntary rotation. He quickly caught himself, but it was too late.
The fist seemed to take his entire field of vision as it impacted with his face, driving the nose into the face as the man staggered back a good ten feet. He cursed. "Ouch, hat relly urt." He pulled his nose back out, ignoring the crunching sounds that accompanied the makeshift facelift. His smile turned feral. "It looks like I'll have to get serious. Run while you can little piggies, the big bad wolf is coming."
Jasdevi suddenly saw themselves attacked by a weird, tanned, skinny man. But just because he was skinny didn't mean he was weak. Far from it. Devitto had just crouched down to pick up a penny someone had dropped, when he felt a gust of air rush over his head, followed by a loud bang. He looked up and saw that human spaghetti, his arm up to the elbow in the wall. The twins had jumped back, while the spaghetti charged them again.
They had tried to pepper his with a few shots, but the enemy had simply slid out of the way, a infuriating grin on his face. "You're wasting your time, my special ability is flexibility, I can bend like a piece of rubber. You could shoot me for a thousand years and never score a hit, not that I'd let you."
With that, he literally flung himself at the twins, who parted before him like the red sea before Moses, letting him sail harmlessly through the gap they made before jumping back together. Then, while the attacker was pulling himself out of the wall, they pointed at him. "Jasdevi's Hate!"
The slimy golem of blood and corpses materialized right on top of the unknown assailant, making it harder for him to move. He managed to fight his head out of the heap that was moving with him to keep him trapped, and because it was mostly liquid, the assailant's brute strength did him no good. He looked up, to see the twins pointing their barrels at him. "Bend this, asshole. Red Bomb!" The twins had learned from their last encounter with Crowry that it was best not to shoot freezing bullets at their golem.
The fireball hit the attacker square in the face, and a hiss of pain was heard. But once the smoke had lifted, Jasdevi saw that the attacker had squeezed himself out of the golem like a overgrown worm. Jasdevi snared. "Can't you just die already?!"
The man sneered. "Enjoy the feeling of landing a hit, it won't happen again." He charged them, intending on squashing them like ants.
The twins shared a glance. "The Earl from when he was laughing but really pissed!" The man's charge was suddenly ended by the Fake Earl, who slammed a ball of energy into him. The man shot back, only to be caught in the corpse-golem once again.
He pulled his head in to avoid a decapitating swing, before looking at the twins. "You're better than I'd thought. It's time for me to get serious."
All four Archangels jumped back as four black-and-purple figures crashed into the places they had been before with the force of a falling meteorite. All moved into battle-stances, while the four attackers each turned to one of them, apparently intending for one-on-one battles. Then they sneered.
"We know better than to underestimate you trash, so we will go all-out from the start."
Luciano looked up. "I know you're here. I don't know where, but I know you're here, so come out!" Seeing that there was no reaction, Luciano spun in a circle, making his scythe form a gray mist around him, before releasing that mist, making it spread all throughout the the room. There was a flicker, then a muscular man appeared, his entire body smoking.
The man hissed. "Ah that hurt. I hate Innocence. But you have good instincts, to sense me even though I used my ability to perfectly blend into my surroundings. Still, seeing that you have Innocence, I won't underestimate you."
Allen and Tyki were playing a card-game, Allen wiping the floor with Tyki, when suddenly Crown Clown activated, draping itself around Allen and blocking a blow from behind.
"You survived. But let's see you do it again!" The man shouted while lunging at Allen.
Said boy dodged and looked at Tyki, who had just tried to pump the opponent with Tease, only to find that once again, he was facing an enemy he couldn't phase through. He cursed.
The man laughed. "My kind is immune to your petty tricks, we can't be Influenced."
Allen's eyes narrowed, that meant his power wouldn't work on this guy either. "Tyki, get Road out of here, I'll buy you some time."
Tyki nodded, picked Road up bridal-style and ran out of the room, the man making no attempt to stop him. Allen glared at him. "Who are you?"
The figure grinned. "There's no need for a dead man to know me."
Allen's eyes narrowed. "If you want me dead, did you let the others escape because you don't care about them?"
The man grinned. "No, I let them go because I'm not alone."
Allen's eyes widened and he spun around, but the man had moved first, blocking his path while forcing him back with a kick to the gut, which Allen's cape deflected. Allen's skin turned gray raised his clawed left hand, and the man's eyes narrowed.
"Very well, let us fight in our true forms."
All across the ark, the tanned figures transformed. Their skin turned pitch-black, while their purple clothing melted away, turning into demonic wings of the same color.
Cyril's eyes widened. "What are you?"
The winged man sneered. "You don't deserve to know." He spun in what could have been a pirouette, trying to hit Cyril with his wings, but the Noah had already jumped back and ducked, leaving the swipe to hit nothing but air. But their attacker had been prepared, as he used his swing to gather speed for a punch that he was sending to Lulubelle's head. A second before it would have crushed her skull, she turned to water, letting the punch fly through her while trying to wrap herself around the attacker, who used his wings to shake her off.
The man laughed. "You're not bad little piggies, but seeing that I don't breathe, you won't be able to suffocate me, so try something else."
"Sure, eat this!" A voice rang out behind him, before a number of solid steel spikes hit him in the back with great speed. Alice had acted, using her power on the floor rather than trying to directly alter the assailant.
The enemy staggered, but quickly caught himself. "Had I been anyone else, that would have done some damage, but unfortunately for you little girl, my special ability is to harden myself, and since I'm harder than steel right now, your spikes didn't do shit!"
He sent a stamping-kick to Alice's head, only for Cyril to catch the attack again. The winged man glared at him. "You know little piggy, you're starting to get on my nerves. I've decided that I'll slaughter you first."
With that, he sent a flurry of punches at Cyril, who blocked them all, before slipping beneath the attackers guard and slamming both fists into the man's chest.
The winged man was catapulted backwards, coughing out a bit of purple blood. His chest looked like a piece of glass that had been thrown to the floor but didn't completely shatter, as it was covered in cracks. He coughed and glared at Cyril. "Had I not hardened my body further in the last moment, that would have shattered me. How did you do it, know you can't be that powerful." He frowned. "Of course. That's it. That's why you don't go to the front-lines, little piggy, you're ability is defensive. You didn't block me, you absorbed the power of my punches and sent them back to me in one go, didn't you? You're power is Absorption!"
Cyril shrugged. "And what if it is?"
The creature grinned. "Then little piggy, I've found the answer to my problems with you." The cracks, that had gotten smaller with is speech, vanished completely. "Surprised? It's not high-speed regeneration, but it heals shallow wounds pretty quickly. And my solution is simple. I'll simply make my torso harder than my fists!"
He had barely finished talking, when diamond spikes shot out of the wall behind him, giving his wings and body a number of scratches. As he jumped forward, a whip with diamond serrations wrapped around his neck, while Lulubelle jumped on his chest, pushing herself off it to gain the necessary pull, hoping that it would take the attackers head off.
Unfortunately, they had no such luck. The winged man hissed in pain and a gash half an inch deep appeared on his neck, but then he shook them off and started his counterattack.
Luciano cursed. Things were not going well. Not at all. He was getting his ass kicked. Even if that winged bastard didn't turn invisible anymore, he was still pretty fast. The fact that he could fly and therefore attack from above was not helping either.
He was knocked off-balance and flew back as he blocked another kick to the head, only barely managing to hold on to his scythe, which he knew that he couldn't afford to loose at any cost right now. All in all, he was at a major disadvantage, seeing that he was bruised and bloody, while his opponent only gave off a little smoke from a lucky hit Luciano had managed to get in, causing the enemy to give up his game of going invisible and striking from an unseen angle, but that wasn't really helping Luciano much. He was taking a beating, and he couldn't do anything about it. His scythe, while an excellent weapon, simply took too much time to swing for an enemy like this whose entire strategy seemed to be based on hit-and-run.
He rolled to the side to dodge a stomp that would have otherwise shattered his ribcage and jumped up, sending a wave of decay at his foe, who foolishly folded his wings to block the shot instead of dodging. There was a hissing sound, and while the wings were still there, they now moved very stiffly, making them unusable for flight. The enemy realized this as well, as the frown on his face and the chunky movement of the wings clearly told Luciano.
Now that the enemy couldn't go into the air, Luciano could probably buy himself some more time, but he held no illusions. The enemy was as fast as he was, maybe a tad faster, and he definitely had more strength behind his punches and kicks. If things stayed like this, Luciano was going down.
Jasdevi couldn't believe their eyes. One minute, their enemy was trapped, about to be finished off, the next minute, he turns black, using purple wings he definitely didn't have before to shove the golem off of him, and while he was ridiculously flexible before, he now dodged all attacks from their fake Earl and their shots without putting up much effort, bending like jelly to avoid their strikes. Suddenly he lashed out, his arm stretching, hitting Jasdero in the gut. Jasdero spat a bit of blood as he was slammed into the wall, that momentary lapse in focus proving fatal, as both the golem and the fake Earl vanished. Devitto was by his twin's side in an instant.
"What do we do? This guy refuses to go down?" He asked.
Jasdero looked at him, before putting his gun to his twin's head. Devitto nodded, putting his gun to his twin's head.
The winged man's eyes widened, but before he could act on his instincts that told him to stop whatever was going on, the twin's had pulled the trigger.
A few seconds later, the true Jasdevi was standing in the hallway. He sighed. "Lately, I've been forced to do this far too often." Then he looked at hit enemy. "Let's test how flexible you really are."
The winged man sneered. "You underestimate me. Even in your strongest form, I will defeat you."
Jasdevi chuckled. "That's a nice bark you got. Let's see you back it up, with some bite!"
Tyki was running, Road in arms, to the first place he could think of where Road would be safe, and that was with Cyril. The man became a damned monster when Road was in danger, so Tyki knew that as long as a single breath of life was in Cyril's body, and it was nearly impossible to kill Cyril, Tyki having tried on a few occasions, Road would be safe.
Suddenly he felt something behind him, and by choosing to touch air, he made a dashing jump, as the ground he had been not even a second earlier was smashed by a large fist. Tyki set Road down and spun around. Before him stood in old man. The only thing that was strange about him was his pitch-black skin, the muscular body that didn't match the face and the purple bat-wings sticking out of his back. The old man laughed.
"Slippery little maggot, aren't you?" He raised his fist and his arm tripled in size. "I'll just have to try harder to squash you, don't I?"
Tyki narrowed his eyes and created a vacuum in the area where old man was. The old-timer stopped and struggled a little bit, and Tyki turned to Road, when a voice rang out behind him.
"That was a smart move, and it would have worked, if I had to breath."
Tyki spun around, pulling out two large Tease that he raised to shield against the giant arm that was about to impact with his face, while rejecting the limb away from him. It worked, until the arm doubled in size again and slammed into him, knocking him into the wall. The old man shook his head.
"That can't be all you can do. You're such a disappointment. Or perhaps, you're not taking me seriously. Perhaps if I squash this girl, you'll see me as a worthy adversary?" His arm doubled in size again, now hardly fitting into the corridor, as a dark glow started to surround it. "There won't be a single molecule of her left when I'm done."
Tyki's eyes widened. "DON'T!!!"
The old man grinned evilly. "Try and stop me." With that, he slammed his hand down.
Tyki didn't want to do it, but he saw no other choice.
Suddenly, the old man's giant arm stopped, a armored being with tentacles sprouting out of its back holding it up with one hand. The old man grinned. "Now we're talking."
The Archangels were facing a few difficulties with their enemies, who seemed to be just a little bit stronger and a little bit faster than them. Michael was doing best, having been a soldier in his previous life, therefore knowing all the dirty tricks of unarmed combat.
Surprisingly, Uriel was also keeping up well with his opponent, unknowingly drawing on knowledge he had gotten in a number of fights with other kids.
Gabriel and Metatron were having more problems, and the fact that their enemies never tired of calling them trash was starting to get on their nerves. If they had permission to use their abilities, this fight would have been over by now, but Michael was having trouble contacting their master and fighting off his enemy at the same time.
For the dozenth time, Allen was flung into a wall. His enemy's ability, as he himself had proudly proclaimed, was super-strength, which gave him the power to, after a few seconds of struggle, even tear through the Clown Belt that Allen had tried to tangle him up with. Allen's claws had left deep gashes on his enemy, but every hit Allen got felt like being slammed with a wrecking-ball. He coughed out a bit of blood, actually seeing the darkness that was creeping up the corners of his vision, but fighting it down. This was no time to faint, as he wouldn't wake back up if he did.
Still, the fight couldn't go on like this, Allen's body, even if protected by his Innocence, couldn't take too many more hits like the ones the winged foe was dishing out.
That was when he received Michael's signal. "Master, we are under attack by black individuals with purple wings that in terms of strength and speed are slightly superior to us."
Allen spat out some blood. "I'm under attack as well."
Michael's voice actually sounded slightly worried. "We will support you as soon as we silence our targets. Requesting permission to use our powers."
Allen spoke "Granted. Send them to hell! And sweep through the arc afterwords, there might be more of them."
Allen would have sworn that he heard all four of his Archangels speaking in a smug tone. "Understood. They will be not trace to prove that they ever existed."
Allen turned his attention back to his current predicament, jumping to the side just in time to avoid a punch that left a foot-wide crater in the floor. Then something in the corner of his field of vision caught his attention and he remembered what Val had reported him. He smiled. He now had a plan to take out his enemy, although it would leave him completely winded afterwords. All he had to do now was get the enemy in position.
Cyril bit his lip. They were in trouble. Alice's and Lulubelle's attacks only scratched his opponent, and since he wasn't attacking them with his full strength, he could shake off the impacts that Cyril returned to him. He knew that without his abilities, they would have lost long ago, but all he was doing was drawing out the inevitable.
Suddenly, the winged man laughed. "I'm done playing with you, as of now, my body is harder than diamonds, so you won't be able to scratch me anymore while I can kill you whenever I want to!"
True to his word, the diamond spear that Alice shot out of the ground broke when it impacted with his body, leaving them in a worse situation than before. But just as the winged man was about to attack, Cyril froze and looked behind him as one of the wings fell to the floor. The winged man spun around, avoiding the second slice that would have killed him but loosing the other wing in the progress.
Mordred had climbed out of the wall, his face covered in blood, but his eyes focused. The now wingless man snarled. "Your attack may have surprised me, but rest assured, it won't happen again. I have hardened my body to the maximum, compared to even my hair, diamonds are softer than sculpting-clay! Your woodcutter is useless!"
Cyril's eyes widened as he understood that the enemy had been playing with them, giving them the idea they could win while keeping an ace up his sleeve.
Mordred raised his sword and charged, while the enemy scoffed and crossed his arms above his head, intending to snap the sword after catching the blow. Mordred struck.
For a second, everything was quiet, then Mordred spoke. "There is nothing that Excalibur cannot cut."
Two arms fell to the floor, as a white line crawled down the creature's body, strait as an arrow. Then it exploded.
Mordred walked to Lulubelle, who had been closest to the explosion and was knocked off her feet. He offered her his hand. "Are you alright, milady?"
Lulubelle actually blushed as she nodded and took his hand. Cyril smirked. After years of waiting, they finally had some dirt on Lulubelle.
Following the order to go all-out, the tide of the battle turned. Gabriel charged her enemy, grabbing him and raising he field, while muttering "Vanquish" The black being suddenly vanished, erased from existence.
Metatron materialized a book and a feather, before writing something into the book. He looked up. "You are trapped. You cannot escape from me."
The other one sneered, but found that he could indeed not move further away from Metatron than twenty feet. He spat out. "So what? I don't have to escape. I'll kill you, TRASH!"
Metatron smirked as his enemy suddenly turned into dust. The rules he had written into his book were: The area of effect may not be left. and Those who speak the word 'trash' will be annihilated. He closed the book and let it disappear, ending its effects.
Uriel stretched his hands towards the charging enemy, waiting until the enemy was too close to retreat before speaking. "Fade away in the Light of Judgment!" A bright light erupted from his hands. For an instant, the enemy's silhouette was visible, then it instantly faded away, and when the light died down, no trace of him remained.
Michael charged his opponent, giving him a kick into the chest. The other one stumbled back, right into a vertical ring that quickly expanded into an orb, trapping the purple-winged woman inside of it. Then the ring vanished, taking the woman with it.
The Archangels exchanged a nod, before swarming out to search the arc and come to their master's aid.
In a separate room, a raven was sitting on a perch, asleep. Two figures charged it, expecting an easy kill when the bird opened its eyes and spread its wings. Darkness seeped from the wings, and for a second, only blackness could be seen. When the light returned, the room was empty. Except for a raven on a perch, with a black finger sticking out of its beak for a moment, before the bird swallowed it.
Luciano closed his eyes, waiting for the final blow. But while he was waiting, he suddenly felt closer to his weapon than ever. He sighed. 'Mother, father, I miss you.' Then his eyes opened, burning with new determination. 'But I can't join you just yet, I have to watch over my sister, and repay a debt. No, not a debt, I have to help a friend.'
Suddenly his scythe dissolved, turning into a shining thread that seemed to be floating around his arm somehow, one part of it going right across his palm. He felt that he could regain his scythe whenever he wanted, but he also felt he could do something different.
His enemy had backed away when the weapon changed, and Luciano used that little breather. He felt that this thread was not meant to hit the enemy with, instead he slammed his fist into the ground.
His opponent laughed. "What's wrong, are you kneeling before me?"
But the laughter died in his throat when all over the room, giant scythe-blades shot out of the floor, forming a giant circle. Luciano felt that the thread in his hand had changed into a handle, and when he pulled on it, part of a chain was pulled out of the ground while the giant blades began to move forward a bit. Thinking quickly, Luciano pulled with all his might, then blades practically shooting towards the center of the ring. The winged man tried to escape, but an invisible aura in between the blades didn't allow him to escape, the same aura blocking the exit above the blades, both the aura and the presence of the blades caused him to wither, and he tried to retreat, only to find that the aura of decay strengthened the closer the blades got. With a CLINK, the tips of the blades made contact, trapping him in what resembled a birdcage while his body withered into a dry husk. Luciano gave a last pull and suddenly, the blades were in a wider circle around the winged husk, although the tips of the curved blades were not pointing inwards like before, but outwards. The husk remained still for a second, then it crumbled to dust while the chained handle Luciano was still holding returned to being a scythe as the giant blades vanished. Luciano collapsed in exhaustion.
Allen dodged another blow, making a claw-sweep that left four new gashes on his enemy's arms. Allen had noticed that like a boxer, the winged man always protected his face, and planned to use that for his advantage when the other one lashed out again. Allen was hit right above the ear and flew a few feet before ramming his claws into the ground to stop his flight. He was in position. He charged at his enemy, red energy flying around his raised claw.
As he had expected, the man raised his arms and folded his wings to protect his head. Allen's arm shot forward and a red wave washed over the creature.
When the creature opened his eyes and unfolded his wings, he noticed something was odd. He could still see Allen, but he seemed a lot bigger now and no matter how much he moved, he couldn't get closer to him. "What did you do to me? I'm immune to your powers!" He shouted, noticing he heard nothing but his own voice, and had to lipread Allen's answer.
Allen smirked. "I didn't use it on you, I used my power on reality itself to imprison you in that mirror. You are nothing more than a image on a piece of glass, and that piece of glass is your entire world." He raised his fist and with his last strength, he slammed it into the mirror. A spiderweb of cracks formed on the mirror, the figure trapped in it opening his lips for a silent scream, then he was unable to move. Allen saw his enemy's eyes turn dull, he was dead. Allen pushed himself off with the hand that had shattered the mirror, and after a short pirouette, he leaned against the wall next to the mirror. Grinning as the glass shot forward in an invisible explosion. He let his body slide down the wall, completely exhausted. Of the four great forces, reality always left him unable to stand if he tried it in peak-condition, and he had definitely not been in peak-condition when he did that.
Suddenly a ringing filled Allen's head, and he howled in pain as another figure descended from the ceiling. It was also black with purple wings, but it also had a white Afro. "Don't bother standing up, my ability is running mental interference in your mind, you'll find it hard to think. You fought well, but now I will kill you."
Then the world turned black for Allen.
Jasdevi scoffed at his enemy, who was trapped in strands of his hair. "You were too cocky, challenging me. I wonder how flexible you'll be if I do THIS!" He tightened the hair, and the trapped winged man was sliced into pieces before exploding. Jasdevi was about to separate, when he heard noise around the corner. He ran to it, and what he saw nearly stopped his heart.
Tyki was in the middle of the hallway, transformed. Lifted and wrapped by the tentacles coming from his back was a black upper-body with an old man's head, purple stumps that might have been wings at some points, and tears where arms might have been.
But what really frightened Jasdevi was that Tyki was leaning down, reaching for Road's neck He jumped at him, but that fight had exhausted him and berserker-Tyki had been stronger than him from the start. He was flung against a wall, a few tentacles making it next to impossible for him to reach Road, so he did the only thing he could. "TYKI, DON'T DO IT! YOU'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOURSELF IF YOU DO IT MAN, DON'T BE AN IDIOT!" Part of him hoped that Tyki would hear and understand him, another part simply hoped that shouting like an idiot would attract Tyki's attention and make him forget about Road, but no such luck. Tyki's hand moved closer to Road's throat, the girl blissfully unaware of the danger to her life, as the tentacles wrapped tighter around the old man and squashed him like a bug. She was still asleep and mumbled something.
Tyki had almost reached her throat when Road muttered a single word that stopped him in his tracks. "Mnm, Tyki." The hand started shaking as Road mumbled on. "No, help, Tyki, Allen." The smile on Roads face told Jasdevi that it was a nice dream, but the effect of Road's words on Tyki were strange. He was shaking like a leaf, locked in an internal war. Finally, the hand moved again, and Jasdevi feared for the worst, but Tyki didn't snap Road's neck. Instead, he gently caressed her cheek, before looking at Jasdevi.
"So what did I miss?" He asked.
Jasdevi was at a loss for words. "You...what...how?"
Tyki looked at himself, then his eyes widened. "Allen! He's being attacked by another one of those black creatures! Now that I have this form under control, somewhat," He added when Jasdevi dodged a tentacle "we have to go and help him!"
Road woke up. "Help Allen? What's wrong with Allen? Tyki, you can control yourself! And why did you two unite to Jasdevi? More importantly, what's wrong with Allen?!"
Tyki and Jasdevi exchanged a look. "Come with us, we'll explain on the way!"
They arrived at the room where Tyki had left Allen, shared another look and charged in, prepared to defend Allen. What they saw was the last thing they had expected.
Allen stood in the center of the room, covered in purple blood. The fingers of his right hand were grabbing into a white Afro, a black head hanging on it, up to the nose, the rest was missing. The rest of the body was spread all across the room. Allen turned his head to them, his eyes devoid of any life, then he silently collapsed, Road catching him before he hit the floor.
She looked around and asked the question burning on everybody's lips. "What the hell is going on?"
As if to answer her, the Earl's voice rang through the ark. "I apologize for any inconveniences, the test of my new Level 5s is over, thank you for your hard work and cooperation."
One thought went through all minds. "Earl, we have to talk."
Chapter 22 is done. Before you complain, please forget that this is already more the usual chapter length, so deal with it.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! I hope you like your presents, both the ones you get and mine, these updates. I'll tell you this much, I was really pressured to get them all done, and I fear that some parts may have suffered under that strain, though I hope the results are still readable. Enjoy these chapters I updated, for I'm afraid they'll be the last for the next few years. I have been given a difficult and dangerous task that will take me to places I didn't know existed, far away from any internet-access or any other comfort of civilization. Wish me luck, there is a chance that I don't return, for I have been ordered to clean my room.
All jokes aside, I haven't cleaned the place in like a year, and there's no internet for me until it's done, so don't expect anything else from me this year. If you don't hear from me in the next few months, I have probably passed away, buried by an avalanche of stuff I had forgotten existed. So to all my readers I give you this now: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!
I just wanted to say that this story hasn't been canceled, I put way too much work into it to just quit, but I judge the popularity of my stories by the number of reviews I'm getting, and since a over 10.000-words-chapter that I worked very hard on got THREE reviews, I get the impression that not many people read this story, so I'm putting it on back-burner for now. It's not canceled, but it won't be updated as regularly as my other stories.
I decided against asking specific questions, since it seems to scare people off, I don't have any review that rely needs a reply, and I'm in a hurry to get this done and up before I'm thrown off the computer, I'll end it here for for today.
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