Oh my goodness. The last chappie was longer than usual... yes. Now, we're back on to the main part of the story. This one has more action coming by the pounds. Enjoy! I don't make money off this beautiful work, but I do make cookies! ;)
The main hall was dead silent. Literally, like nobody spoke as if death was among them, which of course, he was.
Zora stared at the cloaked figure in disdain. 'This guy is so familiar. I swear I saw him somewhere before..'
Zim grimaced with malice. He didn't like this shady man, not one bit. "Something's off about you. Not even the gloomy aura in this room can hide your suspicious energy."
Gaz nodded silently in agreement, her metal baseball bat at the ready. Dib pulled out his super soaker, which was filled with holy water.
Gir stood behind Grim, hiding behind his black cloak. The small 'animal' began to shiver in fear and anxiety. Normally, Gir would be happy-go-lucky and cheerful, but in this case, the tension in the hall was too much for him to bear.
Ryuu, on the other hand, was slightly nervous, and yet, ready for battle. He knew that the man had no intention to just 'talk' things over, and that their only resolve was to fight him.
Finally, the man threw off his cloak, revealing himself to the group.
"Well, I assume that you must be that alien Ryuu was talking about. Interesting. I never thought that a rare species like you could exist, let alone be so much as intelligent enough to not underestimate my abilities."
Zim clenched his fists, fury now fully visible through his contacts as his eyes glowed a brilliant blood red.
"I say we finish this guy here and now.", Dib stated as he cocked his water gun. Gaz glared at the man in rage.
"I agree with idiot here. Let's terminate this guy." She slammed her bat down hard into the ground, almost hitting Grim's foot on impact. 'That was a close one..', thought Grim with a sweat drop falling down his skull.
"You dare to challenge me? Me, the king of darkness?" The man's eyes glowed blood red as well, energy flowing immensely around him.
"Lord Dante! Stop this at once! This isn't necessary! These mortals, they're-" Ryuu was cut off as Dante delivered a fistful to his gut.
This sent Ryuu crashing into the far end and into the wall. Grim swiftly went over to his side, with Gir tagging along with him.
Gaz was really pissed. She raised her bat, ready to send a blow to the king's head. Dante quickly reacted and with an invisible force from his hand, sent her flying towards the opposite direction. Dib dove in the nick of time and caught her before she hit the wall. He placed her down and began shooting the holy water at him. As the water hit Dante, only small burning sounds came from the spots he hit, but did no good whatsoever, and the super soaker was a pretty big one too!
Dante created a ball of energy in his hand, now getting annoyed with these foolish human games. He threw the ball and hit Dib directly in his chest. Dib staggered down and fell, grasping his chest in immense pain.
Dante swiftly turned towards Zim and Zora, who were left standing at this point.
"I challenge you, alien creature, to a fight to the death. This time, I'll make sure you will die."
Zim smirked his cocky trademark smirk. "Heh! I will win this duel, Dante! For I am Zim, the ex-invader!"
Zim pulled out his electrical baton, ready to send Dante crashing down from his high and mighty pedestal of doom.
Dante smirked and pulled out his sword, Devil-fang, ready for the fight as well.
"Very well, Zim. I shall have you meet your maker!"
"Bring it on, old demon-fart!"
They swung at the same time, blow meeting blow, with such energy colliding against one another.
Zora could only watch in horror, as her friends remained down for the count.
'This is bad! Dib couldn't beat him with his holy water, Gaz was out before hitting a home run, and Ryuu...'
She looked over at Ryuu, who was injured badly on his left arm. Blood was trickling down from his shoulder, as Grim tried to heal the wound.
Suddenly, a voice called out to her from nowhere, but it seemed that she was the only one who can hear it.
"Why so sad and distressed? You could kill him, you know? Compared to you, Dante is a weakling. But then again, it does run in your blood."
'Who- who are you? Where are you coming from?', Zora thought frantically, not understanding how or where she was hearing this voice from. It sounded very sickly and demonic, like an exorcist kind of voice.
"Don't you remember? Stupid girl, how quickly you forget. Didn't you say earlier after reading that book, that you felt more powerful and somewhat different? Didn't you wonder why that spell was the only one written in red? That was blood.. my blood."
Zora's eyes went wide with fear and utmost terror. What is this thing that's talking to her? Was it inside her head? She needed to get rid of it!
However, she heard the voice laugh, like it had read her very thoughts.
"You really are a silly girl! You cant kill me. I'm not going to die, cause if I do... you die too. I'm a part of you now, Zora Ozbourne. We are connected and now share the same blood. Did you even wonder why your mother came out of that room, with her hands soaked in blood? I tried to use her as a host, but it didn't work. She was a mere witch with no special talents and abilities whatsoever, so.. she fought against it. She hoped you would find me someday.. well, the book that is. Not me, really. I guess what she didn't expect was me able to fuse with you. You see, you absorbed me into your body completely."
'What are you talking about? I didn't absorb-' Zora froze at the very last part of her argumentative thought. The book disappeared and flowed into her as black and red energy. That energy was what made her feel more stronger and somehow, more able.
She looked up at the battle scene in front of her.
Dante was delivering multiple blows with gravitational orbs of energy. Zim was doing his best to run from the orbs and avoid further inflict from him, but to almost no avail.
Zim managed to reflect the orbs, sending them back towards Dante, which caused some heavy damage to the king.
The voice suddenly spoke again,
"I'm not going to die. Not without you. Poor Zora. How hard it must be for you to see your beloved fighting against your daddy."
Zora snapped up in alarm. 'My- my dad? Dante is my dad? But... then.. how come I..?'
"How come you don't recognize him? Dear child, he didn't age that much. Your memories are still missing some links, it seems. That battle must have done some heavy damage to you."
'Wait a minute. What battle? This is crazy, how do you know all this?'
"I looked at your memories as soon as I entered your body. Most of them are scattered due to a battle between your father and his enemy. I believe this should ring a bell... his name was Anderson."
Just then, like a blow to the head with a sledgehammer, Zora felt a sharp and overwhelming pain coming from inside her head. It was like a extra large migraine! At the same time, a huge swarm of images started plaguing her mind. Images of her with Ryuu at a younger age, an abandoned building, her home in the underworld, and a dark shadow of what seemed to be a boy.
Zora held her head and screamed in agonizing pain. Zim dodged another blow, only to land just in time to hear Zora's cries of anguish.
Dante stopped as well, his attention turning towards her.
"Zora! Are you alright?" Zim started heading towards her, until he was brought down by a huge force.
Dante stood above him, his sword at the ready.
"Stay away from my daughter, you grotesque creature!" Zim's eyes grew wide in shock and surprise.
'Daughter? Dante is Zora's father?' Zim looked up to see that Zora was still screaming in torture.
Suddenly, Zora stopped all her screaming, only to start laughing in a maniacal manner. Gaz came to and assisted Dib, who was still in pain. They looked up in horror as Zora soon had a sword form in her hand. It was large, and took more of the shape of a giant machete.
Dante froze before he could try to kill Zim. His eyes widened, filled with worry and equal amount of fear.
The machete was soaked in blood. Grim and Ryuu looked from where they were at, frozen in shock as well.
"Zora! What happened? Say something!", Dante called out to his child. Instead of a response in words, she quickly disappeared from where she stood and reappeared above both him and Zim.
Her voice, also, had a notable change in it, like she was possessed.
"DIE, YOU WRETCHED KING! MAY YOUR HEAD ROLL ACROSS THIS ROOM'S FLOOR AND I SEND YOU TO A BOTTOMLESS PIT OF FEAR AND DISPAIR!"
Dante quickly blocked her attack, and with his free hand, made hand signs for an incantation. The doors to the throne room immediately unlocked themselves. Zelda ran out of the room, who was quickly reduced with fear at the sight before her.
"Zora, stop!" She brought her hands up, blasting her magic at her possessed child. Zora fell to the ground, the weapon disappearing quickly into black smoke. She writhed all over the floor in pain, the whites of her eyes now filled with black, with the yellow still intact.
Dante chanted a spell of some sort, and place two fingers on her forehead. He entered her mind and saw what was causing her to act like this.
The demon before him was still hidden in the shadows, but the eyes were basked in the bloodiest red.
"Begone, foul demon! Let my child be!" With a bright red light, the demon writhed in pain, as the control over Zora diminished.
He pulled back, looking down at his daughter, who was now back to her original state.
The words she spoke however, gave him an even bigger shock.
"Daddy... King Dante of Necropolis..."
As quickly as those words went, her world before her eyes went black once more, with those memories now falling back in place in the links where they belong.
The demon remained silent and hid once again... for now.