Stormrex Lancer Author Note: I am basing this story on TheGodFatherDictator's Darksiders II no damage walkthrough on Youtube. Go check him out; he's an expert in making no damage videos! Now back to the original schedule!
For those who are wondering why Death accepted Chris's help, it's due to the fact that Death and Chris have the same path to go. Besides, Death was curious about how a human was fearless of death and wondering why Chris recokned herself as not being human.
Chapter Two: Seeing Death - Scaling the Icy Veil!
"Well, I suppose you know of my name even when you both are from the other dimension." Death grunted in satisfaction.
"Don't you dare..." Alito seethed, sensing Death's sarcastic tone, but Chris placed her left arm in front of Alito's chest.
Chris shook her head, prompting Alito to sigh and drew back her fists while still gritting her teeth.
"Of course, Rider of the Pale Horse, who would not know the ender of all life itself? The force that everyone fears...but no one can escape. Not even robots, cars, or gods..." Chris replied with such eloquence that shocked Death; he was expecting Chris, the first human being he has met since a century ago, to flinch at his name.
"Huh...I was expecting you to fear me, after all, all of creation knows Death and those who don't, will know me." Death grunted.
"For someone as cocky as you, do I have anything to fear, Pale Rider? Besides...who says I'm alive?" Chris frowned.
"I don't follow your reasoning." Death frowned.
"I might appear alive to you, but from the inside...I'm but alive. I will leave that for you to decide. And no, I'm not an undead." Chris spoke solemnly as she looked down.
Being a Nephillim, angel-demon hybrids that also had the abilities to detect emotions, Death saw that Chris was hiding a drastic past that caused her to 'die inside'. However, clouds of darkness enshrouded Chris's drastic shadows.
Death sighed, his abilities, though powerful, had its limits. When it comes to deep, personal matters, even he could not detect it. All he could conclude safely was that Chris and Alito were not threats at all, thanks to those 'drastic pasts'.
"Alright...I get that you have your own personal space that allowed you to say that. Besides, what are you here for?" Death asked, crossing his arms.
"We are investigating an energy disruption that caused a dimensional rift between our world and yours. The Icy Veil seemed to be a good place to start. I assume you are also going there to seek help?" Chris asked.
"Yes, but seeing as you're not hostile, aren't you not curious as to why I am at the Icy Veil?" Death questioned.
"I'm not one who dares to question the Four Horsemen's authority but alright, I will bite." Chris waved her right hand.
"I have to free my brother War from a crime that he did not commit. For that, I must restore humanity back to Earth." Death replied without hesitation.
Chris's eyes widened slightly...
"You mean...humanity becomes extinct due to Armageddon, and someone framed War into doing such atrocities?" the Icy Maiden frowned in concern.
"He is innocent, and I suspect there might be some conspiracy behind it. War is the most honorable and would not kick-start the Apocalypse easily. I will restore humanity to clear his name." Death frowned.
Chris looked down for a moment, and looked at the Pale Rider with a determined look upon her eyes despite her calmness.
"We will help you, Death." the Icy Maiden replied.
Death's eyes widened once more, surprised at the turnabout of events - someone who he only met for a few minutes wanted to help him?
"We only just met for a couple of minutes, and you want to help me? Why?" Death asked, crossing his arms and giving Chris and Alito a weary look.
"We are investigating the cause of a dimensional disruption between your world and ours, and we suspect that it might have to do with the Apocalypse that happened here a century ago." Chris informed.
"So, you're investigating the cause of it all, right? Let me warn you, my brother is innocent still." Death frowned.
Chris placed her right hand on her chest and declared, "I have no rights to judge someone who I have never met, unless it is someone who is purely from hell or heaven. Your brother, I suppose, is a Horsemen, yes?"
Death nodded.
"Then it's a fact that he's neutral, and I have no rights to judge someone who's neither good nor evil. Besides, I respect you more for wanting to rescue your brother by any means. We will help you, of course, though that's completely up to you." Chris bowed slightly.
Death simply grunted and walked away, but not without saying, "Don't blame me if you get killed along the way."
"Subtle...I suppose." Chris replied.
Icy Veil...
The icy spire loomed across miles ahead of them, covering in thick, yet soft snow.
Chris stepped on the brake pedal; the carbon ceramic brakes screeched and glowed as the Le Mans Quattro grinded to a dead halt. Ahead of the Pale Rider, Chris, and Alito, was platform after platform, walls after walls, even broken planks and short stumps.
"Well, how're you going to climb up that spire with your car?" Death wondered.
Chris and Alito stepped out; the former brought out a rubrics cube-like structure and pressed on a button by its side.
Within seconds, a light shone over the prototype R8 as it de-materialized into the cube itself as data particles.
"Four-dimensional cube, it allows infinite storage capabilities for easier access as long as one can organise stuff." Chris replied firmly.
Death raised his left eyebrow. "Interesting, I might add."
The icy wind became colder as it howled with relentless speed, yet Chris and Alito trudged on, much to the surprise of the Pale Rider.
"Are you afraid of frostbite?" Death asked.
"No." Chris's answer was cold, yet direct.
"Not even a bit?"
"I have liquid Nitrogen in my bloodstream. Hope that answers your question, Pale Rider."
"Oh." Death replied in amusement.
Several encased ice spread across the ruined fields. The icy prison encased ice skeletons, frozen on the spot.
As the Death, Chris, and Alito passed them by, the icy skeletons began shaking immensely as if they were having fits. Bits of ice started falling off their encased icy prison as their eyes started glowing white and hissed sharply.
"Watch out!" Chris warned.
Without a moment's notice, the icy skeletons that surrounded broke through their prison and brandished their large, aging swords straight towards the three figures.
"Stand back, I will take care of this." Death frowned as he raised his hands.
Three brown, wooden coffins rose out of the snowy grounds and three small ghouls encased in molten skins burst out of the caskets. The ghouls screeched as they charged straight towards the icy skeletons, arming with a light green arcane aura surrounding them. Their foes were lured into attacking the ghouls instead, not noticing the approaching Pale Rider taking out his dual scythes and charging straight at them.
Death joined the scythes' hilts as he rolled towards his foes and delivered a boomerang-like buzz saw attack. His dual-scythes sliced through and shattered the icy skeletons' ribs all at once. The skeletons that survived the assault or were out of the scythes' reach took notice of it and attempted to attack the Pale Rider, but Death's ghouls soon glowed...
*BANG!*
*BOOM!*
*KABOOM!*
The ghouls screeched their last as they self-destructed thanks to the fiery skins that they wore earlier. The explosion shattered whatever that remained of the icy skeletons' fragile bodies like precious China vases bombarded by a bull.
However, several more icicle skeletons from afar heard the ghouls' explosion and thus lured towards the source. Upon seeing the Pale Rider, Chris, and Alito, they lunged forth and attack.
The Icy Maiden and her loyal servant stepped in front of the Pale Rider, clenching their fists hard as veins bulged through their knuckles.
"Leave this to us. Alito, Lifebane!" Chris commanded firmly.
Without hesitation, the loyal servant obeyed and transformed into two purplish-grey scythes with jagged blade tip, a skeleton hilt, and multiple icicle attachments on its body. They gave out an icy, purplish aura.
Chris instantly blinked into the charging group of icicle skeletons and with a sweeping slash, ripped their bodies apart. With graceful dance steps, Chris was able to slash her way through the remaining icicle skeletons with grace and panache.
Chris plunged her Lifebane into one of the skeleton's head, did a suplex cleave attack, and unleashed a powerful frozen shockwave that summoned enough icicle spikes to pierce and freeze the other skeletons.
"Shatter Burst: Wreckage Crush!"
With five flurries of slashes, Chris ended up on the other side of the field with her back facing the skeleton troops. She clenched her left hand hard as energy slashes shortly shattered and wrecked the frozen skeletons to smithereens.
The Icy Maiden exhaled deeply as Lifebane transformed back into Alito.
"Well done, Alito." Chris nodded calmly.
"Doing what I can, my Lady." her loyal servant simpered.
Death approached the two maidens, his eyes widened in surprise at the amount of powers the two humans possessed.
"I have to be dead honest, I'm impressed by the amount of powers the both of you possessed." the Pale Rider spoke amusingly.
"Thank you, Death. To your credit, I could learn a thing or two about scythe combat from you." Chris replied calmly.
"I suppose you don't want me to find about how your friend over here is able to transform into a powerful scythe?" Death wondered.
"In our world, supernatural energies and channelling one's own internal energies with technological augments is an everyday occurrence. You can say that is how we have diplomacy with the other dimensional worlds and establish an Adventurers Agency - globally and inter-dimensionally." Chris replied.
"Adventures having powers that only humans of our world could even dream off, I have to hand it to the both of you. It's not often I found interesting things every day, especially when you're a being that lives for a millennia." Death grunted in amusement.
"Let's get a move on. We can talk along the way." Chris sighed.
Chris, Alito, and Death effortlessly tore through the ice skeletons that inhabited the icy veil while talking...
"Possessed weapons?" Chris wondered.
"They are semi-sentient weapons that have a single purpose, to eat whatever weapons they can find. They grow stronger as they eat more of those." Death replied.
"I see...you must have known which weapons to feed; you can dish out a high amount of damage from what I can analyse."
"Heh...Those enemies are nothing compared to my power as the Pale Rider." Death boasted.
"And so is your cockiness. Can't say that I blame you when your powers are indeed, second to none. You're called Death for a reason..." Chris politely replied.
"That's not to say your weapons is weak. In fact, judging by the way you and your partner-turned-spiritual weapon fight, you fight in a similar fashion to mine - brutal, yet smooth and elegant, as a form of art. I'm still surprised at the coördination that both of you possessed." Death grunted.
"Unlike your weapon...mine goes way back and it has to do with my personal history. Alito is more than just a weapon...she's my best friend and confidante." Chris replied.
"Personal history, I guess?" Death wondered.
"I hope you can respect our privacy, Pale Rider..." Chris frowned and exhaled deeply.
The Pale Rider, Chris, and Alito continued climbing and jumping through ledges after ledges through a long chasm when they saw a small, crooked and mysterious figure. It was wearing a furry scarf, robe around itself, and was carrying a stick.
The mysterious figure cackled.
"Voices...voices...VOICES! Hahahaha!"
The figure dispersed into a murder of crows shortly after the Pale Rider, Chris, and Alito attempted to get near it.
"Who was that figure just now?" Chris wondered.
Death frowned. "The Crowfather, known as the Keeper of Secrets because he knows things that most of Creation will have forgotten eons ago. He is extremely mysterious and was the very person that gave me my pet crow Dust. Just why is he here cackling madly?"
"What do you mean?" Alito asked.
"Crowfather is normally wise and sagely, if a bit dry and sarcastic like I do. He is impatient at times, but not until an extent where he will be insane." Death replied.
"How is it that you came to know him? He doesn't seem welcoming." Alito wondered.
"I told you, he wasn't like this the last time I met him. I came to meet him after the Charred Council tasked me in becoming one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. You know, I have to be one step ahead then everyone in terms of knowledge of other-worldly matters." Death exlpained.
"Let's get to the summit; we'll settle the score there." Chris suggested.
After wall climbing through thick vines, the three figures landed on solid ground surrounded with ice spikes around its circumference. Behind them lay a circular-shaped lift attached on a smaller, but similarly shaped lever.
"Right...let's get moving. Wait..." Chris frowned when she felt the tremors building up on the ground where they stood on.
A deafening roar shook the ground as a giant, grotesque, ogre-like ice monster with ice-plate across its back and ribs climbed into the icy arena. It has icy spikes that grew along its shoulders and plates that formed on its back; its face more twisted than the icy skeletons that Chris, Alito, and Death had seen hours ago.
"An icy giant...not as if they are intimidating." Chris frowned as she looked at Alito and Death.
"Ready?"
Alito nodded firmly.
"Let's go!" Death shot out as he summoned three ghouls out of caskets once more.
The Ice Giant took out its giant ice mace and attempted to cleave its way into the three figures.
Death managed to get out of harms' way with an acrobatic flip. Chris, however, stood rooted on the cold, hard ground, glaring at the approaching cleave.
Before the Pale Rider can react, Chris merged her dual Lifebane into a big scythe, switched it into her left hand, raised her right hand, and formed a thick, rigid ice from her palm.
The ice mace, though huge, could not shatter the superiorly rigid ice shield that Chris materialised.
"Give it back!"
Chris's eyes glowed blue as a huge burst of energy broke the deadlock, causing the Ice Giant to drop its weapon and lose its balance.
Chris's eyes glowed blue along with Lifebane's hilt as she delivered a large slash diagonally through the Giant's shoulder, arms, chest, and legs.
Death appeared from behind, jumped up towards the Giant's back and delivered a powerful flipsaw scythe attack. The scythe's blade body shattered through the hard, icy body of the Giant.
Combined with the explosions brought about by Death's ghouls, the Ice Giants fell dead on the floor, its body shattered like glass.
"Mindless monsters...those mindless creatures of the Abyss think they can delay our mission..." Chris frowned.
"You don't feel any pain from the cleave itself?" Death wondered.
"For a person who represents a life's end, I thought you would be interested in seeing Alito and I die by the hands of the Ice Giant instead of banging on about why I'm immune to such pain from the cleaving attack?" Chris calmly replied, albeit sarcastically.
"This is the first time I have seen a human do this, even if it's from the other dimension." Death crossed his arms.
"As a human, I'm already dead." Chris closed her eyes and sighed deeply as Lifebane transformed back into Alito.
"Shall we move on? I'm sorry if I angered you earlier with my sarcastic remarks about your personalities." Chris continued in ancient-looking lift.
Death frowned...but not in an annoyed way, more of...curiosity.
As the Pale Rider, Chris, and Alito continued scaling through the Icy Veil, echoes of the Crowfather's raspy voice rang their ears.
"Leave this place!"
Unexpectedly, a huge chunk of rock crumbled off a weak structure and tumbled down the wall the trio were climbing.
Death managed to sidestep his way out of harm's way, but that left Alito on the boulder's collision course. Her eyes widened in horror.
"ALITO!" Chris screamed as she leapt forward and punched the boulder with her bare right hand, crumbling the boulder completely on pure strength alone. Blood soon seeped out from her right hand as she winced slightly.
Death's eyes rose in shock; he could not believe that a human would risk her life to save another human, let alone a best friend...
After climbing through the wall on the second last level of the Icy Veil, Alito rushed forth with a worried expression worn on her face and took out a cloth bandage.
"My Lady, are you okay there?" Alito anxiously shot out as she wrapped cloth bandages around Chris's right hand, with Chris patting her best friend on her head.
"You don't have to worry, Alito. Thanks..." the Icy Maiden gave a small simper as she winced a bit.
"No...Thank you, my Lady..." Alito blushed lightly.
Death was beside the two Maidens, continually surprised at the turnabout of events.
"Absalom...is that what you said by, 'Humans are weak?' If that is your case, I do not see how that scene I am witnessing fits in." Death mumbled.
Chris, however, was able to catch the first few words that Death said thanks to her cochlear augmentations, which allowed her to pick up sound that was inaudible to humans.
"Is there anything, Pale Rider; something about...Absalom?" Chris wondered.
"Now would be a better time if you could respect my privacy as well." Death waved away at Chris's remark.
"Sorry." Chris apologised immediately, bowing slightly.
As the trio finally reached the peak of the Icy Veil, their eyes sat upon a mysterious-looking ice crown circling with arcane inscriptions upon it. Sitting on the icy Throne was the crooked figure - the Crowfather.
"Voices...voices...torment never end..." the Crowfather clasped his hands over his shaking head in anguish; tormenting wails seemed to echo out into the surroundings. Chris's Project Tundra managed to trace the tormenting wails back to an amulet, attached as a necklace around the crooked figure's neck.
The amulet looked like a honeycomb, glowed green, and had streams of green 'tongue' spewing out of the amulet. Whatever it was, Chris thought, it had to be tormenting souls trapped inside the amulet.
Death approached the Crowfather and spoke calmly, "Keeper of Secrets, I need your help."
The Crowfather shot up to look at the approaching trio; his eyes frowned in anger, clenching his fists and point at the Pale Rider as he replied in anger, "Help? I helped you once before, Horseman. Look at me now. How I curse that day. How I curse you."
Death raised his left hand calmly. "Careful, Crowfather, I'm not here to out you out of your misery. Not yet." he replied.
"I know why the three of you have come. You two Maidens, you came here from some other dimension to investigate a dimensional disruption in relation to our world. Death, your brother, the one called War. He's been imprisoned by the Charred Council and awaits their judgement for dooming the Earth and for humanity's extinction. Why should I care about your brother's fate?" the Crowfather turned away in disgust.
Before Chris and Alito react, Death interjected, "Because you know the truth. Your secrets can save him."
"The Council will condemn War; strip him of power, let him rot in oblivion...to hide the truth! My secrets cannot prove his innocence, Horseman." the Crowfather replied.
"No...But they can help me to erase the crime." Death replied.
"Yes, that and we can find out the ones responsible for triggering the dimensional disruption in our dimension. The energies built up from the century since the Armageddon caused the disruption, it seems." Chris calmly followed.
"How're you able to..." Death wondered.
"I have launched a satellite tracking device into your dimension. It has high-quality analysis systems that helped me analyse the surroundings and the energy signatures, past and present." Chris nodded.
"For both of you Maidens, i could at least understand your purpose. Death, you want to bring humankind back from extinction, is it? Madness!" the Crowfather gave a look of disgust once more as he waved it away.
"If it's madness, then who better to show me the way?" Death chuckled.
"Should a way exists for the three of you..." the Crowfather replied as he opened up a portal showing a large, colourful tree with looming leaves as its crown covered in lush, green leaves and rocks on the ground level, "this will be your destination."
"The Tree of Life..." Death's eyes widened.
"So this is the symbol that connects all forms of creation." Alito gasped.
"With this, we could wrap this up by lunchtime. Let's go, time's a wastin'!" Chris firmly replied as both Chris and Alito blinked into the portal itself, much to the Crowfather's surprise.
"Teleportation? Damnation...well, at least Death is still here!"
The Crowfather clenched his fists as the portal to the Tree of Life closed quickly.
On the other side of the portal, Chris and Alito's eyes widened as they saw the portal closing shortly after their entry into the realm containing the Tree of Life.
"Death? Death!" Alito shot out.
Chris frowned as her Project Tundra materialised her visor without hesitation. Scribbles of data began scrolling through her visor as she whipped out her laptop, accessing the satellite's database.
"Death is still over at the Icy Veil..." Chris replied.
Alito approached her best friend and observed the scene as it unfolded itself.
"Let's hope that the Pale Rider doesn't get into any trouble. War will not like it if any mishaps happened to Death." Chris worryingly replied.
"He's one of the Four...it should not pose a problem for him even if Crowfather's arcane magic is high, right?" Alito hoped.
"Death does not ride with the Power of the Seven Seals behind him; he can still face imminent danger, but then...this is Death. We shall see...there's nothing we can do now except to expect his arrival." Chris sighed.
Will Death survive the encounter with the expert of Arcane Sorcery - the Crowfather?
Just what was the connection between the honeycomb-shaped amulet and the Crowfather's madness?
What did the soul inside the amulet represent? Why is Crowfather constantly relating the amulet to Death?
Find out more in Chapter III: Arcane vs. Arcane - Death vs. Crowfather!