Chapter III: Arcane vs. Arcane - Death vs. Crowfather!
Chris and Alito's Trainquil Fury!
Back at the Icy Veil...
"Open up the portal, Crowfather." Death frowned.
The Crowfather brought out the honeycomb-shaped amulet.
"That which you gave me...you will take it back." he replied with discontent.
"In exchange for your secrets you agree to keep the amulet." Death replied, pointing his right hand at the amulet.
The Crowfather knocked his forehead several times, a look of anguish etched upon his face as his eyes glowed green with anger.
"These tormenting voices, they have driven me crazy every single day, crying out in hatred and begging for revenge! You must destroy it!" the Crowfather shot back.
Death lowered his head in shame; his eyes wandered off in guilt upon the Crowfather's demands.
"I...can't." Death sighed.
"You killed your fellow brothers, all but three more, and sealed them inside this amulet. Who is to stop you from simply smashing this amulet into pieces?" the Crowfather frowned.
Chris's eyes widened as her eyebrows frowned in confusion and anger.
"Death...he killed his brothers, all but three others? Death sealing the soul if his brothers in the amulet? He might have killed his brothers but it seems as if he isn't proud of it. What's this going down to?" Chris wondered.
Death ignored whatever the Crowfather was saying and brandished his dual-possessed scythes, replying in a low, yet gruff and deathly tone.
"Open up the portal..." the Pale Rider threatened.
The Crowfather spread out his arms and taunted, "You will not enter the portal while I live."
Death braced himself for battle. "So be it."
The pale Rider charged head-on to the Crowfather, but the latter waved his hand and unleashed a medium-sized dark pulse, which knocked the former back a few feet away.
Death managed to hold his ground after planting his dual-scythes on the ground and dragging for a few seconds, eliminating the momentum. He looked up and gave an angry growl.
The Crowfather taunted, "Here your brethren are trapped in eternal torment. Do you wish to join them?"
He continued as he began levitating in mid-air, "And what of War? Would you kill your brother to save your precious balance?"
Death's eyes widened. "He is innocent." the Pale Rider shot back.
The Crowfather gave an insane smirk, "Are you so certain?", and burst into murders of crows.
On the other side, Chris began to process whatever information spewed out between the Pale Rider and the Crowfather.
"Death killed his brethren but he isn't proud of it. The souls were inside the amulet, probably given to the Crowfather by Death himself. Crowfather gradually became insane by the tormenting voices for millions of years. Why do I get a feeling that things are not as simple as it sounds?" Chris frowned calmly.
Back in the Icy Veil, a big figure about the same height as Death stepped out distances behind the Pale Rider. He was wearing a dark red hood, a thick, black belt with golden highlights, and an unusually large gauntlet on his left hand engraved with a giant skeleton insignia. His shoulder pads looked like a horned demon with sharp, jagged teeth with a menacing glare threatening to pounce. His eyes glowed orange as two 'tails' of white hair flowed out of his red hood.
Alito's eyes widened...
"My Lady...isn't that the Red Rider, War?" she asked.
Chris shook her head as she accessed her Project Tundra once more.
"The database from the satellite uplink indicates that 'War' does not possessed the same blood as that of Death. In other words, it's the Crowfather; no one could have pulled off such a powerful mimicry as it would take a huge amount of arcane sorcery, but Crowfather has immense power." Chris explained coolly, keeping her composure as she observed what happened next.
"Will the Pale Rider come out okay, my Lady?" Alito wondered.
"Hope so...Death is already earning my respect just on the basis that he's willing to protect his brother from judgement. He could not have killed his brethren that easily; something must have happened to them for Death and the three other Horsemen to commit mass genocide." Chris concluded.
Death himself knew that the War was a fake - it was clearly a way to distract the Pale Rider from his main goal. The Crowfather, however, never failed to account War's ability to detect arcane magic into account; he was getting sloppy because of madness.
"So be it, Crowfather. You decided that using a decoy could fool me?" the Pale Rider whipped out two Armblades that looked old and chipped, but it had two skull hilts that were growling in hunger.
Death charged up his arm blades and unleashed a purple-energy shockwave straight towards the approaching fake Red Rider. The Pale Rider dashed forth to attack his target but 'War', his Chaoseater at the ready, swing his immensely powerful blade straight at the Pale Rider.
Death took the delay of 'War's' sword swing and managed to leap out of harm's way with a flip towards his right, just in time to escape the blade projectiles sprouting out like a geyser on the ground. The former quickly unleashed merged both of his possessed scythes by its opposing hilts and threw it like a boomerang towards 'War', slicing through the Red Rider's body with immense strength and speed.
The Pale Rider quickly retrieved his scythe back and unleashed a flipsaw attack while the Crowfather's clone recovered from his attack.
Angered, 'War' swings his Chaoseater towards Death's weapon and deflected it once. War attempted to cleave the Pale Rider but the latter reciprocates with another swing towards the Chaoseater.
The sounds of metals clashing by each other shattered the ice surrounding the throne into smithereens. Its ringing vibration shook the mountain peaks as it echoed through the valley, far enough to scare any flying creatures dead. Avalanches began to slide down the mountains, burying the trees and rocks underneath its cold, albeit soft matter.
Both the possessed scythe and Chaoseater clashed by each other again as Death and 'War broke into a deadlock, but Death, being the oldest and the horsemen most feared, saw an opening and wrenched 'War's' huge blade of destruction of his arm. The Pale Rider launched an uppercut towards the fake Red Rider's body, leapt forth and in a single sweep, brought the doppelganger down to the hard, solid ground.
Summoning his ghouls, Death leapt towards the right as he managed to distract his bulkier counterpart with his minions. The ghouls leapt onto War's body and the fake Red Rider planted his Chaoseater on the ground, the massive amounts of Chaoseater-like blade bodies sprouted out of the ground in a geyser attack.
The ghouls died, but not without presenting 'War' with a gift, a triple-explosion which sent the Red Rider flying over to one side of the throne room. The massive shockwave brought forth by the explosions caused a large icicle to impale straight towards the Red Rider's armor and through its body.
Death merged his dual scythes into a big scythe and ran towards the fake Red Rider to finish him off but 'War', who smashed the icicle into smithereens with his left gauntlet, quickly got up and clashed his Chaoseater with Death's scythes once more.
Several clashes of blades later, both War and Death landed on opposing sides, facing each other one on one. Both Horsemen brandished their signature weapons as they brought forth a final clash, the ringing sounds of metal echoed through the skies once more.
Time seemed to come to a still for a moment, and a crisp stabbing sound echoed through. The Pale Rider managed to find an opening and impaled his scythe's hilt on the fake red Rider's abdomen.
Blood spewed out of 'War''s abdomen as Death pulled his giant scythe out of it. Flocks of crows began to disperse as the fake 'Red Rider' slumped onto the floor, leaving behind a pool of blood and a familiar crooked figure lying on the ground.
The Crowfather was coughing out blood and breathing in a painful, ragged tone. His face filled with anguish as he felt his life slowly slipping away. After all, Death was capable of killing even seemingly immortal beings.
The Keeper of Secrets attempted to crawl out of the situation, but the Pale Rider quickly used his scythe and cleaved into the Crowfather's back. Death swiftly brought the Crowfather like a fork, as the blade tip impaled through the latter's abdomen once more.
"Open up the portal!" Death frowned angrily, grabbed the Crowfather by his head, and flung him on the floor.
The Amulet that tied around the Crowfather's neck broke off and landed on the floor. A large, black portal opened up as the dying Crowfather mustered up his strength to fulfil Death's demands.
Death looked at the dying Crowfather, shook his head, and sighed.
"Your secrets die with you, old fool. If only you would comply with my demands, we would not have to come to this conclusion." he frowned.
"My secrets will die...but not yours..." the Crowfather spoke rasply as he breathed his last and began rotting into flocks of crows.
At the same time, the Crowfather's Amulet burst into small pieces of crystals. The wailing souls echoed the mountains as the tiny crystal pieces embedded within Death's left chest.
Death could not handle to huge surge of energy that infused into him. The memories of his fallen, the wailing of the souls, and the immense amount of pain rippling through his spine and vessels brought about by the embedded crystals was far too much for Death to handle.
The Pale Rider backed off for a few steps before slumping on the ground, knocked unconscious by the immense pain brought forth by the amulet. The Crowfather's portal soon sucked the unconscious Horseman's body in...
Back at where Chris and Alito were...
"Death's signal is gone, My Lady!" Alito asked worryingly.
Chris brought out her fourth dimension cube and summoned her Audi Le Mans Quattro. Both the Icy Maiden and Alito hopped into the supercar as the former quickly tapped in a few commands on the MMI's Satellite Navigation Systems.
"If the Crowfather wants to fulfil Death's demands, than he will sent the Pale Rider over to where we are now. Apparently, we are in a place where the Tree of Life resides. Wait..." Chris's eyes frowned as she noticed Death's energy signature beeping in the system.
"Death is here but at different coördinates, South-East from where we are, surrounded by some abandoned structure near a Forge." Alito replied.
Alito and Chris looked at the environment they were in, the lush green fields spread across the lands and fallen pillars. There were signs of broken and aged structures covered with moss, creeper plants, and ferns.
The skies were misty and gave off a peculiar, yet mystical, purplish glow. A huge, branching tree loomed across the horizon.
"Let's get to the Pale Rider first. He probably knows about this world's stuffs better than we do. The info fed into the satellite navigation system is limited to environment observation. The myths surrounding this world...that is something that Death and the beings of this world know more." Chris suggested.
Alito nodded firmly.
Meanwhile...
Death's vision blurred for a while shook his head while opening up his eyes to see a big, elderly figure with wrinkles and thick, white beard extending to his legs.
"Be still Horseman; you are still wounded from the battle." said the elderly figure as he placed his right hand over Death's left chest where the crystals fragments embedded.
The crystals fragments glowed intensely as Death quickly slapped the elderly figure's right hand away.
"Don't touch me." Death snarled and frowned.
At the same time, Chris's Audi Le Mans Quattro arrived. Chris and Alito both set out of the supercar as their eyes met on the elderly figure.
"About time, Death, we're just wondering where you have been. If I may ask, elderly figure, who are you?" Chris wondered.
The Elder stroke his beard, held his big staff with his left hand as he walked a few feet facing a ruined statue of a stone golem.
"Your arrival, Death, is a bad omen. Yes...troubles me greatly." the Elder sighed.
Death pointed at the Elder, "Old one-there's more trouble ahead if you don't start making sense. Where is the Tree of Life?"
"Mr Elder, we have to find the Tree of Life to complete our mission. Would you please tell us the way to the Holy Tree itself?" Chris politely replied.
"Life?" the Elder chuckled wistfully, "This world is dying, lads, choking on Chaos and Corruption. We can do nothing to stop it. Soon the great tree too shall perish and, with it, the last of my people. Death...is that not what brought you here, pale rider? As for the two women, it's best if you escape this world while you can."
Chris clenched her fists, "Corruption? You mean there's a force that is threatening to destroy your kind that has nothing to do with it?"
"Yes." the Elder nodded solemnly.
Death cut in, "We seek the tree. Your "chaos and corruption" don't concern me."
Chris, however, immediately replied, "Alito and I will help you."
Death raised his eyebrows. "Our goal is to find the Tree of Life; that Corruption has nothing to do with our goal!"
"You heard the Elder; he said that the tree is choking on Corruption long before we come here. Besides, the Elder and the rest of his kind might be in grave danger as well! You expected to tell me that you, a Horseman of honor, are going to ignore an Elder's request?" Chris worryingly frowned as she replied in a deep, low tone.
"I'm not an errand boy! Besides, it is their business, not yours. Why are you so concerned with them?" the Pale Rider frowned.
"It is of my Lady's concern that she wants to fulfil their request. You have no rights to her privacy unless needed!" Alito frowned.
At the same time, a pool of black and green substances crept its way towards several broken construct pieces and resurrected them as small construct golems. Their rock-hard bodies glowing green as their eyes brimmed with insanity. The thick, black tendrils wrapped around parts of its body and their knight-like armor in a thick, gooey mess.
"It seems...they do concern you." the Elder replied calmly.
Seeing the corrupted golems charging towards the trio, Death pulled out his dual-possessed scythes and charged into battle.
"Great...now I have this bunches of dolts I have to deal with before I can go ahead," the Pale Rider thought.
"The Corruption...it is a being that will destroy all life if nothing can be done. You both women alone cannot handle such terrible power, it is best if you flee." the Elder shook his head.
Chris stood rooted to the ground, her fists clenching tightly.
"You said that Corruption...will kill your kind. An innocent race that has nothing to do with Corruption, and yet they want to kill everything in sight, including all of your brethren...right?" she spoke deeply, exhaling even more cold vapour than before.
"Yes, precisely that..." the Elder sighed.
The Icy Maiden breathed deeply as a gentle, motherly sound echoed through her mind.
"Please...for the Fuschia's last will..."
Chris's eyes glowed as she waved her right hand to Alito, who responded by transforming to Lifebane once more. The air surrounding the Icy Maiden became chilly as a burst of freezing cold shockwave froze several construct golems, surprising the Elder as he the wind blew him back several feet. The huge, elderly figure could see the tranquil fury inside Chris's eyes.
Chris and Alito solemnly replied, "In the name of the Last Will, history will not repeat itself!"
Within seconds, the golems fell one by one under the tenacity and fury of the Icy Maiden's brutal, yet graceful scythe attacks. Attacks that attempted to land upon her either deflected or missed completely thanks to her graceful, agile dodges like the Pale Rider.
Be it flipsaws, teleport slashes, dismembering, impalement, rolling slashes, triple slashes, flurries of swings, or whirlwind slashes, Chris's and Alito (Lifebane) ensured that no enemies were left unfounded.
A minute of clashing metals ringing through the air later, the Corrupted mini-golems slumped on the floor and exploded, living nothing to root.
The Elder, though impressed by Death's display of power, admitted himself that Chris and Alito's tranquil fury surprised him. For never had he saw two mortals having elemental capabilities dishing out such punishment towards their foes with such calmness, power, panache, brute force, and grace.
"It seems even we elders could be wrong for once. You all fight well, especially the both of you," the Elder praised, pointing his staff gently towards Chris and Alito.
"You flatter us, Elder. We are just doing whatever we can to prevent any more innocent beings from becoming lambs to the slaughter under any heartless forces." Chris and Alito spoke in unison as they bowed slightly.
Death had saw the onslaught of corrupted golems in Chris and Alito's wake. He was surprised to see the two women having such determination to rid Corruption.
"Seems that humanity isn't really weak at all...But why do they possessed such determination still? The moment the Elder told them that Corruption would destroy their innocent kind; both Chris and Alito delivered such punishment towards our enemies. Why?"
Never had the Pale Rider been so curious before. He always thought that he knew the world by his hand simply because he was a Horseman. He did not care too much about any matters at all, nor did he have any interest about them. All he wanted was to be alone in a dead, plain wasteland where he could live peacefully until the Apocalypse arrived.
After witnessing Chris and Alito's cold, yet calm fury, the Pale Rider crossed his arms and mused to himself...
"For once in millennias I have never thought of it...but this is getting interesting."