AN: The second chapter of this fanfic.
I choose to treat each of the Purgatory Knights members as an individual rather than two same dragon with different names.
Once again, many thanks to Loyal Lady Pisces for being a very helpful beta.
Disclaimer: I don't own Future Card Buddyfight.
Chapter 2: Last Stand
They have finally arrived; the door to Darkness Dragon is ahead of them. Looking ahead, the silver door is only opened a little; no monsters have come out of the door, yet from the opening, aura of darkness seep through, filling the air with a sense of malice. Despite this, they could breathe a sigh of relief. They must make use of whatever moment of respite they had.
Five of them landed in a large area in front of the door, while Cross dismounted from Aelous's back. Demios surveyed the area. So far, the place seems quiet, no enemies in sight save for the unpleasant aura which came from the door. Upon looking towards the nearby woods, 4 figures emerge from there. It was Anima, Selene, and Gerald carrying Dusk in his back.
Dusk dismounted himself from Gerald and walked towards the center with the rest. Demios immediately approached Anima, "Have you seen the rest?" Demios asked, in hope that they have seen the others.
"No, Demios. So far it is only us that have arrived." Anima's reply didn't make Demios feel better; he simply closed his eyes, worried about his remaining teammates. "Have faith. We are the Purgatory Knights. We will not lose or die that easy. Though, I do not blame you for being worried, since your companions have some injuries as well." Anima reassures his leader in a calm tone.
Behind, Phobos suddenly appeared behimd Demios, "Demios, we need to talk, urgent," he immediately pulls Demios away from Anima, and ensuring that their conversation could not be heard by the rest.
Anima walked back to where the current member regroup and chat with each other. He sees Dusk's body has no longer bleed, but it has a nasty X scar on it. He choose to wait in his current position and look to the sky, waiting for the rest to arrive.
"That's sure look pretty bad. How are you?" Aeolus can only comment on Dusk's scar as he saw him only chuckled. The remaining six: Aeolus, Cronus, Cross, Selene, Dusk, and sit together, forming a circle.
"Still feeling a little painful, but now it feels better."
"Still, it couldn't be worse right?" Cross asked, injuries are pretty common, scars, not so much. Dusk raised his eyebrows to Cross.
"Hey, you don't trust me Cross? I've been the group's healer for a long time, and you question me now?" Selene remarked in a completely annoyed tone towards Cross.
"No, but I was referring to how bad that injury could get."
"Well it won't get worse. So don't think anything weird like... never mind, don't finish that thought."
Still standing in the same position, and still staring the same empty black sky, Anima wondered whether the remaining members is close yet. "Anima." Demios's voice snapped him back to reality. Demios and Phobos both have as serious look at their face. "Phobos, scout the sky. Anima, we need to talk, this is urgent." The tone in his voice indicate something serious, Anima followed Demios forward while Phobos head to the sky to scout the surrounding area around them. Looking ahead, he saw 3 figures closing in. One of them is being supported by the other 2, carrying him through their shoulder.
"You want to WHAT?!" Anima suddenly shouted at his captain. His outburst did not go unnoticed by some of the members, but Demios simply stared at them, which means, 'Stay out of this.'
Returning his look to Anima, he quietly resumes, "I don't have any more choice in this matter, Anima. There's nothing I can do."
Anima shakes his head in frustration, "I understand, but resorting to use such arts? Why did you tell me now…..."
Demios closed his eyes, quietly sighing, "I just found out about this from Phobos. He is the one that reported how damaged our home base is, including the essentials. It's pretty bad."
Anima can only sigh. "Just how bad is it?"
Demios quietly replied "The blacksmith area got crushed under the rubble; the living area got burned down. The most important ones, 'The Pod of Rebirth', almost all of them are destroyed." He lowered his voice further upon the word 'important'.
Anima freezes at this news. 'The Pod of Rebirth' is essentially the way Purgatory Knights could survive fatal injuries. Dying members are spirited away back to the pod with their name, resting until they are awakened from their sleep. Anima silently recalled the few times he got himself injured so bad that he got spirited into the pod. Usually for 2-3 weeks, the most is a month. Since Anima created the machine himself, the news hit him hard.
"Is there really no other way?" Anima can only hope that it didn't come to resort using the forbidden arts. Demios simply responded, "I wish it didn't have to come to this, we have no choice but stay alive until the end. We cannot let them know, yet."
"It will give an entirely new meaning to our slogan. 'Purgatory Knights are eternal.', though, I guess we will see..."Anima looked at Demios straight at the eye before whispering, "Look Demios, I understand the situation, but at least promise me this, you will never resort to use those arts until we have no more choice. The price to pay for that spell is always too huge." Demios doesn't respond, instead he look up to the sky and see Phobos guiding three of their team mates.
At this point, everyone has seen that more of their team mates have arrived. One of them have injuries in his various parts of his body. Seeing this, Selene break from the chat and head towards the injured to heal him. While the other two reported back to Demios.
Standing before him, two dragons saluted their captain. The larger of the duo, wielding a halberd and a shield, known for being member of the well known Halberd clan who prioritize the safety of their team mates, he is a proud member of said clan, and has a great pride for being part of Purgatory Knights. The other, wielding a translucent blue sword stays in his position, sword planted to the ground.
"Ray, Gairahm, have you seen our remaining allies?"
"No sir, while I was scouting in hopes to find them, I came across Gairahm and Chester, injured fighting a horde of demons sir." Ray replied, regret visible in his face.
"We were ambushed. Enemies are everywhere. We were forced to…. run away. Chester already got injures when Ray arrived." Gairahm explained, his voice faltered upon speaking the word 'run away'. Despite this, he feels angry at himself for running away from battle.
Though, there is nothing he can do as he just cast down his head in shame, awaiting punishment for running away. Yet none came, Demios simply closed his eyes, thinking about what Gairahm has told him. "Very well, you two are dismissed. Right now, we can only hope the rest of them could make it." Gairahm looks surprised for a moment, before salute back his captain, return to check Chester's condition.
Demios began to worry. Purgatory Knights never run away from battle, but Gairahm just admmited to run away. Worst case, the demons might have killed them first, he had ensured that reaching this place is the first priority, enabling them to run away if battle took too long. Right now, he hope the rest could arrive safely.
Meanwhile, Selene has finished treating Chester. Like all Purgatory Knights, he is a white armor dragon, with a long white hair. His weapon is a sword that can be used as a chain to reach far enemies, earning him the nickname 'Chain Sword Dragon'. His body has various nearly faded wounds, ranging from slash, pierce, and even bite marks. "You're a mess. How did this happen? From scratch, bruises, and even bite marks?"
"An ambush, no need to talk about it."Chester moves himself to a sitting position as Gairahm and Ray come up to them.
"How are you Chester?" Gairahm greeted his recovering companion.
"He will be fine. No need to worry." Somehow, Selene always convinced them that anyone treated by her will be all right. Being the only both female and healer of the group, she will be able to heal most injuries with ease.
"Well you two, don't just stand there," Ray and Gairahm silently sit down between Chester, Ray in his right, while Gairahm in left. "I'll take my leave then. I need to check up on Dusk." With that, Selene leaves three of them, while she head back to Dusk.
"I'm sorry, you got injured pretty bad," Gairahm's voice is low, filled with regret.
"To be honest, I have no idea what happened. All I could recall was demons, so many demons, and pain, and finally you, carrying me away and Ray already with us." Chester put his hand to his head, trying to remember to events that led to his injuries, but all he got is blank. "By the way Ray, when did you get to us?" Ray silently recalled the event that transpired earlier.
It was chaos, demons are everywhere, I too got surrounded by many demons, the assault on our home base really put us at a disadvantage. I managed to put some distance for better maneuver, but I saw you two got swarmed, so I rushed through all demons in my way. I saw Gairahm holding you, flying away from the hordes of demon, you are beaten pretty badly. I get in the middle and spread fire at them using my halberd.
"The rest, you know everything," Ray finished his story and saw that Chester has his eyes closed, drinking in the information.
At this moment, at different area, Phobos approached Cronus who sat down, away from them, sitting down silently. Cronus feels Phobos presence and turned around, Phobos is standing behind him. "What is it?" His voice is pretty deep.
Somehow, Phobos smiled, "Heh, it's pretty rare to see you decided to talk. What's up?" Cronus almost never talks. Even if he does, it is always short, but if he does talk, it will be important.
Cronus looked forward, to the silver door, "Contemplating. A lot is at stake. Can't afford to be reckless."
Phobos sit beside him, "Yes, everyone have suffered serious injuries at some point before, even me. But there is always the pod. Of course, we punish anyone who goes reckless. I see them as hot-headed reckless idiots."
"Which is none." Cronus quickly interjected.
"Yes, all of us are wise enough to draw the line between reckless and bravery."
There is a moment of pause before Phobos suddenly speaks, "All right, enough of this silence. Something's nagging your mind. Speak it out. It won't do you any good if you decided to keep it in."
Sharp. That's what Cronus always thought about Phobos. He can look for an enemy weakness just by looking at them, making him a threat on one by one. He also knows if anyone is hiding something, usually he let it slide. But once you're found out, there is no escaping him. He might as well speak about it, as there is no point hiding it from him.
"The door. It is waiting, for us to charge. Something, waiting..." Phobos looked towards the door; he could see where this is coming from.
"Whatever creature that exists behind the door, we will vanquish it. There is a reason we came, fighting until this far, to protect our homeland." Cronus didn't respond, instead he turned around and saw that most of the members have arrived. He choose to get up and look at how they are faring, leaving Phobos to his thoughts.
'Strange... He never talks much. This is the first time I've seen talk this much. He closed his eyes before continuing his thoughts. Something... something bad will happen. I better talk to Demios about this.' With that, he head back to where Demios address the recently arrived group.
As Phobos got closer, he could see that all members of their team have arrived. 'There won't be any time to talk,' he thought to himself. But the earlier talk with Cronus left him with a small sense of dread, as he turned to face the door. Whatever creature waiting beyond this door will soon reveal themselves...
Phobos silently stands beside his captain, as he addresses the members that have arrived. 20 members standing in front of him, not include him, Demios, and Anima. Needless to say, they could feel the tension among them. This, being their greatest battle, the feeling is understandable.
"Fellow Purgatory Knights, we have arrived at our destination, the gate to Darkness Dragon World. Now is the time for us to close the gate to protect our homeland from these abominations. Purgatory Knights, move out!"
As soon as they about to head towards the door, the entire ground shook violently. The silver door slowly opened wide with a screeching sound, forcing them to cover their ears. Looking ahead, they could see a creature began to emerge from the door.
It is what they call a 'reaper'. The skeleton creature wielding a jagged red scythe in his right hand, from his body, twelve astral hands appears to be carrying another twelve different weapons. This astral hand appears from various parts of his body, from his side, back, even from his nonexistent lower body. The other weapons that he has revolve around axes, swords, and katana. As he moves to the side, another violent shake began to follow and another creature appears.
What first appeared is a giant head, followed as it burst through, a black figure can be seen atop of it. Having only his upper body visible, this muscular creature has four arms, each wielding various type of sword, his wings, as wide as the face of the creature below him. It began to roar menacingly, disorienting the Purgatory Knights further. It took them a bit to gather their composure as the shaking calmed down.
"So, this is the group that felled most of our kind. No matter, this place will be your grave," The creature pointed his four swords at them, with the dragon head roared at them. "Now, now Graybard, why don't we play with them? Besides, I have thirteen weapons with me, it will be a waste not to use them all. After all, thirteen is my lucky number." The reaper twirls his scythe around nonchalantly as the Purgatory Knights group regain their footing, and balance.
Demios have regained his senses before see that Thirteen is the closest to him, while Graybard is the closest to the door, both about to begin their assault, "Purgatory Knights, Charge!" With that, Demios began to rush at Graybard, followed suit by half of the group. While the remaining group began their battle against Thirteen.
Using one of his swords, Graybard blocked Demios's thrust, he attempted to counter Demios, but he jump back, making the counter out of range. The dragon head below began to spew fire, incinerating anything on its path, except Ray have prepared his shield to block the incoming fire breath, behind him Chester swing his sword in a chain like style, the sword began to detach, revealing the blade, connected with a chain which run through the hilt. Chester swings his sword forward, the blade managed to scratch the dragon head a little.
Meanwhile, Thirteen began to rise to the sky, with the remaining Purgatory Knights chased after him. At a distance, Cross began to shoot at Thirteen, but the bolt got blocked away with a sword, Cronus attempt to mow down Thirteen, but the weapons blocked the area attack. Thirteen retaliate by swinging 3 of his weapon, crashing down into Cronus, knocking him down. He managed to gain his balance and fly back towards Thirteen, a small crack is visible on his armor.
Gerald throw his ring chain to Graybard, his attempt got cut short as Graybard create an X mark air slash, rending the air towards him. The attack causes his arms to bleed, a few cut marks can be seen. Gerald grunted in pain as Selene began to use Dragonic Heal on him, stopping the bleeding from worsen.
The team fighting Thirteen began to have trouble as he began to get aggressive, senidng his weapon to attack at every direction. Cronus got forced to pull back as the assault got wilder, with the weapon swinging wildly, it is unsafe to get close.
Phobos began to charge a magic attack, through his trident. Humming quitely with his eyes closed, Thirteen attempt to rush his weapon at Phobos, only for him to dissapear. He suddenly feel a burning sensation through his body. Phobos has caught him off guard and blasted a fire ball at him, burning his clothes and hurting the hands. His skeletal body began to burn as he desperately tried to put it out.
Aelous, using this moment throw his sword at Thirteen, stabbing him at the head. Thirteen only reaction is to pull it off, before realizing Cronus have closed his distance, preparing to punch him. Without time to react, Thirteen could feel the punch knocking him out. As he dropped to the ground below, his astral hands began to dissapears, him, and his 13 weapons lay on the ground unmoving.
Gairahm and Dusk rushed together at Graybard, Chester continues to whip at the dragon head while Ray poised his shield as a trampoline. Dusk jumped at his shield, prompting Ray to boost him upwards, folowed by Gairahm flying alongside him. At the top of the head, Gairahm and Dusk evaded the slash from Graybard. He tries to bring down his sword but find his arms has been binded.
Below Gerald has thrown his chain at Graybard, it succesfully restrained his left hand, "Got you," Gerald smirked, pulling the chain to throw him off balance.
The sudden binding didn't give him a chance when flurries of punch were dealt to him, before Gairahm pierced Graybard with his sword.
Graybard doesn't give any reaction, he simply hunched forward, dropping his entire sword as the dragon head roared loudly, before closing its eyes.
With both enemy has been dispatched, they take a deep breath to calm themselves, but the moment didn't last long as the door began to shake again, "Oh, again? You have to be kidding," Cross sighed in exasperation as a giant black creature revealed itself from the door.
Its appearances say anything but a dragon. This creature has six wings, claws with small dragon head, its face has a mouth, and its lower parts are a claw holding down an orb. All of its body parts are black, save for the internal mouth, it is yellow.
Thirteen regained his consciousness and laughed maniacally as the creature make itself fully visible, "Look! The dragon of Demise has arrived. Your doom is inevitable," he cackled maniacally before declaring, "Behold! The Black Dragon of Demise, Death Tallica!"
Tallica began to roar as the souls began to form and collect themselves to one location, swirling ominously. "Do not hope. For you will see, why it will be you demise." Thirteen's souls began to pull out of his body, uniting with the collection of souls. In front of them Graybard's souls has been pulled off his body, swirled together above.
The circle above eventually go faster, three of the souls unite together, forming a mini version of Tallica
More and more of those mini Tallicas formed around it. The sheer number got so much that they began to hover to its side. The number has reached to 200 minis Tallica.
Tired from their previous battle, some members began to falter, step back nervously. Seeing this, Demios once again try to rally them, "Never fear! Never hesitate! We fight to protect what is important to us! The Purgatory Knights are eternal warriors that never surrender!" Demios raised his sword, "We will stand our ground and we will come out victorious! Purgatory Knights, charge!"
Demios immediateky rushed to Tallica, but a mini blocked his path, "Out of my way!" He quickly cut apart the mini releasing the souls in the process.
Their captain's speech has shown its effect. The rest of the team began to charge at Tallica, filled with determination to end this monstrosity. Aelous used his speed to rush at Tallica, but a mini blocked his way. A bolt fly through the air, hitting the mini, Aelous continue to rush, but 3 of them blocked his way, "Argh! Move you little-"
A beam pierces through the air, directly hitting Aelous, "Aaaah!" The impact knocks him down to the grass below.
"Aelous!" Cross chased after him, slowing his descent as he is too big for him to sustain. Below, Dusk quickly carry Aelous to a safe range, while Selene continuously fire 'Dragonic Shoot' at mini Tallica, breaking from shooting, she proceed to began heal Aelous.
Anima began to chant quietly as aura of magic washed over him. He concentrated all of his magical energy to his left hand, said hand glows with a green aura. He pushed his left hand forward, a blast of green wave pierced through the air. 7 Tallica stand in the way and taking the blow, withstanding it from advancing further. The Tallicas disappear as the wave fade away. Anima grunted in frustration as the attack failed to pierce it.
Chester spins his sword before swinging it forwards, cutting down a lot of mini Tallica at once. Ray charges his halberd with a flame aura, then he crash the halberd down, burning a few minis Tallica below him. Gairahm keeps up his rush as one by one, mini Tallica began to be defeated.
Tallica itself, have charged a beam at Gairahm, sensing his comrade in danger, Ray quickly fly in front of Gairahm, shield in hand as Tallica fire the beam. Stopping his assult, Gairahm hold on to Ray, withstanding the beam together. The beam died down, its attack cracked Ray's shield, they are caught off guard as mini Tallicas began to swarm him, with Gairahm trying to fend them off.
Tallica charged another beam, firing at Ray. At last moment, Ray managed to put his shield up, but the main impact proved too much for him, destroying his shield and knocking him unconscious as he fall down below. Gairahm rushed to catch Ray, slowly land in the grass below as he look ahead, a lot of mini Tallica still stand.
"Gairahm! Let me carry him!" Gairahm handed an unconsious Ray to Gerald. He quickly raced back to Selene, while Gairahm take off to the sky once more.
Phobos and Cronus charged together, with Cronus throw his scythe, spinning towards the target, while Phobos choose to sheathe his trident and proceeded to slash every Tallica nearby, with both keeping their distance from each other in fear of friendly fire.
Selene herself already began to show fatigue from casting too much, not helped by the fact that now there are 2 unconscious dragons in her care. Dusk and Gerald still tries to fend off Tallica, with Dusk attack them with his knuckles, while Gerald use his chain as they protect Selene as she heal both Aelous and Ray.
The continuous rush from the rest finally shown its effect. The number of Tallicas finally receded to 50. But this is with casualties on Purgatory Knights.
Both Ray and Aelous are still unconsious, the remaining members began to get tired as the battle drag on. Chester as Cross got forced to fall back as they got swarmed. Tallica's beam assault become more frequent as more of the members began to suffer from the impact.
Phobos and Cronus managed to withstand a laser blow each, as it's fired in succession. Demios and Anima got forced to pull back as the mini Tallicas disrupt them, almost getting in the line of attack from Tallica.
Aelous slowly regained consciousness as he began to stand up, holding his twin black knife, Ray followed suit wielding his halberd.
"You two! You guys haven't fully recovered yet!" Selene tries to stop them, "This is no time to rest! We almost there, we almost win this. We can't just rest up while they are fighting!" Aeloues and Ray began to take off once again, with Selene sighed, shaking her head, "Men..."
Demios and Cronus rushed on, the fact of mini Tallicas number has reduced drastically give them hope to fight further. The rest of the knights followed suit cutting apart every mini Tallica in the way, and evading the beam attack.
Finally, the last mini has been brought down, only Tallica alone remains. Wasting no time, Demios leapt to the air, his sword glows with a red aura, preparing to came crushing down to Tallica, "Prepare for your annihilation! There is no escape from this! Demios' Retribution!" Demios came crashing down to Tallica's head, his sword pierced through its skull.
Tallica roared as it shakes his head around, throwing Demios off along with the sword. Tallica slowly turned to the door, some of the members have began to close the door, it's almost closed. Tallica roared as its giant hands below began to raise the orb it has held the entire time, throwing it towards the door. Those in front of the door quickly dive out of the way as the orb came into contact with the door. Tallica dropped dead soon after it had throwed the orb.
"Wha-"
Demios doesn't even finish the sentence as the orb crash the door, forcefully opened it and spawned a black vortex. It began to suck the air around it, pulling them to it. Unfortunately, those who are close to the door earlier got sucked in, helpless to resist as they were pulled from the ground.
"No!" Demios tries to save them before he feels Anima has held him in his waist, "Demios, don't!"
"Let go Anima! I have to save them! They are our team mates."
"We don't know what's beyond it! You can't just rush in!"
"But-"
The vortex's force become more intense, they realized that they are getting pulled in too. All of them slowly step back as they tried to get away. Demons all around the Dragon World began to appear at their location, seems to be heading towards the vortex.
Bring them.
The voice was sudden, Anima, still holding to Demios looked to the sky. Demons have appeared above them before they rushed towards all of them.
Anima let go of Demios and pushed him out of the way, Demios looked back at Anima, "Demios! Don't let them-" before he finished, demons swarmed Anima, knocking him towards the vortex becore he disappears through it.
"ANIMA!"
Without time to grieve, Demios began to attack wildly off demons around him, slashing at whoever comes close with them trying to knock him off balance to push him to the vortex. "Damn you... DAMN YOU ALL!" Blinded by rage, Demios can only think to kill the demons around him. Unfortunately, a demon managed to catch him off guard, the blow knocked him out. Cronus throws his scythe, slicing demons around Demios, while he reached out to grab him and pull him close as the scythe returned to his hands.
The vortex still tries to pull them in, a few demons have returned to the portal, by getting sucked through said vortex.
Ray currently tried to withstand the pulling by planting his halberd down to the grass, but this makes him open to demon attacks as they swarmed him, since his shield was destroyed, he is completely helpless to fight back. He can only withstand the pain as he gripped his halberd tighter.
"Ray!" A sword slashed through the air, whipping the larger demons while it cut down the smaller ones. Chester has swings his sword at them, but the sword came into contact with the halberd, interrupting the attack.
As he swings his sword once more, a black dragon caught the sword, forcefully lift Chester off the ground and throw him to the portal.
Cross tries to help Ray by shooting down the demons with his crossbow, Aelous also helped with casting a wind spell, pushing them away from Ray, the demons retaliated and targeted them instead, leaving Ray be.
Aelous currently used his shoulder guard to minimize the pulling, while Cross is with him, covering him from assault. The earlier swarmed put a number on Ray, his armor got scratch marks everywhere. The ordeal began to tire him as he is left panting on his position.
Selene, Gerald, and Dusk didn't fare much better. The black sky, currently filled with demons swarming together to crush them. Selene fending off with 'Dragonic Thunder', while Gerald knocked back a few demons with his chain and Dusk crushed a few of them with his knuckles.
Phobos and Gairahm are busy fending off demons on their parts, "There is just no end to them," Gairahm complained as he struck down a black dragon. Phobos couldn't even reply as the demon swarm grows in size, rushing them towards the portal.
Gairahm managed to hold on to Ray's halberd as he is still recovering from the assault. Phobos pushed himself to Demios and Cronus position, in which Cronus is still holding Demios while he is fending off demons with his scythe.
The sudden pressure of another hand does both Ray and Gairahm in. The halberd got pulled off, the demons struck them relentlessly, making them entered the portal as Phobos helplessly watch.
Gerald managed to fend off demons with his chain until his weapon is used against him. A black dragon got hold of the non-spiky section of the ring, pulling him away before the swarm behind rushed at them, the swarm knocked them to Aelous and Cross path, before they crashed into them, sending 5 of them to the portal.
Cronus can't believe it; they are helpless to fight back, more even so to protect themselves. They are supposed to be the 'Purgatory Knights', the strongest army of knights in Dragon World. How could they be so helpless on this situation?
Demios regained consciousness as Phobos sends a flame wave at the demons above. "You're awake. Good, there is no more time Demios. You have to do it. I'll give you a moment for it. It'll be hard I know, but this is only the way," Phobos paused for a moment, before preparing to take off, eyes looked towards the sky, "Cronus, forgive us."
With that, Phobos soared to the sky both weapon readied in hand, "Come at me! I'll take you all on!" Hundreds of demon swarmed him as he continues to fight back, as long as it takes.
Cronus has a puzzled look at what Phobos just said; Demios has a blank look as be looked around their surroundings. Everyone has disappeared, only three of them are left, at this rate the entire Purgatory Knights will be annihilated, unless...
Phobos crashed down in the middle of clearing, his body has bruises everywhere, while the number of demons has receded a little, he is clearly outnumbered. This battle, there is no hope for victory to them. "Demios! Hurry!"
Demios held to Cronus's shoulder, turning around he saw his captain face turn to a sorrow, whispering, "Forgive me."
Cronus suddenly feels a sharp pain at his belly. Looking down, Demios has stabbed him with his sword, piercing through his abdomen. Still shocked, all he could mutter is, "W... why?"
"I can't tell you. You'll understand when you wake up. Forgive me."
Demios pulled his sword out, Cronus's blood stained it. His own body falls to the ground, barely alive himself. Demios walked ahead to Phobos, charging his own body with a red aura.
Leave him.
The demons abandon Cronus as they swarmed both Phobos and Cronus. Both of them prepared their weapon once more, "This is it. Our last stand," Phobos have charged himself with a red aura as well.
Demios silently nod, before clashing with the demons, both aims to push the remaining demons to the portal. Cronus can only look as he withstands the pain, his scythe lay beside him, holding it tightly, he watched to battle.
They managed to push the demons back to their own portal, but in the process, Demios and Phobos have run out of energy. Hopeless to fight back, they let themselves got pulled in.
"No... NO! Captain Demios, Vice Captain Phobos!" Cronus tried to get up, but the wound struck too deep to him to be able to get up, he can only watch as his captain, and vice-captain got pulled through the portal. At that moment, Demios managed to speak one last speech that will be forever burned to his mind "Never forget! The Purgatory Knights are eternal! We always live!"
With that, they disappear through the portal. The door closed with a loud screeching sound. The black sky finally parted way for sun to shine through. Rays of sunlight illuminate the clearing where Cronus was. He could feel his body got pulled away, at that moment, his body glows a light blue color, before a flash a white enveloped him, turning his vision black. The last thing he sees before blacking out is the door, fading away.
His body floating in the air before turning to a small circle of soul. The soul begins to traverse the land.
Peace has returned to Dragon World, but at the cost of Purgatory Knights. Hope is restored among the resident, slowly rebuilding what they have lost.
As the souls continue to traverse the land, it has finally reached it's destination. The former home base of Purgatory Knights located a top of a mountain, now completely destroyed, leaving nothing but rubble.
No one knows what happened to them. There is absolutely no sign.
It head down to a nearby clearing of flowers, a bronze colored pod is there, the souls enters the pod, materializing Cronus's comatose body as fog set over the area. His entire attire and weapon got moved to a vault inside the pod, to be taken back after they have awakened.
Everyone believed that they went to Darkness Dragon World to prevent the gate from opening.
The pod closed itself, filling it with blue liquid, submerging him completely. His naked body is now sleeping; the injury Demios gave him, now it is a horizontal scar.
And so, the deed has made the Purgatory Knights a hero, sometimes known as 'The Eternal Knights'.
The pod closed itself again, this time a metal plate close down the pod completely, the individual inside no longer visibke. A number is visible on the center area, 100. A plaque, located below the number has something written on it, 'Cronus'.
We are eternal, we never died that easy, for we are, the Purgatory Knights. We always live.
To be continued
AN: To be honest, compared to Purgatory's Cipher, this version is pretty harsh on them.
Please review if there is anything you wanted to say. Criticsm that helped to improve is always welcome.
And of course, names:
Chester: The first thing I got when trying to derive the word 'chain'. From Chain Sword Dragon.
Ray: Means 'wise protector', from Mad Halberd.
Gairahm: From Gairahm Lance Dragon, anybody knows what Gairahm supposed to mean?