Whew, finally got this out and I apologize for the slower updates kind of been lazy and been playing some games and even working on new short stories like a small revise for the Warner's Security Guard story I plan to do.
With that out of the way, we are reaching the end to the second act and the final battle between Ragna, Bayonetta, and Wonder Woman against Sofia, Lero, and Aris. Let's get moving.
Heaven's Shadow Part Eight: Strength
(A Devil's Justice)
When the light died down, Ragna and the girls found themselves in a long hallway of pure white light, seemingly endless in sight. The three looked at each other before Ragna took another cautious step forward, his boots echoing around them. When nothing happened, the three silently trudged through the hall, unsure if they were even going in the right direction…..unaware of the eyes watching them. Ragna sniffed the air, seeing if he smelled any of the girl's scent….when he picked up the familiar aroma of Ghia'tas' shampoo she used today.
"I smell Ghia'ta, the others are with her as well." Ragna said, beckoning the girls to follow.
"Hmm, I do wonder where these Paladins are, you'd think they would just meet with us if they want you dead, Little Devil." Bayonetta teased, hands on her hips as she walked with stride, completely unimpressed by the white area around them.
"She does have a point, why is this place so….empty?" Diana asked, holding her hand out, surprising herself as she seemed to be pressed against a hard and cold surface but saw nothing there.
"Don't expect it to be THAT simple, Pagan Idolizer." Once again, the woman's voice echoed around them.
"Well stop hiding like a bunch of babies and take me out like you claimed you would!" Ragna challenged, looking up in the white space around the three.
"Oh, poor sinner, that would too SIMPLE. We wanna make you REALLY suffer!" Sofia growled, clawing at the monitor as Flash winced a bit.
"Jeez, these guys are obsessed with him. Actually it reminds me of our villains, so good for the kid, he really needs his own rogue gallery." The speedster muttered.
"Flash?! Really?!"
"What? I'm ju-!"
"SILENCE!" Sofia roared, tapping her wrist and zapping the iron maiden cages.
"KYA~~!"
"FUCK YOU BITCH!" Crush roared, flipping off the Nun, but Sofia ignored her as she turned back to the monitor.
"Now…Suffer." Sofia tapped on the screen. Back in the hall, Ragna stopped in his tracks as golden lights shot onto the other side of the hall, taking different shapes and moving towards the three. Ragna's eyes zipped around for an opening, and once he saw it he quickly dashed through it, seething as one of the lasers hit his arm. He looked down to see that his wound was healing slower then usual, feeling the same energy Magnus used on him back in Redgrave.
"Careful! That stuff is holy energy!"
"Holy energy?!" Both girls questioned the ridiculous name.
"I don't have a name for it, okay?!"
"This is Pure Light of the Angels itself, the source that can even destroy demons and gods alike." Sofia claimed, watching as more lasers appeared and moved erratically around the three. Ragna pulled out Morningstar and danced around the lasers using his blade to deflect the light, dashing through the hall. Diana reached for her shield and began charging through, blocking the lasers on one side with her shield and another with a bracelet spinning around some of them. Bayonetta chuckled as she simply flipped and ducked under the golden lasers like she was dancing, even flipping her hair to mock Sofia. Which worked.
"Please….Please be careful Ragna." Ghia'ta muttered.
"Who's that moose of a skank?" Tala growled, glaring at Bayonetta from the monitor screen.
"Bayonetta, the last of the Umbran Witches." Lero stated from his part on a wall, his arms crossed as he watched Bayonetta move through the laser field.
"...Umbran…witch?" Tala muttered.
"What is that?" Kori asked.
"...One of the first and oldest covens of witches, created centuries ago in Europe, making pacts with demons in exchange for hunting angels." Tala explained.
"But they were wiped centuries ago….all but one." Lero finished, staring up at the monitor.
"This shall be the Paladins lucky day, not only shall we end the Son of Sparda, but the last of the Umbran Witches." Lero declared, holding his fist high.
"Yes, and my beloved Aris shall be the one to finish them!" Sofia exclaimed, changing the monitor to a white door. Within the room all was silent, not a sound….before BANG! With a battle cry the door was smashed open as Ragna flew in with his fist out, Bayonetta and Wonder Woman landing beside him. As the dust cleared the three stood their ground as a figure appeared from the cloud, revealing the tall muscular member of the Paladins. Aris growled as he easily towered over the three, his arm and hand the same size as Ragna's entire torso.
"...Wow…my man did not skip leg day." Ragna muttered, tilting to the side seeing that this behemoth was jacked.
"Oh my, what a big naughty boy you are." Bayonetta teased, adjusting her glasses as Wonder Woman glared at the behemoth. As the smoke cleared the three saw that Aris was not alone, with several cloaked figures standing behind him. Not like the Paladins Ragna faced with Magnus but more like popes of sorts. In their hands was a silver jagged dagger, Ragna wondering why that was there weapon of choice.
"Aris." The woman's voice echoed in the room, and the three jumped as the room died down revealing how large this place was, the ceiling going nearly twenty stories high. There didn't seem to be another door, the three trapped with the behemoth and his men.
"Deal with the Son of Sparda and his pagan sluts."
"Sluts?!" Both girls exclaimed and for the first time since Ragna had met her, Bayonetta had a frown on her face clearly pissed that someone called her that. The behemoth Aris let out a low growl before pulling his fist up, slamming them together causing the room to shake.
"Alright big guy, let's dance." Ragna declared twirling Morningstar before aiming it at Aris.
"Prepare for defeat, fanatics." Diana declared taking a step forward. Aris merely looked over his shoulder at the entourage of priest-like figures, nudging his head at them.
"Oh what's wrong big boy, can't handle us all by yourself?" Bayonetta challenged, but it fell on deaf ears as the cloaked figures began chanting in a different tongue, slowly holding the daggers out.
"Hey…what are they doing?" Flash asked, noticing them slowly twist the dagger's blade towards their chest.
"Are the-HOLY CRAP!" Ragna's eyes widened and mouth dropped, every superhero watched in horror as the priests plunged the blades into their chest.
"What the hell?!" Was the collective cry from several of the girls and some of the heroes, watching as their bodies crumbled to the ground. However, from Ragna's and the girls perspective, the very opposite happened. They watched as the priests crumbled to the ground, only for a creature Ragna had never seen before take their place. They appeared as creatures with white and golden skin, wings sprouting from their backs and strange halos over their heads.
"Are….are those.."
"Affinity, Angels of Paradiso." Bayonetta answered Ragna, twirling her pistols as Diana held her blade high. She had no recollection of these creatures, if anything they must be from the old stories with the Legendary Dark Knight, but their stories had no indirect mention of what these creatures looked like. Ragna looked at these creatures in confusion, has these things looked drastically different then Mariel, but then again he supposed most angels didn't look human to begin with.
"A-Angels."
"GRAH!" Aris roared as he lunged forward swinging his fist, Ragna holding up Morningstar to catch the blow, flinging back from the powerful force. Bayonetta twisted her body kicking Aris in the arm as Diana jumped into the air slamming her shield into his face. However it seemed as if Aris had shrugged off the blow, Bayonetta could've sworn she saw something on his arm for a split second, bouncing them away. Aris lunged towards Ragna only for something to latch around his arm, looking to see the golden lasso wrapped around his wrist. Wonder Woman grunted as her boots bent against the metal floor, only to feel that very same floor began to shake and vibrate.
To her surprise the entire thing began to move upwards taking Diana with her, Aris untangling the lasso off him as two Affinity's flew up towards her. Aris turned around to see Ragna gone, only for a boot to plant into his chest, knocking him flat on his butt. Ragna twirled his blade and swung towards Aris only for the behemoth to catch his blade, snarling in rage and pulling Ragna into the air. Ragna let go of his blade and pulled out Jekyll and Hyde, charging them with Love and Rage before twirling them and aiming at Aris' gut. Two charged shots blasted Aris across the arena and into a wall just as a cube moved itself out of the wall. Ragna held his hand out to catch Morningstar, before ducking out of the death swing of an Affinity. Ragna turned back to the angel, unsure how he should be approaching this…..could he really go through with killing an angel? It was something he'd have to carry with him for the rest of his life, and he regretted it ever since. But….Mariel was innocent, and these angels were clearly trying to kill him.
BANG
"Try and keep focus, Little Devil." Bayonetta teased, her smoking gun over Ragna's left shoulder.
"...Mulp." Ragna muttered as he cleaned his ear, super hearing was not fun at all. Back at the command center, the girls and heroes watched as the three fought….something.
"What are they fighting?" Flash asked.
"Creatures of Paradiso." Tala muttered.
"How the hell can you tell? I can't see anything." GL stated with a glare, seeing the three fight nothing but air on his screen.
"Ah, right, I forget those that aren't divine or imbued with magic can't see them." Tala said shaking her head before going back to watch Bayonetta lean on Ragna as the Affinity turned to golden light.
"Don't feel bad for plucking their feathers too soon Dearie, they always come back." Bayonetta said as she pushed Ragna out of the way from Aris fist, summoning a wicked weave fist and punching him into the ceiling. She felt the ground move beneath her before the block under her flew into the air, and once she looked around she saw the entire room had several blocks floating into the air with Wonder Woman fighting angels on a nearby one. Ragna summoned Ifrit and slammed his fist into Aris, the collision shaking the area around them that even in the command center Sofia felt the ground shake. Ragna and Aris' fist were mere flashes of movement as they threw haymaker after haymaker.
"RRAAAAHHHHH!" Aris roared as he slammed his fists into Ragna, breaking the ground beneath him. To his shock the hybrid appeared over his knuckles with a chain wrapped to his wrist, swinging it and wrapping it around his arm. The hybrid hero jumped into the air landing on a cube and with all his strength pulled. Aris grunted as he pulled his arm back in this tug of war against the hybrid hero. Ragna growled as he felt a million tons try and pull his arm out of his socket, feeling that inner power within boil out. With a might roar his body was covered in a red aura, as a spectral figure appeared behind him and grabbed the chains following his actions. Aris felt his feet leave the ground and towards Ragna. The hybrid hero pulled his fists back along with the spectral being, slamming them into Aris cheek and launching him back to the ground.
"NO! Aris get back up now!" Sofia screeched over the speakers, nails digging into the metal as she watched her Beloved being knocked around. The behemoth pulled himself out of the ground and held his wrist up, pressing on something. Ragna, Bayonetta, and Diana suddenly felt the weight of an entire city crushing down on their shoulders, bodies slamming into the cubes they stood on.
"Interesting, Aris has turned on the Gravity Hold." Lero muttered.
"Yes, now finish them Beloved!" Sofia ordered.
"Hmm….an ordinary human would be nothing but a bloody pulp…..even those Angels are no match for it." Lero stated, gesturing to the now crushed Affinity's reduce to golden light. Aris roared as the crushing gravity weighed heavy on him….but he's been training in this room since the day it was installed. With a push of his foot he jumped into the air, hovering over Ragna with his fists raised over his head. Swinging down with the weight twenty times the Earth's gravity, slammed the cube back onto the ground below.
"RAGNA!" Diana called out, straining against the gravity with heavy steps. Aris let out an amused snort as his victory was short at hand….only for it all to crumble as Ragna held both fists up with his and the spectral arms.
"Heheh…..this gravity is…pretty intense…..but nothing I can't handle!" Ragna cockily chuckled, pushing Aris off him. The behemoth took a steps back only to be smacked away by a large wicked weave fist.
"This pressure is quite nice, finally fixed the kink in my shoulder." Bayonetta teased as she walked with heavy steps, standing beside Ragna.
"Now, Little Devil, why don't we show this musclebound thug a thing or two." Bayonetta asked, her body glowing with umbran power, the purple aura radiating like fire.
"I can get behind that." Ragna said as his body lit up with the red spiraling energy. Aris and everyone watching could only gape in awe as the two energies slowly began to combine due to the familiar flow. Umbran and Demonic energy combined and slowly began to take form of a large upper torso, of a feminine figure with her arms crossed in front of her bosom, a strange curved helmet adorned her head as the towered over Ragna and Bayonetta.
"HA!" Both Ragna and Bayonetta pulled their fists back, throwing a strong haymaker as the spectral being followed suit. Aris held his arms up catching the spectral punch, roaring as his body was consumed in the blast. The blow seemed to have done something as the gravity returned to normal, letting Diana to roll her shoulders from such intense weight while Ragna let his self-healing do the work.
"Huh. Interesting. This has never happened before." Bayonetta mused, looking over her shoulder to see the spectral being.
"Woah….it looks like my spectral form." Ragna noted.
"Really? You do that often or am I just the lucky one?" Bayonetta asked with a grin.
"Actually, I barely know anything about this power…..I literally got it like a day or two ago." Ragna explained.
"So you know nothing? Do you know if you can make it bigger?"
"Huh? Bigger…that's sounds actually pretty co-!"
"GGRAAAHHHH!" Both turned to see the smoke clear to reveal Aris, and yet his body had changed not in clothes or appearance….but in color. His once muscular tan body was now golden, from his clothes to his very skin, covering him in this metal like plating.
"What the?"
"Oh, shiny." Bayonetta chuckles, adjusting her glasses from the intense light Aris was radiating.
"Yes! Behold Son of Sparda, my Beloved Aris' Luman Form: ADAMAS!"
(ADAMAS Aris: Unbreakable Strength)
"...Doesn't it mean Diamond in Greek or something?" Bayonetta whispered, leaning down to Ragna's height.
"RRRRAAAAAAHHHH!" Aris roared as he lunged forward swinging his golden fist, only for Diana to collide into him with her shield taking the full blow. Diana pushed Aris off his feet and slammed her fist into his stomach, pushing him back a few feet. Aris charged at the group like a raging bull, arms held up like a battering ram. Diana took the full brunt of the blow, her shield shaking in her arms as her boots skated across the ground, only for someone to stop her. Looking over her shoulder she saw Ragna's hands pressed against her shoulders, grunting as he held her in place as Aris pushed against her shield. Suddenly two wicked weaves appeared and grabbed Aris by his shoulders, but to Bayonetta's surprise Aris' weight was greater than she ever anticipated, as his feet barely left the ground.
"GRAH!" With a snarl Aris pulled his fist back and slammed it into the shield knocking Wonder Woman into the air. Ragna threw his chain towards the Amazon Heroine, wrapping it around her ankle. This moment of weakness gave Aris to slam his fist into Ragna's chest, just as the hybrid hero yanked his arm down. Aris heard a battle cry above his head, looking up to see Wonder Woman flying back down with her sword. He held his arm up only for it to be knocked aside by Bayonetta's kick. Diana swing her blade across Aris' chest, but to her surprise it only left a scar across his chest, the behemoth roaring in pain from the magical blade.
"As entertaining as this is, I believe you wish to save your friends?" Bayonetta asked. Ragna looked around knowing the witch was right, as challenging as this foe was he didn't have time for that. Ghia'ta, the girls, his heroes, all of them needed his help but he had no idea where they could go now.
"Right, but I can't even tell which way we came in let alone another way out." Ragna said, looking around for an exit.
"Well you better get to finding a way out while I handle beefcake over here." Bayonetta joked as she stepped past Ragna and lunged at Aris ducking under his fist. Ragna took a moment to take in the room around him, trying to see if he could see a crack or an opening. He took a deep breath trying to calm his nerves…..when it suddenly clicked with him. He took another deep breath, he may not have a full understanding of his super hearing, but his sense of smell has always been one of his greatest strengths. Taking another whiff of the air he smelled blood and sweat, he could smell the dirt of the mountain and smoke of magma…..wait. He could smell it, the shampoo Ghia'ta used in the shower earlier today.
"THAT WAY!"
"But there's no door!" Diana exclaimed ducking under a swing from Aris, looking at the wall Ragna was pointing at.
"Then let's make one!" Bayonetta laughed as she pulled her fist back summoning a wicked weave as Ragna summoned Ifrit and empowered it with Hellfire. The two slammed their fists into the wall, the force of their blows shaking the entire mountain shocking Sofia and Lero. The energy of their combined attacked seemed to be working in tangent with one another much like their previous attack against Aris, and the effect showed with the new hole.
"NO!" Sofia roared as she slammed her fists onto the monitor watching as they punched a hole into a new room.
"This way!" Ragna said as Bayonetta ran past him into the hallway. Aris roared as he charged after them, only for someone to wrap their arms around his waist. Diana let out a loud battle cry as she lifted the golden warrior off the ground and slammed him head first into the floor. Diana rolled away and lunged towards the door, as the others cheered within their iron maidens.
"Not on my watch, Pagan Whore!" Sofia roared, slamming her hand onto her wrist. Ragna's eyes widened as a golden wall appeared between him and Diana, the Amazon seething as the wall seemed to burn her hands.
"Some sort of holy energy wall like the lasers." Diana muttered.
"Hold on, I'll get you out!" Ragna pulled out Morningstar and slammed it into the wall, its hellish flames fighting against the light field.
"NO!" To Ragna's surprise Diana turned her back to him, pulling out her sword and shield.
"Diana?"
"Go and save the others, I will give you time and when I am done I will join you." Diana explained, watching as Aris pulls himself out of the ground. If she didn't hold back this behemoth they would never save the others in time.
"Diana…" Diana turned and smiled at Ragna.
"Do you trust me?"
"...Yes." Ragna didn't know everything about Diana….but not even for a second did he doubt Diana's strength.
"Then I know I can trust you to save the others. No go!" Diana said as Ragna slowly turned and began running after Bayonetta.
"You sure you can leave her alone with the musclehead?"
"Don't underestimate an Amazon." Ragna said as they ran down the hallway. Back in the large room, Diana and Aris stared the other down, sweat beading down the Amazon's forehead as Aris let out slow drawn out growls.
"Aris." Sofia growled through the speakers, glaring at the monitor.
"Break her."
"RRRRAAAAAHHHHH!" Aris roared, charging at Diana.
"Know this, Fanatic, I am an Amazon! And there will never be a day where I will be broken!" Diana roared as she collided with Aris, shaking the mountain.
(A Devil's Justice)
"Hey….Can I….ask you a question?!" Ragna asked as they ran down the hallway, pushing through and knocking aside a few Paladins and even those strange winged knights.
"Oh? And what would that be, Little Devil?" Bayonetta asked, knocking a Proto Angelo into the wall with her wicked weave fist.
"...Why did you go after me? I mean what was the price that wanted you to hunt me down?" Ragna asked. He was curious as to who sent Bayonetta after him, but he also wanted to know how much she was being paid. She was a very strong being, one of the strongest he has faced, so it had to be A LOT of money. Bayonetta eyed the hybrid as he kicked a Paladin into a group of other Paladins knocking them away. Once the coast was clear the two began running again, Bayonetta eyeing the hybrid for a few moments before letting out a sigh.
"I…..I have no memories of my past." Bayonetta admitted. This caught Ragna by surprise, looking over at the Umbran Witch.
"I woke up one day with no memories of my past, I have no idea who I am. I don't even know if my name is Bayonetta." The Witch confessed. Ragna remained quiet as the two ran down the hall, unsure how to respond to such a thing. He wondered if he had no memories of his past, of his mother….would he be a different person? He didn't like thinking of such things, he never wanted to forget about his life, it's what made him strong. So he couldn't help but pity the Umbran Witch, doing all of this, having all that power and not even knowing who she was. As the two ran down the halls, they were constantly being watched by Sofia, who now had calm down and listened to Bayonetta's little confession.
"Interesting….Very interesting." Sofia stated, ignoring the groups constant struggle to break out.
"Dammit, if I can just get my ring!" John grunted as he held his hand out.
"Right! We can call our rings!" Ghia'ta said, holding her fist against the iron cage as did GL. They focused on calling their respective spectrum rings, the two objects laying on a nearby table….right before their own iron maidens began shocking them with volts of electricity.
"Naughty, naughty." Sofia cooed before snapping her fingers. In a flash of light Lero appeared beside her, leaning down to her head.
"Stall them, I need time to prepare." Sofia stated as she stood from her seat, Lero bowing his head before the Nun.
"It will be done, Milady." With that Lero disappeared within a flash of light. Sofia turned to the group and pressed down on her wrist. Square holes opened up below the caged heroes and one by one, they were dropped in. Sofia will need to finish this soon, and one way or another:
The Son of Sparda will die tonight.
(A Devil's Justice)
And with that we conclude the eighth chapter. We also show off more of Aris who I think I said this before but his design is based on Iron from Fire Force (But no shoulder pads and he has pants) for imagery so it's easier to imagine what he looks like. His Golden Form is like Iron's...iron form but obviously gold like the halo rings in Bayonetta. It was fun to have more fights where I thin I greatly excel at in writing. And Ragna also gets to know more about Bayonetta and I hinted at a certain type of...connection they have. No they don't know each other, or maybe they do (LOL) but the main focus was on power. Basically this chapter and their fight is building up to a new ending I have for the story...at least for the final battle.
Exciting, so exciting just as I am as I get more manga to read. It's been fun. Also just finished DCeased one of the few good stories going on at DC Comics. Sins of Sinister ended and...well I said I wouldn't read it but you'll know my thoughts in The Marvelous Devil. For now I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.
Zer0the0mega108 out!