Ash, ash as far as the eye could see underneath a darkened sky. For countless eons, the sky was void, without light, without life, without sound, without water, without warmth. There was only a cold and gentle darkness.
In the ocean of ash, in the lightless void once called a world, a lone locust wandered the sea. For countless years they searched for the vessel.
How long had they searched? How long would the dark hide its body from them? It did not remember, nor did it know. Had it been truly eons since it began its search? It had long lost count. Time no longer existed in this world, because the dark had frozen everything in place. Nothing was able to grow here. Neither could anything survive in this heap of ruins.
It was only them now, the last of the locust priests to remain. It was only the Dark's will that it stayed alive this long. It was only through the Dark's will that they were spared long ago as a youngling. Since then their fragment of the dark had grown until they became a fully matured locust. But there were none left to preach to, none were left to sway to the Dark.
It had no purpose left, save to find the vessel and rejoin with the dark.
Nothing happened, nothing changed, and it never found the vessel. But then something happened...something changed... From the empty heavens above, a lone star shined. It was bright, brighter than anything the locust could recall. Brighter than the sun itself.
The locust could only stare at the unnatural light. How could this be? The lord of light had long since passed, his descendants with him, and with them their accursed flame. So then why was this light here?
The light hovered in the sky for a while, as if taunting the dark itself to strike it down. Then it descended. It descended straight towards the locust. They shielded their eyes from the blinding star as it grew brighter and closer. Eventually, the light stopped and hovered a little ways above them.
No words were spoken. Not a sound could be heard, save for the wind blowing. Then the light spoke, "KNEEL," Suddenly a strong sense of pressure weighed down upon the locust as if an invisible hand was trying to push him to the ground.
But the locust would not kneel. Only to the Dark would it kneel to. Resisting, the locust remained standing. "BLASPHEMY. BEGONE FROM THIS WORLD," Spoke the light.
Particle by particle, the ash around the locust began to fade into nothing. But, the locust remained untouched, "Why do you not cease from existing? Are you... Are you perhaps, a god? Like me"
Fighting against the unseen force that weighed them down, the locust formed two blue branches. Defiantly Roared against the beacon of light, and rushed towards it. But, it was in vain as the unseen force suddenly froze it in place, stopping it right before it could even touch the figure within the light, "No... at least not entirely. I sense you are... incomplete. Nonetheless, no one has ever gotten this close to harming me... How interesting."
Bright chains formed from the light and wrapped around the locust, burning his flesh as they did so, "I will build my new world here, upon this dead land, and begin another grand test. And while I do all these things, I will find out what you are. Who knows, maybe you are what I am looking for."
Then everything went white.
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Water, that was what Gael opened his eyes to. Where was he? And did he die? Slowly Gael pushed himself out of the water, finding himself on the ocean shore. The sound of seagulls ringing in his ears as water left them. Looking down, Gael stared at his previously broken hand, flexing each individual finger. Then he tightened his grip with the hand until a sharp pain throbbed in his palm.
Gael sighed in disappointment. He had died, but not even the old wound upon his hand had healed. Though now that he thought about it, he felt different, odd. Normally when an undead died and came back, they would awake to the pain of their previous death still resonating within their body, but him... Gael did not feel anything. Strange, but maybe he had gotten numb to dying at this point.
He picked up his equipment and sword that were laying next to him. Then, making his way towards the dry sand, he found his beard was soaked and dripped with saltwater. It was like a wet rag as it dangled from his face and chin. His hood and cape as well were drenched in water. Overall, he felt as though he was a wet bird.
That dream... no that memory. Was it of the locust he had consumed? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. He might never know, that is until his mind decides to look into more memories of other people he never knew.
Scanning the area, Gael could see pieces of shipwreck across the shore. Same as well for corpses, but not as many as the other shore. He also noted how it was mostly mamono this time, instead of humans.
An abrupt burping sound suddenly came out of nowhere, "Oh, you're alive! Was wondering if I was just staring at a corpse for the past day or two!" Glancing at his side, Gael saw Petre sitting on a rock. With a near-empty bottle in hand, two crates sitting next to him, Petre gave Gael a faint smile.
It made no sense as to why they both ended up on the same shore after the encounter with that god named Poseidon. Which caused a fact to hit Gael straight in the head, there were still gods out there somehow. Strange, he swore they all died off. He was getting off the subject, "Why are you still here?" Asked Gael.
Petre took one final sip of the bottle before throwing it into the ocean, his smile growing wider, "To be honest, I have no idea! But, I ain't complaining!"
Turning around, Gael began to make his way to the forest ahead, "I see, then good journeys to you." Gael did not want this man to be with him anymore. It was not that he hated company, Velka knew he needed it, but this man... He was afraid of what potential harm could befall them because of him. So it was best he made as much distance as possible.
"Wait a moment! I am tagging along for the ride!" Yelled Petre, picking up the two crates and sliding off the rock. With slight fumbling movements, Petre hurriedly walked to Gael while almost tripping. Eventually, he caught up and walked alongside the giant that dwarfed him in height.
"Why are you following me?" Asked Gael, glancing at Petre.
"Well, either way, if I go alone, there's a big chance some mamono whore is gonna snatch me up. Also because for the past day or so since I've met you, she has not appeared at all. I plan on keeping that streak going!"
It was then Gael realized something. The man's bloodshot eyes, his slightly unbalanced walking, and his sudden talkativeness meant one thing. The man was drunk. No wonder the man went from calm and collective to the talkative and fumbling figure next to him. Just how much did the man drink, or better yet, how strong was the stuff he was drinking?
Gael himself never drank, or at least as far as he could remember, mainly due to the fact the curse made it impossible to get drunk. Over time as an undead, he learned that the curse had made him immune to being intoxicated. In a sense, it was ironic that a curse was able to be a blessing in some ways.
He sighed, there was no point arguing with this man in his drunken state. Such a fact was something he learned long ago with one of his commanders who was practically drowning in wine. Gael remembered how most of the slave knights were at the verge of breaking, and he tried to convince the commander to let them off in just one battle. It did not end well for him, in fact, he was severely punished and killed multiple times before the battle started.
Stopping in his tracks, Gael looked at the drunkard walking beside him, "Do you not care that I threatened to kill you?"
"Well, all things considered, I'd probably do something similar in your... shoes? Boots? What are you wearing anyway? Never seen the kind of stuff you have... and also that giant hole is really gonna need..." The man began to drone on and on about everything. Gael was not surprised by that. He merely let the man chat away as they walked.
The Giant and the Drunkard, making their way to the forest. For Petre, an adventure to make things more interesting. For Gael, it was a new journey to even more foreign lands. At least, Gael assumed they were on a separate continent. He would wait until Petre sobered up first until he asked more questions.
(-)
The heavens above shook, the waters below roared. Above at the surface, and down below at the city of Atlantis gods, angels, mamono and demons clashed. Neither side gained ground as the waters began to turn red.
Talos, the giant of metal, plunged his iron spear into the heart of a chaos god who had faces where arms would be. In writhing agony, the chaos god's multitude of feminane heads stretched back from their long necks, screaming in pain. However, it would take more than that to slay them.
With a vengeful roar, the multi-headed abomination charged at the metal giant. With his spear stuck inside the creature, Talos let go of his spear and sucker-punched the monster. The eldritch being was sent flying a little ways back before quickly recovering itself.
One by one the jaws of the feminine faces unhinged and stretched out, thousands of sharp teeth shown within their mouths. Once again they charged at Talos, Hephaestus trying to repair parts of the robot with his divine gift as they did so.
Raising their arms Talos grabbed two of the necks of the creature, preventing two of the heads from biting down on him, crushing their necks with his iron grip. However, the other heads were still free as they all bit down on Talos. Their teeth sinking deep into the metal plating of the machine.
At another side of the battlefield, Bacchus fought against a creature made from a mass of ginormous pairs of mouths. No light could be seen in them as Bacchus poured an endless source of burning wine from her chalice down them, every once in a while smacking them with the chalice as she did so. She was hoping to drown them, or at least feel as much pain as possible as it entered their body.
Suddenly a series of long stretched-out, feminine arms burst out from each of the mouths. Before Bacchus could react, the multitude of hands grabbed her by the throat, neck, arms, legs, and face. Slowly the arms forced the chalice in Bacchus' hands and forced the infinite burning wine down her own throat.
At the other end of the battle, the fallen god fought against a serpent. Its horns were shattered, the pincers on its back were shattered, and countless wounds were seen around its face. The fallen god stared at the chaos god before her. They had been fighting for a while now, She herself not able to make a strong enough blow to finish them. And the serpent was not able to land a blow on her.
Though she had the advantage, she was beginning to tire. The fallen god could swear the serpent knew that as something to the likes of a smile formed on its face. Suddenly the horns and pincers fell off into the ocean as a seemingly infinite amount of horns and pincers regrew in their place.
Then in an instant, the pincers lunged at her, and the horns stretched out and rushed towards her as if they were limbs. As the pincers and horns got closer and closer, their knife-like ends almost reaching her, power began to resonate throughout the fallen god. Then in an instant... time stopped to a screeching halt, one of the horns almost touching her nose.
Time, that was her domain. With both hands, the fallen god destroyed and severed the limbs around her in an instant. Then looking around, the fallen god quickly slew any chaos demon that was about to kill off one of her dalk valkyries. Then she flew directly in front of the frozen chaos god.
Charging up a concentrated beam of lethal demonic energy, the fallen god sent the wave of energy directly at its eye. Of course, after she sent it out, the energy just hovered in place. But that would soon change once time resumed.
Suddenly a painful headache began to grow in her head. Seems she was at her limit at the moment. The limit of the power to control time was dependent on multiple things. One was how big the realm was, second, how slow or fast one made time move, and third how much one did while time was in its current state.
The mortal realm was, without question, the largest of the realms. Not even Hel was as large as the mortal realm. And to freeze everything in a complete stop on its own was exhausting. So it made sense she was at her limit already.
Slowly the power faded from the fallen god as she released her control. Then as time began to flow back to normal, everything began to move. The chaos god screamed in pain as all of their limbs were severed before the beam of energy rammed directly into its single eye, causing it to collapse into the water. And the nearby chaos demons started dying off one by one, their heads sliding off.
A faint smile formed on the fallen god's face, the chaos god collapsing into the waters below. For a moment she thought it was over. But such hope was foolishness as the creature rose again from the waters. The gaping hole where their eye was, horns, and pincers were almost entirely healed already. the chaos god's twisted smile growing wider.
On the other end of the war, Hel dodged and weaved through beams of energy. Every one of the beams would instantly make a sharp turn towards Hel when they missed, it was almost like some sort of light show. Hel panted as she dodged every single attack, looking into the near future to predict their movements. After a while the beams eventually dissipated, giving Hel time to breathe.
Looking towards the one who had been casting them, Hel regained focus. The chaos god against her was a mass of eyes all fused together. And each one of their pitch-black eyes was looking directly at her. The only part of it that was not made of eyes was the bottom of it, which was a mass of tentacles. It looked like an octopus with a bloated upper body.
Then each of the dark eyes started to glow purple again, and Hel could see what was coming next. The beams of energy instantly burst out of the pupils of the chaos god and went directly towards her from all sides. However, Hel was too close, meaning it was impossible to avoid. Hel knew this for a fact when she saw into the future her body being torn to shreds.
However she was not powerless, Hel still had a trick. With a deep breath, she went into a state of deep concentration into the future. Hel saw the beams of energy tearing her apart, leaving nothing behind. She saw the reactions of those around her in disbelief. And she saw the chaos gods roar in their first victory at her death.
She had never fought the chaos gods or their demons before, that was done by the god before she took their place. It was because of the chaos gods that Hel was ascended to take the previous god's place. However, she would not let fate repeat itself. As she opened her eyes, Hel rewrote the near the future and made it so the beams of energy missed her entirely.
The eyes looked in confusion as their beams of energy not only missed but suddenly dissipated. This confusion gave Hel time to cast a spell, causing a ginormous skeleton hand, made from thousands of undead mamono that the chaos demons had killed off, to grab the chaos god and hold them still.
Then, as a tear ran down Hel's deathly pale face, she forced the hand to crush the demon god. Like a balloon the multi-eyed chaos god popped, their blood and guts flying everywhere. Grief began to overwhelm Hel. She knew what she had done was for the better, but a life had ended and she could not help herself.
In between each of the battles taking place, the seraphim and its fellow angels flew about. They would dive in and out of the battlefield, slaying waves of chaos demons as they did so. Though they were providing excellent backup, everyone could notice that their numbers began to grow fewer and fewer every attack they did.
Near the front lines, Ares fought against a creature made entirely of arms that were seemingly stitched together with eyes. In each one of the arms, was a sword made from the chaos god's own flesh. Back and forth the two attacked and parried each other's attacks. But Ares did not have anywhere near as many hands as the chaos god. So little by little she was pushed back, being forced to dodged an attack or two. Eventually, a small cut formed on her neck.
Ares gritted her teeth, "THIS BATTLE ISN'T OVER YET! I'VE BEATEN YOU ONCE, AND I'LL DO IT AGAIN!"
Then was Eros and Bastet, who though not directly fighting any of the chaos gods, were doing a remarkable job of teamwork. Eros and her cupids would fire volleys of love arrows, confusing and stunning the chaos demons with thoughts of love and pleasure. And asaparas on the surface of the water would distract and dodge blows from chaos demons. All the while Bastet and her flying cat mamono would swoop down and finish them off, overwhelming them.
Though just like the angels, the flying cat mamono, cupids, and asaparas were slowly beginning to dwindle in number.
Finally, at the very center of the battlefield, Poseidon slid backward across the waters. Forcing herself to a stop, Poseidon caught her breath as she stared down at her opponent. "Just as before... it is just you... and me... sister..." Came the voice of the chaos god that approached her.
Only their upper body could be seen from the surface. But even then their size was larger than any of the other chaos gods. Their face and hands were nothing but tentacles, their back covered with spikes and with two pairs of wings, and their skin was covered with dark green scales with holes all over it. The closest thing Poseidon could see for a face was a mass of eyes that were ever-changing in shape and position.
Slowly the chaos god raised their trident at her, the chaos gods' own attempt at creating a divine gift. It was made from the flesh of every single chaos god who ever lived.
Poseidon's power was to influence the waters of the world, and therefore control it in any form it took. The problem was when another being possessing the same ability was near. When two opposing beings of equal influence over waters met, said waters would then not answer to anyone and be impossible to control.
She held greater influence over the waters of the world than any of the chaos gods, which was why the chief god chose her as the god of the sea. However, with all the chaos gods combined, and with their own copy of her trident, they were able to almost completely match her influence over the water. Thanks to her own trident, however, she still had a little bit more influence over the waters.
Though it was not enough to make any major difference. This meant that Poseidon had no choice but to do melee combat against her brother, who was probably a woman instead thanks to the power of the demon lord. This was a problem because she had far less experience in that kind of combat compared to her bro-... sister.
tightening her grip around her trident, Poseidon got back into a battle stance, "This..." Muttered Poseidon, her eyes once more turned red and her hair began to turn white again. There was no choice, she still hated killing. But just like the Red Hooded Beast, this would save more lives. She could not seal them away again, they would just break free again sooner or later. There was no choice, they had... no redeem, "THIS ENDS NOW!"
(-)
Darkness, as far as the eye can see. Within that darkness, weeping could be heard. It sounded to be that of a man, but of what he wept no one knew. For no one knew of him, where he was, neither was there even anyone nearby to hear him weep. If one were to stare in the darkness, and their eyes adapted to it, they would be able to faintly make out a lone figure in a fetal position, crying.
Their body was a rotting green with bits of their skin missing, revealing bone and red flesh underneath. And their eyes were dead and empty. For all purposes, one could mistake them for a corpse.
Again and again, the figure shook their head as they wept, no tears leaving their eyes, "Why... Why don't they work? Has their power faded? Does that mean the flame has faded? No...no...NO! THAT... that cannot be. For I am still amongst the...THE ACCURSED!"
Slowly the figure's breathing slowed, and they looked up as they sat on their knees. Their arms dangled to their sides as they looked up into the void above. Their mouth agape and face full of grief, "Those words... that you told me long ago... Did I ever understand their meaning?"
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"Have I... failed... you... too?"