Winter Moon, Year 902
The snow seemed to rage heavier this winter, like a dreaded aura had passed over the Outlands. A signal for change to come. No matter the seasons, a burden would always fall upon this lawless land. Some have speculated that the sudden changing of the weather indicated a change in fate.
Or the mark of a turning point in history.
Crimehallow. Something of a meeting place for the Deadly Seven, and the territory of the Sin of Gluttony. The group regularly meet at the tavern to discuss their recent developments in the Outlands. Mostly among the ever-changing sins with Absalom listening in silence as he sipped on his tankard.
Amadeus, Denholm the Garbodor (Sin of Pride), and a Barbaracle played cards around the table. Neely the Bellibolt (Sin of Envy) busied himself chugging down drinks at the bar counter with Alibrand and Wigbrand giving him periodic refills. Helmut sat in the corner, strumming mindlessly on a lute. Absalom, as usual, sat by the window alone with his thoughts.
However, he looked up from his drink and glanced toward the entrance. "The winds are stirring."
Just then, the batwing doors flung open, bringing in the winter cold. The breeze stirred the game of cards off the table, much to the annoyance of Denholm. "…Annnd there goes my full house."
All eyes fell upon the entrance, wondering if a strong breeze had blown them open, only to find a lone Banette entering the establishment. Beneath his hood, the soft golden glow of his right eye peered around at the infamous gang, missing the disappearance of their assassin.
"…Which one of you is the Sin of Greed?" he asked.
Silence permeated through the tavern until the Barbaracle rose. He approached the Banette, reaching for the many daggers strapped to his back. "Something I can help you with, pal?" he hissed.
"…" The Banette looked up at him. "Gradulf, the Hunger of Greed?"
The barnacle golem pulled out his many daggers and brandished them at the stranger. "Yeah. What can I help you with, little man—"
SHING!
The Banette walked past him and approached Absalom, retracting the pink-glowing, whip-like blade back under his cloak. "Babylas Marchand." The Barbaracle's head slid from his shoulders, dropping to the floor along with the rest of his appendages and body. "Armory of Greed. That's my new title."
"…" Absalom narrowed his eyes.
"I'm a mercenary by trade. If any of you need me to hunt someone down, contact me." He played with the eye patch covering his left eye, partially showing the purple glow under it. "And if you happen to need a disciple of Spring-Loaded Harriet killed, I'm the only one who claims those contracts. My demands. No exceptions. Anyone who disagrees can wait in line like your pal Gradulf."
No one spoke up.
"Good. Glad we could settle matters." He turned and made his way back toward the entrance. He pressed his hand to the batwing doors, then glanced back at Absalom. "I look forward to…getting to know all of you."
The five other sins felt the unspoken tension sparking between the newcomer and their leader. Not even Absalom fully understood why he felt heated under this brash mercenary's stare, but he could feel the winds stirring between them. What strand of fate connected them?
Babylas broke the tension with a carefree smile. "Anyway, sorry for interrupting. Have a nice day, everyone." With that, he stepped back out into the cold, sending another blast of frigid air through the tavern.
The sins contemplated the last two minutes with mixed emotions, still processing every step of his introduction. Eventually, one sin broke the silence, though not for the better.
"Ah fuck, we just cleaned the floor, too," Wigbrand grumbled. "Everything's going to smell like salt and seaweed now."
Alibrand facepalmed. "Wig. Read the room. Please."
The company had faced many adversities in their quest against Last Autumn and combated the strongest of the Outlands' cruelest. However, they would soon be woefully unprepared for the Sin of Greed.
With barely a moment's hesitation, Amos sprung into battle first, swinging his pincer blade at the carefree Banette. Babylas lightly danced around Amos' wild swinging, parrying strikes with simple adjustments of his flaming katana. He looked to be barely paying attention, even closing his eyes and humming to the sounds of striking metal.
"Give her back!" Amos roared, lunging forward with his stinger.
Babylas once again parried his attack and grabbed the Gligar by the neck. He opened his left eye and grinned. "Why? So you can lead her down to her grave? And I thought I was greedy. Does revenge matter that much to you, Lancaster?"
"HA!" Phoebe rushed in from behind and swung her wind blade.
Babylas bowed his head, dodging the invisible slash, and hammered his fist into Phoebe's stomach. "Or is she just another tool to get you by?" He rammed the two into each other, then tossed them aside.
Amos scrambled to his feet first, knocking Phoebe aside, and aimed his pincer gun. "Sandstorm Rapid Fire!" He unloaded a barrage of sand bullets into the Banette.
Babylas approached, expertly deflecting the bullets with his katana. Even the shots that curved behind him were struck down without any faltering in his rhythm. "You're all so quick to die if it means achieving what you want. That's the problem with the Outlands: it drives you to selfishness. Even now, you can't admit you're being guided by your own greed."
"Magni, get him!" Amos yelled.
Glancing to his left, Babylas saw the Scolipede running full speed at him, his horns extended into spiked clusters. "Stinging Spear!" With another boost of speed thanks to his Speed Boost, Magni caught Babylas by surprise and hooked him within his horns, shredding and piercing his body with poisoned needles.
Phoebe smirked. "Alright! Let him have it, big guy!"
Magni dragged Babylas through the ground, smashing him side-to-side while keeping his body hooked to his horns, and rammed full speed into one of the dilapidated buildings. The entire ruined structure came toppling down over Magni's horns.
Magni panted lightly. "Give…friend back."
"You're a simpleminded fellow, aren't you?" His eyes widened, sensing the Banette standing atop his head. "A slave freed from captivity. Is this the debt you will repay? Willing to fight for a treasure so priceless?"
Magni shook his horns out of the ruins and found he had actually hooked one of the Shedinja, who vanished within a shadow portal. He whipped his head around to slice up Babylas, but the Banette leapt into the air and reached inside his mouth.
"Vault of the Underworld—" He grabbed and whipped out a war hammer glowing in an orange sheen. "Terra." He reared the hammer back and spun as he descended upon the Scolipede, slamming the hammer directly onto his back.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Magni screamed as the ground caved under his legs. He collapsed to his knees, coughing blood over himself.
"Magni!" Phoebe screamed.
Caractacus grunted and raced to the Scolipede's aid. Better to help these idiots than risk having this guy chasing me, too. "Magni, hold still!" He lowered his head and fired throwing glaives from the apparatus under his jacket.
Babylas surrounded his hammer in darkness and traded it out for his fire katana. "Agni." He sliced up each of the glaives with no effort, scattering their molten parts across the air. He tossed his sword into the air, then lunged at Caractacus.
"Huh?" Caractacus gasped.
"Vault of the Underworld—" He plunged his hands inside his mouth and produced two knuckledusters wreathed in a beige light. "Breaker." He hammered his fists against the Boltund's Negative Space.
Amos and Phoebe raced to help Caractacus, but jumped back as Babylas' Agni started flying toward them. It was wrapped in a spectral aura, puppeteering the weapon clumsily in their direction. Phoebe pushed Amos back and blocked it with her dagger.
"What now?!" she growled.
Amos turned his eyes up and saw a Shedinja with a similar aura expelling from its eyes. "Of all the…! It's using Poltergeist!"
"Are you shitting me right now?!" She struck the katana away and yelled, "Help Tac! I'll get Magni!" He nodded and raced off as she fended against the floating fire sword.
Caractacus narrowed his eyes as Babylas kept striking the electric barrier. Though briefly worried for a moment, the hound's usual smugness returned to him. "And here I thought you were something to be afraid of. Like all the rest, you can't pierce through this barrier."
Babylas smirked. "Living in a bubble your whole life dulls the survival instincts."
"Hold him still, Caractacus!" Amos yelled, taking aim with his pincer gun.
"Allow me to you."
Babylas went for another punch, but suddenly turned his fist toward his own shadow. Before Caractacus realized what was happening, Babylas' fist suddenly rocketed out from under the hound's own shadow and hammered into his metal chin.
Caractacus' entire world trembled around him, feeling the reverberations of the punch scattering across his body. He had not properly braced himself for physical contact, having become complacent nullifying everything that posed a threat to him. He hadn't felt pain on this level in years, recalling the accident that reduced him to his half-metal form.
Caractacus' Negative Space petered out, allowing Babylas to grab him by the neck and hold him in Amos' line of sight. Amos realized this too late upon firing his Blaze Bullet. He barely managed to turn it into a Curve Shot, sailing the bullet around the stunned Boltund.
"Saboteur of the Underworld."
A hand reached out under Amos and seized his tail. He gasped as he was suddenly pulled into his own shadow, ejecting out through Caractacus' in an instant. With both his opponents in sight, Babylas released them both and pulled out a red chain staff.
"Vault of the Underworld: Divine One."
With a fanciful flourish of his weapon, he struck both of them simultaneously. The energy that released from the strike was leagues more than the Banette's own strength, sending both teammates flying in opposite directions and feeling their bones quake against the blistering strike.
Caractacus skidded off his face and crashed into a building close to Magni. Phoebe jumped in shock. "What the what?!"
The hound collapsed onto his side, gasping as he came to his senses. He started to pant quickly, looking at his shaky paws as a deafening ring echoed inside his mind. Licking his jaw, he sensed something viscous leaving his mouth. Though he couldn't taste it, he recognized the smell.
Was…Was he bleeding?
"N-No. N-No, that's not…" He tried to stand, but faltered on his first few steps. "W…Why is my body s-so heavy? No…No, that's not…"
Phoebe winced. "Tac?"
"He…hurt," Magni groaned.
"Babylas…bypassed his barrier?"
The Banette slowly approached the trio, dropping his chain staff back inside his shadow. He whistled, commanding his fire sword to fly back into his hand. "My, oh my. When was the last time anyone actually hurt you, Caractacus? Welcome back to the land of mortals, Your Godliness."
Caractacus' breathing hastened as Babylas drew closer. "Stay back…STAY BACK!" He fired a weak Electro Ball at the Banette, who simply cut it in two and let it explode behind him.
"You've gotten too complacent being untouchable. And you think you can beat Last Autumn? How arrogant. Speaking of—" Babylas raised his arm and blocked a surprise strike from Amos. He grabbed the Gligar's wrist and slammed him onto his back. "The inspiration of impulsive decision. Thank you for joining us."
"Damn you! Sandstorm!" Amos released a massive whirlwind of sand into the area, forcing Babylas to retreat within its depths. Amos pulled himself up and adjusted his goggles. "Magni!"
The Scolipede picked himself up and shook the pain off. "Fine."
"Good. Phoebe, get to higher ground and cover us! Magni, you're with me on close range. Caractacus, you're our meat shield!"
Caractacus winced. "What?! Are you insane?! He just—"
"I don't need you cracking on me! I'll deal with drawing his attention! You just make sure anything lethal he throws out is neutralized!"
"…" The Boltund grimaced. "Fine."
"Good! Move, move, move!" The men ran into the storm while Phoebe backflipped onto one of the crumpled buildings.
Using his Sand Sensory, Amos opened fire on the Banette's position, sensing as he deflected the myriads of sand bullets flying around. Even under heavy weather, Babylas was still perfectly countering their attacks. In just a few short minutes, he demonstrated why he was the second strongest sin. They were barely able to beat Amadeus on dumb luck, but this guy? He was in an entirely different league.
They needed all the dumb luck they could muster.
"Got you now!"
Swiftly darting through the heavy storm, Amos snuck up on Babylas and went for the neck. Casually, Babylas sidestepped his blade and backhanded him across the head. He skidded across the uneven terrain and unloaded a series of bullets from under the cover of his poncho.
"Vault of the Underworld—" He scooped into his shadow and pulled out a decorative round shield that nullified the bullets against its surface. It radiated in a copper light. "Sacred Jewel."
"RAAAAAH!" Babylas backflipped through the air as Magni came charging out from the sand, dragging his horns through the ground. He sped out of the way as Babylas crashed down with his shield. "Stinging Shower!" Clusters of poisonous missiles erupted from his horns and rained down over the Banette.
Babylas raced toward them, nullifying them against his sturdy shield. From the shadow withing his shield, he pulled out his bident. "Aquamarine." He thrusted the two-pronged weapon forward as moisture collected and swirled around it.
Magni leapt back, dodging the watery slash, and summoned a spiked rock between his horns. "Stinging Smash!" He hurled the rock at Babylas.
Babylas spun his bident around and tossed it like a javelin. The water twisted into a drill and pierced through the boulder's center, rupturing it into pieces. He batted the spike debris away with his shield and continued his hunt for the Scolipede.
BANG!
He raised his shield behind his head and deflected a bullet from afar. He grinned over his shoulder. There's Phoebe.
Phoebe jumped along the small selection of buildings, reloading a new bullet into the chamber. "Mystery Bullet." She activated and channeled her Metronome into the new bullet. "Blaze Bullet: Astonish!" She aimed and fired a fiery bullet that hissed with a frightening shriek.
Babylas flipped his finger up. "Return to sender."
The spectral aura of Poltergeist took hold of the bullet and forced it to turn back at Phoebe. She immediately activated Detect and automatically dodged the repelled shot. "Fuck!" she snapped.
Babylas whistled, calling upon another Shedinja to possess his bident and fling it across the battlefield. It hurtled through the sandstorm and nearly stabbed Phoebe through the head, saved only by the timely raising of her rifle. She caught the weapon between its prongs, pushing back against the surging waves it emitted.
Several throwing glaives fired from within the sandstorm. Babylas once more deflected them with simple movements of his shield before tossing it behind himself. It bounced once off the ground and slammed against Caractacus, who had reactivated his Negative Space. However, frightened by the Banette's last attack on him, Caractacus mistakenly closed his eyes in response.
"HA!" Amos dove from above and swung his pincer blade for Babylas' neck.
"Saboteur of the Underworld." Babylas casually tapped Amos' pincer, knocking him off course, and caused him to plunge his blade through his own shadow.
His pincer blade rose from under Caractacus' shadow and nearly pierced the hound's neck. Amos barely got a hold of his own momentum and stopped the blade against the hound's metal chin. This jolted Caractacus from his stunned state and caused him to recoil at the weapon's closeness.
"What the?!"
"I didn't—" Before Amos could apologize, Babylas hammered one of his Breaker knuckledusters into the flying scorpion's face. "AAAGH!" Amos flew out from his own shadow and skidded across the ground.
"Stinging Spear!" Magni burst through the sand and aimed to skewer the Banette through.
"Gateway to the Underworld." Babylas punched into his own shadow, causing his arm to appear from the back of a Shedinja above. Grasping a chain wreathed in a sky-blue aura, he flung it down and coiled it around Magni's neck, holding him in place. "Aeros."
"RAAAAH!" Magni roared, shaking and stomping against the chain that carried a strong wind around it.
Babylas pulled his arm loose, completely detaching it with a cluster of frayed threads left in its place, and rushed Magni down. With a Breaker in his left fist, he punched directly into Magni's neck. The beast recoiled with a gasp, causing the wind chain to gain momentum and pulled him into the air.
"RAAAAH!" Magni flailed as the chain tightened over his throat.
Phoebe gasped as Magni was lifted above the sandstorm. "Hang on, Mags!" She loaded another bullet into her rifle.
"Is he the one you should be worrying about?" A chill shot up her spine, now sensing the Shedinja hovering behind her. Before she could pull her dagger on it, Babylas' other hand extended out and punched the Aipom square in the face with his knuckledusters.
"GAAAH!" She flew off the building and crashed onto the ground.
Amos lunged out from hiding now that Babylas had detached both of his arms. "Neat trick, but you've left yourself defenseless!"
Babylas, however, proved otherwise. Even with his arms detached and frayed, he weaved around the Gligar's slashes, standing back-to-back with him as Amos tried to spin and cut him. "Defenseless?" He dove into his shadow and immediately popped out under Amos, kicking him in the chin. "What an amusing word."
Amos shook off the brief rattling and opened his pincer gun. However, his eyes widened as something extended out from Babylas' open mouth. Aiming directly at the airborne Gligar was a custom-made blunderbuss pistol with a barrel shaped like a dragon. It radiated in a dark blue aura.
"The Dragon's Iron Breath."
Amos' eyes reflected the silvery light expelling out the barrel before his vision became consumed in an explosive wave. For a brief moment, he felt as if his head was about to be ripped clean from his body and splattered across the ground with chunks of brain matter spraying through the air.
His eyes trembled at the smoking bullet which radiated in silver light floating in front of his vision, stopped only by the electric field that had been raised in the nick of time. Caractacus had lunged into the fray and touched Amos' tail, passing along his Negative Space before the powerful gun could obliterate the Gligar.
Babylas swallowed his gun and pulled his arms back from the darkness like he was weaving them anew. This caused Aeros to be pulled back into the portal it spawned from, dropping Magni out of the air. He bounced back through the receding sand before vanishing in a flicker of speed.
Amos and Caractacus stood back-to-back, keeping within the Negative Space as they searched out the hidden mercenary. "Stay on your guard," Amos warned. "The second he tries to attack us in here, I'll kill him."
Caractacus' eye twitched. "I completely…I completely forgot Phantom Force can bypass defensive barriers. He's completely trouncing us. This is bad. Très mauvais."
"Quit spiraling! We can still overcome this—"
"I don't need you playing the blind optimist!" Caractacus snapped. "In case you haven't noticed, we're losing a four-on-one without landing a single hit on this guy! I refuse to die here like this!"
"Don't get pissed with me! Maybe if you were more useful in a fight—"
"Oh, my apologies for saving your life!"
"Oh, like you give a shit if I lived or not!"
"Right now, you are my only means of surviving, but even that's wearing its merits down—"
"Dear, oh dear~." Their hearts stopped. They turned their eyes down and found two different colored eyes and a zippered grin hovering inside their shadows. "So quick to lose your nerves. What dismal teamwork."
"AAHH!" Amos and Caractacus split apart, leaving the former in the open.
Babylas tagged along inside Amos' shadow before emerging. He pulled Agni out and sliced at Amos' neck. He barely ducked back, feeling the heat of the blade's tip grazing his chin. Babylas suddenly flipped his katana into a reverse grip and stabbed into Amos' shadow.
"AAAAGH!" Amos craned his neck back and saw Phoebe recoiling from the fiery blade rising from beneath her shadow.
"Phoebe!" he called out.
Babylas pulled the sword free and slashed again, slicing across Amos' chest. "Don't get distracted~!"
"AAAAGH!" Amos recoiled, ripping off his burning poncho and covering the smoldering wound. A line of skin had blackened, hissing with an irritable heat.
Phoebe recovered from her scare and rushed to Amos' aid. Clutching her wind sword in her tail, she reared herself up. "Maelstrom Cleave—" She summoned the power of Metronome, infusing it with the air warping around the broken blade, and fired a visible wind slash of solid ice. "Ice Hammer!"
Babylas snapped his fingers, calling upon a Shedinja from his shadow. His Sacred Jewel shield ejected from its back, smashing the icy wind slash to pieces. With Poltergeist, the shield fired at Phoebe, forcing her to duck and slide under the possessed shield.
"Got you!" Phoebe sprung off the ground and went for Babylas' neck, but the speedy mercenary hopped into the air and avoided her strike. "EH?!"
"Psimon. Galvano." Babylas pulled a bow with a psychically charged drawstring and electrically tipped arrows from his mouth. He pulled back and rained down arrows over the Aipom.
"Look out!" Amos lunged and tackled Phoebe to the ground. Three arrows stabbed into his back, exploding into psychically charged lightning. He screamed from the psychic damage, but his body nullified any electrical damage from reaching Phoebe.
Her eye widened. "Lamecaster!"
"Stinging Shower!" Magni managed to recover from nearly being hanged and fired a retaliatory barrage of poisonous missiles at the airborne ghost. The missiles successfully impacted Babylas, only to reveal it was another Shedinja taking his place. Magni growled. "Tricky bad guy."
Phoebe helped Amos to his feet and moved him along. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
He winced. "I-I'll live."
"Ugh!" Phoebe started wildly using Metronome. She let off a Twister, uselessly used Swallow, annoyingly used Captivate at nothing, and punched the ground with Poison Jab. "Come on, come on! Give me a healing move or something!" She growled. "I need to use Forced Drawing."
Amos growled. "Don't. You won't be able to use Metronome for a while."
"I don't need your deadweight slowing us down!" She managed to summon up Defend Order. Though not what she wanted, she pressed her tail against Amos and coated him in a layer of artificial insects that transformed into a layer of carapace armor. "Good enough."
Caractacus ran up to them, keeping watch as Magni blindly fired Stinging Shower over the battlefield. "Does anyone have a plan?"
Amos sneered. "I thought you were the idea guy."
"Well, that was before someone pierced my barrier!"
Phoebe jabbed him in the shoulder. "Can't you fry him with that big fuck off laser of yours or something?"
"I can't use the Positive Cannon. It's…" He grimaced. "I only use it to finish off opponents."
"What?!"
"The Positive Cannon turns all the energy I absorb with Negative Space into the fuel source. It…basically neutralizes my barrier for a short while. I never use it unless I'm certain it'll end a fight."
She whacked him in the head. "Hey genius, he can get past your barrier! Might as well go out with a bang!"
"But it's too risky!"
"Arceus almighty, what kind of brilliant scientist are you if you have two barebones techniques that make you useless as a shield and spear one way over the other?!"
"I didn't sign up for this!"
"WILL YOU TWO STOP SHOUTING?!" Amos snapped, reining in their anger. "This is seriously not the time!"
"He's right~."
The trio immediately broke apart as Babylas came down with his Divine One. The powerful chain staff shattered the ground with what looked like a simple tap. The shockwave it created split the ground open and fired out rock in all directions, peppering the trio.
Caractacus waved the dust from his face and grimaced. He shouldn't have that much physical strength. For him to do that much damage, that staff must be multiplying the kinetic force of his strikes.
"Trying to analyze me, MacGyver?" Caractacus recoiled as the chain staff spun from the shadows under him. Babylas had a Shedinja casting Flash behind him, extending his shadow over the ground and under the hound. "You're getting close."
The staff cracked against the Negative Space, and he could feel the energy surging through it. His eyes widened. "What the?!" Was he reading that output right?
Babylas smirked. "I'm actually quite proud of the Divine One. It doesn't multiply my strike's output. It channels my fighting spirit into strength. The strikes that follow are then increased by a multitude of 3.5. It's a weapon that can only be held by a true warrior. Only those with an enriched fighting spirit could dare tame the beast howling within this weapon."
Caractacus' eye twitched. This guy…created a monstrous arsenal.
Babylas spun the chain staff skillfully before rushing down the terrified hound. "What's the matter, pup? Going to run away like you always do?" He swiped the staff across the air, passing through a Shedinja and ejecting out from Caractacus' shadow.
Caractacus tried to dodge it, but the edge of the staff scraped along his chin. An explosive force emitted from the contact, sending the hound spiraling through the air and crashing down on his face. His Negative Space started to fizzle out of control, his concentration waning significantly. Even with the automatic processing on his technique, he never accounted for actually being hurt within it.
Babylas lunged across the way and aimed to bring his staff down on the hound's head. Magni, however, rushed to Caractacus' rescue, stretching his horns into giant, scissor-like blades. "Stinging Scissors!"
He brought the attack down on Babylas like a vise, but ended up catching another Shedinja. From the Scolipede's shadow, Babylas rose up and hammered his knuckledusters into his stomach. Magni vomited from the heavy blow as it knocked him into the air.
"Aeros." Babylas pulled out the wind-laced chain, grappled Magni out of the air, and pulled him back down with a heavy slam. "Terra." He traded out the chain for his war hammer, swinging for the Scolipede's head.
A bullet soared between them, stopping Babylas short of landing his mark. Phoebe threw aside her rifle and rushed Babylas down, swinging wildly with her dagger and sword. He backstepped out of her reach, occasionally blocking her strikes with his hammer.
"You think you're the hero in all of this?!" Phoebe snapped, slicing up a wave of sand in the Banette's face. "When Evelot wakes up, you think she's going to thank you?!"
Babylas smirked. "It doesn't matter what she thinks of me." He danced and weaved around Phoebe, taking hold of her arm and tail. "I'm just here to make sure she doesn't make the same mistake you idiots are charging into." He deflected all the Aipom's swings before pivoting back around and striking her with his elbow. "Because a world brought about by selfish desire? That's the reason fools die early."
"RAH!" Phoebe bounced back and thrusted his dagger at his neck. He twisted her wrist and knocked the dagger out of her hand before palm-striking her.
"HA!" Amos dove from above and swiped with his stinger.
Babylas caught the Gligar's tail, swung him around, and bashed him across Phoebe, sending them both flying away. Throwing glaives fired from behind, to which Babylas effortless stepped out of the way of. He smirked at the frantic clicking coming from Caractacus' hidden apparatus.
"You're out of ammo," Babylas teased. He approached, pulling out Aquamarine from his shadow. "Guess you'll have to spend your barrier for that laser. Oh, but you're too much of a coward to use that, right? No, you want to make sure you're stronger than your opponent before using that."
Caractacus stumbled back, panting heavier. "S-Stay back…"
"You hide it well, but the accident that mangled your body? It still traumatizes you." He glared. "And you were willing to drag Evelot down with you if it meant saving your own hide. You're as pathetic as they come. A brilliant prodigy who thought so low of everyone around him that he didn't second guess using his own found family as sacrificial pawns."
Caractacus clenched his teeth. "I never…"
"Why deny it? That's just second nature. It's just greed. I'm just more enlightened to its true purpose." He glanced over his shoulder. "All of you fail to grasp the desire of your greed—"
Amos and Phoebe rushed the Banette down together, bringing their bladed weapons down on him. He raised his bident and effortlessly stopped their strikes. Amos was most surprised. Babylas had twisted his bident in a way to deflect the edge of the pincer blade, keeping its nigh unstoppable cutting power in check.
"You're all charging toward an unobtainable treasure believing you are strong enough. Like walking into a trapped tomb." With a flashy twirl of his bident, Amos and Phoebe were swept up in a vortex of water and slammed down on top of Caractacus.
"Stinging Spear—" Magni aimed to stab the mercenary from behind, but Babylas whipped around and slammed his war hammer into the ground and uplifted the terrain. Magni lost his balance and plunged face first into the uneven terrain.
Amos picked himself up and tossed Phoebe a bullet. "NOW!" The duo jumped back and loaded their guns.
Babylas looked back at them just as Magni sprung back to his feet. "Hmm?"
"Meteor Bullet!" Amos fired an orange bullet into the air, splitting it off into dozens of smaller, shrieking shots.
"Forced Drawing!" Phoebe poured her empowered Metronome into the bullet and loaded it into her rifle. "Mystery Bullet: Steel Beam!" The disposable barrel of her rifle ripped apart as she, too, fired a Meteor Bullet infused with metallic light. It split off into the sky and traveled along with Amos' shots.
"Stinging Shower!" Magni joined in the fray, firing off dozens of poisonous missiles from his horns.
All around the airspace, hundreds of projectiles encircled and trained on the mercenary with the sole purpose of ripping him to shreds. A mere second away from being riddled to death by bullets, yet he smirked at their coordinated attack.
"Alright then."
A Shedinja ejected a hilt from its back. The second Babylas took hold of it, a barrier of laser-like slashes twirled around him. The bullets connected with barrier and were sliced to ribbons effortlessly. Phoebe and Magni's shots struck with greater ease, but were ultimately cut down by the mercenary's fierce swordsmanship.
Smoking bullets fell in a ring around him once the firing ceased. He ceased his swinging, proudly holding up the whip sword that glowed in a sparkling pink aura. "Majestic Wind."
The group stepped back in horror, staring at the sliced bullets that would've certainly torn the ghostly doll to shreds. Not even a coordinated attack was enough to put him down.
He was nowhere close to the level Amadeus was on. He exceeded it.
"Glacial." Babylas deposited his whip sword and lunged at the stunned group. He pulled out a gunbai war fan that hissed with an endless cold aura. He swung it at them, generating a cold wind that coated them in a heavy frost.
"AAGH!" Amos recoiled, taking the worst of the wind.
"Fangs." He traded the fan out of a serrated dagger that glowed purple and cut across Phoebe's side.
"ACK!" Phoebe clutched her side and gasped as the toxic-colored marks spreading out from the wound. "W-Wha—"
"Stinger." He then traded out the dagger for a light green whip, its end possessing dragonfly-esque wings and a stinger tip. He whipped into his shadow, ejecting the whip through Caractacus', and peppered him with a flurry of strikes that punched holes into his body.
"AAAAAAAGH!" Caractacus screamed.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Magni charged in, speeding around the group and getting behind Babylas. "You stop hurt friends!"
"Agni."
Magni recoiled in pain as Babylas dashed past him and sliced him up with fiery slashes. The Scolipede collapsed onto the ground, rolling around to smother the flames.
Babylas landed back in front of the group and deposited the fire katana. He stared at the company as they struggled to pick themselves up. Their collective injuries from the beginning of their journey were starting to show. Nonstop fighting all the way. Gluttony, Envy, Pride, Lust, and Sloth. Everything they'd endured up to this point with minimal rest and medical resources was finally catching up with them.
"…How long do you intend to keep up this charade?" Babylas asked. "Marching your way to the end when you have no real destination to look forward to. That's the issue with this region: giving in to desire without consideration of the greater world. You all just want the self-gratification of saying I did this, this is now mine. Unchecked greed without understanding its name."
Phoebe snarled. "Don't…start with that bullshit. I'll…kill you."
"…" Wordlessly, Amos reached inside his pouch and pulled out four bullets. Last chance.
Babylas chuckled. "You should be thanking me. You'll get what you want. As long as Evelot doesn't remember what happened on that day, and as long as I'm there to protect her, you'll never have to worry about her safety ever again. Like I said, none of you know what you're getting yourselves into. Taking on the entirety of Last Autumn by yourselves? If you continue down this route, you'll only find despair in the end. Because that's what happens when you chase that unobtainable treasure: you lose sight of yourself."
Magni struggled to his feet and growled. "Give…friend…back…"
Babylas pulled out his poisoned dagger, Fangs. "I think I've wasted enough time making my point. I've got a schedule to keep. I'll make sure Evelot knows you died valiantly."
Phoebe reached for her dagger. "Like hell we're going down that easily!"
"You don't have a choice." Babylas raised his hand in front of his face, focusing through his left eye. "Time to die."
Caractacus winced. "Screw this! I'm out of here!" He turned and started to run away.
"HEY!" Phoebe yelled.
Amos raised his pincer gun. "Now—"
"Endless Darkness."
A splotch of darkness stretched from behind Babylas, then the entire world around them was suddenly blanketed in a sheet of endless night. Clusters of purple stars and the like made up the pitch-black atmosphere. The company froze, unable to see much of anything in front of them. They could've been flipped upside-down, and they wouldn't be able to tell sky from ground.
"W…What is this?!" Caractacus yelled.
Phoebe's dagger shook in her unsteady grip. "Show yourself, Babylas! We're not afraid of you!"
"Scared," Magni mumbled.
Amos kept his aim steady, peering through the darkness for any signs of movement. "The second he attacks, we light him up. No one hesitate to attack, give it everything you—"
SHING!
In a single second, all four of their necks were slashed open. No resistance and barely an interval of delay. A cut made as nonchalantly as slicing bread. Blood sprayed out in front of their eyes as the darkness receded just as quickly as it deployed, revealing the mercenary standing behind them.
He flicked the blood off his dagger and glanced back at the company. "Plunge into the darkness."
One-by-one, everyone fell to the ground with blood pouring endlessly from their necks. Amos was the last to fall, but he didn't go out so easily. In his final moments of consciousness, he took aim and fired four shots at the mercenary.
Babylas merely tilted his head and let the shots fly past him. Darkness from his shadow wrapped around him. "Well, it's been real. I'll be sure to speak praise of your final moments. Ciao." He melted into the darkness, vanishing from the battlefield.
The last of Amos' strength waned, and he collapsed to the ground. Blood pooled together under them as their eyes turned glassy and lifeless, the beating of their hearts slowing drastically as the seconds ticked by. Everyone grew cold, and the darkness encroached on their minds as the light receded.
A pathetic, unfitting death to those who plunged themselves into the darkest realms of Hell seeking glory or understanding for the terrible hands they've been dealt in life. Were the efforts for naught? Was this to be their final moment? Laying in a pool of their own blood after being trounced by an avoidable demise?
They say fate is decided not by a higher power, but by the indomitable wills of those who pursue destiny. Those who push to resolve a determined fate are doomed to take the path toward it. If destiny was decided, was free will real? Or was this determination to stick to the path they intended a consequence of free will?
Were they doomed to make the erroneous decision to deny the Banette's offer of salvation?
Such was the fate of those who entered the Outlands looking for salvation from the laws of the region. Death was a certainty for all, but death was a creature of its own making that hunted the most selfish of creatures. Forces beyond the likes any could imagine born from that selfish desire, growing and growing in strength with an endless thirst for the hunt taking root.
This was the day the Broken Glass Alchemical Company, a gang composed of vile criminals and scum, died.
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BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The four misfired bullets rained from the sky and shot the company before the last beat of their hearts sang.