When there is nothing left but Rage.
The Heavens had wept for seven days.
A constant deluge that fell upon the entirety of Earth.
The Angels were mourning.
When the news had been delivered that Adam had died in the yearly exterminations alongside with nearly an entire battalion of angels, the entirety of the heavens began to mourn so much that even in Hell it began to rain, until an ocean surrounded the Ring of Pride.
It was an oddity for everyone, rain had not appeared naturally in Pride in all of its existence.
An Ocean of Heavenly Tears for the First Man.
Charlie Morningstar, Princess of Hell, had a conundrum.
The First Man's body.
No cannibal could bite into it and even cutting it up with the angelic steel wouldn't render it…consumable.
Perhaps it was a final blessing, to keep his body pure.
So, with no other choice, and not wanting for his grave to be defiled by his detractors, decided to at least give her fallen enemy the respect he couldn't give her.
So with a final rite, she sent him off to the sea.
No sinner could touch these waters…their holy origin practically anathema to their souls.
Even her father couldn't touch it, the sheer amount of holy power making him wince in pain.
So it would be a perfect resting place for the First Man, to be buried at sea.
As Adam's body went out to the open sea, Charlie then activated a mechanism with a button, fully committing his body to the deep.
Adam had always loved nature…loved the beasts that he'd named and cared for.
The moments that he truly felt free were when he was among the animals, thriving in the wild.
As his body fell to the deep, the remnants of Adam's soul, shattered by angelic steel, were warped by conflicting energies.
First, by the aura of heavenly tears, that now seeped in through his wounds and body, filling his body with holy energy that had been lost.
And second, by the atmosphere of Hell, that warped everything in its domain until nothing was left but a perversion of originality.
Together, these two energies mixed and repelled each other, natural opposites.
And Adam's body twitched, morphing and breaking, transforming into something new.
Something primal.
Golden eyes opened once more, but there was no light behind them.
Merely…instinct, existence.
It was alive and it knew that. But anything beyond that was inconsequential.
It looked around in the water that it found itself in, noticing only odd things that floated around it.
They smelled familiar, but upon realizing that they were nothing, it merely left, swimming away.
It was hungry…and needed to find food.
In the year since the last extermination, Heaven had been completely and utterly silent.
Charlie was also despondent.
It seemed that…everything had just gone to chaos in the Hotel.
Barely any new guests, some not even staying, choosing to go to what they were familiar with, what they were comfortable with.
Instead, the majority of sinners were now finding more and more ways to kill each other.
Without fear of a permanent end, they'd become even more debauched and wicked. And with time on their hands, the most depraved had created things they'd only dreamed of.
She'd heard of nuclear bombs.
She never thought she'd witness one.
It was a tragedy…and they were laughing…they were all laughing.
"Maybe you were right…" she bitterly whispered out to the ocean. In the year since Adam's burial, new life had actually spawned.
Plankton and fish, eels and sharks, there were even whales!
Granted, they were slightly touched by Hell's influence but they mostly looked normal!
She liked to think it was Adam's blood, spread across the ocean, that had created all this new life, and wondered if there was some sort of symbolism that could be associated with that.
"Maybe Hell is forever…"
Even with the endorsement of her father, sinners weren't paying attention to her hotel because now there was no incentive to…at least for them.
Why try and make yourself better if there was no risk to being the worst you could be?
She sighed as she grabbed a rock and skipped it out into the water.
She began to ruefully chuckle.
"And it's because they want it to be forever."
Frowning at the shoreline, the tides of the new ocean ebbing, the Princess abruptly kicked a pocket of sand with her foot.
"Was what I was doing really that bad?!" Shouting to the vastness, her voice carried a soft echo. "Wanting to stop these genocides! Make people better!" Again Charlie kicked at the sand, her hoofed foot morphing into a human's, making it easier to display her frustration.
"Well, CONGRATULATIONS Dickmaster! You. Were. RIGHT!" With anguished shout, she kicked a little too hard and floundered onto her royal derrière. Stomping her cute lil' feet, she dug into the sand and flung more into the ocean.
Tears burned at the rim of her eyes, causing Charlie to hide her face into her folded knees. Shoulders quivering from the holy burden she placed upon her shoulders. She sniffled, squeezing her eyes tightly. "Why YOU of all people?! Why did YOU have to be RIGHT?! You don't deserve it!"
He didn't deserve his death either… even after everything…
She stayed there for a moment, sobbing as everything she'd worked for came crashing down on her.
She suddenly heard bubbling and peered over the rock that she was over.
"...Fish?"
She'd been coming to the ocean constantly now, and upon discovering all the new life had dedicated a portion of her time studying all manner of marine life. After all, it was something new and special, something she'd never seen before.
But these fish were…bloated, eyes bulging and stomachs distorted.
She'd read about this.
"Deep sea fish? But how…?" she wondered, wiping away her tears.
It was…odd…
She was currently visiting a village of sinners, taking a…vacation of sorts. Away from everyone, the hotel, her father, even Vaggie. It was surprisingly enough one of the calmer places in all of Hell, if only for the fact that they were…old.
Not in age but with time.
Apparently this village was one that has existed almost since the beginning of Hell…since the first descendants of the Lost One had arrived.
She…found herself confused and had asked more.
The villagers were…hushed but explained.
The First Murderer, cursed to walk the Earth.
And his descendants, the last remnants still plaguing Hell. Adam's grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and more. The closest in generations to the First Man inside Hell.
She'd taken the opportunity then to offer them a place in her hotel, a chance for redemption.
She'd been politely (and that was a first in Hell) refused.
"We appreciate your offer, Princess. But this is our home…and it is where we deserve to be…we once took pride in our actions as descendants of the Lost One…followed in the footsteps that he did not want us to follow. We have…since regretted and changed our ways…but, we dare not think ourselves worthy of Heaven, and instead, have tried to do our best to simply live here in peace."
"You…you deserve better…"
"We have what we deserve."
Later that night, she explained to them what she'd seen.
"Ah, you have seen the fruits of Gojira."
"Gojira?"
"Indeed…a creature born of the sea, at first we thought it nothing more than a beast and challenged it, but it was…a fruitless endeavor. Its hide is nigh impenetrable, and its fury a marvel to behold," the elder villager said.
"Then…how?"
"We made peace with it, gave it some of the hellish livestock…it seems to have an appetite for ribs haha, in turn it brought us fish and protection. Ever since they started to cross the waters in boats, we've been under siege by sinners ... .either for our resources, our souls, or simply to kill," the elder huffed and Charlie winced.
The elder briefly chuckled.
"He makes sure that they never come back."
Charlie nodded and that night, as some bulls were slaughtered and offered up as sacrifice, she observed.
Thuds echoed as they observed and she shuddered as she heard a roar echo across the entire forest.
Footsteps approached and she gasped in awe at the magnificent creature that approached.
It was tall, standing at around 45 feet, and long as well, reminding her of a T-Rex but she shivered as she took in the details.
Its teeth and claws were shiny as if they were metal instead of bone, and its back was adorned with multiple dorsal plates that had golden tinges to them.
The she saw its eyes and her heart froze in her body.
Burning gold that glared at everything in the vicinity before devouring the meat in front of it.
And Charlie was frozen.
Because she recognized those eyes, even if she'd seen them for only a few moments so long ago.
"Seems to have an appetite for ribs haha-"
"He makes sure they never come back."
'Adam…'
Gojira roared into the skies before retreating, heading back into the ocean.
Charlie shivered in fear, a deep primordial horror welling up in her.
Adam was alive and had somehow turned into this…beast!
What should she do?
"WHAT!?"
"Vaggie, it's not that bad-!"
"Not that bad! Adam's been alive for who knows how long! How isn't that bad! What if he's planning something?" Vaggie growled as she summoned her spear.
"He's basically a giant T-Rex, I don't think he can plan anything!"
"He's subjugated a village to feed him!"
"It's a symbiotic relationship!"
"He's just the same as before!"
The two continued to argue well into the evening.
And unfortunately the news had…spilled.
Adam was alive, and sinners began to attack the island in earnest upon finding out about it. After all, who wouldn't want the glory of taking down the First Man, now a beast, subjugating him under their will.
Of course, there were no survivors.
But it'd eventually gotten to the point where Charlie and her friends had come to see what was going on.
Or rather, Charlie wanted to check up on the village and they'd come without her knowing.
"I'm so sorry about all of this, I didn't mean for everyone to find out about this."
"And yet they have, Princess." The elder said in a chiding tone. "And now the peace that we have kept for thousands of years is gone. Gojira has become our protector, but I fear that his rage will become unquenchable as more and more of those from the New World attack us."
"I'll…see if I can find something, anything…your people, your village, it's the closest thing to peace that I've ever seen in Hell…you deserve to remain free."
The elder sighed but moved on.
"I can only hope then that you are capable of keeping your promises, Princess…you must-"
KABOOM
SKREEEEOOOOOOOOOONGK
"Damn it, another attack!"
They rushed to the village, to where Gojira was already destroying the latest contingent of sinners attacking them.
With another roar of fury, Gojira chomped, stomped and swiped with his tail, the fools not realizing that due to the angelic steel coating his body, their deaths were permanent.
Amazingly enough, the villagers were helping him. They too had angelic steel, though it looked…ancient.
She wondered if those weapons were from the First Extermination, so long ago.
The sinners were more wary of the villagers ironically enough.
And she was honestly in awe of Gojira's fury.
But everything was starting to get chaotic…more and more sinners were approaching and that's when her friends had interfered even though she told them not to come.
"Guys, STOP! Please!"
Alastor's shadows began to wrap around Gojira trying to tie him down as gunfire peppered his hide.
And something began to boil within Gojira, his dorsal plates began to glow softly as he rumbled in fury.
"STOP IT!"
They were still fighting, as Gojira's tail swiped and slammed down on sinners, crushing them.
The crescendo of noise peaked as Gojira opened his mouth and roared, golden fire billowing out, the angelic flames burning through the shadows and searing sinners into ash.
Gojira burst free, roaring to the skies.
Vaggie tried to attack him, just to be swatted out of the air…everything was going to hell (literally!) and she was helpless to stop it.
Gojira stomped on the ground in front of her, making her fall on her butt.
Lowering his head, their eyes met, crimson and gold.
For a moment, they merely stared at her as Gojira's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but seeing how she hadn't attacked him yet, he raised his head and kept moving.
The stress of the entire situation made her pass out and the last thing she heard was his roar.
The next morning, Charlie had woken up inside the village absolutely furious, not allowing a single one of her friends to get a word in, not even Vaggie as she helped the villagers rebuild as best as she could.
"I should have just kept it to myself but no! I just had to open my stupid mouth, now the most peaceful place in all of Hell is in shambles and Gojira's who knows where…"
With a huff, she grabbed some wood and placed it on her shoulder, the other villagers directing to where they needed it the most.
Others would consider it demeaning of a Princess to help in such peasant labor but this entire situation was her fault.
Eventually, they'd left her alone as she stewed in her thoughts.
For once, she was glad that her father wasn't here. She didn't even want to imagine what it would have been like if he'd seen Adam as some mindless beast.
At the end of the day, most of the village had been rebuilt and enough sinners had been rebuffed that she doubted that they would come back anytime soon.
Hopefully.
Still though, the villagers had shown their appreciation to her with a small feast in her honor.
It was…touching, and it reminded her of the fact that despite this being Hell, there were still some good people.
'I wonder…if I'd known about them before the Trial, and presented them, could things have gone differently? Would Adam have cared more about his direct grandchildren rather than some far off descendants?'
Charlie sighed, there was no use in what-if's.
She'd left early in the morning, with permission from the villagers, she'd used her power to basically turn the landmass into a full island, which would hopefully limit the amount of sinners coming to attack them.
Making it back to the hotel, she was content to go about her day and while she knew that she would forgive her friends for following her, she was still unhappy with them.
She sighed again.
Hopefully things will be better today.
In the time since, Pride seemed to somewhat calm down. Sinners were still killing themselves and each other, but attacks on Oto Island (why that name, she didn't know, apparently the Elder said that it felt right and she could see the resemblance to Adam now) seemed to lessen.
Of course, that's when everything started to get worse.
Overlords, now confident in their powerbase no longer being destroyed, no longer worked together barring a few alliances, and in the midst of everything plunged Hell into War.
The only saving grace was that Carmine Industries had refused to provide weapons to any side, remaining firmly neutral in the conflict unless otherwise attacked.
But that didn't stop the rest of them.
Charlie watched out of the balcony in disappointment.
She wouldn't give up…she was too stubborn to give up.
"But I see what you mean now…Adam…"
People wouldn't change…not without something driving them to…and she was wracking her head for ideas.
Her biggest one was the possibility of reuniting with family members that were in Heaven, but ever since the battle, Heaven had remained completely and utterly silent.
Even her father hadn't heard anything from them, and although the Embassy was still there…it was silent to everything, even the light that emanated from it was dimmer.
It'd been a few years since Odo Island. A few more sinners actually checked into her hotel, which was good progress to her but they were…stagnant.
She still kept contact with them, though tensions had been rising…sinners had been heading out into the ocean on ships, still trying to subjugate Gojira.
They…did not return, to say the least.
She was only glad that atomic bombs or Hellbombs as they've been so affectionately called by their crazed inventors, were extremely difficult to make due to lack of resources in Hell.
A sudden rumble that shook the ground made her pale (as much as a literally white skinned demoness could).
'Me and my metaphorical big mouth.'
She quickly went to the balcony and peered out to the skyline where a mushroom cloud appeared in a familiar direction.
Dread filled her being as she recognized the location.
"That's near Odo…they bombed the ocean…"
All that life…just gone. And Gojira? She wondered if he was safe.
But beneath the waves of tears, Gojira screamed as his flesh was seared by relentless fire.
A lone creature slumped over a glass beach, its body in the process of horrible mutation.
His body.
He was becoming an abomination.
Adam remembered now, just what he was…who he was.
But he also remembered what he'd become.
And although he'd been lesser, he'd also been content. He was alive and free…he was among family, even if he couldn't speak with them, it was nice to be among Cain's children.
But this bomb had burned him, tortured him, filled him with unknown energies.
They had mixed angelic steel into the payload, he could feel it, digging into his flesh, scoring his lungs, prickling his eyes.
And he could sense that his descendants were gone.
And he was once more alone.
But sinners could never leave him alone, for he had been cursed to be hurt by Hell and its denizens.
They had taken everything from him. Ever since Eden, when Lucifer and Lilith had left him to be alone for years only to return to curse him and his bloodline. His children, his family, his life, his afterlife, everything.
A great rage broiled within his chest as he dragged himself to the water, his body mutating even more by radiation and the conflicting energies within him.
It was a wrath that until now had been unseen. He would take his revenge, destroy everything in his path.
As Adam's mind fell into rage and instinct once more, soon to be forever lost, one last thought permeated his mind.
DESTROY THEM ALL.
Ships were being destroyed in the ocean.
Alastor's radio show was actually gaining traction since radio signals were easier to transmit across the water and he took special delight in reporting the constant destruction of ships.
The news actually gave Charlie some relief.
She knew that Gojira was safe if only from the amount of carnage that he was leaving behind.
A new…resident of the hotel had arrived, a sinner named Baxter. But he was troubled by something that she hoped he could eventually share with them.
All she knew about him is that he used to work on the sea, though he didn't share details.
Surprisingly enough though, Nifty of all people was getting through to him, though how she was doing so was something that she didn't want to know about sinceshewas mellowing out.
"And in other news, it seems that the newly created warship, the Takao has been utterly decimated, lost with all hands! Why, it seems to have exploded even! All those poor souls lost, it's HILARIOUS!"
Charlie sighed as Alastor laughed.
She paused however as she heard…rumbling in the distance.
"Breaking news now, it appears that a large creature has appeared in the outskirts of the city! Why…I do wonder just who could it be."
Charlie raced towards the balcony but could only see vague shapes in the skyline.
"Charlie!"
She turned and saw Baxter running towards her in complete fear.
"We need to get to the city! Noriko's there!"
Charlie blinked and shook her head in confusion.
"Who?"
"Argh! NIFTY!"
Charlie felt a chill run down her spine as she grabbed Baxter, summoned her pet and they flew into the city.
Sinners usually didn't run…they knew that death was temporary but whatever was attacking them gave off an aura that sent fear spiking through their very being. A primordial fear that they had not felt for years.
The fear of extermination.
A second death was approaching.
And it had no master, it had no end, it had no desire to speak nor inclination towards peace.
It would destroy everything in its path.
Sinners, upon feeling the sheer amount of fear in their souls, ran away in droves, trampling over each other.
A single foot stomp caused the ground to erupt, sending sinners flying, others crushed under the immense weight.
Gojira walked forward, took a deep breath and roared.
Gojira, the monster that they'd all tried to attack, time and time again was now huge, over 160 ft tall and with bulging muscle. Now upright on his feet instead of hunched over, his spines were larger than ever before, trailing down the entirety of his back.
With pure rage he continued his attack.
Buildings were knocked down, splintering and shattering into pieces that crushed and debilitated.
Gojira knew nothing but rage. A rage stemmed from loss, fear, and agony. A rage that pushed him to move forward and crush the little insects. Insects that he knew were his enemies and he cared not why they were, only that they existed for him to destroy.
Seeing the crowd running away from him and noticing how slow he was, Gojira spun, his tail swiping through buildings and sweeping away people under its might.
During the carnage, Charlie and Baxter had found Niffty but Razzle's wing had been broken by debris.
Before anything can happen however, thunder echoes from the skyline as multiple explosions rocket against Gojira's skin, dust and debris coating the air.
Everyone looks to their source and even feels relieved.
Lucifer had arrived, dark magic spiraling in his hands as he glared at his enemy.
He narrows his eyes as the smoke clears before they widen in shock as Gojira is revealed to be completely unharmed.
The tip of Gojira's tail glows gold as the spine juts out, an odd humming sound echoing in Pride.
The glow continues to travel up his tail, a spine jutting out as if the energy was overloading.
It continued to travel up his spine, the energy making them shiver as Gojira charged up, his rage reaching a peak as it saw the little six-winged creature.
For whatever reason, this thing earned his hatred.
The energy was traveling faster, Gojira's spines popping out individually and then in groups as a golden sheen was visible throughout all of Pride.
Gojira began to breathe in, particles atomizing into his maw.
"It's…just like before…"
Charlie turned and looked at Baxter in horror.
The spines punched in and a golden beam pierced through the entirety of the city as it raced to meet its target.
Lucifer didn't even get to blink as he was suddenly consumed by light.
There was a pause and a flash as an explosion occurred, greater than any nuke created by sinners, the sheer force of it rippled throughout the entirety of the Pride Ring, its effects even felt in the Rings below.
For a moment, Charlie could only stare before she was suddenly pushed away.
The wind roared past her, taking away people and debris, she screamed as she clutched her ears as the air seemed to be getting sucked out of her lungs before everything punched back in with force.
When the dust settled and Charlie was able to hobble out of the alley she'd been pushed into, she could only stare in horror at the mushroom cloud taking up the sky.
She could idly hear Baxter calling out for Noriko and she fell to her knees as she simply stared.
Gojira looked at the cloud content, even as his body burned once more, he could feel his regeneration kicking in.
He roared to the skies, black rain falling to the ground, drenching any who survived.
Baxter was screaming and Charlie could only remain silent as Gojira left towards the sea.
"Hehe…" a chuckle came out of her mouth unintentionally, she clutched her mouth as tears began to pool in her eyes.
"Hahahaha…hahahahahaha…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
And as Charlie Morningstar felt the weight of her actions, she snapped.
NGL, not as happy with this one as I am with the others but I needed to at least get it out there.
Y'all can decide if Lucifer survived that or not and if he did, most definitely irradiated.
Let me know what you think.
And yes, I made a little subplot of Niffty's human name being Noriko who (and because I didn't want to write more) acts as a second, saner personality of Niffty's.
Upcoming Chapters (In no particular order, though feel free to ask which one you want to see the most)
Shin Adam - Another Godzilla Adam story but Shin-based (this one Iwantthis one to be painful)
Kenpachi Adam - No reason for an explanation here, it's freakin Kenpachi. (Who should be Nozarashi, Emily?)
Unohana Eve - I know…this surprised me too but it was too good of an idea to pass up.
TF: One - In honor of the movie I watched last night (TOP TIER) with Charlie as Orion, Adam as D-16 and Lucifer as Sentinel
Ywach Adam: Imagine the Exorcists having Schrifts and it fits with the soul-destroying aspect.
AOT, Adam meeting Ymir: Where even after death, a father is still a father.