Chapter 41
Pharaoh's Vengeance
"The round has just begun and there's already been so many twists and turns!" Heimdall yelled over the roars of disbelief from the crowd, "The Holy Nurse, and representative of the gods in Round 5, Raphael… has attempted to forfeit the match in favor of humanity! But to everyone's shock, it is humanity's own representative, RAMSES, who has denied his generous surrender! Just WHAT is going on?!"
Looking at Ramses with a mixture of caution and confusion, Raphael traced a finger across the wound on his face, inspecting the specks of blood that stained its tip with a grimace. "Pharaoh Ramses, while I do not understand the meaning of your unprovoked aggression, surely we can be level-headed enough to settle whatever misunderstanding there is between us outside the battlefield?"
Despite this attempt at democracy, Ramses only swung his khopesh at Raphael once again with a loud battle cry. The archangel was quick to answer with a parry of his own blade, yet found himself still struggling to hold his ground from the sheer might his foe placed into the strike.
"Such viciousness and anger…" Pandora whispered in fear and awe as she and her companions watched Ramses deliver another ferocious offensive, "I-it's like…"
"Witnessing Jason fight all over again." Hera finished as the Queen of Olympus entered the Human's VIP section to spectate the fight with them. "Dammit Prometheus, what HAPPENED?! I thought you had a plan for everything, yet the round has barely begun and it's all already going to Helheim!"
A loud "CRASH!" startled the four other individuals in the room as Prometheus punched a hole clean through the marble wall in frustration, the forehead of the normally calm and level-headed Titan now slick with sweat as his eyes darted from side to side in frustration. "Please Lady Hera, not now. I currently have neither the time nor patience for your usual snark."
"Mon Dieu," Joan of Arc murmured fearfully at this scene and her teacher forced onto the defensive by Ramses, "What will become of this round?"
…
"Ramses, PLEASE!" Raphael pleaded through gritted teeth as he felt his knees start to buckle, "I do not wish to fight you!"
"Neither do I," Ramses returned with a snarl, "But you have debts that must be paid, debts that I shall COLLECT!" With that, the pharaoh broke through Raphael's guard, swinging his khopesh over his head to deliver a devastating blow! Raphael's eyes widened and almost instinctively, the archangel unfurled the pair of magnificent white wings folded behind his back, spreading them out in all their glory. The sudden flash of light that shone forth from the golden tips of his feathers stunned Ramses mid-swing, allowing Raphael the chance to ascend into the air, much to the awe of the crowds watching them.
"Please, mighty pharaoh! Abandon your wrath and just accept my surrender!" Raphael implored once again, hovering in midair. "Surely you can see that you are unable to touch me whilst I possess this advantage, the only thing you will succeed in is exhausting yourself!"
Stumbling backwards and rubbing the spots from his eyes, Ramses tilted his head upwards and fixed a spiteful glare at the archangel above him, "You angels claim to not be oppressors like the other gods, yet here you are looking down upon us." The pharaoh pointed his khopesh upwards menacingly, "The air offers you nothing but a temporary reprieve from the truth, sooner or later, you WILL have to face me."
A small smile appeared across Raphael's face, "A sturdy divine blade Pandora's box has gifted you, Pharaoh Ramses. But how can I face you in battle… if I am not even in the arena?" The archangel's wings started to rhythmically beat, slowly lifting him higher and higher into the open air with every flap.
"WHAT'S THIS?" Heimdall said, "It seems that with his surrender rejected by the opposing side, Archangel Raphael has chosen to take matters into his own hands and is now attempting to FLY out of the arena to avoid the fight entirely!"
"Oh, he will not be getting very far." Ra commented with a smirk.
Watching his foe attempt to flee with a look of disgust on his face, Ramses turned around back towards the corridor from which he had entered the battlefield and barked out a command in his mother-tongue. A small silence was cast across the arena, save the steady beats of Raphael's wings… then from the darkened depths of the hallways, a loud grinding sound was heard, the loud grinding… of wheels. It started off soft, growing louder and louder with each passing moment. The floor trembled, pebbles were sent flying and out of the shadows of the hallway, a golden chariot burst out into the light! Gleaming as it entered the arena, its frame was adorned with intricate hieroglyphs and inlaid gemstones that shimmer in the light. Fierce lion heads sculpted on each side, while wing-like decorations flare out. However, in contrast to the rest of its era-accurate decor, a rather modern looking control panel like ones found on cars and aircrafts was positioned in front of the pharaoh as he steered his mount along.
The chariot's spiked wheels clatter ominously as it moved forward completely of its own accord, no horses to pull it, no charioteers to steer it. The chariot's majestic and eerie charge into the arena commanded awe from all who bore witness to it.
"Simply divine!" A female's regal voice carried across the stands, surrounding humans turned to stare at the jewelry adorned, olive skinned woman dressed in a mostly white kalasiris with pink and blue trimmings that covered her voluptuous figure and sizable bust. "I feared Ramses would have forgone style entirely when he declined our offer for a more grandiose entrance into the arena. But t it seems that he has that all handled, hm Tutankhamun? My goodness you seem excited."
Next to her, a surprisingly youthful male dressed in an attire strangely reminiscent of Horus the Falcon God, crouched atop his seat and eagerly peered above the heads of spectators in front of him to make up for his shorter height.
"Of course I am!" The Child Pharaoh replied energetically to the one and only Cleoptara, "I'm already bursting at the seams to see Ramses' brand-new ride in action! After all, we don't know him as the greatest Warrior Pharaoh in Egypt for nothing!"
"Oi, are you two watching the same match as us?" One of the surrounding humans barked, appalled at the lackadaisical attitude of these two famous pharaohs. "Sure, that Ramses guy being a fellow Egyptian might warrant your support, but to openly cheer for him after what he had just done? That idiot just cost us a free win!"
"Fufufu, do be silent dearie~" Cleopatra responded in a sweet tone, yet in spite of that the poor fellow found himself sweating nervously under the gaze of the Nile's Beauty. "The adults are talking."
Rumbling loudly as it moved, the chariot barreled forward straight at Ramses, showing absolutely no signs of slowing down! The crowd held their breath as the front of the cart was mere inches away from the pharaoh's body… then in an instant! Ramses leapt high into the air with all the power and grace of an apex predator, landing with perfect precision inside the chariot and grabbing hold of the steering reins with just one hand!
With precision and efficiency equal to a machine, Ramses took control of the rumbling chariot, steering it away from aimless wandering and instead towards the figure of Raphael who had now ascended about a third of the arena's staggering height.
"AMAZING!" Heimdall cried as the audience gaped in awe at Ramses' new ride. "Ramses has just summoned what can only be described as a SELF-DRIVING CHARIOT! But as wondrous as that is, the question still remains… how will he be able to reach Raphael?!"
As though to respond, Ramses set down his khopesh and reached his free hand underneath the chariot. Resurfacing with a long golden stick in his grip, a lengthy rope tied onto one end, connecting it to the rest of the vehicle. While the other was sharpened to a barbed point, a javelin, used to hunt aerial prey and ready to be thrown. So, with this deadly projectile, Ramses took aim. Watching and waiting, as the figure of Raphael rose higher into the air. His grip tightened, his expression stern and focused… At the very last second, the pharaoh's hand rose fast in a steady arc and the javelin took flight.
"SCHLIK!"
Raphael's cry of agony was nothing short of haunting as the javelin pierced into flesh. A melodic echo of pure pain that resonated across the entire arena, shaking gods and humans alike to the very core as the archangel hovered blindly in midair. His wings still beated frantically, but the Holy Nurse was far too shell shocked to make another move.
A dark look crossed Ramses face, as he gripped onto the taunt, stretched out rope still attached to the javelin that was now lodged in Raphael's side. His knuckles turned white as he looked up at his catch with contempt, "Trying to flee, mighty angel? No, you do not just get to walk away from me, so… GET OVER HERE!"
With a roar of rage to match Raphael's scream, Ramses yanked down hard with the rope still in hand, and Raphael could only widen his eyes in shock before he found himself hurtling towards the battlefield at an alarming rate!
"RAPHAEL!" Joan screamed, her panic echoed by Göll and many other humans as they could only helplessly watch Raphael collide on to the rocky hard ground with a resounding, "THUD!"
"T-that… WAS ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL!" Heimdall hollered, "First Ramses rejects Raphael's olive branch of peace, then he follows up with having the Holy Nurse himself come CRASHING down! Dare I say, the match might just already be over… with humanity still taking the win no less!"
Driving his chariot in circles around the smoke-filled crash site of Raphael's fall, Ramses rumbled round and round the debris like a shark circling its prey. Around him, loud jeers and boos of both human and gods alike boomed across the stands as the audience made their disapproval heard, but the pharaoh's attention was focused only on the center of the rubble where his fallen foe now lay obscured by smoke and debris.
"Oh my word… Raphael…" Gabriel muttered in utter disbelief, "W-what just happened?!"
"What just happened, is that sinner has revealed his true Divine Weapon, that blasted chariot which he now rides." Michael grimaced as he folded his arms across his chest, "As for the khopesh he used before… most likely a product of Hephaestus' forge to be used as an extra precaution. That fool Prometheus… he's only gone and armed a beast to the teeth and set it loose!"
At that moment, Raphael's crumpled form stirred from within the wreckage. Slowly but surely the archangel rose to his feet, the severity of his fall evident to all watching. Bruises and cuts on his arms and face, paired with a bloody wound in his shoulder from the javelin. As the Holy Nurse stood upright, his legs trembled slightly now struggling slightly to uphold his own weight. For many, it was painful to see a being like Raphael in such a miserable state.
Yet in spite of all this pain, the Holy Nurse once again attempted to flee into the air! Gritting his teeth with labored breaths, Raphael unfurled his battered wings to soar up high. But! A splitting pain erupted from his left side, eliciting a sharp gasp of agony from the archangel. Raphael tilted his head and was met with the sight of his left wing bent at an awkward angle; the heavy fall having fractured its hollow bones. Gods and humans gaped at this revelation, the wrathful pharaoh atop his golden mount, had managed to clip the mighty archangel's wings.
"Good." Ramses said dryly, the pharaoh and his chariot looming over the hunched form of the kneeling archangel. "Now you're on my level, let's see you try and run from your past like this."
"Why…?" Raphael pleaded weakly with his head hung low, puddles of blood forming as they dropped from his wounds. "I have never met you before this, so why do you resent me so much, even to the point of dooming your own race? I don't understand…"
From his cold apathetic features, Ramses face transformed into one of disgust and rage, before quickly morphing into one of dangerous calmness.
"Ah yes, how could I forget? My brother never did mention me specifically by name in his little 'Exodus' book, did he, O God of his ancestors?"
Raphael's eyes went wide, the agony on his face turning into shock, recognition and anger as he could only mouth out a single word,
"YOU…"
"Too late," Ramses said. Reaching for a hidden pull handle on his control panel and yanking it upward with a sharp motion, a loud "CLANG" echoed from within the sculpted lion heads, and the hieroglyphics that were carved into the chariot's sides suddenly glowed with an orange light. Arcs of energy coursed through the chariot and the entire vehicle reared slightly as Ramses held on, an unseen force surging beneath its two wheels. In an instant, the entire chariot shot forward as though it were a streak of light, tearing across the arena with breakneck speed. Dust swirled and wind howled, as Raphael could only gape at the incoming golden mass barreling towards him, his battered form and broken wings rendering him unable to get out of the way in time! The crowd could only once again scream the archangel's name in vain, as Raphael was sent tumbling across the floor as Ramses' chariot made impact like a battering ram with a shattering "WHUMP!"
"Hoo BOY, that looked painful! Talk about being disrespectful!' Heimdall said wincing, "After sending Raphael plummeting to the ground, Ramses has just followed it through with a chariot hit and run! Does this man even know the meaning of letting up?"
"Raphael…" Gabriel wept as she saw her brother curled into a ball on the arena floor, "Oh Michael, do something! You know our brother won't raise a finger against that human in spite of what he's done to him; you must save him before it is too late!"
"Hush now sister and be at ease." Michael growled, "That sinner may have struck Raphael twice… but look! That foolish miscreant is now hurtling towards the arena walls on course to smear himself against it!"
Indeed, in his savage rampage, Ramses seemed to have completely failed to realize that his assaults had set his chariot down a path hurtling straight towards the side of the arena!
"And besides…" The Archistrategos now mused silently to himself, "Even if Ramses manages to survive wrecking his chariot against the wall, by now Raphael is sure to have figured out just who this pharaoh truly is."
Still barreling towards the wall, Ramses face betrayed no signs of panic as he glared at the incoming obstacle in his path. All around him, crowds of spectators tinged with excitement, as they awaited to see the pharaoh reap the rewards of his seemingly hot-headed recklessness.
"Ha! Buh-bye, human!" A few gods cackled, bristling with excitement for the incoming collision, "That's what you get for biting the hand that threw you a lifeline, have fun going SPLAT!" All of a sudden, these deities felt a chill run down their spine as the sinister glares of Tutankhamen and Cleopatra from far away seemed to bore into their very souls.
"Silly gods." Tutankhamen snickered darkly, "Atop a chariot, the Defender of Egypt is unparalleled! So, watch and LEARN, as the greatest warrior pharaoh to ever live, etch his name into the history books ONCE MORE!"
At that very split second, gripped his reins tightly as the walls of the arena loomed closer with alarming speed. Ramses jerked them hard to the left, his chariot responding instantly with a sharp, unbelievable swerve of a U-turn!
The crowd gasped in stunned awe, as the chariot's wheels skidded along the edge, mere inches from disaster. Before straightening out and continuing racing onwards like a phantom streak of energy, straight back at Raphael who was just struggling back up to his feet!
"READY OR NOT! HOLY NURSE!" Ramses roared as his golden mount barreled once more towards the archangel whose eyes widened in surprise, "For here comes my WRATH! Here comes my JUSTICE! Here comes my…"
"PHARAOH'S VENGEANCE!"
War chariot thundering across the sand, wheels spinning furiously, sending clouds of dust billowing in his wake. Ramses bore down upon Raphael who barely had time to react before the chariot's reinforced front struck him again, sending him staggering. Without losing momentum, Raphael expertly wrenched the reins, causing the chariot to swerve perilously close to the arena walls before executing a sharp U-turn once again. With insane precision, he charged again and again! Swerving and smashing as his chariot became a relentless force of destruction, repeating this deadly cycle with unyielding ferocity, while Raphael was helplessly pummeled from every side!
"H-how is Ramses DOING THAT?!" Göll screamed, her face a mixture of anger and morbid curiosity. "Why hasn't his chariot crashed yet from all those reckless swerves!"
"I presume… it's due to the lack of equines at the front of the chariots that act as their usual driving force." Hera spoke, taking over the role of explanation from a sombre Prometheus. "Since Ramses' chariot is capable of autonomy without the assistance of horses, its overall length and thus, time to move accordingly is greatly reduced. Solely relying on expertise rather than reaction time, the pharaoh is now able to make these dangerous turns with little consequences!"
"Grandmother… perhaps now is not such a great time?" Pandora meekly said, gesturing towards a distraught Joan, helplessly watching as the mentor she so admired was struck again and again till Ramses' assault finally came to an end. A weak groan escaped Raphael's lips as his battered and broken form slumped against the hard floor.
Swerving into the center of the arena, Ramses brought his chariot to a stop, in the midst of roars of approval coming solely from the same men who had heralded his entrance into the battlefield with their drums and chants. However, the rest of the arena was completely stunned into silence, even Heimdall was speechless for a few seconds before making any commentary. "I… I think… my word… that was… I… IS THE MATCH OVER?!"
"No… Lord Raphael won't go out that quickly." a hooded man in humanity's side of the audience murmured to himself, "Even from the toughest, most grueling situations… like a mighty phoenix from the ashes, he will rise! Ready to face them once again!"
Right on cue, flames ignited all across Raphael's body. But unlike the harsh glaring embers of Ra's flames, or the unrelenting blaze that was Nezha's Samadhi Fire, the fire that covered the archangel's form in a gentle, yet resilient hue was a brilliant white that only got stronger with each passing moment!
Gazing at the sight in front of him atop his chariot, Ramses' face twisted into a bold smirk, "Hmph, so you didn't crumble… Good, now that you have remembered who I am, my justice can truly begin."