AN: Last month was terribly unproductive… hopefully this month will be better. Rewritten Freya fight has also been edited in, it wasn't the cause for the delay. But hopefully it is better.
It had taken Mary minutes at best to cross the city to reach it. Yet as the devastation reigned across the expanse it seems that had been too long to intervene in time.
The charred and ruined remains of a corpse, legs broken and fractured in the centre. Four arms burnt, the charred scent of Azrael's flesh hanging heavily on the field of battle even as the other six were nowhere to be seen.
Blood running so heavily across the scene that it was overpowering even with the urge to drink it gone. Azrael was one, another as well bleeding heavily in the wreckage even with the body gone. He had at least managed to injure his attacker before going down, and with the scent here she could track them down with ease.
They could not have been called friends. Even back then they had been more allies of convenience. No once the immediate crisis had passed and the portal that had hung heavily in the sky was gone she had left. And the words that came out in the aftermath of knights in flight and that they were all hunted down.
She had made her choice to leave them to die and as it was more than a thousand years ago any who had not been killed would have been taken by age she had thought. That was how it was with humans in the end.
At least now she wouldn't have to ever mention she couldn't remember which member he'd been before. The members of the resistance in Orianna so long ago might have been important to her once. But she had long forgotten and allowed them to blur together over the centuries.
It was the last time she'd send one of them off. "Though you have passed on you died with valour, by our pact I accept the offering of your lives that I will fight in your stead."
The blood itself was only stains but it was still the blood of a demon. She burned it through her veins as it coursed with power. Humanity was a wonderful thing, something that Elizabeth had cherished for an eternity. But it also wasn't enough sometimes and when she fought the true monsters of the night she had needed more.
It was time to stop holding back.
She drank in the night and was changed by it once more.
Agravaine was here, Melehan and Melwas. All four of his closest aides that the tension hung thick about them. For gratitude was given in private and only punishments were made public that they could never tell which one of them was first in Mordred's eyes.
She had nothing to worry about as the only one who had given him eyes to see what was underway, as the one who had warned him of Gaunt and Petos treachery she was safe for now. When asked she could even acknowledge that she had sealed the entrance the two of them had uncovered and perhaps she would even get praise.
Doubtful as it would seem because Mordred was tense as he entered the room in front of him, bringing even more members of the facility itself. He was only smouldering so perhaps even praise might get those in trouble off from their sins.
"Chance has come upon us though the enemy is at the gate, you all have been chosen. For the door to my apotheosis stands open and those of you who survive will be rewarded in the aftermath."
Elaine gulped with trepidation at that last statement. Then she steeled herself regardless because while it promised almost certain death that always hung in the air around Mordred. She would merely have to prove herself strong enough to walk through the flames.
Mordred continued his words. "But power is needed for you to pave my way forward, and so the first part of your reward will come first." With a gesture a young woman stepped forward, one who she'd never seen before with a box that opened to show something almost like the red pills used to make Diabolos's children. "You will all be familiar with the normal pills, you can consider these ones to be a more effective version provided to me for your own ascension. Take them and be transformed."
But she had already drunk of Azrael's blood for power, and not been corrupted by it. Had already proven she could take such power without being changed she stepped forward. Taking it with a grim determination that was how it should be.
Pride and confidence at being first to step forward as she ate it.
Pain writhed through her form unlike anything else she'd ever experienced. Fire and vengeance ripping through her veins as she struggled to scream. Even so she poured the power she already had against it if she could just endure long enough to reach the prize.
The others stepping backwards in horror even as the shadows caught them, the presence binding everyone in the room at once.
She bit back a laugh as the darkness consumed her.
There were no tracks in the magic touching the world to speak of their passing. It mattered not for blood had been spilled and she could follow it from one end of the city to the other if she had to.
The scent had led her on following the curved path her quarry took. Switchbacks and cutting through alleys all for nought as long as she breathed in the air in front of her. The third team must have been wiped and now Mordred was using the only remaining exit to his base to stage a counterattack.
A single river of blood flowing faster than a human could track as she hit the rooftop watching over them. Four members still combat capable, a fifth the injured party carried by the sole male of the group.
All four moved with practiced confidence of soldiers, and the touch of magic present tightly woven around them spoke of practiced use. She could expect a counterattack after one maybe two of them taken out. The girl with red hair had the most magic, enough that it wasn't easily controlled even with training, the Therianthrope would have the best senses.
But such a thing wasn't a contest in the end because raw physical force could never hurt her like this as she settled the blades that were her new arms into place. Lining up for the perfect strike in the moment they turned to the path ahead to change course once again.
"You've come." The boy in the group turned his gaze falling upon her even across the distance. He was not Mordred and yet still her blood boiled, a single moment of power rebelling just like when the two of them had fought. "To think the Terror of the Night has returned at the height of her power. A blessing to live in such interesting times."
It was the same contemptuous gaze as Mordred had possessed.
The gaze hardened. "You think we are equals in the realm of combat? It seems that age has not granted you wisdom and such a fight would end in only one move. Zeta and Victoria right now are much more suited to giving you a challenge rather than a slaughter."
She let her body fall loosely almost in imitation of the way a human would relax. A form of position unsuited to advancing on the field. The next her body dissolved to blood as she fired herself forward, her stance reforming with blades already crashing forward to take his head. Blades growing as she sought his head in a single instant.
A mace as a crushing weapon slammed upwards into her path. The blonde therianthrope stepping between them and caving her chest in with her own momentum. She let it crumple let the look of triumph appear even as her own claws crashed down as she ignored her own mortal wound to take the enemies head.
Claws meeting fabric and being turned aside as it became as hard as steel. Even as the mace came down and cracked her skull as magic smashed her down into a stain on the ground.
"She's still alive." The boy spoke again even as he continued on the path. His own form resting calmly even as he watched the blood that formed the core of her being.
After a full minute their gazes never wavered once. Mary pulled herself back together casually reforming unharmed. "Most let down their guard after killing a vampire. Perhaps the years have left me out of practice for playing that trick."
"To those without eyes perhaps it might work. I am no fool to believe immortals will die easily, but alas I have important things to do you have to understand. Play with her well you two and show me the limits of your improvement."
The purple haired elf stepped forward as well to bar her path with a sword, even as her former opponent let a second mace fall into her other hand, made from the same fabric as both their suits. So not the fancy clothes they'd seemed but an unbreakable armour.
Still the flesh would be weak, and a hard enough impact could break through and puncture an organ regardless as she settled her feet. Growing even larger from the size of a human and letting her weapons gain in weight and mass.
Whatever else they were humans were fragile things in the end. She tore forward ignoring how the sword impaled her to use bulk and force to drive the girl back. Letting her blade bite at her flesh harmlessly as her blood spilled across the floor.
Ignore the pain, ignore the minor trivialities. Letting her flesh peel away as she drove her foe back to the walls of the street and brute force would win the day.
The elf smiled even as she retreated maniacally, magic held on the tip of her blade as it crashed into the world around them both. Thunder fell from the sky and turned her flesh to dust for but a moment before immortality took hold once again as her flesh blackened in the night from the burns. The girl was already jumping up pushing to get herself out of the containment and into the open air. She extended a blade full force and caught her in mid-flight feeling the weight of her armour crumple as she slammed her backwards.
Even as she let the spear from behind impale her without a second thought. Bone itself growing around the injury as she trapped it inside her flesh. Sweeping blades missing by a hairs breadth as she retaliated and forced the girl to give up her weapon.
The therianthrope merely grasped a new one moulded from her own cloak,
The blade mace left behind turning to liquid in the wound even as she exerted her own power to it, bringing it up to her fangs and taking a sip. Yes there was power here if she wanted to drink it. "Come let me show you how dark the night can be."
The bloody mist flowed in reverse reattaching the severed limb in an instant even as he watched on from a distance. Twice the height of a human, jutting bone spikes protruding like extra arms in every which way out from her flesh. Form held together by blood freely flowing between liquid and mist as she swung them every which way as a whirlwind of death that tore the street up around her and crashed through buildings with ease.
On the one hand Zeta and Victoria were experts with their swords, well trained proficient in magic in their own way dancing through the night. None of that mattered when their foe would not die and neither of them had the firepower to make it stick. Worse still the rust from years of disuse seemed to be falling off and she was quickly becoming more used to her transformation and soon she would catch one of them. "It seems the time has come for drastic action."
Iris watched from her place walking behind him. "Then I can see you fight at full power?"
Fighting at full power when he was running on fumes was of course nonsense. Cid let his confidence take hold working his way further along through the alleyways. "My full power? If all you know is how to swing blindly perhaps such a thing would be necessary. But I have something far more effective than just mere power."
And only a handful of minutes to figure out what it was by the looks of things as Victoria came crashing down on a nearby rooftop laughing maniacally. She was tracking them through blood so all that was left was to turn that against her. "It seems it is time to put my hand puppets to good use again."
"Hand puppets?" Iris stared at him as he worked as though unsure of the word even though it was quite basic. "I don't understand how that lets you fight her?"
He shrugged because he wasn't going to beat her with a hand puppet, he was going to claim victory instead which was far more rewarding. "You still lack understanding little flame, but it will come in time."
Just a small sliver of slime gathering up the blood that still rested on Eta's form. He let it balloon up until it held a form not quite like that of a man and grinned. A simple finger puppet laced with blood as he eyed the fight above. The vampire tearing Zeta's weapons free one after another and devouring them into her own form, the slime acting like just more blood in the monster above.
"Pour some fire into it just enough for one blast should do the trick." He watched it take form, as a balloon filled with fire in the shape of a human. One relatively mediocre attack that would do no more than a distraction and that was all. Yes in this moment of weakness all he had to do was to volunteer someone else to fight the vampire in his place.
He steepled his hands posing as he looked out at things and grinned. "All conditions have been met, victory rests in the palm of my hand." He grinned knowing he looked cool.
Unfortunately, Iris didn't have the right aesthetic to appreciate it, only a frown crossing her face. "That attack won't harm her you have to realise that don't you."
He let his eyes fall behind the floating form of the little demon resting in front of him. "You are too focused on beating the vampire to recognise the best solution. Let her follow the smell of blood and I shall lead her where I will." Tomorrow he could prove himself vampire hunter extraordinaire, today he could make her someone else's problem. "For now, hold Eta and watch and learn how the game is played."
He walked away even as his puppet leaped up onto the building, A well-practiced signal telling the other two to run and make themselves scarce even as he let his little puppet burn a blast that raced along the rooftops to consume the vampire.
It wouldn't hurt her and that was fine, as long as she chased it long enough to get caught up in the fun.
Magic pinged the edge of her senses as the flesh within her body turned and twisted in response. The growing embodiment of horror rising up as bile even as she supressed it with practiced ease. "Minor threat from the west."
Alicia and Beth remained pouring over and tearing into the collapsed tunnel, their mutated limbs carving out the wreckage easily enough. Raphaela was already hidden so who knew what she was up to and only Ophelia turned to acknowledge her. But then just one of them would be enough to take care of a minor interloper. "Bleeding magic but coming straight towards us, take care of it."
A sadistic smirk was all the answer she got and that was fine. Resting in place as she watched her friend saunter over eyes flitting across the night sky. "I can kill them right?"
"Go ahead." If they were the enemy then better to kill them now, and if a friend they could easily make an excuse to Mordred later. The figure appearing midair as it soared over the building in a single bound before her eyes as she watched calmly.
Then the simple return as Ophelia's arm grew and the massive sword it carried bisected the figure in a single swing, the victim exploding in a burst of blood and gore as it painted the ground around them.
The pit in her stomach grew rather than dissipating as something larger and infinitely more powerful stepped out of its shadow, a skittering monster with dozens of twisted limbs of bone in the shape of blades there in an instant as its eyes locked on them all.
"Another monster is fine too." Ophelia grinned as she drove her blade in her own arm spasming as it grew more demonic in turn as power poured in and rippled through the wound tearing it open. Laughter spilling from her lips as blood poured free and fountained out around her and yet the thing did not die.
The droplets of blood fountaining out turned and coalesced into a web hanging in the air. Constricting in an instant as Ophelia became nothing more than a glimpse of broken flesh and splattered remains.
Tentatively she stepped forward with an entreaty. "As one of Mordred's allies can we put aside blows until the Black Rose is taken care of." She kept her sword up despite it, edging over to the other two who had stopped digging.
Magic flowed the sickening feeling in her gut reacting before she saw it and she was already moving. Sword racing up to counter the blow that send her crashing backwards. So not one of Mordred's creations, or at least not a loyal one.
Blood poured in a river crashing down towards her and then parted. The hulking form as Alicia transformed more, as the blood of the possessed poured into her body transformed her away from humanity let her toss it aside. Beth stepping up behind her a hand resting lightly on her sisters back. "Dig Petos out for a moment, the two of us will hold her until then."
She bit down any disagreement and let her own power granted to her by the possessed corpse implanted into her flesh run wild, the strength crawling through her veins as she felt rock and stone crumble as she carved a path. The two of them were the strongest so they would be fine wouldn't they?
The sickening squelch left her glancing back, even as Alicia was stumbling with her guts strewn across the surroundings, even as she slowly pulled them back in. Beth was broken and bleeding smashed into the side of a building.
No time left to dig Petos out, she stared back at her executioner calmly stalking forward. Fear and terror mired together and then relief. Raphaela stepping out behind it and taking its head in one fell sweep that ended it in a single move. The lifeless corpse collapsing to the ground between them as her friend stalked over it like the executioner she was. "Treat Alicia she should survive that. Beth is fine where she is." Unspoken of course that Ophelia would never recover.
She nodded back finding her feet easily enough even as she let her own magic sense coat the world around her eyeing the spilled entrails where the mutated organs had been grafted on to their own. But then the flesh grafted to them had been cut from the same member of the possessed, and she felt her own power sync with the bloodied mess writhing on the floor. "It won't take long."
On the edge of her senses she felt the hand reach out as the bloodied corpse dragged Raphaela back up into the sky. The severed head watching them both smiling as it dissolved into blood and reappeared whole again atop its body.
It was time to run even if she had to abandon the others. How did you even fight something like that in the end? The cold gaze staring back at her wouldn't let it be. One step after the next crossing the divide as the monster advanced.
Light appeared over the horizon. The first rays of the dawn peeking out into the world as it heralded the Sun. The vampire realised it as well the monster's eyes fixing upon the east in terror as her inexorable advance turned into a hasty retreat.
The soft light and warmth falling over her form as it glowed, basking in the soft light for a single moment. She looked over to the other two survivors Alicia having finally finished pulling her guts back in as and watching her expectantly.
"I wouldn't relax all too quickly she'll figure out the ruse soon enough." She pulled for her sword to look back even as the man standing there remained calm. The words delivered calmly even in the midst of their plight. "It is not yet dawn and soon she will realise it too."
Behind him the light made itself known, Saintess Victoria who had been presumed dead after disappearing under mysterious circumstances. But the Cult was mysterious circumstances and Petos himself could have easily ordered the same. Whatever rumours had abounded about her disappearance were clearly wrong and that was all they needed to know. "Who are you?"
"I am an ally of Petos and Gaunt, and the Saintess bows her head to me. Do you not know who stands higher than the Pope and has supreme authority over the Templars?" The gaze was harsh and ruthless. The affectation of an ageless horror staring back at her in contempt.
The gaze from behind him even worse as Victoria looked just about ready to finish her off in her weakness for questioning him.
So even if they had never met in person there could be no question who was standing in front of her. "Lord Loki I didn't mean to presume."
"You shouldn't." Loki strode over to the wreckage looking down at it with disdain. "The Black Rose seems to have been a ruse, nearly all ten members were recruited on the spot. How troublesome that Petos and Gaunt trapped down there at such a critical juncture. Make sure to get them out soon, you'll need their help when the vampire returns."
"Gaunt isn't a traitor then?" Loki nodded and moved on. She bit her lip even as Alicia and Beth had hands on their swords at the tension in the air. But neither of them was stable enough to be allowed to handle anything diplomatic like this. "You aren't intending to stay and help them out?"
Pure disdain greeted her as an answer. The old monster meeting her eyes for but a moment before looking past her to the hole in the sky. "I will say this only once. Shadow Garden launched an assassination attempt against Azrael and both sides were injured, If I stay here now will you take responsibility for either of them escaping?"
It wasn't a question, and she didn't dare answer him back. "Good you understand, Azrael has unleashed a horde of demons twisted in his own image into the city, perhaps if you free them fast enough they can be something more than wastes."
She bit back the retort from her tongue, even as two voices answered in perfect unison. "Petos will more than live up to your expectations."
Loki didn't look back disappearing into the night. "Do not embarrass me more than you already have. Gaunt has the Eye of Avarice, if he cannot use it to kill one measly vampire then he will be nothing more than a waste. Once you are done with her begin killing the demons wherever you go." The next time she looked up the both of them had disappeared.
Two frantic minutes later and they had pulled Petos from the rubble. The small hollow where he and Gaunt had caught themselves leaving them injured but whole. "Loki appeared as a young boy." She relayed his message and looked between the two of them.
Gaunt was pensive at the words. "Loki prefers the guise of an old man you'll find it is unlikely it was actually him."
"It is." Lord Petos though was looking thoughtful, "Loki did create a new clone just recently, I've met it once. A normal black-haired student of the academy I think it was to use as an undercover attempt to look into what has gone wrong in Midgar and investigate Shadow Garden. Although why he came here…"
Gaunt smiled. "Shadow Garden is here I think you'll find."
Resting under the eaves of a building several streets down he watched as the night returned, and overwhelming stench of blood crashing down like a tide and being devoured into the Eye of Avarice. Well, that was one problem solved and hopefully whatever Mordred was planning next would let him distract the two of them as well.
Loki he pondered it for a moment. He'd probably want to try and find out who that was someday but for now at least he was close enough to fake it. He eyed the portal in the sky above looking at it for a moment. From this vantage point it looked smaller and yet the edges had not closed in in the slightest. Still, he steepled his hands once more under the light. "Everything goes according to plan."
"As it always does when you lead us." Victoria gave the best kind of response, fully in fitting with his aesthetic and he preened in response to it. Although one day he would have to teach her to appreciate the scenery a bit more, but then she was relatively new to the game so it was only natural that she would look to him for cues as they went on. In time she'd get the confidence to watch her surroundings more while roleplaying.
"Come." He led her on a short trek over the roofs, enough to see the battle while also taking in the view of the portal as he moved. Then stood and posed when he felt Zeta and Iris return to his side. With a quick gesture he took Eta back into his arms to carry. "It is just as I had suspected, Orianna's capitol exists in this place only to facilitate access to the gate for when the Cult is ready they will use the city itself as a sacrifice."
Zeta nodded calmly even as her eyes were filled with fire. "I will do better in the rematch, I promise you I will not lose like that again." She was tense more so than even when she started training as she gripped the twin knives in her hands. The very first weapons she'd practiced with and ones she rarely went back to anymore.
It was always a grim reminder that the other side had many great heroes able to fight as well. "It is only natural to feel frustrated when they are standing right in front of you. There will be time enough for your revenge later on I promise you. For now I have need of you for the battle ahead."
Without question she knelt the hesitation in her eyes vanishing as she bowed her head to him. "Always."
He nodded solemnly with his arms folded as he leaned back to look at the sky. "The veil itself has begun to weaken such that mere brute force is enough to open the way now. In a matter of days it will be even weaker as the stars align. Soon the demons will begin to pass through into this world." He was brimming with anticipation, for these were the kind of things that would go down in history even as he stood at the centre of everything. "Mordred has been waiting for this moment for he intends to usher in Ragnarok to burn everything."
He let the words hang in the air the weight of it falling on the ears of those present to hear. His two followers bowing their heads in reverence upon hearing his wisdom. Iris did not look so amused. "If it is that bad shouldn't you be closing the gate rather than opening it?"
"You think they could not open it themselves, how foolish of you little flame. Mere physical force could never open the gate if it was not waiting to open, averting your eyes from the oncoming catastrophe merely means you will be unprepared once it falls. You must gaze upon your foe even if they stem from the abyss if you wish to confront them, otherwise the root of their evil will remain." He inclined his head lightly. "But then you have never learned through words, and we have brought you here to learn through violence for it suits you better to hunt demons then to speak of it."
She looked bemused rather than impressed but that was fine, some people would never understand it. Instead, he let the little magic he had pulse, a message to those who could feel it in the distance. A response coming in moments as they homed in on his position.
"Delta sit." What had been about to become a cannonball charge towards him instead became a simple leap to sit in front of him.
Eager eyes and anticipation fixed on him as she grinned. "Boss." Even as Pi settled in behind her almost as eager. Shortly afterwards she looked around and gave a second far less enthusiastic. "Cat." Still even if they had problems he could use them.
From the other end of the roof three more shadows appeared as Epsilon, Chi and Omega crossed the divide to join them. The three of them falling to one knee with their heads bowed without a second thought.
Because even if he was running on fumes and exhausted he still had power in this place. More than enough blades to cut down all of his enemies.
Ten people present. No, an eleventh member had just dropped down almost hesitantly even as he glanced calmly towards her. She wasn't Alpha, or Ghost Alpha he could tell at least but looked like both of them. But she'd came following Delta and she was an elf. "Welcome Beatrix to this gathering of flowers amidst the shadows. You can call it as the true Black Rose, or by Shadow Garden for either name is correct."
She looked between Delta who nodded confidently, and himself standing at the centre without a care. "Azrael you have always been able to turn back to human yourself then."
He grinned in response. "Did you doubt it before?" He turned back to the gathering around him. "War is at hand for Mordred looks weak and such a thing is almost more terrifying for a man who rules by fear then being it. A wise man would step away knowing I wanted him to attack. A brave one would challenge me himself for the fate of the city." He strode as though he was still invincible and laughed at the words.
"Mordred rules through fear and can do neither so he will drive his troops onwards as sacrifices like the chattel they are, throwing their lives away in the hopes of creating an opening through which victory will appear. Deriding them for their weakness when they fail as though it was not his own plan that collapsed around them."
He paused gently watching the city around them even as fires began to spread in the distance. Three demons each from a dozen different entrances to the underground lair that rested beneath the city clear in his sight even at this distance. "If I were to cut them down myself then Mordred would know where I am, and it would give him the confidence to attack where I am not. But that is why you are here is it not?"
As one they answered. "We are Shadow Garden, we lurk in the darkness and hunt from the shadows."
He grinned at the answer spreading his arms wide as he looked out over the city. "It is such a wonderful night on which we might hunt, go forth as my blades in the darkness and reap a tally on his forces that they will never forget."
Now just to carry Eta somewhere she could rest, and preferably somewhere with a piano. If he couldn't fight he could at least play the background music couldn't he?
AN: Short and late hopefully this kind of delay won't happen again. Various reasons including one more turn videogames I play updating and eating my time, a number of scenes just not coming out onto the page until I realised I should change the viewpoint I was writing them from to get them out. Some personal stuff.
Anyway this next month should go much better so hopefully a proper writing speed shall resume.
Drak4806: It is a fun thought exercise making Cid both always wrong by embellishment, and always right in that he grasps the core things that matter.
A Yellow Lizard: Glad you enjoyed it in spite of the confusion.
Borregodillon9: Thank you
Aniisomeone: I have absolutely been pushing the borrowed power in the direction of being about power you don't understand for many reasons. Mainly that I am more comfortable writing it that way.
So digging up an artifact you barely understand to use it is bad and will come with consequences that you aren't prepared for.
Making something through your own understanding is good.
Eta made her own magical weapon that did what she intended it to do so she gets all the praise, but also a reminder to perfect it later on so that it doesn't make her bleed and pass out.
All sorts of narrative reasons for that not limited to it makes a clear division between why slimesuits Cid taught people to use are okay when other things are not. (Because Cid taught them how they work.) To the well thought out fact that it is much easier to show people working with things they don't understand and having it explode in their face, while people being inquisitive and trying to understand things get to have wins and success.
It is easy to set up the narrative so that it organically punishes one while rewarding the other.
All in all though there is also the hard Doylist reason for me to go that route. Which is the real life version of someone relying on machinery to help them is probably a wheelchair and an anti-wheelchair message is also called path to getting disowned by my family.
xkurakurax: The important thing about Cid's lies is that 90% of the time they are embellishment rather than falsehood. It was never the case that he made up a Cult of Diabolos so much as he declared: These bandit groups I hunt down and kill need a cool backstory to the slaughter.
People have always been dying from the first days when the bloodshed was so bad that it gave Beta nightmares, inspired Rose and wiped out hundreds of people. All the way up to Cid playing with kidnapped Princesses with you know real actual princesses getting kidnapped and experimented on and his glee at terrorists attacking this school and killing his classmates.
As far as being a god… you get better results praying to Cid then you did with most polytheistic gods certainly. Wear the right priestly garments… look cool. Pray in the right way by making up a good narrative for why doing it is cool.
Cid will bring you salvation. 10/10 would worship again.