Editing Dantega:Volume 6 Chapter 2




(PART 2)




“How are we going to go about getting through this hurricane of sand? This is obviously a barrier to keep us away from the castle.” Napoleon said while staring up at the swirling mass of sand covering the castle.

The entire group somehow managed to land safely onto the desert floor; the zeppelin that took them here took off and left them immediately upon landing. The reason for this is that they have no reason to stay.

As Rage mentioned earlier, everyone on the third level knows where the Gate is at all times and are constantly being lured here by the power of the Gatekeeper. This fact has made it profitable for zeppelin transportation services; they are hired at an extremely high rate to take people here.

Although the pilots and crew members are tempted by the Gatekeeper, they would rather make money than rush blindly to their deaths. It has been noted that no one has ever gone to the Gate, and came back. This has stricken a fear so deep in people’s minds that it is common knowledge to not go anywhere near this place. 

But naturally, there will be people who ignore the warning signs and go in spite of it, lured in by the Gatekeeper named Lilith. The company that owns the zeppelins is making a large profit off their foolish decisions, and in turn their deaths. To them it’s just like robbing a corpse, it’s not like they’re going to need it anyways, so the money might as well go to someone.

Although the technology of this level contains things such as cars, zeppelins are the only way the Gate is accessible; for hundreds of miles there is nothing but a desolate desert. No road for the cars to tread on, and no water to power the steam engines. With temperatures ranging from freezing to 120 degrees, making the trek on foot is out of the question too; not to mention the fierce sandstorms. One could try, but chances are the excursion would be doomed to failure before they could even get halfway.

On that note, it leaves the group in quite the predicament. The zeppelin company only drops people off at the site of the Gate; there is no ride back for them. So now they are alone, stranded in the middle of a barren desert with no way to get back. The only way out of this mess is through the Gate and on to the other side.

That would in turn mean that they are going to have to get through this hurricane of sand, maneuver their way through the miles wide castle, and defeat the Gatekeeper Lilith.

A tall task to say the least.

“That’s going to be the easiest part of this whole mess. Now that we’re here, the Gatekeeper will allow us to enter.” Rage stated, his tone full of sureness.

“How can you be so certain?”

“She let us land didn’t she?”

KKKKAAASSSSHHHHHHH!!!

A loud sound through the wind is breaking within the mass of swirling sand, prompting everyone to look up. And what they see surprises them.

A woman’s face is forming in the torrent. 

It’s not very detailed but it's obvious what this massive figure is, it looks just like a smiling woman.

“No need to worry... I’m not the kind of person that’d leave you stranded outside of my castle, you can come on in if you’d like.” The face in the sand said, her voice echoing through the vastness of this desert.

As if her words were a trigger, the sand splits apart like the red sea and reveals what it has been hiding; the entrance to the massive black castle. The double doors that begin to slowly open are so large that if it were to fall forward, it would easily cover a hundred yard span. The size of this structure is on a scale completely different than any other building they've ever seen, it stretches as high as a skyscraper and is literally miles in width and length. To add to the size is the delicate intricacies of its design, the windows, the walls, even each square foot holds extreme detail. One can’t help but wonder how painstaking it must’ve been to build such a thing and put so much effort into each stone block.

Once the doors open wide, the group attempts to peer inside, they see nothing but pitch black and it makes them nervous to step foot in there. It’s as though they would be stepping into another world upon entry.

“That’s what I thought would happen, come on let’s go.” Rage says as he throws his scythe over his shoulder and walks toward the entrance.

“Not quite yet...” The woman’s voice rings as if she had heard what Rage said. “The men stay outside.”

“!?”

“There’s no way we’re splitting up now!”

“It’s not your decision to make.” The woman’s voice rings. The door begins shutting as she continues to speak, “Men have to go through a test before they receive anything from me. Although I don’t necessarily do that for every man, you guys are special. That being said, the women can enter, and attempt to pass through the Gate, but the men have to complete my test before they have the same opportunity.”

“Tch.” Rage clicks his tongue, he can’t imagine what they’re going to have to go through to get in.

“Do you think this is some sort of trap?” asks Napoleon as he walks to Rage’s side.

Messor chimes in and answers his question before Rage can, “No, this woman doesn’t play tricks on women, but during a fight with her, she wouldn’t hesitate to take a girl’s soul and use it for her own good.”

“And what about us?” he asks.

“There’s no way of knowing that, she hates men so I doubt it’d be an easy task. She’ll make it impossible for all of us to enter if we insist on going in together. It’s best that we split up for now, and carry out what’s needed to be done.”

“But...”

“I agree.” added Trojia, she steps in front of the rest and explains, “If for whatever reason this test she is planning on giving you guys causes you trouble, then you can just tough it out until we get done with the Gatekeeper. With her gone, there is no test, and there would be nothing keeping you from joining us at the Gate. From there we’ll go through together.”

“You make it sound so simple.” Cyrus says, pushing up his dusty sunglasses with his middle finger.

“It is isn’t it? The concept of our scenario is laid out right in front of us. It shouldn’t be that difficult to decide what to do from there.”

“That all depends on what this ‘test’ is. If it’s something that we can’t just simply avoid or breeze through, then it’s not going to go as easy as you think.” Rage replies, a bitter look written all over his face.

Trojia’s eyebrow twitches as she blows air out of her nose, she turns to the door of the castle and begins walking towards it. 

With her back turned to the others, she waves her hand and says, “Well I guess you’ll find out when the time comes.”

With Trojia walking toward the castle by herself, it prompts Niera to nervously follow her. “U-Um... Please take care of yourselves!” she said with a bow before running to Trojia’s side.

“What has gotten into Trojia lately I wonder? Her personality has really changed since we left Ubica behind...” Daey asks herself with her hand on her chin.

“Forget about that for now, you should all head in before Lilith changes her mind.” Rage urges, shooing the rest of the girls into following Trojia inside.

Rage stops Messor by putting his hand on her shoulder, he leaves her with some parting words, “Keep an eye on Trojia, she’s become too reckless since Ubica’s been gone.”

“I’m way ahead of you on that.” Messor replies, “Though I’ll be watching her closely for an entirely different reason.”

Messor walks off and heads into the castle along with the rest, leaving the men behind. 

As soon as the group of girls enter the darkness of the castle, the massive double doors immediately shut behind them, spraying a plume of dust outwards, stretching hundreds of feet into the air. A loud clicking noise is heard and reverberates through the desert ground as if a giant lock had shut behind them.

As soon as the rumble from that noise ends, the sand that parted to reveal the entrance to the castle begins to suck into two of what seems to be black holes in the middle of the castle. This whirlpool effect is sucking not just the sand from the hurricane, but sand from the desert floor as well. Even Rage and the others find it extremely difficult to stay grounded in this torrent of wind.

After a few moments, two massive silhouettes can be seen from around the epicenter of the whirlpools; both figures are about a hundred yards apart on each side of the door and are about the same size of the double doors in height. With each passing second, the width of these silhouettes grow and the figure of men can be seen, adding to the intimidation of such a large mass.

The remainder of the once hurricane of sand enters the black hole and reveals the rest of the miles wide castle, and two massive statues. The statues are covered from head to toe in large armor with almost as much design as the castle behind them. Other than some red and blue tint, they are an intimidating gunmetal color.

In the chest of these statues is the black holes that were sucking up all the sand. The holes cover themselves and an insignia written in some unknown language shines on each, the one on the left being red, and one on the right is blue. The insignia twist and shine even brighter, then the two statues begin moving, one colossal step at a time. Each step shakes the ground below and kicks up a maelstrom of desert sand.

“This is my test for you disgusting men.” Lilith’s voice echoes, “If you can find a way to topple these two ‘Colossals’, the doors to my castle will open up for you, and you will receive your chance to pass through the Gate... But I must warn you, pure force alone will not be enough.”

The two Colossals make their way towards the group when Lilith’s voice suddenly stops. The answer they need is right in front of them and is as singular as it gets, destroy the Colossal and enter the castle.

“There is that saying, the bigger they are the harder they fall.” Strauphius says as he stretches his limbs nonchalantly.

“You guys enjoy that while I step aside with the Prince. I can feel your confidence from here.”
Phoenix said sarcastically as he grabs Xavier’s sleep and hurriedly walks away from the oncoming Colossals.

Phoenix has revealed himself to Rage as the Son of God, yet he has refused to get his hands dirty with anything since then. This makes Rage wonder if he’s the type who won’t lift a finger unless absolutely necessary; not a very benevolent way of doing things to say the least.

“That’s fine, you guys would just get in the way if you stick around. I’ve been meaning to test out the powers that Messor gave me, what better way to make use of the training I've been going through the last couple months. Let’s get this over with.” Cyrus says as he further shoos Xavier and Phoenix away.

Little does he know that one of the people he just said would get in the way is easily on par strength wise with Rage.

Napoleon takes a long hard look at the two insanely large moving objects heading their way and gets an odd lump in the back of his throat. He’s generally not afraid, but something like this is making him exceedingly nervous, it’s more or less the prediction factor. If he’s fighting a human, or even a demon for that matter, he can pretty much predict what their next move would be and act accordingly. The two Colossals however, are supposed to be inanimate objects that are entirely too big to be mobile, there’s no way of knowing what kind of power they're hiding. 

With that in mind, he tries to warn the others.

“I don’t think that------“

BBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!

Napoleon is interrupted by two bright beams of red and blue light ripping the ground in front of them, a loud explosion accompanied by a massive blast contorts the sky above them with sand. The four members of the outside group begin coughing and can hardly see anything when they feel an overbearing presence right on top of them.

The red and blue insignia of the two Colossals can be seen shining through the sand just feet in front of them, the two masses almost a hundred yards in height got in front of them so fast that they didn’t even notice. All it would take is another one of those beams of light, or even just a stomp of one of their feet and it would be more than enough to kill them.

All four of them scatter off in different directions with no sense of where they are going due to the sand.

Being lost and separated in a confused state causes Rage to shout to himself,

“This is definitely not going to be simple!”



-------------------------------------



Ubica opens his eyes and finds himself shirtless and tied at four points on a large king sized bed in a dark room. There is an odd red tint in this room, giving it an ominous vibe, it’s likely coming from the red sheets atop the bed he’s lying on but he gets the feeling that it is a little more threatening than something as simple as that.

“Where are you Asmodeus..?” Ubica speaks into the darkness surrounding him.

From what feels be right beside him, a woman answers, “I must say, your sleeping face really is something else, I envy your attractiveness.”

Leaning up against the bed is the same woman from the bar that Tsubiri was having a conversation with. Ubica turns his head and scowls at her, causing Asmodeus to chuckle. 

“Even your angered face is enough to make me melt.”

“What are you planning?”

Asmodeus gets up and walks a few steps away, with her back turned to the bed, she says, “There are quite a few things actually, but my main objective is to put you through as much despair as possible. At least that’s what Damien told me to do.”

This is the same thing Leviathan did as well, instead of physical pain, he put Ubica through as much mental pain as possible in an attempt to break him. Knowing this, Ubica is beginning to feel nervous, not for his safety, but for Tsubiri’s.

Leviathan, as brutal as he is, is nowhere near the level of ruthlessness that Asmodeus stands upon; who knows what she has in store for the two of them.

Ubica’s sharp breathing is enough to prove to Asmodeus that he’s worried, this prompts her to ask, “Would you like to know what I’m going to do?”

“.....”

“I can see in that cute face of yours that you’re anxious... So here, take a look.”

Asmodeus puts her hands out into the darkness and a bright light fills the room, a movie screen like square shines in the middle of nowhere from behind her. On the screen is a scene filled with the afternoon glow that surrounds the metropolis, the focus zooms in onto the streets and shows a panicked girl running throughout the city in a frantic fashion.

The sound turns on and Ubica hears his name being yelled followed by heavy breaths.

The girl all alone in the big city is none other than Tsubiri.

“This is similar to what Leviathan did right? From what I understand, it worked brilliantly.”

Ubica’s face loses its color when he remembers what had happened to Amber and her family the last time something like this happened.

“What did you do to her!?” he shouts, his voice full of anger.

“I didn’t do anything, although I can control the lust in her body, it’s more of a one-time thing. She’s free to do whatever she wants, and apparently that is looking for you like an idiot in a city filled with thousands of people.” she replied, looking at Tsubiri’s effort and laughing at it.

Ubica grits his teeth and tries breaking the belts that are tying him to the bed-frame, to his surprise, he can’t move any part of his body. Breaking out of something like this should be extremely easy for him, but it’s not the restraints holding him down, it is definitely something else.

“!?”

“Don’t struggle, it’s useless. Just because I can’t control that girl anymore, it doesn’t mean that you are in the clear. You’ve got a while before you’ll be able to move your body.”

Asmodeus walks back to the side of the bed and slides her hand across his face, she moves close to him and whispers, “Which is going to make this all the more difficult for you to watch... Being unable to do anything about what is going to happen will certainly be torture.”

“If you touch her in any way, I’ll rip you apart! DO YOU HEAR ME!?” Ubica shouts at the top of his lungs.

His only defense mechanism is to threaten her because there is nothing else he can do.

Asmodeus knows this, and stands back up away from him. With a cold smile she says, “I’m sure you’ve already noticed the uniqueness of this level haven’t you? Every man here knows exactly where the Gate is, they’re drawn to it. Do you to know why?”

Because this has nothing to do with Tsubiri, Ubica doesn’t answer and just glares at her instead.

As if he asked her why, Asmodeus answers, “The Gatekeeper is Lilith.”

“!?”

“Ah you’re familiar with her? I know you two haven’t met but her name should be enough. You know, I was the one that tempted her into rebelling against Adam back at the Garden of Eden. For that we hold similarities with each other, but at the same time we’re very far apart. She manipulates the inner most desires of women, and uses their souls to keep her body youthful, and devours the souls of men to give her strength. I on the other hand, can use the desires of men to do my bidding, and control the minds of women with ease.”

“I don’t get how that has to do with anything!” Ubica yells, frustrated at his current disposition.

“It has everything to do with this if you think about it. She is the ultimate siren, her silent song rings in the wind of this level of Purgatory. The song is so subtle that no one even notices it, they are just implanted with the location of its source. I’m sure you know what is in a song of a siren right? With the men of this world absorbing that woman’s temptation day in and day out, what do you think they’re filled with?”

“Y-You’re saying that...”

“There you go Ubica, you’re beginning to understand now. This level is literally a breeding ground of Lust courtesy of Lilith. Thanks to that, I have a plan to do something with it that will break you down. I’m going to use it to destroy you, and bring you back into the darkness where you belong.”

"....."

Asmodeus chuckles when she didn't get a reply, but the look on his face is more than enough to find his efforts to fight her amusing. 

She points at Tsubiri and says, “Would you still stay silent after I get every man in this city to rape that girl? I’ll have you watch you know? It should be quite the spectacle.”

“!!!”

Ubica’s eyes grow large and burn with anger as he glares at her furiously.

That’s when Tsubiri’s shouting of his name halts and he can hear her say, “Who are you people?”

On the screen, Tsubiri is surrounded by a dozen men and they all move in on her and attempt to grab her. She escapes the grasps of a couple of them and shocks the others with her electricity; she runs away as fast as she can but her pursuers seem to multiply tenfold with each street she runs by.

Cars begin chasing her down to cut her off and more men come out and attempt to grab her, men rush from their homes and out on to the street to give chase to her.

“What the hell is going on!?” Tsubiri yells as the numbers of men grow with each second. 

All she can do is sprint as fast as her legs take her and electrocute whoever gets too close. Although she is fending for herself as of this moment, she can’t help but feel the intense pressure of being surrounded.

When that squeeze is felt, she begins to fear greatly for her safety, it won’t be long until the walls close in on her and nothing can be done. When panic strikes her, she shouts the name of the only person she feels that could save her.

“UBICA!!!”

Asmodeus smiles at this scene, turns the screen black to leave his mind to wonder and continues to poke at him. “Tell me, what would you do to keep her safe? What would the current Ubica do to protect the one he loves? Would you do anything? As far as I can see, you have three choices. One: Is to kill every man in this city. Two: Is to fuck me, and I'll put a stop to the spell they are under.”

“...And the third?”

“You know what that is, you’ll have to kill me. But do you honestly think you can pull that off in your current state? Let's be realistic here."

“You’re underestimating me, and you are also underestimating what I’d do to protect Tsubiri!”

“Underestimating you? No, I just find it hard to believe that you’d do anything opposite of your values in fear of losing yourself. As much as I’d like it, I doubt you’d take me into your arms and have your way with me; that would result in your betrayal of that girl. But... You just might have it in you to kill anyone who dares lay a hand on her, I’m fine with that option as well, after killing a few innocent people you will eventually crack and lose control. You’ll go on a spree, and revert back to your old self, I’m sure of it.”

“.....”

“You are willing to kill many to save the life of one; your lust for her is enough to spell that out for me in bold print. If you want me to, I’ll let you save her. Just say the word or watch her get defiled repeatedly.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Ubica says, “Let me go.”

“Very well then.”

With a snap of her finger, Ubica can control his body again. He immediately breaks through his restraints and gets off the bed.

Asmodeus grabs his white v-neck shirt and black hoody along with his sword, she throws it to him and says, “You’d better hurry, that girl doesn’t have much time left.”

After throwing the rest of his clothes on, he unsheathes his sword and points it at her. “Before I go, I want to see your real face again. The image of the woman you have on now gives your true character far too much decency, it’s only going to sway my determination to kill innocent people if you wear one like that.”

“Hmmm, I thought you’d like this face a lot more, I figured it’d tempt you into sleeping with me if I had a beautiful face like this. You always used to say I was ugly as I watched you cling to Messor until your demise. You flaunted her at me, causing my lust for you to grow, you did it to torment me. But look at you now, you’ve thrown away your Idol and claim to be in love with a regular human girl... Even after all this time, you still won’t look at me no matter what I do.”

“You can obviously see that I’m a different guy now. Show me, you never know what could happen.”

“Fine fine, I’ve got nothing to hide now anyways.”

Asmodeus puts her hands over her face and an odd skin colored smoke clouds her head and body. After a few moments, the smoke begins to dissipate and the first thing that can be seen from it is a chain that drops just past her neck with a pendant hanging at the tip. It swings in a pendulum like fashion until the smoke finally clears and reveals a wretched form of a girl.

Her face is white in an almost ghoulish fashion and is tattered with piercings over her eyebrows, nose, lips, ears, and even her cheeks. The most noticeable piercing however, is the one on her tongue; a chain hangs from her tongue and falls out of her mouth, dangling over her neck.

All around her eyes are messy smears of black mascara that make her hazel eyes shine brightly in horrible contrast. Smeared on her lips is a red lipstick that slides across her left cheek and drips down to her chin. Her outfit is tight and full of rips and tears, she is barely dressed in an all black mini dress atop a small black undershirt, both of which are covered in belts and other restraints that circle around her body like snakes. 

Her figure itself is perfect and if one looked beyond the ugly makeup and face defiling piercings, she’d undoubtedly be a beauty. However, this is her Sin, she is the Demon of Lust and that in turn causes her to be the representative of all that is ugly in a woman. She chose this appearance because that is simply who she is.

“You happy now? Will you still call me ugly with that new found purity of yours?” she asks, the chain hanging from her mouth swaying from side to side with each word.

Ubica takes a deep breath and stands face to face with her. “If you want me to be honest... I find you more revolting now than ever before. But if it makes you feel better, it's not because of your appearance." He turns his back to her and says, "I’ll never forgive for making 'her' feel afraid, and I’ll make sure you’ll suffer for it. Now let me go.”

“Hehe... Haha... Hahahahahaha! My oh my how I despise you! Every fiber of your being, whether it’s Ubica, or whether it’s the Anti-Christ, I hate everything about you! I may have a maddening yearn for your touch, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am looking forward to putting you and that stupid little girlfriend of yours through as much torment as these hands can accomplish!”

Asmodeus grabs his back and pushes him away from her, her black painted fingernails point at him when she leaves him with some final words.

“Go on Ubica, sacrifice everything you’ve worked for to save her! And once you fail, come to me and show me what you’ve learned!”

She claps her hands and the next thing Ubica knows, he’s in the daylight of the outside world once more. He finds himself in the middle of the street in the city that now holds an eerie silence; where there were once thousands of people walking, there is no one. Every man of this city is after Tsubiri, all of them attempting to do the unthinkable to her.

Ubica doesn’t know exactly where she is, but he can sense the presence of the mass gathering of men. He looks down an abandoned street and gets the feeling that she is somewhere near there. All he can do is hope that by the time he arrives, he doesn’t find Tsubiri in the middle of it all.



------------------------



Trojia and the rest of the group of girls are walking in the dim light of Lilith’s massive castle. There is a resounding echo with each step they make, adding a singe of tenseness to an already grim situation.

“This place is extremely creepy.” Aria points out, walking shoulder to shoulder with a frightened Niera.

Lagging behind is Daey and Sora, and leading the rest is Trojia and Messor. The two leaders of the pact seem unusually calm considering they are all alone in an enemy castle.

Trojia’s calmness shows when she says, “Keep your guard up. Being scared at a time like this is only going to make things worse for you.”

“W-What do think is going to happen?” Niera nervously asks.

Messor doesn’t turn to her and answers, “There’s no way of knowing, that’s why it’s best to stay alert. As much as I hate to agree with her, Trojia’s right.”

Trojia’s eyebrow twitches when she said that for some reason. She folds her arms in a threatening manner and replies, “You’ve sure become quite the bitch since Ubica left. That nice girl act of yours seemed to fade off right away... I wonder why?”

Messor frowns and says, “Oh? How about you take a guess?”

The two glare at each other and the rest of the girls can sense that this is not some kind of joke between friends; they really seem to hate each other.

“Hey calm down you two, didn’t you guys just say to keep our guard up? Fighting isn’t the way to go about doing that.” Daey interrupts their glares.

Messor clicks her tongue and turns away while Trojia huffs an angered air out of her nose and does the same.


After walking in a tense silence, the group reaches a crossroad of sorts; they find themselves on a circled platform lit by the sun from a window atop the castle hundreds of feet above them. The platform has three sets of stairs leading downward onto a candlelit pathway that stretches to the darkness of a large door. 

There’s one door ahead, one to the right, and one to the left; forcing them into a tough decision.

With no way of knowing just which direction would eventually lead to the Gate in such a huge structure, they face the possibility of getting lost. As far as they know, they are in a labyrinth built by the Gatekeeper, it could be that they were never supposed to reach the Gate in the first place.

While deciding which door to walk through, the familiar voice of the woman in the sand is heard echoing through castle as if they were surrounded by speakers.

“The castle walls can sense the tension between you ladies, all of you have different interests and they are conflicting with each other.”

Messor furrows her brow and speaks into the castle, her voice echoes when she responds, “The interests of these girls doesn’t matter to me, all that I care about it finding you and getting to the next level.”

“For what?” Lilith’s voice rings.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Is it supposed to be?”

“It should.”

“Then if that’s the case, you are better off killing the rest of them right?”

Messor stays silent, but the others all collectively gasp. Trojia on the other hand, shifts her body in a defensive manner; it’s almost as if she’s been waiting for Messor to do something like that all along.

Lilith continues to speak despite the other’s reaction, “Aren’t there girls in this group who are a threat to you? In one way or another, they have intentions on taking the man named Ubica for themselves. That would in turn, leave you alone.”

“.....”

“Wait a second!” Aria yells, breaking the atmosphere. “I don’t even know Ubica, I definitely don’t have any feelings for him.”

“You can say that now, but I can see your inner most desires; whether you think nothing of him or not, somewhere deep inside you there is a certain yearning that you haven’t even realized yet. The big breasted one over there is the same way. It's only a matter of time. However, the two sisters are certainly out to get him themselves."

Sora and Aria out of the whole group are likely the ones to have had the least contact with Ubica. Even Messor knows this, Lilith is just trying to get a rise out of her. On the other hand, Daey and Niera are a different story, their affections towards him are obvious to her, and she definitely feels threatened by that.

Messor starts frowning, she clicks her tongue and says, “I don’t want to hear this nonsense. All I want to do is find you and kill you. I don’t have time to worry about whatever weak feelings you say they have for Ubica.”

She begins walking toward the bridge straight away from the group, she’s halfway across when Lilith speaks again.

“What if I said that the feelings of the blond one are the exact opposite of the others?”

Messor pauses and turns to Trojia, who for whatever reason is standing only a few feet behind her, away from the others.

“..?”

“The blond girl’s inner most desire is dark, even I can’t see it. It’s like there isn’t a shred of warmth in that chest of hers. It’s almost as if she has... No soul.”

“Oh come on that’s ridiculous, she’s just a normal girl. And what is all of this about Ubica, Messor?” Daey asks, completely oblivious as to what is happening between them.

“How very pitiful, I can see how clueless you are about everything. You don’t know anything about the man you have fallen for, and you don’t even know about the supposed friends you’ve been travelling with.” Lilith said with a laugh.

Not giving Daey a chance to press on with anymore questions, Messor ignores her and looks Trojia square in the eye when she asks, “What are you doing?”

“I don’t trust you.” Trojia quickly replies.

Lilith butts into their tension filled conversation. “Do you want to know why she doesn’t trust you Messor? Because she doesn’t trust Ubica.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right.” Trojia answers, “You and Ubica are the same person, there’s no way I could trust you after seeing what you’ve done firsthand.”

Lilith begins to laugh again, “Hahahahaha, she can say that to someone like you without even flinching? I just might’ve fallen for this girl, she’s the only one I can’t read. I have no clue how she’ll act upon this nothingness brewing inside of her. So what do you say we put that to the test!?”

GAAAGAAAASSHHHHHH!!!!

The platform in which they stand begins to crumble and fall into the unknown darkness below. As if the bricks were sand falling off the side of a staircase, they crumble towards the bridges on each of the three doors. This prompts Sora and Niera to run towards the left door, Aria and Daey to run to the right door, and Trojia and Messor to remain by the door on the other side of the center bridge.

With a sound like multiple fireworks going off, there is no ground left to stand on and only three routes are left to take, unfortunately those routes separate them in groups of two.

“All of these doors will lead to me, the opportunity for all of you to reach me is there. It’s just a matter of getting through the obstacles that lay before you without turning on each other first... Good luck, I hope to see you soon.”

The echo of Lilith’s voice fades away and leaves the large room in silence; only the clattering sound of the debris from the shattered platform and broken bridges finally hit the ground below. The six girls all look at each other and then back at their surroundings, it’s obvious that they can’t get to each other, the space between them is too large. It just might be possible that Trojia could use her psychokinesis, but that would be too big of a risk figuring she doesn’t have full control of her power just yet, a fall from here is certain death.

“S-So what do we do now?” asked Niera from the left bridge.

“We do what she wants, let’s go.” Trojia coldly answers, annoyed at the fact she’s stuck with Messor of all people.

She walks into the darkness, leaving the rest behind without so much as a care about the other’s safety.

“Once again I hate to say it, but she’s right, we need to get moving. If we can find our way to the Gate then we can all just meet there.” Messor said with a hint of animosity. 

She also turns and follows Trojia into the darkness of the middle door.

“I guess we don’t have a choice...” Sora says, seemingly nervous about what lies ahead.

“Let’s just get going... You guys be careful out there, we’re all going through this Gate together, you got it?” said Aria.

Her words give them determination and they get going with a little more of a spring in their step. 

Daey however, still feels an odd pressure on her chest when she thinks of Trojia and Messor. 

It’s as though the two of them are proceeding down a much darker path than the others.



-----------------------------------------



Rage is flying atop his black cloud narrowly avoiding being hit by the two Colossal’s beams of red and blue energy. Each time it passes them and hits the desert ground, a massive explosion ensues. The sounds repeat over and over and the dust begins to torrent around him and the rest as they figure out a way to destroy the two giants.

“Napoleon!”

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Another blast lands and shakes the ground.

Rage has to speak in between the oncoming blasts and yells down to Napoleon during one the intervals. “You and I are going to go for the blue one first! Start at its feet and work your way up! I’ll start at the top and work my way down!”

“Understood!”

“What about us!?” Strauphius yells as he runs next to Cyrus.

Napoleon, who isn’t too far from them is able to give them orders without having to yell too loudly. “We’re going to need you two distract the red Colossal while we destroy the blue one. All you have to do is keep it busy until we can all focus on one objective.”

“Are you crazy!? It’s only a matter of time before that thing steps on us or blows us to shit!” Struaphius voices his displeasure adamantly.

“Then avoid that by getting off the ground.”

“Hah?”

Napoleon faintly smiles and bumps his fists together. 

“Be sure to hang on.” he says, and then slams his open hands onto the ground.

The ground under the feet of Strauphius and Cyrus splinters in a ten by ten foot square; it suddenly rises upwards at such a speed that it topples the two to their backs. The wind pounding against their faces speeds up at such a fast rate that it becomes obvious that they’re screaming towards the sky.

“WHAAAAAAA!?!?!?”

“!!!!!!!”

Cyrus isn’t one to yell out in terror but Strauphius’ screech can be heard as loud as the constant barrage of explosions.

Not only are they going up towards the sky on an object that’s not meant to fly, they are zooming towards the knee area of the red chested Colossal. Their danger-meters triple in a flash when all the sudden the block of solid land abruptly stops and flings them into the giant.

They land on the armor just above its shin guard and begin their free-fall until their reactionary impulses take over and they latch on to whatever they can.

“What in the shit was that??” Strauphius yells in surprise.

“So that’s Napoleon’s new power...”

“Whatever! He could’ve at least told us what he was doing!”

Cyrus looks up and sees that the red chested Colossal still has its attention fixated on the movements of Napoleon and Rage. “We don’t have time to be thinking about that. If we’re to distract him, we’d better get right on that before it’s too late.”

He then begins to do something borderline crazy.

He starts climbing. 

This prompts Strauphius to follow, even though he has no clue what Cyrus is planning on doing, he knows that this is what must be done. Although he acts like a child, he can be serious when the situation calls for it.

Rage looks on in amazement at what Napoleon had just done and says, “So that’s your power?”

“That’s right, it would seem that I can manipulate land. Things like trees, rocks, and even the ground itself are things I can bend.”

“It looks like Messor gave you some of her own power personally... It’s a long story, but she was born from the Earth whilst Ubica was birthed from the sea. Their main powers are those two elements.”

“Maybe that would explain why my powers are quite a bit stronger than the others...” Napoleon says a little softly.

The two are still running toward the blue Colossal, and continuing their conversation as if the danger level has dropped drastically. And that is because of the other two's successful attempts at distracting the red Colossal. They are climbing up its body and narrowly avoiding the massive hands of the Colossal as it attempts to crush them.

“This is good.” Rage says as he twirls his scythe, “Your power might be a big help for my plan.”

“So what have you conjured up?” Napoleon asks.

Rage lifts his scythe over his head and other than his usual black cloud, out comes a stunning white light so bright it temporarily blinds Napoleon.

“I think I know what these Colossals are.” Rage says as he maneuvers the light in the direction of the blue Colossal. “If I’m right, it won’t be hard for us to win this battle. I’m going to need you to use your power to keep that thing’s legs from moving, even if you can keep it still for ten seconds, it’ll be more than enough time for me to end this.”

“Understood.”

Without any further hesitation, Napoleon slams his hands on the ground and what seems to be vines of rock swirls up the Colossal’s feet. Rising quickly up its shins, it reaches its thighs about fifty yards up and seems to solidify itself; causing its movement to halt immediately.

As if on cue, Rage jumps to the front and points his scythe at the chest of the Colossal. That odd white light manifests itself into a beam and shoots toward it like some kind of laser. The resulting flash was so bright and so loud it temporarily halted the six senses of everyone near the blast. As soon as one’s eyes adjust and what’s around them can be seen once again, they are able to see the sight of Rage’s light encircling the blue crest on the chest of the Colossal.

The Colossal stops struggling to get out of Napoleon’s hold on its legs and soon after, its head droops and its body falls limp. The blue crest in its chest begins twisting as if it was a soda bottle being opened and even more light exits out of it in brilliant flashes. After a few seconds of this, the blue crest loses its color, fades to black, and then pops off and falls over two hundred feet to the ground, causing a loud bang.

After the crest fell, the giant hole in the Colossal’s chest once again becomes illuminated; this time however, a torrent of different colored orbs of light come screaming out of it and into the sky.

“What are those things?” Napoleon asks in bewilderment.

“It’s just as I thought, these giants are given power by the souls of the men Lilith has collected. She’s using the men to protect her long after their original lives ended.”

“So are you saying that once these souls escape, the Colossals can’t harm us?”

“Not necessarily, these souls are still set with the instinct of protecting this castle, if they aren’t taken care of we’re not out of danger just yet.”

Rage then holds his scythe back up and begins muttering something into the collar of his thick black coat; his black cloud grows larger from under his feet and sends him soaring into the air alongside the countless number of souls.

With a swing of his scythe, the souls begin rushing into his cloud as if they were being sucked by some kind of vacuum.

This is not too dissimilar to what Satan did at the castle of Troy, the only difference is that Rage is reaping these souls as to free them from captivity, whereas Satan sacrificed them to raise a portion of his army.

Reaping every last one of these souls is child’s play for him; although there are tens of thousands of separate souls, it’s almost trivial compared to the numbers he’s reaped through the countless times of human tragedy back on Earth. It only took a few short seconds and it was over. The Colossal loses its form and crumbles bit by bit to the ground, each large piece landing sends a plume of sand spraying into the surround area.

Avoiding these large objects falling from above is Napoleon, who looks up to the descending Angel of Death and asks, “How did you know?”

“It was easy, the encryption on their chests are written in Hebrew, it’s an ancient language that you’ve likely never heard of... It stated ‘The Flask of Loyal Men’, it was quite obvious actually. I don’t think she knows that it is me who’s trying to get in.”

When he says that, he means that he doubts Lilith knew just who she was dealing with. Every Demon of Hell knows that Rage is travelling through Purgatory but the Gatekeepers have no clue. She now knows that Messor is in her castle, but until Rage enters, as far as she knows he’s just another man lured in by her charm.

“So can you do that with the other one too? I’d like to get in there as fast as possible.”

“Of course I can.”

Rage readies to go through the same thing with the red Colossal but is shocked when he shifts his attention in its direction. 

The massive giant is engulfed in a flame that easily rises five times its height; the red crest is separated from its chest and lies black on the desert ground. The souls kept inside of it are swirling all over, each of which is on fire. The sight is similar to molecules vibrating and flying about when they are heated to a certain temperature. 

It’s almost as if they’re screaming in agony as one by one, the souls turn black and fade off into the sky.

“!?”

The Colossal begins to break apart from its head downwards and send shards of flaming debris landing like meteors from above. Standing completely calm in the middle of all this is none other than Phoenix, he’s holding his hand upwards to the sky as he watches the fire he created burn everything in his sight.

Looking closely, Rage can see that Cyrus, Xavier, and Strauphius are all far enough away from the destruction that they can be considered safe. They must have hightailed it out of there as soon as Phoenix started burning the giant. 

Rage takes an inner sigh of relief before frowning and walking towards Phoenix.

“Just what the hell are you doing!?” he shouts.

Phoenix slowly turns his head to him and replies, “I’m getting rid of this pesky giant, what else would I be doing?”

Rage recalls Phoenix mentioning that he didn’t want to fight earlier, this causes him to wonder just what it was that changed his mind. However, that trivial thought is pushed aside when he realizes that the souls that Phoenix is burning; are still the live souls of imprisoned humans.

“You’re destroying the souls of countless innocence!” he yells, stating quite loudly what was already brewing in his mind.

Earlier, Rage had sucked in all the souls of the blue Colossal with the intention of releasing them in the near future, this would give them a chance to go where they rightfully belong; be that Heaven or Hell, or even back to Earth. What Phoenix is doing is completely erasing their existence, once the human soul is gone, so is the essence of that man.

“Am I now?” The black man in priest garbs asks with an almost crooked look on his face. “These people were enticed by the Gatekeeper because of their sin, they are hardly innocent.”

“That’s not for you to decide!”

“Then who is it? You? Don’t make me laugh, I have more of a right to decide than anyone else here don’t you think?”

“.....”

“These people... You would have released their souls and they would have been damned to Hell. You know that, I know that. What I’m doing is saving them from that damnation, I’m being merciful.”

“There’s no way in knowing that...”

“Oh but there is... My flame, it is the same flame that nearly destroyed Dantega. Even after a thousand years, this flame will never stop until the evil of its target is completely destroyed. I’m using that same technique, whichever souls are still shining after being burnt, are the ones not tainted by sin, and can be sent elsewhere than the depths of Hell.”

Rage instantly understands what he is trying to do. Phoenix got his flame from Michael, and Michael had three different techniques that altered the way his fire burned. One of which, is to burn his target, no matter what it is, all the way until the target is destroyed. This technique is certainly the strongest, and unfortunately for him, Ubica tricked him into using it on the two people he cared about the most.

The second: is the fire that never stops burning no matter what, it is said that when Hell was created, this fire was used to form its landscape. The same fire continues to expand Hell each and every day, it works just like the universe, constantly pushing its way outwards and forging a new path for others to follow. The reason why Hell's sky always has an orange and red tint is likely because of this constant reality.

The third: is the fire that burns away the evil of its target until said evil is obliterated. This attack was primarily used against people who are possessed, or consumed by only one sin. Once the fire burned out, the evil was gone, but the body of the man containing that evil is still intact. It’s more or less a very extreme version of a baptism. This flame is what was used on Ubica in the eternal lake, it was expected that this fire would need to burn forever to fully destroy Dantega, so it was more than necessary, it was the only way. 

This is what Phoenix is using on these souls; whatever survives this flame has the right to move on to the next world, and so far there hasn’t been any.

Watching the souls burn for a little bit longer, the smoke begins to clear and one simple light drops helplessly down like a feather.

The little purple light falls into the palm of Phoenix’s hand and he smiles. “Just one...” he says, and begins squeezing on the orb. “Only one person lived any kind of life worthy of becoming a citizen of Heaven.”

He sighs and squeezes the orb until it seems to pop, its light flickers all over and fades into nowhere.

“It would seem that no matter what world I travel to, there is no escaping the ugly colors of man. Has my faith in humanity really been misplaced this entire time?”

Rage didn’t catch all of what Phoenix said because he said it softly. Ignoring whatever is was, he walks up to him and asks, “What did you do with that soul?”

Phoenix takes another sigh, this time in more of an exasperated fashion and answers, “I sent him to Heaven... Although I’ve traded my benevolence for fire, I can still do certain things that you can’t. For instance, I can tell you everything about the person that soul belonged to.”

“..?”

“It was a little boy... He had no desire to come to the Gate, his father lost himself in Lilith’s song and threw away everything in order to come here. The father sold his home, left his wife, and dragged his son to this very castle, where he in turn sacrificed his little son to appease Lilith.”

Rage stays silent; he doesn’t quite know what to say to something like that.

“I’m sure you can guess that it didn’t work. The gist of that story sounds familiar don’t you think? A father throwing away his son to appease someone who only intends to devour him...”

The shine in Phoenix’s eyes begin to fade as he zones out on the hand that had just sent the little soul to Heaven. 

Rage can see this and a cold sweat runs down the side of his brow; he knows that the story he’s talking about is his own.

Phoenix's father sacrificed him for the sake of mankind, and it was only a couple thousand years later that it became painfully evident that it didn’t work and was all for naught.

“This kind of thing will never stop, I’m sure that somewhere, at this very moment, there is someone preparing to repeat the same mistake... Only this time, I’ll be sure to stop it.”

Now it’s obvious that the words of Phoenix have shifted from the story of the little boy to the story of his own life, but his words now are no longer past-tense. He is talking about the current situation he has found himself in, and what’s even more chilling, is that he is talking about the current situation between him and God.

Something has happened in the past that caused a severe change in the Messiah’s personality, it is almost certain that this is the fault of Ubica the Anti-Christ, he’s even said so himself. But now however, there is a plot that no one knows about involving him and God, and this is weighing heavily on the already loaded shoulders of the most revered man to ever exist.

This plan, or whatever it may be, is beginning to break something inside of Phoenix, and to an onlooker like Rage, it is plain to see.

GGAAAAGAAASSHHH!

The sound of the double doors of the castle opening can be heard, they've successfully passed Lilith's test, no matter what means they used to do so. The Gate is ever so close, but Rage pays no mind to this at all, he pretty much hasn't noticed the fact that the castle door is open wide and inviting them in. All he can do is stare at Phoenix as the crooked look on the priest's face twists even more.

Rage’s eyes grow wide, and the words almost drip out of his mouth when he asks, “Just what is going on with you..?”



-----------------------------------



Ubica finally reaches Tsubiri’s location, and just like he thought what might've happened, he finds her surrounded by a countless number of brainwashed men. She’s been shocking whoever she can, that much is clear by looking at the ones downed and unconscious on the ground.

“S-Stay back!” she shouts as she electrocutes another one.

Just hearing her frantic voice sends Ubica into a rage he hasn’t felt in years, it’s as if there was a switch that just flipped that made his body hot with angst. 

He pulls out his sword and begins walking toward the outer rim of men, he readies to slash through whoever it takes to get to her but flips his dull side upwards at the last moment. From there, he starts knocking people all over and forges a path towards Tsubiri.

(I don’t have to kill them.) he thinks to himself as the thunk noise of each of the men he hits with the dull side of his sword reaches his ears. (All I need to do is get her and run.)

Although he is thinking calmly as he methodically makes his way through the mass of bodies, he’s actually quite anxious, the feeling of wanting to get to her is so great it’s as though the weight in his legs have disappeared.

(Almost there!)

After waking through the last line of men grabbing at her, he reaches his hand out with his eyes closed and shouts,

“Tsubiri!!!”

“Ubica!”

Her voice is like a wave of relief, just hearing it means she’s safe and there is still hope that they’ll escape this mess unharmed, and without having to harm others. Expecting to feel the warmth of her hand as he reaches out, he is shocked when he is grabbed by the slender hands of someone cold. He opens his eyes and sees a sight that obliterates his hope in a flash.

Amodeus, wearing the hideous face that she’s inflicted on herself is holding Ubica’s hand with her left, and squeezing the neck of Tsubiri in the other.

“Uuaaahhhh, noooo~~ Ubica! You’re doing it all wrong! I was worried about this ya know?? How will our relationship ever grow if you give up so quickly?”

“Tsubi------“

KSHKSHKSHKSHKSH!!!

Before Ubica could even finish shouting her name, he is electrocuted so violently it causes blood to come spraying out of his mouth before his body stiffens up and falls limply to the ground.

Asmodeus still keeps her grip firmly on the two when she says, “This girl’s trying to shock me, I don’t think she knows that it isn’t going to work.” She turns to Tsubiri and continues, “I eat the energy of women and make it my own by the way, all you’re doing is giving me the ability to cause more harm to Ubica. So I suggest you stop.”

Tsubiri grits her teeth and stops struggling, she can hardly breath and her electricity won’t work on Asmodeus. The more she moves and struggles, the worse off the situation gets, for both her and Ubica.

Now that that problem is settled, Asmodeus then lifts Ubica up and pulls him close. “I thought I told you that you were supposed to kill all of these people if you wanted to save this girl?”

“.....” 

It's likely that Ubica can't talk due to the temporary affects of Tsubiri's lighting, but he still has enough strength to send Asmodeus a mean glare.

“Oh my sweet sweet Ubica, it would seem that you haven’t taken me seriously.” She twitches her head as if gesturing to the men who have formed a circle around the three. “These guys aren’t going to stop unless they’re dead, I highly recommend you get on with the killing.”

The men all rush in and start grabbing at Tsubiri, tearing her clothes, tugging on her hair, yanking her arms and pulling her in every which direction. She can’t even scream because the tight grip on her neck, all she can do is plea to Ubica with eyes full of tears.

“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what’s gonna happen if you don’t.” The thin smile stretches up her face as she lets go of Ubica’s arm.

Watching Tsubiri get grabbed on by Asmodeus and the other men has brought him to the point of desperation; it’s only now that he realizes that there is no getting out of this without doing something he’ll dread. But in hindsight, he’s sure that if he let anything happen to Tsubiri because of his indecision, the pain he'd feel wouldn't even compare to taking the lives of the others.

He stands to his feet, flips his sword back to its proper side and rushes in.

Asmodeus laughs, the piercing in her tongue that hangs to the top of her chest swings as she jumps out of the way and lands atop a building. 

Watching the show from above she shouts, “Don’t you dare let me down this time Ubicaaaaaa, I want to be moaning in pleasure when all of this is done!!!”

Ubica ignores her whacked out voice and focuses in on his first target; it is a man who looks to be in his mid 40’s that has his face only inches away from Tsubiri’s. The man sticks his tongue out grotesquely and leans in to lick her cheek.

Seeing this only multiplies his fury.

He promised that he’d do anything for her, even if it’s something he doesn’t want to do, he promised that he’ll protect her at all costs. In order to fulfill that promise, he’s going to have to sacrifice the lives of many to save just one. But at this very moment, watching the man’s tongue inch closer and closer to her face, he’s willing to accept that fact and feel no immediate remorse for it.

Ubica’s determined eyes shift to the man’s neck, and with a mighty recoil back, he swings the sharp end of his sword at a speed the human eye could never hope to see. 

It won’t be much more than a millisecond until the man’s head is sent flying and the bloodbath officially begins.



--------------------------------------



Alone in the dimly lit hallway of the massive castle is Messor and Trojia; not more than a word has been spoken between the two and a thick, heavy atmosphere surrounds the girls. 

Messor is wearing a frown as her glare beats on Trojia’s back, she’s almost offended at the fact that the Princess in front of her is willing to lead the False Prophet as though there is nothing to fear.

It’s this kind of attitude that Messor has grown intolerable of, she can’t stand the fearlessly smug air coming from someone that’s stealing the affection of the man she loves.

(I despise this girl...) she thinks to herself, her gold eyes beginning to glow bright. (It’s her fault that he’s become so distant.)

Messor’s wild thoughts feel extremely out of control, it is very likely that Lilith is manipulating her mind through the walls of the castle but she doesn’t care. It’s like she is drunk, when people drink they tend to make a big deal out of nothing and their thoughts flow into their emotions that eventually becomes an action carried out by the body. 

And it’s that emotion that’s steadily causing her body to move, her hand is held towards Trojia’s back and her fingers prepare to snap.

(With a simple snap of my finger, she’ll be gone...)

Even though she knows she could dispose of her in an instant, there’s still something deep inside of her that refuses to stoop to that level once again. She still holds honest intentions, and the word that she gave Ubica stating that she’s changed for the better is something she intends to hold on to. The only thing that will allow her to win both ways is if she finds out if Trojia’s true intentions are detrimental to the well-being of Ubica.

The corners of her lips faintly rise, she puts her hand down and begins to speak. “Hey girl... What are you going to do when Ubica gets back to us?”

Trojia stays silent for a moment, and then without turning around she answers in an emotionless tone, “If it comes down to it, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the people I care about.”

“Do you actually think that he’d harm you or the others? That’s ridiculous.” Messor replies.

The two keep walking through the hallway and reach a large black door, Trojia opens it and walks in, dozens of candles instantly light up and reveal the room they’ve found themselves in. 

It’s a rather large room shaped in a rectangular fashion with another large black door on the other side. Hanging on the walls in between the two doors are many different weapons ranging from spears to longswords; they all look brand new and reflect the light from the candles as though they were mirrors.

Paying no mind her new surroundings, Trojia continues her walk toward the other door and says, “It’s not ridiculous at all, seeing his true personality firsthand tells me otherwise. If he loses control, he’d kill anyone to get his way. I can’t allow that to happen.”

“Hahahahaha.” Messor laughs, “You sound just like your bodyguard.”

“..?”

Trojia’s shoulders jolt and she finally stops walking, she quizzically turns around and looks Messor square into her gold eyes.

“...What did you just say?”

“I said you sound just like your bodyguard Niomyo did... When I killed her.”

As if something had broken inside of Trojia, her head tilts to the side and her eyebrow twitches; all feeling of life in her eyes fades and is replaced by a broken glare. 

As far as Trojia knew, Niomyo was killed during a fight between Ubica and Mammon where she was caught in between the Demon’s relentless attacks. She never doubted it because Mammon killed at least a couple thousand people during that whole ordeal.

“...Huh?” she mutters, that same dead look still evident on her face.

“She threatened to kill Ubica in the name of your safety. He was unconscious on the ground and she held a knife to his throat; if I hadn’t been there, he’d surely be dead. That look in her eyes, her tone of voice, it’s the same as you. I know that you’ll harm him if you had the chance. You see, I can’t let that happen as the False Prophet, I especially can’t allow the powers I’ve given to you to be used against him.”

Messor again holds her hand up and prepares to snap her finger. “All it’s going to take is this, your heart will explode from within, and you’ll die just like your bodyguard.”

Snap.

Messor snaps her finger and fully expects to see blood scream out of every opening in Trojia’s face. She has taken back the power she gave her and as a result, taken her life along with it. 

Messor can’t help but smile, she can’t wait to see the death of this girl, the person who caused her so much grief involving her relationship to Ubica.

A few moments pass and Messor is sickened to find that Trojia is still just standing there glaring at her. There’s no way it should take this long for her to collapse to the ground; she snaps her fingers once again and shock begins overflowing her senses when she sees that nothing has changed.

“!?”

Trojia takes a step forward and blankly states, “So... It was actually you...”

The circle around her bright green eyes glows a bright red, it’s as though they hold the appearance of a solar eclipse as she methodically moves one step at a time.

“WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING!?” Messor shouts, losing her cool completely.

That’s when Messor feels something intense push at her stomach and pull at her back, the wind instantly gets sucked out of her and she spits up blood.

BOMMM!

A thick base noise is heard in front the False Prophet and as if she has been hit by a truck, she is sent flying backwards at an incomprehensible speed. The jolt was so great that it tore the loosely worn plaid shirt right off her shoulders.

WHAAAAACKKK!!!

Her body crashes into the stone wall of the castle so hard it leaves an indent a couple feet deep into the solid mass of brick. The whiplash alone causes Messor to feel like she has broken every bone in her body at once.

“Kaaaaah!?”

The back of her throat yelps through the blood accumulated in her mouth.

Her body slides off the wall and falls limply onto the ground, she can barely move; she has never been hit like that in her entire life. The power from that attack was far greater than anything she could ever have imagined. She may be the False Prophet and can heal incredibly fast, but she doesn’t have the almost indestructible body of the Anti-Christ, her frame is just as frail as any other girl, it’s very likely that a few bones have been shattered.

Trojia takes slow steps towards the downed Messor, each one inviting an even more menacing pressure than the last. Her face bares no emotion, it’s as though she has snapped and turned into an empty shell. The red light that was encircling her eyes now engulfs the irises that were once a beautiful green and shines fully in a blood red color. 

A pressure surrounds her, so strong that it breaks off pieces of the roof above her position. The sound of bricks falling to the ground crack and add solidity to the rumbling base noise of the pressure shaking the area around her.

Messor’s eyes grow wide as she stares at a girl so imposing it even strikes a deep sense of fear inside of her.

“This... Is impossible, you can’t be this strong!” she shouts.

With whatever strength she has left, she begins forming butterflies all around her to protect herself, it’s become quite apparent that the only way out of this is to fight her way out of it. Forming her own power and analyzing Trojia’s, it finally strikes her as to why this Princess’s presence is so overwhelming.

She instantly flashes back to what Damien did to her back on the boat in the Second Level of Purgatory; he didn’t just show her Ubica’s past in order to turn her against him, he’s manipulated her soul in a way that unleashed a hidden ability that even Messor couldn't tap into.

“Hmph! I see, you’ve fallen right into Damien’s hands... Now I have no choice but to kill you!”

Messor stands to her feet abruptly, despite feeling her bones crack under the pressure of her own weight, she somehow finds the strength to smile.

“This makes things all too easy, not only will I be killing you for my own pleasure, I’ll be doing Ubica a favor as well!”

The two stare each other down intensely when Lilith’s voice rings from above them.

“Perfection! It’s just what I thought would happen between you two!”

THUNK! THUNK!

The two doors on each side of the room shut rather loudly and are followed by a loud clicking noise as if someone has turned the deadbolts.

“These doors won’t open until one of you have been defeated. So entertain me my beautiful Trojia, I’ll only meet you once you prove to me that you are the strongest. This is my test, if you pass, I'll know I have fallen in love with someone who owns the most pure and empty soul!”

Lilith’s voice fades away and the situation becomes even more dire, there’s no way the both of them will come out of this alive. The blood-lust flowing between the False Prophet and a simple teenage girl is enough to make the core of the massive castle shake.

Trojia takes a step to the right and calmly grabs a weapon off of the wall, she takes two twin blades that look like miniature versions of Ubica’s katana. The main difference is that the blades of these twin katanas are a dark gunmetal color.

She twirls them around as if she has had years of experience with the weapons and holds them to her side. 

Staring at Messor, her mouth faintly moves and her monotonous voice exits.

“Messor... I'm going to kill you.”








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