The legend of a warrior; Chapter 85 - A New Heaven
#85 of The legend of a warrior
Another chapter is finished and ready. It is a very long (92 pages) and very important chapter for the story. It is a long and intense ride, and i hope it'll prove entertaining from start to finish. Enjoy it, if you can... and as always, comments are welcome. Let me know what you think.
Purification through the fire of war. A new beginning through Destruction. Heaven has become the corrupt, sick reign of a power-hungry zealot. It is time for...
Chapter 85 - A New Heaven
Elelyon sighed, dropping his head forwards and shaking it dejectedly. Traveling through Heaven had been a painful experience for him. So much had changed since the sunny days of his reign, and most of the changes had been for the worst. Entire Skies of Heaven lay in charred ruins, and everywhere he had found not just battle scars and hellish corruption and devastations left by the troops of Satan and his Princes, but a far more painful kind of decay: the one that Heaven had imposed on itself.
Vesta had warned him and tried to dissuade him from taking the long route to the capital, but Elelyon had kindly but firmly refused to follow her recommendation. He had listened with great attention, smiled, nodded in agreement, but then he had softly said: "I know it will hurt. I imagine what I'm going to see. But I must see it all. I must see with my own eyes the disaster that I've effectively started."
He was still pretty weak due to his wounds, and Diana had insisted that if he truly wanted to make that travel towards Caernarvon he could only do it on a vehicle offering a smooth ride. Elelyon had welcomed her objections with kindness but with determination at least equal to her own: he needed to make that journey. He needed to see, and he begged Killer to literally march on Caernarvon, advancing overland across at least part of Heaven's territories.
At first, Killer and the others had not been happy to receive that request because it implied running the last campaign of the war in an entirely different way, uselessly more complicated: instead of teleporting directly in front of Caernarvon's walls, it required old-fashioned walking, with all the logistics attached to such a road move. Sure, in Heaven there was no strict need to eat or even drink, but traveling still required time, energies and some supplies. Bringing Elelyon along also meant bringing a dedicate escort for him since he definitely wasn't in condition to fight yet, and the god specifically asked Killer to employ entire legions of Seraphims for the campaign. Killer had been thinking of going, if not alone, then with just his Praetorians and Disciples, who could bring to bear a destructive power unmatched by any army anyway.
Unsurprisingly, Adrasthea, goddess of strategy, was the first to understand what Elelyon was truly asking for: a last chance for Heaven. His masochistic wish to see in first person the ruin of his beloved Heaven was just a secondary factor. What he truly wanted was to put up a slow but majestic display of power and determination. He wanted Heaven to see him supporting Killer. He wanted Heaven to admire the power of Killer. He wanted Heaven to see the legions of Seraphims marching against the usurper, Typhon. He hoped that, in front of such sights, a great number of people in Heaven who still sided with Typhon would see the error of their ways... or at least the hopelessness of their position. The hardcore Righteous were probably too far gone to understand and save themselves, but Elelyon still dared hoping that many lives could be saved in that way.
There was also a possibility, however very remote, that Typhon could have been tempted to make a sortie out of Caernarvon to assault them along the way. Had that happened, they could have avoided the fight against Juggernaut and maybe the capital would have survived relatively unscathed.
At the end of the day, it was clear that the potential advantages of a long march across Heaven far outweighed the relatively insignificant difficulties that the new plan implied. There was very little in Typhon's arsenal that could give them any kind of trouble, so the risks were negligible, and the logistic problem was consequently easily solved. Between portals, the ability to teleport of some of them and their sheer, brutal strength, they could move back and forth safely between the column and their bases whenever it was needed. The final plan had taken shape rapidly, and the travel had begun soon afterwards from Eaglenest. Elelyon had expected horrible sights, but learning the full extent of Typhon's crimes had devastated him. Killer had kept a discreet but attentive watch on him, and there could be no doubt about the sorrow that the reptile felt when they passed by the Meadows, scorched black and dead and completely warped by hellish Corruption. Tears had filled his eyes whenever they passed by ghost towns, abandoned in a hurry or left bloodied and silent through the massacre of all inhabitants. And Elelyon had especially suffered when they had started moving through the ruins of genetic laboratories and factories of clones. The extent of Typhon's merciless tampering with life had left Elelyon speechless and horrified, and he had asked to be left alone inside one of the abandoned factories. He had ventured alone in the dark, cave-like tunnels cluttered with rubble and shattered machinery, and Killer had watched him touch this piece and that, spending a few moments in contact with each notable object. The liger by now knew the world of supernatural senses and perceptions enough to imagine all too clearly what Elelyon was doing: he was exploring the past, and watching images and fragments of memories play back in his mind. The reptilian god could no doubt hear the screams and perceive the pain and anguish of those who were tortured and experimented upon. And he could no doubt get lost in the horrendous, artificial emptiness of the souls and minds of the clones, beings grown into glass chambers, chemically boosted from fetuses to adulthood in mere days. They were born as simple-minded and ignorant as newborns only to be implanted with Spirit computer systems filled with nothing but immense databases about tactics, strategies and knowledge of combat. The ultimate cannon fodder.
Elelyon had ventured deeper and deeper down the many underground levels of the facility and had spent at least a couple hours down in the bowels of the abandoned factory. They heard no scream and no explosion; nothing at all, in fact... but the silence was more ominous than anything else. They had followed him at a distance since he was still vulnerable, his body still trying to recover from his horrendous wounds, and by the end of the two hours Diana was urging them to burst into the hangar in which he was closed. But Elelyon had walked out on his own, looking exhausted and horrified but otherwise healthy, and their travel had eventually resumed in sad and complete silence.
Not the entire travel, thankfully, was as depressing as the visit in those sinister cathedrals of horrors and sin: many towns and villages had welcomed them with cheers and jubilation. The fortified cities defended by Killer's seraphims, of course, were the most supportive: the population inside had been shielded from the worst effects of the war and the morale behind the walls and bastions was high, even though most of the castles had been under siege just days or weeks earlier. Elelyon was generally welcomed back with open arms, even though it was clear that most people was not ready to forget him for his prolonged absence in the time of need. Ordinary Benevolents and Angels had no knowledge of the Anchors and of their importance. They had little to no idea of the full extent of the war and did not imagine that it raged across the entire universe. For the people of Heaven the only reality was that they had suffered for years under Typhon's increasingly dictatorial rule and then had had to try and survive the rampaging hordes of demons that had broken through the Wall and annihilated the heavenly army. The populace had experienced indescribable horrors and had seen Heaven precipitate into a terrifying civil war, and it had been Killer, not Elelyon, that had responded to their desperate prayers. Killer and Alexis were revered like gods, while Elelyon was greeted with a sort of dampened enthusiasm. He was welcomed like an old friend thought lost forever, with smiles and cheers, but very few treated him like the king and god of the realm. He had not been there to defend them in the hour of need and they weren't ready to forget that fact.
If Elelyon was offended in any way by that lack of respect, worship and submission he kept it very well hidden: his face showed nothing but relief and gratitude whenever benevolents and angels walked out of their shelters, out of the tents and the refuges, out of the ruined and semi-destroyed buildings to smile at him and welcome him back. It was far more than he had expected and quite a lot more than he had dared hoping for. It very visibly gave him new energies and new motivations: as guilty as he felt, he was beginning to accept the fact that he had also done a lot of good for the world, and the world had not forgotten it all.
It was far less pleasant to march through the towns that, in the darkest hour of the war, Killer had been forced to abandon to their destiny. When Heaven was exhausted and close to falling apart and he quite simply still wasn't strong enough to solve the problems on his own he had had to make difficult choices, and those had included the ruthless pursuit of economy of effort. They hadn't enough troops to secure every town and village, so they had focused their efforts on the ones which had walls and castles or that were at least placed in areas that made them defensible. They had worked hard to evacuate as many people as they could from the other centers, bringing them into emergency refuges within the "colonies" that they could defend, but uncountable civilians had not been reached in time. Countless villages and a lot of towns had had to be abandoned to their destiny, and their fate had been cruel: the rampaging armies of demons had looted and pillaged, raped and destroyed, set on fire and razed to the ground. Entire cities had ceased to exist while others had been turned into encampments, with the civilians that had survived the first day of reckless revelry turned into slaves. They had been beaten, forced to toll for the demons and used as sex toys by entire hordes of hellish creatures, so it was no surprise that they had lost the faith in pretty much everyone. Almost every town had since been reached by the legions of angels and Seraphims under Killer's command and the slavery had ended: those towns, which were beginning to rebuild and recover, were generally welcoming. There was no mass cheering to speak of, but the populace greeted them with relief and took the return of Elelyon as a reason to hope in a better future.
They had taken some time in each of those towns to help with the most urgent reconstruction work, and with their reality-changing powers they could achieve a lot in mere hours. Diana and her healers did the rest, bringing relief to suffering, scarred bodies and to devastated souls and minds. Whenever the column left a town, the morale in it was much higher than when it entered.
The few villages and towns that hadn't yet been reached by any substantial friendly force were obviously a very different story: the first reaction of those confused, desperate populations was hiding. The demons had left by a while to escape Killer's power as it became simply too great to dare challenging it, but the enslaved civilians lived in the belief that would return without any notice. When they spotted the army marching towards them their only feeling was despair: they expected nothing but trouble and suffering.
They had spent days stopping in those sad, unfortunate places to offer aid, literally beginning with the shattering of the cruel collars and chains that the civilians still lugged around.
Elelyon got nothing but glares and grimaces, and Killer did not get a better reception: many of the survivors within those villages had fallen victim of Typhon's propaganda and were genuinely convinced that only Typhon was trying to protect Heaven and kick the "impure" and "unworthy" out of paradise. To their eyes, Killer was as impure as the worst of demons while Elelyon was a traitor unworthy of Heaven. Many attempted to run away instead of letting Diana heal them. Many more tried to hide under the mountains of rubble, determined not to walk outside until Killer's column had left. It was a terribly saddening and depressing scene to assist to, and while Elelyon had proven able and willing to accept their hate and contempt and work around it, helping them even while they hissed and spat and insulted and cursed him; Killer had avoided them as much as he could, focusing instead on using his powers to rebuild buildings and prepare comfortable shelters. He didn't share the gift of Elelyon's never-ending patience and tolerance, after all, and whenever the citizens glared at him and foamed at the mouth with hate for his failures in saving them, he was horribly tempted to just squish them under his fist.
The results of their long march across Heaven, which stretched on for weeks, were mixed. A lot of people was won over by their efforts in proving assistance, but many more continued to think that both Elelyon and Killer could and should have done more for them and thus took the paths to the hills and mountains to join the bands of hermits and preachers and wannabe "liberators" that called themselves Righteous and dreamed of the day when Killer and Elelyon would both be defeated and punished for their betrayal and impurity. To their eyes, God had to be infallible and Heaven had to be flawless and had to sit above all else. They were, at least for the time being, beyond saving. It was saddening and irritating at once, but the Righteous were nothing more than a nuisance and could simply be left to stew for a while, so the column eventually just marched onwards. Maybe their anger was going to boil off one day... and if it didn't they were going to have to learn how to live in a universe in which Killer's little toe held more power than them all put together and multiplied by a trillion. They were powerless specks of dust and there was only so much time and effort Killer was willing to expend into trying to make them reason.
Elelyon had sighed and stared at the hills, his gaze searching the many pairs of angry eyes glaring at them as the column advanced and the heavenly horses easily dragged his coach away from those poor, poisoned souls. Even Elelyon accepted that there was nothing more that they could do, and that their time was better spent reaching Caernarvon quickly. Once there, they could hopefully put an end to Typhon and to his absurd, monstrous plans to keep revolting and fighting against the new order.
They had finally marched into the Seventh Heaven, most of it a desert scorched by the Sun which seemed to fill the sky, low on the horizon as it looked, seemingly close enough to the line of the horizon that stretching one arm upwards would suffice to touch it. The monasteries of the Sun and of the Moon were badly damaged but had resisted to the siege mounted by Typhon's forces first, then by Hell's demons and then once more by Typhon's clone-Paladins. The mighty bastions were cracked and ruined, but the walls were mostly still standing and contingents of "Dark Wing" Seraphims were still the masters of the two castles. Everything else was desolation and ruin, beginning with the regions surrounding the two monasteries: every meter of ground seemed to have either been dug up to create trenches and bunkers and artillery positions for the siege or just ravaged by explosions and artillery barrages. There were deep craters and abandoned trenches everywhere, and the wrecks of immense siege cannons abandoned by Typhon's forces looked like sinister monuments to an age of destruction and hate, towering over that silent inferno. The emptiness of the desert had been a relief after so many and so terrible images of ruin, but now they were in sight of the coast of the Peaceful Ocean. Elelyon had good memories of that vast and quiet sea, which used to have waters of an incredible, beautiful sapphire clearness... but now even the sea looked corrupted and polluted. The beautiful blue was largely gone, replaced by a murky grey that left Elelyon staring in horror and disbelief.
"I don't know what the hell Typhon's factories have been dumping into the sea, but it is something incredibly dirty and aggressive. It has polluted almost the entire ocean and turned it into a toxic puddle." Vesta had reluctantly explained, and Elelyon had swallowed and continued to stare at that disaster while they followed the profile of the shore from a safe distance. The smell of decay carried by the wind made it already plenty unpleasant without marching any closer to the sea.
Killer and Alexis were at the head of the column, riding on Ruin and Wrath and surrounded by the other Disciples. Elelyon followed immediately behind, riding in a simple but comfortable coach that had been prepared specifically for him and also carried Diana's medical equipment. The coach was dragged by four white, massive horses of a supernatural breed that was only found in Heaven. They were extremely peaceful and incredibly strong animals with incredibly long manes of silvery hair and eyes that were commonly either emerald or sapphire. Killer would have preferred using fire beasts such as Ruin and Wrath, which were far more at ease on a battlefield and able, even eager, to fight whenever necessary, while the heavenly horses were more likely to be spooked and to run away, but unfortunately it just wasn't possible. Lemuel was working with alacrity at a breeding and training programme of that incredible breed of war animals, but the few mares they had were all pregnant and sore after sharing stalls with the two ever-furious stallions. The meek horses of Paradise were the only workable alternative, and unsurprisingly they had encountered Elelyon's cheerful approval. Elelyon, with his usual seraphic calm and serenity had smiled and observed: "They resemble me more. Ruin is your perfect companion, Killer, not mine. We'd look very odd together... not to mention that Ruin would probably try to bite my face off."
Killer had not been able to disagree with that well-put argument, especially since Ruin truly did drag on the reins to try and charge at what undoubtedly looked to him like an irritatingly-peaceful stranger. Ruin was even more snappish than Killer, and being around someone who smiled as much as Elelyon was enough to make him nervous, like he suspected they were making fun of him.
Ira, leading her Legion of dragon-knight Seraphims, guarded the army from above, flying on Veronika's back. Pamela led from the front, guiding the other Praetorians, including Mriya, Elaine and Katy in a scouting march ahead of the main force. They were spaced out across a front of one hundred miles and preceded the rest of the army by at least as much, searching for enemy positions and observation points and securing the route for the Legions. They had repeatedly encountered enemy bunkers and hidden patrols and had easily destroyed them all with brutal, deliberately excessive power: diplomacy was well and truly out of the picture and now they were under explicit order to overmatch the enemy as savagely as they wanted. The goddesses were not actually scouting, in fact, but rather they were announcing, in the most spectacular and terrifying of fashions and to friends and foes and everything in between alike, that Killer was coming. Their task was to destroy and terrorize, humiliate and annihilate. Katy was the smallest among them and yet she stood well over ten miles tall, her eyes glowing with terrifying power as she literally flattened the hills underfoot to clear a path for the army... a path that was larger and more comfortable than any motorway and that knew no turn because she just crushed any and every obstacle out of existence. Mriya, Pamela and Elaine were nearly twice as tall as Katy, with Crystal, Valery and Kate sitting somewhere in the middle. Their steps rattled the whole of Heaven and their eyes burned like stars, high up in the sky, visible almost from any corner of the northern hemisphere of Paradise. There was no secrecy at all about the whole campaign: it was a statement of power, a challenge and at the same time a last-minute chance offered to the angels and benevolents that still followed Typhon. Anyone with a half-working brain, in front of that demonstration of strength, could only decide to run away and hide, and Killer hoped that many would do just that. He hoped to find Caernarvon empty other than for the mindless clones.
Typhon's forces had stupidly attempted to fight back against the Praetorians, who had been all too happy to walk all over everything that dared standing in their way. The army of the usurper had also detected the column advancing behind the vanguard of titan-sized goddesses and had immediately begun tracking them with radars and other sensors. From that point onwards they had deliberately ignored the invincible warriors that led from the front and had focused their efforts on the seemingly vulnerable column. Typhon's heavy artillery had immediately opened fire with every piece that was available, turning the horizon in the direction of Caernarvon into a glowing line of fire and light as gigantic rail guns ceaselessly hurled their darts and enormous shells into the sky. The shockwaves caused by the hypersonic, gigantic projectiles had torn the clouds apart and blown them away, leaving the sky almost physically scarred, the air trembling violently as it superheated and was constantly displaced by the sonic bangs, but all the efforts of the capital's garrison amounted to nothing more than a fireworks show. The Praetorians in front more often than not slapped the darts and shells out of the sky like they were nothing but gnats. Part of the barrages hit the titanic bodies of the armoured females in the vanguard simply because of how immense they were, and there was no cannon large and powerful enough to leave a bruise on their divine bodies. Those shells that made it past the vanguard were in any case just as wasted: if Typhon had hoped that the "small" Seraphims marching in column were vulnerable he was sorely mistaken, because Killer's troops were safe under a vast shield that Alexis, Sekhmeth and the other goddesses easily held up using their minds. The Dark Wings had suffered zero casualties in the bombardment, and none of the collared seraphims had had a moment of hesitation in walking under that veritable tempest of steel: the darts and shells smashed uselessly against the telekinetic energy radiated by Alexis, Vesta, Gaia and the others, and the explosions only filled the sky with flashes of colored light.
Killer smirked a bit to himself as Ruin stomped his way easily along the vast path that the Praetorians had created for the army: the immense dunes and the ominous cliffs and "islands" of reddish stone that usually made the desert so complex and time-consuming to cross had been crushed out of existence along with any and all stronghold, fortress and resistance position held by Typhon's troops. The terrain ahead and around them was almost perfectly flat, since Katy had the care of dragging a foot sideways to smooth over the deep footprints she and the other Praetorians left in the ground. The rocky hills that separated the desert from the progressively greener and more luscious coastal area had also been crushed flat and kicked into dust to give them unimpeded access.
The mighty goddesses of his personal guard towered over the horizon, immense and glorious, their feet surrounded by gigantic clouds of dust and debris as they crushed mountains like they were anthills, every now and then absently slapping at the air, unfazed by the explosions of the shells they intercepted with their fingers. He could see Mriya, as beautiful as she was terrible, leaning down to settle one hand almost playfully on top of one of the artillery fortresses guarding the road to the capital, flattening it like it was just a sand castle before gripping into the huge cliff itself, uprooting it out of the ground and hurling it into the ocean, thousands of miles away, laughing.
Elaine was carrying her monstrous auto-shotgun with her, her fangs gritted in a vicious grin and her laughter seeming to rattle the entire planet whenever she found a bunker, fortress or concentration of enemy troops. Killer admired her glorious body as she towered high above the horizon, her shadow casting entire provinces into darkness, her high heels stabbing right through the crust of the planet like it was a fragile eggshell. The dragoness snorted in contempt as she reached a massive rocky cliff, slowly tilting her head to look at the obstacle from high above, flexing her great musculature as enemy troops fired cannons and missiles against her, all of their efforts completely useless as even their heaviest weaponry couldn't even tickle her. No blast could even get her huge breast to jiggle, no armor-piercing dart was able to leave a mark on her scales and no missile could make her so much as blink. Typhon's troops continued to fire barrage after barrage, the computer controlling their actions incapable to feel fear but equally unable to come up with any useful idea for contrasting the titanic female. It was an exciting, glorious sight that Killer savored, shifting a bit in the saddle as his gigantic cock gave a hungry, impatient throb and arrogantly swelled larger, grinding even harder against the leather loincloth of his black armor.
She squatted a little over the mountain, just enough to count the regimental standards in the middle of the base that Typhon's forces had fortified on top of the cliff, before she straightened with a snort of contempt and raised her foot, stomping down on the obstacle and carelessly crushing half of the cliff into powder before idly kicking to the side, shattering the other half into a million fragments that crashed down over the desert in a rolling cloud. Another artillery fortress, perched on the opposite side of the valley, opened fire against her and a barrage of explosions went up in a ball of fire against her muscular shoulder, but it barely sufficed to get her attention. She slowly turned around, grinned and pointed her monstrous cannon, pulling the trigger once. She did not need to aim, she had enough vision of the immediate future to always know where her shots were going to go... and the immense projectile did the rest, vaporizing not only the fortress but even the cliff, disintegrating it in slivers and dust.
Elelyon stared at that terrifying display of power apparently without any emotion, although Killer thought he spotted desire in the reptile's eyes. Even holy Elelyon wasn't completely devoid of hungers and urges, and it was pretty much impossible to not be impressed by the beauty and power of the dragoness's body. But above all, Elelyon was sad. The Heaven he had built was in tatters, and the teachings he had tried to impart seemed all but forgotten. He never said anything about the destruction that the Praetorians were causing because he understood the rationale for it, but certainly he did not enjoy seeing even more of Paradise becoming powder and rubble. He knew, however, that the Praetorians were carefully watching out for possible columns of civilians making their way out of the capital, or other groups of people seeking refuge. The enemies, they annihilated, but they protected everyone else.
Soon they were out of the desert, and thanks to the wide "road" created by the Praetorians they very rapidly went across, rather than over, the hills that descended towards the coast. That region had once been green and luscious, covered in splendid vegetation, but the very atmosphere of Heaven had changed and now most plants were dying, overwhelmed by the corruption in the air. They marched along the coast right to the vast gulf that was the entrance to the fjord leading to Caernarvon, and then they began marching inland, keeping the polluted sea always in sight. The capital had been built on a peninsula that stretched into the waters of the fjord almost like a pointed finger. The sea there was wide because the fjord pushed up two different valleys, with the peninsula roughly in the middle, so that the port of the capital had developed along all three sides, with deep water enabling easy access even for the largest and heaviest of vessels.
Caernarvon had been a true paradise in the happy years of Elelyon's reign: the white towers and the modern skyscrapers of colored glass and clear stone had given it a skyline that was immediately familiar to anyone in Heaven. The jetties stretching out into the fjord had been always busy with countless ships, while smaller boats and barges had been able to travel through much of the city thanks to a network of rivers and canals. Flying cars used to be a common sight, orderly but rapidly moving back and forth high up between the towers, leaving the vast boulevards down below free to host markets and artists, chatting people and open air exhibitions of art and gymnastic and talents of all kind.
The back of the town, the part that faced inland, was developed over vast terraces cut into the sides of the hills and mountains that rapidly grew out of the fjord's waters, and even the imposing defensive wall, lined with colossal, triangle-shaped bastions, had looked like a work of art. It used to almost glow under the sun's rays, thanks to the ivory stone it had been built with.
And in the very middle of that forest of skyscrapers and graceful buildings, surrounded by splendid gardens and by a circular canal-port spanned by a dozen arched bridges, was the glorious building that hosted the Heavenly Senate. Columns bigger than most of the town's towers held up an immense, bold dome of ivory marble. Statues of angels of all shapes covered the dome and guarded the base of each tower, and the colossal structure was made even more imposing by a tall gothic tower that jutted out of the very top of the dome, stretching far higher than any other structure in town. A tiny but incredibly luminous star had floated just above the very tip of the spire, serving as a beacon to guide the ships into port... while also reminding everyone that the Senate was the illuminated guide of Heaven, the voice of wisdom and justice. God's royal palace, far less imposing in comparison, had sprawled at one extremity of the gardens, corrected to the Senate by a vast road of ivory marble, lined with statues and served by its own bridge leading to the Dome. None of those who had visited Caernarvon at the height of its splendor had ever been able to forget its beauty and its unique atmosphere. Elelyon had loved the capital city almost like it was a daughter, and he had personally drawn and designed many of the most impressive buildings and boulevards, always striving to offer the very best to his loved ones. The royal palace in Caernarvon had been open to everyone and most of its rooms had been meant to welcome and awe the populace rather than serve his needs alone. It was a luxurious, enchanting place: the one place where Elelyon, normally a humble and frugal being, had accepted pomp and opulence.
Most of the old Caernarvon still stood intact since the capital had survived the war essentially unscathed, due to terror that its hidden but legendary protector, Juggernaut, inspired into both belligerent sides: nobody had dared disturbing the titan which slumbered underground, beneath the sprawling metropolis.
But even with most of its architectural wonders intact, Caernarvon was profoundly different and horrendously corrupted. The green peninsula leading to the metropolis had once been a wonderful land of rivers and forests and hills, but now the trees were almost completely gone, replaced by a wasteland scarred by countless miles of trenches dug across each valley and up over every hill. Bunkers and fortifications of all sorts had been built on top of the hills and cliffs; artillery pieces had been grouped into formidable batteries perched high up on the mountains, so that their fire could reach every corner of the region and hit any force sneaking up on Caernarvon from behind.
The walls of the city had been reinforced and plated over with ugly but effective slabs of dark metal, while every bastion was now topped by a monstrous piece of artillery, either one of the multi-barrel super rail guns that Killer had already seen elsewhere or a crystal lens used to project blasts of focused magic. Runes glowed faintly almost everywhere, and while years before he wouldn't have been able to notice it now his expert eye had no difficulty finding all the spells and magic enhancements that the Metatrons had put up. The capital was as well defended as it could be, even without considering that Juggernaut was sleeping underground, ready to raise and squash any enemy attempting to get past the walls. The number of soldiers crowding the walls and the trenches and all the fortified positions on the hills was amazing... and Killer repressed a shiver of intense, cruel pleasure at the thought that he could step all over that immense armada like it was nothing but a bunch of tiny plastic toys on the floor. Millions of clones, thousands of artillery pieces and the efforts of millions over Eons... and it all amounted to a miserable zero in front of his strength. It was always an exciting, arousing awareness.
The Praetorians walked up to the first line of trenches, ignoring the puny soldiers around their feet as they crushed bunkers and dug-in defenders, their boots tearing through the trenches and causing them to fall apart and fill up with dirt, burying the clones inside and turning hundreds of them into nothing but ugly red pulp mixing with the dirt. Their glorious bodies cast murderous darkness upon the whole of Caernarvon as they stopped and crossed their mighty arms, looking down at the metropolis with matching, merciless grins. Killer could hear the shrieks of panic coming from the city even from all those miles of distance... and then the terrified silence as Mriya announced with merciless entertainment: "Game over, bugs. Killer, your God and your Master, is coming and he will conquer your town and topple the throne that Typhon usurped. This is your last chance: surrender and bow down before the King of Kings, or be crushed under his toe. Or under mine, maybe: after all, you are not worthy of his attention, frail minnows that you are."
The shrieks of terror resumed and Killer felt his mind almost painfully invaded by an endless succession of desperate prayers as millions begged for his mercy. Elaine grinned and shouldered her monstrous rifle as she gazed down at the crowds in the streets of Caernarvon, teasingly flexing her arm and showing off her glorious muscles to them as she teased: "You are about to discover what true godlike power is like, you Righteous scum."
Killer steered Ruin out of the main road that Katy had built for them with her boot and the massive stallion easily stomped past a small hill of sand, rubble and corpses that had been piled up by the passage of the goddess. In a moment, the horse stood on the edge of a sharply declining hillside, and Killer got full, unimpeded view over the fortified valley below and then, further away, the vast wasteland scarred by the endless succession of trenches and barriers of spikes, blades and razor wire. He cursed under his breath, looking over the countless bunkers, small and large, that punctuated the entire plain and then staring at the distant bastions of Caernarvon, realizing that those defences not only made it hard to get it... they also made it very hard to get out of the capital. There literally was a specific line of trenches and a forest of spikes topped by large mines and surrounded by tangled barbed wire, all of it set up in a wide semi-circle in front of the town's walls. Typhon, clearly, had wanted to make absolutely sure that no one could change mind and try to abandon him.
Alexis pulled up by his side a moment later, announced by the angry snort of Wrath, who seemed to glare at Ruin and almost reached out to bite him. Killer had to squeeze Ruin with his legs to keep him from snapping angrily back against his brother. Before they could do much more than gaze into each other's eyes, the large coach pulled up nearby, staggering over the uneven ground, and both fire-stallions turned towards the white horses of Heaven, considerably smaller, glaring at them with hostility. The white studs pulling the coach stood their ground, but it was clear that they weren't eager to get any closer. Elelyon, in any case, did not want them to. He pushed open the door of the coach and carefully stepped down, wincing a bit at the intense pain in his torso. He was clad in a lightweight, flexing armor of white mesh plated with elaborate slabs of ivory leather, but he was in no condition to fight: the armor mostly served to hide and protect the bandages covering his devastated chest and abdomen. Diana was doing her very best to heal him but the damage kept resurfacing with a vengeance: his wounds were contaminated with the negative energies and the poison of countless alien divinities who had tried to destroy him, and that toxic cocktail was steadily consuming him from within. His body attempted to heal and regenerate, but the new tissues were rapidly torn asunder by the mortal mix of substances still infecting his organism. He never complained about it, but it was evident that it caused him intense and relentless suffering. Not enough to keep him from smiling whenever he talked to someone, but more than enough to keep him resting back in the seat of the coach for most of the travel, his eyes often closed. Most of the time he couldn't sleep, but only find some relief in meditation and immobility. Killer sincerely admired Elelyon for his courage and for the way he always managed to hide away his pain and worries to treat everyone else like meeting them was the greatest luck to occur to him in his day.
The reptile walked slowly up to the edge and absently reached up to rub a hand up and down Ruin's muscular, scarred neck, and amazingly even the fiery stallion seemed to calm down, turning his head a bit to look at the god, steam snorting out of his nostrils but no other sign of hostility and aggressiveness visible at all. Killer shook his head slightly, amazed once more by the aura of serenity that the reptile radiated, and Elelyon only gazed at his beloved capital, spending a few long moments staring at the beacon above the Senate: it had died away a long time earlier, robbing the metropolis of that warm eternal light that used to be one of its main characteristics. The port was cluttered with wrecks and ships that had been sunk at their moorings. Wherever the waters were shallow enough there were masts sticking out at weird angles over the waves, and sometimes the ruined hulk of a warship was still clearly distinguishable. Very few boats and craft were still operable and fewer still were sailing up and down the fjord, but that was not entirely surprising: with Hell's forces rampaging through Heaven and the civil war destroying the rest of paradise there was very little need to move from town to town and even less chance to commerce.
The towers and skyscrapers still stood, save for a few which were scarred and burnt because of artillery fire: some of the most daring armies of demons had wandered close enough to the metropolis to take a few shots, but they had been driven back soon afterwards. Even so, everything looked worn out and miserable, as if the whole population had stopped caring for the fate of their very own town and all basic maintenance had been abandoned a long time before.
Elelyon sighed and closed his eyes, his face betraying a wince of pain for a fleeting instant, but then the reptile turned towards Killer and quietly observed: "It doesn't look like they have a chance to walk out of town and surrender, does it...?"
"No. I don't think there's any way for anyone to get out." Killer admitted, biting his lower lip. They had hoped that at least some of the population would have swarmed out and switched side, especially with Elelyon having returned, but it was now clear that, even if there were people determined to do so, they had no chance of crossing the wasteland of trenches and fortifications and barbed wire.
"Give a last chance to my people, Killer, please." Elelyon prayed, gazing quietly up at him, and the liger nodded, accepting his request.
"The Praetorians can clear out a few paths across the wasteland, and kicking breaches into the walls won't be difficult." Alexis observed, easily controlling Wrath with a flex of her powerful legs. "But won't that awaken Juggernaut right away...?"
Elelyon made a bit of a grimace at that, his features tensing as he thought about it for a few moments, before finally sighing: "I can't say for sure. In theory he will only rise after an invading force breaks into the town, but knocking breaches into the walls might be enough in itself. It is risky for sure... but I beg you to try all the same. There are no alternatives."
"Do you think there is any chance he might... not fight, now that you are here? After all, you are his father, and the legitimate king of Heaven!" Killer tentatively said, turning to gaze at Elelyon with a mix of hope and skepticism. The reptile smiled softly, but his eyes closed as he slowly, sadly shook his head.
"It doesn't work quite like that, Killer... it never did. Gaia and I couldn't control him the first time and we are certainly not going to be able to control him now. And he can't control himself either. We based him on the ancient magic that allows the construction of golems, and that is a rather inflexible law he is bound to. He protects the place from invasion: I left Caernarvon putting Typhon on the throne with the blessing of the senate. The only way to change that would be through another session of the Senate, so that the laws of Heaven are respected. Juggernaut is not without an intelligence of his own, but he cannot go against the vows that give life to his body of stone. He will fight, and there is nothing I, or he himself for that matter, can do about it." The god paused, then made a little grimace before bitterly adding: "And that is before we consider the possibility of Typhon having deliberated tampered with Juggernaut while he slept. There's no way to tell if Juggernaut is still the person that Gaia sang to sleep Eons ago. We might find him radically changed... radically warped. Corrupted."
"That's true." Killer admitted. He had not spoken about it with Elelyon, but he was pretty much certain that Typhon had tried very hard to harness Juggernaut's power for his own needs. He couldn't know yet whether Typhon's attempts had been successful, and if so, how much, but there could be no real doubt on him trying, especially since Killer's power had grown far too great to be countered in any other way. Elelyon himself was probably all too well aware of that fact, but there was no reason to speak about it yet. It was going to be more than painful enough without hurrying things.
"I will try, of course, to speak with Juggernaut when he rises." Elelyon added after a moment, before a sad little smile crested his lips. "I must at least try. He is an unlucky soul, a victim of my own mistakes. If there is a way for me to free him from his bounds, I will do whatever it takes. But there wasn't a solution the first time, and I'm afraid there won't be now."
"If nothing else works, I will have to kill him." Killer cautioned, even though Elelyon was fully aware of that inescapable reality. "I don't like it, but the alternative is allowing Typhon to win. Juggernaut will be another innocent victim of this war, and the blood will once again be on my hands... but even so, I will not hesitate."
"I'm glad to hear it." Elelyon replied with sincerity. "Because Juggernaut won't pull back his punches once he is awakened. He will try to destroy you, and the longer you take to defeat him, the stronger he'll become. Whatever we do, we must not allow the fight to stretch on and on. We'll have to be quick."
Killer nodded in silence, and Elelyon leaned a bit against Ruin's side, taking a deep and drawn-out breath before opening his beautiful eyes again, murmuring: "Do not hesitate, Killer. I'm sure that death will be a form of liberation for Juggernaut, especially if Typhon has corrupted him. He will finally be free..."
The voice of the reptile died down in an uneasy, painful silence, leaving Killer looking at the countless clones crowding the trenches and manning the grenade machine guns in the bunkers guarding the wasteland. Something weird had caught his eye, and as he observed with attention his eyes narrowed and his fangs grit as he realized what was wrong: the clones came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Most of Typhon's army had consisted of mass-produced Paladins for most of the duration of the war, but over time a number of other, more powerful variants had been put into service. Executioners were Paladins on steroids, quite literally: their bodies were massively enhanced and expanded. They had far greater strength and carried around monstrously oversized weapons that could tear through entire ranks of enemies. Normally they favored huge axes and halberds, and that was what had inspired the name choice. Purifiers were clad in an almost impenetrable full-body armor that made them relatively slow but nearly unkillable. They had massive hunchbacks that actually hid special tanks inside of which electromagnetic fields kept a mass of Unworld residue into suspension. They could them blast out beams of the deadly substance through a heavy, square-barreled weapon similar to a flamethrower. They were extremely dangerous and could literally liquefy entire troops. But now Killer could see all sort of mutations, some beautiful and some absolutely hideous: there were massive warriors clad in armor-like exoskeletons of silvery plates; grotesque beasts that had four skeletal blade-arms sticking out of their backs; semi-liquid bodies that only had a vague humanoid shape and constantly shifted and morphed as curved blades and long thorns and spikes jutted out of their forms. Killer trailed his gaze from east to west and back again, moving from a trench to another and clenching on the reins of Ruin so hard that the metal groaned audibly and deformed while his biceps bulged explosively and his chest trembled visibly with rage and disgust. The list of mutations was infinite, and there were only limited numbers of copies of each creature. A few hundreds, or maybe thousands, but in any case numbers infinitely smaller than the ridiculous quantity of Paladins produced during the earlier phases of the war. Clearly, the small numbers were not due to a shortage of factories and raw materials, because when summed together the small fleets added up to an immense armada... no, the extreme variety was merely the confirmation that Typhon had been obsessively tampering with life, with magic, with technology and with genetics, trying to create weapons that could compete with Killer's fearsome power. More than that, Typhon was using all of those unfortunate creatures as test subjects: they were all prototypes. Each mutation added a new ability, more power, more survivability, more magic potential or other enhancements, but the quality of the work on each type was, in general, low. They were crude realizations thrown together in a hurry, and every prototype had evident weaknesses in this or that part of the body. Undoubtedly, Typhon was trying out enhancements that he then hoped to have implanted in his own body, obviously in a far more refined way.
He turned sideways and traded a look with Alexis and the femme fatale nodded with a grimace of disgust. It was clear to both of them that Typhon was growing increasingly desperate and, as a consequence, increasingly dangerous and insane: the creatures with the massive skeletal arm-blades on the back were clearly mutated Arkangels, which almost certainly meant he had imprisoned them and experimented on them against their will. The liger began to fear for the fate of the entire population of Caernarvon. Maybe it was already too late for all of them.
"We should send a more reassuring message to the civilians, if we want to truly give them a reason to run out of town." Alexis wisely observed, before grinning as she jerked her head in the direction of Mriya and Elaine towering on the horizon. "The girls delivered the scary warning very well, but we have to give them hope, too, or they'll just run around in circles screaming until their throats burn."
Killer nodded in quiet agreement and Elelyon cleared his throat slightly before softly proposing: "I can speak to them myself, if you'll allow it. They... they are still my people, in a way."
"Please, do." Killer immediately said, and Elelyon bowed his head respectfully before moving a couple of steps away from Ruin, until he was on the very edge of the hilltop, hugging himself slightly as he gathered his thoughts and tried to choose the right words... assuming that "right" words existed, especially in such a delicate case.
"My children..." He finally said, and there was a visible ripple of energy that shot through the air and reached the distant town, filling every mind with the clear image of Elelyon's face, of his smile that was at once apology and salute. "It is good to finally speak to you again, after all this time. I wish I could have spoken to you earlier. I wish I had never left... I've missed you all terribly." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes and repressing a shiver of pain that Killer, having already spent some time with him, easily recognized for what it was. Hopefully, the people of Caernarvon had not picked it up: such weakness was not something to advertise. Killer and Alexis winced a moment later, shutting their eyes with matching grimaces of discomfort as their minds were flooded by confused and awed comments and questions and shocked thoughts as millions of souls within the walls of the capital suddenly came to grip with the fact that God had truly returned and was speaking to them all in person.
"War does not ask us what we'd like to do. War only ever takes away... and it forced me to fight battles far away from here, away from your eyes and your ears and, unfortunately, even away from your hearts, it seems. I know that many of you do not believe me anymore, and I do not blame them. I've given you plenty of good reasons to doubt of my judgment and actions. My mistakes have caused the civil war and precipitated our world into this tragedy. But I beg you to listen to my advice one last time: abandon Caernarvon. Your lives are in danger if you remain there. Abandon Typhon: he has fed you nothing but lies and used the resources of Heaven to wage an abominable war of conquest, just as monstrous as Satan's own plan of hegemony. He told you for all these years that God is infallible; just because it reinforced his power over you all. Remember what I always told you: I'm not infallible, and I never will be. No one is infallible." Elelyon paused briefly, to give his words time to penetrate hearts and minds, and Killer blinked, trying to seal his mind from the endless murmuring and whispering caused by millions of souls thinking, doubting, and trying to take decisions.
"Typhon has betrayed me and you all. He used Heaven to further his aims. He told you to work for the greater glory of Heaven, but it was always all for his own gain, and for no one else's. Heaven does not need any more glory than it used to have. Remember how it all began. Hell used to be one with Heaven. We were, and we still should be, a single family." Elelyon said, and his voice gained more strength as he looked up at the sky and expressed his true beliefs and his vision. "I never wanted to just certify virtues and mortify mistakes. It was never my intention to divide people across different dimensions on the basis of how well they managed to follow my lead. My intent was to educate and help along, in the hope that, over time, we'd all learn to live peacefully and happily together. Hell was meant to be a passage, a temporary last resort. It had to teach, not torment. It had to lead to Heaven, not to eternal perdition. Typhon turned the entire concept on its head... but I hope you will agree with me that it was a mistake. A crime, on his part."
Elelyon closed his eyes, shifting a bit on the spot and squeezing a bit harder on his scarred, ruined abdomen, trying to ease the pain that tormented him, and yet he had the strength to smile radiantly, with endless affection for his children as he announced: "We have a chance to start anew. I have much to apologize and atone for, and I will do all it takes to make up for my mistakes. I will help you in rebuilding our world, if you will allow me to walk with you on this difficult path. Lord Killer, the Amon-Ra, the savior of Azura's prophecy, will keep us all safe and lead us into a new age. He has protected Heaven in my absence and he has defended my laws and my teachings while Typhon worked to warp them out of shape. Many of you saw him as a threat, as a danger... even as a monster. Typhon told you all that he is an enemy of Heaven and of everything that is good. But that is a lie. I'm with him now, looking over my beloved Caernarvon, the home I built for my children. The home I failed to protect adequately... and I know that he will not repeat my mistakes. He is a friend to us all. He is our protector." Elelyon paused, then added firmly: "He is our God. He stands between us and the oblivion. Between us and the darkness. If we follow him, we will be saved, because he'll be our shield and our sword, our light and our guide. If we wander away from him, the darkness will consume us... for we are not strong enough to resist the everlasting night that is coming, and of which Typhon is but a mere component.
Do not fear the Amon-Ra. Do not believe the lies. Walk out of your homes, and join us with confidence. and you will be saved. Do not fear, my children. Walk to the walls of Caernarvon, and find the courage to leave it behind your backs. Only by leaving it behind you will have the certainty of returning to it! Killer's disciples will breach the walls and offer you a chance to escape. We will be there to meet you; you will be safe. Do not hesitate, I beg you. I have no right to ask you to trust me again, but I have to. Please, allow me to help you all." Elelyon fell silent, and Killer clearly felt the mind link closing. There were a few moments of silent hesitation, then all sort of thoughts and prayers and curses filled his mind again as the people of Caernarvon considered their options and tried to make their decision.
"Will it work...?" Killer asked after a moment, slowly rubbing a hand against his temple as his head pounded despite his best attempts to shut all the noise out.
"I don't know, but I hope so. Someone will listen... but who knows how many." Elelyon sincerely replied, looking thoughtfully at the distant walls and at the rooftops beyond, before adding: "I hope many will listen. I'd like to think everyone will, but that would be kidding myself..."
"We will need to secure the breaches, or the troops of Typhon will rapidly close it and keep the civilians trapped inside." Alexis warned, and Killer nodded in agreement, adding: "Let's try not to be too scary to the civilians, either. No need to size up. Let's not be too overwhelming. The Praetorians already delivered the message."
"Agreed. I think Vesta and Elelyon should be the first ones they see, but we'll need to open up more breaches. Manticora, Ira, Diana... let's have the angels up front. That should be reassuring for those poor souls." Alexis suggested, and Killer had no difficulties seeing how reasonable her words were.
"Won't you set me loose, then...? Oh, come on, let me go!" Sekhmeth playfully whined, grinning widely as Killer turned to gaze at her with a little smile. She had silently sneaked up on them and now she slammed her fist into the palm of the other hand, idly flexing her spectacular musculature. "What? Am I not a reassuring presence?"
She wore a new set of leathers of a fiery red that contrasted beautifully with her jet black fur. Thick straps struggled to contain her mighty quads, and her open-toe boots, with their metallic high heels, reached up to her knees while doing nothing but underlining the size and power of her calves and legs. The tight corset pushed her prodigious breasts together, so that her cleavage could leave men and women staring and drooling in awe, especially as three sturdy belts of white leather and golden metal squeezed on the huge swells, causing them to almost overflow from the top of the dress. Her powerful abs were exposed, showing through large slits in the corset, and her back was almost completely bare, so that her flexing muscles were on full display, together with the glowing lightning-bolt tattoos. She had taken up from Alexis the habit of wearing fingerless gloves and she had had added a couple of thick bracelets of gold and precious stones, as well as a crimson KO tattoo on the thigh, just above the glowing tribal bull that seemed to truly charge whenever her muscles flexed and bulged.
"You are many things, Sekhmeth, but reassuring... certainly not." Killer amusedly said, grinning as he admired her formidable body and met her sapphire eyes, getting an affectionate, accomplice wink from her. The lioness looked at herself, and then nodded with a grin as she admitted: "I might be a bit overwhelming, yeah. But please, let me destroy those clones down there... let me erase all of their puny defences. Let me annihilate them in your name. Let everyone see that Destruction is under your command."
She hungrily looked down at the plain scarred by trenches and crowded by beasts of all types, and she arched her back a little, flexing as she balled her hands into fists, then tilted her head to the side and gazed up at him with her best puppy eyes, pursing her black lips slightly and begging: "Please.... Please, daddy..."
"Don't size up and don't overdo it. No "collateral damage" allowed, you hear me...?" Killer said, looking down at her sternly, and she nodded in a hurry while licking her muzzle hungrily, her dexterous black tongue lolling out as she flexed and pointed her hands at the first of the trenches down below, making a rising gesture and easily dragging a large group of mutant beasts off the ground, hefting them high up in the air before she snarled and clenched her hands into fists, causing them all to explode into thick splatters of crimson gore, before she idly threw a couple of jabs at the air, grinning sharkishly as her terrifying power exploded out of her knuckles in waves that tore for miles through the plain, digging deep canyons and disintegrating several kilometers of trenches into huge clouds of dust and blood. Killer looked at all that casual devastation with a little smirk, unable to completely hide the cruel entertainment, the pleasure he took from that monstrous disparity of power. He didn't want Elelyon to see just how excited and even aroused it made him, even though he was certain that the ancient Creator could feel it all too clearly, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. "Once you get to the walls, punch a breach in them but stop there. Defend the people that try to come out of town. No abuses, no bullying, okay? If they exit on their own, fine, otherwise leave them where they are. They must make their choices." Killer commanded, and the goddess nodded, shuddering under his gaze as she flexed again, energy crackling around her as she saw a grin spreading on his muzzle, and then she gave a deep purr when he added simply: "And make it good."
"Yes, Master. As you wish." Sekhmeth bowed her head, then seemed to vanish from the spot as she sprinted eagerly forwards, her speed literally putting lightning to shame as she charged straight at the first bunker in line, dropping her shoulder and barreling through the structure of reinforced concrete like it was made of biscuit, trampling the Paladins inside and crushing their heavy weaponry underfoot before spinning around easily, thrusting one palm forth and blasting out a solid shockwave of force that vaporized the rest of the building before its falling pieces could even hit the ground.
She landed with a cackle, easily sidestepping a couple of rockets fired against her before leaping into the first trench, slamming her feet down on the skull of a mutated clone and crushing him into the dirt in a splatter of blood, grinning widely as she easily danced her way around the vicious stabs of enormous blades sticking out of the arms of a mutant monstrosity, getting close to his chest and then clawing into his shoulders, ripping him in two with a flex of her glorious musculature.
Killer watched on with a little smirk of dark delight as a group of Paladins turned around to block the trench by forming a solid wall of shields, each enormous circle of metal glowing bright white light as they began blasting holy energy against the goddess only to have her charging fearlessly into their ranks, slamming into the center of their line with her shoulder and knocking one Paladin flying away like a doll before she slapped the others hard against the walls of the trench on either side, crumpling their armor like it was paper and sending blood spraying up in a fine red mist.
An enormous beast apparently created by fusing together multiple clones and cladding them with a layer of steel plates and shifting, ever-regenerating tentacles reached down with its multiple huge arms to grab her, but Sekhmeth only laughed in merciless amusement, once more exploiting her speed and grace to spin on the spot, shifting just enough to let the enormous hands miss her so she could grip into one and drag the enormous monster hard down, smacking his multiple heads into the top edge of the trench. She slipped under his huge mass as he howled in pain and fury, and the next sound they heard was a terrifying explosion, followed by a burst of blood rising up from the back of the creature as the lioness's fist tore right through him. The beast was knocked flying backwards with a howl of rage more than pain, its mutant body immediately working to close the wound and regenerate, but Sekhmeth lashed out a turning kick so ferocious that it tore all his heads off, sending them crashing far away into the wasteland and the monster stumbling backwards, flailing wildly at the air with his huge, multiple arms. The lioness recovered from the kick with a graceful half-spin and then somersaulted, slamming a vicious double kick into his broken chest and causing its torso to apparently explode into bloody pieces.
The Paladins behind the enormous creature were showered in blood and gore and had to move rapidly backwards to avoid being crushed under the huge corpse, but already a thick phalanx had formed, with the huge round shields forming a solid wall that jutted with an infinity of spears and halberds. Other clones and mutants were climbing out of the trench to push the flanks, with Paladins forming walls of shield all around her to box her in as Purifiers came up from behind and prepared to flood the trench with Unworld residue. For a brief moment Killer was worried for Sekhmeth and he almost spurred Ruin into a charge, but the goddess of destruction only grinned and charged at the wall of spears, somehow able to twist her spectacular body around the dozens of blades viciously lunging forwards before she slammed her fist through one shield and the skull of the Paladin hiding behind it, turning his head into a splatter of red while she swung the broken shield sideways and decapitated another mutant with its edge, ramming her way through the wall of shields and then spreading her arms with a roar as she allowed some of her terrible energies to blast out of her in an eruption of electricity that incinerated the Paladins closer to her and hurled the others around in a massive explosion. Corpses and smoldering pieces of armor rained down over the wasteland as a mile of trench was disintegrated and turned into a deep, vast crater, and Killer looked down at his powerful arm as some of the crimson rain landed on him. Sekhmeth was already moving on through the Purifiers, her fists tearing through their thick armor like it wasn't even there and the Unworld residue floating all around her and then exploding out over her enemies instead of touching her flesh. Her non-tattoos glowed brightly as energy cursed through her form with her bloodlust and the blue lightning bolts on her muscular back seemed to ripple and move, leaving him staring with a little smile of affection and desire. He liked her, a lot... and even Alexis had welcomed Sekhmeth into the family with true pleasure, despite what the goddess of destruction had done.
A couple of weeks had passed from Killer's return from the arena. He had arrived with Ira at his side, the cobra's hands firmly holding on to an incandescent chain leash tied to the collar around the lioness's neck. Sekhmeth had been on all fours, but even in that position she didn't lose any of her predatory majesty, and when he had ordered her to reveal the truth, the other Disciples had listened in amazement more than rage. Even Katy and Sylvia, who had gone very close to being raped into pieces by Killer when he was under Sekhmeth's influence, had accepted her apologies with relative ease: Katy had almost immediately been able to leave that page of the past behind. The angel had welcomed the goddess into the clan, and she had only briefly taken part in the lioness's public punishment: Killer and Alexis had split-roasted Sekhmeth and had so savagely fucked her that even with the apparent insatiability she had ended up begging for a break... and then for mercy when Killer had not only warped time so he could once more triplicate himself, but he had even called Lilith forwards, adding her humongous horsecock to the mix. Over the course of twelve days, Sekhmeth had been used and abused in every possible and impossible way: she had been completely torn apart several times over, leaving Killer and Alexis kissing and fucking in the middle of unrecognizable piles of gore. When they had started running out of ideas they had urged the other Disciples to offer their suggestions and make their requests. The invite was especially valid for Katy and Sylvia, who had every right to demand revenge for how Sekhmeth had almost destroyed their lives offering them as sacrifices to Killer to make him stronger and to finally destroy his self-control and all his restraints. Katy had blushed and had put forwards a few requests, but they were relatively tame... the worst she demanded was for Killer, Alexis and Lilith to cockslap Sekhmeth to death by crushing her skull into bits with their enormous shafts. Sylvia had watched every moment with a mix of horror and ecstasy, eyes open wide and very rarely able to blink closed as she gaped at the sheer ferocity of the acts playing out over and around a large altar of dark stone that was caked crimson with old, dried blood. Despite being encouraged to demand punishments for her almost-destroyer, Sylvia had ended up only watching, her cheeks burning as she played needingly with her sex, her labia blossomed and eager for him as her nectar dribbled almost ceaselessly out of her depths. She had watched and watched, panting and groaning, crying and wincing in front of that endless succession of massacres as Sekhmeth rapidly regenerated after each slaughter, her life and soul contained by her collar and forced to experience every excruciating moment.
Elaine and Mriya were the nastier and most savage with their suggestions, and they also made sure to document every moment of the slaughter by setting up multiple cameras. They hungrily joined mom and dad when they pierced meat hooks through Sekhmeth's form and left her hanging from the roof while they gutted her, peeling open her ribcage like it was merely the wrap around a tasty piece of candy and devouring her insides while she squirmed and bucked and cried and panted. Elaine asked Killer to fuck Sekhmeth so hard to tear his cock through her belly and bend her forwards hard so he could thrust right up into her throat at the same time, and that was one of the gentlest requests. It had gotten so vicious that Ira had ordered the new Inquisitors of Hell to sit on the terraces around the altar chamber to study the depravity and violence of that torture. In one memorable session Killer, Alexis and Lilith rammed their colossal cocks up the lioness's ass while three Killers violated her ruined vagina. It had been absolutely insane, and it had only been possible because the dark god used his own energies to keep Sekhmeth's body together even as it deformed horrendously.
Sekhmeth was punished very severely for attempting to mess with Killer's mind and trying to steal away Alexis's place at his side, but admittedly it was only in part a torture: the goddess liked it far too much for it to be a true punishment. Killer, however, considered it fair enough, since he could only admit that her actions had given him a lot of pleasure and an immense amount of power and skills. The truth was that none of the Disciples was truly sorry for what Sekhmeth had made him do: thankfully he had spared Sylvia and Katy, while the planets he had annihilated were enemy worlds. Sure, that didn't mean that there weren't innocents on them, but it made it easier to live with that awareness.
The savage game ended after sixteen days and eighteen hours, when Sekhmeth's body was no longer regenerating properly and her mind was completely in tatters. She had found the strength to look up at Killer with a weak but grateful grin, though, and after that she had spent a while under Diana's careful custody. She had recovered extremely quickly, but Killer had expected nothing less from her.
With that, he considered her debts paid in full... although the first thing he did after bathing with Alexis was visiting Elelyon in his room, to talk about everything that had happened, and ask for his advice. Could he trust Sekhmeth? Should he? Had his action been... well, not good, they definitely weren't. But were they right, or at least acceptable? What could he have done differently?
Sylvia had walked out of the dungeon wearing two tattoos that she had asked Vicky to draw while they stared at Sekhmeth's punishment. One was the infamous KO mark, the other was the painful, yet arousing "Killer Always Wins". She had finally surrendered and had "joined the fold", although still with some well understandable reservations. She took a few days to truly accept the fact that Sekhmeth walked free around Eaglenest, with her sins pardoned and with her status of Disciple fully confirmed. Eventually, it had stopped looking wrong: Sylvia had started to interpret it as yet another confirmation that Killer always won.
And now, while Sekhmeth cheerfully destroyed Typhon's genetic, biotic and cybernetic experiments, Killer smiled a bit to himself and quietly asked: "Still convinced I did the right thing with her...?"
Elelyon bowed his head forwards with a little smirk of entertainment at that, but then looked at the lioness in the distance as she spread her arms and roared, summoning her terrifying desert winds: the dry, incandescent air loaded with diamond-dust shot by them with immense force, and a moment later they saw the sandstorm blowing into a couple of trenches, rapidly incinerating and grinding into powder the mutants that crowded them.
"I'm absolutely sure of it, Killer. She accepted to stop at the Walls without a single protest, after all. Had I ordered it, she would have tried to ignore my words in some ways. She was always very good at finding loopholes... or at just not caring about anything, in the worst cases." Elelyon calmly said, smiling and giving a little nod. "She is happy now. She is finally happy, and it is great to see. I'm sure she told you a lot about her past lovers and how disappointing they were... and a lot about me. I could never give her anything of what she wanted."
"Well..." Killer embarrassedly began, before coughing a bit. She had told him indeed, but he didn't want to talk about it.
"No need to feel embarrassed, Killer." Elelyon amusedly remarked, shaking his head a bit. "She always had hungers and needs that are to be expected in a Destroyer... plus others normally associated with high tier demons of Lust. But that too is understandable, I think. She is splendid and she knows it. She likes to show off her beauty as well as her strength, knowing full well the effect she has on others. She knows how much desire she puts into males..." His voice died away a little with that, and he silently admired the lioness as she advanced fearlessly through a minefield, ignoring the explosions and letting her energy discharge in violent bolts into the ground so that all mines detonated all around her. Killer coughed a bit at that, and Elelyon looked at him before nodding, quietly admitting: "Yes, that includes me. I might not show it often, but I'm a male too, Killer. I'm not immune to her charm... or to Alexis's." He added, looking at the femme fatale and bowing deeply for her. "She never was interested in me, though, and I never really tried to make that change: if she bedded me, she'd snap me in half like a twig. It just wouldn't be wise for me."
Killer blushed a bit at that admission on Elelyon's side, but the reptilian god only smiled in amusement, shrugging a little and then reassuring: "You can trust her, Killer. Sekhmeth can be scary, but she is loyal: for what I've seen of her over the millennia, when she promises something she lives up to her word. It was a struggle getting her to agree to a rule-based order, but once she accepted to sit in the Council of the 7 Gods and follow the law she never broke her promise. She grumbled and more than a few times ran away from reunions when they turned too boring for her, but she always behaved." Elelyon paused, then turned towards Killer and gently stroked a hand down Ruin's massive side, smiling as he added: "If she was loyal enough to keep her promise to me, you have nothing to worry about. Her promise to you was made with far greater enthusiasm, and it is literally part of her new self. It is built into her body and soul. And she likes you a hell of a lot more, simply put."
"That is reassuring." Killer replied, nodding with a smile, before adding: "I have every intention to keep her happy... within the limits, of course."
"I'm glad to hear it. She's finally happy, like she never was before... and believe me, I truly am glad for it." Elelyon quietly said, looking at the lioness as she went from mutant to mutant, cutting through them like a scythe through corn, her fire whips floating in the air around her and slashing down viciously over the trenches, filling them with dark, eternal fire that consumed Paladins and monsters into nothing but smelly, black sludge and ashes. The whips tore up the ground, sending up clouds of dust and debris as the trenches were erased and the ungodly tangles of razor wire torn apart and blown away, tearing a clear path towards the walls.
"You will need shields to protect all the people coming out through the breaches. Typhon won't let them go without a fight." A deep voice announced, and Killer turned around with a little smile, welcoming William as the Arkangel walked up to them, bowing to Alexis as he passed. The huge tiger that had been Killer's mentor when the liger was just a young kid of royal ascent was now one of the most famous and glorious warriors of Heaven. He had been a fighter for all of his life. Before Killer's glory days as general of the kingdom's army, William had been the war hero and the leader that had guided his soldiers in the charges that had kept Kesteven safe. He had been a tough master for the young Killer, putting the prince through endless training sessions that verged on the purely brutal side, but despite all the grumbles and curses that Killer had muttered while half-freezing to death swimming in the arctic ocean and running over the pack, they had never been on bad terms. William did not just order him around, but always led by example. He ran at Killer's side... or, more accurately, for quite a while he ran well ahead of him. The prince had employed years to match his mentor... but then he had surpassed him, and that was a confirmation of just how well William worked to enhance and develop his abilities.
William always had an amazing war story to tell when they finally sat down near a fire at the end of each long, torturing day of exercise, and that had given Killer extra motivation to reach the night in one piece... while also ensuring that he saw his mentor not just as an example but also a friend.
They had fought together against Kesteven's enemies and William had been Killer's second in command in the struggle against Dark and its NWOA armada. William had also tried to get Killer to reason when he decided to leave his homeland to pursue adventure abroad, but in that one struggle he had ultimately failed. They had met again when Riaku had invaded Kesteven, and during the ferocious fighting in the streets of the capital William had lost his life, throwing himself in the way of a burst of cannon fire aimed at Killer. Thankfully, William was a force of nature even as a soul and he had managed to escape from the corrupted Reapers determined to drag him down to Hell: he had been helped by other lost comrades, already turned into angels, and he managed to reach the Hall of Heroes, in the Meadows of Heaven.
With the war against Hell raging, William had immediately ended up on a battlefield again and he had rapidly climbed the ranks to become an Arkangel, a true guardian of Heaven. He had gathered the souls of all the other tigers coming up from the mortal world, fighting back the Reapers when necessary. He had welcomed even the dead soldiers of Riaku's army: the Northlands were a land of warriors and heroes and every tiger had been training and fighting life-long to achieve victory on the battlefield, so they were all ready and willing. In a very short time he had formed up a new Legion which, albeit small in numbers, represented a fighting force unmatched by any other formation of angels.
With Vesta's enthusiastic support, the Legio XXX, 30th, the "Victrix", had been born, and since then the Legion had covered itself in glory during the conflict against Hell and then during the entire civil war as well. The exceptional results on the battlefield were not without a cost: William had picked up numerous new scars, and the Legion itself had lost many of the early members. Even with more and more tigers dying in the fighting on Earth it had been difficult to keep the legion up to acceptable strength, to the point that it had eventually been opened to warriors of other races, as long as they had what it took to keep up. The XXX Legion was known for its physical superiority: the tigers had the size and the strength needed to literally tackle even the Gigataurs of the demonic heavy infantry formations and they could tank a lot of damage. The tigers, in fact, always carried enormous, heavy shields and used them to form unbreakable phalanxes that could act as mobile fortresses or as living tanks, holding terrain or pushing deep through the enemy lines. Being shield-bearers was the greatest honor for the members of the Legion, and one reserved to the most powerful and imposing soldiers. There was a smaller number of embedded combatants armed with long range heavy weapons, but despite being valued for their contribution they just weren't in the same league: their place was behind the wall of shields. From there they could hit the enemy with overwhelming firepower and astounding accuracy, but the real honors were reserved for those out in front.
"Always first into the breach." Alexis observed, nodding towards William in appreciation for his and the legion's efforts, and the warrior gave her a little grin as he confirmed: "That's what we do."
William had a twin hook-blade in each hand, and those heavy, cruel weapons were connected to massive chains wrapped all around his arms and around his massive biceps. The chains were connected to the large pauldrons protecting his shoulders and they were imbued with holy energy that made them eternally incandescent. Ethereal white flames danced slowly around each hook and energy crackled back and forth along the chains, which could lengthen a great deal to hit enemies far away from him. His heavy breastplate was covered in gashes and dents, still very visible even though he had smoothed them out and cleaned and polished every piece of his armor with almost religious fervor. Two old but well kept holsters strapped to the armor plates protecting his hips and quads were filled by two enormous handguns with monstrous square barrels: they were ancient, but also terribly powerful. They kicked like angry horses when the trigger was pulled, but they hit with such devastating strength that even demons tended to crash backwards in broken heaps. William had them even before dying, and he had modified them once in Heaven to better fit his increased sizes and strength. With advanced ammunition and holy magic added by carving runes in the thick barrels, they had more than delivered the desired effect even in the supernatural realm.
The Arkangel looked down as Sekhmeth obliterated another of the crowded trenches by sending a bolt of dark energy exploding through its length, pushing up a huge, scary cloud of dust and blood and gore, and he nodded a little when her fire-whips slashed out against one of the massive bastions in the walls of Caernarvon, cutting the enormous rail gun on top into two incandescent pieces of wreckage and causing much of the large tower to explode in a hailstorm of fragments. "Looks like she'll do all the work by herself, anyway." The titanic Praetorians moved forwards as well as Killer's eyes glowed sapphire and his mental orders reached the goddesses. Their steps rattled the world as the ground caved in and revolted under their mass and power as they took slow, deliberate steps on top of troops and bunkers and trenches. They were making rapid progress, tearing down Typhon's defences and opening wide and comfortable highways that would soon reach the walls of the capital.
"We are going to breach the walls in multiple points, so the people inside have more chances to escape." Killer pointed out, and William nodded while the Legion broke down into cohorts that prepared to march into the valley. "Secure the breaches, and protect the people that come out. Do not enter the capital yet, though. Don't go past the walls, or Juggernaut might awaken before the evacuation is complete. If things get complicated call me and I'll come right away."
Killer was still learning to fully master his ability to exploit localized modifications in the flow of time to achieve omnipresence, but he could already appear at once in a fair number of places, even separated by a great distance one for the other. He was confident that, if the situation turned sour, he could show up at most of the breaches and help fight back whatever Typhon might still have hidden within town.
"If Michael shows up, call me instead. The little fucker is mine!" Vesta shouted from the back, where she was getting her own Legion ready to march. Her Legion was technically the II, although it was just as ancient as the first. The "Praesidio Inferos" was formed specifically to guard over Hell when it still was just a province of Heaven, and it had always been composed of Seraphims. The Legio I, the "Primigenia" was once made up of Arkangels and was commanded by Gabriel. Now the name lived on in a formation led by Adrasthea and formed by Seraphims.
"I'll keep that in mind." William confirmed, smiling as he turned around and held his fist up, roaring: "3-0, ready to move!"
The tigers roared and slammed their fists on their hearts, producing a rumble louder than thunder, before the cohorts spaced out and marched rapidly into the valley. Killer and Alexis traded a look, then gave a nod to Elelyon and he stepped back a little, whispering a good luck while they spurred their huge stallions onwards, launching them in a charge downhill. Flames erupted from both stallions, turning them into comets of destruction, an avalanche of flames that steamrolled the trenches and cut through the cruel forests of razor wire, mines and sharp steel poles. Heavy artillery opened fire blindly into that inferno, but many of the shells didn't even explode, incinerated in midair before they could strike, and even as the clones turned heavy machine guns and grenade launchers towards the two, they failed to slow down their terrifying charge. Sekhmeth and the Praetorians advanced with the same ease, crushing bunkers and clearing trenches, filling them over with dirt and turning them into tombs for countless mutant monstrosities. The tigers of the 30th Legion advanced behind each goddess, while another cohort followed Killer and Alexis. They advanced rapidly over scorched land where no enemy was left standing, and they held up their shields to form impenetrable mobile "boxes" of steel and spears against which the bursts of machine gun and even the few grenades making it past the gods in the vanguard could do little.
It still sounded and looked like an inferno, however, as explosions surrounded Killer on all sides and the shrapnel clanged against his heavy armour or bounced off his impenetrable musculature, while rockets shot past leaving behind trails of smoke and tracer rounds screamed all around, leaving behind luminous streaks of burning chemical. Ruin leapt right over a large trench and Killer almost absently hurled a large sphere of energy down into it just as several Paladins sprung up and stabbed their spears towards the horse's belly. The large sphere smashed into them with enough force to knock them sprawling in every direction before the explosion turned them into nothing but clouds of crimson mist, before black flames fired out along the length of the trench, almost erasing it from sight as it filled with charred corpses and smoldering dirt.
He looked up to the bastions in the distance as the titanic rail guns opened fire, but Alexis's eyes burned sapphire as she "caught" the gigantic darts in midair and hurled them back against the cannons, disintegrating them... and when they started to get closer to the walls magic barriers and traps began to explode, while the runes traced by the metatrons glowed brightly on the colossal blocks of stone that composed the great towers.
Sekhmeth laughed of the barriers, shouldering her way through them with a cackle and then simply blasting an entire bastion out of existence with a huge ball of fire, before slashing her whip against the wall itself, gouging deep into the white stone and erasing countless runes, interrupting their effect... and as soon as they flickered out of view and died away, the magic barriers that made it impossible to fly over the wall began to dissolve, allowing Ira to lead Veronika into a dive. The dragons strafed the base of the wall, melting even the stone blocks and erasing even more of the metatrons' magic, and then they arched up and over the bastions, vomiting white fire onto the gun emplacements and the great, monstrous railguns, turning Paladins and mutants into nothing but ashes.
Killer looked towards Ira and her dragoness as they led a group of dragonknight Seraphims in a wide turn along the wall of the town, and all the enormous beasts breathed their tremendous fire in an unending wave of death and destruction that cleansed several bastions and a long strength of the embattlements, melting and shattering the majestic parapet like it was made of nothing but dry wood. They abode by his order, never venturing over the town itself, but made pass after pass over the bastions, giving hell to the defenders who were forced to run desperately away from the deluge of fire, while the great cannons turned this way and that as they tried to stop the aerial onslaught.
Sekhmeth charged through the wall with a laughter, smashing it into bits with a mighty blow of her shoulder and punching a wide breach open, and then she stood on top of the huge pile of rubble, roaring towards the capital but not moving another stop forwards. The Praetorians tore open their own breaches, and Killer and Alexis disintegrated a vast portion of the wall right near a massive bastion. Immediately, the tigers coming up behind them charged up the mountains of rubble and formed a defensive front into the breach, while William ran towards the bastion and hurled his hooked blades up into two Paladins that were firing large assault rifles into the advancing Legion. The blades tore right through them both, dragging behind the long chains that normally rested wrapped around the arkangel's massive biceps, and William yanked on these to fly into the air, reaching the top of the tower in a split second and drawing out his heavy handguns to blast round after round in the beasts that charged against him. Other tigers rapidly climbed the steep walls of the bastions and others flew right on top as more and more runes flickered out and died, drained of all energy or erased by direct attacks, and within moments the 30th Legion had secured a firing position on the high ground, overlooking the breach.
Killer and Alexis waited, trading a look halfway between curious and nervous as they gazed at the streets ahead, seemingly devoid of life, wondering whether anyone was going to try and come out at all. It took a couple moments before a few doors cautiously opened in the buildings nearby, and civilians fearfully ventured outside... before both ligers recoiled in a surprise as people rushed out of seemingly everywhere, making a run for safety as a veritable river of people swelled up in mere instants and flowed towards the breach.
There were a few angels, even some Arkangels, still carrying their weapons and acting as vanguard and escort, protecting the flanks of the vast group of civilians as Paladins and mutants began to rush to the scene as well. Alarms blared in the distance and the troops that had been concentrated some distance away from the walls, in reserve, were now being ordered forwards to close the breaches... or better, as it immediately became available, to try and slaughter the civilians that tried to leave. Angels, mages and even some metatrons took position in the rear to use their powers to create defensive shields as the incoming Paladins opened fire on the crowd, and the column of people rushed forth all the faster. The tigers of the 30th Legion moved out to either side to open a passage for the civilians, helping them to climb the steep hill of rubble and sending towards safe collection areas organized at a safe distance from the wall. Killer considered their options, wondering if they shouldn't perhaps push right into the town to help the defenders of the column of fleeting people, but he decided, however reluctantly, to stay put. The situation seemed under control for the moment and he couldn't risk waking up Juggernaut now that thousands upon thousands of vulnerable benevolents were trying to run to safety. Part of him was eager to rush forwards to fight and to help all those terrified souls... but the other part of him bitterly reflected on how most, if not all of those same souls had deliberately chosen to side with Typhon right to the end. They had had to crash face-first into the painful reality of Typhon's actions before finally understanding that they had taken the wrong turn. They deserve the scare, don't they...?
The Praetorians sized down and took position on top of the wall together with the sharpshooters from the 30thLegion and many "Dark Wings" Seraphims with their massive longbows, and they immediately began to take down the enemies at long range. William looked down from the bastion, meeting Killer's eyes for a moment, and then nodded without needing to say a word. "Covering fire!" Was the order he shouted, and his officers repeated it further down the line.
Killer dismounted from his massive horse, while Alexis guided Wrath in the other direction, walking towards a couple of officials to plan with them the evacuation of all those civilians. Admittedly, they hadn't dared expecting such a voluntary exodus and thus hadn't properly thought it out earlier. She sent some of the warriors of the 30thLegion back to clear and defend the necessary concentration areas. Portals were going to fix the rest of the problem, leading the civilians quickly away from the battle zone.
Killer instead walked forwards and took position on the side of the breach, crossing his enormous arms as he curiously studied the civilians walking past. There were entire families rushing out of that town-turned-prison, and he was pleased to see that most actually took the time to bow their heads to him, even if their eyes often betrayed panic at his appearance. Some eyes looked at him with evident hostility still, but he ignored it as best he could... and many others were actually overjoyed for his arrival, rushing forth to drop to their knees and kiss his armoured toes and the armour plates of his combat boots.
He tried to offer a word of reassurance here and there, but after a moment his eyes were drawn to a couple of benevolents in formal clothes marked with the Heavenly Council's symbol. They were carrying a wheelchair, one pulling from the front and the other hefting from the back, slowly and uncertainly climbing over the pile of rubble while apparently trying to hide behind the other civilians. They were guided by the whispered orders of a female squirrel with short hair and small rectangular glasses. She was clad in a business woman outfit that was about as conservative and un-feminine as they could be. Her long pants were just large enough to almost completely hide the shape of her legs and her jacket was buttoned close over a dark shirt: together, the two garments hid her breasts so well that they passed almost unnoticed, even though on closer look it became clear that they had to be pretty large and well shaped.
Her shoes had only a hint of heel, and she carried a small, simple rectangular bag hanging from one shoulder. Even with such horrendous and overly strict clothing it was clear that she actually had a firm and graceful body and her shapely buttocks just couldn't be camouflaged. There was a woman on the wheelchair, too, her lower body hidden under a blanket and her great breasts squeezed into a shirt buttoned up right to the neck. She was a mare and she must have been beautiful once... but now her features showed some wrinkles, as if she had aged even though Heaven normally didn't allow it. Her youth and beauty were somehow tarnished... and Killer noticed a moment later that her head was partially deformed as well: the skull was visibly dented on one side.
The scene, even hidden behind the crowd as it was, was so uncommon and suspicious that he frowned and studied it as best he could: with how tall he was it was very difficult to hide from him, despite the efforts the group was clearly making. The squirrel gasped when she saw him looking in their direction and she urged the two unfortunate servants to move faster, before barking a reprimand when one of them tripped over a large fragment of stone and nearly fell over, dragging down the mare on the wheelchair.
That only made Killer even more curious and he turned around to follow their procession before letting out a little sound of realization as he recognized the mare... and a merciless grin spread on his muzzle as his immense cock twitched, recognizing one of its many victims.
The mare was Xenia, senator of Heaven and immensely vexatious prototype of rich and arrogant bitch. A true aristocrat of Heaven and one of the most ancient Trueborns, the ones born and grown in the supernatural plane as immortals; Xenia had been one of the most vocal supporters of Typhon's interpretation of the destiny of Heaven. She was an elitist who used to love rambling about how Heaven was perfect and had the right to sit above all other dimensions, with its people ruling over the mass of sinful barbarians living on earth and in Hell. People of Heaven which would be, obviously, guided by her and people like her, Righteous among the Righteous, mighty among the mighty.
When Killer and Vesta had denounced Typhon's plans and tried to get the senate to reason and see the truth of what was happening she had barked accusations against both of them... and when the discussion had ended with Killer and Vesta accused of treason, she had sneered in delight.
Of course, right after that absurd conclusion Killer and Vesta had torn down the cage in which they had been forced to stand and the senators had quickly scampered away through portals... with the exception of Xenia. She had been caught, and Vesta had pinned her down while Killer shocked her by pulling out his monstrous black cock. He remembered it all clearly now... oh, how she had shrieked and cried and sobbed! But her cunt had wept out juice in submission and need despite her rage and her despair, and her traitorous body had bucked as best it could while he bulldozed his way in her virginal, unused sex. He had managed to bury less than half of his godlike cock inside her, but it had been enough to devastate her hole forever. Her blood had covered his abs and streaked down his immense balls while he brutally pummeled her, painfully bending her over while he savagely thrust in and out of her small, weak form. It had been just a quickie for him, but when he left she was unconscious and more dead than alive, her body buried under a thick, ungodly load of his cum and her breath turning into nothing but bubbles in the thick load.
The healers had brought her away from the desecrated room before the entire bunker had collapsed when Killer had sized up, shouldered his way out of the mountain and flooded the ruins with an arrogant, potent load of his excessive precum. Xenia had survived, but now he could see just how ruined she was, even after all the work of the healers. He could almost feel the tightness around his gigantic shaft as he thought back to the vicious rape, and he clearly remembered the sinister sounds made by her pelvis as his girth shattered it... and then her spine, which had snapped like a twig when he had rammed deeper inside her... and her skull had crunched inwards with a satisfactory crack when he had cockslapped her. The results were now evident: she was paralyzed from the abdomen downwards, crippled for life and with a deformed head. Her fake breasts had been rebuilt after he had squeezed and manhandled them hard enough to make them burst, and surgery had rebuilt her features, but what good was that? Her life was ruined and Killer was pretty sure that her mind was almost as broken as her vagina: few had survived his violent rapes without becoming brain-dead wrecks, and Xenia's empty, confused expression certainly suggested she didn't have much of an idea of what was happening.
"Holy crap." Vesta exclaimed as she pulled up near him, watching in the same direction with wide-open eyes, before she whispered: "Xenia...? Hell, I know I shouldn't, but I'm getting wet looking at that wheelchair..." Her voice died away, but her hand swiftly moved over to him, reaching under the large groin plate of his armor to grip into his immense shaft, squeezing on it as it pulsed hungrily. "Looks like I'm not alone in being evil. Would you like to finish the job...?" Killer gave her a look that was half-glare, half-prayer, silently asking her not to tease him any further, and she gave a wide grin, squeezing hard on his monstrous shaft until he answered her question: "Well... I've thought about it. But I'm more interested in that other girl escorting her."
Vesta looked at the squirrel for a moment, then made a bit of a grimace as she incredulously asked: "That cold fish...?"
"Look more closely. She bundled herself up like she wants to hide from the world, but if you peel away all those clothes you will find a little treasure." Killer easily replied, and Vesta took a second look, frowning before finally giving a grunt of agreement that turned into a purr as the huge male playfully added: "And turning a cold fish into a hot piece of meat is always fun. Especially so if she's attached to Xenia."
"I love the way you think." Vesta whispered, licking her muzzle slowly before she tugged him lightly forwards as she marched towards the weird group. "Let's go meet them."
"Wait, I wasn't serious...!" Killer half-heartedly said, trying to put a brake to her enthusiasm, but he stumbled forwards with her and that was enough to get the crowd to open up, giving him and Vesta wide berth and causing the squirrel to wince and squeak: "Don't come any closer, monsters!"
Her voice, even while rising in that squeak, turned out being pleasant, but she glared at Killer with indescribable hate and almost with true disgust... and that was enough to more or less erase the huge male's hesitation. The squirrel fumed and stomped a foot as Killer and Vesta ignored her and walked up to them as the two benevolents trembled and froze in place, slowly putting the wheelchair down. "To be very clear about this, monster, we are only walking out of town because of Elelyon, not of you!"
"Sister, Killer is in charge now. You'll better get used to it." Vesta easily replied, waving a hand dismissively.
The squirrel recoiled at that, looking at them as if they were aliens, or particularly disgusting creatures, then muttered: "Typical arrogance expected by a male affected by severe machismo... or, in this case, of a slut with too much testosterone."
"Well, fuck you too, bitch." Vesta countered, arching an eyebrow as she looked down at the much smaller female. "What the fuck are you? A wannabe psychologist?".
"I'm a lawyer and a writer!" The squirrel barked, looking at them with horror, seemingly unable to believe that they didn't know her, before she pointed her finger against Killer and growled: "And you are a criminal! The worst expression of sexism, machismo, racism and nationalism!"
"That's a lot of ism-s." Killer mildly replied, walking past her to stand before the mare in the armchair, gripping the arms of it and leaning down over Xenia. "Do you remember me, babe...?"
Xenia looked at him with eyes open wide, her face suddenly pale and her jaws agape, a little rope of drool leaking out as her breath became quick and rough, her body spasming and shuddering visibly, her hands weakly reaching out for him. Xenia tried to speak, but it was very evident that it was a major problem for her to form coherent thoughts... especially while her eyes bulged, her nostrils flared to sniff up his scent and her whole body trembled in the mix of terror and need that was commonly found in his victims. Her mind was broken, as he had imagined. Killer felt almost ashamed of what he had done to her, almost sorry about the harshness of her punishment... but part of him, at the same time, adored the sight. His immense cock flexed in lazy yet terrible hunger, grinding hard against the leather loincloth and stretching it as his already enormous bulge swelled even greater and he grinned, walking up to the wheelchair. Her legs were not just useless, but they were permanently locked in an unnaturally wide spread and a part of the huge male wanted to seize the blanket and throw it away to reveal the scale of the destruction in her loins. She had been a virgin before him... now she was just a wreck.
"K-Killer!" Xenia finally exclaimed, and there was an undeniable note of need in her voice, that had the squirrel blushing slightly. She immediately stormed over, barking: "Stop tormenting her, you monster! You males are only ever guided by your dicks and by the lowest instincts! Elelyon failed, Typhon vanished, and you are a monster!"
"Typhon vanished?" Killer urgently enquired, looking into her eyes and interrupting her tirade for a brief moment, before she resumed it by exclaiming: "Of course he did! He's been gone for weeks. The coward probably ran away. That failure! Leaving Heaven wide open and defenceless in time for your arrival."
"Where did he go?" Killer insisted, but the squirrel shook her head almost violently and spat: "Why should I know? They dug up a huge hole in the gardens of the royal palace, but nobody was ever told what it was for. For all I know they might have dug a tunnel reaching all the way down into Hell."
"Well, if we had any doubt about Typhon tampering with Juggernaut, now they are gone." Vesta immediately noted, and Killer nodded gravely, cursing under his breath while the squirrel continued to pour scorn on him personally and on males in general.
"Failures, all three of you! It'll be a better world when we'll have a goddess at the top! Trust a female to put things right; she will find the way." The lawyer grumbled, and Vesta slowly turned her head to stare flatly at her, a grimace gradually spreading over her features.
"Can we at least know who you are...?" Killer finally muttered, interrupting her tirade, and the lawyer looked up at him like he was a particularly ugly insect, glowering as she stated: "Ashley Madison. Best lawyer on earth and best lawyer in the courtrooms of Heaven as well. I'm also a writer with texts published by multiple universities and editors and I happen to be Xenia's biographer." She put a special emphasis on that passage, her eyes firing daggers at him as she pointed a finger against his powerful abs, since she couldn't really reach any higher than that. "I know all of what you did, you criminal! You monster! And people call you god!"
"A moment ago I didn't give a fuck about your books, but now I want to read that biography. I hope you got my sizes right in the story... I don't mind the inches, I have lots, but hope you got the feet count right, at least." Killer taunted, loving the grimace of horror and rage that immediately deformed her face.
"You males and your dick-centric vision of the world are the cause of this complete disaster!" Ashley shouted, but Killer did not miss the way her cheeks took on a shade of crimson as he towered over her, a little smile cresting his lips as the heavy, long plate of armor on his groin visibly moved as the colossal shaft hidden behind gave a hungry throb. The lawyer winced visibly at the sight, stepping back and bumping into Xenia, who was almost foaming at the mouth, squirming in terror and at the same time hoarsely saying: "Killer... Killer... fuck me... again."
"Xenia!" The squirrel squeaked, covering her mouth with one hand before raising her voice to try and hide the ravenous groan coming from the mare who loudly sniffed up the air made thick by Killer's virile scent. "She needs rest and peace, she's been through a terrible time, having her body healed and rebuilt and then leading the senate through this war..." The squirrel hurriedly explained, but Xenia's voice was still audible as the mare rasped: "I had my breasts rebuilt... just for you..."
"... and now meeting her rapist! It's a shock, she can't take this stress!"
"That's true, she couldn't take it. Half of it, maybe, and she barely survived." Vesta teasingly remarked, grinning widely at Killer, before looking down with interest as Ashley turned towards her and pulled up her hand, showing the simple silver ring on her finger as she shrieked: "How dare you! It's of my wife that you are talking, and of the brutal aggression she had to get through!"
"I know, I was there and guided his cock into her cunt. Then licked the blood off his glorious shaft." Vesta mercilessly countered, grinning sharkishly at the shock on the squirrel's face. "And you married her? Seriously?"
"I'll have both of you imprisoned, you monsters!" Ashley shrieked, glaring at the tigress with hate, grimacing before barking: "The masochistic sluts like you are worse than males themselves. It is because of you and what you allow males to do that the world is in tatters and women everywhere continue to be oppressed!"
Vesta made a grimace at that, rolling her eyes up in her skull before closing the distance and wrapping a huge, muscular arm around the squirrel's shoulders, dragging her companionably against her massive quad. Ashley's eyes bulged so wide that Killer smirked, half-seriously thinking that they were about to explode out of her head. "Sister, sister... let me give you a precious warning. You are shouting out a lot of bullshit. Till' you do it with me, it's fine. I'm all patient and angelic and shit. But if his daughters hear you shrieking against him like that, you will better have a rocket in your pocket, to fly out to the end of the universe and hope they don't follow." Vesta seriously said, emphasizing her words with nods of her head, before looking down at the silver ring on Xenia's own hand. "Holy crap, it wasn't a joke. You two truly are married. I had a bet going that this bitch would turn into sand before finding someone willing to spend time in her company..." Normally, of course, people did not age while in Heaven. When people became marked by wrinkles and other signs of decay it was not because of true aging but because of spiritual one. Being as narrow-minded, attached to power, greedy and bad-tempered as Xenia caused damage to the body. It began with wrinkles and it worsened over time, but Xenia, of course, had always refused to admit that the progressive decay of her once renowned beauty was due to her behavior. Instead of trying to correct her ways, that she thought, of course, flawless, she had used her money to pay for repeated plastic surgery to restore her body to its original glory. The effect could only be temporary, and as Xenia aligned with Typhon more and more, letting hate for fellow senators, for Vesta and for others guide her actions, she had required surgery more and more frequently. "Well, unsurprisingly she didn't find a male. She's of no use to them now. Holy shit, she has a cave down there, not a cunt." Vesta said, grinning widely. She still remembered looking into the sperm-filled abyss when Killer had pulled out of her ruined body, so astonishing a sight it was.
"I love her for what she is inside!" Ashley barked, and Vesta arched an eyebrow and teased: "Stretched out and hollow and deep as a really fucking big cave, you mean...?". Killer snorted as he restrained a laugh while the squirrel stubbornly insisted: "I don't care about the body. We are similar, we are united in the struggle against the violence of males, we both see the boys for the failure and troublemakers they are and both see that the future is female!"
"I'm not sure. Xenia is looking at Killer's crotch a lot." Vesta amusedly remarked, and the squirrel glared at her while turning the wheelchair sideways, only for Xenia to turn around as best she could, drool leaking from her open mouth. Ashley did not notice, even as she idly stroked a hand through Xenia's hair and dreamily said: "Despite all adversities and despite the retrograde action of traitorous sluts like you, women will triumph. The throne of god is vacant, and the savior to emerge from this disaster, you'll see, will be a woman! I'm sure of it! A woman will lead us into a true golden age!"
"Oh, for fuck's sake." Vesta muttered, walking away from the squirrel and walking behind Killer, half-hiding behind his broad form as the lawyer went into another loud tirade about the submissive, spineless women that allowed men to do as they pleased. "Do me a favor: fuck her till' her brains rearrange themselves; or until she shuts up for good. She scares me."
"She is on the list." Killer confirmed, smirking in hungry entertainment. Hardcore lesbians and feminists were more or less his favorite sport. In the Northlands, due to the culture and traditions of the kingdoms, feminists were nowhere to be seen, because females actually were treasured and already had more freedoms and rights than elsewhere, despite what most of the world erroneously thought about the "barbarian and feudal" north. He had met a few loud and aggressive characters like Ashley while he was in the south, however, and he remembered with undeniable pleasure the many losses he had inflicted on their party. Ashley was a fun little challenge that he looked forwards to winning. But he had a lot of far more important things to do before wasting time on games, so he stepped to the side and invited Ashley to get out of the way, along with Xenia and their servants.
"It doesn't end here, monster!" The lawyer barked when she had already put a considerable distance between them. Killer grinned gamely at that, giving her a wink and easily replying: "You can bet on it!"
He coughed a little as he spotted Elelyon walking slowly towards, with Alexis escorting him and guiding Wrath forwards with easy little movements of her powerful legs. She gazed at Xenia and Ashley for a moment, then grinned widely as she met his gaze and read his memory to learn everything that had happened. Elelyon gave him a look of disapproval instead, but the reptile didn't try to discourage him in any way. His silence somehow made Killer feel even worse, but they both knew that it still wasn't going to dissuade him from turning Ashley's arrogance and feminism in extra pleasure for himself.
Together they surveyed the flow of benevolents and angels rushing out of Caernarvon, and it was easy to notice that many senators of the Council were half-hiding in the crowd, some of them out of shame and regret for their errors, but many more just to try and get to safety without having to bow to Killer and Elelyon. Many of the civilians still wore clothes emblazoned with the symbol of the Council, which meant that they were part of the huge staff that worked in the senate and in all the supporting structures. Many civilians bowed to the two gods, and several all but rushed forwards to kiss their feet and offer words of warm welcome to Elelyon, but others bowed in silence or with salutes that were clearly far from sincere.
Still, Elelyon beamed as he saw just how many were leaving the capital: he smiled warmly and offered his blessings to everyone who walked past him, looking overjoyed. He sincerely had not dared hoping in such a good result.
"You are aware that quite a lot of them are just getting out to live another day and that they will try to screw us as soon as they get a chance, are you...?" Killer asked after a moment, unable to restrain himself any longer. Elelyon looked sideways up at him for a moment, then simply nodded in agreement, but smiling at the same time. "I'm sure none of them worries you much, Killer. They are not a real threat, at most an annoyance." He paused to raise his hand and wave it to a family of two benevolents with a young daughter, who shouted joyous messages of welcome to him. "For now I'm just really happy to see them trusting us enough to come out. And many have truly realized that Typhon is nothing but a liar, so it went better than expected. It gives me new hope. The ones who still hate us... well. I'm just glad to see them coming out alive. That gives them one last chance. Getting them to change their minds about the new order of the world, well, that is in your own hands. You are the god now."
The rear of the long column of people was in clear sight now, and they could see a group of senate guards in white leather armour forming the rearguard. They were engaged in a firefight, and they took cover behind the corners of the buildings around the crossroad. A group of metatrons walked slowly backwards, their hands glowing with powerful magic and sweat rolling down their cheeks as they worked to keep up a solid barrier while carefully retreating. Bullets and rockets and arrows and javelins crashed into the ethereal wall in a constant hailstorm, the explosions rattling the entire barrier and causing the ministers to stumble backwards. Every now and then they hurriedly turned to look over their shoulders and see if they were going in the right direction, and even those little distractions were enough to cause cracks to spread in the barrier as barrages of rockets smashed into it. When they got lost, some of the soldiers helped them by seizing them by the shoulders and steering them in the right direction.
"Allies, check your fire!" William shouted, his voice booming from the top of the bastion, and the snipers of the 30th ceased firing for a few moments as they made sure to locate all the friendlies. And then, when the tail of the column fully turned the corner, Killer spotted Metatron himself, the horrendously fat angel floating with his legs crossed under the gigantic belly but nonetheless struggling to keep the pace as his wings flapped desperately. They look almost ridiculous, dwarfed as they were by the rest of his body mass.
"Holy...!" Elelyon exclaimed, gaping a bit at the sight. Killer had already met the Chancellor of Heaven and knew what to expect, but for the reptile that was the first meeting in countless years and the surprise was total... and definitely unpleasant. Just like Xenia's wrinkles denounced her moral decay, Metatron's grotesque belly reflected his greed for luxury, money, privileges and even food. Typhon had discovered that the Chancellor's support could easily be secured by showering him in adulation and in "little attentions", and over time the Arkangel had pretty much lost all of his inhibitor brakes. "Metatron truly let himself go."
Paladins and mutants ran out from behind the corner, forming a wall of shields and metallic, morphing bodies in front of a group of Purifiers that immediately unleashed torrents of Unworld residue against the barrier, causing it to crack and fizzle in and out of existence.
"Take them down!" William ordered, and the snipers of the 30th, who had exploited the brief pause in the fighting to space themselves out along the walls, fired in from the sides with their monstrous anti-material cannons. Killer saw the heads of two Purifiers exploding into splatters of gore and slivers of overheated metal, before a barrage of the huge armor-piercing rounds tore into the hunchback of another until Unworld residue burst out of the containment field and devoured the Paladins and mutants all around, dissolving them in a ugly black sludge. A moment later, a massive arrow of crackling energy shot into the group of mutants and tore through one of the Purifiers, blowing him off his feet and knocking him against a large mutant covered in shifting thorny roots and sick blisters full of acid and poison, blowing him too off his feet. Nailed together by the arrow stuck through both of their bodies, they flew backwards like a meteor, knocking other Paladins sprawling like pins before the arrow exploded in a blindingly luminous ball of white fire. Killer turned to look up at the top of the bastion, grinning as he spotted Valery already aiming her monstrous longbow for a second shot, her muscles bulging explosively as she pulled back the thick rope of adamantine metal, causing the bow to groan audibly as the triple arms of it arched back: her terrifying weapon had three connected arms hinged on the top and on the bottom nocks, and there were three thick strings of steel attached to each in succession. The stings then combined to form the main bowstring, exceptionally thick and powerful. The energy that the longbow generated when the triple arms were pulled back was fearsome: the arrows it fired could knock even armoured fighting vehicles backwards like they were toys. A moment later he spotted Elaine, who had sized down as well and was helping clear the top of the walls from all residual pockets of resistance. The dragoness looked down at him and grinned, winking even as she fired her monstrous shotgun in the other direction, blasting the head off of a drooling, mindless monstrosity that had lunged forth to bite her leg off, before she snarled and flexed, spreading her arms and unleashing a solid wave of energy that shattered a group of Paladins as it rushed against her in a wall of shields, with a bunch of angels following at close distance that fired their assault rifles and machine guns over the heads of the burly warriors in front. Killer made a grimace as he realized that those angels were not clones, but true people who had somehow decided to stick to the bitter end of the lies of Typhon. He watched as two of them exploded into nothing but a slurry of gore and a rain of crimson, while another was torn in half like a ragdoll as a bolt of Elaine's terrifying energy tore neatly through his waist. He fell face-first onto the floor, vanishing behind what remained of the shattered parapet, but Killer could still hear his cries... before they ended in a abrupt crunch as Elaine stomped on his head, sending blood spraying up all the way to her abs as she charged into another line of Paladins, her arms supercharged with her raw energy and tearing through the thick shields like they were made of butter as she slapped a couple of Paladins flying off the wall to crash into the street below. It was sad that there were still people willing to believe in Typhon's lies even when his monstrous actions were evident to all, but it wasn't unexpected and Killer could only shake his head slowly and try not to think too much about them. Had those angels been courageous? Yes, otherwise they would have never tried firing against Elaine. Had they had families? Sons? Daughters? Who was going to cry for their death...? Killer didn't know, and he tried to push all those questions out of his mind, trying to take comfort from the great number of benevolents and angels rushing out of town between two protective walls of shields held up by the tigers of the XXX Legion. They couldn't save everyone, but they were probably going to save most of the population and that was a better result than they had dared hoping for. He pulled up his arm and aimed his palm at the barrier that the metatrons were struggling to keep up, pumping his energies into it, and the ethereal, damaged veil immediately turned into a glowing wall of sapphire energy that easily repealed even the torrents of Unworld residue coming out of the square "flamethrowers of a new group of Purifiers. The exhausted metatrons let their arms fall to their sides with sighs of relief, some of them collapsing on their knees and panting hard as their hands smoldered and their limbs trembled violently, but the nearest angels picked them up and dragged them towards the breach in the wall, while another three soldiers vainly tried to push Metatron up over the steep pile of ruins, frustrated by his ridiculous slowness.
An endless flood of clone Paladins and far more dangerous "prototypes" of all sorts rushed up the wide boulevard now, assaulting the rear of the column, while groups of sentient angels wearing armor sets of a pure, almost blinding white moved carefully forwards on the roofs of the buildings on either side of the street, using heavy sniper rifles and rocket launchers to engage the Seraphims and the tigers of the XXX Legion up on the bastion. And suddenly, with a wail that sent a shiver even down Killer's spine, a whole new horde of creatures swarmed forwards, leaping from roof to roof and running even up along the walls, leaving deep and smoldering claw marks and deep gashes in the concrete and stone. He looked at a group of those monstrosities as it rapidly covered the roof of a tall palace to the right, while dozens more leapt up the wall of the bastion, clawing their way up towards the walkway. Killer took a moment to realize what they were, but when they started lunging directly at his barrier of energy, even though they were incinerated on impact, he realized that he had already seen them. They were clones. He had seen a few floating in their glass prisons as they were grown in laboratory towards full physical development. These clones had not developed fully, but they had apparently been pumped full of some kind of drug that had grotesquely increased their muscle mass and power. Their skin was gone, torn apart by the sheer immensity of the chorded muscle beneath, and they had no eyes, crushed away between oversized, terrifying jaws and a hunchback of hard muscle that all but enveloped their skulls. They had huge nostrils and long, forked tongues which led him to think that they had greatly enhanced senses of smell as well as tact and serpent-like perception of heat signatures. They moved with incredible agility and speed and sought to rip apart their enemies and devour them, but they had almost no brains at all. Dozens lunged against the barrier only to be burned into ashes, and the ones that followed were just as eager. They were clearly very raw and crude creations, and Killer suspected that Typhon had literally ordered to inject steroids in every last unfinished clone before unleashing them all in the streets. Cannon fodder, that was all they were meant to be. Several of the sharpshooters of the XXX Legion reacted on instinct and fired at the charging beasts, catching them even in mid-flight and dropping them like flies as blood and gore exploded out of devastated bodies and disintegrated heads, but that allowed the Righteous assault teams to move forwards over the roofs and three rockets were fired against the bastion from a nearby tower. Killer guessed, more than felt, an incredibly fast movement at his side and then Alexis's massive handgun fired thrice in rapid succession, and all three the rockets exploded before smashing into the parapet, startling the snipers but giving them the chance to take down the angels on the roof as they scrambled to pick up other launchers.
"Been a while since I last used these!" Alexis amusedly observed, grinning as she drew out the second of her monstrous four-barreled guns, aiming one up at the roofs and taking down target after target in rapid succession, sending an headless corpse falling down in the street along with used and unused rocket tubes while three more angels collapsed with their heads replaced by bloody mist pretty much at the same time as a dozen of mindless beasts were caught in the air as they leapt from the roof and sent crashing bonelessly into the bastion's wall. At the same time, without needing to look, she pummeled a gigantic mutant Arkangel in the face with a barrage of high caliber rounds from the other gun, sending the beast crashing backwards in a lake of dark blood before flicking both guns point-down, allowing the empty barrels to fall to the ground and using the same fluid movement to slap new ones in place, catching them from special holders in the leather straps around her thighs. Her guns had been designed by Killer and used an electric system to ignite the launch charge within each bullet. The rounds were stacked directly inside the barrels, which doubled as magazines. Even before being enhanced with magic, they didn't know the word "stoppage" and could fire out all the bullets almost in the very same instant, so to form a virtual "mega-bullet" that could pierce through a tank's thick skin like it was paper. "Always fun." She said, grinning predatorily as she resumed shooting down the drooling drones as they swarmed around the column and leapt up the walls to get to the Seraphims and tigers on top cover duty.
Killer snickered at that, before making a shoving gesture as a horde of mutants started pummeling the barrier with massive warhammers, and the solid wall of energies exploded into them, smacking them into their comrades and throwing them all away like toys, before the violence of the explosion tore them apart and sent bloody pieces raining down onto the streets far away.
The street was not going to stay empty for long, but the peace lasted long enough to allow Metatron to overcome the pile of rubble and wreckage. As the fat Arkangel slowly floated past Killer, all three of his masked faces vanished out of sight as he fearfully bowed... and then he ground to a stop and trembled in a mix of fear and embarrassment as he reached Elelyon. The reptile said nothing, only gazing quietly at the morbidly obese chancellor, and the silence stretched on for several moments before Metatron slowly looked up at his god, trembling in shame. "Lord God... I... I'm so sorry." The Arkangel finally said, folding his wings and sitting on the ground, leaning forwards on his arms and bowing his heads as deeply as he could manage with the huge belly propping them up. When Vesta stepped forwards and glared down at him, Metatron visibly shivered and unsuccessfully attempted to make himself smaller, as if trying to vanish from the spot. Elelyon did not speak even as Metatron began to murmur and babble a succession of weak excuses and justifications, and for perhaps the first time ever Killer spotted anger in the reptile's eyes. The Creator was clearly trying to dominate his feelings and find the right words, and as the silence stretched longer Killer felt almost heartened by the discovery that even Elelyon sometimes ended up at a loss for words. "We... we all make mistakes, Metatron." Elelyon finally said, sighing a bit. There was a note of deep irritation in his voice that he couldn't quite hide, despite his best efforts. "I was the first one to put trust into Typhon even though he did not deserve it, so I don't blame you for following him at first. I don't even blame you for accepting his gifts and becoming... what you are now. But I just cannot believe you couldn't see his crimes, not even in the last few years, not even when Vesta came into the senate and told you all the truth."
"Hell had breached the Wall! Typhon had ordered her to stand firm and repeal the demons, and she ordered the Legions to retreat instead!" Metatron squealed, as if that explained everything, and Vesta clenched her fists so hard that blood dripped out of her own palms while her biceps bulged enormously.
"Thereby avoiding the destruction of all the Legions and ensuring a future for Heaven." Elelyon countered, with uncustomary harshness. "I bet Typhon had a wonderful plan for unleashing a whole horde of clones against what remained of Hell's forces after the big battle at the Wall. The empire is safe, Heaven be glorified, Typhon be praised! God never fails!"
"Hell's forces would have been exhausted and all bunched up in the same place. One big battle would have destroyed them and prevented their corruption from penetrating any deeper into Heaven!" Metatron explained, spreading his arms and frantically moving his hands to point at all the ruins, the darkness, and the destruction surrounding them. "Hell would have never stained the Skies with its dark essence! All our towns would still be glorious, and happy, and..."
"... rich?" Elelyon completed, making a grimace of distaste. "At what price, Metatron? Sacrificing all Seraphims, all Arkangels, all Angels! My daughters and my sons! Thinking people, the best of us all! Sacrifice the true people, who thinks and reasons and might rebel, and then clean up the rest of the demons using mindless life forms engineered inside laboratories to fight battles on our behalf! How could you ever think, even for a single moment, that this could ever be acceptable? How could you not see that Typhon needed Arkangels and Seraphims gone in order to secure his throne? With Gabriel and Vesta out of the way and with the Amon-Ra dead at the Wall he could shape the world in his image without anyone resisting! That's all he ever wanted when he issued that absurd order!"
Metatron trembled, staring stupidly up at Elelyon as his voice, normally always calm and warm, took on a distinct note of anger. It was all it took to cause the Arkangel to shudder visibly and bow even deeper as he babbled: "I'm sorry, I... I didn't want Heaven to become... to become like this! Corrupted, stained! Its glory and supremacy questioned and almost destroyed! Polluted by... by filthy beasts crawling out of Hell!"
"Did you really forget that those filthy beasts were my children, exactly as you are...?" Elelyon quietly asked, his voice heavy with sadness, as he closed his eyes for a moment, clenching his hands into fists. "Did you really forget that Lucifer's light was the brightest to ever shine in Heaven? Did you forget what an example Satan used to be? Did you forget all of the days spent admiring Lilith's wisdom...? Brothers and sisters to you. Sons and daughters to me." Elelyon paused, then made a grimace of distaste as he muttered: "Filthy beasts, you say... How did we come to this...?"
Metatron's shoulders slumped at that, and the tubby chancellor nervously worked his hands together, his lips trembling a bit behind the edges of the unchanging expression cut in the silvery masks he wore as he vainly tried to find appropriate words and valid excuses to offer.
"There are so many things that need fixing..." Elelyon sighed after a long moment of silence. "The material damage is the very last of our problems. We will all need to rediscover ourselves and our history. We will need to find every part of us that has been lost along the way." The reptile rapidly wiped his tears off his cheeks, rubbing at his eyes tiredly before turning his gaze again to Metatron as he asked: "What has Typhon been up to?"
"I... We don't know." Metatron replied, before grabbing at his floating scrolls, which were desolately bare of any ink, other than a few stains here and there. The parchment was all but crumbling away, flaking and decaying. "The Council has not been in session, not even once, since our return to the capital from the bunker in the Valley of the Kings. Typhon welcomed us back, told us all how brave we had been standing up to Vesta and Killer's arrogant lies and threats and he told us he was going to raise additional legions in order to win the war. She gave us his orders, and then left. We pretty much haven't seen him since, other than in pre-recorded videos or through telepathic links. He became a dictator! He never again required a vote from the senators. He just... he just did what he wanted!" Metatron squealed, sounding not just horrified but also genuinely astonished and incredulous in front of such behavior, but Killer only squeezed his mouth shut until his lips became a thin line, his fists clenching hard. Vesta did not contain her rage quite as well and caustically observed: "Really? Who could possibly have seen that one coming...!"
Metatron turned towards her, probably to give her a glare, but halfway through the movement he either realized he was completely at fault or at least remembered that he was in no condition to be arrogant and haughty in her presence anymore. "When we returned, the Senate was surrounded by Paladins and fortified positions. For our safety, he said... but our movements have been limited since then. We found the walls and bastions reinforced and the whole peninsula turned into a fortress, with trenches and bunkers everywhere. And I was ordered to make sure that no one could portal in and out in any way."
"You cheerfully walked right into your cells. We had warned you it would happen, but the truth was too unpalatable to accept, huh...? You had to crash face-first into it." Vesta grumbled, while Elelyon listened in silence, nodding slightly before asking: "We heard of a huge hole in the gardens. Is it true...?"
"Yes, it is. When we returned we found a number of tunnels being dug under the foundations of the capital. Typhon said he had ordered to build new bunkers as well as.... Well... as..."
"Laboratories and factories of clones." Elelyon coldly completed when the chancellor hesitated.
Metatron nodded with a shiver of fear at the coldness in God's voice, and then he dejectedly nodded.
"But you all know what is hidden deep under Caernarvon! Didn't you realize the true risk?" Elelyon pressed, the chancellor got very defensive, half-collapsing on his ass due to his own terrible body mass as he rubbed his hands endlessly, sweating almost grotesquely. "We... we know, certainly... and... well. As I said, the Council was not asked to vote on the matter... we... couldn't do much to stop the digging."
"Not without showing some backbone... which you don't have." Alexis coldly remarked, making a grimace of distaste, before looking at the buildings around them, her eyes narrowing as she noticed that there was not a single light bulb shining, no matter where she looked. "You said that Juggernaut provides energy for the entire town...?"
"Yes, he does." Metatron immediately piped up, before recoiling as Alexis gave him a glare and muttered: "Well, he used to, at least. Now there seems to be no energy anywhere."
"It began soon after our return from the Valley of the Kings. The power was switched off in various sectors of the capital in random sequences." The chancellor explained, and Elelyon closed his eyes with a sigh, immediately realizing what it meant.
"And do you understand why, genius...?" Vesta coldly asked, furious at the confused look on the Arkangel's face. "They were tracking the flow of energy and mapping out the network of connections, in order to locate the position of Juggernaut's containment cell."
" Is the whole town on permanent black out...?" Elelyon urgently enquired, leaning down to grip the fat angel's shoulders, rattling him lightly. The chancellor's eyes bulged in shock as he realized the full implications of what had happened, and he brokenly whispered words of apology, but the reptile only glared at him with impatience and he finally nodded. "The town has been without energy for months. Only the laboratories, the factories and the artillery positions on the bastions receive the electricity."
Killer made a grimace and looked down the immense boulevard, which in a not too far past had to have been truly splendid but now smelled of nothing but death and decay, surrounded by the depressingly scrawny dead remains of the luscious, immense trees that had formed a roof over the street with their green canopies. The dome of the senate, immense and unmistakable, loomed over the much smaller buildings all around it, out in the distance at the end of the straight boulevard and of the dead gardens that had once been so beautiful. While staring at that glorious palace and at the forest of statues covering the roof, he realized by just how much Typhon had led the game, all along. He had planned everything in detail, from the very beginning. When he had ordered the evacuation of the senators from Caernarvon, sending everyone in the underground bunker in the Valley of the Kings, Typhon definitely wasn't afraid of an attack of Hell's forces, or even of the actions, political or otherwise, of Killer and Vesta. He just wanted the Council out of the capital so there was no one looking while he laid the foundations of what he wanted to be an enduring, absolute reign. The senate was moved in and out of Caernarvon to give Typhon a chance to put his plans into motion undisturbed, and was only allowed to return when his grip on the capital was unquestionable. With his clone soldiers filling the streets and the garrison efficiently cleansed of all those who opposed his methods, he had nothing to fear from the senators anymore. Whether they liked his actions or not, they could no longer stop him. He only needed to keep them alive and "well protected" inside Caernarvon to show to the "Righteous" that he was the true defender and savior of Heaven; the true God. Elelyon and Killer traded a look, both of them painfully aware that a fight with Juggernaut, if it had ever been avoidable in any way, was now pretty much a certainty. The reptile opened his mouth to ask something else to the whimpering chancellor, but before he could make a sound there was a new assault on the captured bastion as the buildings and the streets ahead of them filled with a new and even larger wave of "Sprinters", as Killer decided to nickname the clones on steroids. Far more dangerous mutants and phalanxes of Paladins advanced in a compact front behind the wailing beasts, and the largest, hideous "prototypes" in the rear guard carried enormous cannons and literal heavy artillery pieces that they had picked up along the way and that they used like nothing more than pistols, firing barrages of huge shells towards the walkway on top of the wall, where Killer's soldiers had taken position.
Elelyon grabbed Metatron by the shoulder and pushed him away, urging him to follow the civilians out of town. "We'll talk later. Try to survive, Metatron. I still hope that you can find a way to redeem yourself." Elelyon said, and the chancellor murmured a thank you, looking at his god with wide open eyes, shivering in shame and regret for everything that had happened, before he did his best to move past the last edge of piled-up ruins and rubble. Luckily for the fat Arkangel, so many feet had stomped all over the pile of ruins that it had been compressed almost into a smooth ramp.
"Okay, the civilians are out. We cannot lose any more time." Killer urged, as Alexis grabbed the reins of Ruin and led him forth, allowing the huge male to swiftly climb onto the saddle while Elelyon watched with an expression almost of envy. One of his hands slowly rubbed at the front of his white leather armor, vainly trying to soothe the pain coming from his terrible wounds. Vesta drew her twin sickle-swords and flexed, grinning gamely at the horde of enemies advancing in the street, her eyes scanning the line of shields and blades to spot the most dangerous threats, the ones that needed to be dealt with quickly. As she did, she smirked at the sight of countless Sprinters collapsing in broken heaps, caught mid-jump by the precise shots of the sharpshooters up on the bastion. One of Valery's arrows found a hole in the wall of shields and tore through a couple of Paladins before smacking backwards a huge mutant carrying a rail gun complete of heavy tracks for battlefield movement. The cannon fired, but the dart sailed uselessly into the sky as the beast crashed back into the ones pushing from behind, sending countless bodies sprawling before a massive explosion of white light sent blood splattering thickly in every direction. A huge number of Sprinters still managed to get in range of the walls and dozens upon dozens leapt up onto the massive barrier of stone, clawing their way upwards until they reached the parapet... and as they lunged forwards to attack Elaine drew a massive handgun from the holster on her thigh and aimed it sideways, blasting out shot after shot and blowing their heads off in thick splatters of gore even as she kept firing ahead of her with the monstrous auto-shotgun, holding the gigantic cannon in one hand and trailing as if it was nothing but a pistol. Broken Sprinters rained down from the top of the bastion and others, still alive, crashed into the street with the sound of breaking bones as the massive tigers of the 30th Legion slapped them back with their huge shields. The first line of warriors took a step back, moving in unison, and then, just as a new horde of Sprinters leapt past the parapet and clawed wildly at everything in reach, they stepped forth just with a coordination just as perfect, thrusting their shields forth and smashing them into the drooling beasts, crushing them into the stone battlements hard enough to squish them like overripe fruits or sending them falling ruinously back down into the street. The second line of tigers, armed with long and heavy spears and halberds, thrust their huge weapons forth over the heads of their comrades and cut bodies into pieces, driving the blades right through the clones, skewering them like morsels, stabbing into them before they could strike. Killer saw a long spear dripping dark blood as three still trashing corpses slid slowly down its thick body. And further behind were the sharpshooters, less physically gifted but heavily armed and trained not to miss a single shot.
Further down the line, a couple of tigers hefted a massive grenade machine launcher off its mount, which faced the wasteland, and turned the weapon towards the town instead, one of them handling the long belt of wine-bottle sized rounds as the other grabbed the large barrel in one hand and trailed the cannon onto the Righteous and clones lurking on the roofs in front of the bastion, sending out an endless stream of grenades that exploded in a deluge of chemical fire.
"We will charge right through and try to get to the gardens. If Typhon's tunnel is there, we'll find it." Killer promised, looking into Elelyon's eyes even as Ruin hammered the ground with his heavy, flaming hooves, snorting steam from his nostrils and half-rearing up with how eager he was. "If Juggernaut rises, we'll deal with him as we can. Waiting any further will only make it worse."
"I agree. Good luck. I would like to help, but...it's better if I follow at a safe distance, I'm afraid." Elelyon replied, stepping back from the massive horses, before they looked up as William called out: "Should we push forth too?"
"No, keep your positions!" Killer shouted over the tremendous chaos of the battle, turning briefly to look up at his friend and mentor while flexing to squeeze hard on Ruin's flanks as the stallion impatiently reared up and stomped violently at the ground. "It could still turn out to be a trap. Keep ready to retreat if Juggernaut shows up!"
William slammed his fist on the chest to show he had registered the order, and the two massive fire stallions all but roared and sprinted forwards in an explosion of fire and vigor, huge muscles bulging, and on top of them, Killer and Alexis leaned forwards with matching snarling grins, their own musculature standing out in glorious definition as they drew their enormous swords and pushed them forth like spears. The huge male pulled back his arm as energy crackled violently around the massive bicep, and the barrier ahead seemed to contract and retreat slightly in front of the horde of mutants, before he leaned forwards with a roar and violently thrust forwards, sending the sapphire wall smashing into the first line of Paladins and vaporizing them, bodies crashing in every direction and clones flying all the way up to the roofs of the buildings on either side of the street. The barrier steamrolled over the horde, melting armors and weapons and crushing bodies into nothing but ugly paste, rolling rapidly down the length of the street before exploding in a monstrous blast of light and white fire, consuming Sprinters and Paladins and Mutants in an inferno of supernatural heat and sending blade-like shards of solid sapphire energy cutting through the monsters further away, cutting shields in half like they were biscuits and chopping artificial angels into pieces. Alexis laughed darkly at that, watching as a new group of Paladins pushing out of a side street was torn apart by a large sliver that smashed through their shields and chopped the legs off from under a dozen angels, sending them crashing to the ground in bloody heaps while the large chunk of energy scythed through a huge mutant, ripping him into halves before sinking deep into a stone wall behind. Two of the towers of white stone ahead of them suddenly seemed to explode into pieces as an enormous mass moved ponderously between them, trying to squeeze through a passage too small for it, and as it emerged into the light it turned out being an enormous mutated Arkangel so overburdened by shifting, morphing necrotic flesh and muscle that it crawled on all fours, his hands and feet turned into huge flexible talons while enormous cannons, apparently combining a laser system between two titanic square barrels electrified by a multitude of leg-thick cables feeding into them. Killer frowned as he saw both barrels apparently crammed full with what looked like huge blocks of dark metal. How does this even work...? Curiosity prevented him from lashing out against the creature, even though he knew it was stupid, and he instead looked at how the guns and the reactor feeding them had been strapped on top of the monster's back, along with a steel platform on which Paladins worked to aim the artillery pieces, while snipers and rocket teams poured fire in every direction.
Killer had enough time to wonder how the hell Typhon had managed to create such a monstrosity and where he had gotten such otherworldly-technology before the large lenses of the laser system glowed and fired a huge beam. Killer and Alexis guided their stallions in the opposite directions as the ray of focused light shot between them and they winced at the extreme heat, which burned their skin and made their flesh bubble up horribly... before they choked as every hint of oxygen was burned out of existence, creating almost a tunnel of nothingness, like they were in deep space. Almost in the same instant there was a second explosion of energy, this time around the massive blocks of metal lodged in the square barrels, and Killer's sharp eyes caught sight of two large fragments of metal flaking off the blocks before shooting forth at a speed so tremendous that even his senses lost track of it.
The projectile rushed past him at a speed higher than that of light, and he grunted as he was nearly knocked off the saddle while the shockwave blew Ruin off his hooves and into the air, making him neigh in anger and confusion. The huge male couldn't help but turn around to gaze behind his back as a distant hillside was vaporized in the twin impact: there was no flame, no real explosion, yet the kinetic energy involved was so monstrous that it disintegrated the entire hill like it was made of sand.
Alexis instead aimed her hand at the beast with a snarl of rage and invisible, titanic fingers of psychic energy clawed into the sides of the angel and hefted him rudely off the ground even as it wailed in fury and clawed uselessly at the air, before the goddess flexed her massive arm and clenched her hand shut, grinning as a few Paladins leapt off the metallic platform as it groaned and collapsed, crumpled like a mere sheet of paper. The two enormous cannons were flattened like toys, the metal shrieking sinisterly, and then dark blood exploded out of the mutated Arkangel as invisible claws tore deep into him. The beast squeaked and cried and protested uselessly as Alexis only smirked and turned her fist upside down... and the mutant spun slowly in midair as well, his head facing the ground just as more Paladins and Executioners launched a new attack, and she laughed darkly as she smashed him down into them like a titanic living hammer, blood bursting up in waves as dozens of Paladins were squished like bugs, again and again and again, the buildings on either side of the street turning crimson as gore splattered against the walls while the monster's body broke apart, bones sticking out through the grotesquely huge muscles and limbs going limp as his spine crumpled, his entire body becoming shorter as he shattered with each brutal impact.
A group of Righteous in powered armors rushed forwards and fired a barrage of rockets against them, but the missiles imploded in midair when Alexis looked at them and when the angels threw away the empty, smoldering launcher-tubes to pick up new ones two of them shrieked in agony as hands grabbed at their helmets and effortlessly hefted them clear off the ground. They had enough time to stare in terror at a second, grinning Alexis before the goddess flexed and clawed into their skulls, ripping them out of their bodies along with much of their spines, laughing as the boneless corpses flopped to the ground and she dismissively tossed the bones away. The rest of the group turned around in shock, one of them firing the rocket he had just shouldered even though she was a mere meter away, and the missile crumpled against her abs like a paper toy, clanging uselessly on the ground as the fuze failed to arm. The goddess, however, only grinned and stomped on the damaged rocket, causing it to explode all the same: it barely ticked her massive calves, but it vaporized three of the angels in a flash of fire while sending the others crashing away. A couple were stupid enough to push up to their feet again, drawing out their swords and looking at her with fear as she stepped forwards with a smirk, eyeing the line of Paladins that was forming ahead... and she thrust a hand forwards, blasting out a solid shockwave of energy that tossed all the heavily armoured warriors flying towards Wrath.
The Alexis on horseback grinned predatorily and spurred the massive fire stallion onwards, the horse snorting with cruel glee as it trampled body after body, sending flames and shrapnel exploding in every direction while breaking the armor plates and crushing flesh and organs into pulp. The other Alexis completed the massacre by charging into the broken formation of Paladins, smashing her palm into the armor of one with enough force that his back exploded, pushing away the plates of armor while the shattered corpse collapsed on the floor, the goddess already slicing another mutant in half with a swing of Blue Vixen, before she slashed the heavy sword backwards as an Executioner lunged at her back, chopping his head and arms right off, his enormous axe falling through the air... before she kicked hard backwards and sent it shooting right into the chest of a Purifier as the beast trailed his "flamethrower".
Killer stared at the show with a smirk of dark amusement, then roared as Ruin ferociously bit a Paladin between shoulder and neck, dragging the clone into the dirt and then tossing him away like a toy. At the same time, the huge male liger recoiled a bit in the saddle as Wyvern speared right through a thick shield and the Paladin hiding behind it, and he hefted the dying creature off the ground before slashing the sword out to the right side, cutting down three Paladins and sending at least two more sprawling like pins, before the body impaled on his blade finally tore apart and its pieces flew like meteors into his comrades on the ground as Killer flicked his wrist and swung Wyvern over the head of Ruin to stab it down into an Executioner running in from the left. Ruin deliberately bit, kicked and slammed his powerful body into the enemies that dared standing in his way, sending bodies flying back like ragdolls and crushing limbs and skulls under his huge hooves, leaping past the dismounted Alexis... while the one on horseback charged past on the other side. Killer turned to the side to give her an amused frown as she steered closer, and the goddess snickered and teased: "What? You know that I am a fast learner!"
He snorted at that, shaking his head slowly even as Ruin flexed and accelerated, lunging forwards in an explosion of fire as another group of warriors tried to form up a new line of defence right ahead, Paladins forming a wall of shields and spears while a number of Righteous offered covering fire with heavy rifles and grenade launchers and several others hastily erected a barrier of razor wire enhanced with holy fire. Killer grinned at all those futile efforts, watching as Ruin's flames expanded to form a meteor-like cloud around them, dissolving the grenades as they flew in, and he swung Wyvern hard upwards as Ruin neighed and charged straight across the wire, pulling it taunt as it caught into his scarred, massive chest, before snapping as the giant horse flexed and lunged into the shields, body-checking a group of Paladins and sending them flying like toys. Wyvern caught two of the angels that were working with the huge coils of razor wire and cut one into halves while hefting the other up into the sky, slicing open his front and sending him crashing into the third floor of a building to the left. Broken spears, corpses and other wreckage flew past Killer as their charge smashed right through the enemy lines and when he touched the reins to guide Ruin into a turn to complete the work he saw Vesta running straight into the wall of shields, slapping a Paladin out of the way with a roar before hacking one sickle-sword into the top edge of another shield, ripping it back out of the owner's hands... and the mutant looked at her in shock, suddenly exposed, before her second blade chopped his head right off and went on to decapitate the soldier next to him, finally shredding the arm off a third and hooking into his chest armor, dragging him down to the ground as she concluded the wide swing. She stomped on his skull almost immediately after as she flexed and bulldozed her way through the breach she had created, her eyes glowing with ferocious glee as she stepped forwards with enough force to send three mutants crashing away while two more fell onto their knees as she spread her arms and slashed her twin curved swords back into their necks, cutting through with terrible ease. "Go on, get to the senate! I've got this!" Vesta shouted, seeming to dance as a dozen spears stabbed towards her from all sides, all missing as she twisted her way forwards and decapitated another warrior while hooking a second in the curve of her sword and yanking him forth until he crashed hard into a comrade, both clones collapsing to their knees just as Vesta pivoted on one foot and slashed the other up in a turning kick that decapitated both of them in a spray of gore.
The Paladins spaced out as their formation was shattered, and immediately they attempted to surround her, but when Executioners charged at her back she unfurled her glorious wings in a flash of fire and incinerated them, light filling the street even through the feathers of her six wings were black and corrupted by Killer's essence. "I am my Master's angel of death!" Vesta roared, spreading her huge wings and laughing as they effortlessly tore through shields, swords, armors and bodies, cutting the mutants around her into pieces as she flexed and grinned, allowing a huge mutant Arkangel to smash a cruel warhammer into her frame, laughing as it bounced violently back without even scratching her abs before she swung her sickleswords in from the sides and hooked into the back of his thighs, yanking hard forwards and tearing both legs off, her eyes flashing as she hit the bloodied torso with a blast of psychic energy and sent it crashing into other clones like it was a missile, breaking up a whole group. The "Death Angel" tattoo on the back of her massive quad glowed with sapphire energy as she allowed her swords to float out of her hands, surrounded by ethereal flames of blue force... and other weapons, swords and spears scattered by the dead clones and mutants slowly floated up from the ground, forming an arsenal around her as she slowly flexed her arms, huge biceps bulging as she threw her head back with a hiss, her collar glowing with energy as her horns pushed out of her skull as her height and musculature rapidly increased, and energy exploded out of her in bolts that spread through the ground like a spider's web, sending electricity cursing through the heavily armoured beasts all around her and nailing them in place as they shrieked and gargled and trashed, spasming uncontrollably, the bolts turned solid and ripped violently upwards, shattering the heavy plates of stone paving the boulevard and cutting through Paladins and mutants like they were made of butter, sending bloody pieces raining down in every direction, before the sapphire bolts whip-lashed back down, snapping over other clones and monsters and yanking them down in the dirt, smacking them into the floor, rending them into pieces as the area around her turned into a meat grinder, until she snarled hungrily and arched her back, her eyes turning solid sapphire as she glared at the sky. "I am my Master's weapon. I'm my God's Will." She stepped forwards, and her powerful leg flexed majestically as she sent a ripple of power exploding through the ground, disintegrating the lines of mutants surrounding her, and then she finally snapped her head forwards, licking at her muzzle with her long, forked tongue as she now towered above the Paladins, eighty feet tall and thrumming with terrible power that rammed in pulses into the buildings on either side of the street, cracking and shattering their fronts as Paladins were squished against them until they burst apart into splatters of crimson. She grinned widely, looking down at the carnage in the street as the bolts receded, crackling around her huge form, before she idly glared at an Executioner that hacked wildly at her shin with his great axe. She pulled her foot up, then stomped him into oblivion just like he was a bug, before kicking into another group of clones, turning them into nothing but a crimson mist as she blocked the exit of one of the roads that emerged onto the boulevard, grinning darkly as the floating weapons, enlarged to match her greater sizes, slashed viciously down into the advancing horde of mutants, tearing them into shreds just as she reached down to seize a monstrous warped Arkangel that was well over forty feet tall and covered in thorns and rusty blades of metal that moved back and forth, attached to grotesque mutant muscles. She easily lifted the creature high up above the armada of smaller Paladins and she twisted him like a rag before tearing him in half with a snarl of predatory glee, dismissively tossing the two halves of the corpse down into the swarming mass of enemies. Another enormous horror, almost as big as her, stomped forwards to swing a huge cleaver sword against her neck but a sicklesword swung up timely to intercept the assault and she drove forwards to grab him by the shoulders, snarling and flexing as she ripped him in half like a piece of paper.
Killer and Alexis spurred their mounts and tore deeper through the army that had filled the road leading to the Senate building, but their attention was captured by a sinister shadow that suddenly engulfed the buildings to their left as an immense creature dived down from the sky, propelled by four colossal wings that glowed with electricity as it pumped energy into a rapidly expanding sphere that shined like a sun between its hands. A terrible discharge of holy force blasted forth from the sphere and crashed into the boulevard, annihilating the clones ahead of the two gods without any case as it rushed against them, striking with enough force to send Ruin and Wrath flying backwards with neighs of pain as Killer and Alexis were smashed out of the saddles.
Killer winced in pain but did his best to absorb as much of that force as he could, his body regenerating almost as quickly as the holy fire consumed it, and he swung Wyvern in front of himself, the blade glowing radiantly as it deflected the holy fire away on either side while he crash-landed on his feet, gathering himself in a crouch and tearing a long and deep furrow in the street before managing to stop and straighten up, slapping the beam into motes of energy that floated slowly towards the ground.
Ruin and Wrath vanished, dissolving into two bursts of dark fire, and Killer charged forwards, looking sideways to see that Alexis was already sprinting towards the immense creature, her eyes burning sapphire as she ensnared his wings in a net made of psychic power.
The titan, who had to be at least three hundred feet tall, with wings that spread six times larger, grunted in surprise and pain as it stumbled in midair, blood spraying out of his wings as the invisible chains tore through their armor-like surface, and Killer threw a large sphere of black energy right into the beast's chest, while leaping up at the same time. Ruin emerged from the ground in an explosion of magma and the liger landed neatly in the saddle, quickly steadying himself while the black sphere smacked the mutated angel's chest and knocked him backwards with a roar of pain, before the darkness pulsed and became denser and blacker, yanking him through the sky until the creature crashed again into its incredibly hard surface. The beast roared in pain and anger as it bounced hard backwards, but when the tremendous force of the black hole yanked him forwards again he lashed out a grotesquely huge fist wrapped in a technological gauntlet made of enormous plates of black metal. Energy glowed in the fissures between each plate and formed an outer layer comprising three brutal blades sticking forth from the knuckles, and when it struck the core of the black hole it sent the small, super-heavy sphere of darkness crashing through the buildings beneath with enough force that two whole tower blocks seemed to explode into nothing but dust, the debris floating absurdly in midair and then streaking after the core instead of falling to the ground.
Vesta looked up with a grunt as the building to her right suddenly disintegrated in a cloud of dust as the dark sphere tore through it and bounced hard off the ground, tearing open an enormous crater and rattling the town so violently that all the towers cracked and wobbled, the goddess wincing as she was knocked off her feet and sent crashing into a wall on the other side of the street. Her eyes fixed on the dust and debris as the huge cloud shrunk down instead of spreading, all the heavy rubble beginning to orbit rapidly around the core before falling inside it, helping it grow a little larger still, a bit more powerful.
The titanic beast-Arkangel laughed darkly and folded his wings for a moment to fall down from the sky like a meteor, his feet warped into terrible talons that, being very close to each other, almost formed hoofs that tore through the roofs of the ancient buildings like they were made of nothing but hay and twigs; walls exploding in a myriad of fragments as he stomped groups of clones out of existence, absolutely unfazed by the fact that they were his allies. Eyes that glowed a sinister crimson light looked down at Vesta with vicious glee and the titan swung a huge foot through the piles of ruins and corpses to kick the black hole right against her, but Killer clenched his hand and snarled, focusing on absorbing as much rubble and organic material as possible before the sphere exploded in a massive black of black fire. The warped Arkangel grunted and protected himself by folding the vast wings across his chest as he stumbled forwards, and when his wings unfurled again they cut through the buildings ahead like massive axes, forcing Vesta to hurriedly duck under the slashes as ruins cascaded all around her in a massive landslide, before a long bloodred-blade was thrust down towards her as she went into a roll and looked up with a snarl to see the immense weapon crushing and maiming a whole lot of Paladins and other mutants. The immense beast clearly did not care in the slightest for his synthetic allies, and he only laughed darkly as he slashed his colossal sword to the side, following the queen of Seraphims even as she dived inside a damaged building. The sword tore into it like it was made of paper and the walls crumbled upon her, but with a flap of her wings she shot through floor after floor before ramming her way out through the roof, spinning rapidly and focusing energy towards the palm of her hand, forming a heavy spear that she hurled at his head with a roar, watching as it flew sure and slammed into a sort of metallic halo, tearing deep into its edge before exploding in a huge blast of golden fire... but the titan laughed darkly and shrugged the impact off, before a sort of mouth opened in the side of his skull and vomited a blast of dark fire in her direction, so that her eyes bulged in shock and her hand rose on instinct, summoning a shield of energy ahead of her just before the roaring inferno struck, flames washing past the edges of the barrier with a deafening sound of death as she was slammed backwards. She gazed briefly over her shoulder and adjusted her fall with a flap of her wings, finally landing in a crouch on top of a ruined tower even as the dark fire consumed even the stone blocks into a sludge... and when it finally subsided she snarled in surprise, rage and horror as she recognized the beast ahead of her. "Michael...?"
The mutant monstrosity grinned toothily at that, his eyes glowing with even greater and more malignant energy as he nodded in eager confirmation. Michael had been beautiful once, and very vain about his beauty, but he had sacrificed his handsomeness, trading it for power. His features were mostly unrecognizable: his bright brown eyes had turned into fissures that glowed a hellish red and his muzzle had thickened, shortened and deformed as his jaws became massive and savage, lined with fangs too large for them to ever close properly. Acid drool leaked out between the metallic saberteeth and what had once been white fur had now turned into dark metal, his mane becoming a forest of semi-flexible spikes and thorns of steel. The halo around his skull pushed out directly from the bone and he no longer wore his silvery helmet-crown, replaced by a series of twisted horns that arched up from the top of his now elongated head. Instead of cheeks and temples he had faces, or better entire bodies half-merged with his metallic face, petrified in crucified positions and with mouths and eyes forever gaping in agony and terror.
His muscular body had grown even larger and stronger and his famous battle armor had become one with his flesh, pieces of it still visible over his chest, which now was plated over by far larger and thicker formations of dark metal and incandescent stone, not far from the melting point. Burning magma seemed to pump in his veins, glowing through fissures in the armor, and instead of chiseled decorations the plates now had more small corpses locked in painful, broken poses with their hands and feet stuck into the metal.
His mighty arms had grown longer and larger, bulging with huge muscles and clad in elaborate interlocking segments of armor, ending in massive gauntlets that turned all his fingers in deadly, flexible talons. Heavy, bulky shields were strapped to each forearm, bulging outwards and arching high up to protect his sides or to completely hide his upper body when he wanted to defend himself, while leaving the gauntlets free to stick past the edge, to strike the enemy and to handle his massive double-ended cleaver sword, which had two blades long enough to double up as spears. His wings had lost all of their light and the original feathers had mostly fallen away or withered to husks, but metallic ones had been bolted in their place and large plasma thrusters had been added to the large, muscular structure of the wings.
His scaled, dragon-like body was barely recognizable: the scales only showed through here and there, at the joints, where they replaced the heavy, bulky armor plates to preserve his freedom of movement, and they had turned thick and metallic, impervious to almost any kind of offense. His thick, crocodile-like tail was still there, but now it was lined with a multitude of crucified corpses... and Vesta looked at those with horror, before snarling as Michael laughed, following her gaze and whip-lashing his heavy tail out against her, growling: "Do take a closer look, little Vesta!"
The huge tail smashed through the damaged tower and turned it into a cloud of debris, but the Seraphim leapt high into the sky and propelled herself out of the trajectory, before grunting as the bodies trapped all along the armored tail turned their dead heads towards her and vomited beams of crimson force in her direction, and she flipped away from the tempest, wincing as several shots tore through her wings even as she used her mind to swing her swords into many others, slamming the rays away from her, while Michael cackled: "Satan was a pest that had to be eradicated, but he never was stupid. He had had a few good ideas, we've had to admit... and we've taken them and perfected them. Absorbing other divinities was by far the quickest way for me to get the power I need to crush your heresy!" The warrior turned around and swung his arm violently against her, trying to smack her with the bulging, colossal mass of his shield, but Vesta gathered herself and stomped both feet into its surface, grunting as the impact went painfully through her spine and springing up into the air as the gigantic creature recoiled slightly and growled in rage, spreading his hand and thrusting it out. Vesta coughed up blood and drool as a massive blast of pure force struck her and sent her crashing towards the earth, unable to react in any way as she smashed through the front of a large building and tore through it and the next tower in line before crashing into the street as chunks of stone and concrete flew in all directions while she skidded over the ground and smashed into a group of Paladins and Mutants, knocking several sprawling before managing to arch her back to flip backwards, wrapping her legs around the neck of a huge corrupted Arkangel that charged in to finish her and dragging him down into the dirt, snapping his neck like a twig and landing in a crouch. Another beast charged at her back with a spear but she only snarled irritably and shifted sideways to let the blade hiss past her side, her hands gripping the pole and yanking the weapon out of the mutant's hands while one of her sickleswords chopped his head off. She straightened and windmilled the heavy spear around her waist, cutting down the beasts charging at her from all sides and then snorting as she kicked into the group of Paladins that was already forming around her shins as they hacked at her muscular legs, turning them into a crimson mist that painted a red lake down the street. Another enormous prototype assaulted her from the front, firing furiously with the large cannons that had been welded to his arms and she charged forwards with a snarl, thrusting the huge spear through his guts and up out of his skull before slamming him into the ground to swing the butt of the long pole up into the jaw of another beast lunging at her back, knocking it over with a spray of blood and cartilage and teeth. She stabbed the spear hard into the ground, using the massive corpse skewered on it to squish into pulp another group of Paladins, and then spun on the spot to toss a sphere of energy into the other mutant as it clawed its way back up, sending him crashing away like a meteor before the ball exploded into a miniature sun of holy energy, vaporizing a line of charging creatures.
She spat out a gout of blood and snorted, glaring up at the immense Monarch, the king of the devastated Fourth Sky, the angel of Repentance... or better, the monster he had become, as the titan grinned sharkishly down at her while one of the corpses on his chest opened its mouth in a silent shriek of agony and began to spit down spheres of crackling blue energy that fell to earth like they weighed more than the planet itself, smacking into the ground with terrifying violence and warping the gravity force in the whole area, as debris impossibly floated in midair and the buildings all around crumbled but failed to collapse, their pieces moving rapidly through the air, following the large spheres... and Vesta grunted and brought her arms up to shield herself as chunks of stone hammered into her from all sides as she floated upwards as well, caught between a multitude of gravitational hurricanes that spun in different directions, dragging her this way and that with enough violence to make her bones creak audibly, her arms and legs feeling like they would snap off, while rubble and wreckage and corpses and live Paladins and Mutants crashed into her like projectiles, the mindless beasts clawing at her as best they could before being blown right past...and she gritted her fangs as she saw their bodies exploding in splatters of blood and gore when they were literally ground out of existence between the vortexes.
Vesta snarled and forced her wings to spread away from her chest, before she made them vanished in a flash of fire, flexing her mighty musculature and tensing as a huge chunk of building came spinning wildly towards her. She slammed her feet into it and clawed her way up along the wall even as her limbs spasmed violently, each movement requiring a monstrous effort... and she snarled as a Paladin shot past her, carried by the gravitational wind towards his death yet focused only on hurting her as he swung his sword viciously towards her arm, but it barely scratched her as she finally managed to stand up and leap towards another large chunk of stone, and from there towards one of the dark blue spheres. She thrust a hand out towards this, blasting it with a huge wave of psychic force, and the sphere shot right against another, so violently that they clashed even as their respective gravity fields attempted to repeal each other.
The resulting explosion tore the hurricanes apart and sent thousands of tons of wreckage falling down to earth or shooting in every direction like shrapnel, and Vesta tackled a drooling mutant beast as it shot towards her, spinning once on the spot as she hurled him violently up against Michael, striking the dead god on his chest. The gaping face snapped hard backwards with a sick crunching sound as the metallic behemoth smashed into it, but immediately another imprisoned divinity glared down at her and a huge, twisting mass of black tendrils and tentacles shot out of the ground and reached for the sky, clamping around the queen of Seraphims and crushing her arms into her sides, hefting her right in front of Michael as he grinned widely and spun his enormous double-tipped sword. "What a wonderful day to die, Vesta! Heaven wins, and you lose." The titan laughed and stabbed his weapon forwards, but Vesta's eyes flashed with rage and power and she arched her back, her body growing rapidly, her muscles bulging larger while her sickleswords and the other weapons floated back up into the sky, tearing through piles of rubble and corpses to shoot back and forth through the mass of black tentacles, chopping them into bits.
Vesta lashed out her fist, energy crackling around it and solidifying in a glowing, golden gauntlet just before smashing into the flat of Michael's blade, knocking it wide off target.
The Arkangel grunted in surprise, stumbling to the side slightly, but he immediately seized the handle in both hands and swung the double-ended sword towards her exposed hip, only for sparkles and bolts of energy to explode from the clash of his blade with one of her sickleswords.
"I always was the best, yet always had to listen to the orders of a whore and of a general that thought of peace and kindness even in the thick of a fight!" Michael snarled, his eyes glowing with ferocious force as he slammed his weapon hard upwards, again clanging against her own swords, before he lunged past her side and slashed the back-blade of his hybrid weapon up towards her neck. "Vesta and Gabriel, Gabriel and Vesta...! God had eyes only for you, despite all your failures!"
"Did you really crave attention that much? Is this the reason why you betrayed everything we believed in?" Vesta growled, flexing her mighty musculature and clenching her hands into fists as she grew enough to match her rival's sizes, her sickleswords glowing with her energies as they floated in the air and swung forwards, hooking Michael's sword and dragging it out to the side to leave him wide open for her fist to strike into his belly, the blow resounding like an explosion as a shockwave tore through him and washed over the entire metropolis, rattling its towers like they were leaves, while she leaned in with an uppercut that caught the monster right on the chin, knocking his head hard backwards as he stumbled with a roar of pain, blood flying from his jaws. The dead gods imprisoned upon his chest opened their gaping maws and vomited forth thick streams of magma that hit her in the chest, making her wince in pain for a moment, before her body adapted and flames of her own eagerly consumed and devoured the incandescent fluid, but it was enough for Michael to regain stable footing and move forth with a scream of inarticulate fury, his muscles bulging as he slashed his twin blade back and forth, moving with every bit of his renowned skill and with speed and power greater than he had ever possessed, forcing Vesta to step back even as her sickleswords swung in the way of each assault, deflecting and slamming back his weapon as she kept her fists raised and ready, smashing into his face every time there was an opening. The Arkangel's head recoiled with every jab, but he kept drooling and grinning sharkishly, all damage healing up almost faster than Vesta could deal it out, and she gritted her fangs before ducking under a stab of his spear-sword and smashing both of her hands up into his chin, hard enough to break his spine, bones audibly shattering, before immediately bringing both hands down in a tomahawk on his forehead, a roar escaping her jaws as she felt the metallic halo crumpling and blood sprayed thickly out. Michael retreated with a hiss of agony, but the corpses hanging from his halo, even the ones maimed by Vesta's punches, turned towards her with accusing glares and sent her crashing backwards with a cry of agony as telekinetic shock exploded in her mind, blood bursting out of her nostrils and ears as she instinctively covered her ears and shut her eyes, trying to block the mind-breaking wail pounding against his skull from inside, and Michael shoved a hand towards her and unleashed a blast of dark energy.
Vesta's instinct forced her eyes open and she cursed, twisting on the spot and beginning to dodge as she crossed her arms and sent her sickleswords in the way of the blast, before a bright wall of golden energy appeared ahead of her and rattled as the black spike smashed into its center, exploding in a ferocious inferno of supernatural fire. Vesta turned around to see Killer and Vesta charging down the street on the back of their war horses but she shook her head and shouted: "Don't waste your time here! Go ahead, find Typhon! Michael is mine! I want to deal with the asshole myself!"
Killer and Alexis traded a look at that, torn between the need to help her and the need to get on with their own mission, and then they grudgingly pulled on the reins and guided Ruin and Wrath into a turn, the two stallions kicking and smashing mutants flying in every direction as they changed course and trampled another wall of shields, charging up a pile of Paladins and crushing them under their hooves before leaping right past the others, their mighty hooves thundering against the ground as they rushed towards the gardens.
"You arrogant whore! You dare thinking yourself on par with me?" Michael barked, charging forwards with a snarl of fury as the gods merged into his body writhed in agony and glared at her with hate, as if she was responsible for their fate, and she had a mere instant to focus her energies to protect herself before the air around her crackled with violent discharges of negative force before exploding violently right in front of her chest, shattering her armor and tearing through her solid muscles as she crashed through a building, wincing in pain as ethereal yet terribly sharp blades tormented her entire body, slashing cuts in her arms, legs, chest, back, abdomen, face. She felt her energies being sucked out of her and consumed, and before she could react there was a second explosion that, she realized, had been made possible by her own force leaking out of her. She crashed backwards with a cry of agony, tearing through walls and structures and closing her eyes as she was pelted with rubble and clouds of dust and debris, but when the field of energy attempted to contract around her to implode again she snarled and lashed her hand outwards, blindly blasting that torment away with a telekinetic wave. Somehow, it worked, but Michael lunged forwards with a powerful beat of his four enormous wings and he swung his blade down against her, making her grunt in pain as it tore into her shoulder... but failed to push any deeper as she directed one of her Sickleswords upwards, hooking into the sword and hefting it violently upwards while the second sicklesword viciously swung towards Michael's abdomen to gut him like a fish. It crashed against a wall of solid darkness as another crucified god trashed in pain and howled in powerless silence while his powers were squeezed out of his corpse, but it still gained Vesta enough time to stand back up, a snarl on her features as she slammed her elbow into his face, then extended her arm and gripped the back of his skull, yanking him down onto her back and unfurling her mighty wings to cut huge, superheated gashes across his body, making him howl in fury and pain. "I'm far better than you. In every way." Vesta spat, matter of factly, even as the Monarch rolled out of the way before her sickleswords could tear through his chest and nail him to the ground. The gods trapped in his armored body tormented Vesta with a barrage of fireballs and lightning bolts and spikes of darkness, but the goddess angrily shoved a hand towards him and sent the other floating weapons she had collected spearing into his chest with enough force to make him gargle up blood... before he vanished from the spot and seemed to shoot through Vesta like an ethereal wall of darkness, making her groan in agony as black electricity crackled all over her form, causing her muscles to spasm out of control just as Michael resumed his physical form behind her back and grinned as he stabbed his spear-sword hard backwards, tearing it into her lower back. She screamed in pain, stumbling forwards as she felt her blood streaking down her legs while the Arkangel worked to stab deeper inside her body, cackling darkly: "Do you see now...? Do you see the truth, whore...? I'm the best! I've always been the best!"
Vesta tried to flap her mighty wings, but Michael roughly clawed into their roots and she winced and arched her back, trying to hit him in the face with her horned skull, but he laughed and shook his head in taunting denial, swinging his knee upwards to hit her behind the knee... only to grunt in surprise as Vesta roared and tore forwards, away from the bloodied blade, before somersaulting up over his head, wrapping her mighty quads around his neck as she shot past and throwing him away like a toy, sending him crashing into the buildings on the other side of the devastated boulevard littered with corpses and wreckage. Michael immediately pushed to stand back up, snarling in fury as black bolts crackled around his arms before he smashed both of his shields into the ground, sending a ripple of power tearing towards Vesta and exploding upwards in a geyser under her feet, blasting her upwards, before he angrily struck her with two spheres of focused darkness, the explosions sending her crashing hard back against the walls of Caernarvon, hard enough to sink deep into an armored bastion. Michael stood up with a growl of fury more than pain as the blades stuck into his chest were burned out of existence by the negative energy thrumming through his form as the dead gods covering his body writhed in agony, screaming in silence. And a clear, soft voice, so small and yet so loud that everyone could hear it, sadly asked: "What did you do to yourself...?"
Michael turned to the side with a snarl of ferocious rage, his eyes glowing as he looked down at Elelyon, who stood in the middle of the boulevard, unarmed and with his arms hanging at his sides, a look of horror and sorrow on his features. "What did you do...? And why...? Why would you even do this...?"
"I made myself powerful!" Michael roared, clenching his fist and turning to glare at the tiny god in the street. The Arkangel made a grimace of contempt at the sight of the meek reptile, unable to believe that he had served and admired and revered that creature for so many years. Unable to remember why he had believed in him; unable to imagine a good reason to ever want to believe in him. He looked so weak and puny and useless now... "I sacrificed my handsome features, yes... but I will get them back one day. Even if I don't, it is not important! I have power now!" Michael howled, spreading his arms as if to show off his mighty build, but all Elelyon saw were the countless faces of dead divinities frozen in eternal agony and despair. "I have the power of a hundred gods; the power to make Heaven great, to make it splendid, to elevate it above everything else. To bring it where it was always meant to be!" Michael flexed, grinning maniacally as his muscular form thrummed with power and suddenly expanded even further, his huge muscles swelling massively before he spread his arms and roared, stabbing his enormous spear-sword brutally down against Elelyon. Vesta's eyes bulged in shock at that and she charged forwards, shouting and roaring as she grabbed into his arms and wrestled his enormous weapon back, but the long blade still pierced deep into the ground and enormous energy crackled down its length and exploded upwards, tearing the road apart and then whip-lashing through the buildings on either side. "I have the power of a hundred gods! Power to erase the memory of you and your failure!"
"You might have their power, but you have nothing of their wisdom." Elelyon sadly said as he reappeared in a flash of light, his feet landing lightly on the edge of the colossal blade, and despite the wounds under his light white armour he looked as unmovable as an ancient mountain. The energy crackling angrily all around him retreat away as if in fear of him, and he radiated a warm white light as he looked up at the Arkangel that he had once loved. "I failed you, Michael, and I apologize. But I also failed in judging the true substance that makes you up: the man I thought I knew would have never, never turned into this monstrosity."
"You allowed Heaven to be challenged endlessly by Hell, and defied by the mortals! Don't tell me what is monstrous! You betrayed us all!" Michael shrieked, and he viciously swung his weapon skywards, trying to cut through the small but powerful being that was judging him, and Elelyon only floated easily off the blade before using just two fingers to deflect it away when it stabbed ferociously at his chest, causing Michael to snarl in a mix of fury and shock, his eyes flashing as the dead bodies hanging near his halo trashed violently and vomited large spikes of darkness against Elelyon, forcing the reptile to blast them off the sky by slowly raising a hand and sending a pulse of holy energy against them. Michael stomped forwards and thrust the enormous spear-sword against Elelyon, but Vesta's sickleswords swung down and hooked the great blade to drag it out to the side while she smashed her fist into his cheek, knocking his head violently to the side and sending the Arkangel half-falling onto the buildings beyond, before his great wings slashed violently back against her and the huge thrusters installed on them turned on, vomiting long blades of incandescent blue plasma that washed over the queen's arm and chest, making her cry in pain while the Monarch slid rapidly forwards, pulling up one of his huge shields and using it to ram into Elelyon.
Vesta dropped her shoulder and charged into his back, tackling him to the ground even as the plasma thrusters tore through her flesh with searing fire, and she roared as she clawed into his skull, pulling his head backwards as hard as she could as she straddled him and tried to decapitate him. Michael snarled furiously, resembling a feral beast more than the Arkangel he had been, and the metallic feather-blades of his wings tore through the arms of each wing to point their sharp tips against Vesta, before all four wings snapped closed on her, and blood exploded as hundreds of blades tore into her sides, her thighs, her arms, making her hiss in agony as that murderous embrace grew tighter... but she did not let go of his skull, instead driving her knee hard into the base of his spine while her sickleswords tore into the plasma thrusters and tore them into pieces, yanking them off the roots of Michael's wings.
Michael only snarled in fury at that, clenching his hand and causing the wrecked thrusters to explode in midair like bombs, pelting Vesta with shrapnel and flaming droplets of plasma, but the Seraphim still didn't let go and snarled as she yanked him hard backwards when he savagely slashed out his sword against Elelyon. The reptile became ethereal as the titanic blade swung violently against him, letting it pass through without damage before he solidified again and looked up at Vesta with a grimace of horror, seeing all the blood spurting out of the terrible wounds in her sides as the wing-blades tried to chop her into pieces... and he closed his eyes, focusing all of his energies before thrusting his hands forwards, trembling as blood exploded out of his wounds in such quantity to soak even the sturdy leather vest, beginning to show through. Holy energy exploded out of his hands in a blinding flash of light that blinded Michael, making him howl in agony as his eyes nearly melted away, before all that great force wrapped around his wings and began to morph the metal, making it ripple like water... and after a moment the cruel, dark blades reverted to beautiful white feathers, making Vesta grunt in relief as they popped out of her devastated sides while her wounds began to regenerate and heal. Michael, instead, howled in agony and clawed blindly through the air, viciously reaching for Elelyon as the holy energy invading his form burned more than any flame could ever had. Elelyon floated out of the way, but then quietly dropped down to earth, panting and squeezing lightly on his devastated abdomen, trying to soothe the pain and threatened to make him fall on his knees. He looked up at Michael at the Arkangel trembled in fury and agony, clawing into the ground with one hand and trying to push himself up while swinging his great sword backwards against Vesta, and the Creator closed his eyes, steadying his breath before saying: "Michael, please, don't fight the purity that was once your own! Show me that you still live, that the son I loved is still there... Don't you realize that if your own holiness hurts you, then what you have become is monstrous...?"
"I'm not your son!" Michael howled, drool leaking from his jaws as he gritted them hard enough to make his teeth creak. "You've abandoned us all! You have abandoned the dream that Heaven was! The dream of Heaven ruling the universe!"
"My dream was that the whole universe would be Heaven one day!" Elelyon shouted back, tears streaking down his cheeks as he fell onto his knees, grabbing at his own skull as he desperately cried: "I wanted us all to live in peace, to respect each other, to make each other better! I wanted us all to walk together across the universe to learn how we have come to wake up in it, and what we can make of our existence to make things better for everyone! I never wanted to divide the world! I never wanted to rule anything! Why have you forgotten it...? Why I wasn't able to make any of you understand...? Was I truly such a terrible father...?"
Elelyon slumped dejectedly in the street, half-hugging himself as his infected wounds tortured him with endless pain as the regenerated flesh began to rot away once more, and he trembled violently as he thrust forwards his head, offering it to Michael. "Please... I've always loved you as my son. You were the guardian of my dream. I... I shared my dream with you. You protected it from the Great Rebellion...! It cannot end like this... it can't..." Elelyon shivered, remembering the distant days when Michael had led the resistance of the royal palace against the first, tremendous assault of the rebels led by Satan. Michael then had been the true hero of the day, and had kept the rebels back, protecting the Council and Elelyon himself until Vesta and Gabriel had intervened and led the counterattack. Michael had fought that first day without ever killing one of his brothers and sisters: he wounded them, he forced them to retreat, he hit them until they backed off, but refused to kill them. That was what Elelyon had admired the most: Michael had given everyone a second chance, exactly as his God had taught him.
Michael had covered himself in glory during the long war of the Great Rebellion, but his initial determination had not lasted. He started the war as the noblest of God's knights, sparing the life of his enemies, but ended the war as a butcher, a killing machine that had nothing but scorn and hate for the Fallen Angels and for their spawn, the demons. Something inside him had changed forever during that endless, terrible fratricide war: it left him full of bitterness and disappointment.
And now Elelyon realized that all the warnings that Vesta and Gabriel and others had given him had been true, all along: Michael was not only scarred by the horrors of the war, but his vision of the world had changed entirely. The Arkangel had expected the Great Rebellion to be quickly ended. He had expected God to lift his almighty arm and fix everything and bring the rebels back to reason. No one had believed in Elelyon and in his dream more than Michael had... and nobody was more bitterly disappointed by my failure. Michael had started the war convinced that his brothers and sisters would soon see the error of their ways and so he had spared their lives with the certainty that all was going to be fixed... but the truth had been very different, and his reaction had been one of badly hidden fury. He had started killing and destroying without mercy, drawing in his mind a deep divide between the good and the evil. The right and the wrong ones. Heaven and Hell. Elelyon had continued to dream of reunification, while Michael's new ideal was the destruction of Hell and the enslavement of the mortals to ensure they complied with Heaven's laws and vision. And because of that irremediable difference Michael had never seen Elelyon under the same light again. God had revealed his flaws. God was weak. God had failed.
Typhon had seen that change and had exploited it, telling Michael exactly what he wanted to hear. He had taken him aboard and together they had planned a new, glorious rebellion... Vesta had seen that change too, and had warned Elelyon about it. But even though I could see, I refused to accept the sad truth.
"This is our last chance to fix things together, Michael... it is not too late to remedy to both our mistakes." Elelyon offered, while he kept his concentration up as best he could, reaching deep inside the corrupted Arkangel and unlocking his purity, helping the holy energies of the old times flow again... until the monarch roared furiously and arched his back violently, enormous spikes of dark metal pushing out of his back and tearing through Vesta's thighs even as she pulled back as quickly as she could, growling in surprise and pain. The queen of Seraphims stumbled backwards with a cry of agony, tearing her legs free from that horrendous trap and rapidly forming a shield of energy as the Arkangel's mane seemed to explode in a cloud of darkness, firing a barrage of black blades against her.
Michael clawed his way back up to his feet, ignoring the terrible damage to his skull as he flexed and his entire armor-body rippled and grew, expanding in size and jutting with blades and spikes and thorns as his horns lengthened and twisted and all the dead gods crucified over his form howled in silent despair. Vesta's sickleswords slashed hard down into his back, nearly ripping his wings off at the roots and pushing deep inside his form, but the dark divinity only laughed darkly and rolled his shoulders, ignoring the two blades as they tore out and then struck again, tearing into the sides of his neck. The feathers that had just been brought back to light lost all of their luster and withered away, turning grey and sick before dissolving into dust, and the arms became terrible, segmented weapons of dark metal, ending in long, curved talons. Ethereal flames spread between them, forming new, incorporeal wings as the beast hissed in a mix of pain and dark delight as he hissed: "Arrogant and foolish, as always... you've always refused to accept reality for what it is. You've always sought refuge in your dreams. But I now see your fantasies for what they are, and I won't fall for them again!"
The beast turned around to slash his double-ended sword against Vesta, driving her back even as her sickleswords swung up to clang against the great cleaver, but the Seraphim's attention was all on Elelyon as the god trembled and fell on all fours with a wheeze, coughing up blood. She snarled and used her swords to slam Michael's weapon sideways so she could charge forwards and tackle him away from the creator, but the monarch flicked his hand almost absently, snickering darkly as blades of crystal tore upwards from the ground and speared through Elelyon, hefting him off the ground as he gargled and trembled, his blood spilling out of countless wounds.
"Let him go, traitor!" Vesta snarled, wrapping her powerful arms around his waist as he pulled up one gigantic foot and moved it over Elelyon. She flexed and arched her back, lifting the colossal monster off the ground and throwing him hard against a bastion, making him grunt in agony as the sharp triangular shape of the tower tore into his back and caused his spine to crack... but even that was not enough to stop him and he floated up with a snarling grin, taunting: "You cannot stop me."
"Put me to the test." Vesta snorted, glaring at him in contempt as she took on a ready position, clenching her fists and carefully moving around the monarch until she stood between him and Elelyon, shielding the wounded Creator as Michael lunged forwards, laughing cruelly as his eyes burned with power and insanity, his terrible segmented spikes of bone and metal stabbing viciously ahead of him, forcing Vesta's sickleswords on the defensive as they clashed in midair, rattling the entire Caernarvon as each impact resounded like thunder, and the goddess bode her time, gazing over her shoulder to see Mriya and Diana running forth to help Elelyon... and she shielded the exhausted Creator with her body, planting a foot right ahead of him and snarling as one of Michael's spike-arms viciously swung down, her armoured combat boot clanging loudly against the deadly blade as she kicked it back. She seized one of the spikes as it stabbed right towards her face, and a second immediately aimed for her chest. She caught it mere inches away from her spectacular breasts while the other two battled against her floating swords, and she grunted at the sheer strength in those metallic limbs as they angrily thrust against her, before yanking her hard forwards. She grunted in surprise and stumbled before letting go of them as she saw his spiked knee rushing towards her face, and she smacked her elbow hard down into his leg, knocking it away before snarling as she swung her fist up into his cheek, striking him hard enough to turn his features into bloody mush, his halo crumpling out of shape as he hissed in pain... before the sound turned into laughter as he slashed his twin-bladed sword up into her, catching her just above the groin and cutting diagonally through her abs and a breast, hefting her off the ground as she roared in pain and flew upwards... but her hand gripped into his mutilated face even as his metallic flesh regenerated so rapidly that it threatened to trap her fingers inside his cheek. She grabbed the crucified corpse of one of the gods that fueled Michael's power and yanked ferociously on it until its legs and arms tore apart.
Michael howled in fury and pain at that, his only intact eye staring at the bloody, limbless torso in her hand before she squeezed on it hard enough to make it explode in a wet, sick pulp that splattered on his head. Vesta soared higher up into the air and arched her back to tear free of the blade that was cutting into her chest and scratching into the enclosed cage of armor-bone that protected her organs, and she round-kicked Michael's sword in the flat side, sending the blade recoiling violently against his own neck, cutting halfway through it as she flew right past, stomping on his twisted horns with the other foot and spreading her arms as his flexible spike-arms shot up against her. Her sickleswords intercepted two of them and she twisted her body between the other two, catching them under her armpits as she began to fall behind him, stomping down on his thick, enormous tail and grinning as she stomped on the multitude of crucified gods half-buried in it. She grinned as she felt several of those captive gods bursting apart like overripe fruits, their dark blood and pulped gore splashing up her muscular legs as she ground her sharp heels into them and ground her spiked soles into them as hard as she could, charging forwards and yanking hard on the two flexible, segmented spikes, her muscles bulging explosively as her feet tore trenches into the ground and Michael's back arched while he roared in fury and pain, turning around with a snarl and stabbing his spear-sword against her back. Vesta's biceps bulged and her fangs gritted as she threw all of her strength and body weight forwards, and finally the two segmented spike-arms snapped loudly apart, sending her stumbling forwards. She allowed it to happen, crouching as Michael's huge sword swung viciously through the air, missing her hair by mere instants and chopping off a bang of her golden hair while she ducked and turned around, spinning the trashing spike-arms and grabbing them by the bases to stab their deadly tips down into Michael's tail, nailing it to the ground.
Immediately, her sickleswords swung hard down into his back, tearing through his rocky and metallic armor-skin and biting deep into the root of his tail, making him hiss in pain and shudder for a moment before he simply flexed and stabbed his sword hard backwards. Vesta easily sidestepped the huge blade, but then grunted as a terrible shockwave of pure power smashed into her and knocked her backwards, while magma and dark energy exploded out of the monster's tail and threw both of her swords far away. "You can try all you want, but you will never be able to take me down!" Michael cackled, swinging his huge tail upwards even as the spikes pierced through it tore two horrendous wounds wide open. He looked down at the bloody holes with something like amused interest, then grinned widely as they sealed and healed fully, while all the gods crucified to the long tail began to blast bolts of negative energy against Vesta, driving her backwards with a growl of pain and frustration as all the bolts and spikes and projectiles of energy and magic tore into her flesh and exploded, making her tremble in agony even as her flesh attempted to regenerate and her energies formed a layer of glowing armor on her arms and wings. She did her best to protect herself, slapping the bolts away while her sickleswords began to glow again with her energies and flew back towards her, and suddenly the back of Michael's skull seemed to explode, followed by one shoulder, one bicep, one hand as enormous explosions resounded over Caernarvon... and Vesta saw Elaine grinning predatorily as she fired her monstrous auto-shotgun at the corrupted Arkangel.
"Elaine, no!" Vesta shouted, her eyes flashing as she lowered her arms and stepped forth, an explosion of her energies blowing away the barrage of projectiles coming from Michael's slave divinities. "He is mine!"
Michael barely seemed to notice his skull exploding, and even as blood and strands of flesh fell over his features he only grinned maniacally, ignoring his arm even as it all but exploded into shreds, blood splattering ahead of him as the monstrous shotgun devastated his shoulder and nearly tore the limb right off. "Let her join in, Vesta...! You can nothing against me anyway! I will kill all of you whores. I will cleanse the world from your disgusting presence!"
Elaine twitched in rage at that, but lowered her shotgun and fired into a group of Paladins and mutants instead, turning them into a bank of crimson mist while she pointed a finger at Vesta, then at Michael, and ran her thumb over her throat. Vesta smirked a bit at that, and nodded to assure the Praetorian that she had every intention of completing the job. Michael snorted in contempt as Elaine didn't come closer, and he spat on the ground with distaste, growling: "I will take care of you after I'm done with queen-bitch here." He charged forwards with his enormous sword thrusting forth like a spear, and when Vesta began to move out of the way the huge weapon glowed with terrible energy and blasted forth a huge spear of corrupted, tainted holy energy that struck her in the chest, making her stumble backwards with a gargle even as she gripped its shaft and yanked it out of her flesh... and it exploded, knocking her backwards with a cry of agony, her hand smoldering and ruined and her chest horribly gaping, showing the enclosed cage of bone cracked and dented inwards. Michael charged at her through the smoke, their blades clashing once more in midair even as she gaped, blood leaking out of her mouth as she instinctively tried to get some air back into her lungs even though she technically didn't need it, and the Arkangel grinned viciously and stabbed down both of his remaining arm-spikes, while the ethereal flames of his wings wrapped over her and burned into her flesh, turning into a net that crushed her arms against her sides and made every movement torturously slow and painful. Vesta saw the deadly spikes rushing down against her and she moved out of the way of the first, grunting as it tore violently into the ground where she had stood until a split second earlier, and then she flexed and yanked her arms up as the second aimed for the damaged bone shield covering her heart. The ethereal flames exploded off her, making Michael wince in pain and surprise as his wings dissolved for a moment and left him dazed and the Seraphim grabbed the great spike and yanked the long arm down, cracking it loudly and then bending it back towards him as she roared and guided the long, deadly tip up into his lower jaw and through the entire skull until it pushed out between his horns. Michael's eyes went wide at that, blood bursting out of the terrible wound as he gargled and stumbled, his body trembling hard for a moment... but Vesta had barely the time to pull her fist back to strike him between the eyes and he already had recovered, shaking off the damage as he yanked the spike back out of his own skull. "Not... even... this... can stop me." Michael growled, and before he had finished speaking the horrible wound in the bottom of his jaw had already sealed up and vanished. Vesta looked at this in horror and surprise, but she only struck him hard again in the face, crunching half of his skull into pulp and broken metal-bone as one eye popped out of the socket and fell onto the ground as she snarled: "Maybe. But I bet that if I smash your face enough times, you won't be able to stand up again."
While Vesta and Michael clashed, Mriya grabbed the spikes that had torn through Elelyon's body, impaling him, and she snapped them like twigs, beginning to carefully pull them out of his body while Diana rushed over with an expression of horror on her face, biting her lower lip as she rapidly thought about how to proceed to help him and save his life. He was losing blood and energies at a terrible rate... and yet he managed to turn towards her and smile, coughing hard before finally managing to say: "Hello, Diana. Sorry for... ruining all your hard work, I guess. I'm not the best of patients."
Diana shook her head slowly, half-snorting and half-smiling, amazed once more by how he was always serene and relaxed about everything. The reptile turned his gaze to Mriya, who looked back at him with a gentle but somewhat embarrassed smile since their beginnings had been less than warm: it had taken Mriya a while to believe that Elelyon hadn't returned to take back his throne from Killer. The creator held no grudge against her, but she was still a bit uneasy around him, even after apologizing for her initial hostility. He winced in pain as the goddess removed another spike, slowly pulling it out of his arm, and he bit his lower lip before saying: "Wait, Mriya... I... think I can do by myself."
The muscular female frowned a bit at that and traded a concerned look with Diana, but before the healer could say anything, Elelyon closed his eyes and focused his energies, turning ethereal for a moment and allowing all of the spikes to fall to the ground before resuming his physical form, effortlessly held aloft by Mriya's strong hand. He grinned at his accomplishment, but then he shuddered violently and half-curled up as blood spurted out of his wounds as they seemed to flex and tear open even wider out of pure spite.
"I told you not to strain yourself!" Diana reprimanded, rolling her eyes with a sigh as she leaned over to pour energy into his old wounds, soothing the pain and keeping them from opening up fully once more as he squirmed but gulped down the cries of pain that tried to come out, finally rasping: "Yeah... I said it, no? Not a good patient." They rushed out of the street and up a pile of rubble as Paladins and other mutants creature swarmed over the ruins and the devastation left by the clash between Vesta and Michael. Mriya cradled Elelyon in one arm like he was a child, putting a noticeable blush on his cheeks as he clung to her great bicep and embarrassedly tilted his head away from her enormous breasts while she leapt past a pile of shattered flying cars and then kicked a couple of Paladins out of the way, her boot tearing through their shields and armors like they were made of paper, while she idly thrust her free hand out to the side and sent a hurricane of sapphire flames exploding over a group of mutants and Righteous charging at them with spears and heavy assault rifles, the bullets bouncing uselessly off her powerful form. The goddess led them through another line of Paladins, crushing them underfoot like bugs before clearing the corner of an half-collapsed building as she looked out for a room offering some kind of quiet and security so that Elelyon could be more adequately treated. An Arkangel in full armor stormed out of the ruined building and charged at Mriya with a yell of fury, revving up the scary chainsaw blade under the barrel of his monstrous combat rifle. Elelyon turned towards him with a wince, his eyes widening as he tried to recognize him, but it was impossible: his helmet completely covered his face, hiding his features other than the long, almost-white blonde hair that went down his back and over his shoulders, and the silvery and golden armor he had once worn had been replaced by a far heavier and more technological powered exoskeleton colored in a fiery red shade. His voice came to them warped by the heavy helmet as he barked: "Traitor of Heaven! Be purified by the glory of the Righteous!". It made Elelyon close his eyes in pain and regret, a shudder shaking his form... and Mriya snorted in contempt, grabbing the rifle and crumpling it in her grip like it was made of paper, her monstrous strength also annihilating the Arkangel's hand and making him shriek in agony and shock as she bent his arm at a horrible, impossible angle and thrust the chainsaw blade right into the front of his helmet, tearing it, and the head beneath, in two bloody halves. "Yeah, yeah, right." She muttered, kicking the twitching corpse out of the way, and Elelyon sighed, keeping his eyes closed until she put him down on a table that she had hastily cleaned from the dust and rubble that had accumulated upon it. The room was pretty dark, and dust floated in it still as the cracked walls were rattled by explosions both near and far, as the sounds of battle came from every corner of the town. Turning towards the shattered window, surrounded by huge holes produced by high caliber bullets and with several corpses piled messily on the floor just below, Elelyon watched silently over the ruins of his beloved capital, seeing nothing but columns of dark smoke, flames, explosions, mountains of rubble and the long streaks of colored light left by tracer rounds as Killer's soldiers on top of the bastions fired into the streets to drive back an apparently endless deluge of Sprinters and Paladins and other mutants of all shapes. As Mriya took position at the window, taking her mother's monstrous sniper cannon off her back and working the bolt to drive a massive shell into the chamber, and Diana tore open his leather armor to treat his wounds, he closed his eyes and asked himself: what happened to you, Juggernaut...? He was surprised that the gigantic guardian had not emerged yet. Knowing that Typhon had been tampering with him for months, half of him hoped that Juggernaut had somehow died. It was a terrible thought for him to bear, because he felt responsible for the most unlucky and tormented of all of his creations, but still better than the most likely alternative: Juggernaut alive but controlled and corrupted by Typhon.
Killer and Alexis, tearing through the horde of mutants, were determined to find out. Killer kept gazing back over his shoulder at the clash between Michael and Vesta, but despite his instinctive worries every time that Vesta was hit he knew that she did not want his help anyway. She had had to put up with Michael's arrogance and with his scheming behind the curtains for far too many years to forget all the pain and frustration and disappointments that she had had to live through. And with what Michael had done from the battle of the Wall onwards it was clear that there could be no forgiveness. Michael was an enemy that everyone in the family would have loved to take down, but for Vesta it was truly a personal affair, rooted in times that were many millions of years more ancient than anything Killer had experienced.
He almost absently swung Wyvern hard down to the right, letting the monstrous weight of the weapon do all the job as it crushed and maimed and smashed angels flying in pieces while Ruin trampled bodies and rammed into Paladins with his muscular, enormous chest, knocking them sprawling like pins and consuming them in his eternal, supernatural fire. Wrath did much the same, tearing through the armada of corrupted angels and mutant clones like a flaming meteor, shrapnel and balls of fire flying from each impact of his glowing hooves against the ground as Alexis stood up in the stirrups and slashed Blue Vixen down into the crowd, chopping Executioners into bits and occasionally aiming her sword-rifle at distant snipers and mages when their accurate fire from the rear lines became annoying. Nothing could hope to stand up to their powerful charge, and they tore through Typhon's army like arrows, leaving behind two wide, charred paths of death and destruction, littered with smoldering corpses, pulped gore, bloody shreds and scattered, broken weaponry as they aimed straight for a colossal succession of electrified fences topped by razor wire that had been erected all around the senate's gardens. Typhon had barricaded what had once been a public Eden open to absolutely everyone and then had ripped apart much of it, cutting down or burning most of the green forest and then beginning to dig tunnels as he searched for Juggernaut's crystal sarcophagus. And there, right in front of them, in the distance beyond the fences and some relatively holes in the ground, digging sites that had clearly been abandoned early on, was the largest of all chasms that Typhon had opened in Caernarvon's land. It was a vast abyss with a miles-wide mouth, and Killer could not see the bottom. Only darkness and a series of tubes and elevator cabs on rails hastily secured to the wall of the abyss. Clearly, that was the digging site that had generated results. Typhon had to be down there, somewhere. And Juggernaut must be there too.
He spurred Ruin, urging him onwards, and the stallion only snorted steam from his flaring nostrils, immediately accelerating even further and smashing against everyone who dared stand in his path, his cruel hooves crushing Paladins into pulp as he flexed his broad chest and rammed into a mutant, a wall of muscles and fire that just could not be stopped. The fence ahead crackled with electricity as snipers took aim from turrets erected all along it and fortified with enormous caissons filled with dirt, but Ruin lunged forwards and Killer stood up in the stirrups as he focused his energy in a handful of small spheres, before hurling them with all his strength, grinning as they spread out like guided missiles and smashed into the nearest turrets, annihilating them in a series of enormous explosions. Alexis, standing on the flexing back of Wrath, laughed darkly and almost lazily trailed her huge sword-rifle in this direction and that, blasting out one shot at a time, her eyes burning with sapphire energy as the bullets inexorably found their way through the skulls of the enemy sharpshooters, dropping them like flies before ricocheting wildly inside the turrets, tearing through the other angels hiding behind the parapets with their hands ready on piles of rocket launchers and open crates of grenades. They couldn't hide from her sixth sense, their pitiful energy signatures standing out in full definition through the thick walls, their future actions all playing in Alexis's mind with sometimes as much as a minute before taking place. She was the ultimate predator, and they were nothing but her sport, her toys. A sniper pocked out from behind a parapet, trailing the huge rifle he had just reloaded, but before he could do anything his head exploded in a splatter of red, a bullet having already been on the way to end his life. The spotter, who had been hiding nearby, clutching an heavy assault rifle, squeaked in shock and lunged to the opposite side of the turret, laying down with his face pressed against the floor, but Alexis's bullet bounced against the parapet, spun wildly through the air and tore into his temple, bursting out of the opposite side of his skull and smashing into the chest of a terrified Righteous who was hugging a rocket launcher, waiting for the two gods to be closer. He had an instant to begin a shriek, and then he was nailed to the wall as the enormous shell disintegrated his chest.
Ruin and Wrath rammed into the fence in a display of raw strength, ignoring the cruel razor wire even as it bit into their legs and chests and necks, tensing as they galloped forwards, until the enormous steel poles were uprooted out of the ground and sent spinning like mortal weapons into the thick groups of Paladins and Righteous warriors, the thick wires snapping and whip-lashing into the crowd or melting in the eternal flames dancing on the powerful bodies of the great beasts.
Killer and Alexis pulled on the reins as the stallions raced for the abyss, and both horses reared up and turned around, their front legs kicking viciously into the mindless clones that charged forth with spears and swords, before Wyvern and Blue Vixen tore through the lines and chopped bodies into bits, turning the dead ground red with the blood soaking it, before they leapt off their mounts and landed with matching grins, stomping hard into the ground and allowing their tremendous energies to explode into the earth, rattling the whole town as the angels closer to them were simply vaporized, while the others in the distance were blown into pieces and hurled sky-high to land like bloody meteors uncountable miles away. Automatically, Killer and Alexis spun slowly around to survey their surroundings and ended up back to back, their great swords at the ready as blood and gore rained thickly down all around them and magma bubbled and exploded upwards through large cracks in the ground. There was no one left standing around them, and suddenly there was almost silence, but for the groaning of uncountable agonizing beasts in their last throes and for the sounds of battle coming from the rest of the town. Ruin and Wrath snorted as if disappointed by that turn of events and hammered their hooves into the ground before vanishing in matching flashes of fire. Killer and Alexis only traded a smirk and shouldered their huge blades, walking up to the edge of the abyss and looking down into the darkness.
"Lifts gone." Alexis calmly announced, and Killer only nodded. Several seconds later, the elevators that ventured down the immense digging site exploded and the rails on which they used to move were torn into pieces and sent falling down as bombs were remotely detonated to prevent access to the bottom of the immense pit.
"I'm not sure why they even bothered. We can just jump. Or fly." Killer snorted in amusement, and Alexis shrugged with a little grin. They knew they were charging straight into a trap, but the war had lasted way too long already. Killer had allowed Typhon to get away once as a way to give peace a chance, and had ended up bitterly regretting that decision. They were determined to put an end to the massacre, once and for all. They traded a silent gaze, then stepped past the edge and fell like meteors into the darkness.
Killer had the time to be amazed at the immensity of the pit that Typhon had ordered to dig up, seeing roads spiraling along the walls of the well, one for the traffic going up, one for the traffic going down. A few clones could still be seen digging, but it was clear that they had been pretty much abandoned down there, forgotten like the mindless objects they were. Bulldozers and other machinery had been hastily pushed out of the way when they had finally unearthed the roots of some of the titanic cables that distributed Juggernaut's immense, uncontrollable energy to the various towns and fortresses of Heaven and even to deserts and seas, discharging it away to prevent the colossus from growing uncontrollably. The cables were hundreds of feet in diameter. Some had to be a mile or more. It was an unbelievable sight, and they met more and more such cables on the way down, all of them going deeper and deeper into the darkness...
And then, when the bottom of the well was still far away, Alexis tensed and her wings exploded into being. She shouted something that Killer did not hear, but he immediately copied her as they both soared upwards, before a massive explosion of energy filled the entire pit with blinding dark blue light as enormous bolts of the same irresistible force erupted skywards and whip-lashed savagely into the well, striking the walls and sending enormous boulders and thousands of tons of dirt and debris and wreckage and bulldozers and machinery falling down like a meteoric storm. Killer and Alexis folded their wings over their bodies, using them as shields, allowing the tremendous shockwave to literally shoot them like bullets out of the pit, which acted like a titanic barrel. The huge male gritted his fangs and shut his eyes as he was pelted by a multitude of fragments and debris of all kinds, and then he grunted and unfurled his wings, flapping them to fly out of the way of an immense bolt of blue electricity that whip-lashed viciously through the sky, followed by many more. The very air seemed to burn, turning into fire that made him choke as his lungs filled with pain and misery, and his muscles spasmed out of control as electricity zapped through him, causing his wings to close for a moment, making him fall down, out of control. He spun and slammed into a flying boulder, crouching against it with a snarl as his body flexed and spasmed painfully and he frantically tried to absorb all that energy and regain control of his own muscles, before finally flying off the piece of debris as a huge bolt of electricity lashed against it. He watched as the huge chunk of stone exploded into gravel and dust, before even those remains were vaporized, and then his eyes widened as large, sharp pieces of crystal shot past him. Juggernaut's sarcophagus had been made by Gaia and Elelyon using crystal which was able to soak up magic and energy, draining it out of the colossus's body slowly but steadily; and now Killer realized that he saw staring at the last remains of that shell.
Alexis had felt it coming, as always, but now he could feel it as well: an enormous, terrifying energy signature at the bottom of the pit, which kept growing larger and greater by the second, making him tense in a mix of horror and eagerness. The idea of fighting Juggernaut, the very being whose name had become synonymous with unstoppable, was exhilarating and sent adrenaline pumping in every corner of his body, while a part of him couldn't help but wonder about what it would be like to add all that overwhelming power to his own. He tried to force that thought out of his mind, focusing on the problem at hand as the immense bolts of blue energy suddenly arched high into the sky and came down to earth, smashing into the ground and covering Caernarvon in what looked very much like a titanic cage.
He turned towards the bastions to see Seraphims and tigers and his Disciples fighting back the hordes of clones, and he was horrified to see that they were well inside the cage. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, to order the retreat, knowing that maybe they wouldn't hear his voice but they would feel it entering their very minds, but there simply was no time to do anything: the columns of dark blue light seemed to explode and waves of energy collided, fusing together to create a solid dome that trapped them all, and the entire town, inside.
Killer snarled, turning around to scan the horizon for escape routes, but it was clear that there was none, the blue wall of energy walling them all inside... and the towers of Caernarvon trembled violently as the ground rattled and cracked, before the entire town began to slowly float upwards through the air, as the dome turned out being actually a sphere that contained the entire capital and the "island" of stone and dirt on which it was built. Even a part of the polluted sea floated up into the sky, huge waves crashing uselessly against the blue wall and then flowing back towards the port, shattering the long piers and disintegrating the buildings facing the shore as countless hulks of sunken boats and large ships were suddenly pushed deep inland, forming mountains of rubble and dismasted hulls. Outside of the sphere the sea boiled and then seemed to explode skywards as something enormous began to emerge, and then Killer turned to the opposite side, staring at the long peninsula they had charged along to get to Caernarvon's walls as it cracked and collapsed and bulged and morphed. Hills and mountains shattered like model sets, collapsing in huge clouds of dust and debris while other, new and immense hills formed, bulging up from underground. And then, Typhon's voice boomed in the air in a crazed laughter of pure delight, making Killer wince as it pounded violently into his brain, while his eyes opened wide as he realized that the new hills were in fact rocky, invulnerable muscles made of a silvery stone, or crystal, an impossible alloy of diamond and metal that was impenetrable and yet flexed just like real muscle as a titanic creature tore out of the ground, slowly standing up. Killer gazed upwards in awe as he realized that the whole of Caernarvon was contained within a blue sphere nestled in the middle of the titan's broad, masculine chest.
Immediately, he tried to teleport outside of it, but he only recoiled backwards with a grunt of pain, spitting blood as energy crackled violently down his spine, his form sizzling like static for a brief instant. He cursed under his breath, trading a horrified look with Alexis before watching towards the bastions in the distance, where so many loyal soldiers, as well as his Praetorians and Disciples, had taken position. They were all trapped inside. Obviously there was no point in even trying to open portals: Caernarvon itself had been completely isolated by the Metatron's spells and rune fields, and there was no way for magic to work inside that sphere. The one thing he had wanted to avoid, bringing them all into the trap, had just become reality... and now he gritted his teeth and desperately studied the blue wall in search of a weakness he could exploit. He had to get them all out of that nightmare.
Two colossal arms tore upwards from the bottom of the fjord, sending shipwrecks and boulders and mud and debris raining down to earth as enormous, wild waves washed up the sides of the mountains on either side, and then, when Killer was expecting to finally see Juggernaut's head, a second pair of enormous arms spread wide, flexing slowly and showing off biceps that dwarfed the mountains as Typhon's voice cackled darkly. Killer had torn Typhon's arms off during their last fight, but just like Michael, the Ruling Prince of Heaven had quickly had cyber-mechanical arms installed in substitution, taking the chance to exploit the latest technology to massive increase his strength. The mechanical structure and the multiple nuclear reactor cores powering the colossal actuators could be seen rather clearly even though they were now half-buried into a messy, grotesque mass of chorded, godlike muscle. Typhon's draconic scales had attempted to regenerate, apparently, as new muscle and flesh was transplanted on him, but the result was an uneven and hideous series of thorn-like plates of dark green metal that turned his arms into spiked maces. And Killer even spotted a number of crucified, undead gods merged into the muscle, much like he had seen on Michael. Juggernaut's face had become one with Typhon's chest, and was barely visible under a disorderly growth of spike-like scales. His eyes had been torn out of the sockets, leaving behind two horrible holes lined with pale, sick flesh, and his mouth was stitched closed by long scales growing over and through his lips and jaws. His square-ish nose was still visible, but probably useless, and his features were pretty much frozen in an expression that sat somewhere halfway between serenity and agony. It was the face of someone who meekly accepted his fate, and it made Killer tremble in a mix of horror and rage. Against Typhon for what he had done to what was essentially an overgrown child with a limited brain ruled inexorably a few inflexible laws; but also rage against Juggernaut himself because, with all the power he possessed, he still hadn't been able or willing to stand up to the forces that had ruined his existence from the very beginning. Juggernaut was a slave of fate from the very first day of his life, and Killer pitied him for it... but he also couldn't understand, and even less accept, his lack of resistance. Why don't you fight...?
It was almost like facing Gabriel all over again as the Arkangel stuck to his word to the bitter end, walking towards disaster in the full awareness of the only possible outcome. At which point does loyalty stop being a virtue and becomes a sin...?
Typhon's neck came into sight next, jutting with a messy mane of spikes and sharp scales growing one over the other, and then his head, topped by a crown of twisted horns and bone spikes, with a metallic halo not unlike that of Michael, but far more elaborated and covered in crucified divinities and statues of gold and platinum that shined brilliantly enough to make it seem like the halo was luminous. Is that your idea of crown...? Or are you trying to build artificial holyness? That's not how it works, asshole...
The ancient god's white, soulless eyes had not changed, nor had the malice burning in them, but his jaws were larger, thicker, more menacing than ever and lined with an extra line of terrible, curved fangs that all but tore into his own lips and muzzle... but even that only seemed to give him pleasure as he surveyed the world, so powerless and minuscule seen from so high above as the titanic construct stood slowly up. Backwards-curved spikes of bones pushed out of his jaw line, and wrapped like a ribcage around the back of his neck. His horse-like mane of messy black hair had solidified into a multitude of hard scales and spikes that ran down his neck and all along his spine, clearly visible even through thick, bulging muscle. Massive, serrated scales covered Juggernaut's back and added a sort of hump to the construct's form, forcing the unfortunate guardian of Heaven to walk hunched forwards, burdened by the draconic god that had taken over his body and his powers and only balanced by Typhon's tail, which had grown even thicker and heavier, ending in a deadly harpoon of dark metal, surrounded by a whole formation of other cruel blades and spikes. Typhon's shoulders still jutted with multitudes of black snakes that formed alive, terrible sleeves around his bulging biceps, whip-lashing through the air around him and forever looking out for prey, tasting the air with their long, forked tongues.
The titan stood fully up and flexed his powerful body, spreading both pairs of arms and throwing his head back with a roar of delight and dominance and challenge, his feet crushing mountains like they were anthills as he stepped up the coast, grinning viciously as his toes crumbled the cliffs and compressed the landscape in craters so deep that the sea broke into them, forming vast lakes and seas that pushed deep towards what had used to be a mountain range. "Heaven! Behold your Master! Behold the Master of all!" Typhon roared, his voice rattling the entire planet, and as his foot settled down on earth again it left an even larger and deeper footprint, while the polluted waters boiled around his toes as energy crackled around his immense form and his muscles swelled even greater, his height increasing further. The enormous cables that for millennia had drained energy out of Juggernaut were now broken and useless and the beast's limitless strength immediately began to expand more and more, while across Heaven terrified and confused benevolents and angels looked up at the titan, gaping as he loomed over the horizon.
Elelyon couldn't see much from the table on which he was being treated, but the dark blue light coming in from the windows and the holes in the wall was plenty sinister in its own right, and he immediately recognized the immense and ever growing energy signatures. Droplets of nervous sweat ran down Diana's forehead as she tried to ignore that immense, malignant force and the screams and noises coming from outside, focusing entirely on the ugly wounds in Elelyon's abdomen as the poisons of multiple alien gods combined their destructive effects to resist her healing powers. But when Typhon roared his message, she sneaked a gaze over her shoulder and Elelyon saw a little shiver run down her spine.
Mriya only snarled furiously at Typhon's arrogance, flexing her powerful arm and leaning out of the window to look at her father and her mother, flying in the distance... before blinking in surprise as Elelyon quietly ordered: "Help me up. I need to see. I need to... to talk to Juggernaut one last time."
Diana looked at him with horror, pushing gently against his shoulder as he began to stand up from the table, but the creator only smiled and gazed patiently up at her. Even delivered in his quiet, gentle voice and ways, his had been an order. He was not going to be deterred. She made a grimace but gently helped him sit up, while he did his very best to choke down the cries of agony that rushed to his lips. Mriya stepped over and easily picked him up like he was a doll, bringing him towards the window without a word. It was not the most dignified way to move, but he did not protest as it was at least effective. He gripped into the frame of the window and leaned out, looking at the sky now entirely replaced by dark blue energy and by the silvery rock-metal substance than made up Juggernaut's body. He took a deep breath, then closed his eyes and quietly called: "Juggernaut... my son... can you hear me...?"
There was no immediate reply from the unlucky construct, but Typhon heard the call and laughed cruelly, his body flexing, muscles bulging explosively across his immense frame: in the space of a single step, he became even more massive, his foot tearing a new valley open through the mountains and the sea washing into it to push inland towards the desert , as countless helpless citizens of Heaven shrieked in terror, staring in awe as the titan towered over them all, his bulky body thrumming with power as he rested his hands on his hips and laughed, growing bigger and stronger without needing to do anything. "This is true power, true godhood!" Typhon roared, before tapping a massive talon-finger against the blue sphere in his chest. "The miserable loser that you used to call god is nothing but a dust mite, a crybaby trapped inside me. And your precious Amon-Ra is my prisoner as well, mine to do with as I please! Watch in awe as your forever Lord triumphs, Heaven!" Typhon spread his huge arms and flexed, arching his back and clenching his fists as his body pulsed with pure power, his tail slashing out through the mountains on the other side of the fjord and shattering them into dust as he grew even further. "I will kill them in a mere instant, erase them like the insolent bugs they are!"
The blue sphere glowed violently and Killer shut his eyes and turned away from that impossible light, before a pulse of violent power traveled through Caernarvon and everything became noise and chaos as the ground first bulged upwards, yanked towards the center of that ungodly prison, then collapsed as a second wave of force thrust it hard against the surface of the sphere. Caernarvon simply exploded into a hailstorm of fragments and dust and clouds of blood. The Senate crumbled like a puzzle, all its glorious columns becoming nothing but powder while the great statues were erased like stains, and even the fortified bastions cracked and fell apart like sandcastles washed away by an angry sea. Killer instinctively formed a large bubble of energy around his body, thrusting out his hands and gritting his fangs as millions of pieces of stone and metal and wreckage and corpses smashed into it, his eyes searching Alexis and finding her at his side, her arms trembling as she struggled against the immense force that tried to break her protective barrier.
They gazed towards the periphery of town, where the bastions had once been, terrified of what they would see... and they simply didn't find the bastions at all. There was nothing but rubble swirling wildly around the sphere and it was impossible to tell what had once been what. They soon localized a number of other glowing barriers, however, and that was the most relieving and welcome sight they had ever witnessed.
Vesta and Michael had created their own shields, their fight interrupted for a brief moment, but the two bubbles soon clashed and merged into a single one as their blades clanged once more, the queen of Seraphims dancing her way past the monster's savage stabs to once more hit him straight in the face with her bloodied fist... but Michael seemed immortal, and his features kept regenerating as he yelled in fury and tried to overwhelm his opponent with sheer, brutal force.
And then, before any of them could even think about a new move, the sphere pulsed again, even more violently, and it shrank smaller, compressing them all into an even more terrifying maelstrom of swirling rubble and wreckage, before excess dark blue energy exploded inwards inside the prison, zapping them all with a multitude of titanic bolts that made their barriers smolder and crack.
Mriya grunted in shock and in exertion, recoiling violently as whip-lashing discharges of that tremendous force smashed into the barrier that she had instinctively created at the very first pulse. Elelyon fell back against her legs, his eyes wide as he looked at the inferno outside of the bubble... and Diana rushed inside the little safe-zone, falling to her knees and panting hard, her hands smoldering: she had a smaller reserve of energy by far when compared to Mriya or the other great war goddesses, and she couldn't possibly resist to such a violent assault on her own. The building in which they had sought refuge was completely gone, turned into nothing but rubble and dust that was hammering against Mriya's shield, disintegrating in ever smaller pieces and blowing past at mind-shattering speeds. Clones and mutants and Sprinters had turned into oversized bullets and Diana shuddered in horror whenever one crashed into the barrier, exploding into nothing but ugly pulp that was almost instantaneously vaporized by the goddess's energies.
Mriya growled and flexed, arching her back and leaning forwards as her arms spasmed, biceps bulging explosively as she fought back against the terrifying bombardment, but her eyes immediately turned towards the wall, searching for her "sister" Elaine and for all the other Praetorians and friends. She spotted them after a moment, but only briefly as corpses and debris continued to shot by, filling her vision. Ira, Elaine and the others had grouped up around the tigers of the 30thLegion and were working together to hold up a barrier, but it was clear even from the distance that trying to save everyone put a severe strain on them, as the bubble had to be much larger. "They are not going to last long." Mriya snarled through gritted fangs, and Diana gazed at the others in the distance and nodded, looking horrified even as she bravely pushed her hands forwards and added her energies to those of the much taller goddess.
Elelyon curled up against Mriya's powerful legs, closing his eyes and trying to ignore the agony and the noise and the crackling of energies that made the very air incandescent. He focused as best he could and again asked: "Juggernaut, can you hear me...?"
And suddenly a new sound filled the dark blue sphere, overcoming even the crackling of the bolts of blue energy as Juggernaut quietly replied: "I hear you, Father."
Killer looked up in shock at that, surprised to hear Juggernaut replying and even more amazed by the depth of feelings evident in his tone. The tone of a loving child speaking to his father with the awareness of having caused a lot of trouble. It sent a shiver down his spine, and made him swallow thickly: up to that point he had considered Juggernaut as little more than a construct; a statue given life and purpose through magic. But now he could no longer try and deny that there was a lot more than that. Juggernaut was alive, could think and could feel. "I hear you, Father... and it is the best sound I ever heard. I... thought I'd never hear your voice again."
Elelyon shivered in guilt at that, his eyes shutting and a tear rolling down his cheek as he clawed into his own legs, wanting to scream but knowing that his regret was of no use to anyone in that crucial moment. "My poor, unlucky child... It was never my intention to abandon you."
Typhon glared down at his chest, his lip twitching in fury and horror as Juggernaut displayed a last spark of life and personality, defying his control, defying his will... and he let out a yell of inarticulate rage, savagely clawing into what little remained of the construct's face, brutally ripping his nose apart and digging deep wounds in the wrinkled cheeks, barking: "Stop it, stop it, stop it! I am your father now! I am the Father of All! The master of All!"
Juggernaut ignored him entirely, however, and his mouth, horribly stitched and nailed shut by the cruel metallic scales growing over and through the lips, moved slowly and painfully, with great difficulty, as he quietly said: "I knew you wouldn't turn your back on me, Father. You and Mother were always kind to me, despite my failures. But... Typhon and Metatron said you were dead. Said you'd never return..."
Killer and Elelyon, for once in their lives, had the exact same reaction as even the peaceful Creator trembled in fury and snarled, thinking of the fat Arkangel that had allowed himself to be so utterly corrupted. "Everything will be okay, my son... freedom is near." Elelyon trembled as he said that, but he meant it. In a way or another, Juggernaut was finally going to be free. Whether that freedom came in the form of death depended on the question that Elelyon had yet to ask. A question that required a lot of courage that he was struggling to find. His heart had suffered too much; had been disappointed too many times. "My son... can you control yourself? Typhon is a usurper. He is the enemy. He has no right to use you. Don't allow him to control you!"
Typhon laughed cruelly at that, even as he clawed at the sphere of dark blue light, glaring down at it and tilting his head this way and that, snarling: "Where are you, Elelyon? Where are you, you tiny, insignificant flea? I want to see your face when you are forced to realize that Juggernaut is no more; that your weak, ruinous reign has reached its end!"
Elelyon recoiled at that, blood bursting out of his nostrils and his eyes shutting as a ferocious ripple of psychic energy tore through all of their minds. Mriya winced, but only gritted her fangs and glared upwards at where one of Typhon's eyes, immense and cruel, was peering into their prison. She struck out against him with all of her psychic force, causing the whole dark blue sphere to pulse and bulge outwards for a brief moment, luminous cracks exploding over its surface... but it was only an instant, and a new pulse of malignant energy made her grunt as she tensed, struggling against the monstrous pressure that bore down against her barrier. Juggernaut's mouth slowly and painfully opened again, blood bursting out of the devastated lips as the metallic scales and stitches tore through his flesh, but the voice of the giant was calm and peaceful, much like Elelyon's even as he admitted: "I can't, Father... I'm sorry. I can't. I've tried, but I cannot." Juggernaut fell silent at that, and Elelyon closed his eyes, clenching his fists and looking down at his feet without seeing them, only letting out an inarticulate sound of sorrow and frustration and powerless denial, a note that rose higher and higher as the whole weight of his failures crashed down on him and seemed to squish all hopes out of existence. Juggernaut probably heard, but said nothing about it. However, his devastated features beamed somewhat, a smile conquering his bloodied, broken lips as he accepted his fate and just took comfort in the affection his Father had for him. And then, quietly but with undeniable urgency, the titan spoke again, uttering a final prayer: "Please, Father... give me freedom. Make it end. Stop me before I cause any more damage. Stop me before I'm forced to hurt you and Heaven any further."
Elelyon's eyes flashed open at that, his lips trembling as he nearly shouted out in denial, to tell him that there had to be an alternative, that everything was going to be okay... but he bit his lower lip instead, viciously, knowing that there was not going to be a happy ending. "Of course, my son. You have been a splendid son, Juggernaut. None of this was your fault... only mine. You will have freedom, my son. I promise." The Creator let out a trembling sigh, then pushed up to his feet like his wounds were no longer there, his teeth gritted in such determination that even the pain was pushed back, forgotten for the moment. He thrust his hands out and they glowed with brilliant, blinding white light that bonded with the sapphire energy coming from Mriya, reinforcing the safety bubble around them before the Creator looked towards the other Disciples and all the seraphims and angels they were protecting.
"Mriya, you have to bring me there. We need to get everyone out of here, quick." Elelyon commanded, and his calm voice carried an authority that she had only ever associated to her father and her mother. Now, in his determination to act, Elelyon revealed just how much of a god he truly was. Diana noticed it as well, and she swallowed her concerns and objections away, fully aware that he was not going to be deterred. No matter the risks to his life, he was going to bring them out. "Get ready." Mriya said, and it came out sounding like a growl due to the fatigue of keeping the barrier whole, even with his help. He and Diana nodded, staying close to her mighty legs, and the goddess moved forwards, her six mighty wings bursting into being in a flash of light and fire and flapping once, sending an incandescent shockwave tearing through the tempest of rubble and corpses surrounding them and incinerating the obstacles, opening a path that she immediately exploited. The distance from the large bubble held up by the other goddesses was not great, but the violence of the bombardment against the barrier was enough to make it look like another, distant universe altogether, and as they began to advance Typhon spotted them and grinned toothily, slamming his flexible talons against the sphere and cackling: "There you are! Time for you to die! Hope you enjoyed seeing your dear city one last time!" The immense god laughed, and the discharges of dark blue energy immediately focused directly against Mriya's bubble, forming terrible bolts that crashed into her transparent shield again and again and again, while new winds of brute force conjured to form a colossal hurricane that ground into the bubble and pelted it with corpses, boulders, ruins, wreckage.
Mriya roared in pain and frustration as the bubble dented inwards with every bolt that viciously crashed into it, part of the energy shooting back into her body and burning her nerves, causing her muscles to spasm out of control as they were pushed backwards to hard that making any progress became almost impossible. Elelyon leaned forwards with a grunt, his abdomen seeming to explode as blood sprayed out of all his wounds as they pulsed horribly, but he still found more energy to offer, and white blades of holy energy began to spin rapidly around their safe bubble, pulverizing the meteors and the other projectiles coming against them. The goddesses in the distance saw their efforts, and Mriya's lips twitched up in a little smile as she spotted Elaine pushing forwards, forming a sort of "tunnel" that stretched forwards. The other goddesses carefully spaced out, allowing Manticora to move into the tunnel to move past Elaine to stretch that passage further. Mriya moved towards them, blessing their ability to think quickly, but Typhon saw them too and snarled, sending forth a gigantic spike of dark blue energy that crashed into their bubble and blasted them backwards, causing the shield to violently crack, shards of energy exploding inwards and pelting into the goddess's body, making her growl in pain as she crashed back into the rear of the bubble, which dented dangerously inwards.
"Can you resist?" Elelyon urgently asked, his lean but strong musculature flexing and bulging in full definition as he pushed back against the tremendous discharge of dark energy, while Diana, torn between conflicting priorities, went from adding her energies to the barrier to trying to heal the wounds in Elelyon's front as his blood spurted copiously out all over her, caking her hair to her skull.
"Don't worry about me." Mriya replied through gritted fangs, sweat rolling down her muscular form as she pushed the bubble towards the others, but they made little progress as Typhon hammered them again, and again, and again, causing cracks to spread through their shield, forcing her to pump out powerful waves of her vital force to repair the damage.
Killer and Alexis saw what was happening and immediately rushed in the same direction, even as Typhon sent other immense blasts of dark energy crashing into them. Alexis lunged forth with a flap of her mighty wings, flying right in the way of another spike of blue energy and grabbing into it with hands that glowed and crackled with her own force as she wrestled the deadly blade back, and Killer moved past her and reached out for Mriya's hand, grabbing it and launching her towards the others, while pulling up his other arm to form a large shield of energy as Typhon shot another lightning bolt in their direction.
There was an immense explosion as Typhon roared and slammed his hand hard into the dark blue sphere, forcing it to shrink smaller and causing countless bolts of that terrible force to strike into one another in a series of blasts that threw Killer and Alexis around like dolls, blood bursting out of their nostrils and ears even as they pushed back against each assault as best they could, while Mriya was blown off course, her sphere sent crashing into the wall of their prison.
She snarled as electricity immediately exploded into their little safe space, tearing through her form with enough violence to physically yank her backwards, and she arched her back and stomped her way in the opposite direction, throwing all of her strength into the movement because she was all too aware that to touch the wall directly would be devastating... and Elelyon turned around to shove a hand towards that same wall, blasting it with a beam of holy energy that sent them soaring back up towards Elaine and Manticora, just as the two goddesses attempted to stretch the "tunnel" even further to get to them.
Mriya flapped her mighty wings and moved towards them, literally stretching one hand towards the muscular zebra goddess, but Michael lunged between them with a roar, swinging his great double ended sword against them... only for Vesta to smash into his back with a snarl, both of her sickleswords tearing viciously through his shoulders and out of his chest, hooking into his shoulder bones and yanking him away. The queen of Seraphims spun around with a roar, ignoring the electricity cursing viciously through her form, and she hurled her adversary away, grinning with savage satisfaction as the monarch crashed into the wall of the blue sphere and howled in agony as the malignant force of the barrier erupted into him with enough violence to make smoke come out of his nostrils and ears as he spasmed wildly. Even so, he managed to kick off the wall and lunge against Vesta again, but Mriya had enough time to push past and get closer to the goal, even as she fell to one knee, panting hard and shuddering as more and more of the malignant discharges of energy tore inside the bubble and shot through her.
Killer closed his eyes with a growl of pain as he was zapped by the same terrible force, but focused on the fabric of time enough to generate a second manifestation of himself, outside of the dark blue sphere. He couldn't teleport or breach the wall while that terrible force cursed through him, but he put his latest experiences to use as best he could... And even though blood burst out of his mouth as his mind thrummed painfully against his skull, he felt himself gripping into the fabric of time, twisting it with brute force... Typhon felt the change in the energy signatures around him and looked up in surprise, gaping stupidly for a moment as reality trembled, rippled like water before a second Killer appeared in midair in front of him. He snarled and glared through the blue sphere, checking on what was going on... and he could still see Killer imprisoned inside. He looked up with a snarl, gritting his fangs so tightly that they loudly ground together before he barked: "So you've learned some new tricks, huh...? Good for me. Soon, everything you are will be mine. You'll be just another cell inside my all-powerful body!" The immense poisonous snakes sticking out of his shoulders reared and up and lunged viciously against the far smaller liger just as Killer opened his eyes and took in a breath of polluted air. He had barely the time to see, with great relief, that he had succeeded. He was outside.
Killer pulled up Wyvern as a first enormous beast opened its jaws to swallow him whole, but before he could strike he grunted in surprise as the long, curved fangs of the snake seemed to pulse and two huge torrents of acid poison fired out against him. He swung an arm out in front of his chest and used his energies to create a large shield just as the cascade of terrible, thick fluid struck into him with enough force to blast him backwards, the green fluid rushing past him on either side and droplets and splatters landing on his arms and shoulders and legs, making him growl in agony as the stuff viciously bit into his armor, his muscle, his flesh, leaving behind smoldering, ugly wounds that sent pain exploding in waves along his spine and into his head. He flapped his wings to retreat from the cascade of thick sludge, tearing out of its flow and immediately spinning to face another serpent lunging in from the side, stabbing Wyvern up into its vast mouth and grinning as the red blade pierced the palate and sunk deep into the beast's skull.
The serpent twitched horribly and fell limp as the liger yanked his great sword back out, sending a thick spurt of blood arching in the air, before he grunted and leapt upwards to avoid another pair of snapping jaws, stomping both of his feet on top of the skull of a huge serpent and grinning at the sick sound of cracking bone, before he slashed Wyvern hard through the bodies of another two of the huge beasts, sending their heads falling down to earth like meteors.
Killer soared past the tangle of scaled bodies and fangs and cocked back Wyvern, the blade crackling with energy and his great biceps bulging with power as he prepared to strike, but instead of finding the wall of the dark blue sphere he was faced by Typhon's immense draconic muzzle, its terrible jaws contorted in a vicious snarling grin. Killer struck the god's snout with all his force, but Wyvern clanged against the metallic scales and recoiled backwards with tremendous violence, sending him falling backwards through the sky as his fingers nearly shattered in the attempt of holding on to the wildly-vibrating handle. Typhon leaned forwards with a cruel laugh, snapping his jaws threateningly and then opening his mouth wide to eat Killer whole, but when the multiple rows of teeth rushed down to grind him into pulp the liger closed his eyes and allowed his body to expand, his form thrumming with power and his muscles bulging explosively as he slashed Wyvern hard upwards, striking the dragon's fangs with a thunderous impact... but Typhon barely recoiled at all, and closed his terrible jaws upon the blade, making even its thick Godblood structure groan audibly. Killer grunted in shock at that, while Typhon's eyes flashed with terrible amusement, the dragon squeezing on the legendary sword even as it angrily crackled with energy, sending bolts of force into his tongue, into his teeth... but nothing seemed to faze the great beast, who only arched his back with a growl of delight as he went through another tremendous growth spurt, his muscles flexing out of sheer excessive vigor as Juggernaut's power grew and made him endlessly stronger. Typhon spread his arms wide, then reached upwards to crush Killer between his palms, only chuckling when the liger twisted his body upwards, hugging the handle of Wyvern and kicking both feet violently into the dragon's jawbone.
Typhon threw his head backwards with a snarling laugh, his eyes fixed on the liger as Killer wildly arched up into the sky, grunting as his fingers slipped off the handle of Wyvern, while the gigantic hands of the monstrous super-god rose to catch him like a fly. The liger gripped the pommel of Wyvern with one hand and grunted, hefting himself forwards until his fingers reached the hidden triggers, and immediately the twin Azura blades sprung forth from the handle and out of Typhon's jaws. Killer used the handle of the sword as an axis and went into a handstand before throwing himself over on top of the dragon's snout, and the beast's hands clapped together uselessly, sending a fearsome shockwave exploding over Heaven. Killer sprinted across the enormous muzzle and leapt off the opposite side, diving after the Azura blades as they fell, his arms pressing into his sides as he tried to gain every little bit of speed he could... and then he gripped both handles and somersaulted with a flap of his wings, roaring as he threw the two long blades like they were spears.
Typhon's eyes bulged in surprise at that, but the two swords struck almost in the same instant, tearing into his eyes right down to the handles, before they both unleashed enormous blasts of golden energy right into his skull. The gigantic beast stumbled backwards with a howl of agony, and Wyvern fell out of his jaws, followed by Killer's eyes as he flew towards it, curving past a huge fist that blindly shot up against him.
"I'll fucking rip you apart!" Typhon roared, blinking his devastated eyes as they rapidly healed and regenerated, and he opened his jaws to vomit out a hurricane of dark fire that crashed down to earth with enough force to tear a deep wound in the 7th Sky's desert, sending up enormous clouds and storms of red sand. Killer winced as the heat of that supernatural fire began to flake the skin off his body, but he managed to fly out of the way and shoot upwards right to the beast's eyes, his fingers closing on the handle of the first Azura blade, yanking it hard sideways as he attempted to slice the monster's skull. The blade tore through the regenerating eye, but then clanged uselessly against the invincible bone and armored scales, and Killer grunted as the sword recoiled violently and almost ripped his arm off. He spun around and tossed a sphere of focused energy into the bloody, pulped eye, wincing as it exploded and tossed crimson mush in every direction, and he slotted the Azura blade back into Wyvern's handle before lunging towards the other one, using his body weight in addition to his strength to drag it downwards, cutting into Typhon's cheek. The usurper of Heaven let out a howl of fury at that, and a massive wave of force exploded out of him, crashing into Killer and battering him away like a fly, blood bursting out of the front of his body as his flesh was almost instantaneously charred and stripped off his bones. The crucified gods nailed to Typhon's halo turned their blind eyes to Killer as he fell like a smoldering meteor and their forever-gaping mouths opened even wider before eyes formed inside them, while a sort of armoured, transparent visor extended downwards to cover Typhon's features, protecting his own from further offence as he coldly announced: "Juggernaut does not just grow bigger and stronger with every passing moment, no... he also has a remarkable ability for morphing and adapting his body to the adversary's strengths and tactics. It is impossible to harm him... silly me, me, now... to harm me twice with the same method. And the more you try, the more perfect and invincible you'll make me!"
"We'll see about that." Killer hissed, spreading his mighty wings to halt his fall. It made him wince in agony as burning feathers fell away and the flesh burned and melted away, but he still found enough strength to dodge another spurt of green poison coming from the gigantic serpents. He rapidly thought of his options, and folded his wings around his body to fly like a bullet right in the middle of the tangle of monstrous snakes, snarling as he literally tore through the skull of one in a burst of dark blood. The other beasts flailed wildly through the air, turning their heads this way and that, looking out for him and almost biting at each other as they instinctively ground their scaled bodies together to try and crush him out of existence.
Killer dived deeper into the tangle, gritting his fangs as he flew at dizzying speed between colossal, muscular bodies that ground together with enough force to crumble mountains, his wings moving only slightly to allow him to follow the movement of the gigantic coils, so he could fly in the gaps. He tried to gain some time for his body to regenerate, one hand grabbing at his abdomen as his blood leaked copiously out of his devastated body, but before his abs could reform he suddenly lost his breath and tensed in agony, his eyes shutting... and he crashed violently against one coil covered in armored, impenetrable scales.
He grunted in agony as he smacked violently into the metallic, cruel surface and bounced upwards to crash even more ruinously a few hundred feet further down, and he rolled over with a cry of pain as time trembled around him and his form began to lose coherence, sizzling in and out of existence like an image on a broken television. And the serpents began to methodically grind together, crushing him hard between two sharp walls of steel scales as Typhon cackled: "You are all going to die! Die for the greater glory of god. The greater glory of me!"
Inside the dark blue sphere, the "other" Killer howled in agony as he stood in the center of the prison, his arms spread wide as he yanked the terrible bolts of malignant energy towards his own body, luring them away from Mriya and the others. The discharges struck him again and again, burning through his form with savage force, and blood leaked down his cheeks as his eyes melted, his whole body smoldering while he attempted to absorb that terrifying force, desperately trying to tame it and take it inside himself. But the pain was unlike anything else he had ever experienced as that electricity-like energy continued to crackle up and down his body, burning and destroying, making his musculature flex and relax at an erratic, exhausting rhythm. It was making it almost impossible for him to maintain his second manifestation outside of the bubble, and Alexis trembled in shock at the sight of him howling and arching his back in agony, her own muscles bulging explosively as she blasted the wall of the prison with beam after beam of focused force, only for the sphere to pulse and punish her efforts with new discharges of malignant energy.
"Raw force alone won't get us out of this prison." Elelyon quietly said, and his voice carried through the entire sphere, but Alexis only snarled in frustration and clenched her fists, barking: "What will, then?"
"Help me." The Creator simply replied, and the goddess looked at Killer with concern, hesitating for a moment before diving down into Mriya's safe bubble just as it finally connected with the tunnel initiated by Elaine. Manticora took Mriya's hand and gently pulled her inside, so that the young goddess could finally close her eyes and allow her barrier to dissolve. She was exhausted, but the first thing she did was turn back to look at her father in the distance as he absorbed the terrifying bolts of energy, dragging them away so they could be safe. "Quick. Get us out of here, we need to help dad!"
Alexis took Mriya's arm around her shoulders and helped her as they rushed down the tunnel. She kissed her cheek and squeezed lightly at her waist, whispering: "Well done, Mriya."
The Praetorian smiled at that, but silently looked back over her shoulder as Killer let out another cry of agony, and Alexis nodded, biting her lower lip and looking nervous like she had in very, very few other occasions. Elelyon led them with a surprisingly energetic and quick step, even though his blood dripped in large splatters on the ethereal floor of the tunnel. As they passed Gaia she couldn't help but gape in horror at the sight of the wounds that tormented the exposed front of Elelyon's body, as what was left of his once-immaculate leather armor became darker and darker as it soaked up the blood he was losing. Diana tended to his wounds as best she could, but it was complex, and it got even worse as they entered the main "safe bubble", which was crowded with bulky, massive tigers in heavy armour and Seraphims. The great warriors parted as best they could to let Elelyon pass, but Diana still had to squeeze past the vast shields as she tried to stay away of him, her hands working over the deep wounds. Several of the tigers looked at the scene with concern, because it looked like Elelyon was falling apart, but the Creator was unfazed and just marched up straight to the threatening wall of dark blue energy, ignoring the way it thrummed with terrible, awful power. He studied the semi-transparent wall for a brief instant, even though his eyes followed the movements of the mass of serpents outside as Killer's second manifestation chopped off one of the enormous beasts with a violent slash of Wyvern, and then he poked the barrier with his index, frowning as he began to work on the very nature of the energy pulses. "I will need your force, Alexis. You have a lot more than me." Elelyon calmly said, as he moved his finger downwards, ignoring the angry crackling of energy that made his entire arm smolder. The goddess immediately stepped forwards and squeezed into his shoulder, pumping her energies into him and focusing on his finger as he traced a few symbols over the wall... and her eyes widened in amazement as glowing white scars were left behind by his touch. Amazingly, they did not heal, instead only getting more luminous as the barrier attempted to regenerate, focusing energy in that same spot. The other soldiers and goddesses around them stared in silence, and the crowd of bulky, massive tigers became unnaturally silent as the huge warriors held their breaths, nervously shifting from toe to toe as they eyes went from Elelyon to the shrinking safe bubble around them. With every passing moment they were being squeezed into a narrower space as the dark blue prison pulsed violently and bombarded them with colossal bolts of malignant force. The tigers were all scarred veterans, powerful and forged in blood and sweat, their muscles harder than steel and their swords swift and lethal, but there was nothing they could do against that maelstrom of electricity and godlike raw energy. In front of such force they were helpless, and they were painfully aware that their survival entirely depended on Elelyon getting them out of there.
"Whatever you need to do, do it quickly!" Ira breathlessly urged, her muscles bulging so much that they almost tore through her own hide of armor-like scales as she pushed back against the hammering storm, her hands smoldering as she used her energies to keep up the protective barrier. She stumbled backwards with a groan of pain and exhaustion, and she bumped into two bulky tiger warriors who just couldn't retreat any further as they were already crushed against their comrades in a tangle of bodies that was getting more and more uncomfortable. The warriors behind her embarrassedly half-retreated, half-reached forth, unsure of whether they could and should touch her in any way, if it was going to be helpful or not... and some of them hesitatingly offered words of encouragement to her and to Elaine, and Gaia, and Manticora, and Vicky and to all the other goddesses who were defending them all, spaced out along a vast front. Elelyon worked as quickly as he could, and the dark blue wall suddenly cracked loudly, a breach going from one symbol to the next and burning the blue force into a solid, white material that shattered like brittle glass. Immediately, Elelyon and Alexis reached forwards into that fracture and seized its edges, grunting as they began to pull in the opposite directions, forcing the breach to slowly expand...
Outside, Killer pushed back with all of his strength as one of the enormous serpents ground down into him, dragging him over the metallic scales of the one he was pinned against, so that the cruel blades and spikes tore deep into his flesh. A long streak of blood showed where his body had passed and his arms trembled as he used the flat of Wyvern to push up, growling in agony as his feet were caught in that terrible embrace of muscle and scales and he heard his bones crumbling, blood spraying up all the way onto his chest. He let out a roar of pain and rage and fear as he shoved upwards with all the force he could muster, and immediately he balled one hand into a fist when he had gained enough room to do so. He smashed into the belly of the snake with brutal force, tearing through the armored scales and clawing deep into the flesh beneath, dark blood raining down on his face as the serpent arched its body away from him with a hiss of agony... and Killer's eyes widened as he looked up through the sudden opening, searching the dark blue sphere in Typhon's chest and finding it breached, with Alexis and Elelyon wrestling it open. Killer slammed his elbow into the serpent beneath him, tearing through its scales with the bone spikes of his joint, and he pushed up to his feet with a snarl, swinging Wyvern tip-down and slashing it through the massive, muscular beast below, chopping it in half. The snake he had punched away arched its mighty body and lunged at him, blasting out thick jets of acid poison, but the liger leapt right past them, aiming for the dark blue wall, for Alexis's face looking at him from the other side of that barrier. When the jaws of the immense serpent came down around him he spun around and slashed Wyvern upwards with all of his strength, snarling as it cut through and sent the upper jaw and most of the head of the snake flying off in a cloud of crimson mist.
Killer flapped his wings and shoot towards the dark blue sphere, but Typhon snarled in fury and covered it with one hand while balling the other into a fist, hissing: "I think not. None of you is getting anywhere!"
The immense fist lashed out with savage force and Killer gritted his fangs and stabbed Wyvern forth into the gigantic, metallic fingers... but the blade failed to pierce through, clanging loudly into the dark scales and bouncing violently off, Killer groaning as the recoil broke his wrists and sent him flying bonelessly backwards... before he closed his eyes with a snarl of fury and then threw his arms out, his body flexing and muscles bulging explosively as he grew rapidly, flames of golden and black energy dancing around him as he became enormous, his feet tearing into the ground and his toes digging canyons in the coast as he became titanic, matching Typhon's sizes and then exceeding that, his eyes glowing solid sapphire as he clawed into the beast's wrist and yanked him forwards to ram his spiked elbow in his face, striking once, twice, thrice... but Typhon barely twitched, and the massive bone spikes cracked audibly, leaving Killer horrified as the dragon only smiled, looking fearlessly up into the liger's eyes and then chuckling darkly as he slowly, majestically grew once more, rapidly surpassing the liger once more, his immense mass blotting out the sun and casting Heaven into murderous, terrible shadow as the air itself vibrated and overheated with his monstrous power. "I'm in charge here, and no matter how you try to resist, I'll crush you!" Typhon cackled, before almost playfully backhanding Killer's muzzle, knocking the liger backwards as blood exploded from his mouth while the dragon grew even bigger, leaving the liger staring at huge chiseled abs topped by what little remained of Juggernaut's face... and just beneath it, the dark blue orb.
"Please... stop me... stop me before it is too late...!" Juggernaut prayed, and Typhon groaned as if in pain for a brief moment, before furiously reaching down to claw into the unrecognizable, bloodied ruins of the construct's face, tearing it into shreds of gore that he tossed away, grinning savagely as new, harder, stronger metallic scales grew rapidly to cover the wound. "Shut up, monster! I told you to shut the fuck up!" Typhon barked, before grinning in cruel delight as he watched down and saw more of the silvery body of metal-crystal of Juggernaut's vanishing under expanding patches of new scales. "You are a mistake, a failed experiment. Your power is just the result of a strange alchemy. I hate you, I hate your "father" and I utterly hate having been forced to merge my body with yours!" Typhon growled, savagely tearing into the stitched, encrusted mouth of Juggernaut, his talons tearing it apart further as the dragon grinned maniacally down at Killer, licking his lips. "But now I'm invincible, and I have the Amon-Ra cowering before me... and that makes it easier on me." The beast pulled up one immense foot and leaned over to stomp against Killer, but the liger rolled out of the way with a grunt, wincing as the entire world rattled violently with the impact, cracks spreading across the continent as the polluted sea washed up the steep sides of the mountains in titanic, terrifying waves. "I'll completely assimilate you, monster!" Typhon cackled, while turning around to kick viciously against Killer's side, and the liger pulled up Wyvern in the way, but even the legendary blade couldn't scratch the metallic talons and was only smashed back into his own chest, making him wince in pain as he crashed into the sea... and given his sizes, it felt like little more than a shallow puddle of dense, stinky liquid mud. "And then I'll devour Elelyon like candy. And your dear wife and daughters and whores... and you yourself!" Typhon announced, grinning savagely as he pointed a bloodied finger at the liger and walked forth before pulling up one foot to curb-stomp him...and Killer sprung to his feet with a roar, throwing all of his strength and body weight forwards as he dropped one spiked shoulder and rammed into Typhon, causing him to stumble backwards a little. The beast let out a snort of contempt and derision, but before he could taunt the liger, Killer reached up to claw into the fractured dark blue sphere, his talons piercing through the breach as he snarled and yanked it open until it shattered into shards like brittle glass. "Everybody, get out!" Killer urged, and Alexis and Elelyon immediately moved out of the way to let the tigers and the Seraphims and all other soldiers jump out of that inferno. William waited until all of his soldiers had left before walking up to breach, giving a grateful nod to the creator and to Alexis before rushing out, flapping his mighty wings as he dived after the other angels, maneuvering out of the way of Typhon's gigantic fist as the gigantic monster howled in fury and clawed at the swarm of tiny angels, wanting nothing but their destruction. The goddesses followed, allowing their defensive bubble to shrink smaller as they left one by one, rapidly but orderly. Alexis and Elelyon waited until they were all gone, their eyes fixed on Vesta and Killer, the first still locked in combat against Michael, the latter still absorbing the worst of the storm, keeping the deadly bolts off them. Protecting them all through sacrifice.
"Don't think you won, you pathetic bugs!" Typhon howled, clapping his enormous hands into the sides of the largest Killer, the one who was clawing into the broken blue orb, trying to rip his chest open wide. The liger cried out in agony at the terrible force of the blow, tensing and trashing on the spot as he hissed in pain, but he didn't let go, instead trying to wrestle the gigantic monstrosity down, his biceps bulging with such power and size that they almost ripped his skin as he tried to tear Typhon's chest apart... and Juggernaut's devastated mouth spluttered blood and ichors as his voice begged: "End me. End me before it is too late..." But Typhon only snarled-grinned, looking down at the liger with vicious amusement as he pulled back his enormous hands only for his forearms to morph as liquid silvery metal-crystal formed two cruel blades that the beast stabbed into Killer's hips. The liger shut his eyes and focused his energies as best he could to form two large protective plates on his sides, but both shields shattered loudly and the scythe-like blades tore deep inside him, hefting him up as he threw his head back with a gurgle, vomiting blood.
Killer clawed wildly inside the beast's chest, but only Juggernaut's mouth let out a little sound that Killer couldn't quite understand. Pain? Fear? Despair? Typhon leaned down with a wide grin, opening his jaws to literally bite his head off, and Killer hefted Wyvern up with all the strength he could muster, slashing it right up into the sexless, metallic crotch of the titan. It clanged loudly, sparkles flying from the impact, and bounced violently backwards, failing to do anything more than scratching the invincible body of the colossus, who only snorted in distaste and pushed his blades further up into the liger's body, loving the feel of the blood streaking down his arms. "You thought you had become all strong and mighty, huh...? You thought you had won! But you are no hope, no savior, no emperor. I have broken the limits! I have become invincible!"
Killer hissed in a mix of pain and fury at that, eyes burning with a cold, ferocious sapphire light that was more terrible than any nova, than any nuclear furnace of deep space, and his enormous body grew once more, muscles thrumming with unfathomable power as he focused on the blades stuck in his hips and wished them gone, destroyed... and his body savagely devoured them, absorbing the energy that gave them shape until Typhon's hands reverted to their original shape, leaving the beast staring at them in surprise... which became shock as even his talons began to ripple slightly, losing consistence as the wounds in Killer's sides vanished and the liger's body hungrily consumed all the energy nearby. "Don't challenge me, Typhon..." Killer venomously said, rapidly growing enough to match the dragon's impossible sizes, then enough to glare down at him as he slammed a huge fist down against his snout, grinning viciously as Typhon finally recoiled with a little cry of pain, his muzzle bruised and slightly deformed... and the liger did his best to hide the terrible pain in his hand as the bones in his fingers rapidly regenerated after breaking like twigs. What the hell is this monster made of...?
Typhon nonetheless retreated a bit, looking horrified by the fact that he had taken damage, apparently unable to even believe to it, and then he let out a unarticulated yell of rage and hunger... and the broken blue sphere in his chest glowed brilliantly as a new, terrible storm of electricity exploded inside it.
"Vesta, get the hell out!" Mriya shouted, shoving her hands forwards to pump energy into the barrier that protected her, Elelyon, Diana and Alexis. Her mighty mother was at her side, muscles bulging explosively as she pushed back against the storm, protecting Diana as the healer frantically worked to stabilize Elelyon's wounds, while the creator's chest heaved erratically and blood sprayed thickly out of the pulsing gashes. Somehow, he managed to stay silent, focusing on his mind and on trying to keep his hands from spasming out of control as agony filled every fiber of his being. Every now and then, even though his eyes wouldn't open, he gently whispered words of thanks to the goddess working on his suffering body.
Vesta, in the distance, gritted her fangs as she heard the call, and she tossed a look over her shoulder at the breach, while countless blasts of terrible energy smashed into her, deflected away by floating, ethereal plates of armor that she kept into being with her energies. She was locked in combat with Michael, and the corrupted Arkangel immediately lunged against her, driving forth his double-ended sword, only for her sicklesword to deflect his assault once more, the goddess shifting out of the way like he was a powerful but dumb charging bull, before smacking the back of his skull with the back of her fist, sending blood and brain matter spraying upwards thickly. Her other hand seized into his twisted horns and snapped one like it was a twig, and immediately she stabbed it tip-down into the exposed brain of the monster.
Vesta lunged towards the breach, wincing as blood leaked from countless wounds all over her form, while the bolts of electricity smashed into her again and again, exploding against her ethereal armor with enough force to slam her sideways, constantly knocking her out of course, slowing her down... but it was Michael that was holding her back. No matter how hard she hit him, and where, he never died permanently... and even with his head pulped, he did not stay down this time either, lunging after her and swinging his sword out once more, slamming it down towards her back, and she spun around to catch the blade between her hands, pressing into the flat sides as she wrestled the huge weapon backwards as Michael leaned down with all his body weight, howling in fury from his shattered, pulped muzzle. Vesta made a grimace of distaste as pieces of his brain fell onto her, and yet his skull regenerated rapidly, directly in front of her, and soon a new eye was glaring at her. And in the meanwhile enormous bolts of dark blue energy crashed down into his back, rattling his body and sending blood spurting out all around him whenever they tore through his own defensive barrier.
"You idiot, we have to get out of here! Even you!" Vesta snarled, leaning forwards and flexing her powerful arms, twisting to the side until Michael's damaged, dented blade loudly broke in half, and she spun the large piece in her grip to drive it straight into his chest, growling in a mix of pain, rage and frustration as she used all of her strength to yank the huge chunk of metal first to one side, then to the other, cutting through as many of the crucified gods as she could, wincing as their little, tormented bodies fell apart, broken limbs falling away and mouths gaping to howl in sinister, horrible silence as severed bodies hang from the wrists while the legs fell down towards the dark bottom of the infernal sphere.
Michael savagely spun his double-ended sword to strike at her with the remaining blade, but Vesta caught it in her hand, ignoring the pain as she wrestled the weapon backwards and hefted herself up to slam both boots into the sword sticking halfway out of his bloodied, devastated chest. The impact left him gasping breathlessly for a moment, back arching as the blade tore through his entire body and emerged from his back, but still he viciously clawed into her sides, squeezing into her body with enough force to make her bones creak as he dragged her back towards the center of the sphere, where the worst of the storm spiraled violently around Killer, striking him again and again with colossal bolts that casted a sinister dark blue light all around them. "I won't let you get away with it this time, Vesta! I will kill you, and I will turn Heaven into the dominant force of the universe. I'll make it what it was always meant to be!" The Arkangel squealed, even as Vesta's sickleswords spun around him in a vortex, slashing into his legs, his sides, his shoulders, his neck, blood exploding from each wound as he was torn into shreds... and yet nothing seemed enough to knock him out. "You and Elelyon ruined everything! You betrayed the dream!" Michael howled, insane with fury and hate and pain and hunger, and Vesta snarled and grabbed his throat in one hand, the other reaching for his deformed, ruined halo as his skull rebuilt itself and his second eye opened, red with blood and almost blind still but burning with ferocity as it glared down at her... before she growled and tore in the opposite directions, tearing his lower jaw off and splitting his skull in half as she threw away the top of it like it was a cork. Michael's grip became immediately far weaker as some of the captive, crucified gods were ripped off along with the halo, and Vesta began to smash her hand into his chest and neck, using his own jaw, his own teeth to maim and destroy his body and as many of the prisoner gods as she could reach over his chest. The bone eventually crumbled in her hand, but she clenched her fingers into a fist and lashed down even harder hits, again and again and again, while flapping her wings to rush towards the breach. Enormous lightning bolts of blue energy followed her and crashed viciously into them, but they now focused visibly on Michael, burning his devastated body into ashes, consuming him rapidly. "You goddamn idiot, can't you understand that Typhon is only using you? He only ever used you!" The queen roared, clawing into his chest and hefting him up over her head, slamming him against an incoming blue spike and wincing at the resulting explosion as the Arkangel's chest burst apart and showered her with blood and gore. And yet he still clawed into her with feral, unthinking ferocity, trying to drag her back towards the burning, crackling inferno. "Don't you understand that you are nothing but food? If you stay here, I won't need to kill you: Typhon will do it for me!"
Vesta finally crashed through the barrier of energy held up by Alexis and Mriya, and it rippled like water, allowing her in... but Michael followed, his body reduced to an unrecognizable monstrosity but refusing to stay down as his broken, bloody chest split open down the middle, the ribs becoming terrible, ugly fangs and his guts twisting together to form a deadly tentacle lined with spikes and thorns of broken bone.
He snarled and drooled and growled, snapping his new jaws and trying to devour the goddess, who winced but donkey-kicked into his crotch, sending him flying off her to crash against the inside of the barrier, where Alexis and Mriya's energies exploded into him with a crackling discharge that made his entire body spasm violently, smoldering and burning, the flesh and muscle falling away in flakes. Elelyon opened his eyes with that terrible cacophony and blinked, returning to his senses and straightening up somewhat, gaping in shock at the sight of Michael's folly, before Mriya effortlessly picked him up and jumped out of the breach, followed by Diana.
Vesta and Alexis clawed into the corrupt Arkangel's arms and snarled as they flexed and yanked hard in the opposite directions, tearing the limbs off in a splatter of dark, acid blood, but the disgusting, bloody tentacle sticking out of his body whip-lashed through the air and wrapped around them, dragging them backwards... before Killer dived into the safe bubble and stomped both feet into Michael's back, sending him flying out of the breach, ruinously falling towards the ground, many miles below.
"The last thing we need is Typhon getting even stronger by devouring him!" Killer shouted as they all flew out, and Alexis and Vesta flexed and spread their arms wide, ripping free of the tentacle and giving nods of agreement... while the second Killer, the titanic one who was grappling with Typhon, smashed his huge fist into the damaged blue sphere, shattering the front of it like it was a globe of glass before pushing his talons deeper inside the flesh, gripping around the rest of the sphere. The liger roared and his muscles bulged explosively as he yanked hard on the damaged prison, and it moved, slowly at first, before he managed to tear it clear out of Typhon's chest, causing the monstrous god to gasp in breathless agony.
The sphere crackled with malignant energy, burning through Killer's gauntlets and into his flesh, but he still clutched it in his fist as he roared and struck Typhon's stomach, the force of the impact sending shockwaves tearing through the sky as he hit once, twice, thrice, clawing into the beast's side and yanking him forwards to strike all the harder, but the body of the monster seemed completely invulnerable, his abs barely twitching even as the dark metal of Killer's gauntlets crumpled and dented inwards, his fingers becoming nothing but pain as the bones inside shattered. And still Killer hit, his blood streaking down his arm as Typhon recoiled slightly, more in surprise than in pain, and when he bent forwards the liger exploited the change to slam an uppercut into his snout. The damaged blue sphere exploded, unleashing crackling bolts of blue electricity that burned viciously through both the liger and the dragon, as the force of the blast knocked them in the opposite directions.
Killer crashed into the ground and rolled bonelessly for a moment before stomping down one foot and using it as axis to get up to a crouch, panting hard and clutching at his destroyed hand as blood leaked out through the crumpled pieces of metal of his gauntlet. Deimos, the god of fear that Killer had conquered and turned into his set of armor, let out a groan of agony in his mind and Killer, for once, felt like agreeing with the enslaved entity. He hissed as his bones rebuilt themselves and his hand rapidly regenerated, and his eyes narrowed as he glared at Typhon, who had merely stumbled backwards a couple of steps before steadying himself, looking down at his opponent with a smirk of smug entertainment. The reptilian monster spread his arms and flexed, arching his back almost in a bodybuilder pose as he curled his toe-talons with a growl of delight at the energy that rushed through his form like a rising flood, before his body expanded, grew even more titanic, his muscles bulging with terrifying power and his scales becoming thicker, even more impenetrable, his back taking on more of a hunch as more of Juggernaut's old body was absorbed and vanished from sight, hidden under the armor-like hide of the dragon. "There is nothing you can do against me. It is too late... you had your chance and you wasted it. Now I'm the strongest, and you are just a snack. I'll eat you, and if there is anything special about you like they said, that will become mine." Typhon gleefully said, before moving a heavy step forwards, laughing as the planet beneath cracked and trembled, the fragile crust of the world shattering under his terrifying power and mass.
The huge Killer pushed back up to his feet with a snarl, taking on a ready position with Wyvern held up high, but the dragon only cackled and charged forwards, his stomps turning the hills into craters as he deliberately ignored the great crimson blade, grinning widely as it hit him but bounced uselessly off, leaving nothing more than a scratch that rapidly healed and vanished from sight. The impact between the two titans turned the deserts of the seventh heaven into a crater, the dunes of sand exploding into clouds of dust that were blown high into the atmosphere while the great cliffs of red stone trembled and cracked, many tall spires collapsing and even the great rocks of the monasteries of the Sun and of the Moon splitting apart like wooden blocks while the bastions of the two castles disintegrated into gravel and chunks of stone. At the same time, the other Killer winced as Michael's corrupted, monstrous body twisted like that of a snake as its torso-turned-mouth opened impossibly wide and attempted to bite his legs right off. The liger stomped hard on the base of the beast's spine, cracking the bone like a biscuit, but as Vesta had already discovered nothing seemed enough to keep him down. Killer kicked hard into the ribcage-jaws, sending chunks of bone flying away as blood and gore exploded from the unrecognizable, ruined body, and then the liger crouched and prepared for impact as the ground rushed towards them at fearsome speed. He spotted a spire of red stone beneath and clawed into the sides of the monstrous being, shifting his weight on its spine to send him falling right towards it.
Michael continued to splutter and snarl, twisting and bucking to try and turn around and bite into Killer's body, mindless of everything else, until he howled in agony and rage as he crashed into the hard stone, tearing right through the spire as Killer surfed on him, growling and stomping his upper body all the harder against the large formations of dark red stone until the spire split in half and fell apart. Michael slammed into the dirt, digging a huge crater into the ground, and the liger lost his balance and fell off the beast's back, awkwardly putting down a knee before going up in a crouch, spinning around to face both Michael and, far more intimidating, the titanic mass of Typhon looming over them all and casting the entire desert in his shadow. Vesta landed nearby, grunting as caught herself in a crouch and then immediately sprung back to her feet, her eyes burning solid sapphire as she walked over to Michael, her sickleswords floating threateningly on either side. Alexis and Mriya touched down in the same area, the latter goddess holding Elelyon in her strong arms, and Diana followed, looking at the Creator with increasing concern.
And then, incredibly, Michael let out an unarticulated yell of pure hatred and pushed up from the bottom of the crater, as shreds of torn muscle and flesh formed into tentacles that attempted to bond together to rebuild a body, while other, larger tendrils twisted around a huge boulder, hefting it high up into the air and hurling it against Vesta, who snorted and took a step forwards before roundhouse-kicking the incoming projectile into nothing but dust and gravel, before flexing and shoving her hands forwards, generating a series of spears of brilliant sapphire light and then sending them crashing down into Michael, nailing him to the ground as one, two, four, five thick poles of burning energy impaled him.
"My lord!" Michael howled, trashing wildly even as his already blackened, ruined flesh was charred by the formidable energy of the goddess. "My god, help me! Your loyal servant needs your help!"
"There will be none. You are beyond helping... and the god you've chosen does not help anyone." Elelyon sadly said, looking at the monster with horror and sorrow and disbelief, while Vesta only moved forwards faster, crackling her knuckles and then striking into the beast with all of her force, tearing right through what had once been a torso, while her floating swords also began to hack viciously into the pinned monster, breaking him down in smaller and smaller pieces of dark, rotting meat.
Typhon heard the prayers, however, and turned his head around with a snort of contempt, all but ignoring Wyvern even as it struck him in the neck. No blade could scratch his invincible hide of scales anyway, and he only grimaced in distaste at the sight of Michael, so tiny and so broken. "You useless maggot. Even after all the resources I've invested on you, all you can do is disappoint me." Typhon coldly hissed, but nonetheless he swung one colossal arm violently out against Killer, knocking the liger out of the way and stepping towards the others.
"Save your servant, almighty god!" Michael shrieked, even though Vesta was literally ripping his devastated body in half, snarling in frustration and disbelief as the beast refused to die. Alexis and Mriya and Killer stepped forwards and growled, their eyes blazing with energy as their bodies grew, their muscles bulging with prodigious physical power as they stood in the way of the incoming dragon, but the beast only snorted in contempt, snickering even as Alexis blasted him with a terrible shockwave of psychic force. It slammed into him, but it was like a wave meeting a solid cliff, and he forced right through with a flex of his muscles, his height increasing even further, his eyes glowing through the visor protecting his face as his impossible might continued to multiply. Mriya gritted her fangs and drew out the Praetorian blade, which she carried slung across her back, in its sword shape, and she slashed it hard across the monster's chest, growling in frustration and rage when it failed to bite through that impenetrable layer of non-metal, before she crouched as the gigantic beast swung an arm out against her, his power so great that a shockwave traveled forth and smashed her backwards even though he had missed. She crashed on her back and immediately kicking both legs up into his forearm as he grinned savagely and formed a long, deadly crescent blade of silvery metal, preparing to cut her into bits.
She hit him straight in the wrist, but he barely budged while pain exploded in her legs, making her bite into her own lip to suffocate a shriek of pain, even as she scissored her legs open and then wrapped them around his arm, arching her body up and snarling as she squeezed and twisted as hard as she could. Typhon snorted and only yanked his arm violently upwards, moving to toss her away, but Mriya extended one powerful leg and kicked viciously into the side of his face... only to wince in pain while he laughed and turned to glare at her as the crucified gods in his crown silently screamed and blasted her with hurricanes of black flames. Alexis charged forwards and slammed Blue Vixen on his face, but the blade recoiled violently backwards and she let go of it, grabbing onto the handle with her psychic powers instead while her hands shot up to claw into his neck and forehead, her claws tearing through several captive, undead divinities and ripping them into nothing but dark, sick pulp while she roared and forced his head backwards. Typhon stumbled with a curse, but his neck refused to break and he only formed a second huge blade out of his other wrist, stabbing this viciously against Alexis's side... only for the femme fatale to move backwards out of the way, before pulling up both feet, claws digging into his skull as she hauled herself up and smashed her boots down on his wrist. Mriya roared and forced his other arm backwards, roaring as her muscles bulged explosively, swelling so much to lacerate her own skin in several places as veins bulged visibly outwards. "You are nothing but failures! Your look like lap dogs, barking uselessly around me...!" Typhon cackled, flexing his enormous arm and resisting to Mriya's assault while he threw his other limb out to batter Alexis away. But the precognitive goddess again avoided his attack, slinging her body upwards over his shoulder and dropping down over his back, strangling him in a full nelson while her biceps bulged enormously, her whole form thrumming with rage and power. Typhon bucked hard, trying to throw her off, but she didn't let go, so he just ignored her even as Blue Vixen hacked at the side of his neck and her fist smashed again and again into his temple. He savagely clawed up to yank Mriya off his arm instead, but the goddess kicked off him at the last moment and gracefully sailed over his head, landing in a handstand behind him and donkey-kicking into the back of his knees, sending him stumbling forwards with a grunt of annoyance, before he corrected his course and walked towards Michael, extending one hand towards the devastated arkangel. "You don't deserve such an honor, but I'm generous enough to eat you. At least I'll get back all the precious energies and gods I've given you." Typhon cackled, and Michael finally shrieked in horror, trashing as best he could while Typhon's psychic grip crushed him into little more than pulp while yanking him off the spears that kept him imprisoned. Vesta leapt back with a snarl as the same terrible force clawed into her, making her ribs creak painfully as she was hauled off the ground... before she roared in rage, sapphire and golden flames erupting into being all around her body as she grew rapidly, muscles bulging and energy solidifying into metal over her skin, her body growing colossal, thrumming with power and bulging with muscle as she pushed back against those invisible yet terrible talons, before storming forwards as Michael floated helplessly up towards Typhon's hand.
"He is mine, I said." Vesta coldly growled, and she took what little remained of the Arkangel into both of her hands, trapping him between her palms before she locked her fingers together and flexed, crushing him into nothing but ugly, dark liquid that leaked and dripped out with a loud squelch. She looked down at her bloodied gauntlets next, snarling and half-expecting the monster to regenerate again... and while it didn't, she summoned eternal, holy flames into her hands to finally consume the disgusting pulp out of existence, muttering darkly: "Useless maggot indeed. Try getting back up now, I dare you! You idiot, I told you all along how it would go."
Typhon roared furiously against her, stomping forwards with acid drool leaking out of his tremendous jaws as the serpents pushing out of his shoulders reared up and grew larger, metallic, terrible and covered in sharp, spiked scales as they hissed and blasted jets of poison against the queen of Seraphims, even as Alexis and Mriya dragged him back, wrestling his enormous and growing mass down towards the ground. And suddenly Kimera and Manticora charged in from the two sides, growing gargantuan with each step until their golden, tremendous hooves were tearing apart the crust of the planet, leaving behind flaming pits of magma as they grew to match their father's monstrous sizes. Kimera roared and hefted up her gigantic twin-headed war axe, while Manticora readied her curved Kukri knives, and Vesta immediately ran forwards, stepping between the god's monumental fists and then stomping on his sexless crotch, from there climbing up his abs like they were steps before she grabbed at his horns and yanked his head hard forwards, extending his neck while Alexis dropped away from it, moving her arms under his own and smashing her knees into the base of his spine, so that the monster stumbled forwards. The "small" Killer sized up in the same moment, swinging Wyvern, and the large Killer did the same from the other side, so that two manifestations of the great sword struck Typhon's neck at once, with Kimera's axe coming down right between them. The strike was terrifying and it knocked the beast on its knees, but all three blades incredibly bounced back without leaving much more than shallow scars in the impenetrable scales. Horrified but undeterred, Manticora and Kimera caught their father by the huge arms, yanking them hard backwards and out as Vesta moved in and seized his face in her flaming hands, snarling as fire exploded into his visor, all over his snout and features, energy crackling around her as she squeezed his skull as hard as she could and blasted him with fireball after fireball... before cursing and staggering backwards in shock and pain at the titanic monster flexed with a roar and grew even bigger still, throwing his body weight forwards and smashing his thick skull into her chest, his horns tearing through her flesh and sending blood spraying in her face, and she rapidly retreated before he threw his head hard back, his deadly crown of bone spikes and blades reddened with her blood but unable to throw her into the air. The beast grinned coldly and stomped up to his feet, leaning forwards and yanking both of his arms forth, throwing Kimera into Manticora's side, both muscular females grunting in pain before he clapped his giant metallic hands on them, nearly ripping the flesh and skin off their bones as both wheezed and staggered away while he venomously snarled: "My traitorous daughters... you whores! I'll rip you apart limb by limb and then I'll find that bitch of your mother and I'll force her to eat every piece!"
He leapt forwards against them, dragging Alexis and Mriya along even as the two goddesses yanked him back with all of their strength, their feet tearing open deep canyons in the crust of the world. The two muscular zebras took their ready positions and braced for impact, their fangs gritted as Kimera snarled: "No matter how monstrous you become; no matter how much power you steal; no matter how much you cheat... Killer has already won. Killer will make you his slave, and we will be right there to make you pay for everything! You hear me? Everything!"
Elaine stepped forwards, enormous and glorious, her white fangs gritted as she squeezed the trigger of her monstrous auto-shotcannon and sent the enormous bullets smashing into his face again and again and again, but Typhon seemed entirely invulnerable and he grinned viciously, ignoring the impacts on his visor and tearing both arms up to grab at his daughters' skulls... but Killer stepped in the way and slashed Wyvern into his fingers, growling as the force of the impact seemed to rip the sky in half, sending a shockwave traveling past the horizon as he roared: "Don't you dare touching them!". But once more, Typhon was unfazed by the assault and he grabbed into Wyvern's blade, yanking it and Killer up and throwing him away like a toy, laughing maniacally... before letting out a sound of rage and frustration as the Praetorians charged forth and Pamela stabbed her huge spear-sword straight into his open mouth, driving it against his palate. Typhon's eyes flashed with dark amusement as the tigress gaped in shock, and dark fire exploded out of his maws, forcing her back with a hiss of pain as the flames tore into her arms and consumed her flesh while turning the spear in an incandescent tool of torture that burned through her fingers right to the bone.
Valery aimed her enormous longbow and pulled back the glowing, thick metallic rope, grinning viciously as the triple arms at each end of the bow tensed loudly, accumulating a tremendous force before she let go of the string and watched the huge, spear-like arrow strike into Typhon's skull. A growl of disbelief escaped her lips as he ignored the impact and grappled with Crystal instead, punching her sword out of the way and seizing her by the throat, hefting her high into the air and smashing her face-first into the ground even as Kate went into a slide between his legs and slashed at his ankles with her deadly daggers. Another arrow struck him in the head, and then another, but he continued to squeeze into Crystal's throat, hard enough to tear the drakkaren's scales loose, blood leaking through his massive talon-fingers while the goddess let out a breathless shriek of agony, uselessly clawing and punching and slashing at his wrist.
"Pathetic weaklings, that's all you are!" Typhon roared, grinning widely as his daughters steadied and faced him once more, one on either side of Alcana as the goddess of Love walked forwards, holding up her gigantic halberd and looking at him with eyes that burned with energy. The dragoness struck him with a fearsome rising slash that caught into his groin and seemed destined to rip him apart, but the crimson blade of her weapon barely managed to draw a red scar across his immense form, barely budging him from the ground, his toes flexing but never losing contact. The halberd hadn't even moved back before the long, thin scar had vanished from sight and he only laughed as Alcana pushed forth and breathed a hurricane of white, draconic fire over his features. He viciously headbutted through the fire, and Alcana retreated with a wince of disbelief, while Manticora and Kimera struck at his arm and fingers, but failed to liberate Crystal.
"You are just a bunch of deluded clowns. Killing you all will be even easier than I expected!" Typhon taunted, and he savagely swung his enormous arm out, using Crystal's limp body as a weapon to send Manticora crashing backwards with a grunt, while Kimera dodged and slammed her axe down on the root of his tail, only for the crucified gods petrified into it to glare at her and vomit beams of malignant energy into her chest, making her scream in agony as she stumbled backwards.
Ira's two heavy chains whip-lashed into his extended arm and wrapped several times around it even as the hooked blades bounced uselessly off his metallic scales, and the cobra gritted her fangs and snarled in fury as she yanked her arm back as hard she could, tensing the chains and constricting his limb as the sharp links of either chain became blindingly luminous, overheating and crackling with her energies. Discipline blasted him with electricity; Lust sent flames exploding over his entire body as the cobra gripped into her chains and pulled, trying to tear his limb into shreds.
Typhon's impenetrable metallic hide repealed all of the damage, but Ira's supreme effort caused his limb to move backwards at an awkward and painful angle and he grunted in annoyance while his fingers instinctively relaxed, sending Crystal flopping helplessly to the floor, vomiting blood and clutching at her devastated neck. He stomped forwards and kicked hard towards her, but Pamela was faster and dragged her back out of his reach, before both goddesses were sent crashing onto their backs as Typhon savagely twisted his foot into the ground and caused it to explode upwards, a large chunk of the continent break into a series of deadly spikes that viciously jutted up against the two females.
The monster cackled in dark delight at that, grabbing two of the enormous blades of charred stone and spinning them tip down as he prepared to drive them through the faces of both goddesses, but Sekhmeth snapped her fire whip into his back, leaving a smoldering, incandescent scar in his metallic scales before yanking the long weapon back to send it slashing into his feet and around his ankles, catching them in a tight vice and then roaring as she flexed her muscles and dragged hard backwards. Typhon was dragged backwards and sent staggering, towards the two Killers and Alexis, who immediately slammed their swords into him. "Get away from me, you losers!" Typhon angrily snapped, ramming his shoulder into one of the Killers and sending him crashing ruinously on his back, blood exploding out of his mouth and nostrils as he howled breathlessly and hugged his chest, horribly dented inwards by the force of the impact. Typhon turned against Alexis next, ignoring her fist even as it struck him straight in the snout, but the goddess slipped out of his reach before Gaia, titanic and fearsome, clad in her ever-changing armor of stone, magma, air and sea and thorny, poisonous vines, floated forwards with eyes that glowed with soulless, merciless force.
Typhon turned to face her, snarling at the memory of how her power had forced him back in the past, and he cracked his neck with a savage grin, hissing: "You are no longer able to worry me, bitch. You are just another weakling. The failed mother of this failure son!" The monster cackled and slammed a huge hand into his chest, clawing into the by now almost invisible features of Juggernaut, and Ira's eyes widened with fury, her lips retreating to show her gritted fangs as she slowly extended one arm.
The ground beneath Typhon exploded upwards, covering him in glowing, incandescent magma as a pillar of dark stone pushed up under his feet. He looked down in surprise but easily flexed his enormous, muscular leg and crushed the growing spire back into the core of the planet, snorting in contempt, before growling as it exploded into a billion deadly daggers and fragments that were blown into him by cold, icy winds faster and angrier than any hurricane. The deadly razors of stone shattered uselessly against his invincible hide and he flexed, roaring as his already immense form grew even further, his spine hunching more and his back jutting with new metallic blades, spikes and new, larger and more terrible serpents. "I'm invincible, and there is nothing that you can do against me. Air, Water, Earth, Fire... do your worst, bitch. You are just a little kitten that I'll stomp into a stain..."
He walked out of the whirlwind without a scratch and charged at her, but the cold wind spiraled around him and then become a solid tangle of thorny vines and tentacle-like roots that pushed into his mouth, covered his eyes, wrapped tightly over every inch of his massive form, clamping on him with terrible force as they flexed and pulsed, stabbing him with their thorns and tendrils and sucking for blood and energies. Within a moment he was looking like an ancient tree, but before Gaia's lips could even begin cresting into a grin he tore through the steel-hard vines, snorting in entertainment as the plants withered away and died after failing to get to his vital essence. "Mom... kill me... please..." Juggernaut's voice again begged, and Gaia hesitated for a brief instant, looking horrified and unsure about what to do... before snarling as Typhon broke into a run against her, his enormous fists clenched and ready to strike. She shoved both hands towards him, cursing under her breath, and then she silently mouthed a few words of apology to Juggernaut while terrible, fearsome energy began to crackle around her arms.
Typhon recoiled a bit at the sight, hesitating in front of the tremendous force she was suddenly summoning, and then he looked down with a snarl as his feet were rapidly encased by a multitude of flower-like crystals whose petals interlocked together in a dense, intricate formation strong enough to block him in place. The white crystal rapidly thickened and grew, wrapping around his legs while other chunks of that strange, alive substance began to form over his chest, his shoulders, his back, then even over his face, and then they all began to glow brighter and brighter as they began to devour his energies.
Typhon's eyes bulged in shock as he uselessly pushed against the expanding stuff, clawing and punching and shoving, snarling as it only ever continued to expand, making it harder and harder to move his arms and then beginning to grow into his mouth and between his talon-fingers, and Gaia cried out in pain, arching her back and trashing on the spot as her energies were rapidly exhausted. Her body began to smolder and her arms trembled, her fingers spasming visibly as Typhon's terrifying force pushed back against her magic... and worse, Elelyon realized that her efforts were ultimately going to be pointless.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at the ground near the monster's feet: every single blade of grass, every last bacteria, and every last hint of life was rapidly extinguished, leaving behind nothing but ash-like grey powder that was never, never going to be able to support life again.
The terrible grey death expanded rapidly, engulfing entire hills, entire "islands" of floating planetary crust of what had once been the 7th Heaven and now was nothing but a fragile inferno floating over an ocean of dense magma. The weight of the gigantic divinities had cracked the continent apart like the shell of an egg, but that devastation was nothing compared to the spreading of that grey nothingness.
Listen to me. Gaia, you are trying to encase him in a new energy-consuming sarcophagus, but it won't work. Killer looked up in surprise as Elelyon's voice spoke directly into his mind, and the almost imperceptible twitch in the eyes of Gaia, Alexis and the others told him that they all heard him. He did his best not to let Typhon understand what was going on, and at the same time listened with the utmost attention as the Creator added: Typhon is exploiting Juggernaut's abilities to the max. He's sucking energy out of the planet and feeding those to the crystal, rather than his own.He will drain and kill this entire planet before we can even start to damage him. He'll continue to replenish his energies using the world's vital force. We cannot fight him here.
Killer looked down at the ground and spotted the grey wasteland as it visibly expanded, growing larger and larger, and he gritted his fangs in horror, realizing that there was no way to win that fight without separating Typhon from any source of vital force he could plunder.
Gaia's essence of Life fills Juggernaut. He can replenish his energies almost endlessly and instantaneously so long as he is in direct contact with the planet. With Nature.
Throw the motherfucker into space. Vesta immediately snarled, and Killer could almost see Elelyon nodding as his voice added: It should work. On the planet, Juggernaut is pretty much unstoppable. But in space he won't be able to feed on anything... unlike you, Killer. You can. That's why you are the Amon-Ra and he is not.
Don't hold back. You can hit him much harder than this. Fucking hit him like you fucking mean it! Sekhmeth urged, and Killer flexed his massive musculature and readied, allowing his second manifestation to vanish and instead focusing on the careful opening of the floodgates that contained the flow of his terrifying power. Typhon, however, grinned viciously even as the alive crystal completely covered his eyes and nostrils, and the grey, dead area expanded enormously, burning entire regions into lifeless wastelands as he flexed and clenched his hands into fists, his height almost doubling in the space of a blink and the patches of crystal on his body suddenly looking small and pathetic. He flexed again, and terrible bolts of dark blue electricity exploded out of him, shattering the crystal and causing Gaia to collapse to her knees with a shriek of agony as the same tremendous force smashed into her and almost incinerated her nervous system, sending blood bursting out of her ears, nostrils, mouth and even eyes. She gargled, choking on her own life fluids, and Typhon lashed out a titanic foot. Manticora and Kimera rushed forwards to protect the goddess of Nature, but the monster's unbelievable force sent them all crashing bonelessly into the sea.
"Elelyon, you poor idiot! Do you truly think there is any thought of yours I can't hear? Do you still think so highly of your mind, after all the times you screwed up...?" Typhon taunted, grinning viciously as he looked down at his much smaller adversaries, looking for the weakened, wounded creator. "Even now that you are a miserable, dying wreck you still treat me with such arrogance? You insolent bitch... but maybe that's what you want, huh...? To make me angry. To make me riled up. I must be such a mind-blowing sight for a beta fucktoy like you...!" Typhon cackled, hefting one immense foot and searching the far smaller lizard to crush him into a stain, but when he failed to locate the vulnerable creator he turned his attention back to Gaia as she slowly pushed back up to her feet, wiping the blood from her muzzle and gazing up at him with eyes that glowed with defiant sapphire light.
"And you, Gaia... thinking that you could just cage me up like that...! You stupid whore... Juggernaut was a good boy and stood still the first time. But I have no intention to play along!" The monster taunted, holding his gigantic foot above her as he offered: "But I'm so generous that I'm willing to let you live. Dump Elelyon, dump the Amon-Ra and accept your true role: you can be my servant. You can all be my slaves, my whores, my toys. My Reign is starting and it will never, never end... and I will need entertainment!" Typhon cackled, looking down at Alexis, at Vesta, finally licking his lips as he gazed down at Sekhmeth. "You too, Sekhmeth... I'm everything you ever craved. The true god of gods. The true, absolute and ultimate alpha!"
Sekhmeth snarled in distaste at that, her eyes blazing a ferocious sapphire as she blew a raspberry and spat to let him know what he thought of him, and he snorted in contempt and looked past, glaring with absolute hate at his two daughters, hissing: "All of you will make for good whores... with the exception of you two. There can be no mercy for your traitorous behavior. I have no use for your bodies after you allowed Killer to... defile them and made them impure."
"You clearly have no idea of just what all of us did with him and for him, then." Alexis taunted, making him snarl in uncontrollable, feral rage, his eyes twitching behind the visor as she pointed at his smooth, sexless, metallic groin and teased: "Can you even be any use to us at all, boy...?"
Sekhmeth cackled loudly at that, and the other goddesses stood defiantly before him and laughed, all of their eyes blazing with the same ferocious sapphire light. His light.
"You had your chance, you filthy whores." Typhon snarled, and his foot dropped viciously down against Gaia, who threw her hands up and caused a million enormous tentacle-roots of stone and crystal and steel-hard vines to rise out of the ground to stab into his sole, pushing against it with tremendous force... but only ever slowing him down a little before he leaned forwards with a growl and flexed, stomping hard through the supernatural forest and crushing Gaia into the ground, making her vomit blood as her bones cracked with a sick crunch. "You think you can throw me into space, huh...? You bugs won't even be able to lift my toe unless I want you to!"
Typhon's entire form thrummed with terrible, limitless power as he grew even further, more than doubling his sizes once more as he cackled and flexed, looking down at his muscular arms with a grin of sharkish delight as the size and might of his bulging biceps. The tremendous, supernatural force of Juggernaut's and the vital energies of the entire planet flowed so naturally through his system that it was as if he had always been so great, so massive, so titanic. He idly turned towards the ruins of the monastery of the Sun, the castle reduced to nothing but a pile of rubble on top of a cracked, broken cliff... and when his hand reached down, the mountain became nothing but dust as his fingers touched it. "Ops!" The monstrous god cackled, before pressing his palm down to completely erase every sign of that fortress, which had resisted to his armies for so long. That had been thousands of miles away from where he stood... and now, with his growth, was at hand reach. "It'll take a while to get used to this! I'm too powerful for the world, too powerful for you losers, too powerful for this universe..." He looked to the opposite side, grinning as he dismissively brushed away the Monastery of the Moon as well, cackling as the great, unassailable fortress became nothing but dust. A puny anthill that he flattened with just one finger, grinning as the grey area around him expanded even further. Distant fortresses and towns trembled in terror as angels and Benevolents began to collapse, gargling helplessly before falling away in puffs of drained, cold ashes as their vital force was stolen away, and the survivors shrieked in panic, staring helplessly at the walls that had protected them during the civil war and that now only seemed like the limits of a cage making them all easy prey for Typhon.
Adrasthea struck the monster in the face with the long, sword-like blade of her spear, but sparkles and crackles of malignant energy exploded uselessly from the impact point, and as she leaned in closer and spun the heavy weapon to ram the thick pole into his jaws he only snarled and swung one enormous arm out against her. The goddess of strategy leapt back with a grunt and raised her large, round shield in the way before crying out in pain as his forearm effortlessly tore through the legendary shield and crushed her arm into pulp, her manacle crumpling with a loud metallic groan as she cursed and stumbled away, but she still found the strength to duck another his fist and slam the broken, bent edge of her shield down into his toes, striking as hard as she could. The shield crumpled like it was made of paper, failing to inflict any damage on his exposed toes and only making her grunt in shock and agony at the violent recoil that tore through her devastated arm, but still she threw herself against his groin and tried to topple him over.
Typhon seemed completely invulnerable, however, and he didn't even budge. Instead he tried to wrap his enormous arms around her and she retreated with a curse, pulling up what was left of her shield and blasting a huge beam of incandescent energy into his face.
He snarled in annoyance as he was temporarily blinded by the torrent of white fire, his arms missing her and only clawing into the ground, crumbling mountains like they were made of sand as he callously said: "I seem to lack a bit of speed... that's the only reason why you are managing to aggravate me and waste my time." He grinned viciously as he tore through the beam of holy energy, smashing both fists down into the ground, tearing deep into the planet as he added: "But I can easily fix that, at this point!"
Juggernaut's silvery metal-crystal body parts, those still not completely covered by the expanding hide of metallic scales, glowed with blinding intensity as he threw his head back with a hiss of delight, his muscles swelling even greater and his legs bending forwards with a loud creak of bones, his thighs becoming massive and all-powerful while the planet turned gray and lifeless around him.
Alexis caught him by the chin and yanked him hard backwards, her huge biceps bulging with power, but even though he snarled angrily at that assault he continued to absorb the world's vital force, ignoring her efforts as his toes continued to stay glued to the ground...
And they were. Elelyon looked up at the scene with horror as Killer and his Disciples hit the titan again and again, uselessly, and he cursed his conditions, his wounds, his weakness as he suffered the indignity of hiding a great distance away from the battlefield. Diana had carried him out to a cave-like fissure in the flank of a cliff and now was working hard to heal his wounds and stop the bleeding.
"Diana, we need to... we must..." The reptile breathlessly urged, but the goddess immediately pushed him back down, slamming a hand into his chest with a rudeness that surprised him and left him staring at her with wide eyes. The black-furred tigress turned briefly to look at him, and he saw the tears rolling down her cheeks and the gleam of anger and fear and frustration and despair in her eyes. Immediately, he slumped, realizing that his struggling and his calls for action were only making it harder for her. She almost snarled, her voice taking on a coldness that he had never ever imagined to ever see in the angelic goddess, and the cave vibrated with the strength of her tone as she shouted: "Do you think I don't know that...? Do you...? I should be out there with them! I want to be out there with them! But I have to keep you alive, and no matter what, I'll do what I was ordered to do!"
Elelyon swallowed thickly at that, trembling a bit and half-tempted to angrily retort something... but he only sighed instead, shaking his head slowly as he muttered: "Sorry... I... I just can't stand this anymore..."
"Then get thinking! You are the Creator, for fuck's sake! You are smart! You are ancient! You know far more than any of us about being gods; there must be something you can do!" Diana angrily urged, even though her voice had already softened somewhat, her athletic body trembling a bit as she sniffed lightly and tried to contain her rage and frustration. The reptile did his best to follow her advice, but he had been thinking about it all the time, at least whenever his mind was completely clouded over by the agony, and he had come up with nothing... Again he pushed his hands against the ground, gritting his teeth as he tried to use his energies to fortify the planet against Typhon's plundering, but the grey area continued to expand.
"I am not strong enough..." Elelyon dejectedly admitted, and Diana gazed sideways at him, then at his faintly glowing hand and at his energies as they crackled lightly into the ground. The whole planet seemed to pulse slightly, warmly, as if welcoming the touch of the god who had created Heaven, but it still wasn't enough. Typhon didn't even notice his efforts, cackling instead as he ripped his arms back up, tearing through the crust of the planet like it was nothing but wet paper turning into soft pulp. His movements were far faster now, almost impossibly fast in fact: he managed to ensnare Vicky's agile, strong body by the torso as she leapt against him to blast lightning bolts right into his face. She had no time to even understand what was happening before Typhon spun around and swung her hard down into Alexis, knocking the femme fatale sprawling with a grunt of surprise as even her energy-vision failed to warn her in time, before the titan slammed the doe down into her again, and again and again, using Vicky like a club and laughing as blood exploded out of both females.
Alexis's eyes flashed with rage and an explosion of psychic force rammed into Typhon with enough force to make him yelp in shock and pain as he waves of force rippled concussively against him and then seemed to implode, yanking him hard upwards, his legs flexing and extending as he was dragged backwards. His toes refused to leave the ground, however, and Alexis grunted in agony and surprise as the beast simply spread his arms wide and it was enough to send psychic force back against her, ripping her thought the sky until she smashed into Vicky once more, both females crashing to earth in a bloody heap.
"... but Killer is." Elelyon finally realized, and he straightened up a little before closing his eyes, trembling hard at the thought of what was about to happen but nonetheless calling: Killer. Typhon is pretty much a part of the planet as long as he continues to absorb the world's energies. You won't be able to break the connection as long as Heaven responds to me... and, because of it, to him.
Killer tensed up at that, and as soon as he heard those words he knew what to do. One part of him hesitated, but the other had wanted nothing else all along. Part of him had craved that moment for a long while and now he did not wait for invitations. "Heaven is mine... just like Hell. Just like the mortal world. Just like everything else... Heaven is mine!" Killer growled, and he grinned ferociously as he flexed his enormous musculature, and for the first time he deliberately allowed his immense, cruel force to clash with Elelyon's own energy signature, laughing as his dark might completely eclipsed the Creator's aura. A ripple of dark power tore through the planet, rattling every distant corner of the world, and energy crackled over the continents, tearing the sky apart with a succession of terrifying discharges of electricity as Elelyon's remaining essence was devoured and consumed. Elelyon recoiled against the stone wall of the cave, grunting in shock as blood burst out of his mouth, and Diana looked at him with concern but also, he couldn't help but notice, with a hint of dark delight, her eyes glowing and her breath becoming just a little faster and rougher as she felt her Master's energies conquering the planet around them.
Elelyon trembled, shocked by the extent of Killer's power as it crushed him almost physically, his body creaking audibly as he groaned in pain and hugged himself, watching out of the cave to see the day turning into night as all light was consumed by omnipotent, terrifying darkness. Yet, Killer could be seen perfectly, his body glowing and his eyes burning solid sapphire, more luminous and incandescent than the stars as he spread his arms and floated into the air, his great form expanding rapidly as it consumed Elelyon's force.
The world trembled violently as Killer's massive form grew to match Typhon's, and the draconic monster glared at the liger in a mix of disbelief and hate, rushing against him to slap him out of the sky... but Alexis tackled him from behind, laughing darkly as she flexed and her muscles bulged larger and stronger, her eyes burning solid sapphire as she felt her own power increasing monstrously. The other Disciples picked themselves up as well, grinning as the air around them became thick with Killer's potent, rich scent and their Master's energy pulsed with amazing force across the sky and, with increasing intensity, even through the ground beneath their feet. Their wounds began to heal faster, and they felt increasingly reinvigorated as the planet around them began to rapidly and dramatically change, the landscape warping in time with the thrumming of Killer's broad, masculine chest. The cracks in the crust of the planet suddenly overflowed with magma that rapidly cooled down in black, glass-like stone that welded together the many broken islands, new mountains forming and massive volcanoes swelling up along the fissures, erupting columns of liquid fire into the sky. The entire planet pulsed in time with Killer' heartbeat, with the swelling of his massive chest as his colossal body flexed and grew, muscles bulging with terrifying power and in full, glorious definition as he flooded the planet with his force and at the same time devoured everything that the old Heaven still had to offer.
Elelyon arched his back with a breathless cry of agony, his eyes closing and his limbs going limp and weak as he felt his vital essence rushing out of him, his strength vanishing and his musculature shrinking and losing tone and hardness, a string of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth as he felt the planet that he had created suddenly swelling larger. And larger. And larger. And larger still as Killer grinned viciously and grew, his proud bull-horns pushing out of his skull, crowning him and adding even more to his imposing, majestic figure before two massive golden spikes pushed out of his back and curved upwards, his behemoth biceps flexing, his godlike chest thrumming, his chiseled abs standing out in full glory, as he arched his back and roared, his voice rattling the whole of Heaven and rippling even through space, to reach the mortal world in the distance. Deimos's divine essence, fear personified, attempted to grow in time with the indomitable, incomparable titan but was soon lagging behind. The full body armour became a thick chest plate replicating the profile of his massive muscles, leaving his abs bare in all of their power and perfection. The massive, damaged chain of his last Seal came into view, burning brighter than a star and crackling with energy as it clamped as best it could on his chest and across his torso and back, and the liger flexed against the heavy links, making them groan audibly as he laughed darkly and licked his lips, looking at Typhon with a challenging grin and teasing: "Do your worst, Typhon... maybe you can help me break this last chain..." Killer paused, looking down with a smirk as his colossal black shaft twitched powerfully and pushed out from behind the massive groin plate, growing too massive to be contained and hidden, the dark-fleshed godbeast of a cock bouncing arrogantly as it throbbed with obscene power and finally shattering the heavy armor into pieces, flopping down with a majestic swing. "... because Elelyon cannot."
Barely hard at all, the monstrous black fleshed godcock almost hit the ground, but it didn't need to touch it to devastate an entire region: the shockwave from its heavy fall was enough to send a solid wall of wind tearing through the desert, leaving a deep canyon-scar behind. Elelyon watched on in awe and terror as the visible shockwave rushed forth towards the entrance of the cave and he let out a weak cry, scrambling a bit back up against the rocks behind him before wincing and shutting his eyes while Diana sprung to her feet and stood ahead of him, giving him the shoulders and facing the incoming wave with a smirk of pleasure as she spread her arms and formed a dome-shaped barrier around them. In the very same moment, the wind smashed into the cliff with a deafening rumble, followed by the cacophony of crumbling stone as the entire mountain exploded into pieces that hailed down onto the barrier, smashing into the ethereal wall of energy and rattling it as Elelyon panted and shook his head slightly, barely able to believe to what was happening.
Diana idly gazed at him from over her shoulder and laughed, her eyes burning with power and losing their unique ruby color for a moment to shine sapphire instead, and the Creator shivered at that, realizing just how much control the liger had over his lovers and Disciples. The angelic goddess easily protected him from the collapsing mountain as the violent, destructive wind bombarded their little shelter with an endless succession of boulders and debris and sand and powder, but she never looked back at him again. Her eyes were fixed on her immense, invincible Master in the distance, and Elelyon couldn't help but let out a little whimper as he saw the gleaming streaks of hot nectar rushing down her inner thighs and, for the first time in many millennia, he felt in full the force of lust; the need for her warm, welcoming body; for her thighs to spread for him.
And at the very same time he experienced the despair of knowing that he could never have her, and that she belonged to Killer, like all the others, like everything else. He panted hard, shifting uncomfortably on the spot and crying silently, swallowing as he admired her beauty and the strength of her athletic, perfect body, studying every inch of her and desperately craving it while knowing full well that he was condemned to only ever watch. She was grinning in delight, staring at Killer in the distance, clearly enthralled with him and his growing, terrifying power and Elelyon found himself forgotten and irrelevant, his once glorified force feeling like a weak candle compared to the burning sun that was Killer's strength. Elelyon looked down at his body with silent fear, watching as his musculature visibly deflated and his entire form shrunk smaller by the second, but what truly hurt him was the fact that the ground on which he lay burned through his scales like fire and zapped him with angry discharges of electricity.
"The world that I created..." Elelyon whispered, and Killer laughed darkly, his tremendous force pulsing through the planet and forcing it to grow larger and larger as the immense dark god growled: "... is no more. Heaven is gone. A new Heaven is rising... and it is mine."
The creator fell silent, clutching at his chest as his body became scrawny and terribly weak, all his energies abandoning him to flow into Killer, and his eyes again fixed on Diana's perfect body and on the glinting streaks of hot juice on her thighs. He craved her like he had never craved anything before, so much so that the pain had become a distant, secondary consideration. Killer's endless hunger and lust were heating the very air of Heaven and were becoming the hungers of everyone. Nobody could escape, not even Elelyon... and he trembled in horror at the awareness that his body was not only growing weaker and frailer by the second, but also impotent. Even though his body and mind both burned with desire, his testicles were shriveled and empty and weightless, and his member was shrinking so much that he thought it would soon vanish away entirely. Breathlessly, with tears pushing out of his eyes, the Creator begged: "Killer... please... I... You are... draining me out... out of existence. Please... don't..."
Killer grinned predatorily at that, allowing his glorious musculature to flex and bulge with monstrous, merciless might, his enormous arms swelling even larger as his biceps bulged. His colossal shaft lazily flexed as well and the fat, monstrous head pushed slightly free from the thick blanket of foreskin covering it, his girthy cock swelling even larger still, thickening even further as he spread his legs a bit more to make himself more comfortable as his other hand reached down, absently stroking at the monstrous base of the almighty member. For a brief moment he reveled in that feeling of omnipotence as his terrifying power dwarfed Elelyon and crushed him into an invincible vice. For a moment, he was tempted to snuff that tiny, trembling candle off. It would have been so easy... it was nothing but child play at that point. The liger's humongous testicles pulsed powerfully and an unfathomable globe of dense, rich precum began to lazily push out of the vast bull-hole, pushing back the heavy foreskin. The dark god laughed cruelly at the obscene, unfair contrast between his excessive, brutal virility and Elelyon's mortal weakness, and, as if to make the comparison even more merciless, a dark river of corruptive essence began to leak from his shaft: not even pre, just lubricant fluid, yet hypervirile, rich and potent, splashing down over the holy soil of Heaven and flooding it with seas of great dark essence that thrummed with dark life. Corrupted, tentacle-like trees and vines made of dark flesh immediately began to rip out of the fertilized ground, turning a charred desert into a forest in mere instants, and Elelyon trembled in envy and awe as that dark essence washed away even grey ashes and, incredibly, caused corrupted, evil life to sprout up just as unstoppably even in the grey wasteland. Killer laughed at that and flexed, squeezing idly into the base of his gigantic cock as the thick globe of actual precum, filled with titanic sperms, swelled even larger and heavier and stretched out in a long, dangling, heavy rope. Even the sheen of battle-sweat on his muscular body became a thick, hypervirile substance that spread dark life wherever it touched; and over his fat, enormous shaft and balls the sweat became tar-thicker and horrendously powerful, warping reality whenever the huge male slowly stroked his hand down his colossal member and deliberately scooped up the rich fluid, sending it splashing over the continent beneath. His masculine scent rolled over Heaven as a brutal statement of power that made eyes water and pussies weep rivers of nectar and that crushed and burned the senses into an arson of virility and power. "Don't worry, Elelyon..." Killer finally said, grinning widely at the sheer pleasure he felt in unleashing more of his corruptive, dominant, overwhelming power. "I don't want you to die."
Those few words seemed to be enough to work a miracle, and Elelyon gaped in shock at his hands as they rapidly got their strength back... and not only that, they became larger and stronger than they had ever been before. His body grew as well, and his musculature swelled, soon surpassing the athletic tone that he had had in his glory days and becoming bulkier, stronger, even though he kept his slender figure. He gritted his teeth with a growl of pleasure-pain, his eyes glowing sapphire for a moment as he tensed and arched his back, staring at his biceps as they bulged, filling with strength, and he grunted in a whole new kind of pleasure and hunger as his testicles dropped heavily between his legs, swelling far larger than they had ever been before while his shaft swelled and pushed down along his thigh, growing enormous and pulsing with some of Killer's unfathomable vigor. Elelyon let out a cry of shock and hunger, his hand moving down to squeeze into the large shaft, sampling its greatly increased, alien weight as drool leaked from the corners of his mouth, and Diana turned her head slightly to look down at him as his terrible wounds sealed up, pushing out a thick sludge of acid poison, darkened and corrupted blood and other terrible ichors and fluids. The Healer smirked in amazement at the effects of Killer's power as the terrible gashes turned into thick white scars across the god's abs and chest. She knew all too well that the infection was so terrible that the wounds were going to reopen once more in the future, but it was amazing to see them closing up so neatly after all of her efforts had achieved so little. It sent a little shiver of pleasure-fear down her spine as she once more wondered about Killer's terrifying true power... and then she couldn't help but tease the Creator with a savagery that could only be explained with the sheer immensity of the energies and hungers that radiated out of Killer and filled both of their bodies, pumping in their veins and filling their minds with the god's own desires and their bodies with supernatural, incredible vigor. "Enjoy your new strength, Elelyon... your new vigor. Killer gifted it to you just so you can serve him better. Just to be a better slave. A better-looking trophy."
Elelyon looked at her with a little gape of surprise, amazed that such a kind and gentle soul as Diana could be that direct and vicious, but it was enough to look up at her eyes to understand: they were glowing solid sapphire and her collar burned bright with her titanic dark god's force. She was his, utterly and forever, and she laughed as she measured him up with one glance. Even with all the formidable, unprecedented vigor thrumming in his powerful, expanded and enhanced body he was painfully aware that he was nothing compared to the Amon-Ra, to the titan looming over the terrified world. All the strength he felt raging in his new muscles was merely excess energy that Killer radiated into the world beneath him. All his vigor was actually a tiny fragment of Killer's own obscene hypervirility. His throne was gone forever, his world and his family were all gone. Everything he touched, the air he breathed, every sight he admired, everything he might crave, even his own body... Killer owned all of it and could claim it at any time he wanted.
Killer laughed darkly at that, arching his back as his hulking, massive body flexed and rippled with immense, impossible power, careless of what happened to the frail world beneath. His hand moved idly along his behemoth member, that black immensity bulging with thick veins that fed blood into the beastly cock, the organ throbbing with pure, sheer power as its brutally strong scent caused metals to corrode, rock to shatter, as the trees died, the grass withered and vanished, the entirety of Heaven turning into a dark, mutant forest impregnated with his almighty, virile, potent stench of male. All across Heaven, females were driven almost into insanity by lust, and males were torturously filled with obscene vigor and strength only to lose it the following moment as their bodies morphed into feminine, beautiful shapes, their puny, outclassed and unneeded dicks quickly vanished, retreating back into humiliated bodies that just couldn't survive the sight and the scent making the air as thick as concrete. Ancient fortresses and proud fortified towns alike were shoved on their knees by the intensity of his virile scent, the great ivory towers and the rich palaces cracking and crumbling as his sheer essence corroded them into ruination, while terrifying "trees" made of dark flesh pushed out of the ground and rose skywards in moments, countless tentacle-like black vines growing up in tangles that strangled existing vegetation and invaded towns and villages, growing through stone walls and floors of marble, squeezing statues of fallen Arkangels and Monarchs into nothing but powder as Heaven's people watched on in shock and awe, their tiny shrieks adding up to a collective lament that reached Killer's ears and only made him rumble in even greater pleasure.
It all happened in mere instants, and Typhon looked down in shock as the growing corrupted forest dared wrapping around his very feet and legs, the fleshy tentacles squeezing viciously into him as they tried to devour his energies, vainly attempting to pierce through his scales, and when he tried to move a step towards Killer he grunted and struggled to move, an immense region of blackened, hyper-fertile land cracking and raising into the sky as the roots of that impossible, supernatural inferno refused to let go.
Typhon let out a howl of inarticulate rage at that, his eyes twitching as dark flames exploded out of his form and consumed the gigantic trees, forcing the vines to retreat with indignant shrieks of pain and anger, before he charged against Killer, throwing an enormous fist up against the liger's face, but the god settled back down on the ground, the world seeming to shatter into crumbles as his feet settled, enormous and powerful, his toes sinking deep into the stone like it was nothing but wet sand, and magma surged up through the cracks in the ground as he grinned and flexed, ever so slightly. He was glorious and terrible, indescribable in his dark might. He towered in front of Typhon, not much taller than the dragon yet looking far more imposing: there was something in the casualness with which he reached up and caught Typhon's fist in one hand, stopping it dead, that told everyone that his current size was just an image of something impossibly enormous; a mere projection of someone whose cock alone dwarfed the whole world into insignificance.
Typhon grunted in shock as the liger caught his fist, and he immediately yanked his arm backwards, tearing free and wildly swinging his other massive forearm up as it morphed and jutted outwards with a multitude of blades and spikes of dark metal, but a couple of powerful, dark-fleshed tentacles stretched out of Killer's shoulder and wrapped around his wrist, making him grunt as they dragged him hard forwards, making him stumble... before the liger's own huge fist smashed into his snout hard enough to snap his head backwards while large cracks spread through his armored scales. The monster stared at these in shock, freezing in place for a brief moment even as they almost immediately healed, and then he roared in fury and focused on absorbing even more energy from the planet beneath his feet, the grey area expanding rapidly as he grew even bigger and his arms became oversized, grotesque weapons, his forearms swelling until they were almost like war maces, ungodly weapons capable to crush any kind of enemy into pulp.
"You think this farce is enough to scare me...?" Typhon growled, lashing out blow after blow against the liger, but the Praetorians charged forth to parry the assault with their spears, Mriya's eyes glowing with terrible intensity as she shoved her hands towards him and struck him with a psychic blast powerful enough to blow both of his huge arms recoiling backwards. Heavy at they were, they caused him to lose balance and stumble backwards with a snarl, but when Crystal closed the distance to strike he angrily smashed one forearm into her, knocking her flying back in a bloody heap. "I took over Juggernaut! I'm now the perfect warrior, the invincible, unstoppable force that no one can hope to stop!"
"Juggernaut was never perfect..." Elelyon corrected, and even though his was a mere whisper, full of sorrow and regret, his voice resounded clearly in the sky, reaching them all. "Juggernaut was... a good son. With defects and flaws, but... always ready to do his very best. His faults are, really, my faults. I... I loved him. And I can only say sorry for my failures. I wish I had been a better father."
"F-father... I love... I love you too." Juggernaut's voice replied, even though his features were no longer visible, hidden under Typhon's ugly, impenetrable metallic scales. "And mom... you were... always good to me. Please... be good to me one last time. Make it stop. Make the pain stop... stop me before it is too late..."
"Shut up, monster!" Typhon howled, looking down at his chest in horror, unable to believe that Juggernaut still refused to be fully assimilated, but no matter how loud he screamed his voice was somehow still dwarfed by those of Elelyon and Gaia as the two whispered in unison: "Sleep well, my fallen son. One day we will meet again."
"I will be waiting for that day." Juggernaut serenely replied, even as Typhon howled in rage and stomped towards Killer, swinging his enormous arms out and battering Adrasthea back before clashing into Alexis and Vesta, who seized him by the arms and snarled, muscles bulging as they restrained him and shoved him back, protecting Killer as he continued taking over the planet.
"Righteous... you useless bunch of losers... you thought Heaven was so high and pure and untouchable. You thought you could oppose me, resist me, condemn me..." Killer rumbled, looking down on the world with contempt, his monstrous cock still mostly flaccid and yet impossibly great and massive as he lazily squeezed into the mighty black flesh and took a long, slow stroke, pushing out more of his thick, omnipotent precum filled with titanic hyper-sperms, the dense batter pushing out in a huge globe that became heavier and heavier, stretching into a long rope that finally smashed into the ground with the force of a meteoric swarm, crushing the ground until it fractured and caved in under the monumental load, which settled heavily upon a vast region, rolling over hills and cliffs and mountains and finally splashing into the polluted seas. "... but you can't. You are just microbes, and Heaven is just a toy in my hands. Heaven is not any different from Hell or from the Mortal World. Heaven is, and will only ever be, what I will want it to be." Killer rumbled, his eyes glowing with power as his powerful, hypervirile essence soaked the entire planet and warped and morphed and corrupted it. The hellish corruption that had turned the Meadows into a ruined wasteland was devoured and dissolved as his own darkness rapidly spread, and the empty, endless plains and grassy hills were replaced by an immense forest of twisting, fleshy-plants and enormous tentacles. The seas that had turned poisonous because of Typhon's experiments and of all the machinery he had had to fill up Heaven with were invaded by a far thicker, far stronger substance and became dense and terrible, populated by gigantic sperms and by underwater forests brought to life by the exceptional fertility of his fluids. Within moments, Heaven's face was completely changed as its inhabitants stared in awe... and then the entire world froze, listening to a chorus of angelic voices as the Seraphims serving in Killer's very own legions began to sing in praise, glorifying their god. His "Dark Wings", muscular and powerful, savage and beautiful with their six black-feathered wings and the thick collars around their necks, gave voice to the prophecies of the Amon-Ra.
Typhon snarled and spluttered in fury as he struggled against Alexis and Vesta and the other goddesses, finally managing to tear free of their grip and lunging against Killer, but the liger easily dodged the crude, savage swing of his arm-mace and then hit him with an uppercut in the chin, sending dark blood spraying skywards as the jaw loudly cracked and several huge teeth exploded into fragments, while large, armored scales shattered and others tore off, revealing bloody flesh and cracked metal-crystal beneath.
Typhon recoiled with a lament of chock at that, clutching at his shattered face as his eyes went wide... and Killer struck him again, right in the visor covering his eyes, smashing it into fragments and tearing deep into his face, blood spraying out all the way up to his shoulder as the dragon's snout collapsed inwards with a loud crunch. Typhon howled in pain and stumbled backwards, one eye reduced to bloody pulp and the other open wide in disbelief as he clutched at his face and swung the other arm up against the liger, a huge blade pushing out of his wrist only to crash loudly against Wyvern, clanging backwards in an explosion of sparkles and bolts of electricity. "How...? How do you do it...?" Typhon snarled, looking at the liger in frustration, and for the first time, in true fear.
Killer smirked at that, moving forwards and shouldering Wyvern as he pointed a finger down at the ground, overgrown with massive fleshy trees and colossal tentacle-vines, teasing: "Try and absorb more energy from the planet, go on... see what happens."
Typhoon snarled furiously at that, retreating slowly and grunting as the massive tentacles wrapped around his ankles and dragged him down, while the goddesses formed almost a circle around him, making him growl as he glared at them, suddenly feeling caged, until his eye met those of Kimera and Manticora as the two muscular females walked up on either side of Killer and crossed their mighty arms, looking at him with ferocious grins. "We told you, father... we warned you that whatever you tried would still not be enough against our God... and our daddy." Manticora said, smiling coldly as she spun her Kukri knives, muscles flexing eagerly as she felt the moment of revenge drawing nearer, and Kimera's eyes flashed as she clutched the thick pole of her twin-headed axe hard enough to make it creak, before she licked her lips and teased: "But don't worry, vermin... If I know my Master and God enough, you won't die. Oh, no... we are only about to get started... There will be plenty of time for you to regret everything you did. To us, to mom, to the world... you'll beg for lasting death... but you won't be accorded such grace."
Typhon gritted his broken teeth against them, his eye burning with indescribable hate as his hands filled with spheres of dark fire and the massive serpents pushing out of his shoulders flexed their mighty bodies and reared up in the air behind him, hissing and baring their poisonous fangs. His regeneration suddenly felt slow and inadequate and the armored scales that had made him feel invincible had been broken and torn apart already twice by the enormous male liger, whose behemoth body thrummed with impossible, terrifying power and indescribable physical strength. "Keep dreaming, you traitorous whores... none of your blows could ever scratch me, and you still do not have what it takes. I will rip all of you apart, one by one, limb by limb! I will punish you for laying with this... this..." He looked at Killer with distaste, trembling in his fury, but Killer only smiled coldly as the two zebras stepped forwards and teased in turn: "This what...? This God? This stud?"
"This titan? This conqueror...? The true Lord of Heaven, of Hell, of everything? This male who is and has everything you ever wanted to be and have, and that you will never match?"
"Shut up, you filthy bitches!" Typhon finally howled, shoving both hands forwards and blasting two matching deluges of dark fire against them, only for Alexis's and Mriya's eyes to glow solid sapphire as mother and daughter easily trapped his malignant forces into two fields of psychic force.
"You are not worth much without tapping into the planet's energies." Alexis mercilessly teased, idly closing her hand into a fist and grinning as the black flames were compressed and crushed on themselves with a crackle of energy, turning into a small, hyper-dense sphere that she shoved back against him, striking him in the chest and making him grunt in shock as metallic scales and solid muscle were torn to shreds by the impact, before the ball pulsed and became even smaller, dragging him forwards with ferocious force. He smashed into the sphere with such violence that blood exploded out of his back, his chest denting inwards obscenely as dark ichors burst out of his maws and then the ball exploded, sending him stumbling backwards with a howl of agony as his hide was disintegrated and his flesh and muscle consumed, revealing the silvery metal-crystal of Juggernaut's face beneath. The features of the unfortunate creature were almost entirely gone, savaged out of existence and replaced by a terrible map of scars and cracks, but the fissure that had once been the construct's mouth opened slightly and let out a sign that sounded like pure relief. Mriya sent the second sphere crashing into Typhon's broken face, grinning as the explosion shattered his horns and melted his metallic halo-crown, incinerating the alien divinities that had been crucified onto it. "Why don't you plunder this world for some more energies, huh...?" Mriya teased, and Typhon retreated with a snarl, feeling the forces within the planet entirely changed compared to those he had abused before. They were energies both immensely greater and terribly more savage, more aggressive, corruptive and eager to create, warp, destroy, improve, annihilate, rebuild. There was a terrifying force filling the entirely of Heaven and it was hostile and vicious, burning into his feet, making it almost unbearable to even just stand upon the ground as those great energies crackled violently over all of his form, trying to invade him... and he was afraid, incredibly afraid of letting them in, because they clearly belonged to Killer.
"What are you...? What kind of monster are you...? How could you do... do this...?" Typhon asked, clawing into his own palms as he clenched his hands into fists, before roaring in inarticulate rage as he formed an enormous cleaver sword, the handle expanding in his hands and the monstrous blade burning into being, topped by a massive cluster of skulls and mutant flesh and ugly chunks of sharp metal and crystal.
"Elelyon is a force of creation. You are a force of destruction. I'm both." Killer easily replied, swinging out Wyvern as Typhon charged forwards and slashed his massive weapon down against him, and the two great swords clashed in an explosion of energy, the muscles of both titans bulging, before Typhon's other pair of arms swung forwards as long blades pushed out of his wrists and he stabbed these towards the liger's hips.
Pamela and Elaine were ready to react, however, and they caught both arms between theirs, yanking them hard out until the bones within loudly cracked, and Killer leaned almost muzzle to muzzle with the monster as their blades clashed again and again. "I can destroy through creation and create through destruction... moreover; I can play with a planet like this. If I can't hurt you directly, I can still take away your source of energy." Typhon snarled in feral rage at that, his eyes darting to the side as the two Praetorians bent his arms backwards until he had to shriek for the agony, and his dark serpents lashed out against Killer and the two goddesses, spraying acid poison and snapping their jaws... but massive, dark-fleshed tentacles ending in great maws lined with terrible fangs stretched out of Killer's back and arched up into the air, intercepting the snakes and viciously biting into them, ripping them apart, yanking on their bodies so hard to tear them off Typhon's body. The monster howled in pain and shock at that, but rage and desperation fueled him enough that he kept attacking, stabbing his enormous cleaver towards Killer's abs... and then tilting the sword downwards as he glared with hate at the colossal black shaft hanging heavily between the liger's legs, his mind filling with images of that immense cock ramming in and out of his daughters and of his wife's holes, stretching them out to absurd proportions. He let out a howl of inarticulate rage, but Killer only grinned and twisted out of the way while lashing a massive fist up into his throat, striking with such force that his neck collapsed inwards with a splatter of blood and cartilage, sending Typhon staggering backwards with a breathless pant that made him look like a fish trashing on dry land for a moment, and Killer spun Wyvern tip-down and stabbed it viciously into the dragon's foot, nailing it to the ground. Typhon snarled in agony, and stumbled, hissing as the blade tore viciously into his flesh with every little movement, its crimson blade glowing with energy as if happy to have finally pierced through what had seemed like an invulnerable hide until shortly before. The dragon swung his sword up once more, but Killer's massive tentacles swarmed over it, their bodies plated over with dark steel as they wrapped their coils around the great weapon and brutally yanked it out of Typhon's hands, spinning it around to offer the handle to Killer, who easily caught it in his free hand.
"No, no, no... no, it is not possible... Heaven is mine, it must be mine...!" Typhon spluttered, shaking his head furiously as he pushed uselessly against the liger's massive chest, slamming his fists into his great musculature and failing to hurt the dark god in any way, and Killer only looked down at him with contempt as he ever so slowly moved the sword up to lightly poke the dragon's chest with its brutal, bulging tip.
"Don't you dare...!" Typhon snarled, lashing up the only working foot he still had to kick into the liger's side, but his threat was immediately silenced and turned into a cry of pain as Valery let go of the string of her longbow and sent a massive arrow piercing through his foot, nailing him entirely to the ground. "I will kill you all!" Typhon roared, even though he couldn't even leave the spot he stood in, and he closed his eyes with a snarl that turned into a gargle as blood filled his throat while he attempted to suck in energies from the planet, desperately searching for a boost to his strength. His eyes opened as he let out a suffocated cry of pure agony, his eye bulging as Killer's terrible energy exploded into him and seemed to cook him from the inside, turning his entire body into an incandescent inferno. His flesh smoldered and swelled with large, horrible yellow bubbles that painfully squeezed out between his armored scales, then even through them, and he trembled in absolute horror as his invulnerable hide began to fall away, scales flaking off his charred flesh like leaves from the trees in autumn.
"No, no! You can't...!" Typhon squealed, and now his voice sounded truly pathetic as the last few serpents left on his back arched past his head to lunge against Killer's face... but the liger didn't even bother ducking, because Manticora was faster and caught the serpents in one hand, swiftly and viciously chopping them in half with swift movements of one of her Kukris.
"Your time is over, Father." The zebra growled into his ear, looking down into his only eye left as he trembled in fear and horror. Kimera grinned viciously down at him as well, her great axe shouldered like it weighted nothing, and Alcana grabbed Typhon's tail and yanked hard on it, tensing it before the zebra. One swift movement of the muscular goddess was enough, and the axe chopped right through the thick crocodile-like tail, sending it crashing loudly onto the ground, where it trashed uselessly while blood sprayed thickly out of the wound. Kimera leaned over and clawed into his skull, forcing him to turn around and face her as she licked the blood from the blade of her enormous weapon, before she spat reddened saliva into his features, grinning predatorily as she pointed at Killer and said: "His time is beginning, and it will never end! Brace for the ride, little monster... because for you it will be a bumpy one!"
She slapped him with a snarl, her eyes flashing with rage at the memory of all the pain he had inflicted on her and on her sister Manticora. How many times they had cried, how many times they had felt miserable because of him... and she remembered how he had forced them to take separate paths. Kimera had sought refuge in Hell, of all places, and now she could finally taste freedom and revenge as she forced him to look back up at Killer.
"No... please, no..." The dragon pathetically begged, but it was way too late for that. Killer smiled patronizingly down at him and then easily stabbed the stolen sword down through his chest, piercing him from side to side. Typhon vomited blood and stiffened, even more of his strength vanishing quickly away as his own blade tore through his ribcage and spine and out of his hunched back, finally digging into the ground as Killer drove it down to the hilt and forced the reptile to bend painfully backwards. He again squealed and begged and prayed and cried for mercy, but Gaia walked up in front of him, followed by Elelyon, and Typhon looked up at them in horror, realizing what was about to happen. Killer grinned and flexed, and Typhon squeaked in terror as the liger grew again. The liger took a single step to the right, moving over to Typhon's side while almost doubling in size, massive muscles bulging outwards immensely, his head tilting back with a grin as he balled an enormous hand into a fist that looked to the dragon like apocalypse itself. Killer easily punched down into the monster's devastated chest, tearing into his ribcage like it was made of paper, his hand pushing out of his back, clutching several vertebrae while the liger easily wrapped his other huge hand around Typhon's entire skull, his fingers so strong that the bone creaked audibly... and then Typhon howled in indescribable agony as the liger yanked hard upwards and Manticora stabbed her twin daggers into his sides at the same time, rapidly cutting and carving into them.
Killer roared in triumph as the charred flesh, the damaged muscles and the blackened bones began to loudly give and tear apart, and a moment later the top half of the beast's body came loose in an explosion of blood and shredded meat. Killer hefted the breathlessly screaming dragon up above his head, letting the broken body leak its fluids onto the ground while the whole of Heaven watched on in awe and fear, but it was the other half of the body that mattered, because the metallic scales fell rapidly away to reveal the silvery body of Juggernaut. Gaia and Elelyon rushed forth and grabbed into his arms as he fell lifelessly backwards, slumping against the enormous blade pierced into the ground, and Killer tore Wyvern out of his foot, moving as gently as he could, while Valery dispelled the focused energies that composed her arrow, making it vanish.
Juggernaut 's devastated face twitched as he attempted to open eyes he no longer had, feeling his "father" and his "mother" leaning down, close to his features. His mouth, reduced to a tiny fissure, managed to crest slightly upwards in a little smile as a tear fell down from Gaia's eye and landed on his cheek, and he whispered simply: "Thank you." Juggernaut shifted a bit as Sekhmeth approached in silence, a strange expression on her face as she gazed down at him with a sort of sad curiosity. She had contributed to his creation, collaborating with Elelyon and Gaia. She had supplied a good part of Juggernaut's formidable, unmatched strength but she had never felt much attached to him. Unlike Gaia and Elelyon she had shown no interest in his fate and had never visited his resting place deep underground... but now she was conflicted and seemed to regret it. At least a little. Killer was not sure how to interpret her expression... but her silence and her concerned eyes were eloquent in themselves, considering how the proud, predatory goddess normally acted. Juggernaut found the strength to turn towards her, looking up with eyes that were no longer there and yet could somehow sense the world around him, and he gave her another loving smile, as large as he could make it, whispering: "And you... you came too. You helped, too. Thank you... mom. I'm so glad you are here..."
Before anyone could add anything, the glowing cracks in his metal-crystal body spread wider and became more numerous as his body lost cohesion, and within a moment it fell apart like a statue of brittle glass, sending a multitude of glinting fragments raining down over a vast region, leaving Elelyon and Gaia frozen and breathless for a few long moments. Killer closed his eyes and sighed, dropping his head forwards in regret and frustration at what he had been forced to do, and he squeezed even harder into Typhon's skull, making the ancient destroyer groan in agony and fear. The dragon twitched and trashed weakly when the liger turned him around to glare into his eye, coldly promising: "You'll pay for this too."
"At least, he is free now... And whatever comes next for him, I hope it'll be better than the life he had here." Elelyon quietly said, looking down at the diamond-like fragments that covered a vast expanse of land, making it glint as they reflected the light coming from Killer's massive form and from the immense bolts of the liger's energy that still crackled across the sky. Sekhmeth seemed petrified, her eyes fixed on the poor, sad remains of the construct as her chest heaved a bit more noticeably than usual as a hand rubbed slowly down her powerful abs. Gaia nodded a bit at Elelyon's words, unable to find anything to say herself and only drying her cheeks with the back of her hand before slowly squatting down to pick up a few of the larger fragments, squeezing them gently in her hand. A few long moments passed before she quietly admitted: "I... lived most of my life thinking that Juggernaut was... was just a construct, after all. Crystal and metal given a life dominated by the laws of the magic that kept him together. But... that was cowardly of me. I visited him at times, but I tried to never get too attached to him. I used to tell myself that even though he called me mommy he wasn't my son. But he was. He was my very special son... only now I realize it fully."
Killer looked at her with sadness, trying to find words of comfort to offer, but as always in occasions like that he felt horribly inadequate. Everything he had to say sounded shallow and useless, and so he only unceremoniously dropped Typhon into the hands of Kimera and Manticora, ignoring his shrieks of horror and his prayers, and he walked over to the goddess of Nature, hugging her tightly and rocking her slowly in his arms. She buried her face against his chest and stroked lightly at his thick chest, sobbing quietly, almost without making any noise... and then, when she began to pull back, he gently caught her by the hand and slowly moved his hand over her wrist, creating a wonderful, heavy bracelet of solid light, more precious than gold and filled with the warmth of his energy, before guiding her other hand towards it. Gaia smiled quietly, looking at him with love and gratitude as the fragments of Juggernaut floated out of her palm and were caught into the bracelet, making it shine brighter than any other jewel ever could hope to.
He kissed her lips tenderly, squeezing her hands into his, and part of him wanted to promise her that they would bring Juggernaut back, than his death was not definitive... but he swallowed down that promise of miracles, because even with all his power he didn't think it was possible. At least, not yet...
"Don't leave me with these two! You can't! They... they will... No! No! Anything but this! You can't...!" Typhon continued to squeal, looking up in terror at Kimera and Manticora as each zebra effortlessly clutched one of his arms, keeping his leg-less body aloft while long ropes of his guts and shredded pieces of his insides hung down all the way to the floor, pooling in a disgusting puddle of dark ichors. He trashed as hard he could, but at that point it did not mean much: even with several dead gods still crucified upon his body he was in no condition to rival with the brutal strength of his daughters, and Kimera reminded him of that by twisting his arm in her grip, grinning savagely at the sick crunching sound of bones shattering like twigs. Typhon howled again, and his eyes, even the second one which was only slowly starting to regenerate, bulged almost out of their sockets as he begged to be kept away from the two vindictive goddesses, but Vesta walked past him and unceremoniously grabbed his snout, forcing his jaws closed upon his own tongue as her bicep bulged and his bones and teeth were loudly compressed almost into powder as she growled: "Shut the fuck up, minnow. You are in no condition to ask for any favors."
Killer turned around with a grin at that, and Typhon shivered and attempted to shrink away from the gigantic liger, who looked more immense and more powerful than ever, towering over the goddesses around him, his hulking form radiating terrible energy that made the stars look dark and cold in comparison as his massive body flexed carelessly, thrumming with impossible power. Alexis and Mriya stood on the two sides of him, their hands leisurely stroking up and down the cruel, monstrous base of his black shaft, only reaching down to the massive medial ring even as his majestic balls pulsed, radiating impossible, devastating heat and thrumming with power as they hung ponderously between his legs, seeming to bend reality under their hypervirile mass as the huge cock continued to oozed a thick, musky sweat-sludge filled with gargantuan sperms, covering the hands of either goddess and streaking down their strong arms, while precum that was immensely thicker and richer, much as it felt impossible to accept, continued to leak out of the almighty organ. Typhon couldn't help but stare, trembling in terror as the goddesses around him dwarfed him in every way, their incomparable musculature making him feel like a microbe in the presence of true titans, and he whimpered in shock and awe and envy as those same invincible ladies shuddered like little virgins and offered their bodies to the dark lord, worshiping every drop of virile sweat, taking every omnipotent finger in their mouths, their lives only good to worship him and serve him.
The goddesses were spectacular, specimens of divine perfection that could have everything they wanted handed to them on a silver plate by entire worlds eager to get even just a wink from them, and yet Killer had them collared, on their knees, slavishly eager to please his every whim, and his godbeast of a cock incredibly, arrogantly denied their beauty, their perfection, by only flexing lazily, only half-hard even though it already looked incomparable, only pulsing lightly and ever so slowly swelling larger, as if bored by their eager worship. It drove Typhon insane, making him stare in shock, in envy, in fury, in outrage as Gaia, Elaine, Vesta and the others took turns licking up his impossibly virile cock-sweat, until Vesta's turn came and she went down on her knees and shamelessly bowed down deeper, going on all fours as she craned her neck to take a long, endless lick along the underside of his heavy, immense shaft, and the whole of Heaven stared as Killer spread his legs a bit wider and hefted his titanic shaft only to drop it down on her head and back, the immense girth smashing audibly into her strong body and smearing it with the powerful sweat, the lubricant, the concrete-thick precum, before he squatted a little so that his immense, gargantuan testicles crushed down over her head and upper body, replacing all her air with his masculine musk, which flooded into the goddess with such brutal force to make her choke loudly. But even as she suffocated, her muscles bulged and she arched her back with a purr and words of thanks and praise, her body reacting with euphoria and eagerness to the immense balls of her god even as he made a point of covering her in his virile sweat. With both Typhon and Elelyon watching on powerlessly, Killer hefted his titanic shaft by the base and slapped it down on Vesta's back, making her squirm gratefully with each massive impact as drops of thick cock-sweat flew in every direction, so heavy and so big that they crashed down to land like meteors, tearing through forests and smashing through several buildings in large, distant towns while completely erasing entire villages as they slammed into the earth, forming craters that became lakes as that virile cockslime flooded through streets and valley in veritable tsunamis of masculine fluids that warped the planet even further, seeding enormous plants and aggressive, gigantic beasts in a savage orgy of creation and annihilation. And no beast was more terrifying than the titanic rejected sperms that somehow filled even that sweat in a demonstration of Killer's endless vigor: enormous, "muscular" and ferocious, with immense jaws and bodies lined with threatening tentacles, the monstrous sperms smashed their way through buildings and forests and hills, tearing across the roads, propelling themselves with spiked, muscular tails that tore through stone like it was paper as they crushed any and every life they came across, replacing it with new, stronger, larger, better forms.
If anyone still believed in the Righteous doctrine that vaunted Heaven's purity, and because of it Heaven's supremacy and invincibility, they were waken up from their dreams in the most brutal of ways as Killer's tremendous, excessive force overwhelmed the whole paradise.
Killer looked down at Vesta's splendid body as she kissed and licked at his enormous balls, and he growled: "I could piss on you, and truly wash this world away, cleanse it and start it anew, marked in my stink... but no, that would be both too easy." The titan paused, then looked down at the ruins of Heaven and continued, in a calm voice that boomed loudly over every last remote corner of the world: "You have failed. Miserably. Heaven allowed itself to be corrupted and warped, in the name of a supremacy craved but never deserved. Under Typhon, many of you have been accomplice of a plan no less monstrous than Satan's one. Heaven and Hell decayed in the very same way... and to be frank, Heaven has in some cases behaved more disgustingly than Hell. Many angels and benevolents are at fault. Many more were simply too coward to do anything about it, even though they saw Typhon's lies for what they were."
Killer's condemnation of Heaven and of its people struck even more fears in the hearts of angels and benevolents huddled together within the fortified towns, the "colonies", the refuges and towns in Eaglenest. They caused complete terror to take over within the souls of those who had sided with Typhon until the end, making them shriek in horror and denial as they vainly attempted to run away from the constantly expanding forest of fleshy plants and raging beasts, or from the titanic sperms that scourged the surface of the planet like punishers. And to really ram the point home, Manticora and Kimera, the goddesses that had been tasked to be Killer's weapons of vengeance, began to rhythmically stomp their great hooves into the planet, rattling it all like a toy, toppling buildings and statues of the old order, causing shrieks of panic to rise from every crumbling town.
"I could wipe you all out of existence and create a new world... but that would be too easy." Killer continued, before straightening and arching his back with a little growl of delight and dominance as he lifted his thick tail and allowed Vesta to worshipfully lick at his crack, before she adoringly kissed his asshole while the whole of Heaven watched... and only after her tongue had slowly and reverently worked for a long few moments he announced: "I will give this world a second chance. The new beginning will include you all. You will work to rebuild Heaven. In my name, and even more so in the name of what Heaven stands for. Hard work will cancel your arrogance and make you humble. It will remind you that your place is beneath my feet. It will teach you that my protection comes at a price. The strong protects, the bugs serve. And your new Queen will be a true champion of Heaven; the one who tried to keep this world on the right track, all along." He paused, then reached back and caught Vesta by the skull, guiding her around until she was at his side, on her knees, her beautiful features smeared in sweat and precum and only looking even more glorious and beautiful because of it, before she bowed her head as Killer announced: "Here is your queen, the one who will lead you and that you will worship and revere. Vesta of the Everlasting Dawn, lady of Light, goddess of Wisdom, angel of Death, queen of Seraphims, greatest of scholars and champion of God, is the High Queen of Heaven and will rule in my name and on my behalf."
The goddess smiled, bowing her head even deeper and, like Ira before her, she pronounced her thanks and her promise of loyal service: "Killer Huxley of Kesteven, god of gods, emperor of mortals, owner of darkness, bringer of light, god of war, master of Hell... I will rule in your name. I will be your eyes, your mouth, and your fist in Heaven. Because yours is the glory. Yours the Power."
He nodded at that, and moved his hand off her skull to allow her to stand up. She straightened and looked down at Heaven with a smirk as she ideally measured it and her mind filled with projects. She had already planned out a lot of reforms and crafted a first plan for rebuilding Heaven from the ground up, but now she making a whole lot of other plans, for temples and palaces and monuments that would celebrate Killer's victory and his immense power. She licked her lips, looking up at him with a gleam in her eye as she announced: "A new Era has begun, and a new and better Heaven will rise, built to serve and glorify the one true Master, the one true God. The Alpha. Behave, and you'll be well looked after. But I'm warning all of you: the days of exploitation are over. No matter who you are, or used to be... Arkangel... monarchs... Chancellor..." She put special emphasis on the last title, knowing that Metatron was no doubt cowering in some corner or another. "You are nothing but dust under Killer's toes. Do not try to exploit the system. Do not try to plot in the darkness. Do not dream of gaining power and a position of privilege, like you used to do in the past. It is not going to happen; this is a new world. Dishonesty and betrayal will not be tolerated. There is only one Alpha, and that's how it'll always be."
The queen crossed her arms, but softened her tone somehow as she added: "The intention of God, which becomes my task from this day onwards, is to rebuild Heaven as it used to be. There was a dream once, called Heaven. There will be again. We will restore the old ways, the ancient traditions... adjusting them where necessary. The law will be severe, but not unjust. Whatever remains of Typhon's corruptive influence will be erased. Heaven has no need for gold, and for the fake power it grants. We will all be fed and protected and dominated by true power, and we will be happy with that abundance."
Killer couldn't help but think of Metatron and of his outrage and powerless fury and despair as he announced: "There won't be a senate anymore. No Chancellor, no Council in the old fashion. Nobody will rise above his peers through political games and corruption. The High Queen will rule in my name, assisted by two princesses: Manticora and Katy. I trust you to deliver advice and support to the High Queen."
This time there was a lot less surprise on the faces of the two named goddesses compared to what had happened in Hell. Killer and Vesta had had the time to speak to the others and plan ahead, and it was a fortune because fixing Heaven was going to be, in some ways, truly more complicated than getting Hell back in order. The two angels walked forwards and bowed to Killer and Alexis, pronouncing their own oath and then doing the same in front of the High Queen, before standing up to take position at her sides.
Much like Ira had done, Vesta also made clear that a number of other advisors and helpers were going to be added to her team over time, and her first pick was Elelyon. He was surprised by her call, and more than a little shocked by the events he had had to powerlessly witness, but he had accepted his new role without any protest, perhaps realizing how lucky he was to be admitted to that narrow group of power when he could have been entirely ignored, or worse. He was painfully aware that Killer was utterly, totally in control and he was helpless to do anything about it.
Finally, Vesta traded a gaze with the two princesses of Heaven, then a few whispered words, until the queen looked up at the huge male and asked permission to proceed with her first act... and when he nodded with a smile, she spread her arms as her hands glowed with her immense energies, which spread over a vast region of the world at their feet, beginning to reshape it as she announced: "The new Heaven will be built from the ground up to glorify and honor our invincible God and Master. Every single soul will work to praise him as he deserves, and still it will never be enough... but as queen, I am His first servant and it is my task to build his Throne."
Killer crossed his enormous arms with a grin, nodding slightly in approval, and Vesta flexed with a little growl of intense pleasure as she felt his terrifying energies flooding her body, rushing almost painfully in her veins and making her feel like everything was not just possible but almost insultingly easy. With a flick of her finger she cleaned the waters of the sea ahead, turning it into a beautiful jewel of sapphire and dark blue shades, before an idle gesture of her hand she caused new and far greater mountains to rise, forming a new, immense fjord. The mountains grew so tall that their top half covered in white snow, forming a spectacular sight that reflected itself in the calm waters... and then she pushed her palm forwards, and a new and enormous peninsula emerged from the seabed, pushing deep into the fjord. It looked a lot like the old peninsula of Caernarvon, yet it was far larger, greater, better. What had been good for Elelyon was clearly insultingly inadequate for Killer and she deliberately made it clear by building a new world ten times bigger, ten times more ambitious, ten times more godlike.
And it was just the beginning as she grinned and effortlessly created a vast canal of clear waters that cut the base of the peninsula, turning it into more of an island, only connected to the continent through immense drawbridges pushing out of glorious bastions as a massive fortress emerged out of the nothingness, turning the base of the peninsula in a formidable castle which then connected with great walls and defensive bastions that wrapped around the entire peninsula, with great walls pushing out into the sea to form fortified ports on either side. "Within these walls, Heaven will build a capital city that will strive to be worthy of her Master's infinite power. It will be a task for eternity, a constant attempt to build more and better temples and palaces for our Emperor, our Alpha, our God." Vesta's voice boomed over her reign, causing benevolents and angels to shiver in a mix of fear and awe, contemplating the enormity of the task ahead as the goddess added: "It can never be enough, it can never be finished. Every day will need to see a new addition... and still it will pale in front of our Master's might".
A shiver went through Heaven at that, but Vesta only grinned mercilessly and pointed her hands at the far tip of the peninsula. Her muscles flexing and bulging as she began to create the true masterpiece, the true symbol of his omnipotence, causing an enormous pyramid of gold and platinum and white marbles to emerge from the sea, with enormous archways opening in the two sides, large enough to let ships get in and out, before a first, endless temple took shape on top of that foundation, a forest of immense columns greater than skyscrapers growing on top of a smooth floor with marbles cut to depict Killer and his Disciples battling and defeating their enemies. A great, indescribable staircase of thousands of steps descended towards the flat area destined to become the new capital of Heaven; but even that was just the beginning as the vast, immense building grew by another level, forming another temple built to a different style, with different great statues and different glorious pictures on the marble floor. A narrower staircase, even more monumental, extended from the first to reach this second level, leaving the monumental entrances to the first temple on either side... and still Vesta added new levels, and Alexis grinned as she stepped forwards and pointed her hand at the incredible temple of power, adding her own tribute to Killer, before every Disciple stepped forth to give shape to a new temple in that maze of interlocking, incredible cathedrals. Mriya, Elaine, all of the Praetorians, Alcana, Adrasthea, Gaia, Boadicea... even Lilith, all of Killer's girls stepped forth and created their own gift for him. Anubis added his own, bowing his head to his father... and whatever objection he might have had was swallowed down, at least for the moment. Mriya grinned widely in front of her father's triumph and her eyes flashed with lust and hunger as she squatted down over Elelyon and poked him with a huge, mighty finger, forcing him on his knees and commanding: "Add your own tribute, little god. Consider yourself lucky to be in the presence of a true titan without being crushed like a bug... or absorbed and devoured."
Elelyon trembled in her shadow, amazed by her strength and by her beauty as she loomed over him like that, making him feel completely, utterly powerless. Part of him experienced rage, a feeling he had tried to leave behind so many eons before, but that only made Mriya laugh of him as she pinned him to the ground with just the tip of her finger, rubbing in his face the monstrosity of the power of Killer. There was nothing that Elelyon could do about it, and he immediately began to craft the largest and more glorious temple he could think of... and part of him relished the task, whispering in his mind that it was only right to venerate such a titan... such an almighty beast... probably the strongest being ever existed after Light and Darkness... probably destined to become more powerful than even them.
The whisper became a shout, an imperious order that he just couldn't deny, and he ended up expending every effort to create a cathedral worth of Killer's endless power... of his hulking, spectacular body... of his arrogant, glorious black-fleshed cock...
And when he finished he was panting hard, his energies exhausted, his wounds pulsing as they threatened to split open again, and Mriya laughed before summoning Lemuel. The god of Light looked up at her in a mix of surprise and fear and awe, then he turned to the side to see Elelyon panting, down on all fours and spent and flushed with humiliation... and the goddess grinned widely as she stretched a bit, miles tall and towering over them both as the two males cowered in the shadow of her stiletto heels. Her muscles bulged with barely restrained power, the laces of her boots groaning as they were stretched outwards by the massive musculature, and if the lion had considered protesting he shut down for good after looking at Killer, even greater than Mriya, so tall and enormous and imposing that he towered over even her, his hulking body thrumming with power as he lazily rested his hands on his hips, his strength far beyond godlike, his naked, muscular form flexing with each breath, that immense, masculine chest heaving quietly and yet looking more imposing than apocalypse itself, and then Lemuel whimpered at the sight of the liger's titanic cock hanging above that immense set of testicles.
Killer looked down at the two cowering divinities with a smile, but both Lemuel and Elelyon trembled in awe and fear, knowing all too well what coldness that smirk could hide, and realizing in full just how outmatched they were. Killer had devoured Juggernaut's force. Killer had absorbed much of Typhon's might. Killer had corrupted and conquered Heaven in seconds, almost literally just with the sweat of his titanic balls. His presence was incomparable, his gaze like a crushing, inescapable weight bearing down on them even as the liger granted them his benevolence. The liger no longer needed to threaten, to order... no. He just stood there, naked and glorious, his muscles flexing, his fur gleaming with energy, all the fatigue and signs of the battle already gone and forgotten, his wounds healed and regenerated, and his humongous form was made all the further terrifying and omnipotent by the monstrous shaft hanging between his legs, the humongous cock longer, vaster, thicker than they could describe, above testicles that entire towns and fortresses, whole regions could be crushed beneath.
There could be no hope against such a titan. No resistance was possible, and Mriya smiled down at him knowingly, studying him with amusement for a brief moment before playfully asking: "I'm sure you want to contribute to the building of Killer's new throne. Don't you...?"
Lemuel hurriedly got to work, crafting a temple of solid light, beautiful and glorious, while he went through the same conflict of feelings that Elelyon had faced. Part of him regretted helping the immense titan... part of him couldn't help but crave an eternity of slavery in the shadow of that almighty being who made other gods look like fleas. Lemuel shed tears of fear and confusion as he exhausted every last bit of his energies to create the masterpiece of his life, a temple like no other... whether he liked it or not, Killer was now simply too powerful. If he said jump, they were going to jump. They could only pray for his orders to be reasonable. Running away didn't felt like an option at all: in front of that titan, no safe place could exist.
Finally, the titanic collection of temples was ready... and Vesta topped it with several levels of a glorious royal palace that made Elelyon's old residence look like an ugly, tiny motel room.
An immense balcony faced the endless staircase leading down to the square many miles beneath, and here Vesta crafted three glorious thrones of precious metal, solid light and white marble. The White Throne, destined to her, stood in the middle, with one for either princess on the sides.
Other great rooms rose behind the thrones, eventually ending in what was obviously a sturdy and comfortable seat, before towers and statues and temples rose up in level after level, forming two immense armrests and a tall, imposing backrest.
Killer's throne was indescribable, a titanic construction of impossible beauty and glory, and it dominated the vast space that was going to become the capital of Heaven, casting its shadow over the entire peninsula and making it look microscopic. The fortress at the base of the peninsula, that had looked so imposing before, was completely dwarfed by that throne, which also completely eclipsed the mountain-sized throne that Elelyon used to have in the 4th Heaven before it was destroyed.
Elelyon and Lemuel and Typhon and the whole of Heaven could only watch in awe as the titan walked forwards, straddling the peninsula and its anthill-like fortress and bastions as the waters of the ocean pull back away from his feet, not daring to wet them as he snorts in entertainment and turns around to sit back in the glorious throne, rolling his almighty shoulders slowly as he slightly spread his legs to let his massive testicles hang loose over the lip of the throne, grinning in approval as the colossal balls hang threateningly directly above the White Throne, casting it in darkness.
"Always beneath you... that is our place." Vesta and Ira whispered in unison, kneeling on either side of the throne and leaning in to kiss at his abs while their hands reverently kept his flaccid, gigantic black cock aloft from the endless staircase. His incomparable shaft was so long and thick that it covered most of the endless ramp of stairs, so that any supplicant and worshipper had to ascend those thousands upon thousands of golden steps while nervously squeezing past the godbeast of a cock, which in every moment could roll slightly over to one side or another and crush them like the gnats they were in comparison to its brutal, impossible immensity. The queen of Heaven and the queen of Hell both had their thrones in the shadow of his almighty balls, in a clear statement of his power and dominance.
And now he looked straight into Typhon's wide-open eyes as the defeated monster trembled violently, effortlessly held up by Kimera and Manticora, their hands squeezing on his arms while his insides hanged in a bloody mess out of his torn-apart waist. The liger smirked, then with just a look he called forwards his Disciples and the goddesses leaned into him, moaning hungrily and trembling. Gaia hugged his powerful arm and pushed her face up under his armpit, inhaling the thick musk there, licking slowly through the sweat, the thick hair. Ira and Vesta kneeled on either side of him, shivering in ecstasy as they buried their faces into either side of his colossal balls, mouthing, licking, tasting him; Sekhmeth and Alexis, Mriya and Elaine, Vicky and Kathy, Alcana and Adrasthea, Boadicea and Pamela lined up on either side of his monstrous black shaft and they reverently held it up in their hands, their hips bucking, all of them gasping and moaning and slurping obscenely as they licked and suckled and nibbled at his behemotic, titanic shaft, whimpering in eagerness as they ground their features into the veiny member and smeared the thick, hypervirile fluids all over themselves. Katy and Kate kissed his feet, massaging his toes, trembling in bliss. Diana massaged and kissed his broad chest. Lilith was behind the throne, burying her face in his add through an opening in the immense temple-throne that was meant exactly for that And Typhon could only watch in awe and envy and disbelief and terror, especially as even with all that pleasure, Killer's cock barely twitches, so used it was to all that love and adoration and service...
And then Manticora and Kimera stepped forwards, their immense hooves hammering the planet as they walked on either side of the peninsula, allowing their father's blood to fall down onto the ground where the new capital was going to be built, before the two goddesses grinned viciously and said to their Master: "There is still something this bitch can give... he should offer his gift."
Typhon looked up at them in terror, eyes bulging and tears stroking down his cheeks as he whimpered a pathetic, useless prayer for forgiveness... but Kimera only glared down at him with hate. And with the pleasure of revenge.
Killer snorted in entertainment at that, leaning back comfortably in the throne, his body thrumming with power, his massive cock flexing, a tower of corrupting meat that caused the very air around them to darken and heat up with its immense power, its dominance, its absoluteness.
The endless black member flexed and bulged as Alexis kissed the massive base and pumped it slightly in her hands, and the great cock unleashed sperms the size of meteors that hailed through the sky before crashing down countless miles away, omnipotent and so virile that every drop caused more chaotic, powerful life forms to sprout where it crashed down. "He is yours almost as much as he is mine..." Killer gently said, grinning at the two muscular females. "So, it is fitting that your hands do it."
"We couldn't ask for a greater honor or pleasure..." Manticora hissed, smirking in merciless delight, and Typhon looked at her in confusion and terror before her hand savagely smashed up his torn-apart waist and clawed into his guts, pulping, crushing, before yanking a thick handful of innards out in a burst of blood and pulped gore. Typhon breathlessly looked at the long rope of his own guts hanging from her hand, breathlessly crying out in agony, begging silently for her mercy, but she only grinned and reached for the titanic black shaft and allowed the blood to drip and leak over the dark flesh, flexing with a growl of delight as every drop immediately sizzled and turned into nothing but smoke as she impossible heat of the hypervirile member consumed it, devoured everything it had to give. Typhon attempted to close his eyes, sobbing brokenly as his energies, his abilities, his vital force were stolen from him and fed to the glorious, gigantic cock, but Kimera squeezed hard on his skull and almost caused his eyes to burst out as she snarled: "Watch it, you vermin... watch as your miserable power is absorbed by Master's huge cock!"
"It won't add much of anything at this point, but letting you keep all this energy would be a waste." Manticora added, grinning as she smeared the long ropes of guts over the colossal black member, massaging the warm gore into the mostly-flaccid monster before beginning to squeeze, throwing her head back with a growl of bliss as the intestines burst apart into hot, bloody pulp, and the other goddesses reverently pushed her hands into the wet mess and helped rubbing it along the tremendous member. Killer hissed in pleasure at that, throwing his head back with a wide grin, his eyes burning with lust, hunger and, above-all, power. The Seal burned brightly across his chest, but even as all of Typhon's force was absorbed into his gigantic member it refused to budge, making it all the more evident how easy, how casual it would have been for the liger to grow even more without even going close to testing his limits.
Typhon howled in denial, in shock, in disbelief, then screamed in pure agony as Kimera reached down and viciously dug inside his body, clawing into his insides, gouging his inner organs before finally clutching into his liver, yanking it out and pushing it against the immense black cock as Killer laughed. Laughed! Typhon whimpered helplessly, seeking an escape from that sound, but Killer's deep, big-balled voice rattled his ribcage and invaded his mind no matter how he tried to resist. And he could only stare as Kimera's hand easily crushed the bloody organ into pulp over the massive member. The god screamed in misery and anguish, but Manticora snarled and tore up into him enough to claw into his lungs, making him choke violently on his lament as blood filled his mouth and nostrils, and he was left staring at his own pulped organs as they began to burn and melt from the heat, the raw power emanating off that monstrous shaft, before Kimera dragged out a whole tangle of his guts and the other goddesses eagerly clawed and bit into them, yanking them out of him and grinding them savagely up and down Killer's length while they continued mouthing and lapping and grinding themselves against that mammoth cock, which only flexed with arrogant laziness and swelled even thicker, bulging out enormously and pushing forwards with another deluge of solid meat as it began to lengthen and grow. And grow. And grow. The goddesses kissed and slurped and suckled loudly, loud, wet pops resounding every time one of them pulled back from the great member before blowing bubbles in the vile mixture of fluids when diving hungrily back, and their faces were covered in bloody gunk, their hair and features painted crimson... but the red never lasted because even the blood was burned out, dissolved by the omnipotent, hypervirile slime-sweat that oozed from the monstrous cock, covering the eager females from head to toe.
"Such meager offering, Typhon..." Killer mercilessly taunted, flexing a body that bulged, thrummed, burned with ever growing power while the dragon's form was ripped apart and consumed, shrinking smaller and smaller, weaker and weaker by the second as Manticora and Kimera dug into him with growing ferocity and splayed out his insides over the monstrous shaft. "I can barely distinguish your strength by now... it is too tiny to really add much. Still, I'd lie if I said I didn't like taking every last bit of your strength away. I think gods will be my breakfast from now on..." Killer grinned and licked his lips at that, and Kimera grabbed one of the few crucified gods left sticking out of Typhon's scaled body, ripping it off and holding it up with a smirk... until the huge male opened his great jaws and winked.
Typhon whimpered in horror as Killer easily caught the divine morsel and destroyed it in two bites, blood leaking down his chin, and the liger only growled in amusement, crossing his arms behind his head and relaxing as goddesses tended to his armpits, kissing and licking, while Typhon was steadily crushed, ground down, mulched into a hot crimson sludge that boiled and bubbled and smoldered over the immense expanse of his hardening cock, as yet another great god became nothing but lubricant, smegma and cock-sweat. Heaven trembled in his shadow. Xenia howled in insanity and need. Ashley broke down into hysteria. Metatron sweated horrendously and trembled so violently his fat belly seemed to ripple like water while he tried to contemplate the future shaped by that invincible titan. There was no running away. No resisting. No hope.
Blood rained down upon Heaven, and immense comets of hypervirile precum fired out across oceans and continents and into space as they all cowered in terror while his dark-winged Seraphims sang praise to Him, to the Alpha, to the God. His gargantuan shaft throbbed with unfathomable power over them all; the huge, veinous black monster pulsing with such heat and strength to send storms ravaging the lands of Paradise while its supreme, overwhelming reek of masculinity and virility rewrote their minds, changed their priorities, enslaved them to his obscene, unfair, corrupting force, while pathetic remains of their previous king stained the almighty flesh, burning out of existence as Typhon's body was destroyed piece by piece.
The Righteous ceased to exist, converted by that fearsome display of power. It was now clear to even the most fanatical that right, wrong, good and evil were empty concepts without Killer's whims giving them meaning. In front of such unmatched power, the only thing that was right was simply what Killer desired. They were left to hope that his desires would not entail their annihilation.
Heaven knelled. Heaven begged. Heaven cried. Heaven praised.
And Typhon cried as Killer became everything he had wanted to be... and then even more.
The dragon's body was ripped entirely apart, but he was not granted a merciful end. The last strand of his soul-stuff was reshaped into a weak, scrawny, miserable body, and he awakened on top of Killer's immense black shaft, walled-in by endless veins that loomed above him like mountain-ranges as the "ground" beneath his feet radiated incredible heat and virility, the raw, absolute power pulsing through that tower of flesh with every rumble, making him painfully aware of his inescapable defeat. The massive dark god leaned back in his throne as his slaves worshipped his feet and balls and muscles, and Kimera easily created a cruel, coffin-like cage of golden metal, attaching it to a chain hanging from her thick leather belt before she reached down and picked up his father between the tip of index and thumb. He didn't even try to run, because it would have been entirely pointless. He just trembled and sobbed as she tossed him into the cage while Killer spoke his law... and indeed the whole of Heaven quivered as his words etched themselves into every brain, every soul, every body. "All you have to remember is that I am the Master, I am the God and I own you and everything around you. Never dare thinking there is something that you might deny me. There isn't. Never dare challenging me. Never dare thinking that you can hide your dishonesty from me. Remember that it's a privilege to be in my presence, especially for such helpless little fucktoys like you. Remember who is in charge, because a new Era has begun."