Both warriors rushed toward the other, John with his broken sword and Legion with his tainted blade. Their weapons collided with each other before recoiling away. John fired a small spell, which Legion swatted away without effort, before turning and striking again with his sword. As their edges slammed together once more, the runaway spell John had fired tore into a nearby building. It ripped up through a few floors before exploding out of the back. Within the short time it had taken the spell to die, John and Legion had clashed nearly a dozen times.
Their fight began to pick up speed as John led Legion farther out of the city. They moved up onto an overpass, jumping from car to car as they fought. Legion brought his blade down in a crushing blow that John easily avoided by changing cars. Legion's sword ripped through the small car like paper, tearing it in half before he pulled it free from its metallic confines and once again gave chase. John ducked and bobbed under and around each of Legions blows as he swung his own much smaller sword. He continued to use the blade like an oversized combat knife, falling back on the visions he had seen in Aerin's mind. He felt Isaac’s fighting style coursing through his veins as he fought. There was a deep sense of longing within him as he lamented his lack of throwing knives.
John struck back against Legion once more, causing their blades to recoil in opposite directions. He took the opportunity to make a move, and he jumped over the waist high guard rail that lined either side of the overpass. He fell onto a derelict passenger train below. Dozens of trains lined the open area below the interstate. Rail lines zigzagged and crossed in all directions. John had happened upon one of the many train yards that dotted Station. He quickly ignored the scenic view and rolled forward away from a stabbing motion from Legion as he fell. The footing atop the train was unique. The normal metal surface was slightly slick, but towards the center traction was much better due to the many ridges that ran its length. Legion swung toward John in a horizontal strike that caused John to jump back in order to avoid taking a hit to the chest. He found himself at the rear end of the passenger car, and as Legion struck downward John was forced to jump sideways to another train nearby.
Something about the fight seemed off. Legion matched John's blows perfectly, strike for strike, almost unnaturally so. It suddenly occurred to him that he was being toyed with. The more he thought on it, the more it seemed true. In each strike he could feel Legion's full potential, but it was being hindered. Legion was intentionally holding himself back; drawing out the fight just as he had planned to from the start. The realization of it all angered John, and he struck with more ferocity than before.
His anger was quickly quelled, though, as he noticed something else. Having taken the time to quiet his mind and think, though as briefly as it may have been, he began to pick up on something. Each time his sword made contact with Legion's tainted blade something would flash in the back of John's mind. He diverted a bit of attention away from the fight at hand toward the depths of his soul. With each clash he could see someone for a split second. It was someone he had never seen before, and each time their swords clashed again the person was different. His gaze shifted towards his own soul and to the dozens of others that had come to surround it. Each time their swords clashed another would join the chorus within him.
A plan began to form within his mind as they fought. It was something he didn’t want to do, but there weren’t many options left. He waited until next they locked blades at the guard to set it in motion. John pushed down on his sword with all his might, locking it firmly in place. He summoned up the correct amount of souls that was required before enacting his plan. Pulling in the negativity was easy, the land had suffered greatly and Legion was practically a walking well of the stuff. Pain and Hatred coursed up through John's legs from the ground. It swirled around inside of his body, stopping briefly around his heart as Sorrow and Anguish. Finally it flowed into his right arm as Rage and Fury.
"Have you realized it yet?" Legion words came condescendingly as he barely struggled to maintain the lock. "You’re out of moves."
"N-no..." John struggled to hold his sword in place and contain the power within him as he spoke. "I've got... one last one for you."
"Is that so?" Legion smiled.
"Heaven's Fury."
The fire roared around John’s body. Flowing down his arm, it licked and burned Legion, and caused John’s small blade to turn white hot. With a hard shove, John broke the sword lock and forced Legion backwards. He raised his burning blade into the air and slashed diagonally in front of him. The attack caught Legion off guard and without enough time to properly counter, he was forced to take the full brunt of the attack head on. With a sword of such limited size, Heaven’s Fury appeared much smaller than the previous time John had used the Soul Spell, but it did the trick. Whole passenger cars from nearby trains melted down to their bare frames, sand near the tracks blistered over into dark colored glass, and the overpass above them split in two. The power inside of John faded away as the flames began to die down around him.
He dropped down off of the passenger car he had been standing on and immediately raised his sword in defense. He had witnessed this scene before; whatever was inside the cloud of smoke and dirt before him could surely fight back. The haze slowly began to clear, and John got a good look at the damage he had inflicted upon the Demon. A horrific sight stood before him.
The blast had torn off most of Legion’s face and what hadn’t simply melted off, had charred and bubbled into nasty black scars that ran all over his head. His right eye dangled precariously outside of its socket, but somehow managed to maintain its fixation upon John. His hair had all but burnt off, leaving nothing but bald, scarred skin behind. After destroying his face, the column of fire had cleaved a hole clean through his left shoulder all the way down to the middle of his stomach. The mangled nub of flesh that extended up his side somehow still held his left arm in place, though it now hung a foot or so away from where it should have been.
Legion staggered back and forth as his mangled body attempted to hold itself together. His eyes continued to stare in John’s direction as something terrible began to happen. In the gap between Legion’s chest and side, the same black worms from before appeared. They crawled out from within his charred flesh, slithering all over each other within the void between his chest and arm. They took hold of the dangling flesh and began to pull it back to where it should be, all the while making a horrible sound.
John watched intently, a horrified expression on his face. Legion’s body, having taken the full force of John’s strongest attack, was pulling itself back together. Aerin was right, there was no way he could beat this thing on his own. It was too resilient. It was too strong. He felt it during their battle; the Demon was only toying with him. Legion could have ended the fight at any moment, but he chose to draw it out. John could only pray that Aerin had made it to the Charger in time. This was all he could do.
Before he could react, Legion appeared before him. There wasn’t time to dodge; John hadn’t seen him move. The next thing he felt was hot and sharp. It drove into his stomach with a horrendous pain that radiated throughout his entire body. He grit his teeth and looked down, what had once been his sword was now impaled in his lower stomach. As he staggered to hold his footing, he cursed himself. For not being fast enough, not being strong enough to save the Angel he held dear. Legion seemed to smile with satisfaction as he tightly gripped the hilt of the tainted blade, but John quickly wiped the smug from the Demon’s face as he plunged his own broken sword into the monster. Having gotten so close afforded John one final satisfying strike, so he drove the blade deep into Legion’s right eye. The sudden movement put pressure on the blade in his stomach, but seeing Legion fumble around with a knife in his face was well worth the effort.
Legion ripped the blade from his eye and tossed it angrily to the side as the worms began to repair him. He let out a horrendous growl as he glared towards John. Once his vision returned to him he thrust his arms to the side, yell
ow Cyphers appearing on each palm. Two Cyphers burst from the ground beside John as chains, black as the night, shot forth. They wrapped around John’s arms, pulling them backward painfully, forcing him down to the ground. The calm smugness Legion had exerted before was completely gone. He raised his right leg and brought his shiny loafer down hard onto the hilt of the black blade, driving it as deep into John’s stomach as it would go.
“You can have your sword back.” Legion spoke with a voice dissimilar to the one he had used previously. It wasn’t soft like before, instead it was now raspy and carried a sense of annoyance. The Demon turned away from John and began to walk away slowly. “That Angel. I’m going to take her soul.” He stated.
“Go… to hell.” John managed to say as he struggled against the chains that bound him to the ground.
“I’ve already been.”
As the Demon faded into the distance, the chains holding John down vanished. He struggled to move, but most of his body had gone numb from the blood that he was losing, save for the ever present burning in his stomach. His blade that lay beside him where Legion had tossed it slowly began to catch fire and disappear. Along with it, his armor did the same, leaving behind his regular clothes which were now soaked from the waist down in crimson red. John moved his left hand up with all of his might to his chest and was relieved when he found that his necklace was still around his neck. Simply touching the small trinket brought him peace. He could feel Aerin’s spirit within it. He felt calm, but at the same time his soul was screaming. Soon, his vision began to fade.
“Not like this…”
Aerin threw open the driver door on the Charger and jumped inside. Her hand darted toward the ignition and found the keys John had left. She turned them and the Charger made a clacking sound under the hood, but ultimately failed to start. Aerin's mind was racing faster than she could keep up with. None of the instruments on the main panel had come on and the radio was dead. She quickly reached under the dashboard and pulled the lever to release the hood. It popped up a few inches and she rushed to the front of the car and tossed it open. Her quick thinking slowed to a crawl as she surveyed the intricate mechanisms that powered the car within. She took a step back and breathed in deeply in order to subdue the panic that was welling within her. She thought carefully on what little experience she had in dealing with vehicles over the years. She settled on the most likely issue, the battery.
The Bloodstone had released many strange shock waves before, so it was entirely possible that they had done something to the electrical charge stored within. Aerin rubbed her hands together before slapping them against the top of the battery. The car jumped below her hands with the sudden rush of electricity. She ran back around to the driver's seat to test if her actions had succeeded. The Charger groaned once more as it attempted to start, but it failed again. Aerin had been given a small sliver of hope though; the ignition had nearly turned over that time. She rushed to the front of the car and tried to charge it once more. The echoing sounds of explosions had faded away into the distance and so Aerin moved with quickened haste. As she sat down in the driver's seat again she had to fight back her worst fear. Her mind was a torrent of emotions that she did not have time to deal with. She managed to suppress them long enough to crank the car.
It groaned sluggishly before the engine finally, painfully, turned over. The instruments, along with the radio, all came to life in a flash. Aerin quickly went to work on the radio. Local channels were now broadcasting static, which was more than they had been before. She made a few button presses and, surprisingly connected to the satellites overhead. With the Bloodstone no longer interfering with any communications, it was possible that Aerin might send out some kind of a message. She scrolled through the list of available channels and stopped briefly over one that was simply labeled “Home”.
“Go ahead, call them.” A voice spoke from behind her. It was soft, cold, and sent chills down her back. She tried to move, to turn around to see, but her body refused her commands. “The more the merrier…” He whispered. Aerin scrambled over into the passenger seat and threw open the door. She jumped outside as fast as she could, only to come face to face with the silver haired Demon. “Don’t run.” He calmly commanded.
“Get away!” Aerin screamed.
She slammed her hands together and let loose a powerful spell that struck Legion dead center. With a cloud of smoke between them, she quickly unfurled her wings and brought them down with a heavy beat that launched her into the air. Her worst fears were being realized. If Legion was after her, then John had... She pushed that line of thinking to the back of her mind and instead opted to focus on flying. Aerin turned down another street, zigzagging her way through the city to lose her pursuer. As she looked up, her body froze once more. Legion stood before her again at the end of the street.
"You're not a real Angel, are you?" He questioned, his purple eyes glowing menacingly in the dim light.
Aerin frantically backpedaled and rushed away as fast as she could. Paranoia began to set into her mind and she felt like the walls were closing in around her. She flapped her wings hard and rushed around another corner before nearly crashing headlong into Legion again.
“I see.” He analyzed. “You’re a substitute.”
Aerin flew as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Her cheeks were flushed red and her eyes were becoming watery. She fought as hard as she could to keep herself from breaking down just to stay alive.
"A substitute will do just fine..."
Legion stood before Aerin once more. No matter how many times she ran, how many turns she made, he was always in front of her. She collapsed onto the ground, her legs unable to keep her up. Whether it was sheer exhaustion or if she had literally become too scared to stand, it didn't matter. Legion walked slowly towards her to claim his prize. Aerin clapped her hands and threw a spell in his direction. The blast impacted into his chest but it simply seemed to roll around him as it billowed into an explosion. She forced herself backwards in an attempt to put as much distance between her and the pale demon. She clapped her hands together and fired another spell, then another, and another still. Legion shrugged off each blast as if they were nothing. He drew ever closer, and with each step Aerin's will decreased even more. Finally, Legion stood over her. She fired one last shot in defiance before the reality of her situation set in. Legion's eyes shimmered with their purplish hue as he bent down to inspect her. He lifted her up slowly, his hand around her throat, and her wings fell limp by her side. She gripped his arm tightly with both hands and thrashed around, in two parts desperation and lack of oxygen.
“N-no… please.” She begged with tears in her eyes. Seeing this, Legion suddenly lessened his grip and brought his free hand up to his mouth in a shushing motion.
“Now, now.” He spoke calmly. His voice did little to dispel the fear that coursed through Aerin’s veins. “It’s not so bad. You’ll be here, with us. Forever.”
Aerin immediately closed her eyes. She squeezed them together as tight as she could, knowing full well that she did not want to see what would come next. She could hear something just before her. The presence that held her in place had shifted somewhat. It no longer felt like a person, or rather a Demon. It felt as though she stood on the edge of a cliff, the same feeling she had felt on top of the building moments before. She could hear voices all around her, calling out to her, begging her to open her eyes. She told herself to keep them shut over and over and over again; but as time went on, curiosity began to erode her thoughts. Even at the potential end of her life, she could not help herself from peeking. She opened her eyes to a horrendous black mass of writhing flesh before her. Within it she could see a vortex that spun slowly inward like a spiral. The 'thing' hurt to look at; she could feel the anguish emanating from within almost as if it were a literal representation of fear and pain. It encroached upon her slowly from all sides, fully intent on devouring her whole. Aerin screamed as loud as she could in the hope that someone, any
one, would hear her.
John's eyes snapped open as his consciousness faded back in. He coughed and spat up a good deal of blood onto his chest. He could hear her in the distance. She was calling out to him, to anyone. He didn't hear her with his ears, those had long since failed in their function; but with his very soul, what was left of it at least. Aerin was in danger and she needed to be saved. John raised his right arm slowly and brought it to rest on the hilt of the blade that was stuck firmly in his stomach. He took a moment to rest before he clenched his fist around the hilt tightly. He struggled as he attempted to pull it free, but his arm went limp once more and he failed to move it even an inch. John heaved a sigh filled with regret and desperation. He cursed himself to no end as his vision began to fade.
"D-Damn...it..." He coughed. "Aerin... I... I..."
He could no longer see. His eyes had failed, just like the rest of his body. He felt cold as stillness came upon him. His mind started to drift back into the darkness; though he wanted with all of his heart to keep it away from there, he no longer had a choice.
"Hey, buddy." A voice called out softly. "Come on, wake up." The voice grew louder and more urgent. "Hey asshole, get up. You're letting her down!"
Chapter Twenty Nine
He was weightless. His body drifted along a current that took him far away from everything. His senses had long since numbed. The only thing he could feel now was the pull of the waters that drug him deeper down. He didn’t know where he was, how long he had been there, or for that matter when he had actually arrived. None of that mattered now. His body was at ease, he felt at peace, as if he was right where he needed to be. Even so, something didn’t feel right. There was something nagging at the back of his mind, like he had forgotten something terribly important. The more he thought, the stronger the current became. It pulled him deeper down, further away from his thoughts as he drifted away.
Slayer: A Demon Hunter's Tale Page 50
