With all the force he could muster, Ray rose to his feet, only to be smacked down again by Adonis. He rammed him, and as Ray fell, expecting to feel the cold concrete floor, he instead was free-falling.
Nero made two portals, one on the ceiling, the other on the floor, and Ray kept on falling, continously, unable to stop. Nero smirked while watching him as he was helpless and afraid. As he mulled over the different ways he could torture his cousin, a wierd shock came over his body. Once again, he was compelled by some imaginary force to stop whatever he was doing and leave.
Both of the portals closed and Ray made his final fall onto the floor, again on his left shoulder. He writhed on the floor in agony while Nero shuffled across the dancefloor in a trance, looking for his sword. He found it next to the corpse of a partygoer, her body cut with deep grooves. She was on top of her dead friend, trying to protect her, but it was all in vain. Nero took a quick glance at the two of them, picked up his sword, and went on his way.
Adonis had long returned to his human form. He was sitting on Ray's chest, keeping him from escaping. Adonis couldn't understand the various insults and slurs Ray was yelling at him, so he took his hand and covered his mouth. When that didn't work, Adonis punched him in his wounded left shoulder. Small tears came out while he shuddered beneath Adonis.
"Hey boss what are we gonna do," Adonis asked.
Nero was long gone.
"Nero? Where are you," Adonis shouted.
Ray took the chance to overpower Adonis.
Two large strings, thick like vines wrapped around his body. They picked him up and flung him to the side. Ray got up, clutching his damaged shoulder, and ran out of the warehouse, chasing after Nero. He paused in confusion when he saw him. He was standing intensely, up in the sky. A streetlamp illuminated his body, like he were on stage, the only actor.
He broke the silence.
"They're coming," he moaned.
Ray looked up into the dark sky, unable to see anything, but he could hear it.
He could hear his cousin.
Three people fell from the sky, crashing into the pavement.
Ace had teleported him, Oz, and the blue eyed man to the top of a building all the way in the Kiruna district. He remembered the building from watching the news and seeing the large gang fight in front of Triangle Corp. Teleporting away to an area where people had long evacuated made sense.
Until it didn't.
They fell onto the rooftop together, grunting in surprise.
The monster yelled in frustration. Hobbling upwards, feeling tired from lack of sleep and food, he had to make his attacks quick and brief. Ace prepared himself when he saw him go into a pocket, but instead of a gun it was a dark, black, piece of wood.
"Come to me," he commanded.
In the dark, on top of the building, it was impossible for them to see the attack coming. From behind a flurry of a evil, a spiraling mass consumed the monster. He was engulfed by it. It caressed him in a loving embrace, but it didn't stop. Completely ignoring Oz, it crashed into Ace, knocking him off the building. He blacked out from the force, going limp into the abyss.
"No, no, no," Oz screamed.
Without hesitation, Oz jumped into the dark. He bit into his left pinky, swallowed his blood, and screamed.
"Winrava!"
From his back sprouted two, glorious black wings. He dove straight down, but behind him the monster trailed.
A streak of a green glow surrounded Oz as he dived after Ace. He outstretched his hands, fingertips grazing the tips of his hair, but couldn't reach his hands. Oz had no choice. The street was too close, the concrete sea fast approaching.
He swerved.
He swerved and when he looked back, his eyes decieved him.
Ace's body hit the pavement, and from the explosion of blood and sinew came forth numerous white snakes. They writhed around, grouping together, and then moving together as if they were one, singular snake.
Oz wasn't paying attention and he smacked into a lightpole across the street, slid down, and fell into the water-walk, the water portion of the sidewalk.
The waterwalk was already bloody and flithy from the carnage of war, the ash falling and mixing with the icy streets. He shivered, pulling himself out of it, holding himself. It wasn't just the cold of the water, the cold of the dissapearing sun, it was a different deep freeze that hit the bottom of soul.
He looked above into the darkness and from the darkness the monster stared back.
His maleficent cloud swirled, carrying him down slowly as he looked down upon them with impunity. When he landed on the street, his haughty face slowly fell. He tilted his head to the right, and laughed.
"You're here. You can't die like a normal creature? You can't crawl into a small, dark, space when you know your time is near," the monster said.
Nero subconciously mimcked him, tilting his head to the left. He felt pulled out of his daze, pulled out of his skin, out of reality when he saw the monster in front of him. Unlike Duchess, unlike Usher, he felt the same fear looking into his freezing eyes, a portal into his own desolate soul.
He was pulled once again from behind.
"You got to stop running off without saying anything," Adonis complained.
Pulled out of his fear and into reality, Nero remembers his original target.
"RAY, YOU FUCKING BASTARD. YOU KNEW. YOU WORKED WITH HIM," Nero screamed.
"Oh, Leofric, look. It's scared. Let's put it down and release it from pain," Ray said.
"No. We take it home. He shall power an entire city as our new battery," Leofric commanded. "We-"
He turned to his left and saw a long, winding mass of reptiles. They churned and morphed, fusing together, creating one singular, larger snake with white scales and sharp red eyes.
"Be quick! It's the monsters true form," Leofric told Ray.
Ray looked up, sweating in the cold, wondering if the creature was carnivarous. He took a few steps back, and then heard a strange sound near him.
Shwmp.
He jerked to the side and another one of Nero's portals were behind him.
"No brains behind that skull of yours. No fool would be tricked twice," Ray said.
Nero ran in his direction, and Leofric chased him. He didn't get very far, because Oz smacked him.
"Waranga!"
A giant, monstrous clawed hand sprouted from his own, launching Leofric into the sky. The giant snake hissed, and chased after him. It slid, across the street, tearing up signs, bursting open fire hydrants. Leofric wasn't going to be consumed by the beast, he wasn't going to lose to an abomination. He clutched the dark piece of wood tight, praying to the god of night.
"Lunos! Do something!"
The wrought iron crown on his head sparkled, the clouds in the sky moved, and the full moon could be seen. Leofric shone in the night, and his minons circled him, catching him before he could fall.
"Weak! You cannot win! Die already, Aelfric," Ray spat.
Nero tilted his head to the right now, splayed out his right hand, and an obling portal popped up in front him. He took his sword, and before it was out of his hands, he could hear it screaming.
"Born liar! Don't you dare throw-"
The flaming sword went through the first portal, and Ray flinched. He moved to the left without thinking, and the sword came out from behind him, spiraling. It's burning flames and the speed it fell through turned into a flaming wheel. It caught onto Ray's hand, the same hand that got the nail stuck in it, with the scar that never faded, and severed it.
Ray couldn't process what happened.
The hand was gone but there was no pain.
The blood was everywhere, over his clothes, his other hand, the pavement.
He tried moving his right hand, but nothing happened. He swore it was there. It was there, and the stress was challenging his mind and his spirit.
And then the pain came.
Nero help up his left hand and grinned, catching the sword, his perfect plan come to fruition.
Ray writed on the pavement in agony, screaming, trying to fight. He couldn't feel any pain, the heat of the sword made the cut clean , the nub on his arm cauterized. But the panic, the belief of the pain being real made him mad. Every attempt he made to control his strings faltered. The pool of blood surrounding him lifted into the air multiple times, in a winding ring.
But every time they fell, Ray unable to continue.
"Is your heart still warm kinsman? I know mine still is, " Nero said.
Nero savored it all, walking toward Ray, but Adonis grabbed him from behind.
"What about the huge ass snake? Should we kill it," he asked.
Nero watched as the snake was easily subdued by Leofric. The shining crown increased his power, and with deft control of his minions, he constricted the snake in thick, black vines. It struggled and tears could be seen coming out. Its resolve began to soften, thrashing less and less the longer he was pinned down.
"Let that snake tire him out. Then we kill him," Nero said.
Nero continued toward Ray, fear in his pale green eyes, and was stuck in place, knowing his end was near.
Until someone came to his aid.
Oz blocked Nero, standing in front of him.
"Who the fuck are you," Nero asked.
"I should ask you! I've seen you on TV before! You framed our friend and now you're gonna kill some innocent man. I won't let you."