The Darkness From Below By the Anarkist Part I (Theme-Oni's Theme-"Symphony of Destruction" by Megadeth) Cecil stood at the helm of their new airship, the Valkerine. The wind whipped through his long, white hair, cooling his skin on the warm summer morning. It felt so damned GOOD to be able to take off all that armor, and just walk around in plainclothes. Which, considering he had just come from his and Rosa's bedchambers, was not much. Looking over the side, he watched the gently rolling ocean move by. The ship could move much faster than this, but this was their honeymoon cruise, and they wanted to be able to relax after their cataclysmic battle with Zeromus at the moon's core, and Cecil's subsequent crowning as the King of Baron. He heard a yawn from behind him-that would be Rosa. He turned, smiling. His bride was blinking in the sunlight, smiling at him half-groggily. She was clad in a nighty top and panties, and nothing else. She brushed back her hair and looked at him. "Morning, hero," she said, moving to him and kissing him warmly. Cecil smiled, kissing her back. "Lovely view, isn't it?" he commented when they finally broke. She grinned at him mischievously, stretching her arms behind her head. Her firm breasts pressed against the thin covering of her nightgown. "Are you referring to me, or to the ocean?" "Both," Cecil replied, and took her into his arms. ****************** While the Upper Sea gently rolled across the surface of the planet, another ocean oozed underneith it. In the Underworld, home of the Dwarves, a huge mass of lava throbbed like a heart against the shore. It was a truly hellish landscape, but one which many nonetheless were content to call home. Several monsters of all kinds were walking along the shore of this fire ocean, basking in the heat. While the newlyweds were busy making love in the world above, a creature emerged from the magma, rock cooling on his flesh and falling to the ground. Standing 7 feet tall, he was laced with massive muscles, and seemed to be unaffected by the inhumanly hot temperature of the mass from which he had just emerged. His flesh was died a deep purple, and two huge, batlike wings sprouted from his shoulders. His eyes glowed a dim red as he surveyed the enormous cavern he found himself in. His name was Oni, and he had come to bring death to this world. "How odd," the monster noted, "This seems strangely like home." "And where might that be, newcomer?" a large, black lizard asked. Oni seemed startled at the lizard's ability to speak, but soon recovered. "Hell," he replied. The lizard snorted. "Can't say as I've ever heard of that place before. Anyway, you're welcome here. All monsters are." "And this is …?" "The Land of Summoned Monsters." Oni nodded. "The Master told me about this place ... I must be in the Underworld, then. That would explain the lava flows." The black lizard looked about to reply, but the demon suddenly obliterated it with a burst of crimson energy. "Why did you do that?!?" a gorgeous, completely nude fairy cried. "Because I can," he replied, reaching out a huge, clawed hand and wrapping it around her throat. She tried to scream, but with a single flex of Oni's muscle, her neck was broken. At that moment, the rest of the monsters rushed him. A huge Fire Giant began to pound on him, roaring ferociously. Oni shrugged off the blows and promptly rammed his clenched fist through the giant's torso, spraying blood out the other end. More black lizards charged, ramming their horns against his skin. None were able to pierce his flesh, however, and one by one he hurled them into the lava. A group of fairies, similar to their dead companion in both voluptuousness and nudity, surrounded him, singing a Charm song. Unfortunately, before they could finish the group spell, Oni rammed his fist into the ground, causing a large wave of fire to rush out in all directions. All of the fairies were fried instantly, falling to the ground as piles of ash. Within seconds, Oni stood alone on the beach. Energy still crackling from his flesh, he walked into the cave whose mouth went almost all the way up to the lava. He immediately hissed in pain and jumped back, not expecting the sudden burst of heat and pain that he had stepped into. As he looked down, he saw that most of the passage was filled with puddles of lava! It was apparently a trap designed to stop human intruders from coming and going as they pleased. Pity he was far from human. Smiling slightly, he stepped once again into the lava. Now that he was expecting it, the flames barely affected him at all; all he felt was a pleasant warmth surrounding his foot. Oni continued on, looking for signs of further resistance. He didn't have to look long. A bizzare creature, with eight spider-like legs and a human torso, rushed at him, hissing, poisonous claws flailing. Oni batted the claws away with little concern, and then tore one of its legs from its body. It shreiked, green blood gouting from the open wound, and began to glow with dirty-brown energy. Before Oni could react, it flashed, and thrust its human arms forward. "QUAKE!" it screamed. The walls around Oni began shaking, creating a miniature earthquake. As Oni wavered from the unexpectedly unstable ground, a massive crack opened in the ground beneath him. In less than a second, it had grown into a gaping pit into which the lava began to flow, with no apparent bottom in sight. Oni fell a few feet into it, causing the spider-creature to howl in victory. However, it was short lived, as Oni quickly recovered and flew out of the hole and back onto solid rock. His eyes were blazing red, and black fire rippled across his torso and arms. "NECROMANTIC PULSE!" he screamed, sending a wall of black fire crashing into the spider-thing. It screamed in agony, and fell to the ground, spasming as the fire seared what stood for its soul. Oni walked leisurely up to the beast, allowing its thrashing limbs to bat harmlessly against his legs. He reached the spider-creature's head, and, wrapping his arm around its neck, ripped its head off, a section of spinal cord trailing after it. Tossing the deformed head into a nearby puddle of lava, he walked on. He met several more of the spider-things within the caves, and slew each one before it could make any attempt to defend itself. He also met several batches of toads, which attempted to cast very low-grade change magic upon him, led by a cackling old crone. He had ignored or stepped on the toads, and incinerated the crone while she was wailing over the loss of her pets. Other than that, he met little resistance. Finally he reached a ladder that had been cut, and, looking up, he could see where a trapdoor had been shut and barred. He was about to fly up to it, when a knife slashed a deep cut between his wings. Less than a second later, a blast of ice-cold air blasted him from behind, sending him crashing into the wall. Turning, he saw two humans dressed in regal clothing. They were both glowing with intense power auras; the man, sea-blue, and the woman, a dark brown. "You have disrupted the peace of the Land of Summoned Monsters, demon," the woman said. "I am Asura, Queen of the Monsters ..." "And I am Leviathan, King of the Monsters," the man finished, raising his arms. "Your crimes shall not go unpunished, demon. Now … let us see what kind of warrior you truly are!" With that, the rulers of the monsters began to transform. Asura turned into a gigantic pagan goddess, with four heads and many arms; Leviathan, meanwhile, stretched and distorted into an enormous snakelike dragon. "GREAT WAVE!" Leviathan rasped. The aura surrounding him suddenly shot backwards into the corridor behind him. At first, it seemed that the attack had been useless, and Oni, grinning, advanced upon the serpent; however, a titanic roaring made him pause. Something was coming from the corridor, and very fast ... The enormous wave of water surged into the chamber, leaving the King and Queen strangely unaffected. Oni, on the other hand, was slammed once again into the wall with bone-crunching force. Sharp teeth began to pierce his flesh, as sea monsters swarmed around him. A giant kraken wrapped its gargantuan tentacles around him, binding him in an iron vice ... With a roar, Oni fought back, his own dark crimson aura flaring, causing the water around him to boil furiously. The kraken, scalded, tried to flee, but Oni followed it relentlessly, tearing off its tentacles one by one and then ramming them all down its throat and into its brain. As his rage intensified, so did his aura, and soon, the entire wave had boiled off. He stood, already dried and seething, and glared with burning hatred at the two rulers. "It … it cannot be …" Leviathan rasped softly. "It can, old man … and it IS!" Oni screamed, flinging himself at the huge serpent. It tried to slither away, but the demon was too fast and grabbed it around the midsection. Then it tried to crush him in its constricting coils, but that only centralized its mass for Oni's next attack ... "THOUSAND HELLS' FURY!!!" A blast of blisteringly hot Hellfire exploded around him. With a wrenching scream, Leviathan exploded with it, his flesh exploding off the bones before atomizing. When the fire died down, all that was left was a charred, serpentine skeleton. Oni then turned to Asura, who was glimmering with rage. "MONSTER!!!" she screamed, leaping forward, daggers clutched in each hand. She began to whirl like a top, blades slashing through the air lightning-fast. "DANCE OF DEATH!!!" She was upon him, the knives cutting deep into Oni's flesh. Black blood spurted out, staining the walls and causing it to bubble from the hellish acid inside it. If any landed on the Queen, however, she gave no indication; the only sounds were only the whistle of the blades, the ripping sounds of their contact with Oni's flesh, and the demon's grunts of pain. Finally the Queen rammed her longest dagger through Oni's stomach, bowing him over with agony. She jerked it out, a gout of black blood following it. Oni fell to his knees, clutching the massive wound in his stomach. Then, he looked up at Asura ... and smiled. Suddenly, he wavered, as though seen through a wall of ripping water. Then ... he shrank. The wings folded against his back, and disappeared into the flesh. His skin turned from purple into flesh, and he lost much of his mass. When he had finished changing, a fully human teenager crouched before the Queen, gazing up at her with burning eyes. All of his wounds had sealed up, and he was unharmed. He then reverted back to his demon form, tearing out of the human form brutally. Reaching forward with his clawed hands, he sunk one into Asura's chest, and wrapped the other around her leg. Hefting her up over his head, he roared in victory, and ripped her in half. Blood exploded everywhere, covering Oni, the room, and Leviathan's blackened skeleton in the crimson liquid. Throwing the two ragged halves to either side, he roared again, a terrifying sound of rage and hatred ... That was wiped out by a strong, feminine cry of rage. Oni whirled, and saw a young, beautiful, green-haired woman, clad in green robes, surrounded by a huge emerald aura. As he turned, she thrust her hands forward, fingers splayed, palms down. "NUKE!" Suddenly, small balls of firey-red energy appeared in the air, and rushed towards Oni. As they hit, they superheated his flesh, more appearing behind them, until Oni uttered a blood-curdling scream at the massive amounts of damage the fire spell was causing him. Still the woman stood with her arms outstretched, grimacing in concentration as she poured all the will into the spell. Finally, the energy grew so unstable it exploded outward, bathing the chamber in heat. The walls began to drip and ooze before the spell finally died off, leaving Oni lying on his back at what had been ground zero. The woman finally let her arms drop, breathing heavily. Oni sat up. At first she couldn't believe her eyes. Her magic abilities had grown exponentially in power since they had destroyed Zeromus, yet this demon had withstood one of her strongest attacks. And, she realized as he took his feet, he was all but unharmed by the blast. He looked at her with a mixture of anger, respect, and recognition. "Rydia," he whispered, looking at her with eyes that bore deep into her soul. "One of the Twelve that saved this world from that half-assed demon, Zeromus. The Malebolgia told me about you ... all of you. I know about your parents ..." "SHUT UP!" she screamed, her aura flaring again. Huge spears of ice appeared out of nowhere, smashing onto Oni. The demon staggered, but did not fall. He continued to stare at her, speaking in a low, almost seductive voice. "I know how the Dark Knight burned down your village ..." "VIRUS!" Green globs of disease suddenly shot into Oni's body, creating a sickly glow around him. He shook it off, continuing on. He was only ten feet away now. "And I know about your feeling for Edge ..." Rydia was desperate. Retreating against the wall, she summoned up her power for one last strike ... "BAHAMUT!!!" Her aura shot outward, convalescing into a single spot in front of her. The spot then grew into a black gateway, which grew in size until it was three times its casters' size. Through it emerged an enormous black dragon, that glared down at the surprised demon with baleful contempt. Then, it opened its mouth, and unleashed a blistering burst of nuclear fire that made Rydia's Nuke spell look tame. Oni's scream could be heard throughout the entire cave, as Bahamut unleashed the full force of his flaming nuclear breath upon him. With a final burst of the energy, the King of Dragons disappeared from sight, returning to the Moon. The chamber was filled with smoke after Bahamut's ultimate attack, and for awhile it was impossible to see. When it finally cleared, it revealed a chamber that had been fused as smooth as glass by the attack-and Oni, still standing. Eyes burning with rage, he strode towards the shocked Rydia, claws extending. He snarled, reaching forth with a single, huge hand ... With the last bit of energy Rydia had, she whispered out a final spell. Her aura flared one last time, dimly. "Warp ..." Oni's hand closed on air, as Rydia wavered, and disappeared before his eyes. At first the demon stood frozen, with rage, hand still outstretched, as though offering to shake hands with someone. He looked up. The trapdoor in the ceiling had to've been protected by magic, or it surely would have been destroyed in the battle that had just taken place. Well, Oni decided, that was just borrowed time as far as he was concerned. Flying up to the trapdoor, he ripped the ironwood from its hinges, and threw it aside. His rage was overpowering, and it was time he let the people of this world know it was not a good idea to anger a demon. Tearing through the door, he resolved that the green-haired sorceress would be his yet ... ****************** Dwarven Commander Thorin Godhammer peered out on the lava ocean, waiting for their target to arrive. Behind him was an entire platoon of tanks, guns gleaming in the molten light. Fortuantely for them, King Giott hadn't ordered *all* the tanks scrapped. He chomped at the cigar in his mouth in irritation. That bastard should be here by now … "THERE!" he roared, pointing to a small speck on the horizon. Having announced the arrival of their mark, he climbed into his own tank, which fairly bristled with high-tech weaponry taken from the Tower of Bab-Il behind them. Flicking the intercom systems online, he set the his targeting computers to the rapidly-growing speck on the horizon, ordering his men to do the same. "FIRE!" he bellowed, activating his own weapons systems. A huge volley of cannon fire, laser blasts and other ammunition streaked towards Oni. The demon attempted to dodge some of the missiles, but a huge fireball smashed into him and sent him down into the lava, where he disappeared. A cheer went up from the Dwarves, but was quickly hushed by Thorin. "Hold on there, lads," he roared. "We don't celebrate until we KNOW he's dead." "But sir … there's no way he could've survived …" The remainder of the transmission was cut off by an explosion of static. Looking hastily at his monitors, Thorin discovered that the demon was actually wading out of the lava like it had been water. His eyes were glowing intensely, and the tank that the protester had been manning was a smoking wreck. "You'll pay for that," Oni rasped. Before the commander could order his troops to fire again, Oni was among them. The tanks had not been designed for close-quarters battle, and Oni tore them to shreads. As Thorin watched, horrified, Oni tore a huge hole in the side of one tank and leaped in. The screams of his mean were all too clear, as was the blood that suddenly spurted out the side. Ramming his hand against the intercom system, he ordered his men to take their axes and fight hand to hand, dammit. But it was too late. Oni had already decimated half the battalion single-handedly, and the few who came after him with their axes swinging were torn to bloody mush by Oni's claws. Suddenly, Thorin heard the shriek of metal tearing, and he knew Oni had come for him. He whirled, silver dwarven armor gleaming, battle-axe held at the ready. "C'mon, bastard," he whispered, clutching his axe. "Come and get me, you son of a …" Oni attacked, quickly and silently. His claws whizzed through the air, trying to take the dwarf's head clean off. Thorin ducked, and hacked into Oni's arm with the axe. It sunk in-barely-and black blood ran out, causing the axe to sizzle from the heat. The demon bellowed, and hurled Thorin against the wall. He cracked his skull against the steel, and fell, dazed, to the floor. Oni grasped the axe in one huge hand, and yanked it out, issuing another bellow of pain. He flung it to the side, then wrapped one hand around the dwarf's neck and picked him up. The dwarf's feet kicked uselessly at the air, a full five feet above the ground. Oni then held his other hand in front of Thorin's face, as black flame began to form around it. "Just thought I'd give you a taste of down-home cookin', Hell style," he growled, grasping the dwarf's head in his enormous hand. Thorin screamed as the black flames surged through his body, freezing and burning at the same time. The flames increased in intensity, and with a brittle cracking sound, his eyes exploded. Oni continued to flood the poor dwarf with hellish energy, eyes burning with hate as the dwarf burned from the inside out. Finally, all that was left was a blackened husk, to which the charred armor hung loosely. Oni dropped the body to the ground, where it promptly broke in two. Snarling, Oni walked back out the hole in the wall and headed southeast, where the Crystal was ... ****************** Rydia stood in the crystal chamber, two of the strongest Dwarven soldiers in the realm on either side of her. She was dressed in emerald armor that enhanced her magical aura to truly awesome levels, and had a whip that was charged with ultra-high voltage energy, should all else fail. What she had to do was clear--stay in the crystal chamber and protect it at all costs. The Crystals had been united once, and the world had almost ended right then and there. She was here to insure it wouldn't happen again. Suddenly she tensed, green aura flaring. Screams of agony could be heard from around the corner-could the demon have decimated their defenses so quickly ...? The sounds of battle were now right outside the chamber. A horrid *crack* as the two front guards were killed … The door to the chamber was suddenly, brutally torn open, Oni's claws making short work of the thick metal door that had been barred against him. Flinging the twisted metal to one side of the hall, he walked in, carrying a huge double-bladed battle axe splattered with the blood of his victims. His eyes were glowing almost white-hot, and his fanged maw was drawn up in an obscene smile. The soldiers were good; they immediately moved forward, protecting Rydia while attacking from opposite sides, attempting to outflank him. Oni merely pointed at them each in turn, shooting fireballs that sent them crashing against the crystalline walls. Oni then turned to Rydia, whose aura was almost blinding in its intensity. The electric whip was buzzing and sparking with the barely-contained electrical energy it contained. Her eyes were slitted, teeth bared and grinding together. Oni smiled down at her. "So, the little girl chooses to fight once more. I hope you have better luck than last time, else I shall be rather bored with you." Rydia simply snarled, and lashed out with her whip lightning-quick. Instinctively, Oni raised his arm to block it, causing it to wrap around his arm. Roughly a quintillion volts of electricity suddenly surged into his body, causing him to drop his axe and howl out in pain. Rydia snapped it back expertly, leaving Oni temporarily dazed. The sorceress took advantage, running forward and landing a hard kick to the demon's face. As he staggered back, she whirled, her green cape swirling around her. She gathered her aura in her fists, and launched her ultimate attack; "EMERALD METEO!!!" Hundreds of green points of light shot from her open hands, flying through the air towards Oni. As they streaked through the air, they increased exponentially in size, growing to the size of watermelons before smashing brutally into the demon. He screamed in pain as the blasts exploded against him again and again, forcing back into the corner. Still the Emerald Meteo spell continued to do its brutal work, lacerating Oni in hundreds of places. The attack was finished by an enormous blast, about the size of Oni himself, slammed into him, sending Oni flying through about five walls. Rydia slumped, breathing heavily from the exertion the spell had put on her body. Still carrying her electric whip, she walked slowly through the wreckage the attack had caused, carefully skirting the huge chunks of brick that had been scattered across the ground. Finally she came to the place where Oni's momentum had run out, leaving him half-buried in the rubble. Blood covered his face from numerous wounds, and he seemed to be unmoving. She stepped forward cautiously, checking to make sure he was really dead. She tentatively reached an armored hand towards his face … When Oni's eyes suddenly flew open, eyes blazing with the power of Hell itself. He reached a huge hand forth, and grasped Rydia's arm in one huge paw. She uttered a small cry, and tried to pull away … Suddenly, Oni began to change as he had in the battle with Asura. He became a rough-looking, rather smaller teenage boy, and quickly scrambled out of the rubble. Though she continued to try to escape, his strength was not weakened in the slightest by his transformation, and her struggles were in vain. He grasped her by her breastplate and hauled her up to look her in the eyes. His eyes were still red, she noted. "That …" Oni's human form growled, "Was not … a very good idea." With that, he let go of her arm and hit her with a ferocious backhand, and then threw her against the wall. She slumped to the floor, but managed to dodge when he drove a glowing fist through the wall where her head had been seconds before. However, he was able to drive his knee against the armor on her stomach, smashing it hard into her flesh. Once again, she was losing. As Oni grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up, she once again uttered her spell of escape, dematerializing before he could strike the final blow. ****************** Oni cursed. Once again that witch had managed to escape him. The Master would not be pleased if was stopped by a mere girl, even one with such impressive magical powers. By the Black Pits, but that had hurt! Fortunately he had managed to erect an energy shield to deflect the worst of the attack, because otherwise he might have been hurled back into the Pits already. Spying a glimmer in the chamber, he pushed the green-haired girl out of his mind, and walked carefully back to the Crystal, which was literally glowing with power. Oni walked up the pedestal to where the Crystal hung, suspended, in the air. He reached forth a hand to grasp it … And suddenly was filled with a surge of power like he had never known. His energy stores were suddenly filled to the brim; it was barely more than he could stand. "Such power …" Oni whispered, grasping the Crystal in both hands. "Such … increadible … power …" Finally the glow that suffused him passed, leaving Oni breathless and sweating. Opening a pouch he had brought with him from Hell for this exact purpose, he dropped the crystal into it, then closed it again. That done, he threw his head back, and uttered a primal roar of victory and power. It turned into a hail of laughter, as he mocked this Earth's dark fate. With the eight Crystals in his possession, he would be more than a demon … he would be a God. And then … nothing would survive. To Be Continued ….