Battle of the Multiverse

[Corzak The Mighty]

"Excellent," Tengri smirked proudly. "I will arrive as soon as I can."

With that, he used one of the rifts the Osiran's underlings had used to arrive upon this god-forsaken rock to travel to Sutekh's ship, stepping cautiously into the portal....
________________________________________________________________________
Immanuel continued carving a path of devastation through the forces of The Destroyer. Using his flight to his advantage, he unleashed beam after beam of devastating sunlight into the hordes, carving through their seemingly endless legions with ease. Despite the ease at which they fell however, their forces seemed endless; the God of Light scanned around to see if he could find anything that may be the cause of their endless tide.

He glanced about, observing the entire city from his post high above even the tallest skyscrapers. He could see the mortals of this world regrouping, bringing up some of their flying machines to combat the menace. More weapons and explosives would not be enough to stem this tide, Immanuel thought to himself. Some strategy would be required to end this madness.

"Crigan!" Immanuel cried out, as he unleashed another scalding beam of sunlight into the hordes below, "Have you seen where these abominations might be coming from? Perhaps closing that can slow down their advance..."

[HayesAJones]

As the column of holy fire plunged down, a divine serpent seeking to swallow a sinner, the outline of the the beast rippled. Its shape failed to change though, so Mulek was tempted to write off the blur of light and air as an illusion, a mere trick of the eye.

But then the devil lowered its head and sprung at her many dozens of times faster than it had before.

The ground spiderwebbed under its feet and the air itself split with a thunder crack of sound and force. Like a horned missile, the alabaster-furred fiend flew towards Mulek's midriff...!

_____________________

The yellow planet went quiet for a few moments. Only the wind made sound as it kicked up a few clouds of gold dust. Perhaps the only place more silent was the vacuum through which the Eclipse of Ra floated above.

Soon though (surely far, far too soon in the Osiran's opinion), a shape appeared on the horizon of the amber wasteland: a speck in the sky. It was a tiny, indistinct dot at first, but it rapidly grew in both size and definition, eventually forming a familiar shape.

Hurtling down from over thousand feet up and almost a mile away, Dea crashed into the ground, striking the earth heavily with both legs and stumbling a few hundred meters before she could steady herself. Her scant weight failed to form a proper impact crater, but the sheer force of the landing had left a pair of deep furrows; one for each foot naturally.

"You know, you never answered me about the mask," the woman coughed carelessly, waving a cloud of yellow particulate away from her face. She then clogged one nostril with her pinkie and blew mustard-colored debris out the other. "It's okay if you feel a bit... nasally inadequate. I know people who had nose work done. Well, knew. And, well... they got it shrunk, not enlarged, but hey, our beauty standards aren't yours."

With an understanding smile, Dea removed her finger from her nose.

"Anyway, I give up."

She sat and began patting the dust off her robe. "You really had me there. You could have left me in space or... I dunno, given me a brain aneurysm or something. Anything, really. Fight was pretty much over when I stepped on your space boat. I just wanted to see if you could take a punch or not, but it's obvious you don't intend to let that happen, so... I guess this was all just a waste of time."

Though the woman's expression did not change as she groomed herself, her voice seemed to grin mockingly. "And you said you wouldn't do that. Guess everyone's a hypocrite, huh? Besides, you probably just want to make an example out of me for the other guy. Sorry, chief, but that ain't happening. I'll hit stuff if you want me too, but I'm done being a public clown. I punch, I'm not a punching bag."

The enhanced human leaned, leaned, leaned back to stretch out her spine, and she could not help but stare up at the descending ship.

"Say, got booze up there?"

[Monster X]

Sutekh wasn’t shore why he continued to indulge Dea. He’d have lobotomised any other being long ago for such insolence. Maybe deep down, passed all his fear and hate of other lifeforms, the Osiran actually liked her. In the way a human liked a pet. It wouldn’t be enough to save her when he had achieved his goals, but it spared her his wrath for the time being.

“Yes we do” said The Destroy “Also I believe I said that I would battle you, not allow myself to be attacked. Dose the great Demigod always complain when she doesn’t get her way?”

Suddenly, in a flash, his mask disappeared. The face was the same as Dea had seen before but it was malformed. Sutekh’s mussel, rather the pointing outwards, instead pointed vertical downwards at a very unnatural angle. Then before her eyes, the Osiran’s face began to reshape into the way she had first seen it.

“That mask was the one my father placed on me when I was entombed on the planet Mars. He and most of the Court thought I had been slain in battle, though Horus and his allies knew otherwise. My body was however treated as though it was, resulting in the facial structure you just saw.”

Sutekh the raised his hand and into it materialised an ornate, Egyptian style jug. The stopper of which was in the Destroyer’s likeness. A slight movement of his hand indicated that the jug was full of liquid.

“This is alcohol my father commissioned to commemorate my passing” stated Sutekh “I believe that at this time it’s several thousand years old.”

The Osiran the fixed his gaze on the women.

“Also again you misunderstood my motives. My other guest is a mighty warrior, I wished him to see that I was powerful yes but also that I chose allies of quality. In other words, I wanted him to see your strength. For the quality of one’s employees reflects on ones self. How about this proposition, I will allow you to strike me and then we shall drink to commemorate our alliance?”

Sutekh then raised himself up to his full height and spread his arms wide. At first he could tell she was reluctant to, then her expression changed to one of “what the hell” and she repeated her assault. This time her blow struck true, her fist landing a clean strike on the Osiran’s nose. The shockwave from the attack created a dust storm to envelop the two. When it cleared Sutekh stood unmoved and unharmed.

The Destroyer then uncorked the jug, took a long swig of the liquid then held it out to Dea.

“Satisfied?”

[Beast Blood]

Korraz addressed the two girls a smirk. Her travels had her be acquainted with many new faces. Some were friendly, others not so much. The giant was glad to have encountered amiable faces in this case.

Now that she had shown them she presented no threat, Korraz decided to introduce herself. As she possessed no voice to do that with, she pointed to herself and spelled her name on her fingers, doing the same to introduce Hod as well. In turn, the hulking beast then asked what were the little creatures' names.

She had no way to know if either of them could understand her beyond simply trying and seeing. Hopefully, they would be able to comprehend her meaning.

[Corzak The Mighty]

As The Destroyer and Dea spoke upon the yellow planet, a rift opened up, shimmering the same hue as the ones Sutekh had opened to conjure up his legions of servants. Emerging from the rift was the form of Tengri, his massive sapphire form glowing with streaks of blue-hued energy. Beside him strode a horse of prodigious size forged of some magical metal. He stepped onto the planes, observing his surroundings curiously.

"Such an empty land, devoid of splendor. I expected much more spectacle from one so powerful," Tengri stated out loud, before his eyes turned to Sutekh and Dea. "So you are the Lord of the Red Desert in the flesh. Greetings."

His sapphire eyes more specifically turned to look towards Dea. "And you must be the one he told me about. I was promised a show." The Alrisen smirked arrogantly, before his expression became serious once more.

[Godzilla165]

Heading back towards the edge of the city, Ubel and Daeva both laid eyes on Dante and Evron waiting for them. Making haste, the four regrouped to update everyone on what they had found out.

“Ubel, Daeva, what’s up, did you guys find out anything? Dante asked.

Ubel nodded, “Sure did, we talked to a store worker who was there when the all the craziness happened. Looks like our hunch about that giant section of the city disappearing from a portal has merit after all.”

“And, that isn’t even the best part,” Daeva chimed in, “Those mooks of Suketh’s that tried to ambush me and Ubel? They came here too.”

“Well, I don’t see or sense them around anywhere now, so what happened. Where’d they go?” Evron inquired.

“According to the woman we talked to, these two girls fought and killed them all.” Ubel responded.

Dante folded his arms, “Now that is interesting, those girls could be useful to us. We need to-”

The ninjas’ heads all snapped up to the sky as a huge conglomeration of energy washed over their collective senses. An ear piercing crack akin to lightning, roared over the entire city, soon plunging it into total silence. All eyes were now pointed to the sky as, mere seconds later, about a dozen or so portals tore open the atmosphere. Then, the combined demonic howls of Suketh’s followers shook the very earth as thousands soon made their presence known to the world, and clawed themselves out of the rifts.

Dante narrowed his eyes as hints of gold started seeping into them. “Something is always interrupting me... Ninjas, gear up!” Wasting little time, the ninjas cast away their regular clothes in favor of their respective armor and weapons, and rocketed into the air to meet the creatures.

An excited grin stretched across Evron's face, "Hell yes, I've been waiting all day to kill some stuff!"

“Let’s keep these things away from these people and their city. And remember, go easy, we want to leave this place intact. Let’s go!” Dante ordered, and then, with masterful grace and efficiency, reduced hundreds of of the creatures to pieces in the blink of an eye using his Twin Jewels.

Civilians littered the streets, screaming and trampling over one another in a desperate attempt to get to safety. Ubel accidentally sent one soldier cascading into a distant building with a powerful kick, destroying half of the structure. He then broke off from the fighting and headed down to ground level. Using his ability of Transfixion, Ubel cast his psychological net over the thousands of terrified people in the street. Soon enough, they all stopped and focused their collective attention on the larger ninja before them.

“I need all of you help one another get inside, it’s not safe out here. We’ll keep you all and your city safe, I promise. But, just help us out by getting inside somewhere, and staying there.” Ubel calmly ordered them. Doing what they were told, the people began to help their common man in funneling themselves into different buildings, the state of chaotic paranoia having been completely nullified.

With that now in the process of fixing itself, Ubel shot back up in the air to join his siblings in the fight. For every 10 servants that the ninjas destroyed, 50 more replaced their fallen brethren. They kept up the pressure, however, albeit feeling a bit restricted from having to hold back so much.

They sky was absolutely alive with various explosions of gold, red, violet, and blue color as the ninjas dealt herculean blow after blow onto the Destroyer’s ferocious servants. They would let not a single soul get anywhere near the city.

[Demon Lord Gira]

The God of Death had found himself preoccupied with hundreds of servants dogpiling him. They had leaped off of a building he had his back to and pinned him beneath their mass. Yet, that had been a mistake, as a surge of energy radiated from his body and blasted them hundreds of meters back in all directions. Even still, he had heard Immanuel's request, and he closed his eyes. Yet, as he sensed for a possible place these fiends were coming from, those that drew too close fell to the ground instantly. for weaker beings, he could create an aura of death that could be activated at will, and while he hated to watch precious life be snuffed out just by being in his presence, these abominations were an exception.

"There are two portals! One is ten kilometers from you, and the other is beneath ground. I will deal with the one beneath us!" Crigan's voice mentally reached Immanuel. He scanned for a nearby way downward, and his eyes spotted a manhole cover. He flipped it over with his foot, before he dropped down into the sewers beneath the city...

_____________________________________

The angel had no time to react. The movement had been so fast and unexpected! The foe struck Mulek's stomach with a force the angel hadn't been prepared for. The angel was blasted off her feet, the air emptied from her lungs and her form sprawling across the ground. It was only when she dug her scythe into the earth that she scraped to a stop, even with a twenty meter gouge to show for it. She staggered to her feet, her eyes filled with a bloodlust and rage most of her kind shrugged off as a baser human emotion.

Just what was this unholy freak?!

Her teeth gritted, she swung her scythe forward, sending a shower of molten fire and rock flung at the creature...

______________________________

Doris starred at the creature with a confused, bewildered stare. It was clear that she had no idea what the thing was doing, until Nichelle spoke out.

"A pleasure to meet you, Korraz and Hod." At the same time, her own hands began to move. in movements somewhat similar to what Korraz had been doing. It was only then that Doris realized this was sign language. "Please forgive my friend, she is unfamiliar with sign language. I am Nichelle, and this is Doris. Again, thank you for your assistance. I take it you are not from here?" This was accompanied with the proper sign language for the Beast...

Yet as she said this, the air rippled with shockwaves and explosions. She didn't need to look up to know what was going on. Four incredibly powerful life signatures were fighting off the hordes that had attacked before. However, it seemed the conflict was away from any people, so for now, it wasn't the highest priority to take part of.

_________________________________________

Mara's mouth quivered beneath Persephone's gaze. "I-it... It was something e-else, my lord."

"I had a feeling. Those kinds of wounds aren't from precise blows, but from a powerful blunt force, something BF-13 lacks. Care to describe it?"

Mara looked away. "I-I can't. I'm sorry, but I cannot. It was a fluke, I swear! I-"

Lilith cleared her throat, bringing all attention to her. "It was a large burly creature, at least thirteen meters in size, with a big raven that kept distracting her. Mara kept zapping and zapping, but all her zaps did nothing to her opponent, and even when given plenty of chances to turn and chase her fleeing targets, she stubbornly kept attacking her new enemy until my teleporter robbed her of 'certain inevitable victory'." This last part she brought two fingers on each hand together and flicked them down.

Mara's face blushed red with rage. "WHO THE FUCK GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO-"

Persephone's hand grabbed Mara's head, and the demon was forced to face Persephone again. Her voice never rose above a low whisper, yet it was clearly audible to everyone in the room, and devoid of outward emotion. "And who gave you permission to act in such a way in my presence? Mara, I told you better, and I expected better from you. Lilith will be reprimanded for speaking out of line," here she shifted her gaze over to the Satori, who clearly had not been expecting to have Persephone's ire shifted to her, and wilted under her gaze as a result. She continued, "but more important is what is learned from this. Despite failing your objective, you did at least confirm there are powers at play we cannot be lax with. You also confirmed the relative whereabouts and condition of the bio-weapon, while I was securing a new alliance. You will receive no punishment from me, for your injuries are punishment enough. When you recover, please make a conceited effort to follow my orders to the letter, or next time you will wish your attacker was the one in charge of your well being. Do I make myself clear?"

When Mara gulped and nodded, Persephone let her face go and let the demon collapse into the bed. "And Lilith, your punishment for speaking out of turn is to maintain survillance on both Mara and our guest, and to send out the probes to retrieve remnants of Sutekh's followers if possible." Lilith nodded, and Persephone with a click of the heel left the two to their own devices.

It certainly was a brave new world she had found herself in. New threats, new allies, new opportunities. This was rather amusing, now that she thought on it. The constant cycle of rebellions and stamping them down was getting tiresome for Persephone. It was always the same thing over and over again, and this was a welcome change of pace for her.

She made her way into her personal bedroom, at the farthest corner of the castle. It was a dark room, lit only by a few torches that dangled from the ceiling. Black drapes flowed down the walls and matched the violet colored bed against the wall. She removed her clothes and laid them upon a trunk at the foot of the bed, then slipped into a purple night gown and into her bed. She snuggled up next to a large body pillow, one with the form of a red haired brown hooded woman with pointed ears woven in, and smiled.

"If only you could see all of this. Your curious mind would love it." She purred to the image on the body pillow, before she drifted to sleep...
______________________________

[HayesAJones]

Dea held up the fist she had struck Sutekh with. Unlike the Osiran's snout, it was not undamaged. Though not deep, there were noticeable splits on three of her knuckles. A drop of blood even rolled down one.

The fist began to tremble, and the woman smiled. Not grinned. Not smirked. Smiled.

Laughed without restraint or mockery, she snatched the jug from the Destroyer. "I could kiss that ugly mug! It's been so long since something wasn't just... pudding in my hands! Having to hold everything like it was glass... no, more than glass! It's like I never really touched anything all these millennia!"

The woman turned to Tengri, still beaming. "If this stuff is strong enough to get me drunk, you might just get one! It's been a few hundred thousand years since I was more than buzzed, but I was told I get strippy."

Dea held the jug to both of them before throwing it back.

"Cheers!"

_____________________

The moon slice of molten rock slammed into the creature, splashing around its muscular form like liquid yet making it stagger like a heavy solid. Its fur and skin sizzle as the lava sat undenied on its flesh, sinking into it like a hot knife laid on butter. Its fanged mouth twisted as if in pain, but only a crazed chuckle, a warbling, up-and-down screech like a metal wedge spun on a chalkboard, came out.

It seemed to enjoy the pain.

Its manic laughter morphed into a throat belch, and orange fire spewed from its gaping maw towards the black-winged angel...!

[EdGojira]

As they moved through outer space, the Sandman and Jake were silent for more than an hour. The Sandman was not that acquainted with Jake's history and this gave him the distinct impression that Jake was used to long periods of silence.

Yet it was uncomfortable silence. "What's a god gotta do to get conversation going?"

"Have not murdered an entire planet."

"Look, I can take you to Nexus with ease, Jaquel."

"I'm not abandoning my car," Jake asserted. "Besides, we are almost there."

"Say wha?"

The Sandman was not aware of the mortals' technological prowess. Knowing the distance between the unwatched territories and the most guarded places of the universe, this was a very impressive feat indeed. And Jake was in a hurry.

"Sutekh," Jake said, "sounds like something I have heard about before. Big surprise, right? Maybe if we dip into the territory and out of it, we won't have any trouble."

"I thought you wanted to kill me?"

"That's still not out of the question."

______________
The group awakened feeling mighty refreshed. As Jackie rose swearing like a Pokemon whose name was "Fuck", Kenzie bounced around like a lunatic and Jules enthusiastically shoved around a block. Energized, it was ever so easy to try and push aside their failure.

"Not cool Kenzie, we were sure you were dead," Dana crossed her arms as she watched the other woman pounce around.

"Did you fight for me?" Kenzie fished.

"Of course I did." Dana said indignantly. She looked away, giving Kenzie the perfect opportunity to tackle her to the ground.

They rolled around horseplaying and giggling until Jules blurted, "Can you two cut it out?"

"What?" Kenzie whined.

"We just had some guy fly in and totally kick our ass," Jackie added.

"Some kind of god?" Dana suggested.

"Would make sense that they interrupted the ritual, but they looked nothing like any god I know of."

"Yeah, and another god here would be a big no-no," Kenzie said as she cleaned out her ear. She looked at Jackie. "It must've been a very advanced alien. My guess, I mean. It's not like I saw it."

"It looked kind of like Jackie," Dana said. "She's probably right. Then we can probably look it up at the ARO."

The group collectively groaned.

"Or we can just hit the Underground."

[Godzilla165]

Time slowed to a crawl around 50 of Suketh's servants as the influence of Daeva's velocity took control. She did her best to keep her speed down to a reasonable level, while still not giving the things any room to breathe. The Kunoichi bounced off the head of one and brought down her sword to then cleave it in half. Then, using her momentum, she performed a mid air 180 twist and hurled Swift Redemption like a boomerang towards a cluster of 5 monsters. The razor sharp blade had no trouble carving cleanly through the abdomens of all 5, while in the meantime, Daeva summoned two diamond shuriken in her hand and threw them at one servant that was a bit further away. The flying stars rammed into their intended target's chest with enough force to bisect it into three pieces. Daeva flipped onto her back and kicked her legs out, and spun like a horizontal top at another group of mooks that couldn't see anything coming from their POV. She blitzed through them all like a wind turbine, reducing the creatures to a giant cloud of red mist. Daeva caught up with her still spinning sword and caught it between one of her armored toes. She then proceeded to slice through the rest of her little group with the blade still in between her toes, before zipping away to another cluster. Time finally sped itself up to catch back up to Daeva, and the result of her handiwork was a shower of blood and severed limbs falling to the earth.

Several yards away, servants were being mutilated by the most aggressive of the ninjas. One servant threw a warty fist at Evron, only for the latter to easily dodge the feeble attack and grab the creature’s arm. Using his other hand, Evron clenched its skull and sent his foot squarely into its chest. The blow tore the beast in half, and the tactful ninja proceeded to use its remains as makeshift weapons to batter the others nearby. Evron discarded the bloody remains in favor of Shikoro Ken, imbued the serrated blade with crackling torrents of energy, and almost hurled himself at the grotesque horrors. Instead of dealing clean and efficient cuts, Evron’s trusted blade dug and tore into the flesh of its enemies, spilling their intestines to the ground below.

Evron laughed maniacally as he slaughtered one after the other, whilst taunting their pathetic attempts at laying a hand on him. “What’s wrong? I thought you assholes were tougher than this! I’m starting to fall asleep!” The ninja exclaimed before teleporting behind one, cleaved its head off, and caught it in his free hand. Evron engulfed the head in a ball of red energy, and then hurled it at the other Servants nearby. The makeshift hand grenade exploded and sent dozens of them flying in every direction.

Just as those soldiers died, another portal opened and spit out a dozen more to take their place. Evron rested a hand on his hip and scoffed. “Hmph, these bastards don’t have one brain cell between them. Oh well, their funeral.” Deciding to turn it up a notch, Evron clenched his fist and held it out in front of him. Soon enough, bolts of energy twisted and stretched from his upper bicep down to his entire arm. Evron then opened his hand, allowing the energy to circulate around his fingers before conglomerating in the middle of his palm.

As the ravenous servants charged with all their collective might, Evron used his other hand to brace his forearm as to dilute some of the recoil. And, with a deafening roar, the built up power erupted from his hand in the form of Evron’s Ki Surge, which filled the sky with red for miles. The electric streak of raw power totally enveloped the attacking monsters and vaporized them into just their basic components. The sky crackled and groaned, the air was hot, and whatever in the world that had been in the way of that blast... Was surely gone. Steam rolled off Evron’s arm as he chuckled to himself.

“Evron, dude, I said take it easy!” Dante mentally scolded.

“Oh come ooon, that was nothing!”

“Evron!”

With a sigh, Evron relented, “Okay, Dad, I’ll go soft next time. But, it looks like I’m all out of assholes to kill.”

With a single swipe, Dante completely eradicated an entire wave of mooks while Ubel was beside him mopping up the stragglers. “You and Daeva go and check on the civilians, then; Ubel and I’ve got this.”

“Loud and clear, Em. Come on, Ruby Red, let’s go meet the locals!” Daeva said.

“Fine, looks like I left the easy ones for the two of you anyway.” Evron snarked and followed Daeva down to the city streets.

As Dante gracefully streaked around the sky, killing servants left and right with even mere sharp strikes from his fingers, Ubel bulldozed through whatever stragglers were left over. What had just been thousands of followers, had now been reduced to a mere handful in minutes.

Soon enough, the pair had finished the job and went to meet up with the others waiting below. When Ubel and Dante landed, all four of the ninjas discarded their armor and replaced it with their regular clothes again.

Dante peered inside some of the buildings, seeing the number of nervous people still inside. He gave them a reassuring smile before turning back to his siblings. “Is everyone okay?”

Daeva nodded, “Safe and sound from the looks of it.”

“No one’s come out yet, though. I guess they’re all still scared.” Evron remarked.

“Mm, as long as they’re safe it’s fine; they’ll come whenever they’re ready.” Dante turned to Ubel, “You think those girls will know anything about your friend, Molly?”

Ubel shrugged, “I hope so, because she would for sure be a big help to us. And... I’m worried about her.”

With a nod, Dante slapped him on the arm, “Then let’s go find those girls, yeah?”

With that, the siblings headed out of the city in search of the two women in question.

[Monster X]

“You’ll have to forgive Dea Tengri, the lady has resentful been freed from a hell of boredom. Naturally she is excited at the moment.”

The Destroyer the stepped up to the towering warrior. For a long moment they said nothing, simply gauging each other’s power. The Osiran broke the silence first. “I’m afraid the show has been cancelled, but I can provide a suitable substitute” said Sutekh.

Suddenly the landscape around them vanished and the three of them were standing in the void. Then 89 miniature representations of solar systems manifested and encircled them. “The world you stand on is a barren wasteland used for testing weapons and strength, it is but a single planet in the Red Desert” said the Osiran “ 89 systems, each with a populated planet totally loyal to me, all preparing for my great campaign to conquer all creation.”

The scene around them changed once again. They now stood on balcony, overlooking an army that spread out as far as the eye could see in every direction. There were many races that made up the army, alongside war beasts and war machines that almost defied belief. All of them as one chanting the name of Sutekh.

“But while I have many soldiers, I have no generals or heroes” he continued “At least none of the caliber I will need to in this venture. That is why I sought out you both, as well as...”

They now stood in the thrown room of Shoal. “...Persephone and the forces of the Land of Shoal.”

Then they returned to the wasteland of yellow rock. “Yet even all of us, and any allies we may gain on the way, will not be enough. The multiverse is to vast and chaotic to master in any traditional way.”

In the middle of the group appeared the image of a handsome man with long hair. “That is why we need to find this man. He is Dante, a mighty ninja and lord of Yakuza. Within him lays the Heart of the Multiverse, the key to gaining access to the Core of the Multiverse. When we control that, all of creation is ours to sculpt as we desire.”

The Osiran then refocused his full attention on Tengri. “And now for your legion. I could offer you the army from any of the worlds I rule, however...”

A large portal opened some distance away. Through it came a legion of grotesque Mal’akh. They moved in expert formation but while all were armed, all were without armour.

“These are Mal’akh, the greatest warriors in my service. They need only the blood of their enemies to live and they do not dye easily. Their skins absorbs most organic matter and most metals will decay to their touch. In the event that their numbers need replenishing, their blood can make more of their kind. Also, I hand picked every member of this legion from the greatest warriors in the Red Desert. It is easily one of the deadliest fighting forces I have ever assembled.”

...............................

Unbeknownst to Tengri and Dea, during all his interactions with them on the barren planet, Sutekh had found the very man he‘d had been looking for. One of his servants had survived in that world, waiting and watching. When it had caught sight of Dante, Sutekh knew he could not miss this chance. He began abandoning all the worlds his servants had invaded, specifically so he would be able to focus a his power on the ninja. He then sent a horde of his minions to that world to tie up his prey, while he got his forces ready to attack.

“Soon.... all shall be dust and darkness.”

.........................

Across multiverse, the army’s of undead animated by the Destroyers will, fell as one as their master abandoned them.

[Demon Lord Gira]

It was only thanks to a swift beat of her wings that the molten material was avoided. Mulek jetted up into the air, yet winced in pain. She hadn't been fast enough, and her right foot was now burning from the material vomited upon it.

If this thing wanted to play rough, then she would be only too glad to play rough!

She dived down into the fiend, ready to swing her scythe right at its hideous head...

___________________________________

In the sacred realm of Makai, the last of the fiends dropped dead, no longer under the control of its master. Cercil eyed the corpses carefully. Was this a trick it was planning?

She was surrounded by corpses. Tens of thousands had flooded in from the rifts, and none had made it past her. Only a scarce few had managed to tough the archangel before she had struck them down, and not a drop of blood from her. Here in Makai, she was god, a force without equal. These gremlins never stood a chance against her.

Yet, she saw movement. So they weren't truly dead after all. She watched as they slowly rose to their feet... but there was something different about these ones. Now a dark haze shrouded their forms, and their movements which had been so fluid and organic before were now mechanical and artificial, as if pulled by a puppet.

Her eyes narrowed. It seemed someone else had taken control of these now. And this power... this one she had felt before.

Her eyes widened. "No... No! You're not... You cannot be!" She shouted, as pillars of divine light rained upon the masses. They were vaporized where they stood, but as their bodies disintegrated, the dark mist remained intact. It floated from their remains like a cloud, and from within came a chilling, whimsical giggle.

"I must thank you... for falling for such an obvious bait. Now, I'll gladly take control!" The shroud of darkness plunged forward at Cercil, and the angel swung her hands forward. A light barrier surrounded her, and the darkness slammed against it.

No, it simply phased through the barrier.

The dark cloud engulfed the archangel, and every fiber of the angel's body erupted into agonizing pain. The hordes of the destroyer, no longer under his control, watched as the high archangel was devoured by the darkness, her cries of pain and for help fading away...

[Corzak The Mighty]

Immanuel nodded, spreading his feel wings as he zoomed toward the portal above the ground. He flew overhead, cutting another swathe through the hordes of Sutekh's undead minions with a blast of burning sunlight. He watched as the mortals who inhabited this world began to regroup and launch a counterassault on the legions, firing great explosives and unleashing machines of war upon the endless hordes. It always impressed Immanuel how tenacious mortals could be when push came to shove. The drive to survive was something very admirable.

As he zoomed through the air, appearing like a glowing 6-pointed star against the cloud-addled sky, he noticed the portal suddenly ceasing in its existence. The sickly green light of the rift vanished, and with it, so too did the legions that had been called forth. The undead horrors faded into nothingness, turning into little more than a fine mist that only helped to continue blotting out the light in the sky.

"Crigan," Immanuel spoke to the other god mentally, "The fiends... they have disappeared!"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
"I see," Tengri stated, arms crossed across his chest. "Quite the impressive creatures I must say. Not quite as majestic in appearance as I would have hoped, but skill and prowess outweighs appearance. After all, the rhinoceros is not as regal as the lion, but is much more fearsome."

He turned to face Sutekh once more. "But this 'Dante'... what sort of skills does he possess? Surely one who is supposed to safeguard something as important as the center of all things is no slouch. What level of threat are we combatting here?"

[HayesAJones]

As Tengri admired the Mal'akh, Dea lowered the jug from her mouth and wiped her mouth. Her lips parted with a satisfied snap.

"Hey, this is good!" the woman chirped. She offered the jug to the master of the Alrisen. "Want some, big guy?"

The demigod was grinning again. Her bout of genuineness seemed to have passed. "But, guys... these names. Sutekh, Persephone, Dante... don't any of you have parents who like normal names? Dea just means thanks! Or goddess in Latin, so maybe I have no room to talk."

Dea sunk her hands deep into her pockets, thrusting her robe behind her, where it fluttered in the wind that swept the yellow world. "So who's this Persephone and why does she rule a sandbar?"

_____________________

The ivory devil stretched out its muscular, human limbs to greet the plunging angel. Despite deep lacerations on its back and ribs and terrible burns across it chest, it looked to be overjoyed, grinning a wicked grin that seemed too big for its long snout. Its crooked fangs burst from its mouth in all directions.

As Mulek began to swing her scythe, the beast's left arm shivered. In an explosion of rending muscles and thinning fur, the burly arm stretched! It grew, becoming longer and leaner, shooting forward like a plastic projectile and finding the angle's wrist. The momentum of the swing was stopped before it began, leaving the hellfire-clad weapon dead in the air.

And its wielder wide open.

With an uproarious cackle, a scream of mixed humor and bloodthirsty, the fiend returned its arm to normal, reeling Mulek towards its waiting jaws. At the same time, its other arm swung at the angle's neck, hooked claws springing from its fingertips...

[Beast Blood]

Distracted off her response by the tremors coming from the city, Korraz turned back to Nichelle with an even greater confusion than the one she previously felt. The expression on the girl showed she was fairly unconcerned with the noises. Were angry creatures and explosions just an ordinary part of her life?

The giant hesitated, unsure if she should investigate the commotions or stay with the two young ladies to guard them...

[Godzilla165]

Several miles above, the ninjas had made it out of what was left of the rescued city, and were in the process of finding the two girls that had been described to them. Carefully scanning the land below, they weren’t seeing much of anything, until...

“Hey, you guys feel that?” Daeva psychically asked.

“Yeah, I just got a huge source of energy directly below us, but where... Look, down there!” Dante exclaimed. Sure enough, the group looked down to find an enormous mass of living creature just standing there motionless. Even from the height they were flying, the ninjas could see how big it was. And, from the looks of it, the thing had a friend.

Evron whistled, “Are walking piles of muscle a common thing on Earth?”

“As far as I’ve experienced, no.” Ubel answered, before his eyes moved to two other much, much smaller objects in front of the giant. His eyes glowed brightly, “Check it out, I think I found those girls!” There, standing in front of the creature, were indeed two young women of peculiar appearance.

“Ubel, how do we know those are the ones we’re looking for?” Daeva mentioned.

“Well, do you know any other girls that hang out with giant monsters?”

“Ya got me there, I guess.” Daeva yielded.

“Only one way to know for sure, let’s get down there.” Dante said, and made his descent down to ground level, with the others close behind.

The siblings all landed a few yards away from the rag tag group, and stopped to evaluate them for a minute. They were cautious of the giant creatures, not knowing whether or not they were completely friendly yet.

“That is one big ass bird...” Evron murmured.

Dante remained silent whilst he began using his soul searching ability to peer inside both monsters, wanting to make sure what their motives truly were. He didn’t use this ability much as to judge others by the character they present first. But, when situations needed it, the ninja Prime for sure utilized it. His face visibly relaxed once he was done, and he let out a relieved sigh. Dante turned to his siblings and nodded. “It’s okay, they’re friendly. The biggest is named Korraz, and her feathered friend is called Hod.”

Daeva folded her arms, “You positive about this, Em?”

“Trust me,” Dante pointed at his head and winked, “my intuition never lets me down. Come on, let’s go introduce ourselves.”

The ninjas slowly started walking towards the group, still maintaining caution of the beasts in front of them, but trusting in Dante’s word of their peaceful nature. They would find out shortly, regardless.

[Demon Lord Gira]

"No need to worry. The fighting has ceased. The enemy is gone, for now." Nichelle explained. "It is safe now."

Doris stayed silent. If Nichelle was certain things really were safe, she wasn't going to question her. She was in no position to, which admittedly ate away at the girl. Why? Why was it she was surrounded by so many freaks?

First it was that rude and foul tongued Heather, the bitch who always had a chip on her shoulder regarding everyone and anyone around her. Everyone's tolerance for the bitch had been stretched thin naturally, but when her rivalry with Demmy had escalated into chemical and biological warfare, that had been the last straw. Doris had pleaded with her goddess to do something about the heathen, and finally her prayers had been answered with Heather being fired from the cafe, never to be seen again. Doris had been so happy, so very happy when she had heard the news of Heather's termination.

But that had left the other freak of nature, the demon. She should have known there was something odd with the girl given how restrained she seemed to be, how much it looked like she was holding back in every task she was doing that wasn't cooking or balancing dishes, but to think she was a spawn of a demonic world, an enemy of her goddess and yet so closely clung to her?! Unacceptable! UNACCEPTABLE! And the fact her goddess had only been surprised and shocked by the reveal for a few moments before happily accepting her as if nothing was wrong! She was a threat, a danger waiting for the right moment to strike, a clear enemy, and yet she just blindly trusted her?!

And now, now she had no clue where her goddess was, if she was alone with that unclean demonic spawn, and she was stuck with another demonic spawn, one artificial rather than natural, with several godless giants and powers and principalities beyond anything she could have imagined! And all because she had gotten herself ill overworking herself for her goddess!

Still, she kept the happiest, most calm face she could muster despite the raging turmoil beneath her. She couldn't freak out now, or else risk not having any chance of seeing her goddess at all. She needed to keep calm, and play the hand she was dealt with. That's what she was trained to do, and she would have to follow that.

"Oh, it is them." Nichelle exclaimed. This brought Doris out of her inner thoughts, and she looked over at the Ninjas as they approached. The tall one of them stuck out to Doris as the gears in her head began to spin. Wait a minute!

"You!" She stammered, a finger aimed at Ubel. "Cafe, Molly you with! Several time come! You non-human also?!"

Nichelle had raised an eyebrow at the sight of the ninjas, and at Ubel, but in hindsight, it made sense. "Doris, relax. They are friendly. A pleasure to formally meet you, and I assume your family as well. I am Nichelle, one of the waitresses of the Cheshire Cafe, and this is Doris, a fellow waitress."



___________________________________________

With no other arm to protect her, Mulek was all but defenseless against the awaiting jaws and claws of the abomination...

or would have, if her had lacked her wings.

The wings of the angel came down like a barrier and pushed out. Though the claws ripped through the feathers , they were ultimately battered back, and the wings struck against the creature's face. The sudden strike forced it to let go, and Mulek hopped back.

Shit. This thing was faster than her, and remarkably resilient. She needed a plan, something to even the playing field... but what?

The angel's wings began to beat furiously, churning up volcanic soil and dust into the air. Microscopic glass glistened as it was all sent toward the fiend, while angelic energy fired upward from the angel's scythe into the volcanic clouds above...

______________________________

No sooner had Crigan landed in the sewers, than he was greeted with the writhing forms of many of the Destroyer's fiends. He readied himself, but as they drew near, they stopped, the life within them was snuffed out, and they dissolved into mist. At the same time, Crigan felt the portal down in the sewers fade away.

"Yes... It's the same down here. They just gave up and died, and the portal is gone. What is going on?"

The God of Death re-emerged from the sewers, and began to head to where Immanuel was. This was strange. Had whoever was pulling the strings of these creatures realized he was outmatched and given up? Perhaps they had ran out of resources, out of minions to throw at so many worlds and needed to replenish?

Or was it something else? Crigan felt a pit in his stomach, a sense of dread even with the fiends of this world gone...

"We should regroup, and contact Cercil to see if this has stopped everywhere, or just here."

__________________________

Across the numerous realms that Sutekh's forces had ran amuck, there was death and destruction. Trillions of corpses lay strewn across buildings, within ruined shelters and buildings. These were those that had not been graced with a hero, or with technology strong enough to beat back the Destoyer's forces. Fires ran rampant across the wartorn surface of the worlds.

Rifts tore open above the skies of these worlds, and from them emerged the clean up crew. Mechanical probes over thirty meters in radius hovered out of the rifts across these different worlds and moved toward where the largest congregation of bodies were. Hopes opened from the undersides, and mechanical tendrils extended downward and began to scoop up the corpses of the dead and of the slain Destroyer's forces that didn't turn to ashes. Dozens of these tendrils scooped up hundreds of bodies and stuffed them within, before reaching down for more. On some worlds, there were as many as twenty of these probes acquiring corpses.

From her own special lab in Sheol, a tall spire across from Persephone's castle, Lilith watched as her probes began their harvest. Despite Persephone's orders, she had gone ahead and given to Mara over ten liters of sedative, enough to put her under for as long as she needed while the advanced regenerative medication Laeptus had offered to her kicked into effect. She wasn't in the mood to babysit the fox, and beside, she had more important things to prepare for.

When she had peered into Sutekh's mind, what she had seen had confused her, but not just because of the physical appearance. It was the power that seemed to radiate from within, a power alien to the Satori. Only one person Lilith knew held power of that kind, and that person was recovering from the gravest of wounds at an ungodly slow rate, even with the hyper regenerative properties.

So, the Satori had decided to take matters into her own hands. The probes being sent out had been designed for use in the Three Year War, but events had forced the war's end before the probes could be finished. Now, they could finally serve a proper two-fold purpose. Where Mara had failed to collect any remnants of Sutekh's forces, these probes would succeed in that task, and with their genetic structure, perhaps she could more closely analyze the Destroyer's power, and possibly find a weakness if things went south. She had a feeling the partnership with Sutekh was only until he had no further need for her, and Lilith refused to allow a future where Persephone was dead to be a thing.

And at the same time, the human corpses were needed for a pet project she had been cooking up, one that had lacked the resources needed. She could only grin as each of her probes began to fill up with bloodied bodies.

"I really must thank you Sutekh, for if it wasn't for the remaining energies of your rifts, I wouldn't have all of these resources to plunder. An unintended gift, but one I will gladly take to ensure my lord's safety and prosperity." She giggled to herself.

[Godzilla165]

The ninjas were a bit taken aback by the one now known as Doris’s brash greeting, particularly Ubel whom looked as though he’d just been convicted of a murder. But then, everyone’s nerves were calmed when the other waitress, Nichelle, warmly greeted them.

“Huh, looks like we’ve been kind of expected.” Dante stated and gave Ubel a pat on the back, “You’re up, Ubie.”

The latter nodded and gave the two girls a pleasant smile. “Hi, Nichelle, and... A Doris, from what I heard? I’m Ubel, it’s nice to finally meet you.” Ubel reached out and shook the girl’s hand, and motioned at the others, “And yeah, these are my three siblings. That’s my little sister, Daeva, my loveable, yet douchey brother, Evron...”

Evron scoffed, “Words hurt, Ubel, even though I have no idea what the hell ‘douchey’, even means. Is that an Earth word? It’s stupid." He psychically threw back.

Daeva elbowed him in the arm and shot Evron a dirty look. Ubel smirked at the women, “He’ll grow on you, trust me. And, this is our oldest brother, Lord Dante.”

Dante chuckled as his cheeks became flushed, and he gave the waitresses a friendly little wave. “Please, just call me Dante; very nice to meet you guys.”

Ubel turned to Nichelle as his smile faded into a soft frown, “We saw what happened to your guys’ cafe over in the city, I’m really sorry about that. Did Molly... Was she there when everything disappeared?”

[Beast Blood]

Both Korraz and Hod eyed the ninjas curiously. They appeared to possess great power - and wielded it to protect. Good. So long as they continued on that path, the Borskall would see them as allies.

Content with simply listening to the conversation for the moment, the giant stayed put.

[Demon Lord Gira]

Nichelle nodded, thought she wish she didn't have to. "It is great that you are here, but... Molly isn't. She and many of the cafe staff were taken in the explosion. I know they are not dead, but where they are at... I cannot fathom."

"Not hopefully in peril." Doris breathed heavily. "Omen sick had. Dream same, nights many. Vines thorned, ensnared Molly around. Demmy well as. Paradise crystal locked within, star night. Nightmares constant, same always. Yet day every, Molly fine. Weeks end on, hopefully nightmares just."

Nichelle raised an eyebrow. She wasn't going to question why on earth Doris was going to have nightmares of tendrils and vines ensnaring Molly like one of those bad "quality" manga she found under the girl's bed, but it seemed... weird still. Perhaps a fever dream from her chronic illness?

She shook her head. " Wherever Molly is, we will find her and ensure her safety. But, I take it you perhaps know what is the cause of all of this? Those monsters from the rift..." She didn't mention Mara, because while there was a possibility Persephone was linked to this somehow, from what she remembered of her resources, it was very unlikely she was the catalyst of this incident.