Chapter 24: Trismagia Megistos
Atma
Getting sticky.
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"Trismagia…" Alex's voice came out in a hiss of pure loathing and rage, finally having the source of their presence in this place in front of them.
And then, the title of the monster appeared in front of them.
THAT made Alex snort.
Trismagia stated before the temple seemed to warp and pull itself towards the edifice that Zeke had been attempting to break through. The stone cracked to reveal an expansive void that drew all three in, and with it came the sound of low, howling winds. Within the void, the land changed, moving from an ancient temple to a land of Ichorous Earth, which stretched and flowed forever towards a light in the far distance.
"And that throne will remain empty! Sol shouted back before looking at Alex. "Are you ready for this!?" He asked.
Alex nodded, his lips stretched into a feral smile before Calcabrina appeared in his hands. "Let's do this."
However, the demon in front of them didn't wait much more. It floated back in the air while opening each of its mouths, white light shining from inside them. After a mere moment, the demon started speaking.
The mere weight of those words was more than enough to send both of them on their knees, blood pouring from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, as their hearts seized in their chests, convulsing, straining against the order of the oracle of the demon world.
"Da…dammit, I won't… I can't…" Sol began to hiss out. He tried to move, but the weight was bearing down on him like nothing else.
"What would have happened if we had played its role!? Would… this have been worse!?… I need… I need to do something… SOMETHING!" He raged within his mind before remembering something and smirked a bloody smile. With trembling hands, he reached towards that inventory.
"Asshole… should have watched your… shops!" Sol hissed before smashing something into the ground. There was a flash of blinding blue light and Trismagia screamed.
The pressure seemed to abate itself, and Sol grabbed two other items and threw one at Alex.
"Alex! Take it!"
The item in question was a large, green star.
Alex managed to grab the item, before he shot upwards, the damage healing as he moved, before he disappeared from his position and reappeared above Trismagia Megistos, having slipped between the flow of time.
"FUCK! YOU!" And he fell like a meteor, straight against the top of his head, planting the blade of Calcabrina as deep as it would go before taking the sheath, opening it, and forcing a Tar Beam at full power against the top of the head of the demon.
With a groan, two seams began to appear upon Trismagia's form as the body split into three separate heads. One laughed, another wept, and yet another howled. The one directly under Alex began to shake as flames began to manifest across its form.
The head that crackled with lightning began to space itself out from the rest, spitting out balls of lightning that moved toward the two hybrids with a deceptive speed. The third, pale head, though, arced towards Sol.
Sol saw the head coming and crushed the Vitality Star before meeting it. It breathed a pale, misting breath that flash froze the ground that Sol was previously standing on. Wordlessly, Sol emulated something of Alex's last attack and loosened Gevauden, wrapping it around its chin before pulling himself forward and instigating Maelstrom. The attack carved into the chin, drawing freezing blood and sending the demonic head reeling back in shock.
In the meantime, Alex had to jump away from the red face while also avoiding the lightning that the blue face was spitting at him, which seemed easy, at least until someone realized that the balls were actually made of lightning, which meant that they traveled relatively slowly, only to ground themselves in the nearest, not-Trismagia body they could find.
In short, if it wasn't for the fact that Alex could bend time around his fingers, he would already be on the strange ground they found themselves, convulsing from the electricity and easy prey for the monster.
Sol was not as lucky, as focusing on the pale head distracted him from the oncoming electricity. While a good portion of it had dissipated, there was still enough that locked him up for a moment before dropping to his knees in pain. He fumbled for Nymphaeum, fired a few shots blindly at the lightning head, and staggered to his feet.
"OH NO, YOU DON'T!" Alex's shout was followed by a sudden change of equipment. Before a storm of air blades started falling on the lightning face, Alex was basically pirouetting in the air, arms extended and fans fully opened.
The face turned and breathed, creating a familiar storm of lightning around it that blocked most of the air blade. Those that bypassed the shield carved deeply into its face, forcing the face to reel back like the others and stop its attack. All faces converged once more and fused into their true self.
Trismagia stated a matter of factly before all three mouths opened as one. They began to draw in demonic energy, which traveled into the center eye. It glowed with a baleful light before three manifestations of its power formed around, each matching a corresponding element and each flowing into one like a violent liquid paint. The resulting combination was a purple mass of demonic energy that was shot forward toward the two hybrids.
"Does it matter if we believe it or not? We need to win. So you're going down!" Alex shouted, dancing in the air with three rapid steps before grabbing Sol by his arm and twisting himself in a circular throw, sending the other upwards, way up. Above the attack, Trismagia had just slammed on the ground.
Exactly where Alex was.
For a moment, Sol hung in the air in disbelief. Fear of heights gone, replaced by a great sense of disbelief. A disbelief that quickly turned to blinding rage.
"Trismagia!" He raged while in DT he sent Gevaudan towards Trismagia. The whip sword struck true and hooked into the demon's mouth before contracting. Swinging forward, Sol winded the circumference of the fused demon before landing on top of its head. Before it did anything else, Sol sent the command that would contract Gevauden again; this time, the blades tore across Trismagia's body. Adding salt upon the wound, Sol smashed another Holy Water directly into Trsimagia before being forced to flee due to an erratic discharge of energy.
Landing back on the platform, Sol began to frantically search for any trace of Alex.
Under the purple whatever that Trismagia had summoned as an attack, something black and angry rose.
Alex, because it was him, was completely covered in black armor, leaving nothing free for the attack to hit. And, no matter how much he stumbled or faltered, he slowly got up while a faint black glow was surrounding him.
"Hey, Trismagia? I have a message for you." His voice was amused, even if clearly filled with pain. Then, the glow intensified. By a lot.
Until it was almost impossible to see clearly.
"It's from these two. You know, the two lovers that you have purposefully kept apart? Yeah. They're…" He choked a bit before turning fully towards the amalgam of heads.
"They say FUCK YOU!" And the black glow turned into a flash of light, slamming against the yellow composite of heads in an onslaught of energy that sent both the demon back and opened long and crude gashes into his flesh, making him hemorrhage power like a broken faucet.
Alex, in the meantime, had fallen on his knees, the armor vanishing into feathers, the Laughing Kookaburra & Greater Butcherbird losing their shine. "Fuck, that… That took more off me than I thought."
Sol grabbed Alex and offered a shoulder for support. "Dammit! Don't scare me like that!" He hissed between breaths before taking out a Devil Star and offering it to Alex. "You're lucky I thought to stock up before all this."
While it seemed the two were mostly alright. Trismagia was decidedly not: the armor's damage reflection effect had been enough to rock the monster backward, long gashes covering the tri-faces, one of the eyes completely blown off, another closed with several long cuts over the eyelid. The lip of one mouth was halfway ripped.
It didn't seem so much, except that Trismagia was losing the Red Orbs that he had just gained and, evidently, not managing to absorb yet.
"Seems like you have some problems in the power department. Spent too much time leeching off others to understand what you could work with!?" Sol shouted at the demon while crushing a Devil Star of his own.
The heads separated once more before they started moving in a tight circle, wind being kicked up and creating a tight twister around the duo on the ground. Soon, the force of those winds had grown enough that both Alex and Sol were trapped in them, rising in midair while being tossed around like in a washer machine.
The twister stopped, the three heads reuniting together, shining brightly.
The mixed head started changing, moving from a yellowish color into what was a pitch black, almost metallic, while a rather putrescent smell and liquid started dripping from his eyes and mouths.
When the liquid hit the ground, it began to eat through, releasing a noxious steam. The erosion continued swiftly, forcing the two hybrids to flee up the now uneven terrain. As parts of the land dissolved, eroded fragments began to float upwards before breaking down into a black, spectral material that flowed into Trismagia, healing some of its wounds but, more importantly, seeming to empower the demon further. In very short order, where there was once a vast stretch of land that extended in every direction, now there were only large islands and smaller platforms above an endlessly yawning void.
"Hello fear of heights, my old friend." Sol said numbly as he witnessed the change in their situation.
"Yeah. And I'm not in good condition to fly, either." In fact, Alex had dismissed the armor that covered him a moment before, and he was clearly panting. "The Devil Star helped, but it's going to take a while to work fully."
In the meantime, the demon was glowing darker than dark, with something pure white shining inside.
The various small floating islands around started to move and fall towards the duo, like meteors coming down from the heavens.
"Well fuck, I guess it's my turn! I really, really hate heights!" Sol shouted before grabbing Alex with one arm, running, and using Gevauden to swing over to the next closest platform. The major difference was that they got a good view of the void beneath before their momentum carried them over.
"I really, really want to kill this fucker…" Sol muttered as he stared at the ground for a second longer than needed, not even realizing that his Devil Trigger had faded.
"Same."
The sound of the rocks impacting the previous platform was deafening. But they had avoided the direct impact, and with a quick movement from Alex, his barrier stopped the sharp shards of rock from skewering them.
More rocks, these were now glowing a virulent black, and as they aimed all around the two, the air around each rock hissed.
Every instinct within Sol's body screamed to grab Alex and book it, but at the last moment, something seemed to click as he watched the descending the rocks. He grabbed Alex's shoulder and whispered, "Watch the rocks. It's a trap."
Indeed it was as a majority of the rocks were sent on an intercept course to areas of exit that Sol and Alex would have taken if they decided to flee. In response, Sol raised Nymphaeum and began to fire at Trismagia's form while keeping an eye for any rocks that could have actually been sent their way.
In the meantime, after knowing that the area where they were staying was mostly safe, Alex opened his umbrella and started charging his beam attacks while also writing something in the air with his fingers, silvery-white symbols forming around the edge of the umbrella, glowing slightly.
"If you can keep him busy for a moment or two, I'm going to crack his head straight open."
Sol looked at Alex briefly before nodding and taking out another Holy Water.
"You got that right," Sol said with a smirk as he fired Nymphaeum several times. The shots weren't aimed at Trismagia; rather, they were aimed at the few rock particles that were still semi-solid. The rounds dispersed them in thick clouds of miasma that would have partially obscured its sight. Sol holstered his gun before tossing the vial of holy water in the air and punching it hard.
The holy water did not shatter from the hit. Instead, it went flying forward through the miasma and struck Trismagia's right face. There was an explosion of blue light as the right face's skin sloughed off and muscle burned.
Following that, Alex aimed the glowing canopy straight at the stunned Trismagia, the symbols around the edge turning like a wheel, faster and faster, until the whole thing was blinding to look at.
"Being part Time Horse comes in handy when you try to make a beam weapon that shoots time." The hybrid's smile was feral. "Now die, you motherfucker!"
The beam of silver-blue light shot towards the demon, slamming into him and rocking him back. The amount of energy that he had collected - and being looped via a costly but working, time magic circle - was kicking up a giant cloud of dark dust while also digging a hole in the tri-headed monster.
Trismagia's form recoiled and shuddered as the time-looping spell wreaked its deadly toll on it before falling away from its lofty height to the void.
Sol looked at the spot where the demon was before asking aloud, "Was that it?"
There was a rumbling noise as a pillar of white light manifested and then coalesced into a large orb. The surface of the orb looked like a miniature sea with waves that almost looked pink against the white.
"Are those its red orbs?" Sol asked with horror.
"Oh, fuck me. Really? How many damned phases does this thing have?!" Alex's question was shouted to the void before the orb that was clearly the monster, considering the fact that, periodically, a face pressed against the surface, stretching it like a monster in a horror film, before sinking back inside, rose above them and the island under their feet started to turn into liquid.
"Nigredo, Albedo… That sounds like a sequence." Sol said to Alex before looking back at the orb.
"If we can crack that, do you think that will ruin whatever is going on? Like destroying critical materials for a work of art?" Sol asked before readying himself.
"Wait, wait, wait, I think… I know that those two words are… Damn it!" But, before Alex could say anything, the ground under them turned into liquid, and both of them fell inside; the current of the water - luckily, it was just water - dragged both of them away into what looked like a whirlpool suspended in the middle of the space.
The currents were too strong to fight against, and the two passed through the very center of the whirlpool into another realm entirely. Whereas the first place they fought in was one earth and stone, this new place looked like the sea floor just off the shore. The light created by Trismagia's new form filtered through the water they found themselves within, casting shadows that danced with the currents.
Sol began to convulse briefly before realizing something, he could breathe… what insane place had they found themselves in now? He looked to find Alex and see if he had any further idea what those two words meant.
"Fuck. Of course. Magnum Opus, Nigredo, Albedo…" He was frowning and twisting his hands on Calcabrina's handle.
"It's Alchemy. Medieval alchemy, that is, not the manga one. The classical four stages of transformation to reach the Philosopher's Stone." He pointed at the sphere.
"Nigredo is associated with Earth and the color Black. Albedo with Water and White. The other two are Citrinitas, tied to Yellow and Air, and Rubedo, with Red and Fire. I don't know the specifics, but each has their own characteristics."
"And we just happen to be in the water aspect. So then we still have two more to go." Sol said before trying to aim his gun. However, when he did so, he found that the water was making it more difficult. It felt as though something was pushing on all sides of the barrels at different times, and he knew damn well it'd throw off his aim.
"This will be an interesting situation," Sol muttered to himself before trying to fire anyway. The rounds went wide of their target about halfway to.
"Only if with 'Interesting' you mean the Chinese meaning…" Alexander grumbled, switching Calcabrina for the fan and boots combo before starting to attempt to cut the giant spherical demon into ribbons.
While the water did not block their attacks, it still sapped the energy from his strikes, letting only weak blows land on the 'shell' of Trismagia Megistos, doing basically nothing.
The only silver lining to this situation was that the demon himself didn't seem to be able to act against them, either. At least until what looked like a snake made of water darted forward, distressingly solid, attempting to hit the two of them.
Realizing that Gevauden wouldn't be as useful here, Sol drew Vendetta and placed it between himself and the serpent. The construct dissipated against the flat of the giant sword into nothing but bubbles and force.
"So! Vendetta, big ass sword, and apparently a great breakwater," Sol said, slightly exasperated; the force of the serpent was surprisingly strong.
"Really hope that this stage is not going to last too long." Alex stored away Calcabrina before taking out Seraphim and aimed it at the next snakes coming towards them. The cone of pure sounds that slammed against the water construct made them vibrate and explode far away enough that neither was hurt.
"Because if this continues for too long, we're going to run out of stamina."
"True!" Sol said while blocking another serpent. "But, okay, I'm not up on my alchemy, and the most I've ever learned was from a story that used it as a backdrop for pursuing one's dreams!" Sol yelled while defending himself yet again.
"But I have a question! If this whole place is water and currents, what happens if we were to mix them?" Sol asked with a smirk.
"Assuming that Trismagia isn't in control of the entire area around us? Probably nothing, considering those constructs are moving the same way as us. But it's worth a try." Then, he nodded before blasting several other constructs with more soundwaves.
"Go for it."
"Right!" Sol affirmed before drawing another holy water and sending it out. The speed of the vial was significantly slower, but a glancing blow from a newly formed water serpent was enough to break it. Unlike before, there was no great explosion of light. Instead, there was a rush of bubbles that overtook the orb. When the bubbles eventually burst, the water took on an almost discolored appearance.
At first, it didn't seem like much had happened until the noise of something fizzing began to grow louder. The outer shell of Trsimagia's orb was beginning to dissolve in the discolored liquid. It wasn't the smack-down power of a normal holy water, but it was hopefully enough to begin cracking the damned shell.
Sadly, before the Holy Water could do much more than just stopping the demon from sending out the water construct and, maybe, poisoning him to death, his voice reverberated once more all around them.
And the white shell cracked like a salt crust before the two hybrids were sent flying backward all of a sudden, the place around them exploding into a vortex of air that took the place of the water around them.
As they stood up, the watery realm was replaced by a great expansive desert plain, wind whipping through the hardy grass that grew in this harsh environment. Gone was the light born from Trismagia's cocoon. In its place was a sun that seemed unnaturally still and mild. And then Trismagia descended.
Where once its form had been dedicated to three faces fused as one, Trismagia heads had been shifted, a singularly whole head sat between the shoulders, while two half heads sat on either, one missing part of its jaw, and the other looking as if it had been skinned. In addition, Trismagia sported a more humanoid appearance that towered over the two hybrids. Its body was covered in what appeared to be golden scales that didn't quite look like a lizard's scales. It rolled its shoulders and, balling its fists, Trismagia addressed the two.
"The penultimate stage. We're almost there." Alexander was talking as if he was facing a video game monster. It's not that he wasn't aware of the gravity or the danger of the situation; it's just that he needed something to keep his mind on the situation instead of getting distracted.
The two side heads opened their jaws and let loose gusts of winds that swept towards the two, kicking up sand, plant, and rock as they progressed forward.
"Yeah, but let's survive this first!" Sol shouted before moving out of the way of the gusts that were aimed towards him.
Alex rolled away, already changing his weapon back to Kookaburra & Butcherbird, bouncing away from the attack and returning the favor with blades of winds of his own.
That had been a mistake: the power of the Boss over the wind was stronger than he expected, so his attack fizzed out, before bigger wind slashes came flying at him, who had to jump and somersault away from the attempt to slice him up.
In the meantime, Sol fired Sunset after Sunset at the demon, raining down demonic energy on it. Many of the shots were destroyed by blades of winds that cast within a blink of an eye, with only a few doing minimal damage to its scales.
"We'll have to get in close. I don't think we can win this game if we remain at range." Sol said while switching to Semyaza.
Alexander moved back to Seraphim, nodding at his friend, before summoning a Choir.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so. Still, he doesn't look weak like he did at the start. Are you sure that getting close is a good idea?"
"Honestly, probably not. But, if we get close, we could negate his range and throw him off his focus." Sol responded before readying his fists. "But we won't know if we don't try."
With that said, he began to charge Trismagia Citrinitas.
Alex sighed and followed a moment later, the staff in his hands vibrating like a tuning fork.
The duo reached the giant form of the demon in moments, having to jump and throw themselves above and under the few attacks that had been sent at them before slamming against him with all their strength. Alex unleashed an explosion of sounds that cratered the ground under him and sent Trismagia sliding back, straight towards where Sol had slid to a stop, ready to attack.
Sol struck Trismagia with a rising strike that was focused on its spine. It sent the demon forward slightly, and before it could do anything more, there was a flurry of punches that kept pushing it forward towards Alex. The strikes ended with a shout of Abyssal Punch!
The last punch cracked… something, and Trismagia, in a surprising display of speed, whipped around and grabbed Sol by the arm before throwing him toward Alex and following up with a flurry of wind blades aimed at the two.
Alex, not expecting the sudden projectile, got sent backward with Sol against his torso, luckily ending outside the path of the attacks that Trismagia had sent toward them. The two skidded to a stop against the ground, groaning from the situation.
"I didn't expect that."
"I should have..." Mumbled Sol as he tried to spit some sand out. That was interrupted as the sound of feet pounding against sand and howling wind drew closer. Trismagia was now on the offensive, charging at them with both hands wide with wind carving deeply into dunes.
"Fuck!" Alex shouted while changing his weapon impressively fast. Calcabrina shot forward, one hand clamped around the middle of the weapon, the other grabbing Sol's hand and dragging him away from the incoming kaiju-sized demon.
The flight didn't last a lot, the umbrella twisting and turning at 90 degrees to the left, dodging the strike from the demon by a few inches before stopping a fair distance away and rolling on the ground once more.
Sol recovered from the roll only to see that Trismagia was turning on his heel and resuming his chase. For a moment, he was considering fleeing to make distance, but then he thought back to its Nigredo state.
"He wants us to run, to keep moving." He thought before counter charging.
"Sol!" Alex's shout was shrill, but he threw himself back inside the fighting, opening the umbrella and charging another beam, the energy charging slower than before.
Sol did hear Alex's shout but knew running wasn't an option here.
"Either I hit him, or Alex does. Either way, he'll be focused on one of us, and that's what counts!" His thought as he continued racing forward.
At about halfway there, Trismagia brought his claws low and raked up, creating an X-shaped pattern of howling blades that Sol was damned sure would have caught any flight options. It seemed though that Lady Luck had smiled down upon him because as the blade continued forward, a gap had opened, small enough for him to pass under and punish.
Rolling between the gap, Sol continued forward and was forced to roll to the side as Trismagia let loose a series of wild punches toward him. It was just enough, however, to get him close to the right knee.
Sol let loose a Dance of the Holy at the now unprotected part of the demon. He could see the kneecap buckle and scales crack apart as he hoped that Alex had his shot lined up.
Alex did have his shot lined up, and the moment Sol let the attack go and moved to the side to avoid the retaliatory attacks from Trismagia, he let loose the beam he had been charging. The attack slammed straight into the wounded part of the armor, making the demon roar with pain towards the non-existent skies.
The air itself trembled, making both Sol and Alex's ears whistle painfully.
The already damaged knee buckled under the strain of the spell, forcing Trsimagia to halt his assault. He turned his head to look at the two before attempting to stand. The knee couldn't take the weight and snapped, forcing Trismagia down a second time.
Trsimagia roared before all three heads opened wide, sending out torrents of winds past Alex and Sol. These torrents began to rapidly grow and merge with each other until, eventually, the two found themselves within the eye of a tornado, trapped with a wounded and enraged demon.
"Come on, not this!" Alex lamented, clearly starting to grow tired. Still, he moved near Sol once more and readied himself to defend from the possible attacks of the demon.
Trismagia, in the meantime, started moving around the twister, heavy stomps being blocked by the tornado, until he lashed with a claw, attempting to cut apart the two hybrids.
It was just luck that the attack came from their front, thus allowing Alex to cast his barrier and stopping the attack before it could cause them damage. However, it did not allow them to retaliate before it vanished behind the howling winds and sand around them.
"Damn."
"He's got a busted knee, so that's slowing him down, but…" Sol began as he watched Trismagia adjust itself.
"...he's in pain and pissed off, so that's going to be fun to deal with." He finished before drawing Gevauden once more.
"Think we can destroy him before the final phase?" He asked Alex quietly.
"If I know my narrative convention well…. Probably not. Still, I have an idea for dealing with this tornado, but it's going to be insanely dangerous. Want me to try it?" Alex asked, getting into a proper position, weapon ready, eyes narrowed into a slit.
"Whatever you need me to do, I've got your back," Sol responded, readying himself as best he could.
"Ok, I need you to switch to Semyaza and focus on the magic absorption part of how he works." Alex was sweating slightly, head and eyes moving in an attempt to find Trismagia through the tornado.
Without a word, Sol re-summoned the gauntlets and raised his fist in preparedness, feeling the ambient energy be drawn in. "I can't see him in the storm, can you?" He asked quietly.
"Then we're going to need to hit everywhere in the storm. I'm going to supercharge you, and then you jump and punch down. With a bit of luck…" The hybrid grimaced but put his hands on the gauntlets and focused, even closing his eyes. His entire body was outlined with energy shaped like flames for a moment before everything went into Semyaza, a rush of energy that Alex had never used before and left him panting, falling on his knees on the ground, blood dripping down his chin.
Whether Sol heard Alex fall to his knees or not, he focused solely on the power that now filled his gauntlets. His hands immediately crossed over each other like a shield as the newly given power came through him. It almost felt like it wanted to be directed at a singular point, but if he let it do that, then he ran the risk of missing… No, it had to be like a great flash, striking and illuminating everything that could and would be. His hands had been close to each other, too close to get the spread proper and so he tried to move them apart. The power inside was like a series of chains binding his arms as it was changed from demonic indigo to angelic gold. The effort to move them was immense. Yet he began to manage. Slowly but surely, his arms moved away from his front and to either side of his body, with each moment feeling like he was about to lose control.
With palms raised to the sky, he held the power for a final brief instant, feeling it the last of its be fully purified before screaming, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!"
He didn't know why, but those words just felt… right.
The effects were even more so. There was a blinding flash as the golden energy flared around them like the center of a solar flare, effortlessly piercing the sandstorm and striking Trismagia true. The demon attempted to shield its body, but its defense was… inadequate. The heat pressure of the attack drove the demon through the dunes, tearing the scales and muscles of its perfected body to shreds. It howled in fury and agony, but against all odds, Trismagia managed to get some degree of footing and stood in the face of the light, arms forward. Whatever it attempted was halted as its arms snapped under the pressure, and it was sent further away.
Sol was blind to this, and eventually, he felt the power fade as the light diminished. His arms fell to his sides before he collapsed to his knees. Looking forward, the dunes had been transformed into a near-flawless plain of glass, save for the blood and scale-laden trench that marred its beauty.
"Tha.. that's gotta be it… right?" Sol asked, more aloud than anything, before focusing and seeing the upright form of Trismagia. It was on its knees, listing… to the side that had more body left. Looking like burned and shredded meat, both arms had been reduced to bloody stumps. Its once glorious scales were pitted and shattered across a torso of exposed and torn muscle. The only sign of life from the demon was the barely noticeable expansion of its chest as it took deep, shuddering breaths. As it gasped for air, its blood began to pool around its broken body, bubbling and sizzling in the wind-swept and glassy landscape.
The smell of iron and copper filled the air before the wind started moving once more, the breeze turning into a strong gust until it turned into a twister all around the body of Trismagia Megistos.
The wind, echoing like a shriek of rage and pain, carried the demon upwards and was slowly painted crimson by the amount of blood that Trismagia was losing.
It was a deafening shout of defiance. Within the crimson storm, Trismagia's form started to glow a violent red. This new glow produced a terrifying heat, turning the normal winds into scorching gusts, the light growing slowly brighter and brighter.
Until the whole twister caught fire, exploding into a single flash of flames, dancing in the air without any apparent fuel, along with Trismagia's voice echoing all around them.
The flamestorm roiled and twisted, descending and forming around Trismagia Megistos' form showing to Alex and Sol what it had finally become.
Gone was the humanoid form and its golden scales. Rising from ashes of its destroyed body, Trsimagia's new form looked almost like a three headed phoenix. It was something both resplendent and vile. As it soared in the sky, the sun illuminated its crimson feathers and talons as great gouts of flame trailed behind it, descending to the ground and turning the sand into rivers of glass.
There was… something wrong about it though, something that Sol couldn't quite see. What was it?
"Well, shit. This should be the last stage, but you never know. And a phoenix… I just hope he can't resurrect himself, otherwise we're gone." Alex managed to drag himself upwards, blood still dripping from his mouth, so much that he spat to the side and, shakily, steeled himself.
"All I can say is that it looks like we're back at the range game until something changes. Let's just hope he burns himself out before too long." Sol said, while handing Alex another Vitality star and readying his gun.
Trismagia roared before changing his course and bearing down on the two. Except, he didn't merely charge them. Instead, the demon reared up in the air and spread its wings wide before its feathers detached and shot forward.
"Yep, range game." Alex brought out Calcabrina and opened the canopy of the umbrella, the barrier manifesting around him and Sol, moments before the onslaught of feathers could hit them. And, judging by the amount of damage that it had done to the ground around them, grievously hurting them.
"Do you have any idea on how to bring him down to our level?"
"No. But I figure if we keep shooting, he may get pissed off enough to come at us with his han… claws… not feathers." Sol before firing off several shots towards the oncoming feathers.
"Yeah, that works. Let me see if I can…" Alex waited a moment more before closing the umbrella and pointing the tip at Trismagia before a stream of bullets shot from it, covering the distance between the two of them fast. Not fast enough that the giant phoenix didn't manage to bank and turn to the side, throwing himself into a dive to avoid being hit.
"I'll lay down suppressing fire, you try to damage him?" Alex could keep up such an attack for a rather long time, considering the energy the bullets took to create. They wouldn't do much damage, but every little bit helped. And, if nothing else, they were distracting.
"Alright." Sol said before beginning to run off to one side while firing off Sunset after Sunset. The shots began to crash against the feathers that Trismagia shot forward. A few shots made it through the flurry, scoring along Trsimagia's body. It was then the feathers reached their positions.
While a good deal had been destroyed by their attacks, the few that made it through struck the ground hard and unleashed pillars of flame hot enough that Sol had to turn away and slam his eyes shut from the heat alone.
"Fuc-!" Again, Alex had to stop his attack and throw himself at Sol. Calcabrina had already opened the shield and enveloped them into a sphere of safety, albeit only a momentary one. Still, it was more than enough to survive the assault.
"No, we need to be faster, but I admit I'm having a couple of troubles thinking on what to do. Ideas?"
"Unless we can bring him down to our…" Sol stopped speaking as he looked past Alex and smiled slightly.
"Maybe we can use that!" He said while pointing.
From where one of the feathers struck, a steady stream of water was rising, hissing against the ambient heat.
"A few minutes ago, this whole land was submerged. So if the water is still down there, we can definitely get our frenemy to cool off!"
"Yeah, that would work… If he decides to dive bomb us, instead of just killing us by sending wave after wave of flaming feathers at us. So, unless you want to… I dunno, insult him or something. I doubt he's going to just come down."
Sol looked at Alex for a moment before smirking. "It usually worked for Dante, didn't it?"
Alex raised a single finger before lowering it. "...Point."
Then, he turned towards the demon that was still flying up above and, cupping his hands around his mouth, using the brief time of reprieve from the deluge of flaming feathers, he shouted at him.
"So much for being the new god of demons. You can't even come down and face us from up close! What's up with that, scared?!"
"Yeah!" Sol added, "Here you are taking on this great big form, and all you can do is throw feathers! What are you? Some sort of chicken!? We've been fighting you tooth and nail since the word go! So come on! You started something with your fists before! So why don't you give it another shot!?"
And Trismagia rolled in a tight corkscrew before diving down as fast as he could go, aiming straight for them.
"Well, that worked. Time to fly away!" Alex grabbed Sol by the waist before the duo shot backward towards one of the small lakes of water, Calcabrina flying over the sandy ground.
Trismagia struck the dune with a mighty explosive that was soon replaced by shrill hissing. The dust cloud that was kicked up was soon replaced by a cloud of steam.
"WHAT IS THIS!?"
Trismagia questioned as it thrashed within the small pool that was forming around it.
"I think this is our shot!" Sol said quickly. Alex nodded, before landing near Trismagia and, in a moment, flashing into Devil Trigger.
Sol began to charge into the steam while switching out to Vendetta. The steam obscured some vision but not enough where he could see. He began to see the unguarded stomach of Trismagia and slashed down with all his might. The great sword cleaved through feather and bone, and all three heads screamed as one while Sol kept slashing. One, quicker than the rest, saw Sol through the haze of pain and bore down with its mouth wide open, flame flickering in its mouth.
Sol, realizing this through seeing the shifting of exposed muscle, turned and slashed upwards. The blade carved through the phoenix head, taking the lower beak and a part of the top beak. The blood and flame ignited together, forcing Sol away lest he be burned.
However, the distraction that Sol had created allowed Alex to Step between moments and reappear near the three heads. Well, two and some remains.
"Geryon-Iai, Third Chime: Principle of Royalty!" His voice was hoarse, but his sword flashed through the necks of the three heads, a single, perfect line. A single, perfect cut.
And it kept cutting. Suspended into a time loop where the cut repeated itself again and again and again, without ending, as long as Alex had the energy to feed into it.
After six seconds, his Devil Trigger vanished, and the cut disappeared, the three heads falling into the shallow, boiling water that remained under the phoenix, and he took a couple of steps backward.
"That was… more energy intensive than I thought."
"Yeah, but look at that! We didn't have to perform another variant of Final Flash, and it's dead! We can try to go home now!" Sol cheered while patting Alex on the back.
Alex turned to look at Sol, deadpan, before slapping his face. "Please, tell me that you don't really think he's dead."
Almost as if he had planned it - he hadn't - the corpse of the three-headed phoenix exploded into a pillar of flames so high that it reached the skies.
Alex slapped Sol on the back of his head before the duo jumped backward to avoid the flaming feathers suddenly falling from the sky.
The voice echoed with an undertone of a bird's call before the six beady eyes of Trismagia locked onto the two hybrids.
"Fuck. Again."
And flaming feathers were shot once more.
**********
It had been how long since the fight had started? No, wait, they had baited this bastard into the dunes three more times since the regeneration.
"Fuck…" Sol breathed and realized he was getting tired. Whether it be Vendetta or Gevauden, he could feel his hands trembling from strain.
He was coming again, and Sol looked at Alex before nodding. Another pass, another dune, and another cutting down. Heh, maybe they'll just piss it off enough that it just rage quits and leaves them alone.
"Come on… come on…" Sol breathed as he readied himself.
Alex wasn't in a better situation. He was still getting tired, especially after the whole thing that he did with the supercharging Semyaza while in a tornado. He was getting a bit regretful about that now that he thought about it.
"Ok. I have a plan. Go to the dune and leave the rest to me. Oh, and pass me one of the remaining Holy Waters."
"Sure," Sol said tiredly before handing Alex one of the vials and heading off to the dune.
Alex took a deep breath before closing Calcabrina and mounting it like a witch with a broom. "Ok, Trismagia. You want to be difficult? You have no idea how difficult I can be. Let's GO!"
And he shot forward, faster than ever before, his mind focused on the spell that he was using to make his Devil Arm fly. It was a mix of the weapon's innate effect and an outside spell. The version he was using right now was just a pre-programmed flight path, but that didn't mean that he couldn't change it.
What the Statue offered was, after all, Potential for the future. Nothing more. Time and Potential, now. At a cost.
But that was nothing more than a stray thought. He had to focus.
The rain of flaming feathers coming his way forced him to improvise: not being able to change direction as he wanted, he had to stop the flying and start it again, with a new trajectory, every time he risked getting hit. And, sometimes, he just had to Step forward.
Finally, he reached the phoenix and stopped there, hovering in front of him with a cocky smirk.
"Surprise! I can fly, too! I guess that you aren't so special anymore, now, are you?!" His voice was more of a roar than a shout before he used the surprise of the demon to throw the Holy Water straight at the middle head.
Then he fell, leaving behind the explosion and a seriously pissed-off Trismagia, who decided to unveil a new trick beyond throwing himself into a dive to attempt to pluck Alex out of the air like a bug: he opened his three beaks and sent three rays of fire straight at him, attempting to burn him into ashes.
That forced Alex to break the flying spell more and more until something in his mind cracked a little.
"Incoming!"
Sol, witnessing the explosive and the follow-up rays, quickly began to move away from the blast zone. When the rays hit, Sol was sent over the dunes before rolling to a stop.
"Holy fuck… that must have really pissed him off." He said in a daze before getting up and going over the dune again.
Alex's attempts to avoid the attacks were, in the end, for naught: one of the rays hit him straight in the back, sending searing pain through his entire body, the choked scream that escaped his mouth pitch perfect in agony.
And, at that moment, in the bright, stark haze of pain, bordering on delirium, something connected in his mind. Almost as if he was being puppeteer-ed from above, he swerved all of a sudden, a ninety-degree change in movement, avoiding the continuous flame assault, before quickly moving behind the phoenix and slamming into him, feet first, driving the demon into the water beyond the dunes.
Sol saw the hit and began to charge towards it, swinging Vendetta over his shoulder and leaping over the edge towards a flailing Trismagia. His strike landed between two of the heads, cutting deeply into the abdomen. Before the heads could do anything else, Sol wrenched the sword free and swung wide, taking two necks at the base before swinging for the third and final head. The cut wasn't as clean as the rest, but it was enough. Feeling the temperature rising around him, Sol leaped away from the demon before it burst into flame once more.
"THIS IS FUTILE. I WILL RISE AGAIN… AND AGAIN!!!"
From the flames, Trismagia's voice called once more. Yet Sol thought he heard something different in the declaration this time… was that fatigue he heard? He hoped so, damn it all. He hoped so much for that to be the case.
The phoenix rose once more, but once he was back into proper sight, both Alex and Sol could see that there was something different. Then, it clicked: Trismagia was leaner. Slightly smaller.
It had the body of someone who had skipped one dinner too many and worked a bit too long.
"He's weakening." Alex's voice was nary more than a whisper. Sol heard it only because he had moved back towards him. "And I think I know why. Want to hear my theory?"
"I'm all ears," Sol responded before planting Vendetta into the ground and leaning on it.
"He's consuming more energy than he has. Regenerating from… if not death, something very near it, it's costing him more and more strength." His whisper turned into silence while he followed with his eyes the ascending form of Trismagia.
Since two resurrections ago, he had stopped attacking as soon as he had regenerated himself, preferring instead to gain altitude and attack from far away.
"Still, it seems like he's getting smarter. Do you have any idea on how to bring him down now that insults don't work anymore?"
"I've got… 5 to 6 Holy Waters left." Sol said after a moment, before continuing. "He might expect that, though, so I want you to throw me. You got right up in his face before. If you can get me there, I could use Semyaza to bear down on him and bring him down."
Alex blinked, before nodding. Calcabrina rose by its own accord, hovering around 1 foot off the ground. "Sounds good. Hop on."
And, with unnatural balance, Alex stepped on the umbrella, waiting for Sol to follow him.
Sol wasted no time in storing Vendetta away and stepping behind Alex. He steeled himself as he felt that familiar tingle of aerial nervousness and fear spread into his fingers. He trusted Alex to get him close. He just needed to keep calm while he was punching that damned bird.
"Trust me. Even if you fall, I WILL catch you." And, after saying that, Calcabrina shot forward, in a rising curve, faster than before but also more controlled. Not invisibly, sadly.
Trismagia turned and scattered a veritable wave of burning feathers before sending several rays of fire towards the duo. It took several acrobatic prowess on Alex's part to avoid the lances of flames and the feathers, but he managed.
Until a wall of fire stopped his advance.
"Do you trust me?" The question came like a whisper but loud enough to cut through the rushing air around the two.
"Do it!" Sol shouted above the din of the flame.
"Then hold onto me, tight! We're moving in the world without time! " After Sol had tightened his grasp on Alex, the hybrid seemed to take a single, deep breath.
And time stopped. Everything turned a strange hue of gray and indigo, a faux-monochrome that felt unreal. They were still moving, slipping through frozen feathers and flames without heat.
Once they had passed the shield of flames that had surrounded Trismagia, a shield made from his own shed feathers, Alex breathed once more, and Time started again.
They were behind the phoenix, without him being aware of it.
"Woo! Okay! Throw me!" Sol shouted as he realized how close they were.
"Fastball special!" Alex laughed before he half-turned towards Sol, grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun, using Calcabrina as an aid, before sending his friend towards the demon as fast as he was able.
There was a brief moment of terrifying weightlessness as Sol was propelled forward, but he powered through it and drew Gevauden. Trismagia felt something land on its back before the bone-bladed whip wrapped around its center head.
"All right, asshole, we're heading straight down to earth, and I'm riding shotgun!" Sol roared before punching down into Trismagia. The demon thrashed violently under the assault, almost throwing the hybrid, if not Gevauden's hold on the neck. After getting some degree of better footing, Sol resumed punching. With each punch, Sol could feel bones breaking, and after several more hits, the wings shuddered and fell limp. Trismagia had begun to free fall, and Sol was not going to let this chance fall away.
"You're probably going to regenerate from this, but I don't care! It's just a useless effort, you hear me!? Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless!!!" Sol roared as he unleashed Dance of the Holy before transitioning into an Infernal Punch. He saw, more than felt, the entire back of the demon cave in from that final punch before he leaped off the demon.
Striking the sand hard, Sol rolled for several seconds, uncaring of the crater that Trismagia was going to make.
He stopped rolling just in time to see Alex coming down like a meteor, leaving a streak of light behind him amidst the flaming feathers still in the air. Then, while he was halfway down, Calcabrina vanished, and Seraphim appeared in his hands. A piercing whistle started to echo all around.
Armor covered his body as he slipped back into Devil Trigger moments before he landed on the struggling body of Trismagia, driving him even deeper into the waters. Then, his voice reached Sol even in the distance.
"Sing, O Muse, of the Immortal Lovers!" And Alex and Trismagia exploded, a wave of pressure that sent water, sand, and feathers flying away.
Alex landed on the ground near Sol, cackling like a hyena. "I've wanted to use it since I got it."
"Hahahaha!" Sol laughed as he made to stand. "And what a way to use it!"
A plume of fire manifested within the crater that Trismagia had made. Sol's shoulder sagged as he realized what was going on. Rolling his shoulders, he took out two Devil Stars, using one and handing the other to Alex.
"Looks like the phoenix is still burning," Sol said with a grimace.
But something had definitely changed since before.
Trismagia was now skin and bones. As in his skin was stretched over his bones, making him look like one of those famine victims, the rib cage perfectly delineated even under the coat of feathers on the chest, the wings looking more and more skeletal, the eyes sunken into the skull.
He… didn't seem to notice, however.
"Uh-oh."
"Oh no…" Sol muttered as a wall of deeply crimson flame poured forth from Trismagia's form. As it made its way toward the two, the roar of the flame began to change, growing in pitch until it sounded more like a scream. More disturbingly, humanoid figures could be seen within, their cries of agony reaching the sky as their mad rush glassed the sand they raced along.
"Fly! FLY!" Sol shouted in horror.
Alex didn't even stop to say anything: he just grabbed Sol around the waist while his other hand clamped like a vice on Calcabrina before shooting upwards as fast as he could push his weapon to go.
And yet, the flames seemed to rise and rise towards them, like a monstrous guardian of hell. In the flames, the tongues of fire twisted and contorted into humanoid figures until they looked a lot like the various people that they had met in their travels through the small dimension that Trismagia Megistos had created.
The college guy who was part of their group. The kids. The punks and the nazis. The man and the woman that had attempted to kill them. The Red Eyes.
The various figures, now more clearly defined, began to scream at the two fleeing hybrids.
"WhAT dID YoU dO To US!!!???" Some cried.
"YoU! YOU kIllEd Me!" Another one screamed.
"BAGGAGE LIKE YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST DIED!" A haunting familiar face screamed.
"HOW!? HOW DID YOU BREAK MY SHELL!?" A red-eyed sorcerer cried.
"I'LL BLEED YOU DRY, YOU INSIPID, BLOODY BASTARDS!" A phantom of Laura howled.
"IT'S NOT OVER!!! I CAN'T LET THIS END HERE!" Ivan's phantom yelled.
"ZEKE! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Gabrielle called, her form roiling within the flame.
"I T' S N O U S E!" Zeke cackled.
"Fiendfyre-stealing asshole…" Alexander muttered, pushing more energy into his flight and going faster and higher, attempting to evade the flames that were literally chasing them, leaping from the ground to the air like embers.
Very dangerous embers.
"Hold on. I'm going to use some escaping maneuvers!" And that said, Alex changed direction all of a sudden, turning 90 degrees and going into a dive before turning once more.
"Woooo!" Sol cried as Alex made his turn. Looking back, the faces in the flame began to melt into each other, losing their individuality and looking more like a mass of near-featureless faces howling into the sky. The fire raced behind them, licking at their heels before slowly, almost imperceptibly, beginning to wane. It seemed that the fuel that fed this unearthly flame was being used up.
Left. Left again. A steep climb up. Right. Corkscrew to the left, then a rapid and sudden turn downwards, before turning right and back.
"I can't keep this up for much longer! Do you have any ideas?!"
"Douse it!?" Sol asked while fumbling a Holy Water into his hand.
"Let's try it!" Alex had to turn suddenly to avoid a jet of flames aimed at his head before nodding to Sol.
Wordlessly, Sol threw the vial into the crimson flames. There was a moment where nothing happened, and then, with a great cry, the flames burst into a cloud of steaming vapor that expanded in all directions, obscuring the two from sight. The only evidence of its presence was the glassed sands left in its wake and the mimicry whispers of slain victims.
Then, a moment later, the flames redoubled in intensity, roaring once more towards the two, fueled by the rage and power of the phoenix, who cried to the skies his hatred.
"Oh fuck! That didn't work!" Sol cried as the flames ate through the steam and charged towards them.
Alex said something rude enough to paint the air blue before turning once more.
"I think we need to remove the source!" His shout was almost covered by the crackling and moaning of the living flames, but Sol definitely heard it.
"Right!... Aw, hell, throw me over when you get the chance. Make it hard for him to concentrate!" Sol responded over the din of the flames.
"So you can burn to a cinder?" Alex's answer was sarcastic enough to be heard before he had to twist and turn once more. Still, that gave him an idea for how to attempt to resolve the situation.
"Let's go all in. A single shared attack from both of us. The strongest you can make with the strongest I can make." He turned to glance at the flames that kept following them. "Otherwise, I'm going to spend all my energy attempting to avoid the fire, and we're going to die all the same."
"Alright." Sol said before bringing forth Semyaza, "Better to bring forth some angelic might for this."
"Good idea. Ok, sothis is going to be very strange, but I need you to close your eyes and not open them until the voices are gone. Ok? On three. One…" Alex said, turning in midair with a loop de loop and shooting back towards the phoenix, weaving right and left to avoid the wave of flames, a look of focus on his face.
"Oh, no problem, just like last time…" Sol thought before shutting his eyes and readying himself.
On and on the voices called, and still Sol kept his eyes closed as much as possible.
Alex narrowed his eyes and he slipped, again, between seconds. The grayscale world greeted him, streaks of indigo showing him the details, like light in the fog. And yet, he passed through frozen flames and tortured faces, before reappearing right above Trismagia Megistos.
"NOW!" His voice roared, shaking the air, Calcabrina vanishing into his Inventory, while Seraphim appeared in his hands, his entire body flashing into his Devil Trigger state.
Sol hit his DT and felt that power flood him. Launching forward, he cried "Dance of the Holy!" As his fists began to rain down on Trismagia's body. Each blow took chunks of desiccated flesh and bone in rapid time.
The three heads of the phoenix shrieked high to the heavens, before Alex landed on his back, right where the three necks joined with the body, his staff in his hands, the bottom tip aimed at the body of the demon.
It pierced the flesh until it hit the bone, where it stopped. A pinprick, due to the simple difference in size. However, that wasn't all that Alex was going to do.
"[Sing, o' Muse, of the Immortal Lovers]!"
Seraphim vibrated and a note as pure as crystal echoed in the air, while an explosion of pure sound and vibration expanded from his position, flaying Trismagia alive and banishing the flames all around him.
Alex, instead of remaining there, let the explosion fling him away and freeing the path for Sol to attack once again.
There was a brief pause before Sol shouted, "Outer Heaven!" In a flash, Semyaza appeared behind Sol and joined in on the punch rush. As they continued to punch, Trismagia's chest began to cave in until, eventually, the rib cage shattered. And with one mighty shout of "INFERNAL PUNCH!!!" He aimed straight at Trismagia's heart. By itself, the demonically enhanced punch would have just burst the heart. However, the final attack was channeled through Semyaza, and the energy was inverted. The heart shuddered and deflated before a series of golden lights traveled through the valves into the rest of the body.
Trismagia's three heads screamed as cracks began to spread along its body. Steaming blood poured forth before micro explosions rocked the demon's body as it fell backward.
"Now, stay dead this time!" Sol hissed before resting on a knee.
Alex landed near him, the armor of his Devil Trigger already vanishing in feathers the color of bronze, panting heavily.
"I really hope we're done now. The flames are gone, but I don't know anymore." The fighting for that amount of time was taking its toll on both of them, eroding their mental fortitude and resistance: having to be on alert and continuously moving was exhausting.
Then, almost as if he was waiting for this to happen, a flicker of flame appeared where the corpse was, consuming it in a roaring inferno before Trismagia was there again. Wing opened, rising from the ashes once more.
"Give us a bre…" Sol began to say before trailing off. Looking at Trismagia's appearance, the demon was significantly smaller than before. Even the voice carried less presence than previously.
"Alex," Sol began quietly. "I think our endurance in this battle is about to pay off." He finished while drawing Gevauden.
"Wait, what… Oh." Alex looked at Trismagia properly before smiling. "Yeah, I think you are correct."
"I think we should capitalize on this now. Before he throws out another alchemical wall of flame." Sol said before readying himself.
Trismagia was, currently, looking like skin stretched over bones, the flames that had almost consumed the two of them before now sputtering and dying, bit by bit. And yet, the demon didn't seem to realize that.
Even if he was just barely hovering in place.
"I… don't think that's needed, to be honest," Alex said something that sounded a bit like pity in his tone of voice. Very, very little of it.
"Why!?" Sol hissed quietly. "What if he attacks again? What if he transforms or something?"
Trismagia roared or at least attempted to. The majesty that it once held was far too diminished. Familiar crimson flames began to manifest, and the demon called out once more.
The flames sputtered and died away as Trismagia collapsed to the ground.
Trismagia attempted to stand before collapsing, strength quickly leaving its weakened form. For several moments, all that could be heard was labored breathing before it partially, its bulk shuddering with noticeable effort.
"No trickery." Alex said, with a small and calm smile on his face. He just looked at the slowly shrinking form of Trismagia, his eyes barely glinting when the light of the flames reached him.
"You played yourself. You did evolve into a phoenix and a very strong one, it's true, but… Did you really think that you could just keep being reborn over and over without a cost?"
"No… No, you haven't. All you've done is commit murder on a grand scale. And even then, we and so many more fought against you. Look where's that gotten you! The flame is dying, and you're petering out." Sol said, venom lacing every word.
"You're right that I don't know a lot about resurrection. What I know, however, is the cost of healing." Alex leaned on Calcabrina's closed form, looking straight at Trismagia's eyes.
"You think it's easy to recover from the damage? Demons heal quickly and almost perfectly, it's true, but they still need the fuel to do so. And all fuel ends, especially if you push it too fast like you did today." He waved his hand towards his form.
"And this is the result."
Trismagia roared in fury as, in a desperate display of strength, it stood up once more, flames beginning to pour forth from its body.
Sol sheathed Gevauden before drawing Nymphaeum. "Well, I don't think there's a better end for this. Remind me again, Alex, what was the last thing Arkham heard before being bitch slapped down to earth?"
"Arkham? That mad clown?" Alex asked before putting his index finger on his lips, assuming a thinking pose for a moment.
"I'm not sure. Want to refresh my memory?"
Sol smiled, moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Alex, and raised his gun, finger on the trigger. Alex copied his position, but with his fingers pointed in the shape of a gun, an energy bullet hovering in front of his index and middle finger.
""Jackpot.""
The combined shot slammed against Trismagia's middle head, prompting a shriek of pain from the other two before the phoenix in front of them simply vanished like a flame without fuel.
And silence fell around the two.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
And so falls the would-be god at hell's end. This was a hell of a chapter write. It didn't go through many rewrites save for one section, which was very different but led to some plot holes and a situation in which NO ONE in this fight would have been able to survive. Only one more chapter and an epilogue left, and it is a hell of a ride!
And then, the title of the monster appeared in front of them.
TRISMAGIA MEGISTOS: PROFANE YALDABAOTH
THAT made Alex snort.
"FIND AS MUCH AMUSEMENT AS YOU WOULD LIKE. IT MATTERS NOT."
Trismagia stated before the temple seemed to warp and pull itself towards the edifice that Zeke had been attempting to break through. The stone cracked to reveal an expansive void that drew all three in, and with it came the sound of low, howling winds. Within the void, the land changed, moving from an ancient temple to a land of Ichorous Earth, which stretched and flowed forever towards a light in the far distance.
"YOUR BLOOD WILL SERVE TO FURTHER MY CLAIM. THE THRONE, IGNORED AND ABANDONED BY THE SON OF SPARDA, IS WITHIN GRASP. NOW PERISH."
"And that throne will remain empty! Sol shouted back before looking at Alex. "Are you ready for this!?" He asked.
Alex nodded, his lips stretched into a feral smile before Calcabrina appeared in his hands. "Let's do this."
However, the demon in front of them didn't wait much more. It floated back in the air while opening each of its mouths, white light shining from inside them. After a mere moment, the demon started speaking.
"DIE." "YOU WILL BE KILLED." "FALL FOR ME."
The mere weight of those words was more than enough to send both of them on their knees, blood pouring from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, as their hearts seized in their chests, convulsing, straining against the order of the oracle of the demon world.
"Da…dammit, I won't… I can't…" Sol began to hiss out. He tried to move, but the weight was bearing down on him like nothing else.
"What would have happened if we had played its role!? Would… this have been worse!?… I need… I need to do something… SOMETHING!" He raged within his mind before remembering something and smirked a bloody smile. With trembling hands, he reached towards that inventory.
"YOU STILL TRY? YOUR PERSISTENCE IS AN ANNOYANCE."
"Asshole… should have watched your… shops!" Sol hissed before smashing something into the ground. There was a flash of blinding blue light and Trismagia screamed.
The pressure seemed to abate itself, and Sol grabbed two other items and threw one at Alex.
"Alex! Take it!"
The item in question was a large, green star.
Alex managed to grab the item, before he shot upwards, the damage healing as he moved, before he disappeared from his position and reappeared above Trismagia Megistos, having slipped between the flow of time.
"FUCK! YOU!" And he fell like a meteor, straight against the top of his head, planting the blade of Calcabrina as deep as it would go before taking the sheath, opening it, and forcing a Tar Beam at full power against the top of the head of the demon.
With a groan, two seams began to appear upon Trismagia's form as the body split into three separate heads. One laughed, another wept, and yet another howled. The one directly under Alex began to shake as flames began to manifest across its form.
The head that crackled with lightning began to space itself out from the rest, spitting out balls of lightning that moved toward the two hybrids with a deceptive speed. The third, pale head, though, arced towards Sol.
Sol saw the head coming and crushed the Vitality Star before meeting it. It breathed a pale, misting breath that flash froze the ground that Sol was previously standing on. Wordlessly, Sol emulated something of Alex's last attack and loosened Gevauden, wrapping it around its chin before pulling himself forward and instigating Maelstrom. The attack carved into the chin, drawing freezing blood and sending the demonic head reeling back in shock.
In the meantime, Alex had to jump away from the red face while also avoiding the lightning that the blue face was spitting at him, which seemed easy, at least until someone realized that the balls were actually made of lightning, which meant that they traveled relatively slowly, only to ground themselves in the nearest, not-Trismagia body they could find.
In short, if it wasn't for the fact that Alex could bend time around his fingers, he would already be on the strange ground they found themselves, convulsing from the electricity and easy prey for the monster.
Sol was not as lucky, as focusing on the pale head distracted him from the oncoming electricity. While a good portion of it had dissipated, there was still enough that locked him up for a moment before dropping to his knees in pain. He fumbled for Nymphaeum, fired a few shots blindly at the lightning head, and staggered to his feet.
"OH NO, YOU DON'T!" Alex's shout was followed by a sudden change of equipment. Before a storm of air blades started falling on the lightning face, Alex was basically pirouetting in the air, arms extended and fans fully opened.
The face turned and breathed, creating a familiar storm of lightning around it that blocked most of the air blade. Those that bypassed the shield carved deeply into its face, forcing the face to reel back like the others and stop its attack. All faces converged once more and fused into their true self.
"DO YOU BELIEVE YOURSELVES CAPABLE OF WINNING? THIS RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."
Trismagia stated a matter of factly before all three mouths opened as one. They began to draw in demonic energy, which traveled into the center eye. It glowed with a baleful light before three manifestations of its power formed around, each matching a corresponding element and each flowing into one like a violent liquid paint. The resulting combination was a purple mass of demonic energy that was shot forward toward the two hybrids.
"Does it matter if we believe it or not? We need to win. So you're going down!" Alex shouted, dancing in the air with three rapid steps before grabbing Sol by his arm and twisting himself in a circular throw, sending the other upwards, way up. Above the attack, Trismagia had just slammed on the ground.
Exactly where Alex was.
For a moment, Sol hung in the air in disbelief. Fear of heights gone, replaced by a great sense of disbelief. A disbelief that quickly turned to blinding rage.
"Trismagia!" He raged while in DT he sent Gevaudan towards Trismagia. The whip sword struck true and hooked into the demon's mouth before contracting. Swinging forward, Sol winded the circumference of the fused demon before landing on top of its head. Before it did anything else, Sol sent the command that would contract Gevauden again; this time, the blades tore across Trismagia's body. Adding salt upon the wound, Sol smashed another Holy Water directly into Trsimagia before being forced to flee due to an erratic discharge of energy.
Landing back on the platform, Sol began to frantically search for any trace of Alex.
Under the purple whatever that Trismagia had summoned as an attack, something black and angry rose.
Alex, because it was him, was completely covered in black armor, leaving nothing free for the attack to hit. And, no matter how much he stumbled or faltered, he slowly got up while a faint black glow was surrounding him.
"Hey, Trismagia? I have a message for you." His voice was amused, even if clearly filled with pain. Then, the glow intensified. By a lot.
Until it was almost impossible to see clearly.
"It's from these two. You know, the two lovers that you have purposefully kept apart? Yeah. They're…" He choked a bit before turning fully towards the amalgam of heads.
"They say FUCK YOU!" And the black glow turned into a flash of light, slamming against the yellow composite of heads in an onslaught of energy that sent both the demon back and opened long and crude gashes into his flesh, making him hemorrhage power like a broken faucet.
Alex, in the meantime, had fallen on his knees, the armor vanishing into feathers, the Laughing Kookaburra & Greater Butcherbird losing their shine. "Fuck, that… That took more off me than I thought."
Sol grabbed Alex and offered a shoulder for support. "Dammit! Don't scare me like that!" He hissed between breaths before taking out a Devil Star and offering it to Alex. "You're lucky I thought to stock up before all this."
While it seemed the two were mostly alright. Trismagia was decidedly not: the armor's damage reflection effect had been enough to rock the monster backward, long gashes covering the tri-faces, one of the eyes completely blown off, another closed with several long cuts over the eyelid. The lip of one mouth was halfway ripped.
It didn't seem so much, except that Trismagia was losing the Red Orbs that he had just gained and, evidently, not managing to absorb yet.
"IMPOSSIBLE! EVEN BOUND AS ONE, THOSE WEAPONS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD THAT POWER!"
Trismagia shouted, as its facade of control and might cracked under the pain it was experiencing.
"Seems like you have some problems in the power department. Spent too much time leeching off others to understand what you could work with!?" Sol shouted at the demon while crushing a Devil Star of his own.
"NO! I WILL NOT LOSE TO TWO SPECKS OF COSMIC DUST LIKE THE TWO OF YOU!!"
The heads separated once more before they started moving in a tight circle, wind being kicked up and creating a tight twister around the duo on the ground. Soon, the force of those winds had grown enough that both Alex and Sol were trapped in them, rising in midair while being tossed around like in a washer machine.
"YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!" "YOU HAVE ALREADY RUINED ENOUGH!" "IT IS TIME FOR ME TO SHOW…"
The twister stopped, the three heads reuniting together, shining brightly.
"MY MAGNUM OPUS!"
"[NIGREDO]"
"[NIGREDO]"
The mixed head started changing, moving from a yellowish color into what was a pitch black, almost metallic, while a rather putrescent smell and liquid started dripping from his eyes and mouths.
When the liquid hit the ground, it began to eat through, releasing a noxious steam. The erosion continued swiftly, forcing the two hybrids to flee up the now uneven terrain. As parts of the land dissolved, eroded fragments began to float upwards before breaking down into a black, spectral material that flowed into Trismagia, healing some of its wounds but, more importantly, seeming to empower the demon further. In very short order, where there was once a vast stretch of land that extended in every direction, now there were only large islands and smaller platforms above an endlessly yawning void.
"Hello fear of heights, my old friend." Sol said numbly as he witnessed the change in their situation.
"Yeah. And I'm not in good condition to fly, either." In fact, Alex had dismissed the armor that covered him a moment before, and he was clearly panting. "The Devil Star helped, but it's going to take a while to work fully."
In the meantime, the demon was glowing darker than dark, with something pure white shining inside.
"BE CRUSHED UNDER YOUR OWN IMPOTENCE!!"
The various small floating islands around started to move and fall towards the duo, like meteors coming down from the heavens.
"Well fuck, I guess it's my turn! I really, really hate heights!" Sol shouted before grabbing Alex with one arm, running, and using Gevauden to swing over to the next closest platform. The major difference was that they got a good view of the void beneath before their momentum carried them over.
"I really, really want to kill this fucker…" Sol muttered as he stared at the ground for a second longer than needed, not even realizing that his Devil Trigger had faded.
"Same."
The sound of the rocks impacting the previous platform was deafening. But they had avoided the direct impact, and with a quick movement from Alex, his barrier stopped the sharp shards of rock from skewering them.
"FLEEING WON'T HELP YOU!"
More rocks, these were now glowing a virulent black, and as they aimed all around the two, the air around each rock hissed.
Every instinct within Sol's body screamed to grab Alex and book it, but at the last moment, something seemed to click as he watched the descending the rocks. He grabbed Alex's shoulder and whispered, "Watch the rocks. It's a trap."
Indeed it was as a majority of the rocks were sent on an intercept course to areas of exit that Sol and Alex would have taken if they decided to flee. In response, Sol raised Nymphaeum and began to fire at Trismagia's form while keeping an eye for any rocks that could have actually been sent their way.
In the meantime, after knowing that the area where they were staying was mostly safe, Alex opened his umbrella and started charging his beam attacks while also writing something in the air with his fingers, silvery-white symbols forming around the edge of the umbrella, glowing slightly.
"If you can keep him busy for a moment or two, I'm going to crack his head straight open."
Sol looked at Alex briefly before nodding and taking out another Holy Water.
"TRY AS YOU MIGHT, THERE IS NO ESCAPE!"
"You got that right," Sol said with a smirk as he fired Nymphaeum several times. The shots weren't aimed at Trismagia; rather, they were aimed at the few rock particles that were still semi-solid. The rounds dispersed them in thick clouds of miasma that would have partially obscured its sight. Sol holstered his gun before tossing the vial of holy water in the air and punching it hard.
The holy water did not shatter from the hit. Instead, it went flying forward through the miasma and struck Trismagia's right face. There was an explosion of blue light as the right face's skin sloughed off and muscle burned.
Following that, Alex aimed the glowing canopy straight at the stunned Trismagia, the symbols around the edge turning like a wheel, faster and faster, until the whole thing was blinding to look at.
"Being part Time Horse comes in handy when you try to make a beam weapon that shoots time." The hybrid's smile was feral. "Now die, you motherfucker!"
The beam of silver-blue light shot towards the demon, slamming into him and rocking him back. The amount of energy that he had collected - and being looped via a costly but working, time magic circle - was kicking up a giant cloud of dark dust while also digging a hole in the tri-headed monster.
Trismagia's form recoiled and shuddered as the time-looping spell wreaked its deadly toll on it before falling away from its lofty height to the void.
Sol looked at the spot where the demon was before asking aloud, "Was that it?"
There was a rumbling noise as a pillar of white light manifested and then coalesced into a large orb. The surface of the orb looked like a miniature sea with waves that almost looked pink against the white.
"Are those its red orbs?" Sol asked with horror.
"Oh, fuck me. Really? How many damned phases does this thing have?!" Alex's question was shouted to the void before the orb that was clearly the monster, considering the fact that, periodically, a face pressed against the surface, stretching it like a monster in a horror film, before sinking back inside, rose above them and the island under their feet started to turn into liquid.
"BEHOLD!" "YOUR END!" "MY MAGNUM OPUS!"
"[ALBEDO]!"
"[ALBEDO]!"
"Nigredo, Albedo… That sounds like a sequence." Sol said to Alex before looking back at the orb.
"If we can crack that, do you think that will ruin whatever is going on? Like destroying critical materials for a work of art?" Sol asked before readying himself.
"Wait, wait, wait, I think… I know that those two words are… Damn it!" But, before Alex could say anything, the ground under them turned into liquid, and both of them fell inside; the current of the water - luckily, it was just water - dragged both of them away into what looked like a whirlpool suspended in the middle of the space.
The currents were too strong to fight against, and the two passed through the very center of the whirlpool into another realm entirely. Whereas the first place they fought in was one earth and stone, this new place looked like the sea floor just off the shore. The light created by Trismagia's new form filtered through the water they found themselves within, casting shadows that danced with the currents.
Sol began to convulse briefly before realizing something, he could breathe… what insane place had they found themselves in now? He looked to find Alex and see if he had any further idea what those two words meant.
"Fuck. Of course. Magnum Opus, Nigredo, Albedo…" He was frowning and twisting his hands on Calcabrina's handle.
"It's Alchemy. Medieval alchemy, that is, not the manga one. The classical four stages of transformation to reach the Philosopher's Stone." He pointed at the sphere.
"Nigredo is associated with Earth and the color Black. Albedo with Water and White. The other two are Citrinitas, tied to Yellow and Air, and Rubedo, with Red and Fire. I don't know the specifics, but each has their own characteristics."
"And we just happen to be in the water aspect. So then we still have two more to go." Sol said before trying to aim his gun. However, when he did so, he found that the water was making it more difficult. It felt as though something was pushing on all sides of the barrels at different times, and he knew damn well it'd throw off his aim.
"This will be an interesting situation," Sol muttered to himself before trying to fire anyway. The rounds went wide of their target about halfway to.
"Only if with 'Interesting' you mean the Chinese meaning…" Alexander grumbled, switching Calcabrina for the fan and boots combo before starting to attempt to cut the giant spherical demon into ribbons.
While the water did not block their attacks, it still sapped the energy from his strikes, letting only weak blows land on the 'shell' of Trismagia Megistos, doing basically nothing.
The only silver lining to this situation was that the demon himself didn't seem to be able to act against them, either. At least until what looked like a snake made of water darted forward, distressingly solid, attempting to hit the two of them.
Realizing that Gevauden wouldn't be as useful here, Sol drew Vendetta and placed it between himself and the serpent. The construct dissipated against the flat of the giant sword into nothing but bubbles and force.
"So! Vendetta, big ass sword, and apparently a great breakwater," Sol said, slightly exasperated; the force of the serpent was surprisingly strong.
"Really hope that this stage is not going to last too long." Alex stored away Calcabrina before taking out Seraphim and aimed it at the next snakes coming towards them. The cone of pure sounds that slammed against the water construct made them vibrate and explode far away enough that neither was hurt.
"Because if this continues for too long, we're going to run out of stamina."
"True!" Sol said while blocking another serpent. "But, okay, I'm not up on my alchemy, and the most I've ever learned was from a story that used it as a backdrop for pursuing one's dreams!" Sol yelled while defending himself yet again.
"But I have a question! If this whole place is water and currents, what happens if we were to mix them?" Sol asked with a smirk.
"Assuming that Trismagia isn't in control of the entire area around us? Probably nothing, considering those constructs are moving the same way as us. But it's worth a try." Then, he nodded before blasting several other constructs with more soundwaves.
"Go for it."
"Right!" Sol affirmed before drawing another holy water and sending it out. The speed of the vial was significantly slower, but a glancing blow from a newly formed water serpent was enough to break it. Unlike before, there was no great explosion of light. Instead, there was a rush of bubbles that overtook the orb. When the bubbles eventually burst, the water took on an almost discolored appearance.
At first, it didn't seem like much had happened until the noise of something fizzing began to grow louder. The outer shell of Trsimagia's orb was beginning to dissolve in the discolored liquid. It wasn't the smack-down power of a normal holy water, but it was hopefully enough to begin cracking the damned shell.
Sadly, before the Holy Water could do much more than just stopping the demon from sending out the water construct and, maybe, poisoning him to death, his voice reverberated once more all around them.
"OBSERVE!" "AND WEEP!" "MY MAGNUM OPUS!"
"[CITRINITAS]!"
"[CITRINITAS]!"
And the white shell cracked like a salt crust before the two hybrids were sent flying backward all of a sudden, the place around them exploding into a vortex of air that took the place of the water around them.
As they stood up, the watery realm was replaced by a great expansive desert plain, wind whipping through the hardy grass that grew in this harsh environment. Gone was the light born from Trismagia's cocoon. In its place was a sun that seemed unnaturally still and mild. And then Trismagia descended.
Where once its form had been dedicated to three faces fused as one, Trismagia heads had been shifted, a singularly whole head sat between the shoulders, while two half heads sat on either, one missing part of its jaw, and the other looking as if it had been skinned. In addition, Trismagia sported a more humanoid appearance that towered over the two hybrids. Its body was covered in what appeared to be golden scales that didn't quite look like a lizard's scales. It rolled its shoulders and, balling its fists, Trismagia addressed the two.
"GAZE UPON ME, INTERLOPERS, FOR MY ASCENSION IS AT HAND!!!"
"The penultimate stage. We're almost there." Alexander was talking as if he was facing a video game monster. It's not that he wasn't aware of the gravity or the danger of the situation; it's just that he needed something to keep his mind on the situation instead of getting distracted.
The two side heads opened their jaws and let loose gusts of winds that swept towards the two, kicking up sand, plant, and rock as they progressed forward.
"Yeah, but let's survive this first!" Sol shouted before moving out of the way of the gusts that were aimed towards him.
Alex rolled away, already changing his weapon back to Kookaburra & Butcherbird, bouncing away from the attack and returning the favor with blades of winds of his own.
That had been a mistake: the power of the Boss over the wind was stronger than he expected, so his attack fizzed out, before bigger wind slashes came flying at him, who had to jump and somersault away from the attempt to slice him up.
In the meantime, Sol fired Sunset after Sunset at the demon, raining down demonic energy on it. Many of the shots were destroyed by blades of winds that cast within a blink of an eye, with only a few doing minimal damage to its scales.
"We'll have to get in close. I don't think we can win this game if we remain at range." Sol said while switching to Semyaza.
Alexander moved back to Seraphim, nodding at his friend, before summoning a Choir.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so. Still, he doesn't look weak like he did at the start. Are you sure that getting close is a good idea?"
"Honestly, probably not. But, if we get close, we could negate his range and throw him off his focus." Sol responded before readying his fists. "But we won't know if we don't try."
With that said, he began to charge Trismagia Citrinitas.
Alex sighed and followed a moment later, the staff in his hands vibrating like a tuning fork.
The duo reached the giant form of the demon in moments, having to jump and throw themselves above and under the few attacks that had been sent at them before slamming against him with all their strength. Alex unleashed an explosion of sounds that cratered the ground under him and sent Trismagia sliding back, straight towards where Sol had slid to a stop, ready to attack.
Sol struck Trismagia with a rising strike that was focused on its spine. It sent the demon forward slightly, and before it could do anything more, there was a flurry of punches that kept pushing it forward towards Alex. The strikes ended with a shout of Abyssal Punch!
The last punch cracked… something, and Trismagia, in a surprising display of speed, whipped around and grabbed Sol by the arm before throwing him toward Alex and following up with a flurry of wind blades aimed at the two.
Alex, not expecting the sudden projectile, got sent backward with Sol against his torso, luckily ending outside the path of the attacks that Trismagia had sent toward them. The two skidded to a stop against the ground, groaning from the situation.
"I didn't expect that."
"I should have..." Mumbled Sol as he tried to spit some sand out. That was interrupted as the sound of feet pounding against sand and howling wind drew closer. Trismagia was now on the offensive, charging at them with both hands wide with wind carving deeply into dunes.
"Fuck!" Alex shouted while changing his weapon impressively fast. Calcabrina shot forward, one hand clamped around the middle of the weapon, the other grabbing Sol's hand and dragging him away from the incoming kaiju-sized demon.
The flight didn't last a lot, the umbrella twisting and turning at 90 degrees to the left, dodging the strike from the demon by a few inches before stopping a fair distance away and rolling on the ground once more.
Sol recovered from the roll only to see that Trismagia was turning on his heel and resuming his chase. For a moment, he was considering fleeing to make distance, but then he thought back to its Nigredo state.
"He wants us to run, to keep moving." He thought before counter charging.
"Sol!" Alex's shout was shrill, but he threw himself back inside the fighting, opening the umbrella and charging another beam, the energy charging slower than before.
Sol did hear Alex's shout but knew running wasn't an option here.
"Either I hit him, or Alex does. Either way, he'll be focused on one of us, and that's what counts!" His thought as he continued racing forward.
At about halfway there, Trismagia brought his claws low and raked up, creating an X-shaped pattern of howling blades that Sol was damned sure would have caught any flight options. It seemed though that Lady Luck had smiled down upon him because as the blade continued forward, a gap had opened, small enough for him to pass under and punish.
Rolling between the gap, Sol continued forward and was forced to roll to the side as Trismagia let loose a series of wild punches toward him. It was just enough, however, to get him close to the right knee.
Sol let loose a Dance of the Holy at the now unprotected part of the demon. He could see the kneecap buckle and scales crack apart as he hoped that Alex had his shot lined up.
Alex did have his shot lined up, and the moment Sol let the attack go and moved to the side to avoid the retaliatory attacks from Trismagia, he let loose the beam he had been charging. The attack slammed straight into the wounded part of the armor, making the demon roar with pain towards the non-existent skies.
The air itself trembled, making both Sol and Alex's ears whistle painfully.
The already damaged knee buckled under the strain of the spell, forcing Trsimagia to halt his assault. He turned his head to look at the two before attempting to stand. The knee couldn't take the weight and snapped, forcing Trismagia down a second time.
"I CANNOT LOSE! NOT TO THIEVES, NOR TO ARTIFICIAL HALF-BREEDS!"
Trsimagia roared before all three heads opened wide, sending out torrents of winds past Alex and Sol. These torrents began to rapidly grow and merge with each other until, eventually, the two found themselves within the eye of a tornado, trapped with a wounded and enraged demon.
"Come on, not this!" Alex lamented, clearly starting to grow tired. Still, he moved near Sol once more and readied himself to defend from the possible attacks of the demon.
Trismagia, in the meantime, started moving around the twister, heavy stomps being blocked by the tornado, until he lashed with a claw, attempting to cut apart the two hybrids.
It was just luck that the attack came from their front, thus allowing Alex to cast his barrier and stopping the attack before it could cause them damage. However, it did not allow them to retaliate before it vanished behind the howling winds and sand around them.
"Damn."
"He's got a busted knee, so that's slowing him down, but…" Sol began as he watched Trismagia adjust itself.
"...he's in pain and pissed off, so that's going to be fun to deal with." He finished before drawing Gevauden once more.
"Think we can destroy him before the final phase?" He asked Alex quietly.
"If I know my narrative convention well…. Probably not. Still, I have an idea for dealing with this tornado, but it's going to be insanely dangerous. Want me to try it?" Alex asked, getting into a proper position, weapon ready, eyes narrowed into a slit.
"Whatever you need me to do, I've got your back," Sol responded, readying himself as best he could.
"Ok, I need you to switch to Semyaza and focus on the magic absorption part of how he works." Alex was sweating slightly, head and eyes moving in an attempt to find Trismagia through the tornado.
Without a word, Sol re-summoned the gauntlets and raised his fist in preparedness, feeling the ambient energy be drawn in. "I can't see him in the storm, can you?" He asked quietly.
"Then we're going to need to hit everywhere in the storm. I'm going to supercharge you, and then you jump and punch down. With a bit of luck…" The hybrid grimaced but put his hands on the gauntlets and focused, even closing his eyes. His entire body was outlined with energy shaped like flames for a moment before everything went into Semyaza, a rush of energy that Alex had never used before and left him panting, falling on his knees on the ground, blood dripping down his chin.
Whether Sol heard Alex fall to his knees or not, he focused solely on the power that now filled his gauntlets. His hands immediately crossed over each other like a shield as the newly given power came through him. It almost felt like it wanted to be directed at a singular point, but if he let it do that, then he ran the risk of missing… No, it had to be like a great flash, striking and illuminating everything that could and would be. His hands had been close to each other, too close to get the spread proper and so he tried to move them apart. The power inside was like a series of chains binding his arms as it was changed from demonic indigo to angelic gold. The effort to move them was immense. Yet he began to manage. Slowly but surely, his arms moved away from his front and to either side of his body, with each moment feeling like he was about to lose control.
With palms raised to the sky, he held the power for a final brief instant, feeling it the last of its be fully purified before screaming, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!"
He didn't know why, but those words just felt… right.
The effects were even more so. There was a blinding flash as the golden energy flared around them like the center of a solar flare, effortlessly piercing the sandstorm and striking Trismagia true. The demon attempted to shield its body, but its defense was… inadequate. The heat pressure of the attack drove the demon through the dunes, tearing the scales and muscles of its perfected body to shreds. It howled in fury and agony, but against all odds, Trismagia managed to get some degree of footing and stood in the face of the light, arms forward. Whatever it attempted was halted as its arms snapped under the pressure, and it was sent further away.
Sol was blind to this, and eventually, he felt the power fade as the light diminished. His arms fell to his sides before he collapsed to his knees. Looking forward, the dunes had been transformed into a near-flawless plain of glass, save for the blood and scale-laden trench that marred its beauty.
"Tha.. that's gotta be it… right?" Sol asked, more aloud than anything, before focusing and seeing the upright form of Trismagia. It was on its knees, listing… to the side that had more body left. Looking like burned and shredded meat, both arms had been reduced to bloody stumps. Its once glorious scales were pitted and shattered across a torso of exposed and torn muscle. The only sign of life from the demon was the barely noticeable expansion of its chest as it took deep, shuddering breaths. As it gasped for air, its blood began to pool around its broken body, bubbling and sizzling in the wind-swept and glassy landscape.
The smell of iron and copper filled the air before the wind started moving once more, the breeze turning into a strong gust until it turned into a twister all around the body of Trismagia Megistos.
The wind, echoing like a shriek of rage and pain, carried the demon upwards and was slowly painted crimson by the amount of blood that Trismagia was losing.
"NO! I WILL NOT DIE LIKE THIS! I WILL BECOME THE GOD OF DEMONS!"
It was a deafening shout of defiance. Within the crimson storm, Trismagia's form started to glow a violent red. This new glow produced a terrifying heat, turning the normal winds into scorching gusts, the light growing slowly brighter and brighter.
Until the whole twister caught fire, exploding into a single flash of flames, dancing in the air without any apparent fuel, along with Trismagia's voice echoing all around them.
"I AM TRISMAGIA MEGISTOS! I AM THE NEXT GOD OF DEMONS! GAZE UPON MY MAGNUM OPUS AND WEEP!!"
"[RUBEDO]!!"
"[RUBEDO]!!"
The flamestorm roiled and twisted, descending and forming around Trismagia Megistos' form showing to Alex and Sol what it had finally become.
Gone was the humanoid form and its golden scales. Rising from ashes of its destroyed body, Trsimagia's new form looked almost like a three headed phoenix. It was something both resplendent and vile. As it soared in the sky, the sun illuminated its crimson feathers and talons as great gouts of flame trailed behind it, descending to the ground and turning the sand into rivers of glass.
There was… something wrong about it though, something that Sol couldn't quite see. What was it?
"Well, shit. This should be the last stage, but you never know. And a phoenix… I just hope he can't resurrect himself, otherwise we're gone." Alex managed to drag himself upwards, blood still dripping from his mouth, so much that he spat to the side and, shakily, steeled himself.
"All I can say is that it looks like we're back at the range game until something changes. Let's just hope he burns himself out before too long." Sol said, while handing Alex another Vitality star and readying his gun.
"YOU STILL STAND!? EVEN IN THE PRESENCE OF ONE SUCH AS I!? THIS FARCE HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH! BURN WITHIN THE FIRES OF REBIRTH!"
Trismagia roared before changing his course and bearing down on the two. Except, he didn't merely charge them. Instead, the demon reared up in the air and spread its wings wide before its feathers detached and shot forward.
"Yep, range game." Alex brought out Calcabrina and opened the canopy of the umbrella, the barrier manifesting around him and Sol, moments before the onslaught of feathers could hit them. And, judging by the amount of damage that it had done to the ground around them, grievously hurting them.
"Do you have any idea on how to bring him down to our level?"
"No. But I figure if we keep shooting, he may get pissed off enough to come at us with his han… claws… not feathers." Sol before firing off several shots towards the oncoming feathers.
"Yeah, that works. Let me see if I can…" Alex waited a moment more before closing the umbrella and pointing the tip at Trismagia before a stream of bullets shot from it, covering the distance between the two of them fast. Not fast enough that the giant phoenix didn't manage to bank and turn to the side, throwing himself into a dive to avoid being hit.
"I'll lay down suppressing fire, you try to damage him?" Alex could keep up such an attack for a rather long time, considering the energy the bullets took to create. They wouldn't do much damage, but every little bit helped. And, if nothing else, they were distracting.
"Alright." Sol said before beginning to run off to one side while firing off Sunset after Sunset. The shots began to crash against the feathers that Trismagia shot forward. A few shots made it through the flurry, scoring along Trsimagia's body. It was then the feathers reached their positions.
While a good deal had been destroyed by their attacks, the few that made it through struck the ground hard and unleashed pillars of flame hot enough that Sol had to turn away and slam his eyes shut from the heat alone.
"Fuc-!" Again, Alex had to stop his attack and throw himself at Sol. Calcabrina had already opened the shield and enveloped them into a sphere of safety, albeit only a momentary one. Still, it was more than enough to survive the assault.
"No, we need to be faster, but I admit I'm having a couple of troubles thinking on what to do. Ideas?"
"Unless we can bring him down to our…" Sol stopped speaking as he looked past Alex and smiled slightly.
"Maybe we can use that!" He said while pointing.
From where one of the feathers struck, a steady stream of water was rising, hissing against the ambient heat.
"A few minutes ago, this whole land was submerged. So if the water is still down there, we can definitely get our frenemy to cool off!"
"Yeah, that would work… If he decides to dive bomb us, instead of just killing us by sending wave after wave of flaming feathers at us. So, unless you want to… I dunno, insult him or something. I doubt he's going to just come down."
Sol looked at Alex for a moment before smirking. "It usually worked for Dante, didn't it?"
Alex raised a single finger before lowering it. "...Point."
Then, he turned towards the demon that was still flying up above and, cupping his hands around his mouth, using the brief time of reprieve from the deluge of flaming feathers, he shouted at him.
"So much for being the new god of demons. You can't even come down and face us from up close! What's up with that, scared?!"
"Yeah!" Sol added, "Here you are taking on this great big form, and all you can do is throw feathers! What are you? Some sort of chicken!? We've been fighting you tooth and nail since the word go! So come on! You started something with your fists before! So why don't you give it another shot!?"
"IMPUDENT WHELPS! YOU WILL BURN IN MY FLAMES, SO HOT THAT EVEN YOUR SOULS WILL DISAPPEAR FROM THIS WORLD!"
And Trismagia rolled in a tight corkscrew before diving down as fast as he could go, aiming straight for them.
"Well, that worked. Time to fly away!" Alex grabbed Sol by the waist before the duo shot backward towards one of the small lakes of water, Calcabrina flying over the sandy ground.
Trismagia struck the dune with a mighty explosive that was soon replaced by shrill hissing. The dust cloud that was kicked up was soon replaced by a cloud of steam.
"WHAT IS THIS!?"
Trismagia questioned as it thrashed within the small pool that was forming around it.
"I think this is our shot!" Sol said quickly. Alex nodded, before landing near Trismagia and, in a moment, flashing into Devil Trigger.
Sol began to charge into the steam while switching out to Vendetta. The steam obscured some vision but not enough where he could see. He began to see the unguarded stomach of Trismagia and slashed down with all his might. The great sword cleaved through feather and bone, and all three heads screamed as one while Sol kept slashing. One, quicker than the rest, saw Sol through the haze of pain and bore down with its mouth wide open, flame flickering in its mouth.
Sol, realizing this through seeing the shifting of exposed muscle, turned and slashed upwards. The blade carved through the phoenix head, taking the lower beak and a part of the top beak. The blood and flame ignited together, forcing Sol away lest he be burned.
However, the distraction that Sol had created allowed Alex to Step between moments and reappear near the three heads. Well, two and some remains.
"Geryon-Iai, Third Chime: Principle of Royalty!" His voice was hoarse, but his sword flashed through the necks of the three heads, a single, perfect line. A single, perfect cut.
And it kept cutting. Suspended into a time loop where the cut repeated itself again and again and again, without ending, as long as Alex had the energy to feed into it.
After six seconds, his Devil Trigger vanished, and the cut disappeared, the three heads falling into the shallow, boiling water that remained under the phoenix, and he took a couple of steps backward.
"That was… more energy intensive than I thought."
"Yeah, but look at that! We didn't have to perform another variant of Final Flash, and it's dead! We can try to go home now!" Sol cheered while patting Alex on the back.
Alex turned to look at Sol, deadpan, before slapping his face. "Please, tell me that you don't really think he's dead."
Almost as if he had planned it - he hadn't - the corpse of the three-headed phoenix exploded into a pillar of flames so high that it reached the skies.
Alex slapped Sol on the back of his head before the duo jumped backward to avoid the flaming feathers suddenly falling from the sky.
"I RISE AGAIN! I WILL BE THE GOD OF DEMONS FOR ALL ETERNITY!"
The voice echoed with an undertone of a bird's call before the six beady eyes of Trismagia locked onto the two hybrids.
"Fuck. Again."
And flaming feathers were shot once more.
**********
It had been how long since the fight had started? No, wait, they had baited this bastard into the dunes three more times since the regeneration.
"Fuck…" Sol breathed and realized he was getting tired. Whether it be Vendetta or Gevauden, he could feel his hands trembling from strain.
He was coming again, and Sol looked at Alex before nodding. Another pass, another dune, and another cutting down. Heh, maybe they'll just piss it off enough that it just rage quits and leaves them alone.
"Come on… come on…" Sol breathed as he readied himself.
Alex wasn't in a better situation. He was still getting tired, especially after the whole thing that he did with the supercharging Semyaza while in a tornado. He was getting a bit regretful about that now that he thought about it.
"Ok. I have a plan. Go to the dune and leave the rest to me. Oh, and pass me one of the remaining Holy Waters."
"Sure," Sol said tiredly before handing Alex one of the vials and heading off to the dune.
Alex took a deep breath before closing Calcabrina and mounting it like a witch with a broom. "Ok, Trismagia. You want to be difficult? You have no idea how difficult I can be. Let's GO!"
And he shot forward, faster than ever before, his mind focused on the spell that he was using to make his Devil Arm fly. It was a mix of the weapon's innate effect and an outside spell. The version he was using right now was just a pre-programmed flight path, but that didn't mean that he couldn't change it.
What the Statue offered was, after all, Potential for the future. Nothing more. Time and Potential, now. At a cost.
But that was nothing more than a stray thought. He had to focus.
The rain of flaming feathers coming his way forced him to improvise: not being able to change direction as he wanted, he had to stop the flying and start it again, with a new trajectory, every time he risked getting hit. And, sometimes, he just had to Step forward.
Finally, he reached the phoenix and stopped there, hovering in front of him with a cocky smirk.
"Surprise! I can fly, too! I guess that you aren't so special anymore, now, are you?!" His voice was more of a roar than a shout before he used the surprise of the demon to throw the Holy Water straight at the middle head.
Then he fell, leaving behind the explosion and a seriously pissed-off Trismagia, who decided to unveil a new trick beyond throwing himself into a dive to attempt to pluck Alex out of the air like a bug: he opened his three beaks and sent three rays of fire straight at him, attempting to burn him into ashes.
That forced Alex to break the flying spell more and more until something in his mind cracked a little.
"Incoming!"
Sol, witnessing the explosive and the follow-up rays, quickly began to move away from the blast zone. When the rays hit, Sol was sent over the dunes before rolling to a stop.
"Holy fuck… that must have really pissed him off." He said in a daze before getting up and going over the dune again.
Alex's attempts to avoid the attacks were, in the end, for naught: one of the rays hit him straight in the back, sending searing pain through his entire body, the choked scream that escaped his mouth pitch perfect in agony.
And, at that moment, in the bright, stark haze of pain, bordering on delirium, something connected in his mind. Almost as if he was being puppeteer-ed from above, he swerved all of a sudden, a ninety-degree change in movement, avoiding the continuous flame assault, before quickly moving behind the phoenix and slamming into him, feet first, driving the demon into the water beyond the dunes.
Sol saw the hit and began to charge towards it, swinging Vendetta over his shoulder and leaping over the edge towards a flailing Trismagia. His strike landed between two of the heads, cutting deeply into the abdomen. Before the heads could do anything else, Sol wrenched the sword free and swung wide, taking two necks at the base before swinging for the third and final head. The cut wasn't as clean as the rest, but it was enough. Feeling the temperature rising around him, Sol leaped away from the demon before it burst into flame once more.
"THIS IS FUTILE. I WILL RISE AGAIN… AND AGAIN!!!"
From the flames, Trismagia's voice called once more. Yet Sol thought he heard something different in the declaration this time… was that fatigue he heard? He hoped so, damn it all. He hoped so much for that to be the case.
The phoenix rose once more, but once he was back into proper sight, both Alex and Sol could see that there was something different. Then, it clicked: Trismagia was leaner. Slightly smaller.
It had the body of someone who had skipped one dinner too many and worked a bit too long.
"He's weakening." Alex's voice was nary more than a whisper. Sol heard it only because he had moved back towards him. "And I think I know why. Want to hear my theory?"
"I'm all ears," Sol responded before planting Vendetta into the ground and leaning on it.
"He's consuming more energy than he has. Regenerating from… if not death, something very near it, it's costing him more and more strength." His whisper turned into silence while he followed with his eyes the ascending form of Trismagia.
Since two resurrections ago, he had stopped attacking as soon as he had regenerated himself, preferring instead to gain altitude and attack from far away.
"Still, it seems like he's getting smarter. Do you have any idea on how to bring him down now that insults don't work anymore?"
"I've got… 5 to 6 Holy Waters left." Sol said after a moment, before continuing. "He might expect that, though, so I want you to throw me. You got right up in his face before. If you can get me there, I could use Semyaza to bear down on him and bring him down."
Alex blinked, before nodding. Calcabrina rose by its own accord, hovering around 1 foot off the ground. "Sounds good. Hop on."
And, with unnatural balance, Alex stepped on the umbrella, waiting for Sol to follow him.
Sol wasted no time in storing Vendetta away and stepping behind Alex. He steeled himself as he felt that familiar tingle of aerial nervousness and fear spread into his fingers. He trusted Alex to get him close. He just needed to keep calm while he was punching that damned bird.
"Trust me. Even if you fall, I WILL catch you." And, after saying that, Calcabrina shot forward, in a rising curve, faster than before but also more controlled. Not invisibly, sadly.
Trismagia turned and scattered a veritable wave of burning feathers before sending several rays of fire towards the duo. It took several acrobatic prowess on Alex's part to avoid the lances of flames and the feathers, but he managed.
Until a wall of fire stopped his advance.
"Do you trust me?" The question came like a whisper but loud enough to cut through the rushing air around the two.
"Do it!" Sol shouted above the din of the flame.
"Then hold onto me, tight! We're moving in the world without time! " After Sol had tightened his grasp on Alex, the hybrid seemed to take a single, deep breath.
And time stopped. Everything turned a strange hue of gray and indigo, a faux-monochrome that felt unreal. They were still moving, slipping through frozen feathers and flames without heat.
Once they had passed the shield of flames that had surrounded Trismagia, a shield made from his own shed feathers, Alex breathed once more, and Time started again.
They were behind the phoenix, without him being aware of it.
"Woo! Okay! Throw me!" Sol shouted as he realized how close they were.
"Fastball special!" Alex laughed before he half-turned towards Sol, grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun, using Calcabrina as an aid, before sending his friend towards the demon as fast as he was able.
There was a brief moment of terrifying weightlessness as Sol was propelled forward, but he powered through it and drew Gevauden. Trismagia felt something land on its back before the bone-bladed whip wrapped around its center head.
"All right, asshole, we're heading straight down to earth, and I'm riding shotgun!" Sol roared before punching down into Trismagia. The demon thrashed violently under the assault, almost throwing the hybrid, if not Gevauden's hold on the neck. After getting some degree of better footing, Sol resumed punching. With each punch, Sol could feel bones breaking, and after several more hits, the wings shuddered and fell limp. Trismagia had begun to free fall, and Sol was not going to let this chance fall away.
"You're probably going to regenerate from this, but I don't care! It's just a useless effort, you hear me!? Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless!!!" Sol roared as he unleashed Dance of the Holy before transitioning into an Infernal Punch. He saw, more than felt, the entire back of the demon cave in from that final punch before he leaped off the demon.
Striking the sand hard, Sol rolled for several seconds, uncaring of the crater that Trismagia was going to make.
He stopped rolling just in time to see Alex coming down like a meteor, leaving a streak of light behind him amidst the flaming feathers still in the air. Then, while he was halfway down, Calcabrina vanished, and Seraphim appeared in his hands. A piercing whistle started to echo all around.
Armor covered his body as he slipped back into Devil Trigger moments before he landed on the struggling body of Trismagia, driving him even deeper into the waters. Then, his voice reached Sol even in the distance.
"Sing, O Muse, of the Immortal Lovers!" And Alex and Trismagia exploded, a wave of pressure that sent water, sand, and feathers flying away.
Alex landed on the ground near Sol, cackling like a hyena. "I've wanted to use it since I got it."
"Hahahaha!" Sol laughed as he made to stand. "And what a way to use it!"
A plume of fire manifested within the crater that Trismagia had made. Sol's shoulder sagged as he realized what was going on. Rolling his shoulders, he took out two Devil Stars, using one and handing the other to Alex.
"Looks like the phoenix is still burning," Sol said with a grimace.
But something had definitely changed since before.
Trismagia was now skin and bones. As in his skin was stretched over his bones, making him look like one of those famine victims, the rib cage perfectly delineated even under the coat of feathers on the chest, the wings looking more and more skeletal, the eyes sunken into the skull.
He… didn't seem to notice, however.
"GAZE UPON MY FORM AND KNOW THAT YOUR ATTEMPTS ARE FUTILE! AND NOW, VANISH INTO THE BIRTH OF MY NEW WORLD!"
"[MAGNUM OPUS: ALCHEMY OF SOULS]!"
"[MAGNUM OPUS: ALCHEMY OF SOULS]!"
"Uh-oh."
"Oh no…" Sol muttered as a wall of deeply crimson flame poured forth from Trismagia's form. As it made its way toward the two, the roar of the flame began to change, growing in pitch until it sounded more like a scream. More disturbingly, humanoid figures could be seen within, their cries of agony reaching the sky as their mad rush glassed the sand they raced along.
"Fly! FLY!" Sol shouted in horror.
Alex didn't even stop to say anything: he just grabbed Sol around the waist while his other hand clamped like a vice on Calcabrina before shooting upwards as fast as he could push his weapon to go.
And yet, the flames seemed to rise and rise towards them, like a monstrous guardian of hell. In the flames, the tongues of fire twisted and contorted into humanoid figures until they looked a lot like the various people that they had met in their travels through the small dimension that Trismagia Megistos had created.
The college guy who was part of their group. The kids. The punks and the nazis. The man and the woman that had attempted to kill them. The Red Eyes.
The various figures, now more clearly defined, began to scream at the two fleeing hybrids.
"WhAT dID YoU dO To US!!!???" Some cried.
"YoU! YOU kIllEd Me!" Another one screamed.
"BAGGAGE LIKE YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST DIED!" A haunting familiar face screamed.
"HOW!? HOW DID YOU BREAK MY SHELL!?" A red-eyed sorcerer cried.
"I'LL BLEED YOU DRY, YOU INSIPID, BLOODY BASTARDS!" A phantom of Laura howled.
"IT'S NOT OVER!!! I CAN'T LET THIS END HERE!" Ivan's phantom yelled.
"ZEKE! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Gabrielle called, her form roiling within the flame.
"I T' S N O U S E!" Zeke cackled.
"Fiendfyre-stealing asshole…" Alexander muttered, pushing more energy into his flight and going faster and higher, attempting to evade the flames that were literally chasing them, leaping from the ground to the air like embers.
Very dangerous embers.
"Hold on. I'm going to use some escaping maneuvers!" And that said, Alex changed direction all of a sudden, turning 90 degrees and going into a dive before turning once more.
"Woooo!" Sol cried as Alex made his turn. Looking back, the faces in the flame began to melt into each other, losing their individuality and looking more like a mass of near-featureless faces howling into the sky. The fire raced behind them, licking at their heels before slowly, almost imperceptibly, beginning to wane. It seemed that the fuel that fed this unearthly flame was being used up.
Left. Left again. A steep climb up. Right. Corkscrew to the left, then a rapid and sudden turn downwards, before turning right and back.
"I can't keep this up for much longer! Do you have any ideas?!"
"Douse it!?" Sol asked while fumbling a Holy Water into his hand.
"Let's try it!" Alex had to turn suddenly to avoid a jet of flames aimed at his head before nodding to Sol.
Wordlessly, Sol threw the vial into the crimson flames. There was a moment where nothing happened, and then, with a great cry, the flames burst into a cloud of steaming vapor that expanded in all directions, obscuring the two from sight. The only evidence of its presence was the glassed sands left in its wake and the mimicry whispers of slain victims.
Then, a moment later, the flames redoubled in intensity, roaring once more towards the two, fueled by the rage and power of the phoenix, who cried to the skies his hatred.
"Oh fuck! That didn't work!" Sol cried as the flames ate through the steam and charged towards them.
Alex said something rude enough to paint the air blue before turning once more.
"I think we need to remove the source!" His shout was almost covered by the crackling and moaning of the living flames, but Sol definitely heard it.
"Right!... Aw, hell, throw me over when you get the chance. Make it hard for him to concentrate!" Sol responded over the din of the flames.
"So you can burn to a cinder?" Alex's answer was sarcastic enough to be heard before he had to twist and turn once more. Still, that gave him an idea for how to attempt to resolve the situation.
"Let's go all in. A single shared attack from both of us. The strongest you can make with the strongest I can make." He turned to glance at the flames that kept following them. "Otherwise, I'm going to spend all my energy attempting to avoid the fire, and we're going to die all the same."
"Alright." Sol said before bringing forth Semyaza, "Better to bring forth some angelic might for this."
"Good idea. Ok, sothis is going to be very strange, but I need you to close your eyes and not open them until the voices are gone. Ok? On three. One…" Alex said, turning in midair with a loop de loop and shooting back towards the phoenix, weaving right and left to avoid the wave of flames, a look of focus on his face.
"Oh, no problem, just like last time…" Sol thought before shutting his eyes and readying himself.
The voices came like in a flood of noise, bombarding Sol with their incessant words.
"openyoureyeswitnessuswalkwithmeburnwithmeofferyourselftoyournewgodrelinquishyourheartbecomehispower"
"openyoureyeswitnessuswalkwithmeburnwithmeofferyourselftoyournewgodrelinquishyourheartbecomehispower"
On and on the voices called, and still Sol kept his eyes closed as much as possible.
Alex narrowed his eyes and he slipped, again, between seconds. The grayscale world greeted him, streaks of indigo showing him the details, like light in the fog. And yet, he passed through frozen flames and tortured faces, before reappearing right above Trismagia Megistos.
"NOW!" His voice roared, shaking the air, Calcabrina vanishing into his Inventory, while Seraphim appeared in his hands, his entire body flashing into his Devil Trigger state.
Sol hit his DT and felt that power flood him. Launching forward, he cried "Dance of the Holy!" As his fists began to rain down on Trismagia's body. Each blow took chunks of desiccated flesh and bone in rapid time.
The three heads of the phoenix shrieked high to the heavens, before Alex landed on his back, right where the three necks joined with the body, his staff in his hands, the bottom tip aimed at the body of the demon.
It pierced the flesh until it hit the bone, where it stopped. A pinprick, due to the simple difference in size. However, that wasn't all that Alex was going to do.
"[Sing, o' Muse, of the Immortal Lovers]!"
Seraphim vibrated and a note as pure as crystal echoed in the air, while an explosion of pure sound and vibration expanded from his position, flaying Trismagia alive and banishing the flames all around him.
Alex, instead of remaining there, let the explosion fling him away and freeing the path for Sol to attack once again.
There was a brief pause before Sol shouted, "Outer Heaven!" In a flash, Semyaza appeared behind Sol and joined in on the punch rush. As they continued to punch, Trismagia's chest began to cave in until, eventually, the rib cage shattered. And with one mighty shout of "INFERNAL PUNCH!!!" He aimed straight at Trismagia's heart. By itself, the demonically enhanced punch would have just burst the heart. However, the final attack was channeled through Semyaza, and the energy was inverted. The heart shuddered and deflated before a series of golden lights traveled through the valves into the rest of the body.
Trismagia's three heads screamed as cracks began to spread along its body. Steaming blood poured forth before micro explosions rocked the demon's body as it fell backward.
"Now, stay dead this time!" Sol hissed before resting on a knee.
Alex landed near him, the armor of his Devil Trigger already vanishing in feathers the color of bronze, panting heavily.
"I really hope we're done now. The flames are gone, but I don't know anymore." The fighting for that amount of time was taking its toll on both of them, eroding their mental fortitude and resistance: having to be on alert and continuously moving was exhausting.
Then, almost as if he was waiting for this to happen, a flicker of flame appeared where the corpse was, consuming it in a roaring inferno before Trismagia was there again. Wing opened, rising from the ashes once more.
"I RISE." "AGAIN." "I AM ETERNAL."
"LOOK UPON YOUR DOOM, INSECTS, AND DESPAIR!"
"LOOK UPON YOUR DOOM, INSECTS, AND DESPAIR!"
"Give us a bre…" Sol began to say before trailing off. Looking at Trismagia's appearance, the demon was significantly smaller than before. Even the voice carried less presence than previously.
"Alex," Sol began quietly. "I think our endurance in this battle is about to pay off." He finished while drawing Gevauden.
"Wait, what… Oh." Alex looked at Trismagia properly before smiling. "Yeah, I think you are correct."
"I think we should capitalize on this now. Before he throws out another alchemical wall of flame." Sol said before readying himself.
Trismagia was, currently, looking like skin stretched over bones, the flames that had almost consumed the two of them before now sputtering and dying, bit by bit. And yet, the demon didn't seem to realize that.
Even if he was just barely hovering in place.
"I… don't think that's needed, to be honest," Alex said something that sounded a bit like pity in his tone of voice. Very, very little of it.
"Why!?" Sol hissed quietly. "What if he attacks again? What if he transforms or something?"
"THE THRONE WILL BE MINE, AND A NEW ERA SHALL BE BORN THROUGH MY FLAMES! BEHOLD MY MIGHT!"
Trismagia roared or at least attempted to. The majesty that it once held was far too diminished. Familiar crimson flames began to manifest, and the demon called out once more.
"[MAGNUM OPUS: ALCHEMY OF SO]... URGH!"
The flames sputtered and died away as Trismagia collapsed to the ground.
"WHA… WHAT IS HAPPENING!?"
Trismagia attempted to stand before collapsing, strength quickly leaving its weakened form. For several moments, all that could be heard was labored breathing before it partially, its bulk shuddering with noticeable effort.
"ACCURSED THIEVES! WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS!?"
"No trickery." Alex said, with a small and calm smile on his face. He just looked at the slowly shrinking form of Trismagia, his eyes barely glinting when the light of the flames reached him.
"You played yourself. You did evolve into a phoenix and a very strong one, it's true, but… Did you really think that you could just keep being reborn over and over without a cost?"
"IMPUDENT CHILD, WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND OF RESURRECTION!? I AM ETERNAL! MY WILL, MY GOALS, WILL TRANSCEND ALL! I HAVE EVEN SURPASSED THE EFFORTS OF THE MANY-CURSED SPAWN OF SPARDA!"
"No… No, you haven't. All you've done is commit murder on a grand scale. And even then, we and so many more fought against you. Look where's that gotten you! The flame is dying, and you're petering out." Sol said, venom lacing every word.
"You're right that I don't know a lot about resurrection. What I know, however, is the cost of healing." Alex leaned on Calcabrina's closed form, looking straight at Trismagia's eyes.
"You think it's easy to recover from the damage? Demons heal quickly and almost perfectly, it's true, but they still need the fuel to do so. And all fuel ends, especially if you push it too fast like you did today." He waved his hand towards his form.
"And this is the result."
"THIS IS NOT HOW IT ENDS! I WAS TO BE THE KING OF THE DEMON WORLD!!!"
Trismagia roared in fury as, in a desperate display of strength, it stood up once more, flames beginning to pour forth from its body.
Sol sheathed Gevauden before drawing Nymphaeum. "Well, I don't think there's a better end for this. Remind me again, Alex, what was the last thing Arkham heard before being bitch slapped down to earth?"
"Arkham? That mad clown?" Alex asked before putting his index finger on his lips, assuming a thinking pose for a moment.
"I'm not sure. Want to refresh my memory?"
Sol smiled, moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Alex, and raised his gun, finger on the trigger. Alex copied his position, but with his fingers pointed in the shape of a gun, an energy bullet hovering in front of his index and middle finger.
""Jackpot.""
The combined shot slammed against Trismagia's middle head, prompting a shriek of pain from the other two before the phoenix in front of them simply vanished like a flame without fuel.
And silence fell around the two.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
And so falls the would-be god at hell's end. This was a hell of a chapter write. It didn't go through many rewrites save for one section, which was very different but led to some plot holes and a situation in which NO ONE in this fight would have been able to survive. Only one more chapter and an epilogue left, and it is a hell of a ride!