“Yes! YES!!” her screams of ecstasy filled the air as Weylyn sank his claws into the ripped and torn fabric of Zero once more. He found a solid grip, and with unholy strength jumped into the air, and slammed the bear into the ground. Before he could even stand, a roar of fury left Weylyn's mouth as a blast of dark energy smashed into Zero. He blocked the blast with his only arm, for his other had been ripped off not long ago. “Tear it apart! Rip it to shreds!” Blue's hysterical voice cried. It was clear to Zero that she was completely gone.
Perfect!
He pulled within himself and found the darkfire-wall that blocked his core functions. Just as he had hoped, she had forgotten about it, and it was all but gone. He let out a victorious cry as he charged forward, and hit a big red button.
REBOOT.
“DESTROY EVERYTHIN-” she screeched, but suddenly stopped as Zero ceased moving. “Wait, what's going on-NO! STOP!” she cried, making Weylyn's body launch forward at the bear. She, however, was too late.
Zero's remaining arm flipped around to reveal his paw, and he held it out to stop Weylyn in his tracks. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Weylyn, it's me, Zero, I'm back!” Zero shouted. Weylyn's eyes, dark and filled with power, looked at him curiously.
“It lies!” he heard Blue scream. “Finish it! It is weak!”
“Dude, get it together! We're in the middle of a-HOLY PROPHET, LOOK UP!” Zero suddenly shouted. Weylyn's burning eyes stared at him for a moment, then followed his gaze up.
Both of their jaws dropped, for the night sky above them had become a yawning abyss of darkness. From it poured out numberless predators, and other horrors, made of shadow. Weylyn's body shook violently, and Zero heard an awful howl from Blue.
“NO! NOO!” she cried, “Not now! Not when you were so close!”
“No Blue, I'm done playing your game!” he shouted as the horrid darkness drained from his eyes, and a glowing foxskull appeared beside him.
“Oooh, that looked like it hurt.” A grinning voice said.
Both Zero and Weylyn looked over, and saw a bit to their surprise, a small orange and white cat sitting on the ground, looking at them and grinning.
“Who-” Weylyn began to ask.
“Francis. The name's Francis. Though I don't want to talk to a spineless turncoat like you.” He waved a dismissive paw.
Weylyn's eyes narrowed dangerously as Zero spoke up, “Hey! You keep your mouth shut!” he growled.
“Stuff it, stuffy. I'm not here to talk to you either.” he said, casting a glance at Weylyn's direction. “No, I'm here to talk to you, hot stuff.” He glanced towards Blue, who hovered close to Weylyn, “How's about you take a spin with a REAL predator?” he said, winking and making a clicking noise with his mouth.
“Buzz off, poser.” She said, and Zero was pretty sure he saw her roll her eyes.
“Poser? Me? I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure I'm more of a proper predator then that flip-flopping fish of a feline.” Francis rolled his eyes, then all but vanished as Weylyn struck the spot where he stood.
“You know nothing of honor!” he shouted, turning his head to follow Francis, as his eyes ablaze with fury.
“You got me there!” Francis said as he evaded another attack from Weylyn, “But then again, you're the perfect role mod-” he let out a gasp as Weylyn caught him with a paw swipe. Unfortunately for Weylyn, Francis rolled with the blow, and ended up under a fallen tent and out of Weylyn's reach.
“Get out here!” Weylyn cried.
Now, one had to ask: What was Zero doing during all of this? After all, it wasn't like he was one to simply sit around. No, Zero was a robo-bear of action! But, you see, the moment Weylyn had lunged at Francis several shadowy predators had jumped at Zero, ready to remove his only arm, as well as what metal and fluff remained inside of him. And just about anything else they could tear apart. Thankfully, even in this damaged state, Zero was quick on the draw and was firing away with reckless abandon. Though, even with the rapid-fire weapon he had, he was quickly becoming overwhelmed.
“Weylyn!” he cried, “Help!”
The lynx turned around to look back, and felt a sharp pain on the side of his head. Turning, he saw one very surprised looking Francis standing there with darkness in his eyes and wrapped around his small paws.
“Huh. Well, I guess I'm boned...” he said, looking at Weylyn wide-eyed.
If she could have, Blue would have spit. “Did you really think that your weak mind control magic could take him away from me?” Blue said, manifesting herself above Weylyn's head. “Like I said, you are nothing but a pos-”
“WEYLYN! COULD USE SOME HELP OVER HE-” Zero cried. Weylyn turned around just in time to see Zero vanish under a pile of wolf shadows.
“Hold on!” he shouted, and dove at them.
~
Francis, fully expecting to be swatted away, simply stood there in confusion. It was strange. Why hadn't the Lynx finished him off? Why had he gone to help the creature he had been fighting? It didn't make sense. What were these things? And, why were they fighting so well together? Francis watched as the two of them plowed through the shadows like smoke. Granted, the shadows were not very tough, but there was no way they should be so easy to take down, and in such large numbers!
It was right about then that he became aware that others had arrived as well. Above him several hundred Longma flew through the air, battling the birds of prey that had come through the door. Not far from where they stood, he saw the big in-charge giraffe arrive with the most motley crew of ungulates he'd ever seen. Not only that, he saw that the UFC forces AND the giraffe no longer fought each other, but fought side by side to destroy the shadows from above.
None of this made any sense! Why were they helping each other?! This was not how it was supposed to go! They were supposed to tear each other apart!
His left eye twitched as he saw the strange group of ungulates gather around and look up at the door. They closed their eyes, and began channeling power into one another. Around them formed a tight rank of giraffe, Cattlekind, goats, and even sheep. Francis angrily shook his head. This was madness!
He stepped back as a sudden blast of powerful energy shot from the group, and directly into the giant door above. It filled the whole thing, and what looked like a giant spectral hoof appeared on it, and began pushing it closed. It pushed harder, but as the door got closer and closer to being closed, the harder the door fought to stay open. Though, as hard as the door fought, it was only a matter of time until they shut it. Something had to be done!
He jumped down from the collapsed tent he had been standing on and ducked, tucked, and wove his way past the circle that surrounded the motley spell casters. He channeled the ritual into his paws once more, and slammed them onto the head of a young, rather disturbed looking, reindeer.
Big mistake.
You see, the magic he was using was quite effective against your everyday ungulate. And, perhaps, even against a lesser daemon or some such. But against 20+ daemons? Good luck with that. When it comes to mind control, there are a few ways to go about it. This method uses the force of one's will to overwhelm and dominate the will of their victim. In this case: it was Francis' will vs the will of said 20+ daemons. Though, in his defense, he had no idea that they were all linked at this point. Still, that did little to stop what happened next.
Rather than fill the Reindeer's mind with Francis' will, Francis felt time freeze as his mind was suddenly plunged into a dark abyss. He felt himself tumble head-over-tail over and over until he slammed onto some sort of ground. Getting to his paws quickly (as he failed to land on them), he glanced about in the darkness as a feeling of panic began to rise. No, he must not panic. Hunters do not know fear.
Though that meant little when the darkness around him was suddenly torn apart by dozens of eyes. They glared at him and he heard the distant rise of insane laughter. It built until it reached a fever pitch, deafening him and shaking him to his core.
“You DARE to think that YOU could control even ONE of us?” a voice, more vicious and vile than any, spoke.
“You are the very soul of arrogance.” another voice, elegant, cunning, and undeniably evil taunted him.
“Are you afraid, little one? Because you should be!” cackled a third voice, this one clearly insane and reveling in the moment.
“Come, let us devour it! I'm so hungry!” a fourth cried, its voice the sound of a small new-born.
Francis's eyes shot open as dozens of claws, paws, hooves, and things he had no words for, lunged at him from the darkness. “Don't you touch me!” he shouted as he ducked, weaved, and dodged countless appendages. “You have no idea who you're dealing wit-”
His voice ended with a grunt as he suddenly froze in the air. Around him, the mass of appendages slowly swirled and climbed into the air around him. Above him, the face of a monster the likes of which he'd never seen before, manifested. It was wreathed in unholy fire, and burned with pure madness and evil. “You are in our realm now. We are only playing with you. After all, why shouldn't we play with our food a little?” the monster's face vanished amid the sudden cries of excitement from all around him. Then, all at once, the appendages wrapped around him and cloud of darkness encased him.
And then, Francis, the foolish and arrogant feline, was no more.
~
It was to everyone's surprise when a burst of dark magic suddenly filled the air above the Soldiers of Shadow. And it was to everyone's even greater surprise when nearly two dozen daemons suddenly manifested and devoured it. They shouted as one as a boon of power filled them, causing the great hoof that pressed against the door to double in size. It reared back, and slammed the door with incredible force.
It was then that a giant claw emerged from the door, and slammed against the opposite side of the door.
“IT COMES! THE UNSPEAKABLE ONE COMES!” a shrill voice suddenly screamed, piercing the night and the great noise of the battle. “COME, ASPECT, COME AVATAR! COME, SHADOW OF THE DREAD ONE, AND FEAST!”
Zero looked down from the door. He knew that voice. A great slam came from the sky once more as he cast his gaze about. Where had it come from? Not far from the great battle that now unfolded, Zero spotted an odd clump of dust in the air. Granted, the whole battleground was coated in dust, but this clump was a bit too thick; it was too steady. He narrowed his eyes, and leaned a bit. There, glowing darkly, was a single eye and the burning mark of the Hunters right next to it, both fixated on the sky.
Ziege…
Zero knew the leader of the so-called Hunters well. He stalked he halls of the UFC, always taunting, or threatening, everyone else. His voice was ever present, as was his hunger. Thinking back on it, wasn't it his idea to go to battle with the giraffe in the first place? Sure, the giraffe had been the ones to declare war, but wasn't he the one who first proposed that they skip the peace talks and go straight to the fight? Wait, if that was the case, then...
Now that Zero was looking directly at Ziege, he saw that the creature was glowing with power, and that he was not alone.
Not far behind him, stood an elk who's gaze was also fixed upon the sky. He saw that she too bore the mark, and that it glowed with power. Not far from those two, stood two or three giraffe, who also stared into the sky, marks glowing brightly upon their faces. From these marks, he saw tendrils of energy flowing into the great claw. Casting his gaze about, he saw what must have been hundreds of these trails of power coming from all over the battlefield. The Predators, it seemed, had been busy.
Ziege's gaze was clearly transfixed on the giant claw that was pushing the hoof back. And it was clear to Zero what he needed to do. He had to stop him, but how? He had joined the circle protecting the Soldiers of Shadow, and couldn't afford to leave it, lest he leave a gap for the shadows to get in. And yet, he was out of bullets, and everyone else was either too busy either holding off the army of monsters that attacked them, or trying to shut the giant door of evil above them.
A smile cracked across his face. Yes. He had one last option. He had been planning on using this to celebrate their victory, but now seemed like an even better time.
He reached around to his back, and pulled down a zipper. Thrusting his paw inside of his back, he fumbled around the various parts and other things he stored back there. There it is! He yanked out a large attachment that strapped around his chest. Lacking a second arm would make it difficult to put it on, but he had no choice but to try. Luckily for him, his attachments were easy to put on by design (though it was still a little awkward).
*attachment detected!
*native software detected!
*execute software?
Yes!
*executing chestLauncher
*executing partyProtocol
*ready to fire
*fire?
DO IT!
*firing confettiRockets
The attachment spread across his chest and four stabilizer legs shot into the ground around him. A cannon extended from his torso, as well as two handles to grasp. A small targeting reticle popped up, and he took aim.
“LET'S GET IT ON!”
The cannon exploded as the rocket flew out of the barrel. It streaked straight through the air, through several shadows, and hit his target square in the face.
If his target had been several meters to the left…
Nevertheless! The rocket exploded in a blinding flash and a deafening cacophony of sound. He heard Ziege cry out in surprise, and he heard a loud 'huzzah!' from behind him. Casting a quick glance up, he saw that the claw was faltering, as the giant hoof was pushing it back.
Okay, one more! He aimed carefully once more at Ziege, this time compensating for his lost limb, and fired.
He would have missed yet again, and this time Ziege would have been ready for him. The rocket would have exploded far above his target's head, and Ziege would have used the distraction to close the distance and put a stop to Zero's nonsense. But, he did not. No, just as he fired, he felt the barrel suddenly pull up, but he saw a blue skull suddenly slam it down, causing the rocket to aim true.
Ziege's one eye widened in great surprise as the rocket hit dead on, and exploded in a brilliant flash of bright colors as he vanished. Where he once stood, colorful confetti now filled the air.
A piercing cry from above split the air. Zero gazed up and saw the giant claw suddenly shrink, and the hoof slammed the door, smashing into the giant claw. The hoof slammed the door again, and the claw vanished into the darkness beyond. Then, with one final shove, the hoof slammed the great door shut.
Which promptly exploded.
