Miles away, back to where the plethora of Kingdoms had erected into this world via his influence, the abandoned Requiem Empire was under new management. Crowds of protestors stood together, hand-made signs throwing into the air gripped in their cupped-together fingers, men and women of all ages together,
"Justice for Freedom! Justice for Freedom! Rebel against the lies! Rebel against the lies!!!" Their screams were audible from the very peak of the Castle, moving further and further, there they were, the weaker Requiem siblings- perched beside one another on gargoyles embedded into the sides of the structure.
Jason's trench coat rippling through the wind crouched down on the metal statue pushed into the front of this sky-scraping icon, the Hunter stalked them all. Their screams kept the children, the innocent babies that were the seeds of the future generation, in fear, how ironic. Neither he nor his baby sister to his left had any idea for what to do next, part of him wanted to unleash one of his DNA-altering shrieks into the air. Knowing that their psyches would immediately fracture, their families would be left with nothing but monsters... but whoever dared to challenge the safety of his family, rape threats, death threats, everything, part of him... wanted them to be punished. Rising upright, it was clear he was finished gazing down at them all like ants, a boot staying at the end of the elongated construction, red lightning began to generate off his clothing. Crimson peepers engulfed by his vampiric bloodlust, the Justice Seeker reeled his head back to snarl at them. It would be easy, rip their hearts out with his fangs, peel off their skin with his claws, these humans were despicable.
At his breaking point, he prepared to drop right down, before his wrist was snapped back, his rear hitting against the wall they were turned away from. Jay rubbing his head dramatically, Madi gave her older sibling a side-eye, quickly noticing that he was milliseconds away from complaining. Luckily for her, she had that same blazing glare their mother was cursed with, instantly putting him into his place, all it took was a simple glance before he scoffed and looked away,
"Ben trusted us with running this place while he found the Tower, I'm sure you want to kill them, for threatening our family, I want to as well. Nevertheless, the public was losing trust in our promises, ever since Smith and her organization. She had followers everywhere, that the Crow needed a symbol, no doubt they controlled the media... twisted it to make us look like the bad guy. It's the same with-" Madi's statement, her skull gradually twisting so she could gaze right ahead, eyes locking onto the crowd of 'blind sheep' below her, had been interrupted. Pupils shrinking, eyes widening, Jason held his chest for a second, the man jerking up they could see it, just from this far.
A dark beam cut through the clouds, zooming past the blue sky to ascend further into the void that surrounded the planet- surely enough, that wasn't the Tower. Both of them could tell from the way the energy seemed so black as a contrast to the way Takyr sparked with a crimson and shadowed aura, Jason and Madi's eyes reflected the horrific scenery, Madi's eyes squinting, Jay was the one still in surprise...
"Ben..."
Her voice was endless, bouncing around, hitting against the invisible walls of space, that singular word, that simple name that he held- it began to reach the intended destination. Soaring through the skies above, the signature light azure reaching a darker and darker shade as the sound reached. All of the residents had been stunned by the spectacle, the beam shooting right out the tip of the Sir King's personal quarters to shoot into space. Some of the Takyr leaking out the pure-energy beam, hellspawn jumped right out the inter-dimensional transportation emerging from the astral to exist into the physical. Their screeches echoing the Darkened Dawn, they landed onto their claws, both on their lower limbs and their appendages, digging their nails into the concrete beneath the monsters' feet. Crying aloud their eardrum-bursting screams, they leaped, crawling unnaturally, readying their claws, and easily slashing right through the gut of the paralyzed woman standing stupidly and idly in the street. Entrails falling out from inside, their guts became strewn around the lower level, droplets of blood entering the atmosphere.
It wasn't just that one, though, there were more, each of them littering the skies to create a disturbing image of a secondary demonic invasion... but this wasn't even the main event. Through the ceiling of the Hawk's Castle, there was a body seen, effortlessly flailing through the air, electricity circulating their destroyed chest- limbs flailing as if they were empty bags. CRASH!!! As their eventual descent was reached, his back had shattered on impact with the wooden floorboards he was writhing agonizingly in. His very own pool of blood leaking out from the abundance of cuts and slices on his person, he could only use the slightest bit of mana left to summon the life energy of a past Requiem Warrior to repair his wounds.
"Don't, it's useless," Advised the Superior Emperor from above, and just then, with enough strength, Hanniel utilized the remaining whithers of strength in his arm to crawl over, and there he was. Or rather, the smaller version of the previous close-up, Griffith didn't stay to gaw, instead, he inched closer toward the closed door.
Legs regaining their composure, arms snapping back into place as they unnaturally contorted into order, Griffith could finally locate the ability he'd needed to stand upright once more. Gasping in surprise, the pureness, the wondrous sensation... he felt alive, but this was no time to stay and cherish it. Without hesitation, he bolted right out the door, the pitter-patter of his feet entering the lower regions of the city, bystanders hiding out in alleyways, demons chewing on human flesh, all ignored as he sped right ahead. BOOM!!! The smoke from his landing began to dissipate slowly, the Monstrous Emperor stepping out from the aerosol, he dragged himself further with an obvious irritant aura from the way he swayed. Black aura along with white pupils radiating through the shadow that the sky had cast over him, the Crazed Emperor shoved his hands into the pouches of his pants; there was something about him. It was more confident as opposed to the Requiem Emperor of Time, arms to his back, he lifted his feet off the ground, deciding it easier to just glide above the platform to his soles, he leisurely chased after the Sir Hawk King.
Mages were summoners, they utilized mana to dig into certain pockets of time, channeling whatever they summon and extracting it out his fingers, as we know, The Sir Hawk King was capable of channeling the powers of Greek Gods. Zeus, Mercury, Poseidon, Hades, Ares, but all of them remained inconsequential to that of the Sixth Holy King. He who was destined to bring about the Ultimate Change for the Multiverse, the Heavenly Superior Emperor in all his suited black with white flesh, the radiation leaking out into this world, the stored-up Requiem mixed with the corruption of the soul. Absolute anger had swarmed over reason, disgust for humans, just then, he halted his gliding, spotting the fleeing Hanniel, just a couple of feet away. But if he was that close, then why didn't he just use his telekinesis to yank him right into the poking grasp of the Superior Emperor's fingers? It was because he had a hunch...
"You told 'me' that ever since you saw the construction of the Requiem Capital, you'd wanted your own Kingdom, you wanted to show the world that isolated you... that you could be a God. My kinsmen, you summoned them, and what exactly did you sacrifice?" This inquiry from the booming vocals of the Heavenly Superior, the reverberations were just enough for Griffith to grind to an eventual halt...
Bolts of lightning struck the False God-King, electricity surging through his veins, ripping apart his skin to reveal the bony interior of his skeletal form. The meekness of the Hawk was replaced with a muscular body, a robe appearing, sliding it right over his huge chest and abs. Hands sparking with the sparking element of electricity, thunder rumbling in the grey clouds gathering above his very head, the God of Thunder had broken out of his mortal form. And there he was, in the flesh, given blood and skin by the Guardian Angels of Desire, the kinsmen of the Heavenly Superior Emperor...
"What an insolent hiding place, Thunder God. And here I believed that the legends they wrote had been wrong, but it seems they were dead on the mark. How dare you call yourself a Ruler when your very cowardly existence is a stain on the name of my fellow kinsmen? I'll rid the scriptures of your name, the knowledge will burn away from the brains of humanity when I tear off your skin and scrape your brains out from inside your skull. Only then will they acknowledge the True Emperor of the New World," Stated the Heavenly Superior Emperor with his regular destructive voice, sending shivers to the spines of every resident watching through their intact windows.
Jumping back as the snarls of the foaming demons crowded around the Superior Emperor, all it took was a simple step onward, to which the monsters he controlled at the tips of his fingers had obeyed the silent command. Launching themselves forward in a simple row of nightmares creatures, they let out blood-curdling war cries, shrieks echoing into the black skies above. Swiping his arm to the right to create a veil of electricity so the bolts would then spastically jump out then hit into their bunched-up organs, the Olympian Ruler felt the surplus of blood drench his clean skin in chunks of body. Scoffing, he felt the plasma from lightning singe off the liquid over his eyes, the steam lifting off from his face, Zeus spun his neck so he could see through the curtain of blood.
Attempting to see through it, he gasped as he quickly realized that the crackling he felt at the tips of his fingers, there was a draining feeling, as if everything was being sucked out from his chest- he was unable to defend. Wide eyes and all, a telekinetic force in the form of a blade had sliced through the air, the right arm of Zeus drenching the concrete beneath his feet in chunks of gore as it hit the platform below. Ridden with shock and paralyzed with disbelief, two streams of electricity raged out his eyeballs as he screamed with absolute terror in his voice,
"GO TO HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Obliterating the concrete, the streams of plasma shooting out of his eyes trailing from right to the tips of his toes to aim at the chest of the Sixth Holy King. Standing there without a care in the world as if every little insignificant action this excuse took was inconsequential compared to his, and truth be told, the Heavenly Superior Emperor couldn't be more right.
Warping space around his vicinity, the bolts had just abruptly halted as they reached a couple of centimeters close to his person. White eyes visible through the dark aura around his anatomy, he watched the crazed sight of the energy around him, electricity crackling, some bolts even throwing themselves out so they could hit some of the areas. Fire hydrants, benches, even some windows, and while it barely took a fraction of the Superior Emperor's power to stop this attack... that was only compared to the inferior strength of Zeus.
"I can feel the Omni pouring off from just this lightning alone... you're a rather compelling freak of nature, aren't you?" This sarcastic question from the Superior Emperor had allowed shivers to slide down the spine of the Thunder God, taking a step back in fear, his eyes shook as if realizing something.
He wouldn't win in a stand-alone fight, definitely not as Griffith, and maybe not even in this form, so he had to attain the true power he once held in the minds of the humans he ruled over. Throwing the lightning right back at him, Zeus was quick enough to rise his left hand, absorbing it back into his body, turning it to healing energy so his other arm could begin to regrow from the skinned socket. Grinning from ear to ear, he watched as Zeus took to the skies above, spreading out his arms above to take the position of a true 'God' ruling over man.
Meanwhile, as he was taking whatever movements he'd wanted to, all the Superior Emperor did was watch, arms shrouded by the coat of black he donned over his chest. He didn't make any movements, no attacks, there weren't even any veins visible around his skin to display his previous anger, there was only the mission. Wide eyes suddenly manifesting on his face, he turned his head, spinning it gradually to the left to see the black blade of the Fool Detective.
Gritting his teeth together as he was gradually thrown back, shoes skidding across the ground, The Superior Emperor pushed Karlo back so he could fly into the air and spin around a bit. Taking this as a cue, Azazel turned the uncontrollable flailing to something manipulatable as the wing began to crack out from his back. Takyr engulfing the tip of his katana, used every bit of strength he had, extending out the chain from his wrist to grab at the wrist of the Heavenly Superior.
~What...?! I got it through..?~ These were the surprising words that ran right through his head, but before he could even do anything else, there were the others. Perched and hidden on nearby rooftops, Alex watched in horror knowing something terrible was about to happen with Kristie beside him.
August had been levitating beside them both, masking them with a curtain so they wouldn't be spotted by his corrupt father. There was nothing more to do but watch. Knowing Karlo, even if he died, he'd die at peace knowing that he did something just enough to save people, and avenge all those he wronged. Risking death to win and dying to win, two completely different things when you think bout it, but it's all the same to the former Crow of Justice, Azazel Karlo.
Feet against the air above his Heavenly opponent, he turned his wrist and yanked the chain with all of his might. The Superior Emperor examining the lengthiness of this projectile as his limb had forcefully been raised to the air, the Detective took this chance to throw a slash right at his chest. Spreading his pupils, the abruptness of a needle stabbing into the skin of a patient, the singing sound of a metal blade, Azazel's Takyr-infused sword stroke had been warped by space.
The leanness of the metal had been extended further to reach into the air a bit more, Karlo unable to move his hands as he was launched backward so he could roll down the street. August easily used his enhanced speed to catch him before any of his bones shattered, holding his rival in his right arm, Karlo shook his head, coming out of a daze. Beginning to stand as the Reaper reeled back then followed his movements, the Superior Emperor didn't even spare them a glance. Instead, he stuck out his palm, casually manipulating the tip of the blade so it could slice open his skin... and he chuckled,
"None of you are needed any longer. Rivera, Karlo, Amara, Kristina- move out of the way, for the Herald is to come," Just as his twisted father had stated that line with his booming vocals, Azazel dared to threaten the man he once called 'Headmaster.' Despite his advances, though, something stopped him, and no, it wasn't a feeling, it wasn't some sort of poetic sense of justice, rather- it was the hand of the Requiem Reaper pushing the chest of the Prince back before he did anything stupid.
Just about to ridicule and oppose this judgment the heterochromatic Requiem had come up with, all he needed were the following words,
"This is supposed to happen. Don't do anything, or you'll die when you're not intended to," How August knew any of that, he was unsure, maybe it was a feeling in the flow of time, something like that. Truthfully though, there wasn't anything mystical happening with this assumption, it was merely a hunch, a suspicion that he'd leave if neither of them bothered him any further.
The Heavenly Superior Emperor's optics met the discolored ones of his 'son', right ahead of him to the left of his brother-in-arms. They didn't share any collective nod that this was their sort of secret plan, instead, he just glared at him in the eye before turning his head to meet the scared gaze of the Requiem Judge, tightly gripping onto his whip familiar. The duo of battling bloodlines began to slide their bodies to the side, creating an opening for the younger of the two's father to do the job he was chosen for... though they were all against the Incarnations, August knew. As his father's body flew off with the contorted warped sharpened blade around him, the thuds of Alex and Kristina's legs hitting the floor entered his eardrums.
"I guess I missed the part where you said to let him go, so, uh, why did we?" Alex intoned quizzically with a rough vocalization in his voice.
Oblivious to the anger that Amara was displaying, August shrugged, showing his smirk once more as he raised his arms. Both eyes radiating with the colorations of their orbs, they shined against the light from the sun attempting to peek out through the grey clouds gathered above,
"Who knows? I don't know what's going to happen, or why I decided to let him go, but there was this feeling in my heart... that if I did anything, if I challenged him- then I'd die. I'm not all-powerful, I can maybe kill Lucifer, Rahab or Moriah if I go all out, but Almighty and Satan are a different story-" Crossing his arms as he turned his head back up to the sky, August watched as his father's body made a hole in the clouds.
Rays from that star in the sky that heated the planet began to leak onto their faces, Kristina squinting at the sky, Azazel turning away to the ground, Alex raised his hand then parting his fingers. But the Reaper kept staring despite the burning sensation of the sun against those orbs he called eyes,
"There's no doubt though, that with just pure strength alone; that thing could easily overthrow all of them... Dad is destined to end it all, he's simply-
The Chosen One."