"One spin, two spin, three spin, four..." Asura counted the rotations of a ceiling fan as the boredom consumed his mind.
"Wait a damn minute... A ceiling fan? How the hell do they have a ceiling fan and no lights? But there are lights in some rooms... like the training room... Then why do they use candles in some rooms and have power in others? What the fuck... hopefully he didn't hear me. Um, What is this cathedral?" Asura looked around the room for signs of other electrical utilities or devices. Yet, there weren't lights in the room either, but candles scattered on golden pans all around.
"What the fuck..."
Asura stared at a fifth hallway that stood between the two he had previously explored.
"There has never been a fifth..."
Asura rose from the pew and walked towards the fifth hallway.
"This is definitely a haunted church like in the movies..."
He grabbed a book, gripping it tightly, before tossing it down the dark hallway. The book bounced on the ground, tumbling and flipping open as it skipped across the floor toward the shadows. Then it stopped right before the edge of the dark abyss where light remained.
A hand reached out and grabbed the book, quickly snatching it away into the dark void of the hall.
"Oh fuck that. I'm not dying first in this film. No thanks, have a good one, mister Hallway."
Asura plopped down on the pew once more. He turned one last time to look at the hallway. A pale hand stretched out from the abyss, its palm opened as if asking to be taken. An echo cried out in Asura's mind as if forcefully implanted inside.
"You understand me."
"Hell no, I don't! Go back to wherever you came, ghost hand!"
"You were betrayed just as I."
Asura paused.
"Who the hell ever betrayed me?"
"Free me. I shall give you back what is rightfully yours."
"I don't know what you mean, but no thanks."
"The price for your refusal is her life."
"Who's life?"
"You lose it all, and forever will Asura. It shall be taken from you against your will for eternity. I offer you a chance to break the cycle. You have been chained by Judex Divinum to endless mortality. The glass house you've built will soon crack and shatter."
"An offer that makes me even more certain of my refusal."
"The gardens will burn, every flower consumed, and the gardener is forced to watch his life's work be taken from him."
"You the riddler fiddler or something? Who the hell are you, ghosty?"
The hand folded its fingers, all but its index. It pointed at Asura.
"You have been warned and offered a deal. I leave the offer on the table until I decide otherwise. It is best to decide soon before my patience grows thin. I shall be waiting."
The hand slowly drifted into the shadows, disappearing as if it never existed. Then, Asura blinked, and the hallway was gone. The ogre rubbed his eyes, expecting it to return or something else to happen, but found the wall back in its original state.
"Just a little nap will do... I'm losing my marble..."
"You can say that again, and no, it won't. We have a job to do, so get up. If I can't slack off, I damn well won't let you."
Mel's voice called out, interrupting his peace. She walked out of the hallway with little baggage and a few more vials strapped to her body.
"Damn party pooper."
"Well, it is my job to ruin your day."
"You know, it might be the one thing you are really good at."
"Thanks, I'm a professional in babysitting you."
"Whatever. So, do you guys have anyone imprisoned in the church? Like a real demon or ghost? Poltergeist style."
"What?"
"You know? Like ghosts n shit. Haunting spirits creep around in creepy churches like this."
"What the hell are you on about?"
"I'm just asking."
"No? There's no such thing as ghosts unless you are talking about shadows."
"No, no, I ain't talking about those creepy people. Other creepy things like spirits and spooky shit. Like in the films."
"You don't really believe in that stuff, do you?"
"I mean, there are videos, and it's on the internet."
"Oh my gosh, you're dumber than I could ever imagine..."
"Hey!-"
Wain called out as he rushed out from the opposite hallway Mel emerged from.
"Ok, I am ready."
Wain appeared with his large bag in hand.
"What's up?"
"Did you just come out of the opposite hallway? Aren't our rooms on the right?"
"What do you mean? They've always been on the left?"
Asura's jaw dropped at the statement.
"You're fucking with me, right?"
"No?"
"Quit messing with me, man."
"Dude, I'm not. We've always gone down the left."
"No, we haven't. I know I just got here, but there's no way all the hallways are linked together. This place is moving and shit. Somethings up with all this shit. A ghost hand was talking to me earlier in a hallway, and now it's like an episode of that cartoon where they hunt down ghosts and run through lots of doors trying to catch them."
"Are you okay? You've been strange lately?"
"Quit fucking with me! I know for a damn-"
"Asura, dude, can you take this seriously? The jokes are funny and annoying, and that's cool, but this is serious."
"I know it's serious! You guys-"
Before Asura could ask about the hallway any further, Ash appeared behind the two priests with a small bag slung over his back. As Asura watched the team gather around, he couldn't help but notice that they all had grim expressions plaguing their faces.
"Why the long faces? We'll just beat them up, right?"
Mel furrowed her brows, visibly frustrated by Asura's antics. His relaxed demeanor and playful nature irritated her regarding these situations. However, his strength left little room to complain. Although he got himself into messes, he certainly found his way out of the chaos.
"Look, I know you don't give a crap about us humans, but we do. If that thing gets summoned, then a lot of people will die. So shut up and be serious for once. Malachi win's if we screw this up. That means everyone here dies, too. Lilly, Marco, Joel, and the townspeople. Everyone."
Asura's white eyes focused on Mel, and his face stiffened as he replied,
"Alright, well, let's fuck up a big snake. No one dies."
Wain chimed in,
"No, we need to stop Malachi before the big snake comes."
Asura slammed his fist into his palm before stating,
"Let's mess them all up then. Malachi, the snake, all of them. Everyone can catch these hands. All four of em."
Wain reached into his small bag around his waist and pulled out a purple herb,
"We all ready?"
Mel nodded as she stepped closer to Wain in the middle of the room.
"Asura, get over here. We need to be close."
Asura groaned as he pushed himself out of the pew. He cast one final glance at the hallway, knowing he may never receive the answer to the mysterious disappearing hallway.
"At least this will be fun."
Ash grabbed the hilt of his blade as if he were preparing himself for a fight immediately upon their arrival.
"Everyone, hold on. Sometimes, this is a little rough."
Asura's eyes widen at the unexpected warning.
"What do you mean by little rough? You don't have this smoothed out?"
Without answering his question, Wain inhaled a breath of smoke. Then, a large cloud erupted from his mouth like an explosion from within his lungs. The large cloud of smoke swirled around the room and encircled the four of them, consuming them in a fog. Asura elbowed Ash, letting out a little giggle as he stated,
"How are you going to call this guy a weakling? Man can make stuff and teleport us places. He can teleport! What the hell can you do? Swing a sword around a little?"
Asura laughed as Ash angrily glared at him, but the glare was brief as the fog clouded his vision, preventing him from seeing the others standing nearby. Swiftly, the smoke became denser and denser, making it hard to see his own hands in front of his face. Then came flashes of golden light that shot through the smoke like lightning in a thunderstorm. Roaring and booming, the lightning struck the floor at Asura's feet, sending him jumping backward. Asura expected to bump into someone but felt nothing, as if he were alone.
"Woah."
Asura stood amazed as he looked around at the beautiful storm around him. Asura began to play with the smoke with his four warms, watching it swirl and fold over his arms. Any worry left within the ogre from losing his party was gone as childish amusement distracted him.
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. He couldn't tell if it was air pressure or what the feeling was, but he was no longer in the other cathedral. "It's different. The air is... dirtier?" Pollution plagued the air, making it a little difficult to breathe. The unpleasant aroma left Asura scrunching his nose involuntarily as he processed the sudden shift. The air around him shifted once more, and the golden streaks of light began to flicker in the smoke around him.
"Somethings wrong..."
Air swirled violently throughout the smoke, sending it cascading like raging waves in the ocean. With every second that passed, its speed increased.
"Oh shit..."
Asura looked up, realizing he was within the eye of a tornado. The aggressive wind violently circled him. Then, it all ceased at once in the blink of an eye. As if the storm were calmed, every cloud remnant dispersed, leaving no traces of its presence behind. Asura whipped his head several times, trying to take note of his surroundings.
Before him was a giant marble hall accented with golden trim, just like the cathedral he lived within. However, this one was much more elegant and spacious than the previous one. Asura could've never imagined a bigger building would exist, but as he studied the six massive pillars holding up the ceiling, it became evident he was wrong.
Within the center of the room stood a large staircase covered by a red carpet. The carpet stretched throughout the entirety of the room and led up the stairs to a large dark mahogany set of double doors.
"Whoever lives here is a bougie. Rich assholes... No wonder the citizens hate your asses."
Although he had to admit, this place certainly put the other cathedral to shame with its interior alone.
"Who even pays for something like this?"
The walls were white and decorated with gold. It was very similar to the kitchen they had in the cathedral back home. Large angels were carved into every side, each holding the ceiling up with outstretched arms. Asura took a long pause, studied the statues, and concluded they were from the same creator.
A glass chandelier hung in the center of the ceiling. Its impressive size left Asura wanting to swing from it. Two statues of Archangels perched on the sides of the staircase on the left and right. Their grand presence was exalted by the golden material they were molded from.
Asura could only tell by their four wings they were Archangels. Most Angels had two wings, but these had four, distinguishing them from the other statues. "Maybe the more wings, the stronger the angel?"
It was just a theory his aunt talked about once, but Asura remembered her long speech about never disrespecting an angel. After realizing he was alone, Asura looked around the room for a moment while calling out,
"Guys?... Guys? Anyone there? Hello?"
In his peripheral vision, Asura watched as a metal object approached him at high speed.
"Oh shit!..."
Turning to get a better look, he watched as a giant ball of metal covered with spikes soared in his direction. With little time to react, Asura swatted the ball up with his right arm.
"Gah!"
The collision sent the ball flying backward. The ogre winced as intense pain shot through his wrist. He shook his wrist while watching the ball fly up in the air for a moment before it crashed back down to the floor. The weight of the metal spikey ball buried it within the marble, causing a loud boom to erupt as the ground cracked.
"Damn, she sturdy."
The object that looked like a wrecking ball with spikes protruding from it radiated holy mana out into the room. "How interesting..." Asura thought. Unlike Mel's or Ash's holy mana, this one had a different aura radiating from the weapon. A pattern of roses strangled by thorns was engraved around its circular body. After realizing a chain was attached to the ball, Asura followed it with his eyes as it traveled across the ground. In the corner of the room near the opposite side stood a muscular woman with the chain wrapped around her wrist. Asura raised his hand and waved,
"Oh, hi!"
"It must be a resident of the cathedral they were headed to," Asura thought. She wore a similar military-style outfit with God's symbol embroidered on the short sleeve of the shirt's chest. Instead of cargo pants, she wore black baggy sweatpants as if she were casually lounging around before this sudden interruption. Her short black hair and sleepy red eyes confirmed Asura's assumption to be correct. "She must have just woken up from a nap. Lucky." Asura pointed at the large wrecking ball in the hole it made for itself.
"That almost hit me. Be careful next time."
In a monotone voice, she replied,
"I know. It was intended."
"That's rude. It's also hard to talk with the water running-"
"Wait, water running?""
Turning to look for the sound, Asura's head whipped towards the direction of the source. It was coming from the metal ball buried in the floor. Black water erupted from the ball, spreading out across the ground. It covered the floor around him within seconds, making a large puddle beneath him. Before Asura could ask about the weird black liquid, another voice spoke out from the opposite side of the room, from which a new lady emerged.
Asura lifted his head and looked for the person who spoke, finding an even more muscular woman twice the size of Ash. For a second, Asura thought he was in the presence of a mythological Goddess. Her black hair, as dark as night, braided behind her head, made Asura swoon, "Am I falling in love?"
The muscles on her bronze body, trained to cut diamonds, made his heart stop. Everything about her was perfect. She wore mixed martial arts-style shorts partnered with a loose T-shirt, making it easy for her to move around. Hundreds of scars covered her body and told the story of her hardships and training. "This woman is a fighter!" Her fierce blue eyes screamed with her determination to win at everything.
Distracted by the woman's stunning appearance, Asura slapped himself to try to gather his wit.
"Um, hi, my name's Asura. Nice to meet you."
She raised her right arm in the air without a word.
"Oh."
Asura couldn't lie. He was curious about what her plans were. The thrill of a good fight took hold of his rationality. He decided to see what would happen and remained still. For a moment Asura thought what she was doing was for show. Like a wrestler ready to perform her final finishing move she lifted her arm high. Her fist was tight. Asura giggled inside but stopped after witnessing lightning arc from her fist to her arm.
With a large smile on her face, she swung her hand down like a hammer, striking the ground. The fist planted in the black water that sat in front of her. Lightning arced from the point of contact and spread throughout the water. The electricity coursed through the water, instantly traveling to Asura's location, leaving no time for him to react. Asura was gripped with regret after realizing this would be more painful than he imagined.
"FHGSGGD"
Electricity coursed through his body, shooting excruciating pain throughout every limb. Asura tried to jump out of the water but realized he could not move. He could only clench his teeth as the pain became more intense.
"Shhkkghhit.... ittkgkkk hurktkgkts.."
Paralyzed by the electricity flowing through his body, he struggled to fight against the current.
From behind him, Asura could hear two sets of metal clanging against the floor coming towards him. As the metal noise grew louder, he managed to turn his head enough to watch as two giant mechanical armored wolves raced towards him.
"Ohhgh fuahghhk."
The two wolves slammed their heads into his back, causing Asura to be thrown across the large puddle of black water. With every touch, his body tensed as more electricity pumped into his being. Asura groaned as he pulled himself to his feet. Although the hit hurt, he was grateful. The dogs freed him from his electrified prison, and he could finally move.
Asura stood up with a massive smile on his face as he dusted himself off. "This is fun! This is what I'm talking about! Really, really, fun! What a wonderful fight!" Asura shouted in his head. He flexed his muscles while looking around the room, trying to unstiffen them after the lightning coursed through his body.
Before he engaged blindly in a fight, Asura assessed the situation. A third person appeared in the room, standing on the staircase now. A golden-haired kid with a blindfold on. "How odd..." Around his wrist, golden shackles bound his hands together. "Was he a prisoner?" The black-haired woman tilted her head, confused by Asura's presence in the cathedral. Her deep voice could be heard in the distance,
"So, how'd a demon get inside the cathedral?"
The short hair girl replied first,
"I don't know. He was just here when I woke up."
The golden-haired kid quietly spoke, making it difficult for Asura to hear his words,
"I have no clue either. His presence emerged a minute ago."
"How strange... Well, I guess this will be a nice warm-up before training."
Suddenly, the wrecking ball alongside the chain turned into ink on the floor. Asura watched as the ink soaked into the marble, creating an image of objects like graffiti. Speechless, he could only watch as the graffiti slithered quickly across the ground as if it were alive. He tried to stomp on it to stop the movement, but it did not react. It was in the floor...
Asura looked up at the woman the chain was headed towards, finding her chain linked to the floor. Its solid-state was attached to the graffiti at the point of contact with the ground. The ink pooled around the spot like a well, and with ease, she pulled the chain out, returning it to its physical form.
"That is wicked! How does that even work?"
She immediately began to twirl the ball around her effortlessly, and it began to pick up speed as if its weight were irrelevant. It was certainly hefty. The blow to Asura's wrist left it still throbbing up to this moment. "To think she is swinging it around like that..." Asura watched as she flung it back at him. Prepared this time, he braced his arm as he punched it away.
The ball flew into one of the Arch Angel's statues, erupting in a low ring as it collided with the gold. After the ball bounced off its surface and onto the ground, a large dent remained.
"My bad."
Asura laughed at her attempt to hit him again.
"You will need to try harder than-"
Asura stopped as he looked up, finding the boxer woman in the air above him. His eyes flicked to her last location, finding it empty.
"Uh-oh."
As she flew towards him, she flipped upside down, building momentum with the shift, and brought her right leg out, preparing to strike him with her foot. Mere inches away from his face, Asura barely dodged her devastating kick as he jumped to the side. From behind, an explosion erupted, and her foot collided with the ground. She put all her weight onto her foot, sending cracks that shot across the ground around her as golden lightning flew in all directions. The floor caved slightly from the blow, and Asura was awed.
"I'm glad that missed me."
The woman laughed,
"I'm not. You know, you are pretty impressive for a demon."
Asura had a devilish grin on his face and replied,
"You're not bad yourself."
Rising off the ground, Asura opened his mouth to speak again but stopped as suddenly two armored wolves pounced onto his back.
"Gah!"
The two worked synchronized, pouncing and biting at Asura's limbs. One attacked while the other distracted. "Clever. But not good enough!" Asura thought as he fended off the two mechanical dogs. It would have been flawless if their teeth could puncture his skin. However, with each bite, their teeth became flatter and flatter as they clamped their jaws shut against his body. The metal dulled and bent with each attack.
Noticing an opening in their strikes, Asura grabbed at one of the dogs that jumped at his throat. He lifted it above, raising the metal dog high, and prepared for the other to try and save its friend. As the other jumped towards him, Asura slammed the dog raised above down on top of the attacker's head like a hammer hitting a nail.
The loud crash of the metal clashing against each other echoed throughout the hall. Waiting for any movement, Asura watched as the two dogs lay limp on top of each other.
"Did I kill them?"
"Come forth to protect me. Oh Judex Divinum, that provides all."
Behind Asura, a golden portal opened.
"What's that?"
Emerging from the portal, a giant armored fist shot out, instantly striking Asura in the chest.
"Oh sh-"
Rubble and dust exploded into the air as he crashed into a nearby pillar. He groaned as he listened to the golden-haired boy speak out.
"Lydia... we need to take this seriously now. If he is still alive, then he will be a problem."
"Can't we just have some fun?"
The other woman's voice replied,
"You always have fun."
"Yeah, but we don't always see a demon like this? You saw how he looked! He has four arms with horns! How cool is that?"
"Lydia..."
"Fine, we can kill him..."