( 3rd POV )
After taking her chance, Anastasia stood firm, her elegant form elevated by the hulking shadowy figure of Viy behind her. The gigantic entity loomed, its pitch-black presence forming a stark contrast against the pale blue glow of its master's eyes.
Snowflakes began to drift, swirling with an unnatural will, turning the battlefield into an icy dominion. The very air itself seemed to bow to their command, forming a tempest of frost and shadow, an unrelenting force against the hellish blaze that sought to consume everything in its path.
Kadoc standing behind his Servant, called out to her. "Caster, now it's the time." He commands, while pouring every bit of his mana inside of him toward her. "Let him see what happens when he underestimates us."
After hearing his master command, Anastasia didn't hesitate to start chanting her Noble Phantasm. With a loud yet cold tone, she chants.
"Viy, behold it all.
Pierce through everything.
Lay your incredible power as an offering at my grave..."
The incantation had already begun, her voice an ethereal whisper laced with a chilling power that seeped into the marrow of the battlefield. The temperature plummeted instantly, the moisture in the air crystallizing into a glistening frost.
"Wh–What is this!?" Eli Morrow, the wretched spirit controlling Robbie's form, snarled in frustration.
The ground beneath Eli Morrow cracked audibly as thick ice tendrils spread outward, encasing the battlefield in an otherworldly tundra. Creating a vast land of ice.
"Viy, Viy, Viy!"
With the last incantation, even the hellfire that burned across Robbie Reyes' possessed body flickered uncertainly, its intensity dulled against the unrelenting force of Anastasia's Noble Phantasm. The equilibrium of power shifted—ice encroached on flame, consuming its edges, suffocating its hunger.
"Raaagghhh!!!"
Elias attempted to intensify the hellfire surrounding him, his Ghost Rider form pulsating with renewed energy as the flames surged higher and brighter. He willed the infernal blaze to engulf the encroaching ice, determined to overwhelm it with sheer heat and force. However, despite his best efforts, the attempt proved futile.
The presence of this "clown" and her demonic shadow was proving to be a greater obstacle than expected. His grip on Robbie's consciousness also wavered for a fleeting moment, and he could feel the boy resisting, fighting back against the burning chains that bound his soul.
It was infuriating, for him.
With an enraged bellow, Eli clenched his fists, the remaining embers of his diminished hellfire bursting outward in defiance. "You think your cheap trick can snuff out my flames?!" he roared. His skeletal visage, wreathed in the dimming blaze, twisted with a sneer of contempt. "I'll burn you and your pet shadow down to ashes!"
A defiant flick of his wrist sent a wave of hellfire streaking towards Anastasia. The blazing inferno surged through the icy terrain, creating a violent hiss as the flames and frost clashed.
However, before the fire could reach her, Viy, behind her master moved, an unnatural darkness spreading from its form like a sentient abyss. The black tendrils coated with a mystical ice devoured the flames effortlessly, swallowing them into an endless void.
Anastasia observed Eli's futile assault with a cold, unyielding gaze. "Hmph! A mere demon dares to overwhelm a high-ranking Elemental? Audacious!" she remarked, her tone laced with a mix of contempt and superiority.
Eli's confidence flickered for the first time, as he saw this.
But once again, the spirit of vengeance launched himself forward, his flaming chain whipping through the air with violent momentum. Anastasia, floating in the air with Viy behind her, remained poised as they watch his struggle.
The battle erupted in a frenzied clash of ice and hellfire, each strike shaking the battlefield, creating thick mist around it. Eli's attacks were relentless, but each time his chain came down, Viy with its Mystic Eye help, intercepted the attack with 'inhuman' precision, the impact sending echoes through the frozen wasteland.
The environment itself was beginning to collapse under the sheer magnitude of their battle—sections of the highway crumbled, the intense shifts between heat and cold warping the very ground beneath them.
From a distance, Ken watched their battle with his other servants beside him. His arms crossed as he assessed the battle. His eyes flickered toward Johnny Blaze, who also stood beside him.
"So, Mr. Blaze," he began, his voice calm yet laced with intrigue, "could you share your part of the story in this conflict? From what I know, it's rare for you Ghost Riders to cross paths with one another like this."
But Johnny Blaze stood motionless, his gaze fixed on the battlefield, watching in sheer disbelief as Anastasia's Noble Phantasm transformed the once-scorched wasteland into an icebound tundra.
'What just happen...?' He thought inside his mind, unable to comprehend the scene in front of him.
He had witnessed supernatural battles before, but nothing quite like this. The sheer contrast between the burning hellfire and the creeping frost world created an unnatural sight. Especially when he saw Eli's (Robbie's) hellfire being suppressed by an ice.
Robbie was undoubtedly still a fledgling Rider, inexperienced in harnessing the full potential of his powers. However, the idea that mere ice could suppress his hellfire, let alone freeze it entirely, defied all expectations. It was a scene that left even a seasoned veteran like himself momentarily baffled.
Johnny exhaled slowly, his breath visible in the cold air. He turned his head slightly toward Ken. "You mean this mess? It's quite a long story..."
Around him, the rest of the group mirrored his attentiveness, leaning in slightly as they pricked their ears, eager to catch the story.
"Alright then, let me start by asking this—I'm going to assume you already know about that kid, Robbie Reyes?" Johnny asked, staring at Ken.
Ken furrowed his brows, unable to guess what he is implying. "Yeah, we know of him. Not the full details, but we, Chaldea know him. What's up with that?"
Upon hearing the response, Johnny Blaze let out a low exhale, the flames around his skull flickering faintly as he began to recount his tale.
"Yeah, about that..." Johnny started, his voice gravelly and tinged with a hint of reflection. "I was more or less in the same boat as you—just hearing stories about a new Ghost Rider in a neighboring county pop out all of the sudden. At first, I didn't think much of it. Another Rider, showing up out of nowhere? It happens sometimes, but it's rare enough to get my attention. So, I decided to see what was going on with my own eyes. Figured it'd be worth a look, you know? But after I saw him... I realized he was different. Really different."
"Heck, 'different' doesn't even begin to cover it. The kid wasn't like the rest of us. Sure, he had the hellfire, the chains, and the ride just like me. But there was something else about him, something I couldn't quite put my finger on at first."
Johnny's words trailed off as he paused, his glowing eyes momentarily still as he had been caught in the swirl of his memories. "When I crossed paths with him a few times and I started digging deeper, I realized something was terribly wrong. The spirit inside of him... it's nothing like the ones we carry. That thing inside of him—it ain't a Spirit of Vengeance at all. It's something worse."
He hesitated for a moment before continuing. "It's the spirit of Eli Morrow. That son of a bitch was a killer and a leader of a satanist cult in life before turned into something even nastier in death. That thing doesn't bring vengeance for the innocent— it only cares about himself."
"I've been tracking him for a while now," he admitted, as he sounds angry as well. "I still don't understand how the kid—Robbie—has the Rider power inside him," Johnny continued, his tone a mixture of confusion and irritation. "Even before Morrow activated it, that power was already there, lying dormant. It doesn't make sense at all for me."
"But it doesn't matter how it got there, not anymore. What matters now is figuring out how to separate Morrow's spirit from Robbie before it's all too late."
Ken's eyes studied Johnny carefully, noting the flicker of guilt beneath his tone earlier. "Too late for what?"
Johnny clenched his jaw, his fists tightening. "Before he completely takes over the kid's body. Don't get me wrong—the kid's got guts. Even now, he's fighting Eli from the inside, but Eli's been chipping away at him little by little. We can't waste time much longer."
"It's like two souls in one body." Ushiwakamaru comment while gripping her katana.
"So awful... Senpai..." Mash feels pity as hear about Robbie's experience. She cast a glance toward Ken, hoping him to help.
After hearing Johnny side of story, Ken shifted his gaze toward the battlefield, where Eli—controlling Robbie's body—lashed out with hellfire against the encroaching ice. Even with Anastasia's Noble Phantasm suppressing the flames, Eli's sheer hatred refused to be snuffed out completely as it continues to fuel the hellfire.
"I see..." Ken exhaled through his nose, his expression darkening. "So, what's your plan? How are you gonna strip Morrow's sprit from Robbie, Mr. Blaze?" Ken asked, trying to hear the veteran rider opinions.
But Johnny's skeletal visage grew even grimmer as soon as Ken asked that. "That's the thing, I don't know! Because of the way our powers work—We can only cancel each other attacks. My original intention was to beat the hell out of Eli until he got knock out and let Robbie's consciousness back. But now..."
Mordred, who had been listening with a boring expression, suddenly widened her eyes in genuine surprise. "What...!? You don't even know how to handle that skinny torch!?"
After a brief pause, she clicked her tongue audibly, shaking her head as if in exaggerated disappointment. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," she said, her mocking tone laced with a theatrical edge, "and here we thought you were the real deal, heh."
But instead of getting angry, Johnny simply gave a single nod. "Yeah. I thought if I pushed him hard enough, I could force Robbie to take back control. Maybe weaken Eli long enough to let Robbie control his true power and overwhelm Eli's spirit. But now you guys are here..."
Ken remained silent as he took in the information carefully, his mind rapidly forming strategies, analyzing potential outcomes. He even silently uses spell such like Thought Acceleration to help him forming a better plan.
In fact, Ken had already weighed two potential options in his mind, but each carrying its own risks. The first option involved utilizing his Mystic Eyes, but his mastery over them was far from complete. He feared that he might accidentally kill Robbie's spirit alongside Eli if he's not careful.
Ken realized that if he chose this route, he would need to super focus just to kill Eli's spirit, it's even needed to knock him unconscious first. However, as he observed the intense battle unfolding before him, he couldn't help but recognize that the plan has nearly a zero chance of success.
While the second plan...
Ken suddenly heard Da Vinci's voice resonate within his mind. 'Ken... Ken, did you hear me?'
Startled by her call, Ken replied telepathically through their Master-Servant bond, 'Oh, yeah... I hear you clearly, Da Vinci. You caught Blaze's side of the story, right? So, do you have any plans that might outshine his?'
Da Vinci let out a soft chuckle as if she could read his mind. 'I might have a plan, but judging by your expression, it seems you've already come up with something better, haven't you? Fufufu,'
Ken smiled faintly at Da Vinci's familiar teasing tone before responding, 'Well, I'm not sure if this plan will work, but it's worth a try.'
'Fufufu, that's the spirit. Then go ahead, my master,' Da Vinci replied, her voice brimming with playful encouragement before she ended the telepathic connection.
A fleeting memory from his childhood surfaced from the depths of Ken's mind. He recalled the time when he met two young girls at a church after the old geezer drop him there. One had strikingly dark blue hair, while the other's hair shimmered like freshly fallen white snow.
The two had been his only companions during the period he spent studying there, and it put a smile on his face.
Ken's planning and communication with Da Vinci took only a few seconds in the real world. As the telepathic connection faded, Ken's expression shifted, his features now brimming with a newfound confidence. He turned to face the others gathered around him.
With a confident smile, he addressed the group. "If you don't mind, Mr. Blaze," he began, his voice steady and resolute, "I believe I might have a better plan to separate Elias Morrow's spirit from Robbie Reyes's body. Would you care to hear it?"
His words immediately captured the attention of everyone around him. Johnny, in particular, seemed to study Ken intently, the flames flickering in his hollow eye sockets intensifying, as if mirroring his heightened interest.
"What is it, Master of Chaldea?"
"Please elaborate more, Senpai."
"Enough with the dilly-dallying, just get to the point, Ken!"
As the group's curiosity about his plan reached its peak, Ken's lips curled into a mysterious smile. The confidence in his expression only deepened. After a brief pause, he finally broke the silence.
"Have you heard of exorcism?"
.....
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A/N: I was concerned that some readers might be upset about Robbie's portrayal as Ghost Rider. However, as far as I'm aware (not a comic book fans), the source of Robbie Reyes' power as Ghost Rider remains somewhat ambiguous even in the comics.
Even after Eli's spirit (curse) left him—as mentioned by Johnny Blaze when he became the King of Hell—Robbie still retained the ability to transform into his GR form.
Based on this, I can only speculate that Eli's spirit only served as a catalyst for Robbie to unlock his GR abilities. Just think of it as an AU. After all, I can't always following the comic unreasonable storyline.
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