[SIZE="4"][FONT="Georgia"]Chapter 4: Clash of Titans[/FONT][/SIZE]
Power transforms you. It corrupts you, it changes you. But there are always those who fight for the good reasons; for justice, for virtue. But what is right and what is wrong? And at what lengths do you go to accomplish a goal? Do the ends always justify the means? Morrighan, my Goddess, please guide me.
He flapped his wings gracefully, keeping him a few feet off the burning ground below him, where the rest of the fire team laid injured and weak. He wore a cocky half-smile along with a raised eyebrow, probably wondering who the hell were we and what we were doing here in the middle of the night.
But he wasn't afraid.
His right arm was made of metal, which complemented his bulky figure and the dark wings which sprouted from his back. An angel or perhaps a God, but nonetheless, he meant no good.
"Ahhhh..." he groaned as he stretched his arms, while descending towards the ground. His wings looked sharp and dangerous. Fear kept me silent. "Aughhhh..." he kept stretching, taking his eyes off me for a few seconds.
I could've ran, but I didn't know where David or Grandpa was. I couldn't leave without them. I think Sin was in my pocket, or not. I couldn't remember. All I could feel was a burning headache, which made it difficult to think.
The winged man looked around at all the injured civilians around them and chuckled. "I didn't think I'd cause this much ruckus, heh." I grew angry. He kept on smiling sarcastically.
"Who are you?"
"Ah, finally found the courage to speak up, eh?" he chuckled. "I shall gladly answer your question, peasant." He extended his metal arm to point at everything surrounding him. "I am your new King."
I remained silent. Anger slowly consumed me. I didn't know who the hell this man was, but I couldn't forgive him for all the destruction he had caused in one night. I clenched my fists.
"What are you waiting for, peasant?" he laughed. "Your King has returned, why are you not bowing?"
"You are a murderer," I murmured. "You killed Pepe, you hurt the people of my town and... where is my Grandfather?!"
"Why are you not bowing?" he insisted. "The rest of your people too refused to bow and you can already see what fate they met."
My head felt like it was about to burst. I could barely keep my eyes open from all the pain. Blood ran down the side. A second seemed like forever. I felt like I was going to faint any second now, but someone held me from behind.
"You need medical attention, boy." It was that tall man who had saved me before, the guy with the enormous shield. He set me down near Sin.
"Virtue! I was calling you all this time, but you weren't listening!" she yelled worriedly.
"I'm sorry." I was exhausted and slightly dizzy. Talking made it worse. "Where is David?"
"I don't know! I don't know!" she cried.
"Everything's gonna be fine, Sin..." I murmured.
The tall Giant stood in front of us, blocking our view of the winged man.
"I have awaited your return. We all have," the Giant said.
"Gargamaru," the winged man recognized him. "Oh, how long has it been."
"You will not win this time, Nuadha."
"You mortals are all such lucid dreamers, thinking you can manipulate things to your advantage every time," the winged man responded. He chuckled. "Well, wake up, Gargamaru. This is reality and no matter how hard you try, your abilities will never compare to mine. They will never compare!!"
Nuadha fired a beam of light towards Gargamaru, but the Giant used his shield to block it.
"What formidable defense..." Sin gasped. She pulled me slightly away from both of them, to prevent any of us from getting hurt.
Nuadha flapped his massive wings and took to the skies, but Gargamaru grabbed his shield and threw it at him like a boomerang, which caught him off-guard.
"Gotcha," he said.
Using an intricate-looking weapon--some sort of a ranged weapon--he fired a projectile tied to a long metal chain right through Nuadha's left wing. The God groaned, but this did not prevent him from launching a barrage of gusts using his wings.
"That was a nice shot, but you have no-- AHHH!!"
The flying Shield returned to hit Nuadha on the back of his head.
"Headshot," Gargamaru remarked. "Now, it ends here!!"
I don't remember clearly, but I think he pulled out one of those weapons that Corrupt Alchemist from before used. A Cylinder, if I remember David describing it correctly. Gargamaru grabbed a few crystals from his waist bag and shoved it into the weapon. It soon ignited and sparks flew out of it.
"SPARK!" he yelled out as he casted the spell onto the metal chain, which conducted electricity, traveling all the way up to its target; Nuadha.
"Aughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!" the winged man became a ball of electricity in the sky. It reminded me of that story Grandpa had read to me many times before, of a man named Benjamin Franklin and how he had discovered electricity. Only here, it was a reversed experiment using Alchemy.
"Fry in hell, you metal-birdbrain," Gargamaru said as he held tightly onto the metal chain with his gauntlets.
"Nice try." All of a sudden, Nuadha disappeared and the metal chain fell from the sky. He reappeared behind Gargamaru and impaled him through the stomach with his sharp, metal arm.
The Giant's eyes widened and he immediately spit out blood. How... how could this be?
"I am a God, Alchemist," Nuadha spoke, "You cannot defeat me. You will never defeat me. So please, do yourself a favor and give up already." He released his arm and Gargamaru fell to the ground, close to death.
Sin tried to hide me behind a tree, so Nuadha wouldn't find us again. And he tried so hard not to cry and scream. I didn't know what to do. First Pepe, now this kind fellow... and perhaps even my Grandfather as well... I didn't know what to do.
The whole area still burned.
Nuadha brushed off the ashes from himself, while looking around for us.
"Seems like they've escaped..." he said to himself. "Never mind then, I have more important things to attend to at the moment."
He pulled out a small brown bag and untied its knot. Then, he emptied out the dust that was in it. What could it have been?
"Come forth, Sirose."
A mysterious entity, covered in black, appeared before the winged man. His face was completely white, except for his black eyes. You couldn't see his mouth, as it was covered by the black clothing.
He spoke in a ghastly, soft voice.
"Master," Sirose bowed. "It has been quite a long time. Centuries, perhaps."
"Yes, yes."
"If you have summoned me, I assumed it is because--"
Nuadha interrupted him. "Yes, the Alchemists. They're become powerful. Sirose, I need you to do me a favor."
The ghastly figure laughed. Despite being male, it acted quite feminine. Perhaps that's what added to its terrifying, mysterious nature.
"Yes, my Lord?"
"I need you to kill them all."