-=The Keeper of Fear and Torment: Testament=-

The entire group watched, with weapons at the ready, as the Victorian Oni stood before them, his greatsword gripped loosely by his hand. None of the adventurers knew exactly what to do against the foe, knowing that he was effectively invulnerable to anything. Nonetheless, they knew they had to fight him somehow, lest he use his unmatched strength to devastate the city.

As the standoff continued, each member of the group recounted the horrors left in the wake of the Oni from before. The Crow and Damien’s minds were clouded from memories months old, the home village they once shared torn asunder single handedly by the demonic man. Everyone else recollected on a much earlier time, when the town of Ellinia, though spared massive destruction, was injured in its own right from twenty-one Ellinian deaths.

Amber’s memories were the worst for her, as she remembered hearing of the deaths of her mother and brother. Her blood boiled inside her from the loss, though it didn’t help for her to know she couldn’t fight this villain. All she could do was pray for the safety of the others as she stood at the rear of the group.

Meanwhile, the others sized up their foe as they waited for something to happen. “This is just insane,” Shadow commented as he looked on. “For someone who’s known to cause massive destruction, he looks amazingly human. This being must certainly carry a vast amount of power!”

“Terms like ‘vast’ and ‘immense’ are merely understatements,” Damien remarked. “When you encounter someone who can channel and release an amount of energy that is in itself immeasurably destructive and can tower to the heavens, you can’t help but wonder if he even has a limit to his power.”

“Add to that his invincibility,” Emma added, “along with the power to kill with mere thought, and you’ve got the literal one-man army.”

Though the reminders only further burdened his mind, Shadow didn’t waver or wince. “Tell me all you want about him,” he said. “I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s some way to defeat this guy. There just HAS to be! Total invincibility just sounds too far-fetched.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Damien said with a nod. “Nonetheless, we’ve heard it, and we’ve seen it. I’ve TRIED to fight this guy. Nothing put against him, no melee, no arrow, no element or spell does anything.”

Moira took all the chatter in as she stood with her crossbow aimed. Her body shook as she listened. “Invincible,” she said worriedly. “A one-man army…undefeatable…I may not know this being like the rest of you, but I’ll be cursed if it’s merely my brother in a bigger form.”

Genya stood by Amber, just like before, ready to protect the girl at all costs. Even then, her confidence had clearly shrunk compared to the battle with the zombies. “Oni,” she whispered shakily. “He…can’t…be…stopped…”

Emma heard the words, and rushed to her sister’s side, giving her a quick hug. “I know it sounds impossible,” she said, “but we can’t run away this time. Kerning City’s citizens, possibly the city itself, hangs in the balance. Even our lives are at stake. We must be strong and fight. Plus…” her next words were further amplified to the rest of the group. “I don’t know what it is that could stop this demon, if anything even does, but there is little we know about him nonetheless. If Shadow says there’s a way to win, I believe him.”

Genya and Amber nodded sincerely, despite their racked nerves.

“I believe him, too,” Moira said defiantly.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, either,” Damien added, solidifying his fighting stance.

“In that case,” Shadow announced, “we’ll fight this oni, no matter the cost. We’ll do whatever it takes to stop him. We’ll fulfill our roles…as lightbringers.” With that, everyone steeled themselves, waiting for their opponent’s first move.

Despite everything that went on in front of him, the Victorian Oni merely stood where he was, breathing slowly.

-woobledywop!-

Down below, in the dungeon’s chambers filled with ruins, a red ninja sat cross-legged with closed eyes on the floor. Three other colored ninja, along with a swordsman in black, stood nearby.

“So, the time is coming to take down the finally-discovered lightbringers, eh?” Sethofan remarked curtly. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t just jump up there and take them down myself.”

“This is indeed a large step for us to take in stopping them,” the yellow ninja responded, “but it is necessary, as our leader states. Those lightbringers, despite some being rather weak, still managed to wipe out an entire contingent of zombies. The zombies are already powerful as normal denizens, but the ones we used were amplified in power.”

“Worsssse, the girl I tagged with my poisssson sssstill livessss, according to our leader,” the green ninja added with a hiss. “With the ebon orchid I ussssed, I was sure any one of them would’ve died with eassssse, but for her to sssstill be alive, well, that certainly ssssayssss a lot, I would imagine.”

“Thus, we use the one weapon in our arsenal that we know they’ll never defeat,” the blue ninja concluded.

At that, Sethofan merely began walking out of the dungeon, headed towards the surface. “Whatever,” he remarked as he left.

The three ninjas averted focus to their fourth member. “How goes it?”

“Perfectly planned, as we believed,” he said, his voice sounding somewhat as though more than one person was speaking it. “The adventurers, along with the lightbringers are gathered before him. We believe we’ve let their eyes behold their doom for long enough.”

After a few more moments, the red ninja’s eyes burst open, glowing a bright green. “Oni,” he said calmly. “End them.”

-woobledywop!-

As though a command had suddenly been uttered into his ear, the Victorian Oni hefted up it’s sword. The demon then let out a bellowing roar as it began charging forward, his giant blade crackling with dark energy.

“Here he comes!” Shadow yelled out. Everyone tensed up.

Upon being in range, the oni jumped into the air suddenly, growling loudly as he brought down his sword towards Shadow. At the last second, the bandit leapt out of the way, yet his jump was unnecessarily heightened by a blast of air that came from oni’s sword crashing into the ground. The sword’s resounding crash was so strong that the group felt what seemed to be an aftershock as they tried to keep from stumbling.

“Unbelieveable!” Shadow blurted out as he got up from his landing.

“It gets worse!” Damien replied as he made a charge of his own. With a resounding cry, he brought his zard down upon the oni, but his strike made little more than a bounce off of his armor. Damien staggered back, his eyes narrowing. “Even with all the strength I’ve gained in the past, nothing happened.” His eyes widened suddenly when the hulking swordsman charged after him next. As he was about to swing, however, a kumbi bounced off his gauntlet. He looked over and glared at the Crow, who fought a rapidly beating heart just to continuously throw her stars. She was about to attack again, until her eyes saw him coming up to her. Her mind urged her to take a shot, but her body was paralyzed with a sudden fear in her body. The swordsman’s eyes met hers as he lumbered toward her, ever so closer.

At that moment, the Crow suddenly began feeling a subtle weakness in her body, as though her living spirit was being pulled away.

*CLANG!*

Her trance was interrupted when the oni turned away from her, trying to shake off a one-armed bandit, who overcame a lacking limb by clutching onto the demonic man’s right arm. He thrust his dagger into the man’s armor repeatedly, but the strikes were no good. Eventually, the oni impatiently brought his arm far up with no effort, despite the clinging Shadow. He then threw his arm down fiercely, slamming the bandit against the ground.

“Shadow!” Amber cried out.

“I’m okay!” Shadow responded, crawling back to his feet as he rubbed his head. “Agh, that hurt!” He pulled his hand away, finding a dose of blood in it.

“Ergh!” Damien growled loudly as he exchanged sword clashes with the oni. The lightbringer only managed a few parries before the next strike met his sword so violently it threw him back. He came to rest on the ground, his zard out of reach. He moved to get up, but froze when the oni came up to him, his dark sword held high and ready to strike.

The oni’s moment to kill was broken by magical claw strikes brought against him by Emma. Despite the numerous strikes, the claws did nothing more than annoy the demon. Eventually, he ran at Emma, the claws failing to slow him down in the least. Emma’s spellcasting became less frequent as her body tightened from hesitation, the fear in her heart starting to grow as the fiend moved in on her, his sword brought back to strike. She couldn’t even bring herself to scream as the blade was swung toward her. The horizontal slice quickly arced through the air, making contact…with no human flesh.

Meanwhile, Shadow ran over to Amber and Genya with Emma in his arms, having saved her from certain death at the last possible moment. He set her down, only to hear Amber scream in terror, as she noticed the oni looming just behind them. The unbreakable warrior was diverted yet again, however, from pairs of bolts fired by Moira. She fired them at his legs, hpoing to find a weak spot in his armor. Unfortunately, nothing worked, not even when she magically infused her bolts with steel. Like before, the ruthless warrior bullrushed toward her, his sword at the ready. Once again, the blonde archeress found her body locking up as he came closer and closer, his sword held back to strike. His attack soon came, but Damien interfered in time, parrying the would-be fatal blow. Sweat was pouring from his head, though, as his counterattack took every ounce of strength from his body. The oni, however, barely seemed to exert everything has he forced his sword towards the lightbringer with one hand, using his other to swat away Moira. She sailed through the air from the decisively powerful chop, landing with a thud more than five feet away. The spellcasting sisters quickly shot blasts of energy and claws at the oni. However, instead of run after them, the villain kept his pressure on Damien, while his head turned to the Raines. He let out a fearsome roar of raged, which effectively stunned Emma and Genya, sending shivers up their spines. Damien grunted as he fought the sword-grinding standoff, but could easily see himself losing as his feet slowly slid away. Eventually, he pulled himself away from the face-off and ran back to the group.

“Everyone over here!” Shadow called out. The group ran over to him away from the oni, while he helped Moira back to her feet. Everyone in the group looked to him as though waiting on an idea from him. Fatigue was setting in on the group, as everyone was sweat laden.

Shadow was about to speak until he noticed two more people arrive. Peering in the distance, he could see it was Lance and Skye. “Hey!” Lance called out as they neared the group.

“We heard about what was going on from our job masters,” Skye explained. She held a Raiden Bow at her side.

“They actually left us notes, telling us to stay and keep training,” Lance added. His hands gripped a forked spear. “As much as we hated to disobey, we couldn’t stand not helping. And even though it’s the oni, I figured us achieving our second job advances would add something.”

Though everyone smiled at the arrival of help, the pain of the reality never left their minds. “Though we appreciate the thought, the battle we’re fighting is nonetheless a losing one,” Shadow told them with dismay. “I hate to say it, but I’m growing more and more convinced that this man simply can’t be defeated.”

-woobledywop!-

The blue, green, and yellow ninjas waited on their red companion, the thrill of battle eager in their eyes. “How fares the beatdown?” the blue villain asked.

“Amusing so far,” the red ninja said optimistically. “We are, however, having trouble establishing a thought-kill on them. We can’t control the demon entirely, after all, as it pursues new threats every time it’s attacked. Furthermore, the entire group is physically resilient.”

“Annoying that the oni charges on any threat so randomly like that,” the yellow ninja remarked, annoyed. “Doesn’t he know he’s invincible right now?”

The red ninja shrugged in reply. “We wouldn’t worry too much; it’s instinctual. One thing about it, the fools are getting worn down easily….hmm, two more have joined their cause. Heh, admirable…but futile. It won’t be long before they fall. Then, Kerning will feel the demon’s ultimate wrath.”

“Yesssss!” the green assassin hissed excitedly. “Crussssh them! Maim them! Make them SUFFER!”

“Suffer they will,” the red ninja said with a chuckle. His eyes then narrowed for a moment. “Sethofan isn’t far; he made it to the swamps.”

-woobledywop!-

Even huddled together in a quick discussion, the group of possible heroes found it remarkable that the oni decided to stop and wait once more. They couldn’t help but wonder if it was taunting them.

“As I was saying,” Shadow said, keeping the group in focus, “all I can think of now is to try and attack him together, in multiple numbers. That monolith of a man HAS to get worn out sometime!”

“That’s no mere man, Shadow,” Damien muttered. “That is the epitomy of warriors, a foe infamous for his infallable brutality.”

“Beside, Gen and I attacked him together once!” Emma protested. “Are you sure that’ll work?!”

“We’ll just have to use even MORE numbers then!” Shadow blurted out. “Look, I know it seems hopeless, but as long as he still stands, all we can do is keep fighting! We have to try…we just…” He paused as his mind replayed visions of his hometown, after the monster invasion. With the destruction of his village all but absolute, he couldn’t help but fear what could happen to Kerning. “We just have to try!”

Though uncertain, everyone nodded on it. “We’ve gotta be the bravest fools right now,” Damien remarked, standing up from a squat, “but it’s for the city, and by golly, I won’t let some demented genetic freak think he can rip it apart.”

“I failed in my efforts to defend my home citadel,” Moira said, also rising. “I won’t fail a second time.”

“My life may not have been the greatest, especially having to serve evil,” the Crow added, “but this city is the closest thing to a home I have. I’ll die before this fiend assails it.”

“We came this far to help you,” Lance said, “and we’re not about to run now.” Skye nodded in agreement.

“Not to mention I feel I still owe you for saving my sister,” Emma said with a chuckle. Gen merely smiled.

Even Amber stood resolute. “I know I can’t fight, and I know I almost died last time, but I’m not leaving either. I’ll always support my friends one way or another!”

“Then it’s settled,” Shadow concluded as he turned to face the Victorian Oni. “We keep fighting, all the way! Emma, Gen, keep Amber defended! Everyone else! CHARGE!” Lance, Shadow, and Damien spearheaded the run towards the oni, while the Crow, Moira, and Skye backed them up with arrows, bolts, and stars. Emma and Genya bolstered the offensive with their magic. Behind them, Amber kneeled and prayed for Minerva’s blessing.

Even with renewed vigor against him, the Victorian Oni didn’t back away in the slightest. Instead, he let out a frightening roar, then raised his sword for battle.

Shadow dropped behind a bit, while Damien and Lance raised their weapons to strike. However, the oni easily met their assault, swinging his sword at them. The strike collided with the warriors’ weapons so fiercely that they were knocked aside. Despite this, Shadow was in midair, unnoticed by the demon as he readied his dagger to strike. His sneak attack was foiled, though, when one of the behemoth’s hands caught him by the neck in midair. Taken by complete suprised, the bandit struggled against the iron-clad grip until the oni eventually pitched him away.

All the while, projectiles and magic spells bounced off the oni with no ill effect. The Crow had even taken the time to absorb the power of a summoning stone to summon a shadow clone, while the archeresses fired at the foe, two projectiles at once per shot. To their amazement, the Victorian Oni leapt into the air, reaching inhuman heights, before landing right in front of them with an earth-shaking stomp. The landing sent the ranged combatants tumbling away in different directions.

The Raines also felt some of the trembling, but kept standing and casting, closing off Amber more and more as the oni approached. The oni raised his sword to kill yet again, unmoved by the magic. His moment of destruction was pushed from his mind once more by Lance and Damien striking him repeatedly from behind. The dark warrior was merely angered, and flung his arm at them, swiping them away. Immediately after, though, Shadow caught the man by his head, making to strike him there. However, his dagger met resilient steel once more, even at the back of the head.

“Blast it!” he yelled. “The mask is the front of a full helm!”

He didn’t get much more time to complain or even attack as the oni viciously grabbed him, held him overhead a moment, and threw him to the ground hard, knocking the lightbringer out momentarily. He quickly brought up his blade to cut down the bandit, but was yet again distracted by another hail of stars, arrows, and bolts. Getting more and more enraged from the constant distractions, he ground-struck his sword at where the girls were grouped, sending a powerful blast of air at them. The gust was so strong, it threw off the girls’ projectiles by nearly ninety degrees to the left and right, and eventually sent the adventurers themselves tumbing to the ground.

Even after taking more and more punishment, the adventurers continued to press their attacks at the enemy, fighting tooth and nail to make sure he stayed away from the city. Before long, the constant attacks boiled the oni’s blood so continuously, he released his pent-up rage by leaping into the air, reaching an extreme height before landing to the ground. This return to earth let out a quake so strong, all of the adventurers were thrown head over heels. The oni’s breathing was slightly ragged as he looked at the grounded opponents. Anyone who wasn’t knocked unconcious from their fall was simply too tired to get back on their feet.

-woobledywop!-

“Perfect,” the red ninja announced. “Now, what say we make their deaths drawn out collectively with thought-kills? That one-armed bandit should make for a fun first target.”

-quick return-

After surveying the area, the Victorian Oni took a moment to let out a triumpant roar before walking over to Shadow. By this time, the bandit was struggling to get up. He made it to his knees before he heard the oni come up to him. Shadow quickly looked up at the dmonic man’s mask. Oddly enough, the oni simply stood where he was and returned the stare. At first, Shadow was curious, until he felt something wrong inside.

*Wh-what…what’s wrong with me?!* his mind screamed. *I…I can’t move! I can…barely feel my body all of a sudden-oh no…oh NO! This isn’t the thought-kill, is it? Crap, it must be! Lungs…getting short of breath…muscles weakening…vision dimming…heartbeat…getting…fainter…no…this can’t be how it ends!*

As this went on, the Crow was managing to get to her feet. Her eyes scanned the area as she searched for the oni. She soon found him, but her eyes were diverted to a doomed bandit, his eyelids fluttering and his body swaying. The Crow’s eyes were full-blown wide as she rushed over to him.

*I can feel it…death…coming…closer…I guess it does end, doesn’t it………Yuka, Ryu, everyone….I’m sorry…I f-*

“SHADOW!” the Crow screamed as she clutched his faltering form in a tight hug. Shadow seemed to jerk for a moment upon the action, though his body was still weak. “Please, Shadow, don’t die! Not like this!” As she pleaded, she placed a hand over his heart. “Minerva save him, please…” she whispered, fighting back tears. “Please…don’t leave us, Shadow…”

Don’t leave us, Shadow…

*What?! What…that voice…Crow…I…I can still sense her, holding me tight…I…*

His mind suddenly came to life. A image of a destroyed Kerning City bathed in flames imprinted itself before his eyes, despite his wavering vision.

*I…I can’t…I can’t die…*

Shadow’s body suddenly became aware once more, as it started to rise. A surprised Crow let him go as he stood. His mind came up with more images: the remains of his village, the village elders, Lord Scorpion, Yuka, Ryu Hayabusa II.

*I…I won’t…I won’t die…*

His look of resignation was wiped off his face, replaced by a look of determination. He stood defiant against the Oni.

*I will not die.*

He approached the Victorian Oni and unsheathed his dagger.

“I WILL NOT DIE!” he screamed at his adversary. In response, the Oni kept looking down on him, but he wavered from the sudden confidence. He began focusing harder and harder on Shadow, but the bandit still remained on his feet.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group managed to get up from their prone states. They soon gazed at the scene, all of their eyes widening in disbelief. “It’s Shadow,” Damien said, “and he’s…staring down the Oni?”

“Hey, yeah,” Emma agreed. “More than that, the Oni is…struggling…like he’s confused, or-“

“Shadow’s resisting the thought kill!” The Crow called out. Surprise and amazement surged within the others as they looked closer on the scene.

The Victorian Oni’s efforts on his thought-kill increased as he focused harder and harder, to the point where he clutched his helmet in frustration. No matter how hard he bore his eyes down, the bandit wouldn’t die.

At one point, Shadow revealed his coin and held it up towards the evil swordsman. The oni became even more distraught, as the lightbringer still stood tall and healthy. The anguish on the villain was strained even more when the other adventurers stood behind Shadow. Damien, Moira, and Genya pulled out their coins and held them up as well. Soon, the oni found himself shaking, as though being mentally tormented.

“So, your weakness is finally revealed,” Shadow surmised with narrowed eyes. “Your weakness is opposed defiance. Through bodily might and a fearsome presence, you’re able to inspire fear into your victims, enough fear that they die from it. But what if someone stops feeling fear? What if they realize that the weapon being used against them is little more than a mental state of fright? What if they know deep down, even against a powerful opponent, they don’t HAVE to be afraid? Before long, your weapon is being used against you. Those against you stop being afraid. It is a power you rely upon, and once it’s disarmed, you suddenly become unsure of the situation. Your usual tactic no longer works. Those no longer afraid rise up against you. All of sudden…you’re the one afraid.”

Upon the speeches end, the mentally waylaid oni eventually lets out a roar of both rage and anguish. He quickly brings his sword up to the air. Dark energy quickly surrounds the blade. It starts out thin, but soon, it grows and grows until a blast of energy suddenly shoots skyward. The group looks up to see the enery disappear into the sky…then reappear right above them, descending.

“HIS DARK ENERGY COLUMN!” Amber screamed. The adventurers knew they couldn’t react in time. However, they quickly found they didn’t have to, as a blast of light emerged in the shape of a dome, repelling the darkness that crashed down. The adventurers saw Minerva appear before them.

“My strength has returned!” she announced. “The grip of darkness no longer affects me! Now, is the time to strike him down! Everyone, destroy his sword!”

In the midst of the battle between dark and light, the Oni increased the darkness, trying to push it harder into the light. His efforts are foiled, however, when the light resists, pushing the darkness away. The demon tried again to increase the darkness, until an energy ball smashed against his sword. A crack appeared in the dark blade, causing the oni’s eyes to widen. Magical claws followed, adding more cracks to the blade, followed by a steel bolt. More gashes were made from a small hail of stars, capped off by an arrow that exploded upon contact. The sword was severely weakened, the darkness dissipating. Frightened for once in his life, the oni raised his sword to strike the dome of light, but Lance burst out from it, batting the sword away with his spear and gashing it deeply. Damien came out right after, adding the decisive blow to the sword by cutting cleanly through it. The blade broken, its owner let out an anguished roar as darkness suddenly seeped out of his body. As this happened, the demonic voice that belonged to him gave way to a more human scream. Eventually, the darkness left the man’s body entirely, forming a shapeless core of darkness. The darkness gone from him entirely, the man ceased screaming, falling limply to the ground. Shadow finally made himself known at this point, leaping out from the dome at high speed, slicing the core of darkness apart as he met it. Cut in half, the core made a squealing noise before it’s energies collapsed on itself resulting in an explosion of darkness.

Eventually, the light disappeared around them. Everyone breathed heavily from the long, drawn out fight that took the utmost energy and vigilance from all of them. Despite this, everyone breathed easier, with smiles on their faces. After months, even years of it’s tormenting existence, after all the deaths the oni caused, after all the fear it left on Victoria Island, a group of resilient defenders stepped up and challenged fate at its worst. Even against dire odds, they faced the unbreakable, and achieved the impossible. The Victorian Oni was gone forever.

From afar, Sethofan had watched the whole scene. After the destruction of the darkness, he facepalmed in exasperation.

“Wow,” he muttered to himself. “Way to go, dungeon cult. That freak was REAL undefeatable.” Annoyed, he decided to take his leave. “Now with the first Malevolent Tyrant, Testament, down, our grip on Victoria has been crippled. This sickens me. I’m outta here.”

—————————————————————————

I figured calling an epic battle like this a mere chapter wasn’t enough. Also knowing that my holiday break starts in a few days, I figured I’d make it super-size for your enjoyment.

Note: Act 1 Finale is NOT THE END OF THE STORY. I just came up with this sort of temporary closure in case my net access becomes limited over the break. Who knows, my overactive imagination may come up with one more thing.^^

Mountain Dew for thee, readers!

Previous installments:

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