FINAL TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

FINAL TRIAL
(1 of Hekatombaion)


[When the time comes, Charon arrives on a boat, hrrhrrhrring a little tune as he rows. No need to worry about space, even with all of the shades coming with. Fluffles, unsurprisingly, doesn't go; he does see everyone off, at least, before he falls asleep.

With a final hnnnngrrrgh, they're off. Charon is the master of the Styx, in his own way, deftly avoiding roots and branches from the Qliphoth as he guides his charges up through the layers of the underworld. From the dark and gloomy green of Tartarus, to the lava-flooded Asphodel and it's giant many-headed bone snake, sadly snarled in demonic roots (without thinking, Zack waves to it), on through the lazy rivers of Elysium, and lastly through the pitch stink of the corridors of a temple separating the underworld from the living world.

Throughout, there is eerie quiet. No shades appear to watch their procession-indeed the few wisps around seem to be fleeing, hiding. No rats try to bite Zack's face off. Aside from Lernie, there's truly nothing but tree, tree, and more tree.

Finally, though, the surface air hits, and it is...not cold, but not warm, either. Though, as everyone disembarks, that's probably not what catches everyone's attention. No-it is the barren fields of ancient Greece, just outside the entrance to the underworld-and there is only one thing alive in the area.

It is late afternoon, and the silhouette of the new moon is the only thing that emits real light now in the grey. Indeed, if there is a sun, it is blocked out by the massive, massive roots in the sky, swirling into the stratosphere. The roots in the underworld were in fact more akin to greedy branches; the roots in the sky of the world of life, however, are far more massive, and it's clear the tree is fully grown. And-if the dead grass and trees and barren lands around the Temple of Styx are any indication-it isn't simply feeding on human blood-it's affecting the life of the earth itself, greedily lapping up what it can as it further embeds itself, further spreads, further grows. Further destroys.

It won't stop. There is obsession and power, and Delta is right-it will never stop unless someone intervenes.

Wordlessly Delta points to a Spire of blood in front of them. Yup-they need to enter it to get to where they need to go. Lovely.]

Through here is the core of the tree where the fruit of the Qliphoth is being cultivated. Come.

[Well, no turning back. With luck, the Catillac has some extra towels.



So, immediately after squishing into the...blood elevator?...everyone is schllllorped on a ride akin to w water slide, going up and down, left and right, up, up, up, then down, down, down....down.......


d


o


w


n



into the depths.

And when they emerge...]





[Bright flowers grow on the vines. There is distant birdsong, and the sun shines among fat, lazy clouds. But you can see the shine of glass in the corner of your eye; the air is too perfect to breath, too cold to touch. You don't feel the grass or dirt underfoot that you can clearly see The smell of blood is everywhere.

An illusion? A dream? A delusion? Something else? Who knows. There is a patio table laid out with tea, and four seats. It's almost as if the owner simply got up and left for a moment. It's all strange, all...wrong.

Still. You're finally here. You're in the core. You freed a possible god from the grip of forced ignorance. And you have-you hope-everything you need to end this. But there is still one question:



Who is the true Mastermind, and what is their goal in doing all of this?



It is time, Strangers. By the seas, the heavens and the earth, by blood and darkness, it's up to you.




Good luck.]

Comments

Sweet Joy Befall Thee: EXECUTION END

[daxzum]

[The tree seethes. It writhes. It hates. It wants to grow but not it cannot. It's uprooted, dissipated, its remnants dusting into the wind. The Strangers kill its children. The witch erases it from existence by drawing back its power, its life, and returning it to those it had taken it from.

One last demon tries to stop her. Tries to destroy her before she destroys it.

It doesn't get far.]

HYAAAAH!

[Maybe it's fitting that its last hope is killed by its first victim. But finally, Eva sags, her body starting to turn to dust. She falls into her sons' arms.


She closes her eyes.]

Thank you...everyone. I'm so sorry.

My sons...my family...I will never let you go again...

[Nero watches, confused, as his father and uncle hold this mystery woman tight, whispering goodbyes to her as she dissipates into dust. The ash is carried into the wind, and the bangle falls to the ground-not of the tree, but of the cold Greek countryside.


D O N G


It is over. Eva Sparda, Seed of the Qilphoth, and the Qilphoth itself are dead.


Everyone is free.




....now what?]

[unpossibilities]

....

[It's over. Kaito sighs.]

So, that's done...what now?

[yesorwoof]

[Makima rattles her bracelet to see if it will finally fall off. And she looks into the distance for a boulevard. It's quiet. Too quiet.]

I half expect shades from the first two games to come in now... They may have needed more time to be healed.

[strangerpeople]

[Clink.

It falls to the ground.]

[lovedthemost]

[Brain will start recoiling that whip so he can put it on his shoulder, holding the sword Val gave him in his other hand.]

Figuring out how to leave this place and get home would be our next goal, I would think.

[onychomance]

The dreamers should awaken with this, yes? One of them must know how to leave this place....

[exequte]

[What now is that Akane is going to, for the second time, be actually leaping into his arms.]

Kaito!!!!!

[pegasinister]

Well... it is done then?

[Shifty eyes.

... he totally takes off his cravat and tries to snatch some ash from the air and shoves the cloth back in his pocket.

Don't worry about it.]

[exequte]

[Akane just gives him a Concerned Look for that, but she's also busy hugging her friends who newly have their bodies again, so....

She can ask him later.]

[superstylishsquid]

Yeah. Aside from waiting for our own magic to come back, anyway.

[devilmehcry]

[Vergil puts a hand on his hip-and feels something there.




Well well well. Guess who has his sword back.]

[hatesdeerstalkers]

[Hey, where IS Moriarty anyway?










Nah I'm just fucking with you, he's giving a thumbs up from....far far away? Why is he all the way over there away from the celebrations???]

[somuchshipping]

[It's... over...?]

[Isn't it?]

[...]

[Hermes will hug the nearest person, clinging to them.]



Please don't let anything bad happen... Please don't let anything bad happen... Please don't let anything bad happen...

[It appears that millennia of trauma doesn't just go away. Hermes is terrified, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.]

[godofblood]

I got you mate.

[pat pat]

I won't let anything happen if I can help it. Not again.

[valkavian]

...Hermes?

[ You need a minute, buddy?]

[unpossibilities]

....

[Well. He sighs, and he gives him a hug.]

It's alright.

The bad stuff is gone now.

[exequte]

Hermes!!! It's over! We won!!!!

[She is more than willing to hug back, but is not waiting for something bad to happen, she's just happy.]

[godspiousjasper]

[ Just like that? It all happened so fast and now it's over?

There's a bittersweet expression on his face as he re-attached Durandal to one state and stuck it into the ground for now, since his makeshift sheath/covering for it is now elsewhere here. ]

I can't... believe it's... gone. That tree is gone, finally.

[ The question of what to do now was on his mind, because how were they supposed to get home.. among many other questions. ]

[autonomousthought]

[She spits out a red orb (claws and teeth, after all) and straightens up, her transformation dissipating...]

It... It's over?

[superstylishsquid]

Yeah...it's over.

[What 'it'? The fight? The killing game? A good woman's safety from the punishment for her husband's kindness? A chance to hope for some sort of justice in the universe, just this once?

Yeah. It's over.]

All that's left now is to wait for her spell on us to break.

[superstylishsquid]

[And like that...she's gone. The last of an ancient and proud tradition. And...one of the last two people who remember before Mundus.

Devils never cry? No, in the face of a bittersweet victory, of hope dashed just as it bloomed, strangled amidst bloody vines...even a devil may cry. The tears glisten in his eyes, refracting the ever-present glow, as he touches down to kneel on the cold ground and pick up the Bangle of Time.

He looks at it, then up at her sons, and wipes his eyes.]

I think...this belongs to you two. It's your birthright, just as much as Rebellion and Yamato.

[devilmehcry]

...

[Vergil looks at it, pretending there isn't a tear on his cheek. Dante, for his part, is rubbing his eyes.]

...clashes a bit with the jacket, heh...

[exequte]

[AKANE IS JUST GOING TO BE GOING AROUND HUGGING EVERYBODY WHO USED TO BE DEAD! YALL GETTING HUGGED.]

[pegasinister]

[Hubert watches her running around, picking up some red orbs Alastor hasn't already snatched]

...he seems like a good man.

[He nods towards Kaito, specifically]

[15unknowns]

Akane!!

[Yes, Aoi was there and was back to life and was also fighting. No, I didn't put it in. But now?

Now Akane has an Aoi running towards her.]