Chapter Thirty-Five: Upcoming Doom

'Why is it that I can't be happy,' Anne was demoralized and shamefully brought to her knees. Before her was my corpse. Looking up, she saw doom and chaos infront of her. Yet, she smiled altogether. 'I welcome the end if he is not in it,' Anne positioned herself beside me. Wrapping her limp arm around her shoulder, she was lying beside me. 'We tried our best Zen, but it looks like we're just kids with big dreams in the end.'

I jolted up out of bed. A nightmare. It seemed so real and it left my heart racing. I clutched my heart.

'Zen,' Blood was now talking to me.

'Yeah,' I calmed myself down finally.

'The footage of that human on Mars Sandra showed you after your talk with Yui troubles me.'

'How so?'

'His powers seem familiar to me....and I still can't seem to understand who he is,' I could feel his confusion.

'Almost like lighten from Zeus, and the blade of a demon,' I jokingly said.

Blood wasn't responding.

'Blood?'

'Hades. The previous demon champion. The angels couldn't kill him-'

'What are you on ab-'

'So he was sent out into space....'

I let myself hit my bed violently. 'So what your telling me that thing isn't alien-'

'-But it's actually Hades; the first demon champion.'

I rolled over to face the wall. 'Hades was never killed then.'

'And seeing as I'm a traitor to my demon kind, he will just see us as a mere spec.'

'Now let's get theorizing,' I rolled out of bed and went to the restroom. Inside, I turned on a light and lifted the toliet seat. Dropping my pants, I released a warm stream of fluids making me feel relieved. Flushing the toliet, I closed the seat, raisee my pants, and gone to the sink. Turning the faucet on, I rubbed soap on my hands and began to wash them, 'What powers does Hades have? Since I'm the new champion.'

'I remember being told that he and I were ancestors and that the sector I was born in, we shared similar blood. My technique, rarely used however, was blood manipulation. I didn't use it however because it proved effective at killing both the opponent and I.'

I dried off my hands and grabbed my toothbrush, 'Heh, Blood and blood, ironic,' I put toothpaste on my toothbrush and began brushing.

'From that assumption, we can conclude Hades has blood manipulation as well, but I had also heard that he had a unique power: Power Drain. Apparently, he's capable of copying people's powers, and if he drains you long enough, he can take their powers fully.'

Finishing brushing my teeth, I rinsed my mouth and returned back to my room, 'Simole then, find out what powers he has, and don't let him take mine.'

'Helli, once more.'

Without even processing my actions, I held a blade up to the mans neck by the door. Under certain circumstances, I would've been calm, but right now my heart was panicked and wary around this individuals voice, 'Eisenberg.'

'Glad you remembered,' he touched my blade, 'Would you kindly move it?'

'No. What the hell do you want? No. How the hell did you know about this place and get in?'

'The demons are always watching,' he grinned, 'And I came to warn you, Blood, have Zen join us or get out the way....but we will kill anyone in our way,' he ended it quick so he could dodge my swing.

In a fighting stance, I readied to go and cut him up, but before I knew it he was gone. 'Do you think the demons are planning an invasion the sametime Hades returns?'

'Definitely,' Blood sounded concerned.

Later that day, I had shares my findings with everyone else in the center; except the Eisenberg part.

'This is troubling indeed,' Stephen was stroking his chin.

'If we can figure out the state he's gonna hit, we can counterattack,' Yui sounded passionate towards the idea.

Anne stood up, 'He's going to attempt to enter from Ellis Island and after he claims the island, he'll proceed into New York to kill those who resist,' Anne sounded confident.

'How do you know if Hades will do that,' Sandra invaded her space.

'Look, I'm not sure how I know either, but I feel like my angel is telling me that and I feel like shes not wrong.'

'Look, Anne, we're under a dire situation, we cannot not go off of "I thinks," we need "I knows,"' Lana was making herself known now.

'Guys, just, trust me?'

'Trust the bitch who doubted us? Please, you're just a sack of shit to me,' Lana snarled.

'Look, Lana's approach may sound rude, but she isn't just speaking how she just feels,' Sandra pressed her hands against the table.

Looking around the room, Anne saw the distrust in Sandra's, Jack's, Lily's, and Lana's eyes.

'Not me however, I'm just neutral,' Stephen slouched in his chair.

'And you, Zen,' Sandra pointed at me.

'It would be rude if I trusted Anne because i knew her longest. Typically that's how trust works too, but, we're practically gonna go to war. We cannot be unsure, yet we need to be positive. With what we know now and what's happened, I can say that what Anne says is absolute and we'll make a plan off of that,' I placed a hand on my heart, 'Trust that of which is still human...Anne's to be trusted.'

'Still human,' Jack murmured to himself.

'It's settled,' Sandra stood, 'We prepare to defend Ellis Island.'

It's now Christmas Day. December 25th. It's starting to snow heavily. Both Anne and I wore our superhero outfits with some warmth protectors. Sandra was wearing a big coat over her dress and a wool cap. Stephen liked to keep mysterious, so he wore a jean jacket with wool in it, shades with black tint, a red beanie, and brown boots. Lana wore a simple coat and leggings and so did Lily. Jack's body was used to the cold, so he didn't layer up like the rest of us. Drones were circling the island as well as news choppers too. Approaching us, was the man from the video.

'Are you here to welcome me,' his voice was deep. It alone could strike fear.

'We're here to stop you,' Stephen spoke as he lifted a mask over his mouth.

'Then I suppose I should show my truth self then,' The man began to shed his human flesh to reveal his true form. His upper body was very muscular and red like blood. His lower half was goat legs. His hooves blacker than space, his fur a burgundy colour. His nails looked sharp enough to cut diamond. It was odd to see a demon with hair like his, dropping down and over his face, hiding it completely. Ears pointy like an elf, and horns that twisted upwards.

'Hades,' I glared at him.

'So you must be the new demon champion,' he huffed, 'Which brings the next question; why are you over there,' he sounded so serious, that his voice seemed to have weighed heavily on my mind.

'To bring a better future.'

'Alas, that power is meant for no such feat when used for any but us demons.'

'Then I'll claim it my own.'

'How about I reclaim what was once mine,' he moved his posture.

'You can certainly try,' a giant hole in the sky opened above New York City.

'What's that?!' Lily had spotted it before us.

'That my young maiden, is a portal connecting hell to mid realm. I will claim this city, then this state, and under Satans guidance the world!'

'So the government did fail afterall,' Stephen snapped his finger and hid his hands in his pockets as Demonic Blade appeared.

'Now then,' Hades was already behind me, 'Let's have some fun,' his claws speedily approached my face.

'We shall,' I blocked the attack with my sword.