The Cloaked Man's Identity
He smashed the suction orb on the ground and a huge white portal appeared with a whooshing noise and began to suck everyone into it. The dead bodies, the fighters, even the bank equipment, everything was sucked into it and after 30 seconds, it vanished just a few moments before Kelvin and his squad burst into the room.
"Damn… What on earth happened here?" Kelvin said as he ran his hand through his hair.
...
The Infernal Realm
After breakfast in the morning, Steve was making his way to the forest when he was accosted by Billy and his team, the guy that he smacked on the head was there too.
"Hello Mr Heracles" Billy said blandly with his hands in his pockets as they obstructed his path
Steve stopped and looked at them one after the other before saying, "Is there a problem?"
"Yes….. A teeny weeny tiny problem" Billy said with a fake smile on his face without budging an inch from where he stood.
"See… The problem here is that Chelsea here has been captured by a villain and we want you to rescue her"
As Billy was speaking, the guy that Steve smacked on the head grabbed Chelsea, the goth girl forcefully by the waist and both of them locked lips in a disgusting exchange of spit. Chelsea giggled tauntingly and removed her face and cried playfully "Save me bondman!!*"
[Author's Note: Bondman is a fictional television character from an anime Spy X Family]
Steve facepalmed and was about to side step around them when another guy in Billy's team held his arm
"Where do you think you're going… Hero boy" He had a wide evil grin on his face as he said this,
Steve was about to pull his arm off when Billy kicked the back of his knees, forcing him to kneel down and then pushing his shoulders down, forcing him to lie on the ground.
Steve wiggled forcefully but they held him down tightly. When Billy noticed that Steve was gathering Mana in his legs, he laughed and said, "Don't forget that you have two strikes…. One more strike and you're out of here.. so it's either you fight us and go back to Earth or you allow us beat you and stay in the contest"
Steve scowled as he came to the painful realization that Billy was right, if he tried to fight back now, he would end up getting a strike and getting disqualified, so he stopped struggling and a wide grin flashed on Billy's face.
"That's right….. The duel!" Steve brightened up as he remembered the duel,
"I, Steven Heracles challenge…."
MPH!
Steve was quickly gagged from behind before he could finish his statement
"Uh uh…. No duels boy…. It's just us"
Billy said as he tied up Steve's arms and legs.
…..
Graylon City Mountains
Inside the fiend's base in the mountain.
"Huff huff" Grandpa Matt breathed arduously as he opened his blurry right eye, his left eye had been smashed in and could no longer be used for sight.
He was chained on his hands and legs and ditto for his men who were around him too. Standing in front of him was Ebun in his human form, the cloaked man and the five maniacs that he attacked the bank.
The room he was held in was a square shaped large dark room, the walls were made of stone and there was only one entrance, a closed metal door. Apart from the ancient looking throne that stood at one end of the room and the people in it, the room was virtually empty.
Grandpa Matt had only a trouser on him as most of his clothes had been ripped off and his sword lay on the ground, few metres from where he was chained, his body was ripped severally with claws and one could even see his ribs as most of his skin had been ripped off.
His left leg was broken along with all the fingers on his hands. He was injured and helpless as he groaned in pain before the fiends.
"The great Matthew Heracles…. reduced to mere dragon food now…. How pathetic" Ebun sneered as his orange reptilian eyes flashed brightly in the dim room.
"B…b..bastard" Grandpa Matt said as he raised his head up to look at Ebun, his sight was blurry so he couldn't see him properly. "C..c..coward… always hiding behind others… cowardly fool!"
"Ha ha ha" Ebun laughed raucously, the sound of his evil laugh resonating loudly around the room "Given your current situation, I'm surprised that you can even talk….. "
"Why did you capture my men? I'm the one you want, let them go!!" Grandpa Matt snapped at him, his strength draining with every word he uttered.
"Oh no no…. Your men? They're just cannon fodder…. You're the main target. After all this time you were the one i wanted and now that i have you…. I'll make sure you die the most painful death ever"
"Stop bragging…. Everyone knows that you can't even kill a fly. You're a coward Gordon" Grandpa Matt taunted,
Ebun scowled as he heard Grandpa Matt's words,"Watch your mouth Heracles, you don't know who you're dealing with"
"Oh I do… I'm dealing with a coward who lets others do his dirty work!"
"Shut up!" Ebun screamed into Grandpa Matt's face with his orange eyes glowing fiercely.
Grandpa Matt didn't even flinch but rather said, "Make me"
Ebun smiled and turned away, "You know… I'm gonna grant you the mercy of dying before your subordinates… I'll let them know that the incredible Matthew Heracles is just a mere human"
The cloaked man stepped forward and when he removed his cloak, Grandpa Matt went wide eyed in shock as he saw the butterscotch brown haired man that looked as old as Grandpa Matt himself, with brown eyes staring coldly at him, "Hello Matt"
Grandpa Matt gasped and then said, "Arnold….. How? Why?"
"…"
He didn't say anything but when Grandpa Matt looked closer at him, he noticed something crawling at a terrific speed under Arnold's skin, prodding and pushing his skin till his body began to morph into a beast, standing at 7'4 with black slimy body and long claws for fingers and toes and a long undulating tail. It's head had the shape of a dog and a long snake-like tongue protruded from it's fang filled mouth. The eyes were black and the ears were pointed up.
KSSSHHH!!
Smoke seeped out from his slimy skin as the transformation finished.
"You remember that day I called you?"He wasn't expecting a reply from Grandpa Matt because he continued immediately
"It was to kill you… If only you had come that day, you would've died a fairly less painful death but you refused and now, here you are, weak and helpless. A delicious meal for me"
He licked his lips.
"Why? Why are you doing this Arnold? These people will kill innocent people. Is that what you want?"Grandpa Matt asked
"Finish him off already. His very existence is starting to irritate me"Ebun said and turned his back on them
"Before you die, let me tell you tell you something. You remember that murder case that you helped me out of right?" Arnold said and brought his hideous slimy face close to Grandpa Matt's face.
"Why's he bringing it up now? Isn't that something that happened a long time ago?" Grandpa Matt thought
"I was actually guilty. I killed that man!" He said and burst out in an evil laughter
"What? What? I can't believe this! All this time, I've been friends with a murderer" Grandpa Matt thought regretfully
"No need to feel so downcast about it" Arnold said when he noticed Grandpa Matt's dejected expression,
"I'll make sure to kill your grand son so that you all can make a happy family reunion on the other side"
Grandpa Matt was suddenly filled with rage but he couldn't move his body to act so he spat on Arnold's face.
Arnold smiled, licked the saliva on his face with his long tongue, grabbed Grandpa Matt's neck and said
"Goodbye Matt…"
....
The Infernal Realm
'I have to apologize to him about yesterday, he didn't even say anything wrong and I barged off…
But why do I feel weird when I'm around him? Argh… And whatever I do, I still end up thinking about him…' Anna thought as she walked into the forest to apologize to Steve for snapping at him the previous day.
Any ordinary girl would be terrified of walking in a dark forest but Anna was not any ordinary girl, the intensive training she went through with her father eliminated every atom of fear of anything and anyone inside her….well everyone except her father.
She was walking quietly when she heard a sound. Instinctively, she brought out her sword from her spatial storage and held it tightly using all her senses to trace where the sound was coming from.