Annihilating the God Hand

The Band of the Falcon left Godot's courtyard the next day without saying their thanks. John was just disappointed with himself for not being able to influence them to abandon this quest.

At least he left a mark on Guts when he was healing him after the duel. John was working with Godot creating a rapier for Casca who used such a similar weapon.

A month passed since the mercenaries left and Nesiara was teaching Erica in the courtyard when the sun turned black, making Jack and Logan/Alfred appear while Jack says, "It is time."

Logan/Alfred takes out five Soul Stones and says, "You will need them. Don't let them escape or you will be stuck in this world forever."

"Who do we have to kill?" asks John as he reunites with them.

"Every single supernatural being," says Logan/Alfred as he smiled at the black sun while saying, "The demons you will meet think they are gods. How about you show them how puny little demons they really are by killing every single being that is assembled there, except for the human."

"Aye, it would show them how low they really are in the food chain," says Jack with a smile on his face before saying, "But you should go or your new friend might die."

"Right," says John as Nesiara takes the Soul Stones from Logan/Alfred and were ready to leave.

"Are you leaving already?" asks Erica as Nesiara smiles at her while petting her head.

"We are but we will return really fast," says Nesiara with a smile when John touches Nesiara's shoulder.

"See you later, Erica," says John as Nesiara removed her hand from Erica's head and both vanish from Erica's sight.

In the meantime near a riverbank, Guts was beside Casca when the Eclipse appeared in the sky as they stared at it they see Griffith holding something in his hand.

"What is going on?" asks Guts out loud himself as suddenly a giant hand seemed to rise up from the ground.

It looked like it was holding the eclipse in its hand when suddenly monsters started to appear out of nowhere. They came from all sides as they surrounded the humans that were trapped in this mortal trap.

Guts was holding Lancelot ready to draw it and kill those fiends as the others did the same. They were back to back as the fiends advanced. Guts takes his opportunity and rushes at the nearest fiend and swings Lancelot over the head of the monster splitting it in two.

Before rushing for the one right of him. The others seemed scared of the monsters since they never saw anything like those creatures before unlike Guts who was roughly introduced to them by Zodd and the couple.

Once they saw that they could be killed they tried it themselves only to find out that they aren't strong enough. The only one who could kill such a creature beside Guts was their giant called Pippin who swung his weapon wide so he could protect those by his side.

The man that resembled a rat in John's eyes was trying to fight only to be captured by a womanized demon that sucked him dry. Some of the men that followed him ended the same way making it easier for Guts and Pippin to keep the others safe that stayed behind.

Casca and the others were trying to slow the monsters down so Guts and Pippin could kill them one after the other. This went well until Casca saw Griffith disappear in between the horde of monsters.

"Griffith!" shouts Casca leaving her post as she rushes at where Griffith was last seen.

"Casca!" shouts Guts as he grabs her shoulder while shouting, "We can't help him right now! We are trying to survive over here!"

"We can't let him die like that!" shouts Casca back at him when suddenly a monster attacked them.

Guts couldn't lift Lancelot fast enough and tried to use his body to block the attack when suddenly a sword appears out of nowhere. It looked like it was made out of flesh as the monsters around them seemed nervous.

Guts looked at the handle and saw a human hand. He followed the arm and saw a giant had blocked the attack for them.

"John?" asks Guts as John swung his Devilsword and pushes the enemy back.

"Back in formation or you will die unlike your commander Griffith. He summoned all those monsters to sacrifice you all," says John looking at the two seriously.

"That can't be! Griffith wouldn't do such a thing!" shouts Casca angry at John for stating something that she couldn't believe.

"I don't have time for you woman. I have to kill those things," says John as he turned into a Devil in front of them and walks towards the monsters while saying, "If you want to survive this eclipse stick together while I and my wife deal with the rest."

On the hand were four people standing waiting for the fifth to join them when the woman between the four says, "Something is wrong here."

"You can feel it too," says the one that has more of a full body as he felt something dangerous coming from down there.

Suddenly a barrier rose out of nowhere making it impossible for them to escape while another barrier appeared around Guts and the others to protect them. Then they see a Devil they never saw before walking on the battlefield.

"Is that-," says the woman when the Devil disappears and from their sight and appears behind the demon that looked like he was dead.

The Devil swings his sword and a red half-moon came out of the sword as one of the four members of the God Hand was killed and absorbed into one of the Soul Stones accompanied by all the other monsters that got killed under the red half-moon.

"One down, four more to go," says the Devil as he looked at them.

Guts and the others saw what John did and they were shocked to see him use so much power when Nesiara says, "That was nothing compared to his Lightning Emperor."

"Is John also a demon?" asks Guts Nesiara as she tilts her head.

"He is a halfling like I am," says Nesiara as she wanted to join the fight as well but John told her not to do so since transforming into a Devil could damage the embryo inside her.

"Be happy that you met a softy and not the other John. He would have let you die instead of helping you," says Nesiara as John split the hand in two.

The member of the God Hand wanted to escape but they were stopped by the barrier as it stopped them from leaving when John appears behind another of their member.

This time it was the one with the full body which was split in two instead of disintegrating from the red half-moon created by John's demonic energy. His soul wandered into the next Soul Stone as John looked at the other two while looking seriously.

"Two down, three more to go," says John at them before disappearing again.

This time he appeared behind the last two members of the God Hand and he swings twice as a giant red cross vaporizes the member with the full body while the woman escaped the cross that killed half of the monsters on the ground.

"Three down, two more to go," says John looking at the woman as his wings spread out showing her who a real demon was and who a fake is.

The soul of the God Hand member wandered into the empty Soul Stone followed by the monsters that were killed by the red cross. The monsters wanted to escape and the group that was inside the barrier could see Griffith as he was surrounded by something dark and slimy.

"No that can't be-," says Casca not believing what she was seeing as well as the others when Nesiara interrupts.

"It is Griffith. He used his necklace to gain new power by sacrificing you all. But it seems he didn't gain much since only a few of you all were sacrificed," says Nesiara as she explained it to the group that was horrified by what she was telling them.

"We were sacrifices?" asks Pippin the first time he said something in Nesiara's presence.

"That's why my husband was trying to tell you not to free him from the prison," says Nesiara as they see that the White Falcon turned into a Black Raven.

At the same time, John was facing the last member of the God Hand and approached her while she was looking horrified she was retreating from John.

"What do you want for leaving me alive? My loyalty? Maybe my body?" asks the woman trying to save her skin only to find the sword in John's hand changed from his pulsating Devilsword into a smaller sword that was in its sheath.

"I want your soul," says John as he disappears and appears behind the woman again with Yamato unsheathed surrounded by blue demonic energy.

The energy fades as he swings Yamato twice before sheathing it again. The moment Yamato was sheathed again reality seemed to be cut itself as thousands of slashes appeared out of nowhere killing the woman and the rest of the monsters on the field.

John now looked at the fourth Soul Stone that was filled with all the remaining souls before he looked down at the last demon he had to kill. He disappeared and appeared again beside Griffith holding the Dragon Slayer.

"Now then I have one last Soul Stone and your name is written on it," says John as Griffith looked at John in disbelief of how one being could annihilate a whole army.

"If I had someone like yo-," says Griffith before he got interrupted.

"You wouldn't be the King of your own Domain even with someone like me by your side. Remember this well," says John before decapitating Griffith who had his eyes wide open in shock from hearing what John said.

Griffith's head rolled on the ground towards the group while his soul entered the last Soul Stone and John turned back into his human form. He looked at the group and Nesiara released the barrier.

Guts rushed at him only to find the sky in his sight while hearing, "I will not kill you, Guts. But if you provoke me again, I will."

John walked towards Nesiara's side while looking at the others as he was cold with his body completely soaked in the blood of the enemy. They feared John at the moment because of his chilly aura that he was giving off.

"We should leave our task is completed and they are free of their endless loyalty for a traitor that would rather kill them for power than life as a cripple with them," says John as he touches Nesiara's shoulder and they disappeared again leaving the group alone.