Vol. 14 - Chapter 11: The Last Hope

Part 1 – Maria´s side

Maria and the others look at the sudden explosion, she looks at Daniel with a frightened expression and asks; "What happened Daniel, is your brother okay?"

"I don't know mother, the vast manna that they are emitting can't let me concentrate." Daniel replies, everyone looks at him confused, Valerie looks at the sisters and says; "Don't worry, my brother is stronger than that, it was probably his doing."

"Oh dear, I hope he didn't lose control and went berserk" Magdalena comments in a sarcastic way, Maria looks at her with rage and begins to say:

"You should avoid any more comments or else…"

"That´s enough hija, you must keep you composure, and pray for your son." Griselda grabs Maria´s arm, Maria looks at her and asks; "But sister…"

"Maria, can you hear me… Maria…"Maria stops and looks at the sky asking; "Is that you Juan?"

Listen to me, you must get out of there, for the looks of it, you will also get involved in the crossfire… You must escape now…." Maria gets angry and think; "What about my son, he needs me"

Your son is going to be okay… I will help him…I promise… Run away now…

-TCH- Maria looks at Griselda and the others, we must get away now, everything will be destroyed"

"Wait, what about Uriel?" Fabiola asks with a worried expression, Maria looks down, Magdalena grabs Maria´s shoulder and says; "He´s going to be fine, he is you son after all, isn't that right Maria?"

Maria nods in agreement; everyone gets on the jeep and begins to get away from Rio Grande City with everyone looking back with a worried expression."

Part 2 – Sun City

Uriel lies in his knees with tears in his eyes, seeing how Coyote and the others blew themselves up. All that´s left is a smokescreen, Uriel is able to move now that the ashes lost their effects. "DAMN IT, COYOTE, WHY?" Uriel punches the ground feeling useless. Suddenly, a figure walks slowly and comes out of the smokescreen, "That damn bastard blew himself up, I can't believe it, and it was all in vain."

Uriel is in shock to see that Darius is alive; he comes out slowly with his suit torn apart and burned away. He has blood coming out of his forehead. Darius begins to laugh;

"He died, like he lived, with an explosion, I offered him to live a great life with her granddaughter, and all he needed to do was to kill you but he refused."

(BBBAAADDUUMMPPP)

Uriel feel angrier than before, his corneas turned blacker, his hair turns crimson as manna flows out of his body. His teeth turn into fangs; Uriel stands up and begins to walk slowly towards him.

"Aww, did you get mad for this, don't worry he was really stupid, so he didn't suffer." Darius smiles causing Uriel to react with rage and punches him in the face.

(PPPUUUMMM)

Uriel punches Darius multiple times as he laugh, Uriel hits Darius with his knee and sends him flying to a burned building.

"RRAAAAWWW" Uriel roars out of rage and charges straight at Darius and continues to punch him multiple times. "SO THIS IS YOUR TRUE POWER, HORSEMAN OF WAR" Uriel takes out his pistol and puts it Darius´ chest chanting:

"Balada del Pistolero; Loteria Revolver; El Sol" (Ballad of the Gunman, Revolver Lottery; The Sun)

(BBBOOOMMM)

Uriel releases an enormous amount of manna sending Darius flying a couple of blocks away. Darius stops in a wall near the river, Uriel with great speed arrives next to him, Uriel uses his sword and he is about to stab Darius, however, Darius smiles:

"Wait, Uriel, before you do that, I want one request…"

"Why should I do that? You´re a monster who destroyed this city." Uriel grabs his sword tighter, Darius continues to speak; "This city was destroyed by monsters like us, you are to blame as well Uriel, don't forget that. My last request is for you to check the river, have a last glance of what you did…"

Uriel remembers the river where people were fighting before. He puts away his sword and begins to walk towards the river. Uriel begins to shake as he sees the terrifying scenario; Thousands of people dead in the river, the river flows with red liquid. There is no one alive only the river covered in blood. Darius stands up and begins to walk next to you;

"Do you like that, that scenario is war, this is what war brings, only death. I know that because I witness countless wars before. This is your fault for interfering with my plans ever since you arrived."

"But why? I only wanted to protect everyone, not to kill" Uriel says with tears in his eyes, Darius sighs with his eyes close and continues to explains; "You see, this was bound to happened in order to complete the ritual, Ten thousand souls had to be sacrificed, I think I exceeded with that but still, because you interfered with the Chupacabras who was supposed to kill at least 10 people per week but you stopped it. Leading to this…"

Uriel is speechless, Darius laughs harder and creates a portal behind Uriel, -PPPUUMMM- Darius kicks Uriel sending him to the portal. Uriel appears in a portal pointing down a building crashing in the top floor.

Uriel tries to stands up but another portal appears behind him again, a hand appears and drags Uriel into the portal. On the other side Darius stands at the street level and pulls Uriel out punching him in the stomach and sends him flying to a mirrored building.

(CCCRRAAASSHHHH)

Uriel crawls feeling pain, Darius grabs his neck and lifts him up; "Uriel, you think you are doing well but you are evil, remember that." –CCRRRAACCKK- Darius hits Uriel with a window, Uriel looks at his reflection and sees his form thinking; "Am I truly a monster? Is this me? Why am I fighting him?"

Darius throws Uriel away as he shouts; "DID YOU SEE YOUR IMAGE, YOU'RE A MONSTER, YOU ARE EVIL JUST LIKE, I DON'T UNDERTAND WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO DO GOOD."

Uriel looks at the moon and thinks; "He´s right, I´ve been doing what I think is right and yet… Johanna, Alejandro, Deborah, Coyote and all the citizens are dead because of me."

"YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOOD BUT YOU REVIVED THE WITCH, YOU LET EVERYONE AROUND YOU DIE. YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR LOVER BETRAYED YOU. YOU ALONE, NOT EVEN YOUR FAMILY WILL CARE ABOUT YOU IF THEY SEE YOUR FORM, REMEMEBR YOUR PAST."

Get away from here… I´m sorry you are not permitted to be here, this is God´s temple and you are a devil.

Uriel begins to remember his past, how he was rejected by the nuns and everyone surrounding because he was El Charro Negro. Uriel begins to cry asking himself; "Am I really a good person, or am I really evil… I don´t know…"

WAR, YOU WANT WAR…RELEASE ME…RELEASE THE POWER OF WAR!

Uriel hears a voice coming out of the air, his eyes glow redder and he begins to smile; "DESTROY, I MUST RELEASE WAR!"

(BBBAADDUUUMMPPP)

Uriel comes to his senses and sees Darius charging at him, Darius prepares to punch Uriel. –SSLLAASSHH- Suddenly, Katsumi appears and slashes Darius, Darius jumps back.

"Katsumi? Is that you?" Katsumi turns around and smiles; "Of course it´s me, I came to help you."

"Why, you should have escaped, why did you returned?" Uriel asks with a furious tone, Katsumi smiles and charges at Darius attacking him with her katana. Suddenly, four talismans surround Uriel, he turns around and sees Shion who is blushing; "Who are you?"

"It´s a pleasure to meet you, thank you for saving my life, I am Shion Saito, Katsumi´s assistant."

"Well, well, we finally meet in person Uriel, how have you been?" Allan Carter along with Heidi walk to his side. Heidi stretches her hand and presents herself;

"I am Heidi Muller, Allan´s wife, it´s a pleasure to meet you."

Uriel shakes her hand and with a clueless expression asks; I don´t understand, why are you guys here?"

"We came to fight alongside you Uriel. You see this is not a war that you need to do by yourself. Katsumi cares so much that she is risking everything to defend you…The reason is she…"

"That´s enough dear, this is something Katsumi must tell him on her own." Heidi scolds Allan who chuckles; "Right, right sorry, anyways, Uriel listen." Allan changes his expression to a serious one and continues to speak:

"Heidi and I will buy you time in order for you to gain you strength back, we know that you had multiple battles before you faced Darius, you must be exhausted. Shion will heal you quickly with her power."

Uriel turns around and sees Shion, he looks at her and says; "Wait, don't do this, you will exhaust your power." Shion shakes her head and replies; "No, I owe you my life, I was about to die, but you step in and saved me. This is the least I can do, so sit still."

"Uriel, right now you are our only hope. If we don´t stop Darius now, he´s going to destroy everything. There is no time for doubts, we must act now." Allan says with a confident expression, Uriel nods in agreement. Allan ad Heidi walk forward, Katsumi notices them and jumps back.

"Now this is interesting, how many more reinforcements are going to arrive, Uriel? Now I have to face 2 of the Zodiac Roots. I guess I can´t hold back anymore." Darius takes off his black torn up coat. He rolls up his sleeves up and takes a battle stance.

"Darius Lucifugus from the Enlightened, we from Yggdrasil came here to stop you" Allan and Heidi roll up their arm sleeves revealing their crests. Allan has the Libra zodiac signal glowing in a gray color, Heidi has the Aries zodiac signal glowing in a red color.

"Activate; Silver Scale, Libra Complete" Allan´s crest begins to expand, an a pillar of manna is released, he now has a silver vest with a black Libra signal in the back, his pants are black with a silver line on the side. He has black gloves and silver boots. In his hand, a silver scale forms as he grabs it.

"Activate; Flammenbock (Flame Ram), Aries Complete" A bright red pillar of manna forms. Heidi changes her attire to a short black dress with white sleeves, a red part in the middle with black ties on top. The skirt has a red color on the edge. She has a red cape that goes down t her knees, with a ram on his back, with a hood. She has black gauntlets and a red diadem on her hair. She holds a black staff that has the Aries signal in the middle.

Darius begins to laugh; "I never imagine that I would have to take on the Judge of Fate and the Princess Mars together. But you are husband and wife, am I right. Very well, show me what you can do"

Allan separates his scale and they it disappears in his hands. He charges at full speed and punches Darius, Darius block the punch with force causing the ground behind him to break."Not bad, you reacted to my attack, but my scale says that I am stronger."

(DDDIIIINNGGG)

Allan´s right hand glows causing Darius to feel weak and gets blown away by his attack. Allan touches the ground chanting; "Silver Judgment, earth penalty"

The ground where Darius lands begins to elevate slowly, Darius stands up looking around him, Allan uses his left hand and closes it with force as he says; "Darius, I declare you guilty and punishable by the earth." The pieces of earth begin to attack Darius, Darius releases his manna causing them to shatter, Allan uses the opportunity and punches Darius causing him to hit the ground with force.

"Impressive, using your scale to control the gravity of the earth and myself. You really are like a judge ehh."

"Don´t forget about me" Heidi appears from behind and with her staff hits Darius with the bottom part. –PPUUUMM- Darius begins to feels his insights burning causing him to throw up blood. Heidi spins her staff causing the lifting dust; the dust begins to catch fire as Heidi chants:

"Feuerrad" (Fire wheel)

(BBBOOOMMM)

A wheel of flames forms in her staff, Heidi hits the ground causing the flames to attack Darius, Darius jumps back trying to evade the flames, Allan appears from behind and with his right arm he punches the ground.

(DDIIINNGGG)

Darius stops and feels gravity pushing him down, he begins to say; "I understand now, the two scales that disappeared, you have them in your hands making you the scale to judge."

(BBBBOOOOMMM)

The flames hit Darius causing a small vortex to form, Allan swings his left arm-DDDIIINNGG- "I´ll increase the oxygen in the air making the flames more intense." Suddenly the flames grom bigger and begin to melt its surrounding. "AAAHHH" Darius screams as he begins to melt.

"Incredible, what combo attack they pulled off." Uriel says with excitement, Katsumi looks at Uriel who is being healed by Shion; "They are the most compatible of the Zodiac Roots, Aries and Libra, their combos are the most lethal as you just saw."

"WOW, I NEVER THOUGHT THE ZODIAC ROOTS WERE THIS STRONG" Shion says with stars in her eyes, Uriel smiles and asks; "Is it over"

"Yes, it´s over" Katsumi replies with a smile. Allan stands in the flames and says; "You have been judge Darius, I overestimated you."

"And I underestimated you, Allan." Darius appears from behind and tries to punch Allan.

(PPPPUUMM)

Heidi appears and blocks the punch with her staff, she smiles and chants; "Unter Null" (Below Zero). In a blink of an Eye, Darius´s arm freezes completely, Allan punches the arm shattering it completely. Darius jumps backward and begins to laugh maniacally.

"Now you´ve done it, you burned me and left me with one arm. I am a very patient man but now you made me angry."

"So what, you are in a disadvantage, surrender now and I will kill you quickly." Allan says to Darius, Darius sighs with his eyes close; "Allan you are still too naive, what makes you think I am in a disadvantage, no, I only wanted you to believe that."

Darius takes off his shirt revealing a his body. Uriel and the others are in shock on what they are seeing, Darius begins to grow his left atm back, as his left side is black with purple lines. "I guess you are in shock seeing this, but this was the only way for me to keep on living. Uriel, your father did a great damage to me, I underestimated him and cost me my position as the 4th hour. Now I am only the 10th and that makes me furious."

-SNAP- Darius snaps his fingers as his body begins to turn black with purple lines. "Don't tell me, you are a golem?"

"Something like that, but first let me show you this. The weapon that destroyed thousands of armies" A golden maze appears from the portal, everyone is speechless as Darius screams; "LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO THE SMASHER OF THOUSANDS; SHARUR"