Chapter XVI: The Fallen Demon

Chapter XVI: The Fallen Demon

The train was already inside the tunnel. Erheitz was ready for anything, and so he had his huge iron hammer out. Crnobog was weaponless. The darkness of the tunnel was blinding and only a few orange lights could be seen every once in a while. Panels below roof of the tunnel represented a danger and so both of the men had to avoid being hit by them.

Then it started… Erheitz charged at Crnobog, Iron Hammer in hand. He has the advantage as he’s using the moving train to his advantage. He unleashes his huge attack on Crnobog. The latter crouches and avoids the first horizontal attack. Then he shoots lightning at Erheitz. Yells are heard as the lightning from Crnobog constantly hit him. The huge man was not dumb and so he with great strength puts the Iron Hammer in front of his body. To Crnobog’s surprise the hammer deflected his lightning to the sides. Smart as he is, he pushes the Iron Hammer forward disabling any attack from Crnobog as there is not much space between him and the hammer. Erheitz then attacks with the handle of the Hammer, hitting Crnobog straight in the right cheek. The next attack was even worst as Erheitz attacks with the Hammer itself. Unable to do anything Crnobog gets hit straight in the chest with the hammer. His body is lift up by the impact and the train goes on. But he was not ready to lose… finally he grabs himself from a ledge in the last wagon of the train.

“I will not lose!” he yells as he boosts forward and breaks the back door of the wagon. Erheitz breaks the ceiling of the wagon and enters it. It was obviously a wagon where people would sit and wait for the arrival at the underground bunker. It was a boring wagon as everything was just steel (and dirty one too). Erheitz continues his attack, this time with a horizontal slash that breaks steel chairs and even the poles where people would hold on to. Crnobog had backed away already, avoiding the attack.

“Activate Scythe”

Crnobog extends his hands to the sides and red blobs begin to appear in front of him. Electricity begins to surround each of them and they begin to stick together, forming something. Below Crnobog’s right hand a constant current of electricity appears and they begin to paste over it …. Slowly they begin to give form to a red scythe.

“Solidify”

The red scythe then turns black.

“Face death NOW!” yells Crnobog as he sways the scythe with such strength that it breaks the walls of the wagon. These clash on the walls of the tunnels creating a intense spark show. Surrounded now by sparks, Erheitz continues his attack, this time with a powerful hammer slash. Crnobog counters by slashing his scythe too. Both the hammer and the scythe crash violently. Both of the monsters struggle to overpower each other but its impossible.

Then Crnobog smiles…

The scythe begins to release electricity. The scythe was now stuck inside the very hammer. Slowly it begins to crack and finally it breaks apart. The Iron Hammer was now broken. And then it ended…. Crnobog makes a violent 360-grade turn and slashes Erheitz’s neck. A burst of blood comes from the neck and finally his head falls off followed by a crimson rain. Erheitz was now dead for sure.

Meanwhile, atop none other than the Empire State Building, Mordred looks to the far away ground while holding Alexandra on one hand. She was still obviously sedated as she did not move much. “Your precious Dwayne shall soon come…” says Mordred. “Let… me… go…” whispers Alexandra. “Women are strong, but you are not in your state. You know, your stubbornness to move reminds me of Laura… my beloved Laura” says Mordred, “the one and only woman that I love… the one that was taken away by THEM!”. “Them..?” seems to ask Alexandra. “Yeah them… just thinking of them gives me reason to puke… especially Her….” Says Mordred as he closes his right fist, almost breaking the speaker he has on the hand which is connected wirelessly to a EMP protected receiver down the street.

In that same instant from within the tunnel Crnobog appeared atop the train, with his scythe on hand. The train was going up again, ready to pass over a rail that passes a hundred meters from the Empire State, just above the 33^rd and 34^th streets.

“So… Erheitz failed, as expected” whispers Mordred with a smile now drawn over his face. Crnobog was already looking at the top of the Empire State. “Alexa…” he whispers.

“PREPARE FOR THE SHOW!” was suddenly heard from the speakers. Crnobog takes position ready to jump from the train and attack Mordred who is very far up in the top of the building.

“Boom” whispers Mordred.

The columns holding the train rail suddenly explode. The rail itself goes down and shatters to pieces. Below there are people and many of them die in the process. “No!” yells Crnobog as he runs towards the first wagon (he was in the 3^rd one). The train gets off rails and begins to shake. Crnobog reaches the front of the train and seems to hold the front with his hands. But he was not strong enough…

The train falls from the rails and onto the unsuspecting people below. Yelling begins as they see the train come unto them. Crnobog tries to deviate it but he’s unable. In a few seconds the whole train crash upon Crnobog, breaking the road around him as it falls. Many die while it falls.

“What happened?!?” says Alexa as she can barely distinguish what is happening below.

Surprisingly, Crnobog had managed to move the train a bit to the right, saving more people in the process. Yet… his whole body was buried beneath a pile of steel and concrete. The pile was already starting a small fire, but no sign of Crnobog. Then the junk begins to shake. Crnobog was trying to stand up, burdening all the weight on his back as he tried to stand up. It was hard to see him struggle that much just to stand up. A he continues his body could be seen, bloody and shaking, trying to lift up all that, but he was doing it. To the surprise of many, tears were falling down his chin, as below him the body of a kid could be seen. He was still alive, but just barely. Crnobog continues to lift the pile and finally he succeeds. Having completed that daunting task, he instinctively walks forward, away from the pile of junk. Slowly he turns around and lifts the child from the ground. Shaking, he gives the boy to a nearby man.

“Are you…” was all the man could say before a weakened Crnobog walked away, slowly walking towards the Empire State in front of him.

“Stubborn to the end” could be heard coming from the speakers. From atop the Empire State a rocket could be seen coming down unto Crnobog. The weakened hero could not do anything and so he receives the rocket straight into his chest. A huge explosion takes place and then his body is sent flying straight into the pile of junk again. Fire was already rising and it was all around Crnobog. The hero was on the verge of defeat as he lies over the broken road. His body could not stand up.

“Activating – “

“No…” he thinks.

“You and I are the same Dwayne Erickson” could be heard coming from the speakers, “two monsters! Two entities! What do you seek? What do you SEEK?! I ONLY SEEK REVENGE! Because of them my beloved wife was killed… BECAUSE OF THEM! THE GOVERNMENT! I was aspiring for the Nobel Prize with my research on Engineering, along my wife, Laura. She was studying nanomachines and the biological implementations of it along a man called Dr. Hyde. I designed many things… and even designed a shape shifting weapon using a special membrane. She had created different nanomachines for different purposes and in total she had created over 70. That was until they contacted him…. A man calling himself ‘The First’ arrived at the lab. After that everything turned to the worst… they wanted to create enhanced super humans messing with genes, DNA and nanomachines … my wife not wanting her project to be used for such things was assassinated by a red-haired woman in front of me. I was frozen in fear, but realizing I could avenge her sooner and later I kept working for them, until I had the knowledge and resources to defeat them. And here I am now… bent on revenge! I will show them that I am not to be messed with!” he finishes. “Dwayne?” asks Alexandra. “Oh yes… that who you barely see down there is your beloved Dwayne Erickson” says Mordred to the girl.

Crnobog, using his last bit of strength stands up and grabs his scythe, which to his surprise disappeared into red blobs.

“That scythe of yours… that weapon… I created it, but it seems to have undergone some changes. When we first fought… a current appeared and in it the weapon formed. They evolved most of the things I created in the past” says Mordred.

“And… what… will you get with revenge…” whispers Crnobog, but of course Mordred won’t be able to hear him.

“Now hear me well! They created you, and yet to seek no revenge? Come with me and let’s destroy them! We have the power to do so! Come with me and let’s both have our revenges. I know you are suffering… suffering inside and wondering what the hell are you? For what was I created? You seek answer to that? I can give it to you… You were simply created to fight! Part of a project called the NanoBIO. Not only they created you, they also ran a parallel program called GenoBIO, where they messed with genes and DNA. You, part of the NanoBIO, are the same, except enhanced by thousands of nanomachines inside of you” continues Mordred, “You will never have a normal life and will ultimately die!”

“That’s… not… true…” whispers Crnobog regaining position and staring at the top of the tower.

“Come with me! Let’s have revenge on what they have done to us… if not you will pay with your blood and this girl will die after I’ve had some fun with her” says Mordred, “What SAY YOU?”

Crnobog takes a deep breath and then lets it go…

“NEVER”

“I am here to save people and help them… if I have this power then it’s a blessing, not a curse, and it should be used just to save people’s life!” he yells one last time.

The people around Crnobog begin to clap, obviously in favor of their hero.

“Too bad…” says Mordred, “we could have found the truth on who you really are!” Mordred then aims his right hand at Crnobog, while standing quite close to the edge. Alexandra notices this and tries to push Mordred off the tower.

“Sadly… I have a jetpack, and yet… you don’t have the strength to push such a heavy body” replies Mordred with a grin as he holds Alexandra even tighter.

“Sayonara, Dwayne” says Mordred as he begins to shoot bullets from the top of the tower. Their fall speed is even greater and they hit Crnobog straight on, piercing his body, his arms, his legs… everything. It was really gory… blood splattered to every side as he got shot by the bullets. His numb body falls to the ground and the bullets stop. People were just in shock… some even had blood on their face.

“Dwayne…” whispers Alexandra.

Still… the Demon hero stood up, slowly, but steady. His body was beginning to heal itself.

“Auto-Healing…” whispers Mordred while he once more begins to shoot at Crnobog.

“I am unable to move… this body… is too weak…” whispers Crnobog as more bullets pierce his weakened body. In his weakness he falls to his knees as blood covers his whole body and face… his clothes being shredded to pieces by the storm of bullets.

“I am losing…” he thinks as he feels the ground beneath his knees.

“And now… your grand defeat” says Mordred as from his right shoulder a new and bigger cannon appears. From it a missile was shot, straight towards Crnobog.

“NOO!!” yells Alexandra with all her power.

The missile was going way too fast… while Crnobog’s hair went down and his face changed. He was turning back to Dwayne, his normal self. His clothes began to disappear. In that same moment Alphonse and the trio of Old Men appeared.

“DWAYNE!” yells Alphonse as he tries to make a run for it, but he’s too late.

The missile hits Dwayne straight on… and what could be heard were his agony yells and then the explosion. The hero of the people had just been killed. His left hand fell from his body as Dwayne’s unrecognizable body fell to the ground… lifeless. Everyone was in shock…

The demon was dead…..