Chapter Text
Redemption at Midnight ( Work Title)
Timely Arrival
The battle between the JIDA and the vampires kept on raging, but the battle was for the most part over. The humans had retreated towards the Nagoya Airport. Meanwhile, the vampires had killed any stragglers left behind in the city before following the retreating human forces.
Once more, the ruins of the city were silent and empty. However, it appeared that it was not the end of things to come when the skies above the ruined city had suddenly turned from the evening oranges of dusk to an unnatural crimson, bathing the entire area in crimson light. Tremors ran through the ground as if a minor earthquake was hitting the region and further off towards the Nagoya airport a strange bright multicolored light was shining through the cloud cover. Due to this, Nagoya itself was once again completely deserted.
Such was also the case with a central plaza near what perhaps once had been a park that had been built near a shopping mall. Without people tending to it, the vegetation had grown over much of the place with weeds and other plants sprouting from the cracks in the pavement. Fallen leaves from the past years littered the ground beneath the trees as well as laying in piles against walls and other obstacles, while discarded items and trash had been overgrown. In the center of the plaza stood a large digital clock, which now stood defunct there like a sentinel frozen in time.
That was until all of the sudden the display, that had been black and empty for years, sparked to life once more. Though instead of showing the time, the neon-green letters flickered wildly and without sense as they shifted to nonsensical combinations of numbers. And just as fast as it had begun, the malfunction stopped and the display turned black once more.
"Dimensional Axe!"
A disembodied voice boomed through the silence of the desolate plaza when suddenly a spiderweb of cracks appeared in midair, before the fabric of reality simply shattered and revealed a dark void beneath the cracks. A sudden wind picked up and blew away leaves and debris from the newly made gap in reality. Not a moment later, something made its way through the darkness into Nagoya. Flying out of the hole was a small creature that almost looked like a child's drawing of a bat. Fore one, its body was round and covered in a dark blue mask with a white skull on its forehead. Two leathery wings were attached to the sides where one would assume arms and its short legs had large feet with three digits tipped with large red claws. Flapping its wings it landed on the broken digital clock and looked around with large yellow eyes.
"Wow, the human world really let itself go." It said looking around the deserted plaza. A scoff rang through the air emerging from the portal the creature had just emerged from.
"Be that as it may, we are not here for sightseeing. Furthermore, if so is the case it makes even less sense that we were able to make it here." A deep voice said when a pair of yellow eyes gleamed out of the darkness beyond the cracks. Looking up at the red skies above, its yellow eyes appeared to glow even brighter for a moment. "So that is the reason why we could finally cross over. The veil between this world and the others has thinned. Still, this cannot be a good sign."
"What's the plan then?" A third being spoke in a voice that sounded gruff and mechanical.
"The same as it was before. Just wait for the signal." The other entity voice said. "And you figure out where this is coming from."
"On it." The small bat-like creature saluted with one of its wings before flying off into the sky as the other being stepped out of the crack in reality and entered the human world fully. Not even a moment later, the bat-like being shouted from overhead. "Over there! Really hard to miss. Follow me!" It shouted down, pointing with its wing at something beyond the ruins of the city. Then it swooped down in front of the other and flew through the ruined streets.
"So that way, huh?" The other entity said before it followed its companion towards the center of this strange phenomenon with its cape fluttering behind them.
Shinoa Hiragi most certainly did not like the current situation at all. The whole operation in Nagoya sounded fishy to begin with, but things just kept escalating in the worst possible ways.
From start to finish, it was a disaster for the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. Not only did they underestimate the prowess of their opponents and lost a significant amount of soliders, the vampires clearly had been aware of their operation. Then there was of course also the whole issue with her own squad or rather her squad's member Yuichiro and them defending a vampire who had apparently grown up with Yuichiro like a brother prior to being turned a vampire, making them all traitors in the eyes of their comrades.
And now, the whole operation turned out to be nothing more than an experiment orchestrated by her brother Kureto Hiragi. Not only that, but Guren apparently was in on it the whole time as well. Which is how they now found themselves between an army of vampires in their back and Kureto's forces with their newest experiment in their back in the form of none other than her other squad member's little sister Mirai Kimizuki. Except the person, that was currently floating in the air with four large white feathered wings and restrained by wires covered in paper seals, could not be called Mirai. Not only was this angel possessing her body, after she blew some sort of horn-like instrument a massive demon had emerged from her body. One that even spawned Horsemen of the Apocalypse after Kureto had done something to it, that now attacked both vampires and the remaining human 'sacrifices' alike. In other words, the chances of her and her squad making it out in one piece were pretty slim already.
The lavender haired girl's head looked around to see both Yoichi and Mitsuba struggling to retreat, Shiho was still in the ground where Guren had incapacitated him and Yuichiro and Mikaela were both injured.
"This is pretty bad, huh?" Shinoa told herself with a tired smile. One way or another, they got an army in their way and little to no way of retreating. Things were really not looking good.
Meanwhile, the demon that had emerged fro, and was still connected to Mirai's back towered over the battlefield. It's body was a malformed mass of black and red that held little to no resemblance to any living creature. Its abdomen was bulbous and almost insect like with no legs. The torso was humanoid, but long and thing with elongated arms and a large pair of thin, leathery wings. Finally, its almost saurian-looking, eyeless head sported two horns akin to the head of a hammerhead shark while sitting on a long neck. Other than the loud growls coming from its maw, the demon had not moved at all, yet its presence alone was overwhelming.
But then Abaddon's demeanor changed. Where the demon just moments ago had been more of less immobile, it's body language was now tense and its head perked up as it turned its eyeless head towards the skies while a low growl escaped its maw, which confused the combatants on the ground on all sides. Some even turned their head to try and see what the demon was reacting to.
There was a red glimmer in the blood red skies, before a large two-headed, red lance struck the demon in its long and thin neck like a harpoon, causing black ichor to burst from its wound like a broken faucet. Abadon let out a roar of pain at this and its body tilted in mid air slightly. Even the angel possessing Mirai's body now looked up as if it sensed the arrival of something. Not even a moment later, a second projectile hit the demon. This time it was not a weapon, but rather its wielder. A large humanoid figure clad in silver, gold and black armor grabbed its lance and dragged it all the way down from its neck down its almost insect-like abdomen, before planting a foot onto its and pushing itself away from the demon and landing on the ground between it and the remaining humans and vampires. In an instant, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse spawned by Abaddon stopped their attack on the vampires and humans and turned their attention at the new arrival.
Kureto, who had until now been smiling in satisfaction at his experiment coming to fruition, was now wearing a mask of shock and anger as he bore witness to the sudden attack. Abaddon's body slumped down a bit from its previously upright posture, though its wound was already healing. Then Kureto turned his anger towards the attacker itself as it rose up from its crouch.
No one said a thing as they now could see the being's appearance fully. At full height, the being was certainly large. Not as massive as Abaddon, but definitely larger than a Horseman of the Apocalypse. The body was indeed covered in predominately black armor. A golden, visor-like crest sat in the middle of its chest over the silver front of its torso. Attached to its left arm was a long axe-head-like blade, which was a bit longer than the limb itself. Both feet appeared to be covered in boots tipped with curved, golden blades. On the right shoulder sat a what looked like a knight's helmet with small red horns, while its hand held the same two-headed lance it had used to attack the demon. Finally, the head appeared to be reminiscent to a viking's helmet with golden horns and a grey faceplate, while a pair of completely yellow eyes looked at the scenery before it and the long black and blue cape hung from the back.
However, this helmet was not a piece of armor the creature wore, but rather it was the head itself.
"What the hell is that?" Kureto asked more himself than his subordinates. Next to him, his assistant Aoi Sangu tensed up as she also had no answer to that question.
"We don't know sir. This thing is neither a seraph nor a demon." She replied as Kureto's scowl deepened. She knew that he disliked unknown factors in his experiments and this thing, whatever it was, was throwing a wrench in his carefully constructed plans.
The same reaction was happening both in the ranks of the vampires and the remaining human sacrifices of the Nagoya Operation. A feeling of awe and fear settled in the humans, while the vampires were for most part simply curious about this new arrival.
It was then that the newcomer spoke.
"Hmpf. It seems rather resilient... for a cheap knockoff, that is. Not that it will matter." They mused in a deep, clearly masculine tone mused with a scoff. No one really knew what was more surprising. The fact that the giant creature could speak at all or that it spoke in Japanese. With that, the dark warrior started to walk towards Kureto's group just as Abaddon propped itself back up on its long arms, snarling in unholy fury at the one that had wounded it. The seraph, that it had emerged from, now looked at the newly arrived being with an emotionless gaze. Mirai's body lurched forward as if fighting the control of the JIDA it was placed under as it did so. The horsemen Abaddon had created hissed and carefully took steps towards it like cautious predators ready to ambush their prey.
"Reinforce the seals! We cannot allow it to break free!" Kureto barked orders at his subordinates who rushed to the devices immediately.
"...what are you, creature?" The seraph possessing Mirai asked in a monotonous voice, that did not hide the disdain for the newcomer at all.
"Your demise, faker." The dark knight replied coldly. In response, Abaddon roared in fury as the horsemen of the Apocalypse it had spawned converged onto him. The closest ones tried to attack him with their teeth and claws, jumping onto the larger creature in attempt to pin it down, but he was having none of it. Under his feet he crushed the pesky monsters, their claws and teeth failed to even scratch the surface of his armor and a swing of his lance or the axe-like blade on his shoulder, cleaved the man-eating monsters apart like wet paper. Whatever rudimentary sense of self-preservation or strategic instinct or perhaps just a command of Abadon to protect it within the horsemen made the remaining ones converge together in one large group between him and the demon.
"I don't care what it is. Kill it! NOW!" Kureto barked. Orders were given quickly and more members of the JIDA moved about to carry them out. The seraph tensed up as Abaddon roared loudly and the remaining horsemen charged at the giant warrior.
The armored being continued his advance a few more calm and steady steps, before grabbing his lance and swinging it in a wide arc. The result was visible instantly as it looked as if an invisible blade had cut straight through not only the horsemen, but the rock spires and the bonds that had bound Mirai. The barrier around the angel was snuffed out in an instant as the cords fell to the ground uselessly, causing the JIDA to look on in fear. Without the barrier, they had no way of controlling the seraph. However, it appeared that at this moment, it regarded destroying the knight as the more urgent task compared to punishing mankind. Abaddon certainly seemed to think so as it charged up its breath weapon.
"I see. A mindless beast with no will of its own and acts purely on instinct." The knight scoffed before pointing his lance at the demon, the tip facing it glowing dark red and spinning as arcs of energy sparked around it like lightning. "How pathetic."
"Begone." Was the only word Mirai uttered when Abaddon spew forth a black tornado.
"Twin Spear." A red beam of energy shot past the group and completely engulfed the demon's upper body entirely. The breath of the demon was simply snuffed out in an instant as it was hit with full force by the attack. Abaddon let out a final roar as its form was consumed by the power reduced to nothingness. When the attack died down, the remaining lower body of the demon followed suit, dissolving into dark particles almost instantly, which also vanished just as fast, leaving behind only an exhausted Mirai. The angel apparently had used too much of its strength as her eyes closed and she slowly floated down towards the ground. The destruction of the demon also caused the skies above to change back to their natural state of the sunset. The being regarded this change for a second, before turning his gaze back to Kureto's group.
"I see. This is it then?" He mused as with a chuckle. Kureto grit his teeth at this... thing mocking him as he turned to his subordinates.
"Capture the seraph! We can't let-"
"Dark Gale!" Suddenly an explosion hitting Mirai took the JIDA by surprise. A strong gust of wind washed over the the group as they were thrown around like toys when they could see something large moving in the cover of the smoke screen.
"What the!" Kureto shouted as he drew Raimeiki and sliced through the smoke to reveal nothing. But flying out of the remnants of the cloud, was a large dragon-like creature. Its body was seemingly clad in black latex with its lower jaw exposing white skin. More importantly, its tail was tipped with a three-pronged claw, which was now holding an unconscious Mirai in its grasp. It twisted its body around, glaring with four red eyes at the man, before skitting to a halt behind the armored figure by sinking its claws into the ground, but not without flicking its tail towards it and throwing the unconscious Mirai towards him who caught it with his left hand. Relatively to his size, she was little more than a doll in his grasp as he looked at her with a chuckle.
"How sad, human. You started with an angel and demon and now you have neither." The knight chuckled. "Is that all then?" Kureto grit his teeth in frustration and hate at the armored figure mocking him. Meanwhile the dragon like being turned its head towards the Shinoa squad. Shiho had been picked up by Yoichi while the attention had been on the battle, while Mitsuba and Shinoa had grouped positioned themselves near them alongside Makoto Narumi.
"M-Mirai!" Shiho called out as he saw his sister in the giant's hand unconscious, trying to make his way over, but was stopped by both Yoichi and his injuries. "Let go of me. I need to get to her."
"Stop Shiho!"
The dragon then sniffed the air and turned his attention towards another group right by its long arms. Yuichiro and Mikaela, who up until now had been staring at the new arrival with unreadable expressions, turned their heads to the demonic dragon who glared down at them and Krul Tepes who Mikaela had wanted to bring Yuichiro towards. However, Krul knew the look of recognition in their eyes.
"Mikaela, do you know what's going on?" She asked, making the blonde vampire turn to her before looking away.
"That's... complicated..." He said, making Krul frown. A frown that only deepened when the dragon raised one of its elongated arms and pointed a long red claw at her while looking at the two young men.
"You know this midget, Mika?" It asked, making Mikaela want to disappear in the ground under Krul's glare, while Yuichiro had to bite back a laugh at the comment about her height. Meanwhile, everyone else just looked baffled at this revelation.
"I must say this complicates things slightly." The knight said with its back still turned to the group, before turning its head slightly. "But that is nothing new with the two of you, isn't it?"
There was a moment of silence on the battlefield as everyone asked themselves the same question.
'Just who the hell is he talking to?'
And of course, said person answered.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Yuichiro said pointing an accusing finger at the armored figure, making everyone look at him.
""Exactly what he/I said." Both the giant and Mikaela supporting Yuichiro on his shoulder said in a flat tone.
"Okay, what is going on?!" Mitsuba shouted when all of the sudden a loud train horn could be heard, when the ground started to practically vibrate. Most of the people turned their heads around to see a something closer in size to Abaddon approach with incredible speed.
From where they stood, it looked like a giant silver and blue train with a strange head-like front and a giant spiked wheel in front of its body that effortlessly smashed through the warped and cracked concrete pavement of the former airfield. In its back they could see that it was pulling a large cart. And it was heading straight for them at a frigthing pace.
"Mikaela, Yuichiro. We retreat immediately." The giant warrior said, making Yuichiro want to say something in protest as his eyes looked for Guren.
"But-"
"That's an order." The being cut off Yu just before the dragon swatted someone away from the trio that came right for the vampire queen, who turned out to be none other than Crowley and Ferid. "Wha-" neither he, Krul or Mika got a chance to protest when the dragon grabbed them with one large hand and picked up the Shinoa Squad and Makoto with the other and jumped towards the knight.
Just in that moment, the train-like creature arrived, but didn't slow down in the slightest as it smashed through the obstacles. Yet the army could see how the cart opened it was pulling opened and the two other beings jumped in with their captives in hand (literally). Then the shudders shut down again and the train simply steamrolled on without slowing down, quickly making its way towards the outer edges of the airfield. However instead of turning around or stopping, the train suddenly smashed through an invisible wall, shattering reality and left a large hole through which it disappeared with its horn blaring one last time before the hole closed again.
This left both the vampires and the JIDA baffled for a second before Kureto caught himself again.
"All units, retreat immediately." He reluctantly gave the order as he drew his sword once more to fend off any vampires that might try to stop them. Meanwhile Guren and Shinya also couldn't help but look at the events unfolding thinking the same thing everyone else thought in that moment.
'Just what the hell just happened?'
There was nothing inside the train cart. It was more of a metal container if anything, but it was large enough to accomadate everyone inside it. Some lamps at the ceiling had been installed and cast a sterile white light down onto the occupants when the cart stopped shaking from plowing through the airfield and entered the space beyond the portal. From there it was just smooth driving as they could hear the machinery moving around them.
It was then that they were unceremoniously dropped down from the hands that held them to the metal floor, followed by a collective groan of pain and annoyance.
"Alright, who's not dead? Sound off." Shinoa groaned.
"I'm alive." Yoichi said.
"Here." Makoto replied.
"I think I broke a rib." Shiho groaned in pain.
"Who's touching me?!" Mitsuba shrieked, making Shinoa chuckle awkwardly.
"Sorry, Mi-chan." She said before sitting up and looking at her pig-tailed squad member's flushed face.
"If you are done with your childish antics," A familiar deep voice boomed out when they all turned to see the armored figure now sitting against the wall of the cart, looking at them while still holding his lance and Mirai in his hands. "Then let's move on to business." With that the dragon released Yuichiro, Mikaela and Krul as well, though putting them down with more care than the others, before it crouched down on its hand and feet while still glaring down at the pinkette vampire.
"Yu-chan!" Shinoa and her squad said with a mixture of relief, before apprehension settled in.
"Hey guys." Yuichiro said before turning to the dragon who had snatched him up alongside Mikaela and Krul. "Geez, you could have been a bit gentler, Devidramon." The dragon snorted in response.
"That was payback for what you used to do back then." Devidramon replied before turning to Mikaela, leaning closer and looking worried at his injuries. "Those look pretty bad."
"It's fine. I'll survive." The blonde vampire said with a small smile, making the dragon sit upright again.
"Okay, could someone please explain to me what is going on here?" Mitsuba exclaimed, when Yu and Mika's expression turned serious again and turned to the giant warrior.
"Yeah, what's going on DarkKnightmon? Yu asked as the knight chuckled in response.
"Very well. Let us talk." The dark warrior digimon replied.