Chapter 25- Destiny

We managed to return to the slums, but this time, Frank had his scope hovering over Nick's head.

"How much Ichor does this thing need from me?"

Sneaky pulled his phantom slot machine handle one more time.

The reels snapped into place.

7-7-7.

Sparks of celebration burst from the slot machine, celebrating Sneaky's pull.

The beasts took a few steps back.

They had never seen lights like this before.

To them, it felt like some kind of magic Sneaky was using.

Sneaky shouted.

"JACKPOT!"

His fatigue lifted.

His arms and shoulders swelled with immense power.

His legs thickened.

His calves bulged.

He started looking less like a kid and more like a ballplayer built to kill.

The numbers on House Edge and his hoodie changed from 51 to 2.

Sneaky turned his aggressive stare toward the beasts.

"Take your time, Frank."

Frank didn't turn around.

He trusted Sneaky with full, blind faith.

Sneaky took one step forward, and the ground caved in beneath his foot.

One lion beast locked eyes with him as he stepped forward.

It blinked once.

Then Sneaky was already in front of it.

"Grit your teeth."

House Edge came in full force.

The impact smashed across the lion's face as if it was just something standing in Sneaky's way.

Before the lion landed on the ground, Sneaky stepped through the swing and vanished into the next one.

"Lady Luck, don't let me down."

The rifle in Frank's hands started draining his Ichor.

Fast.

"Soren didn't tell me anything about this."

A purple gauge bar climbed across Frank's scope.

With the amount of Ichor it took from him, Frank's vision started to waver.

"C'mon. C'mon. How much longer? Dammit."

The scope swayed toward Exe and the portal growing above the carriage.

"Is this what my kind can do?"

Exe looked at me as he rose to his feet, keeping his balance on the roof while Chris maneuvered the carriage through the slums.

"I need to keep this under control."

I grabbed his hand and looked at him.

"Dad will be proud of you."

Snare jumped from roof to roof, chasing the carriage.

Nick and Noctis finally caught up to us.

"I don't know what the hell that is, but I don't want to find out."

Nick thumped his morning star against Noctis's head.

"Ram them!"

Noctis lowered his head while his legs swelled with power.

He rammed the back of our carriage with his antlers, launching us into the air.

Chris took over as we slammed back into the street.

The sound of our spiked wheels sent chills down the residents' spines.

Chris controlled the reins.

He steered the phantom horses, trying to stabilize the carriage.

He held onto the reins with one hand and rolled down his window with the other.

He pulled out his blood whip and cracked it over the horses.

CRACK!

The horses finally stabilized the carriage as we turned into an intersection.

Snare spat a thread at the edge of the roof, reeling himself in fast.

His mouth opened wide, exposing hooked obsidian fangs.

Nick smiled as Snare closed in on Exe.

"Snare's venom is so potent that it can drop a mammoth."

KRRRRRSH—TISS!

Exe's eyes glowed deep gold.

His hand tightened around the shaft of his Blood Scythe.

He planted his feet on the carriage roof, raised the blade, and pointed it straight at Snare.

He called out to the thing staring back from the portal.

"DESTINY!"

An enormous snake burst through the portal with its mouth wide open.

Its red scales gleamed, and its emerald eyes looked bright enough to shine through the depths of Hell.

A crown sat on its head, declaring its status.

Its rattlesnake tail shook so fast it blurred.

Multiple smaller portals opened around the giant one Destiny came through.

"Destiny! Eat that spider!"

HHHSSSSSS-T-SNAP!

Snare was crushed between Destiny's jaws as she bit down.

A loud crunch echoed from her mouth, and Destiny didn't stop.

She swallowed Snare whole.

Her body slammed down onto the street.

Fences and houses shook from the aftershock.

"Mount me quick, child."

Ren, Tenka, and Fubuki returned to normal.

The portal snapped shut like an old television.

Exe moved across the roof of the carriage, scooping them up one by one before tossing them into his jumper.

"Here I come!"

Exe locked his feet together and dropped into a tight squat.

He launched himself from the carriage onto the crown of Destiny's head.

She bolted to the right, tearing through abandoned houses.

Shrapnel flew into the beast army, thinning their numbers.

"Just a little tidying up!"

Destiny dove underground, sending a shockwave through the street and knocking the beasts off balance.

"This soil of the human world is so soft and easy to dig through!"

She burst from beneath a small platoon of Nick's beast army, her mouth wide open.

The beasts didn't have time to react.

They were all staring at Nick as Destiny's mouth closed.

KRA-THOOMP!

Noctis kept his distance from Destiny as he watched everything unravel.

For a moment, Noctis felt like he was seeing something more dominant than himself.

His legs shook at the sight of Destiny's horrifying display.

Nick thumped the morning star against Noctis's head multiple times.

"DO SOMETHING, NOCTIS! OR GET ME OVER THERE!"

"FINE! I'LL DO IT MYSELF!"

Nick tried to jump from Noctis's head, but Noctis grabbed him by his jumper with his teeth.

"We can't help them!"

Noctis mumbled as he held Nick in place.

"We need to get out of here! That is not something I can take on alone!"

Nick reached toward the beasts inside Destiny's mouth.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

SNAP—GLORP!

The platoon vanished down her throat.

Destiny's eyes glowed bright emerald green.

"What's wrong, child? Were those your friends?"

Her mouth curved into something cruel.

"Don't worry…"

Her voice dropped low enough to shake the street.

"YOU WILL BE JOINING THEM IN MY STOMACH SOON!"

Her tail snapped around a run-down mansion.

"Seems like your army's morale is running right out of their skin, human child."

With one violent swing, she hurled it into the center of the beast army, sending them into panic.

Nick stared at Destiny with anger and tears running down his face.

"You're going to pay for that, Exe."

Each building didn't stand a chance against Destiny's onslaught.

Exe drove his Blood Scythe downward into the center of Destiny's crown.

The scythe in his hand pulsed.

Thin purple veins stretched from the blade and sank into her scales.

SSSKKKT!

Pain shot through Exe's arm first.

"GAAAAAAAAH!"

His knees dipped, then he snapped upright.

His eyes burst with a golden shine.

Exe scanned the army through demonic eyes.

A sinister smile spread across his face.

"KILL THEM ALL, DESTINY!"

SHHH-TOOM!

She burst in from the right, cutting straight into the center with her mouth wide open.

Noctis pushed himself out of her path.

She came through with the force of a haul truck tearing down I-95 with no traffic.

"AHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Exe threw his head back, his gold eyes burning like twin suns.

His laughter echoed across the slums, wild and young, like a fifteen-year-old demon prince standing on top of the world.

Power rolled off him in waves as Destiny tore through everything in front of him.

Chris took a left turn, then came to a complete stop as Destiny drew all attention away from us.

The overrun lost its momentum and ground to a halt.

My mother opened her door and stepped outside, holding Aries in her arms.

"He's having so much fun, isn't he, Luna?"

I sat down with my legs hanging off the roof.

Sweat dripped from my forehead into my lap.

"I don't know how much longer I could've lasted, Mother."

I wiped my forehead with my hand, sweat glistening across my face.

My mother placed Aries on the street.

He did one hop onto the roof.

His heavy feet sent a light thump through the carriage.

His head tilted as he stared at me.

"Luna?"

He used one of his long ears to clear my face.

I giggled as I pushed his ear away.

"Yes, I'm alright, Aries."

My mother watched Exe for a moment.

"That blood of his was passed down by your father, you know?"

She said it proudly while placing her hands together over her chest.

"It's the only reason Hell doesn't tear him apart the second he steps through."

I rolled my eyes as I lay against Aries's belly.

"Yeah, yeah. You told me before."

I mimicked her, waving my hands around the way she always did when she got dramatic.

"It means your brother was never meant to be normal."

My mom giggled as she sat down in the passenger seat with the door open.

Aries stayed on the roof beside me.

Her hands rested on her lap.

Her gaze drifted to me.

One of my legs rested over the roof of the carriage.

"And you…"

"You won't be normal either."

I let out a sigh like I had heard this speech a hundred times before.

"You'll carry something far more important."

I leaned forward and stared at her with a dull expression.

Aries leaned forward, his ears forming a question mark.

My mother smiled at me.

"Do you remember your father's potential candidate before Derrek?"

I thought about it for a moment.

That day, my father sat me down in his office with his right-hand demon standing next to his desk.

My mother didn't even give me a chance to guess.

"His name is Dante, honey."

Heat rushed into my face.

I looked at her as my hands gripped Aries's fluffy chest.

"You mean the handsome one?"

My mom nodded, her gaze lowering.

"Ah, so you had your eyes on the boy?"

I pushed my face into Aries's soft chest.

I buried my face in his fur and fidgeted with my thumbs.

"I mean, he's alright."

Chris opened his door and got out to get some fresh air.

"Excuse my rudeness, my Queen."

He took off his hat and waved it across his face to cool himself down.

"We should keep moving."

We all heard movement from outside the buildings.

Paws moved rocks.

Growls vibrated through the alleys.

Eyes locked onto all of us.

"We'll have to be careful with who stands beside you when that time comes."

A mist of purple ice formed around my mother's right hand.

She stood up from her seat and raised her hand high in the air.

[ DEVIL'S PARADISE ]

A cage made of purple ice formed around us while massive ice shards landed randomly across the street and houses.

Each shard stabbed into the ground with perfect placement.

"There should be plenty."

Cracks spread across the shards as they folded into golem bodies.

"I remember this, Mom. Didn't you do this against the Human Kingdom one time?"

She crossed her arms beneath her chest.

"Back then, they called me the Miasma Ice Queen."

The purple ice golems broke free from the massive ice shards.

In an instant, they charged toward the beasts emerging from the alleys and rooftops.

They met the beasts head-on and intercepted them with ease.

As the ice golems handled the beasts, my mother's eyes shifted toward Exe.

His face was alive with the thrill of battle.

"Do you think he is going to be okay?"

She turned around and entered the carriage.

Chris closed the door behind her gently.

"If he dies here, your father and I will have to answer to Hell itself."

I turned my eyes toward Exe as Destiny wrapped her body around Noctis's massive frame.

"You really are a massive beast."

Noctis charged forward through abandoned houses and buildings across the slums.

Good thing Sneaky and Frank had warned the residents before they moved to higher ground.

Noctis stood in place, then shook violently, trying to throw Destiny off.

"Get off me, snake!"

Destiny's tail rattled loudly, calling for her colony.

CHIK-CHIK-ZZZZ-ZZZZZ!

The endless portals still hanging in the air began spilling out different kinds of snakes.

Too many to count.

Too many names to remember.

Nick held onto Noctis's mane with all his strength.

His face was set with determination, as if he could still overcome what was coming.

"Get off, you monster!"

The chain from his staff extended.

He pulled it back like a fishing rod, then brought it crashing down.

The morning star thumped into Destiny's right eye.

THOOM!

Her grip around Noctis tightened, forcing him to stop.

"What did you just try to do, lad?"

Nick's face went pale as she raised her head.

Noctis tried to move his body to escape, but Destiny's grip was too tight.

"WELL?!"

Nick fell to his knees without saying a word.

Sweat broke across his face.

Cold ran through his hands.

"What are you—"

Destiny opened her jaws wide, exposing her hooked porcelain teeth.

She bit down on Noctis's neck.

GRRRR-INNNT!