Die A Fucking Legend: Neon Raven

Epilogue: Hel's Edge Legend

Two years later...

Scorching heat batters against the cracked, dry earth. The air ebbs with a mirage-like glow. A miniscule lizard retreats into the shade of a rock. A rhythmic, thundering beat whizzes past, leaving behind a railroad of flames. A category four pseudo-demon in the shape of a train rolls across the desert plains.

Another set of wheels zooms past. A white motorcycle chasing after the train. Wind whips past the rider, throwing the hood off of May's head. His amulet jingles in the wind, refracting the light of the sun above. He takes out Nero with a smile on his face.

Talon surges forth on her wings, landing on one of the carriages. The rest of May's flock flies alongside him in their raven forms. "Aim for the wheels." Blade says. "Yeah, got it!"

May approaches the side of the train, when the doors swing open. Inside is a mess of guts, organs and veins embedded within pulsing muscle. Demons resembling a cross between a wolf and a crocodile flood into the compartment, hissing at May. The muscles of the carriage contract, exposing a gun battery entwined in tendons. "Shit!" May shouts.

As it begins firing, May lifts the bike up on one wheel and falls back. The gunfire just misses him. "That was close!" May laughs, motoring back to the carriage. The demon swarm spill out of the compartment, writhing across the side of the train and hissing at May. Some of them leap at him. As they do, Blade materializes onto the front of the bike. He stabs the first demon through the skull, staining his sword in brain matter. He quickly discards the corpse and knocks another away with his shield.

Momentum soars in and transforms in the compartment. Immediately, he gets swarmed by the demons thrashing at him. But their bites do next to nothing against him. One by one, he swings his arms, turning the demons into red and pink paste. Once the coast is clear, Flicker joins him. He throws red dust at the gun battery, blowing it to bits.

At the front of the train, Talon barges her way into the drivers cab, where she finds a grotesque furnace with a massive eye grown into it. More of the demons swarm into the cab, only to get ripped to shreds by Talon's speed and claws. After disposing of the small fry, she turns to the eye and delivers a vicious kick to it. It pops with a satisfying, squelching sound. The entire train shudders and screams.

Back with May, he notices the train lose significant speed. That, coupled with the destruction of the gun battery has given May the opportunity he's been looking for. He veers towards the train and lodges Nero directly into the wheels. The sword bursts with the force of thousands of pistons expanding. The attack ruptures through the entire carriage and rips out the wheels beneath it. The train demon is launched into the air and falls onto its side.

The force nearly launches May off of Julie's bike, but he manages to maintain control by veering away from the train. With it finally stopped, May turns the bike at the demon and stops. He gets off, retrieving Typhon from his holster. More of the demon swarm attempts to scramble to the train's defense, but the chaos of the train tipping over prevents their ability to organize and regroup.

May aims Typhon at the soft, heart-like underbelly of the train. The massive organ pulses. May can feel each beat, even from as far back as he is. He braces himself and pulls the trigger. The blast pushes May back a few inches, kicking up the dust around him. The gunshot roars through the train, punching a hole through its heart. It screams a death rattle, before succumbing to the lethal wound. Typhon's receiver slides back into place, shifting the gun in May's hand with its sheer weight. Even with the death of the train, the other demons have not yet finished pouring out.

May's flock regroups at his position. "Don't worry, I got this. Need some exercise anyways." He says, putting a hand out to say 'stand down'. He takes out Nero once more. With the pressure in the pistons gone, it feels like a feather.

The creatures rush at May with that bone-chilling shrill. The first leaps at him. May steps to the side, splitting it in two. He dodges the next attack with a simple backstep, before countering by jamming the sword in its skull and dragging it along the length of its body, slicing it in half.

More creatures charge at May, encircling him from all sides. But May doesn't worry. As the creatures slice and leap at May, he easily avoids every strike with his acrobatics, ducking and jumping over the creatures. In this dance, May weaves in sword strikes, picking them off until none remain.

He pants, looking around for more enemies. Satisfied, he wipes the sweat from his brow. "Damn, this sun is killing me."

"Hey!" Talon calls out to May, tossing him a demon core.

May catches it. "Ooh, shiny. Thanks. You guys can have your meal now." He says. As the others go to rip the remains of the demon apart, he turns away and takes out his phone. "Hey Barbs? I'm done with the contract."

"Excellent, cuz another one just came in. We could really use your help with this one."

"What? I haven't even had my morning pizza yet! Did you hound Dante this much too?"

"This comes with the responsibility of being a legend Neon Raven."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to remind me of my title. What dumbass came up with it anyways?"

"Hey! I did! I thought it was pretty good!"

"Oh... sorry."

"Apologize to me by dealing with this contract... immediately."

"Yes ma'am." He turns off the phone.

In the distance, May can see a red shimmer fast approaching him. "Is that?" He says to himself, as the red light lands in front of him. It's Talon, holding a box.

"You wanted pizza?"

"Right, I keep forgetting how fast you are with those rocket wings. Thanks a bunch." He takes the box and reads the label. Antonio's pizza. He opens the box. The smell from within is so divine, it brings a tear to his eye.