A Dishonored Demigod

Final Night: All the World's Evil

The sound of footsteps draws me from my thoughts and I look up to see the victor of the battle between Lancelot and King Arthur,"I see. It appears that in the end he got his wish. I thank you for that, your highness."
Saber glares up at me with such concentrated hate that it makes a small smile creep across my face,"I like that look in your eyes. It's good to express your emotions, and not bottle them up."
A explosion of mana behind me makes my jacket flap in the still air,"It seems that the prize has finally arrived. All that stands between you and it, is me."
With the moon to my back I must look like a devil with my eyes and fangs,"So raise that sword of yours. Fill it with your hate for me. Do your best to kill me!"
I let go of my swords and step away, towards where I put the Grail,"But not here. Come, for a much greater stage awaits our final battle."
I step into the temple not bothering to check if I'm being followed or not as I tread deeper and deeper down the stone paths. I stop at a dead-end and the glowing runes spread over the wall to eat it away. The Grail sits in the middle of a cavern I excavated, at the bottom of a shallow bowl carved into the ground,"This is it. Can you feel it, Saber? The goal is right in front of you, just within your grasp. And you better believe I'll do my damnedest to snatch it away!"
I blink over to the opposite side of the cavern as a dome of uncut diamond covers the cup,"That won't come down unless I'm defeated," and turn about to face Saber,"can you feel the energy? Do you feel the thrill of determination in your veins?"
She simply glares at me and I gently nudge Sakura out of my shadow,"Go stand against the wall, little master. She won't hold back this time."
I slide into my stance and chuckle,"I hope you're ready. Arise from the ashes of humanity! Descend from the corrupted paradise! Wreak havoc: Ángelos tis katastrofís!"
Thrafsma, Empathy, and the other residents of my soul exit my body and take up position on either side of Sakura while the transformation happens. The churning substance that was once locked away in the club-sword now covers my lower body and all of my chest before hardening to form the outline of the muscles present while leaving my arms bare. Wings made of silver surround my body before melding with my arms and hands to provide protection. "Well then," and pass a hand over my face to equip my mask,"lets end this."
White liquid flows through the air before diving into my hands to form the basic shape of a backsword, except the blade is twice as long and otherworldly sharp as it slides through the rocky ground like nothing is there. We stand there for a moment. Me, with my sword planted in the ground like a cane, and her with her revealed weapon glowing in all its radiance. We move on an unspoken word and the ground underneath us cracks from the force generated by our blades locking. Metal grinds against metal as we both strain to gain dominance and she actually holds me at bay.
I raise an eyebrow under my mask,"Such strength. Is it from your rage, or is it from using mana burst?"
Her eyes widen when I start to force her back,"Even so, your boosted strength is only momentary while mine remains constant."
I push her back and quickly place the tip of my blade at the middle of her chest-plate,"Boom."
Some of the armor covering my left shoulder rips away, surges up my arm, and travels down my sword before violently detonating to send her flying back against the wall of the cave,"It's useless, Saber. You have no hope of winning. Give. Up."
She struggles to her feet with Excalibur held in a death grip and I simply stare at her,"So be it."
The loose dirt around me is shoved away from the pressure that suddenly explodes from my being,"If I cannot stop you with words, then force will have to suffice."
Saber struggles against the wind and I slowly walk forward until I loom over her,"Die."
A gash opens on her right arm,"Die."
Another gash appears on her left arm,"Die."
Left leg,"Die."
Right leg,"Die."
Across her stomach, just above her intestines,"Die."
And a stab through her left hand to pin it to the wall to finish it off,"Do you see now? Do you see the difference between us?"
She looks up at me with lifeless green eyes,"One who held onto their values and self until the embrace of death. One who threw away their values and self in order to survive and continue moving forward. A human that was lifted up as something more, by humans. A human that was cast down to become something terrible, by humans."
I pull my sword out and take a step back,"You sought to create a world where the good of humanity will thrive. An impossible world. From their creation humans have caused naught but strife and evil. It is in their nature as a primal desire that will never be quenched. You reject the world's nature, and I drown myself in it."
My arm rises, and my sword along with it,"Sayonara, Saber. Mia sends her regards, and give Chaos mine when you return to him."
Her eyes widen even as my sword slices through her neck and sends her head flying through the air with a look of horrified realization frozen on her face. The headless body stays standing before it slumps to its knees, and falls forward, striking the floor with the muted sound of rock and steel colliding. Her body breaks into blue mana particles that bypasses the barrier I have standing and enters the grail. Golden light illuminates the inside the dome of diamond and spills out when I lower the covering.
The golden chalice slowly rises until it is level with my chest. All is silent until, as if a dam had broken, black sludge roars over the lip of the cup and collects on the floor. Unbidden the residents of my body take Sakura upstairs to where her uncle is while I kneel down and drag a hand through the sludge at my feet,"You're quite something aren't you?"
I let the sludge continue to flow and slowly walk towards the bowl carved into the ground. Upon reaching it I take a look and see only darkness,"Here goes nothing."
Without a second of hesitation I jump into the muck and fully submerge.
****
I open my eyes and see the empty grounds of Camp Half-Blood. Sparring areas are vacant, nobody is canoeing on the lake, and the cabins look recently abandoned. I cautiously trek through my old camp, one hand on my sword at all times, until I reach the amphitheater and stop to take in the view presented to me. Demigod and godly corpses piled on top of one another. The blood of satyrs paints the first few rows of seating. And the heads of the Olympians are stuck onto wooden shafts buried in the ground,"Ah, welcome."
I stiffen and slowly turn my head to see who spoke to me, and when I do I have to do a make sure I'm not seeing things. Zoë is standing slightly behind me, but she's not my Zoë. Red irises and black sclera take the place of her lovely eyes while some of the veins that crawl up the side of her face have a black filling,"Champion of the war, Servant Joker."
"Thanks, I guess. What's up with all this?"
I gesture outwards with my arms and the fake smiles just like my Zoë,"This is where your wish will be granted. We are right at the heart of the grail."
She grabs my hand and gives it a gentle tug,"Come on."
I let her lead me along and exit the amphitheater to a new scene. The cabins are burning. The strawberry fields are burning. Even the grass is burning, but goes out around my foot each time I take a step. I look behind me to see the theatre is a bonfire,"What the hell?"
The fake doesn't acknowledge my question and leads me to the end of the dock. Thick, red blood replaces water as a black hole sits where the sun should be,"Okay lady, enough mystery bull. What the hell is going on here?"
The fake sits down to let her toes trail in the blood while I remain standing with my sword at the ready. She makes me wait a minute before she answers,"This is what you desire, freedom. Freedom from your past, the gods, and ultimately from humanity."
My mouth goes dry,"You're lying. I never wanted to go this far. This would just be painting a target on my back for the other gods I've interacted with."
The fake points a dainty digit across the bloody lake,"Look."
My eyes scan the surface of the red as bloated bodies slowly surface and my breath catches in my throat. The gods of the other pantheons stare upwards with glassy eyes while their bodies are mutilated beyond belief,"None will stand against your wish if you use the grail. You will attain the freedom you so desire."
She slowly gets up and saunters towards me,"So why don't you make your wish?"
Her arms snake up my chest and as i continue to stare into the bloody lake images begin to form. The slaughter of Olympus at my hand. The war that follows with any and all divine beings. Me, sitting on a tower of bodies. My family in Haven betraying me out of fear and disgust. Me butchering them like they're cattle and the rest of Haven out of paranoia. Weeping while holding my Zoë's body and letting the blood from her self inflicted heart stab stain my hands before something snaps.
I witness the destruction of humanity through darkness, fire, and ice. At the end of it all I see myself kill my master and devour Chaos before snapping Eternity's neck. I kill. And kill. And kill until there is no one left to create a bond with. I'm free in the truest sense of the word. Free of emotional bonds, physical bonds, my past, my master, my humanity.
"You're right."
The fake grins,"I thought so. Now all that's left-" and is cut off when I wrap my arm around her,"if that was what I truly wished for."
I start to apply pressure,"What I saw wasn't freedom, but damnation in its purest form."
By now the fake knows what's going on and tries to struggle,"I wish for freedom, and you have the utter gall to pervert that into eternal loneliness."
Bones creak and groan as I apply more force,"And for that you will pay."
The fake glares up at me,"Damn you. Damn you Perseus Jackson! The grail curses you! The world itself curses you! Angra Mainyu curses you!"
She starts to say more but I look down and she freezes. Using the reflections in her eyes I can see that my own are once more emerald green, and glowing like two stars,"Curse me then. Curse me until the final breath leaves your lungs. I already carry an abundance with me, what's a few more?"
I drop my sword and slowly position my other arm on top of the one wrapped around her,"Give me every curse you have, and finally go to your rest Angra Mainyu. Be free of being All the World's Evil."
The black sun shines down on us as I apply the last bit of pressure necessary,"Thank you."
Her last words come as a quite hiss of air before a sickening crack resounds through the area and blood explodes from her mouth like ketchup from a packet. I open my arms and let her broken body drop like a stone to vanish beneath the blood. When I can't see her form anymore I turn and feel my power shift and adjust with the curses of the whole world filling me.
The pain is there, but it seems minimal when compared to my first trip into my own soul and the red water. Without so much as a glance around I turn on my heel, and trudge back the way I came, vanishing from the burning landscape and the final resting place of All the World's Evil.