The Red Hand

While the slaughter of the Demon Army continued in the background, Penelope and Halifax found themselves locked in battle, the world around them seeming non-existent as they clashed across the battlefield at incredible speed.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Each hit caused the earth to shake, crack and buckle under the pressure. This was a battle between a Demi-God and a being that was likely even above such an existence. Those who could see their duel were awestruck by the sight, though most were a bit too busy trying to avoid death to witness it.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

"Oh? Did you get sick of the ass beating I was giving you and decide to go back to ranged attacks, are we?" Halifax smirked as she wiped a bit of dirt from her face. She'd just avoided a large barrage of explosive arrows that payback for having given Penelope a broken nose with a sucker punch to the face. "Too bad. I was enjoying our little close-up fight. You should come back down here so I can knock that crooked nose of yours back into place." She'd been using Astéri in an attempt to overpower the Demi-God, but Penelope's quick thinking and use of Arcus' versatile abilities made that anything but a perfect plan.

{I suppose I could make a joke about the child of a God bleeding like all other mortals, but I'll hold my tongue.} (Halifax)

"No, I think I've humored you enough." Penelope said as she snapped her nose back into place and healed it with magic. “I think that's a enough of a warm up. I'll be getting serious from here on out so prepare yourself accordingly.” She said as blue flame began to erupt from Arcus' bow.

"Oh so that whole thing before was just you goofing around?” Arcus asked, mockingly. “Because to my eyes it looked more like you got sick of having your ass kicked!" Arcus snickered.

"You're lucky I that need you." Penelope growled as she pulled back his bow, forming a dozen flaming blue arrows around her as she floated high in the air. “And also, you don't have eyes.”

"Hey, be grateful that you got such a great partner!" Arcus said as the arrows screamed toward Halifax, who dodged and deflected each one, blasts going off around her that shattered the ground and kicked up blue flames that burst high into the air. “Isn't it great to have me around?”

{…} (Penelope)

"While you too keep bickering like married couple I'mgrowing tired of these games." Halifax said from the ground, unharmed and glaring at the two of them. "You should know better than to continue this farce." She clicked her tongue in irritation.

{Penelope is fully aware of what I can do. I trained this idiot well enough to understand that such noncommittal attacks won't work on me! So what the hell is she doing?!? Is she even trying to win?} (Halifax)

"You've known me long enough to understand that petty tricks like shooting those arrows at me won't work, and it's not like you need to keep me busy while your allies do something else." Halifax had started to think that she was just trying to buy time for the Demon Army to win, which the Divine Sword was not possible.

"How do you know?" Penelope asked as she drew back another arrow and summoned dozens more around her. "Maybe I have a special team prepping to take down that Demon Lord you love so much? How can you be so sure that my victory isn't already secure?"

{Because it wouldn't matter if you did have some magical team. Akagi will play with them like toys...} (Halifax)

"Well for one, you're not smart enough to think of something like that." Halifax decided to taunt her instead of giving the real answer.

"She really does have you there, Pen." Arcus laughed. "I mean, you did struggle with that magical door that one-"

"SILENCE!" Penelope screamed as she tightened her grip on him, her aura white and blue briefly flaring out from her body. "Listen, right now I don't need your comments, quips, or usual nonsense, Arcus! I just need you to be a weapon! One that SHUTS UP AND DOES WHAT I TELL IT TO LIKE THE GOOD LITTLE TOOL YOU ARE! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!?" The Demi-God snapped as she unleashed a larger barrage of blue arrows toward Halifax, who had a look of complete disgust on her face.

{Well, both of them are now pissed... Not good...} (Arcus)

"Tool?"Halifax's words were almost silent as her face grew dark. "You... Is that really all we are to you? A tool to be used and discarded?" Her words were laced with utter contempt. “Are we not people?”

{Is this  really what you've come to think of us despite how hard I tried to show you that such a mentality was wrong?!?} (Halifax)

“Of course not!” Penelope yelled as the arrows got within a few yards of Halifax. “All of you are just tools for us to use to save the world! You've always been nothing more than-”

*BANG* *CRACK* *RUMBLE*

“Look out!” Arcus cried out as he used his power to move Penelope back a bit as a deafening roar of thunder cracked and a flash of lightning temporarily blinded Penelope as it flew by her. “Pay attention Pen! You nearly got fried by that!”

“Shut up!” Penelope yelled at him as the smell of ozone assaulted her nostrils. “I was perfectly fine!”

{How is nearly getting zapped fine?!?} (Arcus)

“Stop yelling at me and pay attention, Pen! Concentrate on the battle and don't let yourself get carried away!” Arcus said as he note that her arrows were destroyed and Halifax was completely unharmed.

*ZAP*

"If you really think of us as nothing more than obedient tools...” Halifax's voice boomed as blue electricity arched around around her body, indicating that she'd swapped forms. “Then let me show you what this tool can do. KATAIGIDA!" With one word she flashed toward the airborne Penelope, catching the Demi-God off-guard as she appeared directly in front of her, the Divine Blade's eyes filled with not just anger but contempt. “Flash Bolt!”

"Crap!" Penelope tried to evade Halifax's quick slash but was a moment too slow, only barely managing to get Arcus in the way to block, and being thrown to the ground at high speed, creating a large crater on impact.

*BOOM*

"Well you went and pissed her off." Arcus quipped as Penelope quickly got to her feet, injured but not badly. “Want to go saying more things to rile her up? Maybe call her a-”

"I thought I told you to can it!" Penelope growled, cutting him off, but before she could argue with him anymore, she sensed Halifax's incoming attack and moved out of the way just in the nick of time, avoiding Halifax's blade that was aimed straight at her heart and allowing the Divine Blade to slam it into the ground.

*CRASH*

"It's really not a good idea to say things that are going to upset her like this, Pen." Arcus sighed as Halifax slowly pulled her blade out of the ground and turned, glaring at Penelope and showing her such fearsome eyes that she for a moment thought that it was someone else standing before her.

“Be. Quiet.” Penelope said threw clenched teeth.

"Ya know, I don't even know why I was having second thoughts about this whole thing." Halifax said as she moved toward the Demi-God in a flash. Her attack was so quick that Penelope barely managing to morph Arcus into bladed gauntlets to block her attacks, though each hit stung as the vibrations and power surged through her body like shocks of lightning. "I guess I let our past relationship cloud my judgment... But no more."

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

"After all, you're just like all the rest of your kind, and you're no different than those disgusting Gods!" Halifax roared as she slammed her blade into Penelope, which was barely caught and blocked. "You think of me, of us as being disposable tools! We're nothing more than items created to do your bidding!" She said as she put more power into her blade, cracking and buckling the ground beneath them as she pushed the Demi-God back. "You don't even see us as people! We're just things to you assholes! Tools to use, abuse and then discard!" She screamed as she allowed her blade to slip, dragging Penelope off to the side and using that chance to punch her square in the gut, knocking the wind out of the Demi-God.

"Ack!" Penelope gagged as she was hit with an extraordinary amount of force. Halifax hadn't held back at all, and she could tell that she'd been damaged severely from that one blow. “You... You trai-” She attempted to make a snarky comment but was cut off from doing so by Halifax's fist planting itself into her face, rebreaking her nose and sending her flying backwards some distance.

{Penelope!} (Arcus)

"We never mattered to you!" Halifax said as she flicked her blade, sending a streak of lightning toward Penelope that she countered with an arrow from Arcus, creating a large blue and white explosion followed by a burst of thunder. "You never cared for us. You never felt anything for us..." She said as angry tears flowed down her cheeks. Her rage had boiled over, reaching a tipping point. Halifax's trauma had been opened up wide as a result of the Demi-God's comments, and she was moments from losing herself in anger, rage and hatred. "And... And I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done!" She roared as electrical energy exploded around her body. The power being so great that it sent lighting streaking across the battlefield and digging trenches into the ground where ever it touched.

"So, this is probably the most obvious thing I've ever said to you. But you really opened up a can of worms here, Pen." Arcus sighed as the Demi-God struggled to get to her feet, wobbling from the two heavy blows that she'd suffered. “It might be a good idea to maybe walk those comments back a bit...”

{Though there's always a good chance that Halifax isn't going to calm down just because you say sorry...} (Arcus)

"I..." Penelope wiped her bloody mouth before spitting out a tooth as well as some additional blood. "I see no reason to retract my prior statements. After all, my words were the truth, Halifax." She smirked, something that angered Halifax even more and caused the Divine Blade's power to begin reacting violently.

{Welp, that's going to make things worse...} (Arcus)

"You, Arcus, Dermi, and all the rest..." Penelope took a deep breath, held one hand into the air, and formed hundreds of blue magic circles above her. "You're all just weapons! Tools for protecting this world and serving the Gods!" She flicked her hand forward, sending an unrelenting stream of magical arrows toward Halifax. "And a weapon that no longer serves its purpose must be disposed of." Penelope said as she coughed up blood as she channeled healing magic through her body.

“You truly are disgusting, Penelope.” Halifax cackled slightly as the blades flew toward her. “But then again, that seems to be the norm amoungst the Gods' children.” She said before getting into a slight crouched position, keeping her blade parallel to the ground before activating her precognition. Halifax figured out pretty quickly that while she couldn't use it against Penelope directly the protection that she'd brought did nothing to make her ranged attacks immune to the Divine Blade's future sight.

{A tight pattern, but there's still plenty of room to move.} (Halifax)

Moving quickly Halifax began to dance, twist, turn and dodge her way through the seemingly never ending assault of blue arrows. The ability to see the paths that each one would take meant that she wouldn't be hit by any of them as she methodically moved towards the Demi-God. However, Penelope was no fool and was fully aware that this kind of attack wasn't going to work well against Halifax's ability.

“Lets add a second layer to this little cage.” Penelope said as she thrust her other hand forward, creating an equal number of magic circles on either side of the primary attack vector. “How about we see just how many things you can predict at once? I'd wager there's some kind of upper limit.” She snapped her fingers creating streams of more blue arrows from either side, adding more chaos to the mix and seemingly halting Halifax's forward push and making her remain in place as she dodged and deflected hundreds of attacks.

{Let's not go forgetting that you can't do this forever, Pen. I have no clue if Halifax's precognition has an upper limit, but if it does there's no guarantee you'll hit it before our magic reserves run out.} (Arcus)

“Don't worry, I've got her right where I want her.” Penelope said as she used magic to open the pouch on her waist and pull out a white, glowing, crystal that seemed to ooze with Divine Power and place it into her right hand.

“W-Wait... Y-You're going to use a banishment crystal against her?!?” Arcus said with abject horror in his voice. “Are you nuts?!? Well, you kinda are but I love that about you, but this. THIS has to be up there with the craziest idea you've ever had, Pen!”

{Banishment crystal's are basically raw divine power you fool! If you unleash that thing here, its going to (A) completely EVAPORATE Halifax from existence, (B) Probably trigger a event, that while much smaller and less kaboomy, is still similar enough to ones caused when the Gods try and open a portal and (C) KILL EVERYONE AROUND HERE BUT US!} (Arcus)

“I was going to use it against that Demon Lord, and you had no complaints about that plan, so why care about this.” Penelope said as she formed Arcus into a bow, created a tipless arrow and floated the crystal to it.

“I don't think you being angry with Halifax and having abandonment issues is comparable to killing a DEMON LORD!” Arcus yelled. “If you kill Halifax, you're going to regret it! Not to mention that she's probably going to be needed to take down this Demon Lord! A banishment crystal will only delay not end one of them!”

{Think about it! If you set one of those off and DON'T use it against a Demon Lord its going to be REALLY hard to justify that to the Gods! Forget Lady Reflia, Lord GALE is going to come down on you hard!} (Arcus)

“That's enough out of you.” Penelope shushed him as she took aim and drew back the bow. “I decide when to use the items that Lord Hilare gave me, and I'm choosing to use one of them to wipe out a traitor.”

“I... You really won't listen to me...” Arcus said, defeated. “Fine... But just...” His voice trailed off.

{I'm sorry Halifax, I tried... I tried to talk her out of all of this... I just hope your end won't be painful... I have no idea what the hell happens to one of us when we die, but perhaps you'll find peace in the next life if we get those kinds of things...} (Arcus)

“Have you been having fun bickering between yourselves?” Halifax laughed as she continued to dodge and deflected the torrent of arrows. “I see you've brought out a neat toy there. Did Hilare decide to open up his workshop and give you some? That's awfully nice of him!” She pretended to be relaxed but internally she was worried that a banishment crystal would actually be enough to kill her.

{I've survived some crazy stuff, but that... Those things can damage the Arch Dukes... I really don't want to take that head on... But I may have no choice... I guess I'll have to use the forbidden form...} (Halifax)

"Halifax, you've turned against the people of this world, sided with a Demon Lord, and brought ruin upon us." Penelope said as she took aim at the Divine Blade. "You're a disgrace to your creator, the Gods, and all those who've wielded you!" She said as divine flame flowed from the crystal and engulfed the arrow. "And now, I will bring you to justice. You shall burn in the Gods' judgment!" She let the arrow fly toward Halifax, streaking between the hundreds of blue arrows as it traced its way straight to her.

{This is it!} (Halifax)

"Goodbye, formerly Divine Blade. May you repent for your sins in the Pits of Hell, Divine Arrow of Purification!” Penelope yelled her attack name as the arrow came within yards of Halifax. However, rather than show fear, anxiety or worry Halifax's face seemed to lighten as the arrow approached. It was as if she had completely confidence in herself. That or she'd simply given up all hope and gone mad as she saw her impending death. “Its over.”

{Halifax...} (Arcus)

Arcus couldn't bear to watch his sister's death, but was unable to look away. However, just at the arrow was about to impact Halifax and bring and end to the Divine Blade's journey, she uttered one single word. A word that seemed to chill the very air, and bring about a sense of dread that only two others present on the battlefield could understand the meaning of.

“Enūma”