Invictus created a shield around him. It wasn’t very strong, as he was not the weakest person there, but Invictus wouldn’t let Ace down. He was his blanket, and he was there to always protect him.

“You need to ask for help more often. Unas and I are tired of you never asking,” Invictus whispered.

“I…I’m afraid to ask for help,” Ace said. “I don’t want to end up like dad….”

You won’t. You can use me as long as you aim towards revenge.

The monster bashed up against the shield, and it started to crack. Ace was terrified, as he didn’t want to use Unas or Invictus, but he didn’t want to die either.

Suddenly all the cracks in his shield filled up with a purple hue. Fenton led the charge toward the monsters. He was serious, about never letting him die again, and the others came to his aid, a comrade in need.

“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone about her,” Invictus asked.

“Now is not the time,” Ace screamed.

Fenton stuck out his hand, and a car pushed through the bodies. He ran behind it, straight towards Ace, plowing through the disease, getting scratched by the skin beasts.

He tumbled right into Invictus’ shield and rolled right next to him.

“Ace,” Fenton shouted. “Don’t be so reckless!”

“You can’t say that after what you just-”

Deceit flew right into his shield, smacking her sword against it, creating bigger and bigger cracks. The havoc only increased by the smaller fires being created in the background. Helicopters crashed to the ground, swiped down by Deceit’s bigger children.

Fenton coughed, and his nose started to bleed. Blood dripped out of his ears, and he knew that he couldn’t go on. He cried and lay on the wet pavement, and didn’t want to die.

Ace looked down at him and smiled.

“You’re weaker than me now,” Ace said with glee.

“ What?”

Ace knew that if he used Invictus, there was no chance he could turn into a monster. He smiled as a warm glow spread across his body, and Fenton saw it again. His favorite color. To everyone else, the color was pure white, but to him, Invictus’ aura was black.

It was the combination of colors that flew off the cars and broken windows, the flaming wreckage, and limbs. Deceit continued to smack at the shield, wanting to stop him before he transformed, but there was no stopping it once he had begun.

He grew and grew, more powerful than ever before. Ace had learned that he could never be strong on his own. That he could have won so long ago if he just asked for help.

Ace wanted to prove that he alone could fight his battles, but standing in the dark void, all the light inside of him, he never wanted to fight alone ever again. Invictus stepped out of the light and Deceit roared, refusing to die.

“You can’t do this, Acheus! You can’t leave me!”

He could.

Holding the Sword of Vengeance, Invictus was stronger than ever. He and his brother would kill the one that had hurt their family, and they would show no mercy.

“I would be okay with killing someone on purpose for once,” Invictus whispered.

I’m so glad to hear that! You’ll love it once you try it!

Invictus strengthened his shield and left it around Fenton, who lay down in agony as he flew off into the sky. His friend was always so close, yet so far, and Fenton worried if he would ever catch up with him.

Invictus burst into the air, light streaming from his feet, and his cape stretched out. It wrapped around Deceit, and she burst through it, her bones stronger than steel. A large grotesque hand burst out of the ground and grabbed Invictus from below.

It was poorly made from various fingers, and they spilled out on the ground, but the job was done. He was caught off guard, and from behind Trick and Twist leaped into the air.

Their spines elongated and pushed out, snaking up into the sky. They bit down onto Invictus’ cape and withdrew their black bones into their bodies. Loud clitters and clatters could be heard and Invictus’ cape stretched out.

They fell back down to the ground, still clamped down onto his cape. Trick and Twist were left wide open, and they were cut down by Harmonia. She extended her wand, and as she swung it out, it shone and glittered in the heat.

It changed shape into a sword, and cut through their sinful bones. The black blood screamed out as it touched her holy weapon, and it sizzled as it fell off. Trick and Twist fell to the ground, and Invictus shot up in the air, trailing Deceit.

She weaved through the massacre, killing whoever got close, wanting to take out as many as she could, dragging them all down with her. A horrid smile crept upon her as she found Levi in the crowd with her All-Seeing Eye.

Levi could sense Invictus and Unas fast approaching and turned away from John. His eyes went wide when the demon flew towards him, sword out, and sharp bones flying out from it.

A large pillar of asphalt burst out of the ground, and the bones sticking out of it, were rendered useless by Mary Jane. She ran through the crowd, never straying far from Levi, and found the woman that forced her to stand inside a man so he could explode and she would live.

Mary Jane grabbed onto her wing and smacked her down. Deceit laughed, hollow and loud, feeling not a thing. “You think that hurts, you-”

Back and forth Mary Jane smacked her around, doing her Yo-Yo tricks. The First was The Sleeper. Mary Jane jumped up into the air, and smacked Deceit right down, leaving a crater as she hit on impact, and her body bounced right back up.

Mary Jane then caught her by the leg and threw her back down. Her body bounced up and down like a yo-yo, and Mary Jane had plenty of tricks. Next was Walk The Dog.

Mary Jane threw her vertically, but before Deceit could fly off, asphalt pushed out of the ground and sent her right back to her. Last was her favorite trick of all, Around The World.

Mary Jane was disappointed she didn’t have an actual string to use, as her trick would only be half-baked. Deceit flew upwards as she shot back to Mary Jane, but she expected that.

Mary Jane stood still as a statue as the asphalt shot her up like a cannon with a sudden force. The battle far below them, and Invictus soaring above, Mary Jane tuned out all the noise around her, as she caught her prey. Her pillar shot down to the ground, and she started to descend.

Mouth open, the wind pushing her hair out of her face, she was truly invincible.

“Don’t fuck with me-”

Mary Jane swung hard, and Deceit fell down in a curve. The asphalt on the ground pushed her right back up, and she came around 180 degrees. Invictus raised his sword and smiled.

“You killed my father,” he and Ace said together.

For the first and possibly the only time in his short life, Invictus took great pleasure in killing someone else. He told himself it was okay because she wasn’t really a person.

Only a monster could have abused his brother the way she did.

Every monster screamed in agony as Deceit was sliced through her midsection, her legs flopping to the ground.

Mary Jane was a bulldog, never letting anyone get close to Levi. She grabbed the lower half of Deceit as it skidded across the ground, through the legs of soldiers and monsters alike.

She caught it, as its bloody stump started to rise in the air towards its other half. Mary Jane held onto it, and it flew up to Deceit, who flapped her wings, crying for her father as Invictus chased her from behind.

One of Deceit’s larger children tried to swipe Invictus out of the sky, but another, larger hand stopped it. The great J-OH was not one to be trifled with. He tried to grab Deceit, but she was much faster now, with half her body gone.

Her lower half flew faster and faster, almost within reach, and Mary Jane screamed, refusing to let go as the blood splashed back into her face, getting into her mouth and burning her eyes.

Santos flew up and pushed Mary Jane off. She screamed, and Santos opened his mouth. Deceit’s lower half exploded in mid-flight, and Santos nose-dived. Deceit followed him, with Invictus trailing behind.

Santos grabbed onto Mary Jane, who was furious and wet, slathered in thick slime. She screamed, angry that her kill had been stolen. He swerved through the soldiers and curved right back up into the sky.

Deceit was foolish enough to follow him, and Santos hoped that Invictus would understand what he was about to do.

He did.

Invictus stopped following her but instead flew in the opposite direction, towards Santos, head first. Mary Jane screamed and clung onto Santos as he flew right past Invictus, and Deceit ran right into the trap.

Invictus lit up.

It was not Ace’s anger, but his, Unas’, and Infiniti’s. Tyreceus was Invictus’ father as well, and she had stolen him from their lives too soon. Invictus was now a vengeful god like his brother, and his wrath was inescapable.

Her body burned away, and suddenly, Deceit’s body slowed down. Infiniti wanted to make it last, as she had killed his favorite mortal. He slowed down time, soaking in her defeat. They all enjoyed her screams of agony, watching her face contort in pain, as the last thing she would ever see, was fire and brimstone.

Right before the flames reached her head, her true form was revealed.

Never human, always a monster, she uttered her last words.

“I’ll be back.”

She exploded in white-hot flames, and along with her, all her children died.

Screams of victory turned into terror as they all exploded. Bursting, flaming, chunks rained down from the sky, and her giant beasts fell, right into the ring of fire that Ace made so long ago.

Invictus landed next to Fenton, who watched as black gunk exploded against the shield Invictus had left. Fire rained down upon them, and Fenton stared up at the sky in awe. The sun was setting, with flames in the foreground creating a beautiful and disturbing glow up above. After several minutes of this, clouds moved in quickly again, darkening the sky. 

Next, large drops fell from the sky, extinguishing the flames of despair and fury.

Levi stood next to Tair and Trom and marveled at how they had caused it to rain. Delilah had taken his earrings during Invictus’ transformation and took the chance to change without anyone noticing.

Tair and Trom opened their mouths, whispering a strange language, and started to groan.

“Your mother wants to come back,” Tair shouted. “Tell her no!”

“Please,” Trom begged. “Let me-”

Their bodies smacked back together as the rain washed away the flames and sin down into the gutters. No one noticed the grotesque transformation, as plenty of dead bodies and horrors already walked among them.

Once Tair and Trom had turned into one body, Levi dragged the corpse into an alley, and picked a sharp piece of glass from the ground. With fire and flesh raining down above, he cut out his mother, and she gasped, pushing out from the dead gods, naked and bloody.

“Oh god.”

John had followed Levi when he noticed something strange. That the monsters were there, and Levi was standing right next to them. John knew he had been tricked. That Levi’s ability was not turning into those things, and that something more was going on.

Levi took off his shirt and handed it to his mother, so she could cover her nakedness and approached John. John was too shocked to say anything, and Levi took the chance to make sure he would never say a word.

“If you tell anyone, they’ll never believe you,” Levi said.

“We can’t be friends anymore,” John screamed.

“If you leave me, I’ll kill you,” Levi replied.

He wouldn’t, yet the idea was very appealing at that moment. He already knew how John looked at Mary Jane, and even though he didn’t love her, he still liked her. He wasn’t willing to share.

“You can’t do this,” John whispered.

“I can do whatever I want, whenever I want,” Levi screamed.

Spit came out of his mouth, and he turned red, shaking and furious, that John thought for a split second, that he could tell him what to do.

Levi quickly composed himself and smiled.

“I’ll call you once this is all over, okay? I need to take care of my mom.”

He walked off like nothing had happened like he didn’t just threaten to kill his friend. John was now like Ace. He had learned a horrible truth, and he could never go back.

Nothing would ever be the same.