High above the sprawling chaos of the city, Dr. Orion stood on his balcony, the wind whipping his hair into a frenzy. He watched the distant flashes of energy erupting from the mountain like little localized supernovas. He took a slow sip of tea, his mind is a hive of calculations.
"Why, Jex?" he whispered to the empty air. "Why send Anthrea now?"
Orion knew Jex was the architect of Anthrea's existence, a being carved from pure, sentient chaos. To send her to intervene in the battle between Dante and Black was a move Orion hadn't predicted. It was an interference in the natural flow of the "amusement" Jex so craved. Orion's eyes narrowed. Jex was no longer just a spectator; he was sharpening the blade and that makes him worry.
*********************
Within the swirling vortex of the purple whirlwind, time and space lost their meaning. Black felt weightless, suspended in an effervescent void of violet mist. He looked at the girl who saved him from Dante's claw, who held his hand with a grip that was both delicate and unbreakable.
She looked at him with eyes that seemed to contain the birth and death of galaxies.
"Brother..." she whispered, her voice a melody that vibrated through Black's very marrow. "I have missed you so much. The dark was so long without you."
Black tried to speak, his throat dry. "Brother? Who are you?, what are you?"
"Shh," she interrupted, leaning her forehead against his. "I will protect you this time. I will watch over you until the alignment of the cosmos. You aren't ready to remember, but I am ready to stay."
Before he could demand an answer, the purple mist intensified, blinding him. He felt a surge of warmth wash over his battered frame. The deep bruises from Dante's fists, the internal bleeding, and the fractures in his bones, all vanished. He felt a purity of strength and power surfing through him.
The whirlwind deposited Black gently at the rocky base of the mountain. Anthrea began to fade, her form turning into ethereal starlight.
"Wait!!" Black shouted, reaching out, but she was gone, leaving only the trails and scent of lilies.
"Touching, isn't it?"
Black spun around, his spear leveled. Jex was sitting on a jagged boulder, casually tossing a small stone into the air and catching it. He looked as bored as ever, but there was a predatory glint in his eyes.
"Jex," Black grounded out. "What is going on? That girl saved me. She... she called me brother. What does she mean?"
Jex shrugged, a nonchalant flick of his wrists. "Oh, that? She remembers. She's always been better at the sentimental stuff than I am. Don't worry about it, kid. Worry about the fact that you're about to go up that mountain and get yourself slaughtered."
Black's grip tightened on his spear. "Tell me the truth. How do I know her? How do I know you?!!!"
"You ask too many questions for someone who can't even land a hit on a bored deity," Jex taunted, standing up. He beckoned with a finger. "Hit me, Black. If you can even scratch my shadow, maybe I'll give you a hint. But right now? You're just a well-dressed corpse."
Infuriated by Jex's casual dismissal, Black launched himself forward. He moved with a space-warp dash, his spear a streak of silver light. Jex didn't even move his feet; he simply swayed, the spear-tip missing his ear by a hair's breadth.
"Too slow," Jex yawned. "You think you're a hero? You're a scavenger of scraps, scraps of metal, scraps of a past you're too weak to claim."
"Shut up!" Black roared, pivoting and delivering a flurry of strikes. Each one was more powerful than the last, but Jex moved like water, treating the attacks as if they were a child's tantrum.
"You're weaker than the syndicate you despise," Jex continued, his voice dripping with venomous mockery. "You're smart enough to know the world is broken, but too stupid to realize you're the one holding the hammer. You want answers? You aren't even smart enough to solve the riddle of your own heart!!"
"ARGH!" Black screamed, a guttural sound of pure, unadulterated frustration.
Suddenly, the air around Black began to thicken. Swirling tendrils of dark, oily smoke began to leak from his pores, exactly like the aura Hind had manifested during her awakening. The smoke didn't just hover; it coiled around him like a living armor.
Jex stopped moving. A faint, genuine smile touched his lips. "That's it," he whispered.
"You... you're doing this on purpose," Black panted, his eyes glowing with a dark, secondary light.
"This is the first answer to your question, Black: RAGE," Jex stated, his voice suddenly commanding. "It isn't just a feeling. It's a primordial fuel. With your strength, and that deity girl's blessing, you can destroy the demon in the cave. But only if you stop fighting the smoke and start becoming it."
Black looked at his hands, seeing the black clouds spiraling around his fingers. He realized Jex's taunts were a tatical strike on his psyche, pushing him to the brink where his internal power had no choice but to manifest.
"How do I use this?" Black asked, his voice calm, the rage now a cold, focused engine within him.
"Close your eyes," Jex instructed. "Don't see with your eyes; see with your soul. Feel the weight of your anger. It isn't a fire that burns you; it's a weight you can cast. Coat your body with it. Imagine the smoke becoming a second skin, harder than diamond."
Black took a deep breath. He felt the spiraling dark clouds respond to his will. Slowly, the smoke condensed, clinging to his body and skin like a sleek, obsidian armor.
"Now, the spear," Jex said. "Infuse it. Don't just put the rage on the spear; put the rage through it. Let it bloom outside the tip."
Black channeled the cold fury down his arms. The Arcanatech spear hummed, the black metal turning a bruised, midnight black and purple. A jagged edge of black energy erupted from the blade, extending its reach by several feet. It felt like an extension of his own vengeful spirit.
Black opened his eyes. He looked like a harbinger of doom.
"Perfect," Jex said, standing aside. "If you survive what's in that cave and save your friends, I'll tell you the truth. I'll tell you exactly how you and Anthrea are related."
Black didn't wait. He turned and leapt, his space-warp ability now amplified by the Rage, a black streak ascending the mountain.
**********************
Back at the ruined cathedral, Dante sat on a fallen pillar, his chest heaving. The wound from Anthrea was still glowing with a faint, mocking light.
Suddenly, a blue light flickered in the dust. A holographic projection materialized, the cold, masked visage of King.
"You look... inefficient, Dante," King's voice was distorted by the transmission. "I wanted to see you. To see if the 'god of the Syndicate' could actually bleed. It seems my data was correct."
Dante looked up, his eyes burning with hatred. "I will have her head, King. And the boy's."
"Perhaps," King replied dismissively. "But for now, you are a liability. I have sent your detail."
Two armored Syndicate hover-cars descended from the smog, their sirens silent. Evangelists rushed out, flanking Dante and helping him into the luxurious, medical-grade interior of the lead car.
"The mountain is moving, Dante," King said before the hologram faded. "The sacrifice has begun."
*****
Somewhere in the shadows of the Primus residence, the air was heavy with the scent of ancient dust and iron. Primus sat in the dark, staring at a stone bowl filled with black water.
"He's going to die," Primus said, his voice devoid of emotion. "Lálú is going to die tonight."
A voice replied from a corner where the shadows seemed to have physical weight, a voice that sounded like two stones grinding together.
"I am not dying," the shadow hissed, the eyes of the shadow glowing a sickly, frightening gold. "My vessel is."
Black is coming with the power of Rage! Lálú is waiting in the cave!.....