Gods of Men: Chapter 7

Gods of Men
Chapter 7

Outside, Scion and Ryannus face off while Jessie and Purcell fight. Scion leads off with a right hand. He swings it but Ryannus blocks, both of them then exchange strikes while blocking and avoiding the other’s. At one point in the fight Scion goes for a kick but Ryannus flips over it. He then comes right back at Scion throwing punches and kicks. Ryannus now goes for a kick but Scion jumps out of the way Scion pushes off a tree while in the air, he flies over Ryannus and fires a few blasts at him while he’s overhead, Ryannus is able to back flip out of the way. Once Scion lands on the ground Ryannus charges at him, Scion, anticipating Ryannus’s move, dematerializes and then appears right in front of him as he’s running. He catches him in mid-sprint with a right punch. Ryannus, now a little angry comes right back at Scion with some strikes that Scion blocks and then palm strikes Ryannus in the chest, sending him backwards. Some feet away, Purcell is throwing lightning fast punches at Jessie who is desperately trying to block them all.

Purcell-
Not used to combat of this magnitude, huh?!

Purcell then shoulder blocks Jessie in the mid-section knocking her back. Purcell dematerializes and appears behind her and shoulder blocks her in the back, knocking her to the ground. Purcell walks over her and kicks her in the ribs. The force takes her back up to her feet. Jessie realizes that she needs to fight back, she swings a backhand at Purcell who moves out the way, then throws a punch that misses.

Purcell-
Almost.

Jessie throws a left at Purcell who catches it.

Purcell-
Come on, this is child’s play!

Purcell slaps Jessie across the face, grabs her hair and pulls her back towards him to connect with a punch to her face, Purcell then repeats this, and then throws her by the hair to the ground. Close by, Ryannus sees this fight going on as Scion has him by the throat and is holding him down on the ground trying to strangle him.

Ryannus-
Hey! You think you’re a little tough guy over there, beating on her!?

Scion-
You should be paying attention to me. (Tightens grip)

Ryannus-
Yeah…I know goddammit!

Ryannus is able to get a foot up and kick Scion in the face, he release him and stumbles back. Ryannus rolls back to his feet and then jumps into Scion with an elbow.


Over on the other side, Purcell walks up to Jessie and lifts her up by her hair.

Purcell-
If this is how the Kai’s fought then no wonder they were exterminated like rodents.

This statement angers Jessie; the rage can be seen on her face. She begins to shake with anger.

Jessie-
Don’t you ever…

She uses her nails to scratch Purcell across the face. He lets go of her hair and lets out an “Arghh!!” Jessie then grabs onto Purcell’s arm and flips over, kicking him in the face with her momentum. She then does a back mule-kick to his jaw. He flies back to the ground. Jessie takes a running start and jumps into the air, as soon as Purcell gets up, she connect with a dropkick that sends him flying back through a window of the Sekera estate. Jessie then runs in after him.


Back inside the ball room of the estate, where Rome and Abraham fight, Rome catches Abraham with a punch to his stomach, an uppercut to the jaw, and a spinning back kick right across the face which sends Abraham flying back to the ground. Abraham gets back up and rushes at Rome and tries to spear him but Rome slams his foot into the floor to stop Abraham’s momentum then throws him up into the air. Rome gets him back up and uses the quick strike technique to throw lighting fast right hands all into Abraham’s face area. Abraham stumbles back and Rome goes for a haymaker but Abraham stick his boot right into the face of Rome, knocking him down. Abraham walks over to him with energy gathering in his hand he gets ready to unleash an orb onto Rome. He throws it down on him but Rome sticks out his right hand and catches it, holding it away from his body. Abraham tries to force it down on Rome causing energy to fluctuate everywhere. Rome uses all his strength and will to keep it away from him. He then calls on his own energy and gathers it at his hand. It glows and the energy fires out. Rome’s energy pushes Abraham’s orb away and towards the one that fired it. Abraham’s orb is overtaken and Rome’s blast flies into the upper body of Abraham, flinging him into the air. As Abraham goes up he is able to pull his body out of it and land on his hands and one knee on the floor. Rome materializes right in front of Abraham and soccer punts his face. The strike sends him flying back into the wall where only his head smashes through. He then slumps down to the floor knocked out cold. A few feet away, a blast rips through the floor and sends Chris Jocu up into the air. Zinagata then flies out of the whole and lands down next to Rome; both of them having disposed of their enemies. As they stand there a figure passes through the wall into the room, floating in mid-air. They look up to see Zuberus floating with his arms stretched out over Abraham. As Rome looks on, the “F” disappears from off Abraham’s forehead. Abraham starts to convulse as white ghostly-lines begin to pull out from Abraham’s body. The lines begin to take the shape of a Specter, but not one that has the same shape as Abraham. The specter flies up into the air backwards to Zuberus. Zuberus sucks it back into his body as Rome and Zinagata watch on. From high above, 3 beams fly down at Rome and Zinagata. Both of them jumps out of the way as the blasts connect with the floor. Coming down, following the blasts is the Hafflife. With his robes flowing he lands down in front of them.

Al’Tarik-
Just like the Sekera family and the Kai family before them, you Riukens will be torn apart.

Rome-
You’re not getting that crystal!

The Hafflife fires a quick blast at Zinagata who ducks it and fires a beam of his own at Al’Tarik, who jumps out of the way as the blast hits the ground under him. As Al’Tarik is in the air he fires two beams at Rome who dematerializes through both of them to end up close to Al’Tarik. He goes for a right but the Hafflife blocks it. Both guys throw punches and kicks at each other in mid-air. Zinagata gets involved and throws a kick at Al’Tarik, who flips over it. Zinagata dives in at Al’Tarik who unleashed a force-field that knocks Zinagata back hard. Rome lands back on the ground in front of the Hafflife and attacks him. He comes at him with multiple strikes from his right hand that Al’Tarik is able to fend off. Al’Tarik goes for a punch but Rome dematerializes out of the way and appears behind him. He goes to take his head off with a kick but then its Al’Tarik that dematerializes and then appears off to the left side of Rome, he catches him by surprise and punches him in the jaw. Zinagata dives back in and shoulders into Al’Tarik, this knocks him off balance and then he kicks Al’Tarik in the chest. Zinagata charges up his aura and then fires a beam right at Al’Tarik while he lies on the ground. Once again, Al’Tarik uses his force-field to repel the blast and jumps back up to his feet.





In another part of the estate, Jessie is kicked through a wall by Purcell. As he walks into the room she was kicked into through the hole, she starts to stand up to fight some more. Jessie turns to her left and spots a chair. She lifts it off the floor and smashes it over Purcell’s arm and head. The hit does little to faze him and they trade strikes with each other until Purcell catches Jessie’s arm and head-butts her. She staggers back but is still ready to continue fighting. She goes back at Purcell and they trade strikes again. He goes for a swinging left and Jessie ducks it. She then comes back up and hits Purcell with a head-butt of her own, causing him to stagger back Shocked, Purcell shakes his head a little to clear out the cobwebs. He looks up to see Jessie spit out some of her blood to the floor next to her and stare back at Purcell. He gets mad, and charges at her. Jessie jumps over top of him and leaps up to the top of the wall where she pushes off with her feet to fly back at Purcell. She goes for a jump kick but he dodges it, grabs her hair and swings her around into the wall. Still holding her hair, he pulls her from the wall and slams her into the floor. Purcell stands over her, ready to unleash a beam to rip through her body when purple colored lightning strikes him in the chest. He stumbles back and holds his chest. He then looks up to see John Sekera launching himself at him. Purcell fires a beam but John dematerializes out of the way. Purcell fires again and John dematerializes again but this time reappears right in front of him. He delivers a punch right to Purcell’s gut. He then uses the same hand to shoot his lightning into Purcell, sending him flying out the window behind him. John then turns to Jessie.

John-
He’s mine.

Outside in front of the estate, Ryannus and Scion continue to fight. Scion hits Ryannus and sends him flying into John Sekera’s mustard yellow mustang. The impact smashes the hood and the windshield of the car. Ryannus slowly rolls off the car and to his feet. He turns his head to see the damage done to the car and starts to smile.

Ryannus-
Ha ha, right on the car. How about that? (Turns back to Scion.) Alright…

Scion fires a blast at Ryannus who jumps out of the way and at Scion. The beam smashes into the Mustang and blows it up. Scion fires another beam at Ryannus while he’s in the air but he dematerializes out of the way and appears right in front of Scion. He throws a right but Scion moves out the way and goes for a kick of his own. Ryannus blocks the kick and then quickly dodges a punch from Scion and then lands a punch of his own, causing Scion to stagger back. Ryannus runs at him and jump kicks him in the back of the head. Scion falls to the ground with his face dragging a few feet across the dirt as Ryannus lands on his feet. Ryannus walks over to Scion who tries to get up and goes for a kick but Scion blocks it and then uppercuts Ryannus. This knocks him backwards and then Scion fires a beam at Ryannus. Ryannus gets up both hands to hold the beam back with the aura surrounding his palms as Scion energy starts to fire off around the beam.



Back in the main room where Zinagata, Rome, Al’Tarik, and Zuberus fight, two blue beams shoot by Rome and Zinagata. One of the beams smashes into the floor right in front of Zinagata, sending up smoke. Zuberus uses the smoke as a screen and launches himself at Zinagata. He sees him coming fast through the smoke and gets ready, but out of nowhere Zuberus unleashed the specter of his aura from his body right at Zinagata. This takes Zinagata by surprise, as he has no idea how to handle this. The specter flies at Zinagata and rips through his body, he feels its aura clash with his, sending a surge of pain through his body. Zinagata falls to the ground; Rome rushes over to his rescue. He jumps down in front of Zuberus and uses his aura like a flash grenade and ignites it in Zuberus’ face. The flash temporary blinds him as he reels back.

Rome-
Stay away from Zuberus! You’re not strong enough yet to handle his power!

Just then, the Hafflife flies in and strikes Rome right across the face, sending him to the ground. Rome looks up to see him look down at him with a smile. Behind the Hafflife, all the way at the other wall of the room, a blast is sent through. Jessie jumps out from the hole and into the room, ready to fight whoever she encounters. She sees Rome and Zinagata on the ground and Al’Tarik standing over them. She begins to head over when she sees the look on Rome’s face turn to panic. He stares at something that’s behind her.

Rome-
Jessie, get out of the room!! Don’t come any closer!!!

She has a perplexed look on her face and then she turns around. There, floating behind her is Zuberus. Jessie is frozen in her stance as she looks on. Zuberus rips his mask off and stares back at Jessie with his pale-white face, the true face of Zuberus Janus. He stares deep into her eyes. Bright lights flash from his eyes and mouth as a physical aura of himself is transferred into Jessie. The lights from his eyes and mouth go into hers before she pulls away from Zuberus. Jessie stumbles back holding her face.

Rome-
Jessie!!

Her face darts up to look at him. Jessie now has a deranged smiling look on her face as the pupils of her eyes are now glowing red and there is an “F” superimposed on her forehead. Rome knows what’s happened; Jessie is now under the control of Zuberus. Rome can now see the figure of Zuberus appear behind Jessie, he stands in a puppeteer stance with his arms hanging over her. He moves his fingers and Jessie’s body begins to come to life. He movements are lifeless similar to those of a puppet, she stands back up staring at Rome, her limbs moving like strings are tied to them. Rome having never seen the Faycade Arts take somebody over, is stunned.

Rome-
Oh god, this is bad!!

Rome Zuberus jerks his fingers open towards Rome and Jessie flies at him with great speed, she dematerializes then appears directly in front of Rome and drop kicks him back into the wall. Zinagata looks on, he then stands up and begins to head toward Jessie. The Hafflife grabs his ankle and swings Zinagata around and releases him, sending him smashing into a wall. Zinagta tries to stand up but Chris Jocu slams into him with an elbow to the chest then punches him to the ground.

Chris Jocu-
Yeah, get some bitch!

While the Hafflife watches as Chris Jocu gives Zinagata the business, John Sekera walks into the room from the back. The Hafflife senses his presence and turns around to face him. John looks back at him, knowing that he must reach the shard before him. John begins running towards the stairs in the ballroom. As he’s running he sends an energy shock towards the Hafflife. The Hafflife backhands the energy blast away from him. He then fires one of his own at John who side-flips over it than jumps onto the stairs and begins sprinting up them as fast as he can. Hafflife fires a blast that hits near John but he continues to run. The Hafflife knows that John is heading to the upper levels of the house for the shard so he decides to go a different way. Hafflife raises his hand towards the ceiling of the ball room and fires. He shoots a hole right through into the upper levels of the house and jumps up right through it.


Back outside, Ryannus and Scion continue to fight. Ryannus throws a left hand in Scion who catches it. He then begins to try and crush the bones in Ryannus’s hand by squeezing his fist. Ryannus can feel the pressure and pain increase causing him to fall down to one knee. Ryannus musters up enough strength to push off of his knee back to his feet and kick Scion in the quad. His grip loosens, so then Ryannus punches him in the gut then jumps kicks Scion in the chest sending him flying backward. But Scion flips through it and pushes off the wall he was going to fly into with his feet. This sends him flying back at Ryannus while he gathers energy to his right hand he had cocked into a fist. Scion comes right back with an aura filled punched that Ryannus is able to block. But the impact forces the ground under Ryannus to buckle and break down in a circular pattern. Scion then breaks off, lands, and gets in an uppercut before Ryannus can recover this sends him flying into the air, he then lands back on the ground. As Ryannus lands, he looks up to see Scion rush at him, he collides into him and both men fly through the wall of the estate to the inside.


A Zuberus controlled Jessie continues to attack Rome. She comes at him with lefts and rights and then throws a kick. All of which Rome blocks, he then dodges a high thrust kick and jumps back away from Jessie. On the other side of the room, Ryannus and Scion smash through the wall and land on the ground; they tussle before Scion kicks Ryannus off of him. In the same room, not too far away, Chris grabs Zinagata by his collar and lifts him up against the wall to go for another punch. Zinagata moves his head to the side to dodge the punch. He then throws a straight jab into Chris’ face, then opens his fist and unleashes a beam in his face. Chris reels back and places his hands over his face. Zinagata powers up then takes to the air heading towards Jessie and Rome. Zinagata flies over head and fires two blasts at Jessie. The beams hit the floor under her and the explosion knocks her into the air. She then falls back to the ground.

Rome-
(To Zinagata) Stop!!

Zinagata-
What?

Rome-
We have to fight more defensively! This is what Zuberus wants us to do…beat her to a pulp! We need to fight smarter!

Jessie jumps back up to her feet and jumps right at Zinagata. She lands right on him while he’s flying in mid-air and begins pounding on his head and face. Rome sense danger coming towards him, he turns quickly to see a beam heading towards him. He jumps out of the way in time to see it go right by. Rome looks to see who fired the blast and sees a familiar foe.

Scion-
Rome!!! It’s been a long time!!

Rome-
Hmp…you. I remember you when you were a punk-ass kid! You want me to take your other eye too?

Scion-
I hope you’ve been missing that left hand.

He begins charging up with his hand behind his back. He then fires a beam right at Rome but he quickly flips out of the way of the blast. Both of them gather their energy to their hands. Rome fires first. Scion jumps at the blast with both hands ready; he grabs it and uses his energy to break the beam down into nothing. He then fires blasts from both of his hands but Rome dodges the incoming energy.


A couple floors up over the ballroom, John runs to the secret place his family keeps the shard. He runs up a long flight of stairs filled with paintings and candles on each of the walls. John sprints as fast as he can up that staircase and then up another until he gets to a long hallway with a dead end. At the end of the hallway is a wall with a huge painting of the first Sekera on it. John places his hand over a brick in the wall and activates his aura. The brick moves in and the painting and the wall behind to slowly drop down into the ground revealing a large circular room. The room is completely empty except for a stand in the middle of the room and on that stand is the crystal shard. He walks over toward the shard and puts his hand around it. The shard floats over his palms as he lifts it off its stand.

John-
Now I got to get this thing out of here quickly.

He turns his head around to scope for a quick way out. From out of the floor an energy beam is shot right through some steps from down below. The Hafflife jumps from out of the hole facing John and the crystal shard. John places the shard back on its stand steps right in front of the Hafflife and the shard expecting a fight and ready for it.

Al’Tarik-
You better be ready to die for that shard, boy.

The Hafflife begins walking towards John who gets himself ready into a fighting stance. After about 6 steps John just decides to go in. He lunges at Hafflife and throws a right that the Hafflife dodges and then a left the Hafflife ducks. John then unleashed more strikes at Hafflife who is able to block these fairly easy. John then encases his right hand in his electro-type energy and strikes at Hafflife. He is able to block it but the energy still burns at his forearm as the charge radiates off. The Hafflife pulls back from John to keep his forearm from getting damaged. After that move the Hafflife is more fired up to fight. He goes back at him now on the offensive with both warriors trading blows. Nothing lands solidly on anybody until Hafflife gets a punch in on the sternum of John. He’s is sent back from the punch but Hafflife keeps on coming. He starts throwing more punches that John is able to block, an elbow and then a kick. Hafflife then throws out a series of super-fast punches that John can barely keep up with. Hafflife is able to strike him in the face with the last punch which also sends John back. John comes back at him with another energy shockwave from down low; Hafflife is able to block it with a small energy wall. John jumps into the air and comes down with a blow that Hafflife blocks, John throws some more strikes at him but none connect, he then goes for a side kick Hafflife blocks, and then flips into a stomping kick that Hafflife dematerializes out of. John’s foot smashes into the ground nearly going through the floor. Hafflife reappears behind John, grabs the back of his head and slams him face first into the ground, breaking through the floor. Hafflife then grabs him by the back and throws him up into the ceiling that almost collapses with John as he falls back to the floor.

Al’Tarik-
There is absolutely nothing you can do. You can’t stand in the way of Zolleran destiny.

John’s rage begins to build as the Hafflife begins to make his way to the shard. He darts back up at Hafflife with his energy ready but Hafflife catches him right in the chest with a blast. This sends John right down the hallway and out unto the staircase. The beam slams John into ceiling over the staircase and explodes, blowing a huge hole into the roof of the estate. With John out of the way the Hafflife is able to walk over to the shard. He lifts it up from the stand and into the air. The shard floats majestically over his hands.

Al’Tarik-
Breath-taking…

Back down in the ball room, Jessie is still riding on the back of a flying Zinagata. She has her arms wrapped around his neck in a chokehold. Zinagata desperately punches Jessie in the face to get her off. Her grip loosens slightly so then Zinagata elbows her in the body then flashes out his body energy to knock her off. Jessie pulls back away from Zinagata and towards Zuberus who appears behind her. Scion, Chris Jocu, and Purcell all form up around them as well. Across from them Zinagata, Ryannus and Rome form up. From out of the whole in the ceiling drops the Hafflife who lands right in front of his Zollerans.

Al’Tarik-
Even with the help of the Sekera’s and all the sight of the Elder, it still wasn’t good enough to best us on this day.

Ryannus-
The sun’s still out asshole. Day’s not over yet.

Al’Tarik-
For you it is. (Summons the shard from out of his robes.) The shard is already mine.

Rome-
Dammit. Let’s go!

Rome, Ryannus, and Zinagata rush at the Hafflife who calmly holds out his hand and begins directing his aura to that point. The energy builds as a huge orb encases his hand. Rome jumps at Hafflife, coming in closer for the attack.

Al’Tarik-
The end for you is now!!

From out of the orb fires multiple beams. The Hafflife begins shooting them out like a machine gun. Blast after blast is launched at the attacking Riukens. The 3 of them are hit several times in the hail of energy beams. The parts of the estate behind them are also being torn up as well. Walls and everything being shot to pieces as debris flies everywhere. The 3 of them are flung back into the crumbling walls where more beams are hitting. The blasts are tearing right through the estate and flying out of the front of it. The double doors in the front are shot to pieces as is the corridor at the front door and the walls and windows at the front. The whole entire front begins to collapse when the last beam is fired. It goes out with a huge explosion that rips through the entire front of the estate.



Inside the half destroyed estate where the fight between Hafflife and his Zollerans against the Riukens took place, the Riukens are buried under rubble while the Zollerans have escaped with the shard and Jessie. Zinagata begins to stir. He pushes a piece of wall and ceiling from off his body and stands up. His suit is torn and dirty from the fight and the estate’s collapse. He hears some movement coming from a hole made in the wall by the blasts. Ryannus walks out also with torn and dirty clothes.

Ryannus-
Well we got owned at the end there.

Zinagata-
They’re gone. I think they took Jessie too.

Ryannus-
Figures.

Both of them start hearing movement from a debris filled spot. Pieces of a wall our pushed aside and out stands Rome.

Rome-
Are you guys okay?

Zinagata-
They took the shard…and Jessie.

Rome-
Then we have a serious problem.

They hear more movement among the debris on the level above them. All of a sudden they hear a crash and see debris fly from a certain area, standing there beaten up and torn is John. He has the look of a blood-rage on his face and is breathing heavily.

John-
Where are they!!!!?

Zinagata-
They’re gone John, for now.


John-
They think this is over, it’s far from it. They don’t even know what they’ve just started with the Sekeras!

Ryannus-
Oh give it a rest. Just let us handle this.

John-
Oh well you did a great job didn’t you, huh?

Ryannus-
Don’t give me that patronizing bullshit.

Both guys start to walk towards each other looking like they are getting ready to fight. Rome jumps in to hold John back while Zinagata stands in the way of Ryannus.

Rome-
Alright that’s enough.

Zinagata-
(To Ryannus) Yeah, come on man.

Both John and Ryannus relax a bit.

Rome-
What happened today happened. There is no point in dwelling on it. We need to focus on getting that shard back, and clearly we don’t have enough strength to combat the Hafflife and his Zollerans.

Zinagata-
What about the Kai boy?

Rome-
We might not have a choice but to bring him in, even considering what he’s been through. We need all the help we can get.

John-
Please. None of you are any help. (Starts to walk away)

Rome-
John Sekera, we will retrieve your shard. You have my word.

John hears what Rome says but doesn’t respond.

To Be Continued