Chapter 12: Bleeding Arrivals

thumb|300px|right|Opening IICommander Ordo adjusted his eyepatch-monocle to see, off in the distance, the faint sign of ships. Brittannia has arrived. There were many of them. Almost a hundred ships, perhaps. He tied his orange bandana around his sweat-beaten forehead and turned to the Captain of the Marauder, the head of the pack that was Kusha's Navy. "Time to set sail, Captain. Let their burned bodies sink to the bottom of the sea." The Captain, unwisely nicknamed "Scar-Face" by some haughty crew members because of the large scar running diagonally across his face, gruffed "Very well, sir." He turned and stepped up the platform to his ship. Ordo smirked "So it begins. These fools don't know what they're up against..."

Recap
Previously on My Inferno: Landing on what they thought is an island, the armada is nearly swept apart by a giant Aspidochelone, a deep-sea monster with tentacles and a habit of baking it's back in the sun to the point where sand and green grow over it, making it appear as an island. Finally, after the terrifying experience and a shakey voyage, the armada meets the Kushan Navy on their ground. But Kusha has homefield advantage. Who will best who in the first engagement of this Crusade?

Ready the Cannons
Randall was swept by the hustling of metal boots, clammering across the lower deck. Each man was trying to load their respective cannons in time to meet the incoming Navy from the borders of Kusha. Meanwhile, aboard one of the warships, Pandora watches as Ares readies a rusty old battery cannon which looks barely operational. Akihiro watches the ship Cane and Shade are on, awaiting the signal. Eve clasped her hands together and rubbed vigourously, gathering static in preparation for the battle. Her hair frizzed up and she grew a wide, eagerly menacing grin. Pandora was amazed by what she saw. Her hands were moving extremely fast and her palms emitted a sonic resonation as well as building up so much static, it took physical form as blue electricity in her hands. Akihiro muttered "Steady..." Ares shifted the barrel of the cannon toward one of the Kushan ships. They had built a line with their cannons facing the oncoming armada, like a wall. Akihiro narrowed his gaze "Steady..." He kept his hand raised half way, waiting for the signal to be given. And it was. Cane shot a white and yellow flare up into the sky which took shape of an eagle, the resonation of the launcher making a screeching sound like a hawk. Akihiro shouted "FIRE!" and, at that, Eve slammed her palms against the cannon, firing multiple 140 mm armour-piercing tank shells at a rapid rate. The Kushan Captains were caught by surprise at the technological advances Brittannia had, and were practically mowed down by the artillery. One of the tank shells pierced into their cannons before it could fire, stabbing into the ball and, subsequently, causing it to explode and blast the side of the ship as well as anyone unfortunate enough to be near the blast to smithereens. However, even the ones who manages to get away from it were still very unfortunate. The shells carried over seventy small ball-shaped rounds that, upon being freed from the shells, ripped through anything in their path, be it wood, metal, or man. The men under deck screamed in agony as the Captain asked what was going on. The first mate yelled "Their artillery is too strong! We must pull back!" The Captain shook his head "We can't! We face Ordo's wrath if we desert-" Before his sentence could even end, his head erupted into tiny fragments of bone, blood pouring everywhere. A trail of smoke lead back to one of the Brittannian ships, to a Sniper Rifle barrel. Shade aimed with ease and picked off the first mate as well. Shade began putting each of the dying Kushan's out of their misery mercifully while asking Cane "Are those tank shells the surprise you spoke of back at the docks?" Cane smirked and took a crowbar and ripped a box open with it, revealing white-tipped missiles marked "Heaven's Fury" in cursive on the sides. "No... These are."

The scar-faced Captain growled as his defensive line were being torn apart. Many of the ships have already sunk or have been blown to pieces. He turned to his first mate, who was missing a brow for a misdemeanor on deck, and commanded "Get out the Grapple-Shots!" The first mate nodded "Yes, sir!" and turned to issue orders to the men. They loaded Cannon Balls with chains connecting each to the other into the Cannons, lighting them, and firing them off into the air across the waters. Few managed to hit due to the Kushan Cannons low accuracy, but the ones that did slammed into the wooden frames and began pulling the heavy ships downward so that they'd flip over. The Captain smirked at the two ships that had flipped completely over and began sinking. In retaliation, however, another loud, screeching sound was heard and a flash of light flying into the air above the Kushan ships. Cane smirked "This should finish them off." At that, the light burst into several and they descended upon the Kushans, exploding into bursts of white flame. They screamed and jumped into the water hurriedly, though the burns were already extensively grievous. Shade watched on with his scope, shocked and horrified "This is... inhuman... Is that-" Cane nodded "White Phosphorus. Divine Fire. If one were to survive it's scorching flames, the burns are too terrible to fully heal." Shade turned to him with a discontent look "Cane... where did you get this?" "We took it. Raiders were terrorizing a jungle settlement with it and we were the cleanup crew. Since there were no survivors to reward us or say anything against it, we simply took what was left, the White Phosphorus included." Shade grimaced "Why use such a horrible thing? It's a slow, agonizing death!" Cane raised a brow "And? Do you assume they would spare you such a courtesy as mercy? This is war, Kagekyo, and we are soldiers. Things such as mercy and merciless hold no meaning on a battleground. It's all bullets, metal, and fire. And trying to shoot the other man before he shoots you."

Ordo watched on as the line of Kushan ships burned and sank in the distance. He could predict they would lose, but not so quickly. He turned to a sturdy Leiutenant who stood a few feet over him "Ready the mortars. Have the Asura arrived yet?" He nodded "Yes, sir. They await at the entrance." Ordo nodded back "Good. Send them here." The Asura were trained Warlocks ready to summon the most bizarre atrocities Hell has to offer. He will use them to unleash Hell upon this Armada.

The men cheered as the ships sank, ready to sail through the broken line to the shore. But heavy machine gun fire peppered the ships, tearing holes into the thick wood. Bullets zoomed past soldier's heads, blowing hunks of wood apart near them. Shade noticed it with his Golden Eye. The clouds of dust and sand were no good on the Kushan's accuracy, even if they were wearing goggles. A loud bang was heard and a black ball came hurtling toward Shade's ship. Cane reacted quickly and grabbed a rocket launcher from a rack and took aim, firing neatly ahead of the ball's trajectory. The missile guided itself against the hard winds and slammed into the metal ball, causing a massive eruption of flame in the air. More mortars joined it, raining down on the armada with the force of thunder. Eve and Ares used the rusty, old cannon they had to snipe them out of the sky, multiple clouds of fire masking them from Ordo's sights. He gritted his teeth at their skill and preparation. He felt a light nudge on his shoulder and jerked to face whoever was daring to touch him, only to see a white skull with no lower jaw on a black, bald head staring at him eerily "Asura is ready." he greeted in a stern, commanding voice. There were five of them. Black-skinned, skull-wearing Kushans wearing black rags. One was female, with long blue hair put up in a ponytail that fell to her legs. Ordo smirked arrogantly "Good. Get the Leviathan and the Kraken out there to rip those ships apart!" The lead Asura nodded "Very well. Asura will comply." They took stance and hummed an archaic language. They were performing the Dark Arts, a Magical sect older than recorded history. Suddenly, Ordo heard it. The angry call of the Leviathan. He saw the Kraken's tentacles raised slightly from the water and then lowered as they advanced. Ordo chuckled "They'll be dead before they can even come ashore. No man can face the terrors of Hell and survive. Well... except for me, that is." He hid a shiver of the thought of facing such beasts. They were known to rip well-built Giants in half with ease. He does not envy the Brittannians. Not in the least bit.

Shade fired his Sniper Rifle one last time. This was the last Kushan arming the mortar cannon. The long bullet zoomed across the water and penetrated his goggles with a crack, blood trickling out of it and the back of his head as he collapsed. Shade smirked and commented "Boom..." Cane added "...Headshot." They bumped fists with each other in a brief moment of celebration. Shade could celebrate killing here. Compared to Cane's methods, his ways are far more merciful. He wouldn't listen to him. Mercy did matter on the battlefield, just like anywhere else. His moment of triumph was short-lived as a large tentacle with suction cups on the front raised out of the water and slammed down upon their ship, splitting it in half. Cane shouted "Abandon ship!" Shade nodded and followed the order with the rest of the men, tossing what supplies they could into a life boat and hopping into it. Before jumping into the lifeboat Shade is in, Cane turned with his revolver and fired a single round into one of the White Phosphorus missiles, causing it to crack and explode in a massive eruption of white flame that blasted the sinking ship apart, burning wood flying all around. A pain-filled roar was heard as Cane landed perfectly in the boat, avoiding the explosion and utilizing the rocking waters to move it closer to Akihiro's ship. Shade was panting from fear "That was insane!" Cane smirked "It's a good thing I am insane or that probably would've killed us." The boats rowed their way to Akihiro's ship, where Ares was reloading the rusty cannon to fire on Akihiro's command. Eve turned to him and asked "What was that?! Another Aspido?!" Akihiro shook his head "No... It's tentacles are thinner and more versatile. This is a Kraken. Ares, get ready to fire once it's tentacles resurface. We can't have it tear us down as well." Ares nodded and cranked the handle of the cannon, cocking it like a gun. Ares grunted as it jammed and Akihiro looked distressed "Hurry! Before it-" A tentacle spiked straight through the hull of the ship, exiting out of the deck like a rising pillar. Quickly, Ares whirled around with his stone-edged club and swung hard at the tentacle, slicing it in half. The hunk of flesh wriggled like a worm and slammed onto the deck, flopping about like a frantic fish out of water. The wounded stump lowering back into the water, blood clouding the area where it had penetrated. A pain-filled moan was heard as it retreated. Eve smiled brightly "Good work, Ares!" Akihiro shook his head "Don't celebrate just yet. Kraken are tenacious beasts." Pandora pointed past him "Lookout!" and, before Akihiro could fully turn, another bestial tentacle slammed itself hard into the ship. Akihiro guessed that it had help because the entire ship broke from that single swing. "Either the Kraken used more tentacles, or something else was aiding it..." Pandora was flying across the air, about to land hard on a nearby boat though the likely arrival of Shade catching her ensured a safe landing. She panted "Th-Thanks, Shade." He gave a small salute "Anytime." Emerging from the lower decks was Sadow, his blades unsheathed "Time to go to work." he chided.

Cane landed on a nearby floating mass of wood along with Akihiro, who looked down at him with a concerned expression "Are you alright?" Cane nodded "I'm fine. Where's Ares?" Ares gruffed "Here." while holding himself on a splintered banister. He suddenly looked surprised and began scoping the waters "Something touched my foot..." Akihiro unsheathed his blade and looked around attentively. Suddenly, a large tentacle splashed out in front of them and readied to pound onto their raft. Cane fired at it repeatedly but to no avail. It ignored the pain of the bullets and slammed down hard, only to be sliced in half by a quick movement on Akihiro's behalf. A loud roar of pain was heard as the Kraken itself surfaced, dozens of tentacles raising from the waters as it's pearl, black eyes trained on Akihiro and Cane, the former taking a battle stance. Meanwhile, Sadow's ship was rocked back and forth by an unknown force underwater. They looked around and finally the entity showed itself. It looked like a gargantuan crocodile, it's maw opening wide for food. Sadow exclaimed "Let's rock!" and charged toward the creature, stabbing it's top and bottom parts of it's mouth when it tried to snap it's teeth down on him. His strength barely held against the creature. Shade took aim with his Sniper Rifle and fired three times into it's hide, only to have his rifle broken by a swift swipe of it's scaley tail. Suddenly it moaned in pain as Creed revealed himself on it's back, stabbing his Demonic-spear into it's back. Creed smirked "This'll mark the second Demonic creature I've fought in my life!" He then pulled the spear out and stabbed it back into the newly opened wound, deepening it. The Leviathan struggled it's way off the boat, freeing itself from Creed and Sadow's grip. Sadow shook the blood off of his blades and turned to Creed "Thanks for the save." Creed smirked "Anytime." Uriel was flying fantically throughout the air, dodging bomb fire and Kraken tentacles left and right "Holy Heavens! What's going on around here?!" Sadow yelled up "Uriel! Get down!" Uriel turned to face him as a tentacel slammed her against the boat. She coughed as he took up guard for her "Are you alright?!" She nodded, regaining her breath "Th-These aren't... creatures of God..." Sadow nodded in agreement "They're Demons. A Kraken and a Leviathan, Spawns of the Deep." Pandora felt a chill run down her spine. They were just like the Aspidochelone they encountered on the voyage. The tentacle that hit Uriel tried to slam onto the boat they were on, but Creed managed to spear it mid-swing and hold it there long enough for Sadow to slice it in half with a scissoring maneuver. He muttered "Damn monsters..." right before a loud rumbling is heard beneath them. Pandora and Uriel scream as the boat is torn apart from beneath, a set of jaws snapping shut over Sadow, who barely had enough time to tuck his arms and legs in to avoid getting them bitten off. The Leviathan submerges with it's meal as Pandora screams "Sadow! No!" Creed pulled her back as she tried to jump in after him "It's too late! Your friend is-" She yells back "No! He can't be! He can't be dead! There's no way he could be!" Creed looked mournfully down at her "I'm sorry, miss... His soul is with God now..."

Surfacing and the Wrath of the Megalodan
Sadow held his breath. He was being forced down the Leviathan's throat rather slowly due to being still fully intact. Twice now the beast has tried to regurgitate him and chew him up to be better swallowed. Now it was about to try again, frustratingly. He had to get free. If a Demon were to inflict a wound on him, it won't regenerate. It will stick with him regardless of his power. He gripped his blades tightly and, with great force, plunged them through the Leviathan's throat. It gagged and whailed in pain, struggling underwater to free whatever was inside it that was causing such pain. Sadow persisted and shifted the blades closer to each other, slicing open it's neck from the inside out. Blood flowed throughout the water, up to the surface.

Uriel had an arm over Pandora's shoulder as Creed knelt on the side of the hole of the boat. He'd have to hurry with the prayer before it sank. He opened a single eye in curiosity "-and may we... What the-?" He noticed the blood flowing to the top. Pandora sniffed "Wh-What is it?" Creed shook his head "Nothing." Shade watched as well, both knowing that it was Sadow's blood. It would be better for her not to see it. Creed began to wonder what the logic was in bringing a small child to a battlefield. Suddenly, a familiar face showed itself. Sadow sprung out of the hole, covered in blood and struggling for air. "Mi... ssed... me...?" he choked out, smirking. Pandora turned and saw him, her dark eyes filling with light again as a smile grew "Sadow! You're alive!" Sadow popped his back achingly. Time spent in the throat of a Leviathan didn't do much for the spine "Of course I am. Why, did you doubt my skill?! Huh?!" He comically rubbed his knuckles on Pandora's head teasingly as she tried to move his arm "Gah! I didn't, I was just worried! Stop it!" Creed laughed "You are, officially, the luckiest man I have ever met in my life! Who gets swallowed by a Demon and lives? Seriously?" Sadow pointed his thumb at his chest and held his chin up with pride "This guy. Oh! What's my name?" he held a hand to his ear and Pandora and Uriel said aggravatingly "Sadow..." Sadow flexed tauntingly at Kusha "Indeed it is! You'll have to do better than that, Kushan tramps-" Before his boasting could reach a much-needed conclusion, a tentacle broke through the wood underneath Sadow's feet and hit him square in the crotch, retreating back underwater once the damage has been done. He crumpled to his knees comically, still grinning as sweat began to form from the pain "...Dammit."

As the Kraken started to surface near Cane, intent on using it's beak to snap off his leg, he unpinned a Fragmentation Grenade and threw it down the Kraken's gullet, causing the creature to choke and retreat tin fear. He took cover as Akihiro yelled "Ares!" Complying with the unspecified order, Ares readied an umbrella for himself and Akihiro and handed the strikingly smaller commander his umbrella "Thank you." At that, a loud boom followed by chunks of Kraken inards splashed out of the water, raining down on everyone in the vicinity. Ordo watched in anger as the Kraken was killed, his hands on a rusty railing overlooking a trenchline for his troops "Summon... the Megalodan..." The Asura looked uneasy by this request and turned to each other with varying looks of fear, then back at Ordo "Commander... The Megalodan hasn't been properly trained yet... There is still a chance that-" ordo cut him off in rage "Release the Megalodan into the waters NOW!" They reluctantly nodded "Yes, sir... As you will..." They formed another Pentagram and summoned forth a different, substantially larger beast. They heard beneath them, underwater, the distant roar of a monster so terrifyingly unstable the Asura themselves are hesitant to release it. Slowly, a shark fin rose from the water and swam toward the regrouping Armada and it's wrecked ships, which were, by now, sailing past the burning wreckage that were the Kushan ships. Sadow regroups from the pain that the Kraken dealt him "Damn fish... I hate water-monsters..." As they celebrated his survival and laughed over his situation, however, a ship ahead of them immediately submerged completely, snapping in half in the split second it took to submerge. They all looked over the deck at what could've done this, but there was no sign of anything. Sadow looked over the edge of the deck for any signs of what could have happened to it, but the sight that was being shown before him gave him a shocked, even horrified expression. Instead of seeing the darkness of the abyssmal bottom of the sea, all Sadow could see was a smooth veil of greyish blue. Something was sailing beneath them. Sadow looked up just in time to see a massive shark fin surfacing out of the water, ramming itself into the ship and seemingly cutting the vessel in half.

They all went flying into nearby wreckage and other ships as a wide, gaping maw devoured an entire ship in front of it, crew and all. Their eyes bulged in fear and horror as darkness shrouded around them, the only light at the end of the tunnel closing with a gush of water as the gargantuan shark retreated back underwater. Creed shook from terror uncontrollably, yelling out to Sadow "What in the name of God was that?!" Sadow replied with deceptive casualty that hid his immense fear "A bigger fish..." Waves drifted as the Megalodan surfaced once more to engulf another ship in the abyssmal chasm of it's mouth. Sharp teeth lined the edges as it stretched open, it's tiny black eyes staring in different directions at the fear on the faces of the Brittannian troops. The Captains called out "Open fire! Open fire!" Their rifles drawn, they took aim and fired upon the beast to little effect than mild irritation. It roared loudly, dumbing the sounds of their gunshots. Akihiro leaped off of a wooden hunk of debris floating in the water and sailed across the sky over boats and wreckage, aweing those who watched on as he daringly proceeded to land upon the creature and impale his sword through it's thick, blue skin. Another, ear-piercing roar was issued as it quickly shook him off with sword in hand. Blood spurted out of it's small wounds as it chomped down another half of a ship, sinking it and taking down a good portion of it's crew with it as it submerged. Sadow turns to Uriel and Creed "Get Pandora out of here! Baldr, when that thing makes another pass, throw me in!" Baldr looked startled by this insane request "That's madness! You barely managed to survive that tactic once!" Metharme, who was floating adrift in a nearby barrel with her head sticking out and a look of comical seriousness added "The chances of you surviving this are far slimmer than that of the last creature. Even if you do manage to succeed you still have to escape it's corpse and reach surface in time to breathe." Sadow smirked and thought to himself "Heh... Not really. Only Demons can kill me so water filling my lungs may hurt alot but it won't kill me. Still, this Megalodan isn't sounding reasonable. This plan is better than no plan." "Don't worry about me. Now hurry, this thing is making another go!" Creed nodded and sewpt Pandora up in his arms and skipped along a trail of debris over to a nearby ship as Uriel surveyed overhead to watch for when the Megalodan would surface. "He's rising out of the water...!" Baldr did as commanded and grabbed Sadow's cloths to throw him from. As the Megalodan surfaced, the top of it's jaws visible, Uriel yelled "Now!" At this, Baldr threw Sadow with a heave and the young warrior flew across the sky like a bullet, reaching the monster's mouth at the top in perfect time and precision to cross his blades together and slice one of it's large teeth off, propelling it into his mouth and impale it into the beast's gums. It bellowed a scream so loud, it rocked the ships and knocked the soldier's off of their feet. Even Baldr had to steady himself lest he be knocked into the water. That was their signal that Sadow had made it.

The Megalodan dived back into the water without seizing any prey to assess it's own situation. It soon found pain to be just about everywhere within itself. Sadow began systematically piercing the sides of it wide chasm of a mouth, slicing off notable organs and puncturing wounds that bled profusely without end. It wailed and thrashed about underwater, blood pouring into the dark seas. The soldier's all looked at the water and began cheering as it turned red and cloudy from blood, Shade remarking "That Sadow... is a hell of a monster killer." The creature surfaced in agony as a stream of red static covered it's body, Sadow's Demonic magic taking effect. Although it hurt him as well and was damaging his own soul, he resorted to using it for such a tough fight. He nailed his blades into the creature's gums and held on tight, struggling to keeping flooding it's body with his painful energy. Asura, in the meantime, looked worried as sweat beat down from their heads in strain. Ordo demanded "What's the problem?!" He turned and gasped as the Megalodan was being electrocuted but, much worse... was heading for their position. Asura explained in unison, all shakily "It has... broken free of our control! We can't regain a stable connection! Something is interfering with our magic! Another Demonic source?! But... where?" They channeled their energies together to search for the source of the magic destabilization, only to find that it was inside of the Megalodan itself. Ordo commanded aloud "Fire upon the creature! Do not let it reach land!" Knowing full well what would happen to them if they failed, the Kushan soldier's fired upon the monster from ashore with rifles and turrets, bullets spraying it and spraying blood into the air and water. A rifle shot zoomed past Sadow's head, but he ignored it. He had to concentrate to keep the flow of energy going. Roaring, the beast continued to it's charge and began pushing past the burning wreckage of Kushan ships, nearing the shore. Ordo commanded louder and more angrily "Keep firing! Do not stop until it is dead!" They hurriedly began reloading but it was too late, the creature had reached the shore.

The carcass of the Megalodan crashed into the beachead, plowing through the fortifications and knocking over sentry towers made of wood. Kushan scouts placed on duty atop the towers crashed below to their deaths, one in particular being nailed by one of the wooden stakes used to build it. The red static ceased, and the creature's death-smelling mouth stirred with the sounds of squishing. One of them turned to another and asked as a large group of Kushans surrounded the creature's mouth to assess the damage and the sound "Why is it missing a tooth...?" At this, the monster's missing tooth shot out of a rather large bullethole in the side of it's mouth, impaling one of the Kushan soldiers. Following it was a bloodied Sadow, covered in both the blood of himself and the Megalodan and his eyes glowing red in a battle-drunk state. He quickly beheaded one of the soldiers and proceeded to slice another in half vertically, his blades moving through them as if they were butter. Blood painted the ground as the war finally reached the land of Kusha.

Preview
War has reached Kusha! As Sadow is plunged deeper into the heart of conflict, will a new face bring him closer to the light? And is Charlotte all who she appears to be? Find out in the next installment of My Inferno!

Inferno Short: Megalodan on the Barbie
Creed sat at a campfire, roasting some blue meat on a stick over it while whistling a tune to himself. Pandora sat next to him and greeted while eyeing the meat curiously "Hey Creed. What's... that?" Creed raised a brow at the food he was cooking "What, this? Dinner!" She looked concerned as she saw a chunk of the Megalodan's corpse nearby was missing. "Uhh... May I ask what it is, exactly?" He smirked and continued to hold it over the fire "If I told you you'd never eat it."