Ancient1 Part 4: The Witches Fire

Eggman walked in front of his many robot minions, each footstep echoing throughout the room they were all in. The possessed being, who's body was draped in a fine red cloth, grinned as he looked down to one of them, a small meek moto-bug. He reached out to the cowering bot, his long bony hands extending from the cloak until they rested on the motobug's head. With a whisper of a magical spell, the motobug let out a mechanical, ear-splitting scream as it's body began to change. It's body melted and became more jagged. The metal vibrated and cracked, before reforming in on itself and turning a dark red color. As it did, the spell began to flow to the other badniks around it. Caterkillers, Aero Chasers, every robot in the room began to scream and transform into monstrous versions of themselves, while the warlock Eggman walked out of the room. It was time for the witch to take the power at it's ripest.

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The monster's eyes reflected in the crystal he held in hand, the one he had taken from his last major battle. Whatever that black-quilled hedgehog had done with it was... interesting to say the least. It thought back to that battle, back to how his opponent had moved quicker than he could see. And then he looked down at himself, at what had happened to him during that same moment. The rage that had taken over him. How his body had changed. Before he could process it further, a crash came as another part of what was once the blue hedgehog's den blew away. He stood in surprise, before walking through the newly created hole, and what met him was an army. A sea of red, jagged metallic monsters, big and small followed behind by a massive metal egg carrier. As they spotted the beast, they let out a barrage of fire, blowing apart the building into a mess of rocks and dust. When he looked back, to see everything he had taken, every victory and every trophy he had collected, all gone. His head swirled back to meet him as the red rage enveloped his body, and let out a roar that rumbled the very earth beneath him, before rushing to meet the army head on.

The front line began to let loose another round, but were met with the ancient one's claws as he crashed through their ranks. He ripped through the monstrous bugbot badniks like butter, as they did there best to lay fire into his glowing hide, but he continued to run rampant through their ranks and tear them asunder, even using their own against them, throwing the unwilling robots into each other. As he rampaged through the front lines, a linup of aero badnik's began pelting him from above, covering him in a deluge of missle fire. Before they had a chance to stop, the beast leaped through the smoke and tore into one of the chasers, causing the Aero Cannon's surrounding it to open fire on their own compatriot, bringing it and the oni to the ground in a ball of fire and rage, causing an explosion in the ranks of the front lines below.

As the bewitched Eggman saw what was happening to his monstrous minions from a drone high above, he called out in a scratch-filled roar, and slammed a fist on a button in front of him. A hatch opened on the bottom of the ship, and out dropped a horde of much larger machines. Huge SWATBots, built like demonic samurai fell to the ground to form a platoon in front of the monster hedgehog. Their eye's lighted in unison, and at once, they ran to attack him. All at once, the oni was surrounded by the metal behemoths, who began to lay into him. Their giant metal fists slammed into his quills, one after the other, beating him to the ground before the monster had time to think. Before one could come in, pulling his fist back to send a blow straight to the demon's head, it was met with massive claws that ran clear through it's skull, shutting it down immediately. One look into the monsters eyes, and you could see them burning and glowing like hellfire as he threw the bot's body into it's compatriots. He tore into them, as they tried to hit back at him to no avail. One even lost it's arm as the beast ripped it from it's socket, before it was shoved right back into the mechanical samurai's chest.

As the beast tore through the platoon, the egg witch through back his hands in anger, before storming off down the hall of the ship. "These worthless machines. They do nothing against him, nothing at all! They're not even tiring hi-" He stopped as she came across a darkened room, and in the middle, was... him. The egg witch tore open the door, walking over the mechanical beast in front of him, before it's spell enveloped it's hardware, metal sharpened as it did with the others, and it roared out in anger as it turned on. A roar so loud even the beast down below could hear it, as it finished off the last of the SWATbots. As he began running towards the eggship again, a machine tore through the top of the ship, flying like a rocket, before spotting and flying towards the monster. Sonic saw the machine coming, and braced his arms in preparation, as he was met face to metal face with a blue beast of a sonic. It looked more monster than mech, body ripped and reformed, three pronged quill like protrustions flaying out behind it's head. It slammed the oni into a group of badniks behind him, as they went flying through the air. The metal monster Sonic threw the beast around in the air like a ragdoll, before sending him hurtling with a throw into the shambles of his den, having what was left of it explode around him. As he stood up from the rubble, his body glowed an even brighter red, as he met Metal Sonic with an earth shattering punch. "Look at what you've become, you copy. Nothing more than a barbaric monster." The metal hedgehog met back at it with it's own, as they soon let out a flurry of punches. Blow after blow, bruise after bruise, dent after dent came as neither one was willing to give an inch, before the oni pulled back slightly. That one move caused the smallest of stumbles in the machine, and the beast took advantage, meeting the metallic monster's chest with a massive blow, before it broke out the other side. The robot shorted as it's eyes grew dim, before the monster grabbed it by it's legs and tore it in half, metal shrieking and cracking before it was thrown foward into the rest of the destroyed badniks.

It looked to the ship, before looking back at the wastes of his trophies, and then back to the piles of dead badniks in front of him. He began heading to the ship one last time, set on starting anew. And taking the head of the man inside. As he walked through the piles of metallic corpses, he saw them begin to move, and readied himself one more time in anger. But each off the metallic parts began flying past him. Caterkillers, Swatbots, everything flew back to one central point, as a laugh came from the corspe of the metal Sonic. They each crumpled in on each other, jagged parts forming around the now morphing metal hedgehog as it grew and grew. It's head began to stretch and elongate, as long metallic tube like arms jutted from it's body. A giant maw formed on the mechanical monstrosities head as it reached the size of a skyscraper, and metal spikes shot out from it's back. It stood at it's tallest, towering and meeting the airship at eye-level, before looking down to the oni below.

"I'LL CRUSH YOU."

Before the oni stood a giant metal dragon, who let out a deafening roar before the quills on it's back began to shoot out, firing towards him. It dodged between them, each one growing into giant spiked towers as they hit the ground. As it tried to launch itself into the air to meet the dragon, it was met with a powerful swipe from it's tail, that slammed it into ground. The oni coughed as the dirt and grass fell down from the crater it was in, before dodging the pillar of fire that shot from the dragon's hand. "BURN. TO. DEATH." roared the mechanical being as it followed the hedgehog with it's flaming pillar, burning the ground behind it. The beast ran, jumping towards the rubble, and scrounging through it, before it was met with a giant metal claw slamming it to the ground. The metallic dragon Sonic slammed into the oni again and again, bashing it's body into the floor. It slammed into the monster one last time, and as it did, the oni laid in a pile of it's own blood beneath the claw, the red light of rage dying down around it. As it did, a hatch opened on the ship as the witch revealed himself, floating down towards the beast. "You've had your fun, Ancient One. You've released the rage that I was looking for, for so long ago." Through the blood strewn haze, the oni could hear the familiar sound of the witches voice, as it struggled to look up to the being in front of him.

"I knew you'd come chasing after me, warrior. I knew you'd want to protect your emperor. But i also knew that you had potential, potential to awaken a powerful rage inside of you that I could use as the fuel necessary to become a god. So I sent you here, to a world of beings you believed to be monsters. And let your anger grow. But now you've become just what I need. A being of pure anger." He went forward, bony fingers reaching to place his hand onto the oni's head, before beginning to chant. The red glow forms around the oni again, before snaking it's way up into the witches arm. The monster roared in pain, as it's very energy was being sucked from it's body, while the witch laughed. In one last, desperate attempt, it grabbed a hold tightly of what it had been digging around for, and a bright light formed around his hand as the emerald he was holding coursed power through his own body, and a blast of energy sent the witch and the dragon back. Bolts of lightning shot around his body as he began to raise into the air, as he body glowed again. His quills billowed like fire behind him as his body's muscles began to rip and shred, forming into a more muscular body. Smoke poured around him as he floated their, his body morphing. The dragon yelled down at the transforming beast, and shot forth one of his claws to meet the beast. Before it could, it shattered into metal pieces, while the metal dragon Sonic roared in anger, and went to slam it's fist into the being. "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU DO! WHAT YOU BECOME, YOU'LL NEVER BE MORE THAN A LOATHSOME CO- GUOOOOH!!"

The oni tore through the metallic beasts arm like paper, flying up to meet it at eye level before throwing the arm to the ground. The oni's head was split open, as a third eye had opened. It stood there in the air, as the dragon stumbled back. It raised it's head back, to yell, as the eggship behind flew into it's body, and a bright light enveloped the area. Where the dragon once stood, a new, even bigger being was floating in the air, metal wings carrying it's giant body before it shot up high into the air. A barrage of spikes and giant crystal shards spewed from the dragon's body as it roared out, each one splintering into dust as it met the oni's body. "I AM THE ULTIMATE OVERLORD. YOU WILL FALL! DIE!" It arched it's neck as itt yelled out before a dark energy flew from it's core. "CHAOS... CONTROL!" All at once, everything stood still as time ground to a halt. The metallic overlord barelled down towards the oni in a rage, intent on crashing his entire form into the beast. Inches away, the beasts eyes glowed white, as a bolt of light crashed through the metal beings chest. Time resumed as the beast flew forward and tore through his body, zipping it's way through and ripping it apart from the inside. As the dragon let out a metallic shriek of pain, the oni tore through it's steel skull, and it blew apart. The explosion enveloped the surrounding area, going on for miles, before all that was left was the floating oni, and scorched black earth. As it hovered down to the ground, where it once was, it heard the crumbling as the egg witches body, now stone, began to crumble to dust. The witch could be seen, her corporeal form floating as she tried to chant, trying to bring forward a portal to escape what she had rought.

"I didn't anticipate this. I'll seal him away, before he can get me. I'll find another one, one that I can better control. I'll--" Before she portal could fully open, the oni flew forward, claws digging through the witches astral form, before flying down to slam it into the earth, and becoming physical again, as she coughed up blood onto the beings smoking fur. It looked down at her, the witch before him, and sneered. She began to speak back at him, one desperate attempt left to cast a spell, before his claw sprang forth and down, ripping away her jaw and part of her throat from her body, leaving her gargling up blood. As he sees her, tears in her eyes, he grabs her head, and pushes down hard, causing her to gurgle out her best pleads for him to stop. They fall to deaf ears as her caves her skull into her body, before letting go of it and letting her body flop to the floor. When it did, the red aura came stringing back towards the oni. When it did, the being shot up to the air, looking down towards the planet beneath it as it stopped in the sky.

There was nothing here, nothing anymore that he could kill. Nothing that could satiate the oni's rage. And he wanted more. He flew off into the sky, in search of more to hunt. Leaving the burnt planet behind.