It's been about a week since I fought Camazotz, roughly, from what I've heard. I don't know where O'Zalia is. I don't know where Wildfire or Sound or any of the others are. I know the Intended Emissaries are all dead- one was erased from the physical plane of existence entirely.
The fight happened at exactly where Isaac said it would be- the Tehauantec Gentleman's Club. Of course- Mayan name, Mayan bat man, it wouldn't take a Dark Knight and plucky boy sidekick to figure that out. Also, it is the hangout for the various members of the police force that were being hunted down by Camazotz.
Isaac went off with Sound to fight Nolla Row, and I went to fight Camazotz.
We found the Tehauantec desolate- no, not desolate, that's not quite the right word- the walls were matted with blood and tiny, fuzzy, black shapes darted to and fro under the red moon. It was almost cinematic, really, but I digress. I did see something strange though. One singular bat was flying away from the Tehauantec Club- a single bat carrying what seemed to be a vial of dark, red blood.
Wildfire was talking to me.
"You ready to do this, Kord?"
"Yeah. You ready to turn tail and follow O'Zalia?"
She shook her head.
"Nope. O'Zalia is not a man to be crossed. His powers can erase entire people from existence, and I don't want to get on the bad side of that."
"Well, I don't need help on this one either. I fought a Demi-God once, you know."
She raised her eyebrow.
"...I ran away from him and got pardoned from a beat-down by his lackeys."
"Mmm, yes, well, I wouldn't say that was fighting, and you've pretty much proven that you're gonna need my help-"
Her words were cut off by a swarm of at least eighty bats coming towards her. She inhaled deeply, and then erupted a column of sulfuric flame at them. A handful were burnt to unrecognizable cinders, but all it really succeeded in doing was splitting the spear-like column in half. The cluster of Convocation Bats regrouped, and grew.
Wildfire flew in the air, and then, taking out her claw gauntlets, began hacking the slowly-enlargening swarm of bats into the air. She cursed, then told me to run. This was going to be her fight. As the bats began growing to impossible proportions, so did she.
...okay, I MAY have sent one or two sonic bolts at some of the sound-sensitive creatures. ...and MAYBE Wildfire breathed fire at me in retaliation.
When I entered the lounge, I heard the screams and shrieks deepen and turn into great, bellowing roars. The bat squeaks in return turned into ear-shattering lower squeals.
The lounge was covered in blood. Eight police officers moaned, while their very visible system of veins and arteries were being grotesquely munched on by fifty more of the bats. The rest were only a mite luckier- they were all filled with bullet holes. The city councilmen, the young waitresses. What got me were the small children. Eight to twelve year old boys and girls lay in a heap in the very center. The words "En el frio en el silencio" were painted in their own blood. Their hearts were torn out. That really, really, pissed me off. Camazotz really did get worse from prison, and he showed me just how much him and all his fellow Intendeds deserved little more than death- painful, if possible.
"How do you like it?" I heard the all-too-familiar Guatemalen accent ask. I turned around, and I knew it was merely an after-image, but I fired at it anyways. This time he truly appeared behind me- he was eating one of the childrens' hearts. "I believe I've created nothing short of art here, Kord. And I know the you I met in San Juan would agree."
"Drop that fucking heart, you sick, sociopathic fuck."
He dropped the heart. And then he jumped down. But instead of attacking me directly, he monologued.
"So, how does it feel to know you're the one with little to no power in this fight, ese?"
"That's funny. That's the question I should be asking you."
"You don't know what my new mistress has done for me, Kord. You could do well in siding with her. You never had the powers the almighty Temerus gave people like us, but your use of the... the 'voices', as you've called them, are so wide and varied that Madame Nolla would make an exception."
"Fuck you, you child-murdering fuck."
"Enough with the expletives, Kord."
"...yes, enough with the expletives."
We clashed at the same time, our fists hit each other. Knuckles were cracked. Camazotz seethed, then blinked out of existence. I knew he was behind me- I did a few lightning-fast clicks and, brain registering he was directly southwest of me, I aimed in that direction and sent him into the bodies of his victims. He cursed at me, then sent a wave of bats. I dodged and jumped from side to side, not noticing he was blinking towards me. I put up a hand to dodge the attack, but before I realized how stupid that was he pounded my skull in from over me. He laughed, and I sent a sonic burst at him. It clipped him, barely, earning a curse which helped me pinpoint his exact position.
Then he crashed into me with his black, sharp tendrils for fingers. He was becoming more and more batlike. Two wings flapped intently at his sides.
"You believe you are the only one who learns new tricks? Well, I have a few more for you!" His form kept blinking repeatedly, and then, two more forms showed up to his left. And then two more. And then two more. A circle made of Camazotz images circled me, laughing.
"Ha! You can't catch me! There are twenty of me- which one is me?! Which one is the after image, eh? You can't tell? Well, let me help you!" All twenty of him kicked at me. Not knowing which one was actually going to land, I did what I could- I used a sonic burst and went upwards into the air.
Landing back down was rough. I landed on two iron spikes, impaling through my feet. I screamed. And screamed. And screamed. The screams were both out of pain and out of defense- Camazotz' batlike ears couldn't take the screaming and when he did lunge, I knew where he was. But soon I was out of human screams.
He came towards me. Sixty bats were at his heels. He had a dagger raised to my throat. No display of force. No monologue. No "any last requests". He was going to just slit my throat after all that.
"No," I thought, grabbing his stupid rusty dagger out of his sunburnt clawed hands, "No he fucking doesn't." I lifted him with my other free hand. Bats were clawing and biting me, drawing and sapping blood. If he wasn't going to give me an impressive death, I would at least show him the gratitude of giving him one.
So I used a very dangerous technique O'Zalia taught me. I lowered my voice, with the help of the things in my mind, to an absurdly low frequency. And then I belted it out. Bats popped into viscera and bone around me. Glass shattered. Camazotz looked at me for a second or two- with a confused, tentative look- then his head inflated and burst like a blood-filled balloon. The bats that were not already popped crumpled to the ground and sizzled away. If I could have gotten to my knees and passed out right then I would have. But there were spikes in my feet. So I went comatose standing up.
Walking back through the old base of operations was difficult. O'Zalia contacted me telepathically one last time. "For now, this is the last we meet. I have to think. If you find another person hellbent on genocide or catastrophe, you can talk to me, but for now this will be my last message to you." I tried finding Wildfire, Sound, Myrir, and all the others. Whatever happened to the Fury creature, what happened to the man in the lettered mask? I had so many questions, and I wanted to continue fighting evil- killing Demigods and Servants that dared try to kill crowds of people or worse- and I wanted to get stronger.
But no. Nothing. Not even the man in the lettered mask.
And now, my life sinks into emptiness.
Well, at least I have my memories.
And the voices in my head.
...y'know what?
Fuck it. I'm going to look for trouble.
From what I've heard of others, it seems to work wonders. And I want to take that big blue giant of the masked man's down a peg first. Because nobody slams me against a wall without losing a few teeth or a life. But for now, I guess this is Kord, signing out. For now.
