by T5
On that day, the souls that inhabited the Dust Wastes were distracted by a loud boom from somewhere out on the plains. Strange lights brightened the sky, and the loud bangs seemed to indicate that a fight of immense proportion was taking place.
Something hurled toward the castle, flying with great speed. And as soon as the demons and souls that lived there saw what it was, they fled.
Naecken fell into the right tower, which collapsed under the force of the crash. And after him roared a huge vehicle that resembled an attack fighter from some science-fiction movie. The wings were equipped with huge cannons that glowed with powers that were not of this world or any other in this reality.
T5 was angry. The target refused to co-operate. Some resistance had been foreseen, but this... this was on a level no one could have predicted. What should have been a simple retrieval mission had turned into a battle of wills.
What surprised Naecken most was the fact that the last blast from that relentless machine had actually made him bleed.
He lay in the rubble of the fallen tower and saw his attacker approach him from above. Two well-placed pulses of energy discharges turned the rest of the castle into a ball of flame. The dwellers within were reduced to ashes in an instant. The explosion caused Naecken to once again fly like so much debris.
As he crashed on the dust-covered ground, he decided that enough was enough. He rose onto his feet and called for his trident.
It came to him instantly, flying with unimaginable speed.
T5 saw this and reloaded his cannons with his otherwordly quantum energies. Nothing would keep him from completing his mission.
Naecken took a deep breath and sent a huge blast of pure hellfire against T5, who raised some kind of energy shield. The hellfire behaved as if it had been liquid, and seemed to flow around the mechanical entity like oil on water.
Surprised by this, Naecken failed to protect himself from yet another volley of blasts. He was badly hurt. Outrageous! This was unprecedented. Never before had anyone been able to do this, with the exception of the Fallen One, of course.
The pain was immense, and Naecken considered his tactics. Raising his trident, he managed to raise enough heat to ignite a small star, then sent the energies toward his foe.
The T5 unit turned into melted shrapnel and was spread out for miles. Naecken knew he would reassemble, but it would at least take awhile. In the meantime, he could prepare for a little surprise of his own.
He put the trident into the ground and ignited it on a molecular level.
What could be described as the explosion of a nuclear bomb turned the dust and rocks into a hellish inferno, and the Fallen One was alerted. He quickly manifested in front of Naecken with a frown on his face.
Grabbing Naecken by the throat, he asked, "What in creation's name is going on here, you fool?"
"Uhh... I'm merely defending myself, O Master and Lord."
"You call this defending yourself? You have disrupted the whole realm, and let loose energies that have killed thousands of my loyal subjects. What is your excuse? What could possibly be so dangerous that you felt the need to do all this?"
Naecken reeled from the pain but answered with strength, "An entity from outside has forced its way into your realm... and... and I came to our defense. It seemed to be on a mission of destruction, and so I took steps to defeat it. I still think it's alive, though."
"An outsider made you do all this? What manner of being is that?" He let Naecken fall to the ground, and Naecken grunted with pain.
"It... seemed... mechanical in nature, but filled with energies that I have never encountered before."
The Fallen One harrumphed at this and looked out over the smoking wasteland. Winds more powerful than a hurricane were sweeping the terrain, and not a soul or demon was to be seen. But in the thickest part of the smoke, a couple of lights suddenly lit up. They were heading straight toward them. And the Fallen One asked, "Is this your adversary?"
Naecken looked in the direction the Fallen One was pointing to. Surprise and anger showed on his face. How the hell could this... this... machine still be functional? He prepared his staff for a blast, but the Fallen One stopped him and spoke.
"I'll take care of this." He focused his energies.
"No, you won't!" said a voice from behind.
The Fallen One felt his energies drain from him.
Mr. Smith stood there with a defiant smile on his face. "Your energies will be mine now, little demon."
Little demon? Didn't this mortal know who he was dealing with?
And suddenly, Zveidi appeared with Ma Kalunga in a fiery portal. She had a smile that would make any demon fear for its life. Ma Kalunga engulfed the Fallen One with black negative energy flames. He screamed, but had no chance to retaliate, as his energies were drained by Smith. As fast he prepared a defensive blast, its energy was sucked into the now-ecstatic Mr. Smith. He had never tasted power like this before. He laughed out loud.
"Hmm... It seems our little mortal friend is having fun," said Zveidi. "You'd better help him contain those energies, Ma Kalunga. I doubt that he is able to keep all that inside him without exploding."
Naecken looked at them and asked, "What's going on here? What do you think you're doing?"
Zveidi turned her attention toward the red devil in front of her. "I had planned to do this in some nearby future, but as you had begun to bring enough chaos to bring him out here, anyway, I took the initiative and decided to use this situation to my advantage."
The T5 entity descended in front of them and prepared its cannons to fire on Naecken again.
"Hold, T5," ordered Zveidi. "Cease this meaningless fight and help me contain the Fallen One. We need all available power that you can muster."
The entity looked at Naecken, then formed the capture unit that it had prepared for Naecken. It swept across the now-struggling over-demon. Not even the first of the fallen could break out of the prison that both Ma Kalunga and T5 prepared with containment fields.
The Fallen One's anger couldn't be measured. Never before had he been in such a humiliating situation. But he struggled to no avail. The energies he tried to break open his prison with were quickly absorbed by Mr. Smith. He was trapped.
"Now, T5, eject him into your realm before he manages to overpower Smith."
A hatch opened in the front of the cage, and a small cylinder appeared. Within was the now-seething Fallen One. The cylinder blinked and later reappeared outside the known realms of reality, the domain of the Quadinc. The entities who resided in this realm quickly recognized the power of the being inside the cylinder and hastened to secure it within a containment facility.
In the meantime, T5 looked at Naecken and said, "My mission is to reclaim the Quadinc residing within you. Please don't struggle. It will only prolong the inevitable."
Naecken prepared for yet another fight, but Zveidi held up her hand. "There's no need for that now." And she threw a binding spell on the mechanical being.
"What the--?" Naecken looked at her in surprise.
"I have simply bound it to you, my dear Naecken. No longer will he fight you, but instead he will be your loyal slave and protector. A simple spell, but effective. I'm sure you will agree?" She gave Naecken an evil smile.
"Uh, yeah. Hmm... this could be useful if I..."
"Not so fast," interrupted Zveidi. "You will have to give me something in return, of course."
"Oh? And what do you have in mind?"
"Nothing remarkable... just a return ticket to the mortal realm. I have a score to settle there."