Inquisitor's Promise (Act Three, Chapter Four)

The Holy League had been united, but the Grey Globe continued to move towards Earth. Aeneas and the members of his inner circle knew they had much to do and little time to prepare.

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Chapter Four: Dark Lord of the Cabal

Aeneas looked towards his adversary in front of him. The dark felinid had a very different look than when they had last met in the Yokohama. The Inquisitor remembered Bashan to be a weakling who used his clone daughter to fight his battle for him and fled when it didn’t work out.

But the Dark Lord of the Cabal now was a completely different man. His posture was better, for one thing. Gone was his hunchback as he now stood at well over six Imperial feet, taller than Aeneas himself. His entire body was metallic, no doubt he had gone through a great makeover.

There was one thing that Bashan never got rid of, his sneer. That was what Aeneas remembered the most of his interaction with the Dark Lord.

Aeneas saw that Bashan was holding on to a large box; it looked to be one of those data boxes that he had seen throughout the Monolith. Aeneas was curious of what his adversary was intending to do with it.

The Inquisitor was glad that he had his armor and testudo shield with him. Not to mention the soldiers that he had with him. His phalanx troops were behind him in addition to Jaya, Antonio, and Galatea. With Jaya was his bandit riflemen, while his spearmen were posted to defend the town. Meanwhile, the machine spirit probes were flying in the sky.

For good measure, Halpful was there with his own weapon: a ray gun.

Aeneas was not sure what had brought the Cabal leader to make such a bold move. He considered simply attacking, perhaps he might end things right then and there.

“I know what you’re thinking, Lord Inquisitor,” Bashan said hatefully. “But I wouldn’t attack if I were you.”

Bashan then showed the white box that he was holding. “Do you know what this is, recordkeeper?”

“A data box,” Halpful said knowingly. “You took it out of its server.”

“Indeed. My action caused everyone in here to be put into stasis. Though they are still alive,” Bashan responded.

“Where are you going with this, robot cat?” Antonio cried.

“The inhabitants of this box had the temerity to attack me when I tried to recruit them for my Black Crusade against you. Apparently, they had just been baptized. All of them. As you can expect, they didn’t take kindly to my suggestion,” Bashan said.

“And now you’re holding them as hostage,” Aeneas stated knowingly.

Bashan grinned. “Something like that.”

“But then you found others who wanted to help you out?” Jaya asked.

“Yes,” Bashan said with a sneer. “I managed to find others. Those who are sympathetic to my cause. But more importantly, they have the technology to make a machine out of me.”

“And so, you became a machine spirit,” Halpful finished.

Putting the box aside with one hand, Bashan then motioned with the other towards his chest. A bluish glow emanated out of it. “This is where my chip is. The old Bashan Voronin is dead. I am a new man!”

“You can never be a new man by technology, Sir Bashan. Regardless of what you did to your body, you are still the same man!” Galatea cried.

Bashan then turned his sneer towards Galatea. “Heh. This is the Inquisitor’s lady knight that I’ve heard about? You talk too much do you know that?”

Galatea gasped in reaction. Taken aback, she did not know what to say in return.

But Halpful spoke up. “She is right, Bashan. You should know that there are two ways for a machine spirit to be made: a regular human becoming one and machine spirits procreating with one another.”

“Your point?” Bashan asked, unimpressed.

“My point is that even with a human race as alien as the machine spirits, there are still only male and female. The human condition will always remain until Kingdom Come,” Halpful explained.

“Bah! I’m not here to be lectured,” Bashan said dismissively.

“Then what are you here for?” Aeneas asked.

Bashan gave Aeneas an evil grin. “A little show.”

The cyborg then took the data box that he was holding and crushed it into smithereens.

“No,” Aeneas said in despair.

“You monster!” Galatea cried.

In response, Bashan laughed evilly. “How many martyrs did I make just now. One hundred? One thousand? Bwa ha ha ha ha.”

“Open fire!” Aeneas cried. He was not about to let Bashan get away with this.

The Inquisitor activated his testudo turret. And he began firing. As did Jaya and his rifleman bandits. From the sky, Aeneas’ machine spirit probes began raining down laser upon Bashan. Halpful also helped with his ray gun.

The self-proclaimed Dark Lord cried out in pain as he was being fired upon. The cyborg quickly flew away to safety.

Aeneas let out a curse word as he saw Bashan running away. This was the second time that the Cabal leader had slipped away from his grasp.

“How did he still live?” Jaya said in confusion. “We peppered him with enough firepower to destroy a small tank!”

“He was protecting his chest, where his chip was,” Halpful stated. “That’s his weak point.”

“We must pursue after him!” Antonio declared.

But just as the wyvern knight had said those words, cyborgs and flying drones appeared, the former at the bridge while the latter in the sky. But Aeneas knew that he had to push on regardless.

“With me, men!” Aeneas commanded as he waved his Papal baton. His phalanx troops then gathered around him.

“Let’s go, posse!” Jaya cried out. “And don’t look down.”

And thus, the troops of Aeneas and Jaya gathered around their respective commanders. Jaya took to the left wing while his bandit spearmen were at the front while the riflemen were at the back. Wanting to be helpful, Halpful was amongst their ranks.

For Aeneas’ division, his shielded troops formed up their ranks. Aeneas was in the middle of the formation with Galatea and Sancho Panza next to him.

Meanwhile, Antonio took to the sky with Don Quixote. The wyvern knight was accompanied by the machine spirit drones.

And they advanced. Aeneas’ shielded soldiers and Jaya’s spearmen were able to keep out the projectiles launched by the cyborgs as they closed in. The former bandit leader was glad that Aeneas was generous enough to give his posse energy shields.

Galatea and Sancho Panza did well for themselves as the wyvern was able to absorb the cyborgs’ attacks, protecting the main army.

Keeping the cyborgs’ weakness in mind, Aeneas’ army took care to aim at the chests. Jaya and his riflemen had much success in thinning out of the cyborg ranks.

As for Aeneas’ phalanx troops, they used their small swords to pierce the cyborg chests and had similar success. Aeneas himself used his testudo turret to take out as many cyborgs as he could.

In the sky, the battle amongst the machine spirits were even. At least until Antonio got involved and was able to destroy the drones with both his lance and his wyvern’s claws.

“Wow, Antonio is amazing,” Galatea said in awe as she saw her cousin destroying scores of the flying drones.

“Stay focused, Galatea!” Aeneas commanded. “We must pay attention to the battle in front of us.”

Galatea nodded to acknowledge her lord. She then turned her attention to her wyvern. “Burn them down, Sancho Panza!”

The wyvern then began breathing fire towards the cyborgs. This turned out to be very effective as the metallic men were very vulnerable to heat and fire. Scores of them were destroyed.

The battle could not have gone better for the Inquisitor. As Aeneas scanned the battle in front of him, he could see that his side was winning. He only needed to press on and reach both Bashan and the Dark Age Archive.

But then Bashan Voronin made his return to the battlefield. He flew towards where Antonio was fighting.

At this point, Antonio was having a good time. He had been mowing down the enemy probes with ease. With the skies now as good as won, Antonio swooped down on a mass of cyborg troops. The body mass of Don Quixote was able to launch many of them careening down the abyss below.

Antonio was able to see Bashan in time and parried the cyborg felinid’s strike with his lance.

“Time for your wings to be clipped, wyvern knight. Permanently,” Bashan sneered.

Bashan unleashed a barrage of missiles from his arms, but Don Quixote was able to destroy them with his fire.

Antonio lunged at Bashan with his lance, but his strike was deflected by the cyborg’s arm. Bashan launched another missile at Antonio. This time it struck Don Quixote’s left wing.

The wyvern cried out in pain as the missile exploded. The energy shield had ameliorated the damage, but it still hurt.

“Stay with me, Don Quixote,” Antonio commanded. The wyvern steeled himself, but it was clear that he was tiring out.

Thankfully, help was on its way for the wyvern knight.

Antonio grinned as he saw machine spirit probes coming to his aid. The probes then fired their lasers at Bashan.

Bashan cursed as he saw that he was being outnumbered. The felinid cyborg launched more missiles, destroying the probes.

However, this gave Antonio enough time to launch his strike towards Bashan. The wyvern knight lunged towards his adversary with his wyvern’s quick speed. And Antonio was able to land a hit, his lance stabbing through the body.

Except that his lance had hit Bashan’s shoulder, not chest.

Antonio watched in horror as the Dark Lord let out an evil laugh. “Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha. Your lance, missed the mark.”

Bashan then took the lance that was lodged in his chest and broke it. He then punched Don Quixote’s head, knocking the wyvern back. It took every bit of Antonio’s strength not to get dismounted.

Antonio couldn’t help but curse as he realized the tables had turned against him. He had lost his lance and Don Quixote was struggling to stay afloat. They were in deep now.

Down below, Galatea gasped as she saw how the battle between Bashan and Antonio was unfolding. The battle on the ground may be close to being won, but Antonio was going to die.

“Lord Aeneas,” Galatea called out, pointing towards the sky.

Aeneas nodded in understanding. He too, had watched the sky battle. “Go.”

The lady knight smiled, happy that she was in sync with her beloved. “Let’s go, Sancho Panza!”

The wyvern then flew as fast as he could towards Bashan. The cyborg felinid was pursuing the retreating Antonio as he saw another wyvern knight lunging towards him.

Bashan guarded in time as Sancho Panza breathed fire on the cyborg. The wyvern did not let up and soon the cyborg felinid was engulfed in an inferno. But the flames soon dissipated, and Bashan was shown to be unharmed.

Galatea was shocked to see Bashan unfazed. “How did you…”

“Tank it?” Bashan finished. “You didn’t think that I have the same cyborg body as the others, did you? No, my lady knight. I’ve constructed this body long ago with the help of the Zaibatsu. I just needed someone to turn me into a machine spirit, that’s all.”

Galatea tried to ignore Bashan’s ranting as she commanded her wyvern to attack Bashan with his claws. But Bashan was able to parry the attack.

The lady knight gasped in shock. She did not expect Bashan to be able to block a wyvern’s attack so casually. She wanted to withdraw, but she knew that if she did so then Antonio was as good as dead.

Thus, Galatea fought on.

Meanwhile, Antonio made his retreat. He could see that the battle was almost won on the ground. Not quite a cleanup operation, but close. The wyvern knight lowered his wyvern to the ground, he knew that Don Quixote was in great pain.

And Aeneas approached the wyvern knight.

“Return to our camp, Antonio,” the Inquisitor commanded. “Get some rest and tend to your wyvern’s wounds!”

“But little cousin,” Antonio protested.

“We’ll take care of it. You’re no good to me dead,” Aeneas said with smile.

“Sorry I was so careless,” Antonio said sheepishly.

But Aeneas shook his head in return. “Don’t be silly. You were my most valuable soldier out there.”

And so, Antonio withdrew from the battle. But he had done his part. The skies were clear of enemy drones. The only drones left in the sky were friendly ones. And they had been attacking the cyborgs on the bridge for some time.

The main army under Aeneas and Jaya were moving forward, slowly but surely. From where he was, Aeneas could see the battle between Galatea and Bashan. At this point, their battle was taking place not far above the bridge.

Aeneas couldn’t help but grin as he saw how the battle had unfolded. Most of Bashan’s army had been wiped out. And once the remaining were taken care of, they could focus fire on Bashan and take him out for good.

The Inquisitor was conflicted at the thought of his beloved battling Bashan. A part of him worried for her but he knew that Sancho Panza was easily the strongest wyvern in San Felipe. All she needed to do was to play it safe. Stall the Dark Lord long enough until the main army reach them.

But then, Galatea made a fatal mistake.

Sancho Panza deflected Bashan’s punch with his wings. He then managed to land a headbutt to Bashan’s belly, knocking the cyborg felinid back.

Seeing her opportunity, Galatea lunged her lance towards Bashan’s glowing chest. But the cyborg easily parried the hit with his arm and launched a missile towards Galatea.

And she was struck.

Galatea’s energy shield was able to absorb the missile’s explosion. But she was thrown by the impact and fell off from Sancho Panza.

“No! Galatea!” Aeneas screamed in horror as Galatea hit the ground.

The battle was low enough that she would most likely survive the fall. But high enough for Aeneas to be concerned.

Aeneas saw the fallen form of his beloved. And she was surrounded by cyborgs. And with Sancho Panza in battle against Bashan, there was no way that the wyvern could protect her.

“I’m going after her,” Aeneas declared. “Jaya, cover me!”

“Got it!” Jaya nodded. The former bandit leader had serious reservations about this course action, but he kept them to himself. Galatea was in danger and there was no time to be lost.

And thus, Aeneas and his phalanx soldiers rushed off towards Galatea. Meanwhile, Jaya’s riflemen began firing on the cyborgs. The spearmen then boldly charged at the enemy.

The Inquisitor’s daring charge paid off as his troops managed to fight their way to Galatea’s position.

With his troops having formed a defensive line around Galatea, Aeneas checked on his beloved. He was relieved to see that she was alive, though unconscious.

As Aeneas moved to pick up his beloved, he could see the battle still raging at the back. With Aeneas’ phalanx division away, Jaya’s bandits were struggling to deal with the cyborgs. They were getting overwhelmed.

Aeneas was planning to have his troops escort him back with Galatea. But he knew that Jaya needed his help, now.

He looked up to the sky and saw Sancho Panza still battling against Bashan. The wyvern looked frenzied as it aggressively attacked the cyborg felinid. Too aggressively.

As for his own position, the cyborgs were all but gone. Most of them had converged towards Jaya’s position. What little of them here were being cleared out by the flying drones.

And so, Aeneas turned towards his soldiers.

“Help them out, do it now!” Aeneas commanded.

“But what about you, Captain General?” one of the soldiers asked, a Roman officer.

“Don’t worry about me,” Aeneas said. He then motioned to the unconscious Galatea. “She’ll protect me.”

That joke earned the Inquisitor a chuckle from his soldiers. But they nodded as they realized the gravity of the situation.

Thus, they charged towards Jaya’s position.

As Aeneas watched his troops making a rear charge, he knew that it was time for him to move. He was about to pick up Galatea when a large figure flew in front of him.

“Going somewhere?” Bashan sneered.

“What?!” Aeneas exclaimed. “Where’s Sancho Panza?”

“See for yourself,” the self-styled Dark Lord then pointed behind him.

Aeneas’ eyes widened as he saw that Sancho Panza had fallen. He could scarcely believe it himself.

“How?”

“This body is strong enough to defeat a wyvern, obviously,” Bashan bragged. “Though that thing was much easier to deal with once its mistress was taken out. It became so angry that its moves were very predictable. I avoided its lunge and struck it down to the ground.”

Aeneas could feel his frustration bubbling inside of him. Everything was falling apart right in front of his eyes because of this villain. But he couldn’t give up: Galatea’s life was at stake. The Holy League was at stake. His promise to his father was at stake.

But there was no way for him to take on Bashan by himself. That Cabal leader had defeated Antonio and Sancho Panza.

Aeneas knew that the battle at the back was still ongoing. He had to do what Galatea had failed to do, stall Bashan.

“Why, Bashan? Why did you seek me out?” Aeneas asked. “Tell me!!!”

In response, Bashan let out a sinister laugh. “This is obviously an attempt to stall for time. But I’ll humor you, nonetheless.”

“Go on,” Aeneas said as he vertically placed his testudo shield on the ground.

“It’s easy, my Lord Inquisitor,” Bashan said. “If you are to fail here, then you wouldn’t be able to defeat the Grey Globe. And I want the Church to be engulfed by the Grey Globe.”

“But if the Church fails to defeat the Grey Globe, then everyone on Earth will die,” Aeneas pointed out. “You’re not making any sense.”

At this point, Bashan’s face became deranged. “Here’s some sense for you, Lord Inquisitor: I hate you! I hate you and I hate the Church! I don’t know which one I hate more, but I hate you both!”

Aeneas cringed as he heard his adversary’s declaration, but he was also outraged. “That’s it! That is your puerile ridiculous reason for why you forsook your own people? Your home?”

“You speak of the Azov, yes?” Bashan said, unperturbed by Aeneas’ angered response.

Aeneas nodded in response, still struggling to keep his anger in check. “As we speak, the Imperial Army is invading that place. I would think that you’d come to their aid.”

“I care not a whiff for that place or its people,” Bashan declared. “They’re only good as far as they can be used against the Church!”

“I don’t understand you! They’re your kith and kin!” Aeneas cried.

Bashan shrugged. “So what? They’re just little cats. And the little cats are good for nothing more than to be used by the big cats.”

“Big cats like you,” Aeneas said sharply. At this point, Aeneas had quietly activated his testudo shield’s turret.

“Yes.”

Aeneas did not know what to say in response. Was there even anything to say to that? No, there was nothing more to be said.

“Okay, time’s up,” Bashan said. “Time to die now, Lord Inquisitor.”

But Aeneas was able to attack first as he fired his turret. The Inquisitor aimed his turret at the cyborg felinid’s chest. And he did not let up. Bashan reacted by guarding his chest with his arm.

Eventually, Aeneas’ turret had overheated.

Aeneas saw that Bashan was rattled by the attack. But he frowned as he saw that his glowing chest was being guarded.

But he had to act now. If he didn’t, he was as good as dead. Aeneas took out his Papal baton and swung it with both hands. Knowing that he would not be able to hit the chest, he aimed for the cyborg’s head.

And he struck hard. A sickening crack was heard.

Aeneas saw that the right half of Bashan’s head was completely disfigured. His neck was twisted. Surely, he had gotten the Dark Lord of the Cabal.

But to his horror, he saw Bashan slowly moving his neck to face Aeneas.

“I’ll give you credit there, Lord Inquisitor,” Bashan sneered once more. “If I have been a normal man, I would’ve been dead by now.”

Aeneas rushed back to reach for his testudo shield. He was able to retrieve it, but Bashan flew towards Aeneas.

“I don’t think so,” Bashan said as he lifted up Aeneas by his neck. With one of his hands holding his testudo shield, Aeneas used his other hand to pry the grip loose. To no avail.

Bashan then threw Aeneas at Sancho Panza. As Aeneas hit the wyvern, he could hear Sancho Panza’s pained reaction. The wyvern seemed to have been woken up by the hit. If Aeneas did not fear for his life, he would have been glad to find out that Sancho Panza was alive after all. But as it stood, the two of them were going to die together.

“And now, Lord Inquisitor. You will die.”

While the battle between Aeneas and Bashan was ongoing, Galatea had come to. As she was getting back to her feet, she wondered how she had yet lived.

Trying to get her bearings of the battlefield, Galatea absentmindedly picked up her lance which had been on the ground. And that was when she heard Bashan’s last statement.

The lady knight was horrified to see both her beloved and her wyvern helpless on the ground. Quickly, she rushed; she knew that she had to act.

“Leave my lord be!” Galatea shouted as loud as she could at the cyborg lord who was facing away from her.

Bashan turned his neck towards Galatea, but not his whole body. “Eh?”

Galatea yelped at what she had just witnessed. Not only was Bashan’s head in an unnatural position, but it was also greatly disfigured. It took everything in her not to run away screaming.

“What are you?”

“Your beloved Inquisitor had the same reaction, if I recall,” Bashan said nonchalantly as he slowly walked towards Galatea.

Galatea pointed her lance at Bashan’s chest, her face showing defiance.

But Bashan was not impressed. “What are you going to do? I have defeated your cousin, your wyvern, and your Lord Inquisitor. And let’s not forget that I have defeated you while you were with your wyvern. What can you possibly do by your own lonesome?”

“I- I don’t know,” Galatea admitted. “But I can’t give up! I must keep Lord Aeneas safe!”

In response, Bashan gave out an evil laugh. “Women are so easy to manipulate. Trust me, I know. But they also have a tendency to let me down. The only one you can rely on, is yourself.”

Galatea said nothing as she continued to point her lance at Bashan.

“Why don’t you give it up,” Bashan said arrogantly.

“No!”

“Fine, then,” Bashan said. He grinned evilly. “I’ll just kill you too. In fact, I’ll kill both you and your lord Inquisitor. Together. It’ll be romantic. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha…”

But that was the last words Bashan Voronin ever said as Aeneas swooped down from the sky. With his testudo shield, he bumped the cyborg felinid. The force of the bump was such that he was thrown onto Galatea’s lance.

Chest first.

Galatea screamed as Bashan was thrown onto her. Her lance had pierced through the cyborg’s glowing machine spirit chip. But Bashan was significantly bigger and taller than her that she was thrown onto the ground with the cyborg on top of her.

“Galatea!” Aeneas cried out in concern. He rushed to his beloved and shoved the huge cyborg body away from the diminutive knight.

Gratefully, Aeneas brought Galatea to her feet.

“I’m fine,” Galatea said uneasily. “He’s dead, right?”

Aeneas nodded as he saw the pierced cyborg body of Bashan Voronin. “He’s dead. He needed to be.”

Aeneas took Galatea’s lance out of Bashan’s cyborg corpse. He thought of handing it back to its rightful owner but held on to it for the moment.

The two lovers saw the disfigured face of Bashan. Aeneas’ strike had happened so quickly that the cyborg felinid never knew what hit him. His creepy sneer had remained. He had been confident of his victory until everything suddenly crashed down on him.

“How did you do that, anyways?” Galatea asked, referring to Aeneas’ swooping strike.

“I had Sancho Panza take me to the sky and launch me down towards Bashan,” Aeneas explained.

“Wow,” Galatea said in awe. “I didn’t know you can do that.”

Aeneas shook his head. “Neither did I, but I had to think of something to save you.”

“You’re really full of surprises, Lord Aeneas,” Galatea said in admiration. The lady knight knew that a wyvern’s bond with its masters extended to their loved ones also, she had heard the stories told of her mother. But what her own beloved had pulled off was something else entirely.

Aeneas smiled in return. “Don’t sell yourself short, Lady Galatea. Technically, it was you who killed Bashan Voronin. You were the one who had put an end to the Cabal.”

Galatea chuckled as she heard of her beloved’s praises. “I was just at the right place at the right time. I always am.”

“Perhaps the same could be said for everyone.”

A brief silence fell between the two. It was then that Aeneas noticed something odd at the tip of Galatea’s lance. A small trinket was hanging out of it.

“What’s this?” Aeneas said. He took the object and saw a small square item, there was hole in the middle of it.

“What’s that, Lord Aeneas?” Galatea asked.

“It’s a machine spirit chip, “Aeneas answered. “Its lack of bluish glow meant that the machine spirit inside is dead.”

“Which means, that Bashan is most definitely dead,” Galatea said.

Aeneas nodded. The Inquisitor then scanned his surroundings, he knew that a battle was still ongoing.

Or so he had thought. He soon saw that both Jaya’s bandits and his own phalanx troops were now cleaning up the battlefield. There were also friendly machine spirit probes flying around.

The battle had been won. The way was now clear towards the Dark Age Archive. And the Dark Lord of the Cabal had been killed.

“Lord Aeneas,” Galatea said as she gave her beloved a sweet smile. “We make a great team, don’t we?”

Aeneas smiled in return. “We sure do.”

“I can’t wait to see how Antonio’s going to react when he found out that I was the one who killed Bashan Voronin!”

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