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All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=17l528VwpFEInuBuZ1Al9vFvQXxVFwa_BbZBLVxbRQ1k)

For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included.

FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/

Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/

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Chapter 6: IT COMES

Sugar Skull turned around as he heard the popping sound, and his eyes grew wide. Immediately, he then swiveled his body back to Gene Lightfoot and grabbed the rabbit demigod’s wrist.

“RUN!” he shouted.

Pulling Gene with him, the ghoul dashed as fast as he could to the exit. Marvelous Man realized something dangerous was about to happen and backed out mausoleum while bumping the back of his head on the marble doorframe by accident.

Marvelous Man stifled his yelp of pain and ran into the darkness. He remembered a tree not too far from the marble structure and made his way towards it. Not sure if he was about to run into the tree at any second, he commanded his light to flick on at a glow dim enough to see where he was going.

Upon spotting the wide tree, Marvelous Man ducked behind it. He peered out and spotted his new acquaintances chasing after him. Reaching the glowing hero, the two huddled up behind Marvelous Man and stared at the mausoleum. Seconds passed by as nothing happened, except for the glowing hero’s wood softening.

Marvelous Man remarked, “Isn’t it supposed to explode?”

“Maybe? I didn’t want to take any chances,” shrugged Sugar Skull.

The marble building exploded as bone, smoke, and blood ejected from within. The organic shrapnel and smoke that escaped began to withdraw back to the site of explosion and form a dome slightly bigger than the mausoleum that was just there. Seconds crept by as the dome’s area began to shrink. Shrinking and shrinking until it reached the average height adult human height.

The dome then dispersed like wind blowing away sand to reveal what was underneath. Amidst the dissipation stood a figure wearing a hooded cloak that encased his entire body. The cloaked person did not move, while the three metahumans stared on from behind the tree.

Marvelous Man whispered, “He’s not moving. Should we...see if he’s alright?”

“I am not sensing any emotions from that person. He may not even yet be awake,” spoke Gene.

Sugar Skull whispered back, “No choice. Let’s check it.”

Walking around Marvelous Man, Sugar Slow slowly approached the hooded figure. The other two followed suit after the ghoul; nearly tiptoeing as a means of not accidentally causing the hooded figure to violently lash out.

Sugar Skull held out his arm to signal to the superheroes behind him to go no further. He then pointed down; revealing with Marvelous Man’s dim light that there appeared to be a wide ring surrounding the hooded figure with a whisping black smoke fallout. The liquid-like smoke curdled with solid chunks of darkness strewn amidst the smoky pool. Marvelous Man and Gene Lightfoot walked up next to Sugar Skull and stood at the edge of the fallout ring; with the light at close range, the bits of darkness at the edge dissolved from the dim illumination.

“...Excuse me,” weakly called out Marvelous Man.

Marvelous Man coughed and thumped his muscular chest a few times. His compatriots stared at him.

Marvelous Man projected his voice, “Excuse me, sir...or madam. Are you alright?”

The hooded figure said nothing and kept standing there. Seconds later, it slowly turned to the three investigators and casually baby stepped towards them.

“Ah…” he said in a deep, old raspy voice, “I have visitors. How rude of me. Come, come.”

The hooded man raised his arm. A bony, wrinkled white hand motioned the trio with the gesture of welcoming one into their own home. The pool of smoky darkness in front of the three parted to form an aisle leading to the mysterious being.

Marvelous Man began to take a step forward when Sugar Skull grabbed his arm with a tight grip. Marvelous Man looked at Sugar Skull; about to question why he was stopped. Sugar Skull’s flower eyes transformed into a set bear trap before immediately snapping shut. The trap shifted back into the cartoon flower eyes as Sugar Skull turned his attention to the hooded man.

“We’re fine here,” said Sugar Skull.

The man chuckled, “You ghouls. Always so cautious. Oh, how things never change. I wonder how many centuries have passed since I was sealed? Perhaps even a millennium?”

“Just who is it that you are?” questioned Gene.

As the hooded man approached closer, Marvelous Man’s dim light revealed the cloak to have the color of dried blood. There was something bulky underneath the hood, but the three could not identify as to what it was.

“Who? Who am I, that you ask? Oh...I’ve been gone so long that I’ve been forgotten. Not even the limbo-ling is terrified of me. Have you not been told, little Totochtin,” pitied the man.

He proclaimed, “I. AM. THE SKELETON LORD.”

“And you want to take over the world?” said Sugar Skull.

The Skeleton Lord hummed, “Something like that-.”

A booming clap like thunder ringed in the air next to Marvelous Man. The hooded man crumbled to the ground as Marvelous Man and Gene reeled in pain from the ringing in their ears. Sugar Skull held a smoking pistol; aimed at where the Skeleton Lord was standing a second ago.

Marvelous Man moaned, “What the fuck!”

Standing back up, he could feel the earsplitting noise dissipate in his ears.

“Sorry, I didn’t warn you. But I had to kill him when he said he wanted to do world domination. Bad guys sealed away for centuries are put away for a good reason,” apologized Sugar Skull.

Marvelous Man looked down at the groaning bunny boy. Crouching down, he placed his hands over Gene’s that was covering their human ears.

He spoke calmly to Gene, “Here, let me help you.”

Commanding the light from within, Marvelous Man’s hands glowed with light as bright as a soft candlelight. The light stretched onto Lightfoot’s human ears and then extended its envelopment on the white rabbit ears. Marvelous Man fed the light with the happy memory in his teens of painting a portrait of his dad, Apollo, who was very proud of it. The light diagnosed temporary noise-induced hearing loss; painful, but no permanent damage. Gene’s ears shimmered brighter as the tiny ruptures and active nerve endings were soothed and healed.

Marvelous Man released his gentle grasp, causing Gene to look up at him as the major discomfort in Gene’s ears evaporated.

“Feel better?” smiled Marvelous Man.

Gene grinned, “Very much so. Thank you.”

The heart rate beating within Marvelous Man’s chest began to accelerate as did the organ in his bikini. His mind began drawing a blank on what to do next.

“Your thunder arrow managed to pierce my steed’s skull. Bravo,” said the fallen Skeleton Lord.

Marvelous Man and Gene stood up to face of the shot villain. As if being pulled by strings, the Skeleton Lord’s body calmly levitated off the ground. The body rotated in the air until it was held in a bipedal pose.

The Skeleton Lord continued, “That would have killed me. It really would. However, I traded my flesh for immortality. What you struck was...well, let’s just say it was a dried-up puppet”

As Sugar Skull aimed his black glock to fire again, the Skeleton Lord flicked his bony hand like he was commanding one to rise. A sharpened bone the size of a pillar torpedoed out of the whispy smoke close to Sugar Skull; shooting towards the ghoul. The bone pillar punctured into Sugar Skull’s chest; staking all the way through and lifting his body into the air. Crimson blood spurted from the impact and splattered on the side of Marvelous Man’s face and jacket.

Marvelous Man slowly wiped the liquid off his skin and brought it in front of his eyes. Time seemed to come to a crawl as it dawned on him as to what red dampness was. He slowly turned his head to see his ghoulish fellow speared off the ground by the pointed end of a cracked, yellowish spike. The black void in Sugar Skull’s sockets were no longer animated with flower petals, but was filled with the snow of TV static.

Sugar Skull looked down at Marvelous Man and shakily rose his arm to give a bloodied thumbs up.

“...I’mma k…” he coughed.

Marvelous Man could feel a lump in his throat forming; making it hard to swallow. His mind could only focus on the gored ghoul, that he could barely register a liquid trailing down his muscular thighs. There was nothing heroic about this situation. Marvelous Man was caught in the very battle his parents feared.

The Skeleton Lord chuckled, “Well, now. A ghoul that does not vanish after being killed. How very interesting.”

Dashing through the smoke, Gene moved at such a blurring speed that the smoke parted in his wake. The bunny demigod leapt; twisting his waist to the left as his right leg whirled upwards into the air. Lightfoot’s swinging kick connected with the bulky, hooded head and sent the Skeleton briefly launched into the air. Something underneath the hood loosened and detached; flying into the air and leaving the hood to be bulky no more.

The Skeleton Lord crumbled to the ground once again with the bulky object falling down next to him as a horse skull with a bullet hole in the forehead. Gene twirled in midair, changing his direction to face the Skeleton Lord with a second strike. He hit the smoky ground with such velocity, that the rabbit man landed huddled close to the ground with his hands and feet clawing into the ground.

As his body slowed down, Gene arched his back to charge right back at the Skeleton Lord; his blue spandex pants strained against his tight, muscled buttocks. The black smoke on the ground reacted by twisting its matter around the bunny demigod’s limbs to prevent any further movements. Lightfoot struggled at the ensnaring darkness as it anchored his body with his posterior wiggling in the air. The Skeleton Lord’s figure repeated the levitation and rotation process until he was presented with himself standing upright.

“My...what a kick. When did Totochtin become this powerful? It would definitely have made it more of a fun challenge to slay your kind back then,” mused the Skeleton Lord.

Gene’s eyes widened, “...What?!”

The Skeleton Lord bent down to pick up the horse skull and softly dusted it with the side of his pale hand. With his back turned to Marvelous Man’s light and unhooded, the Skeleton Lord’s face remained obscured by the night and shadows as he walked to Gene Lightfoot. He then placed the equine skull back on his head while continuing his approach.

“Yes, they were but a lecherous bunch, they were. Most of them did not even know how to fight. Your gods wasted their gifts and gave every one of your kind those ears you sport. But I was well aware of the dangerous potential your race had. A pity though. It seems I failed at snuffing out your elders, and now your gods finally understood how fearsome you could become,” he sighed.

Gene gritted his teeth, “You are a mon-”

Solid blackness launched out of smoky ground; taking the shape of a phallic form, it shot into Gene’s mouth and gagged any other words the bunny demigod was about to say. Within touching distance, the Skeleton Lord petted Gene’s head as the phallic dark matter slowly thrusted back and forth in the rabbit man’s orifice.

“Now, now. I can’t have you mad. I still have use for you before I absorb your body and soul. It’s the lowest form of spiritual energy, but I feel like having fun after feeling my loins burn with your arrival,” he said.

The smoking darkness pinning down Gene began to erect upwards like a pole. As it rose, Gene’s crouched form slowly splayed in a spread eagle pose. The black tube in Gene’s mouth separated from the shadowy ground and split the severed ends into straps. The dark straps wrapped around Lightfoot’s head and connected with each other upon reaching the back of the cranium. Even amidst all the action, the humping black cylinder never lost pace sliding up and down Gene’s throat.

The Skeleton Lord’s bony hand reached out to touch. His pale fingertips graced against underneath Gene’s naval. Eyes closed, Gene shuddered as if he were lightly touched with something cold. The Skeleton Lord traced his fingers upward; over the naval, across the muscled abdomen, and then reached Lightfoot’s chiseled chest. A soft moan escaped the bunny demigod’s gagged lips, as his body meekly wiggled from sexual stimulation. The Skeleton Lord glided his hand over Gene’s left nipple and playfully tweaked it.

The robed being licked his lips, “Mmm, before I sip on your lust energy, I just have one more thing to give my attention to.”

The Skeleton Lord turned his direction to face the shocked Marvelous Man and the impaled Sugar Skull.

“Marvelous...Man...break...it,” gurgled Sugar Skull.

Hearing Sugar Skull call out to him, Marvelous Man broke out of his stupor. He looked at the goring bone that speared the ghoul into the air. The shining demigod knew he needed to get Sugar Skull down without sending the impaled being flying and being injured even more.

An idea came to Marvelous Man. Floating up to the penetrating bone, Marvelous Man angled himself and wrapped his wide, powerful thighs around the yellow spearing column. His thunderous legs flexed; tightening its muscular cords like a boa constrictor squeezing its prey to death. The bone pillar cracked for a moment before immediately splintering in half from the deadly crushing force of Marvelous Man’s quadriceps.

Sugar Skull fell to the ground with a thud; the impaled half of the bone still lodged into his torso. Marvelous Man instantly knew that he did not think things completely through.

Marvelous Man apologized, “Ohmygosh, I’m so sorry!”

As Marvelous Man descended back to the ground as Sugar Skull struggled to pull out the yellow splintered bone out of his chest.

“It’s fine. I’ll be ok in a few minutes. I just need to get this out of me,” said the ghoul.

Marvelous Man spoke, “Oh. Sure.”

Lightly applying his foot on Sugar Skull’s ribs, Marvelous Man yanked the broken bone pillar out of the ghoul’s torso as it made a squelchy plop sound.

“Thanks,” grunted Sugar Skull.

As he lied on the ground, he noticed the ring of smoky darkness extending whisps of itself in an attempted to ensnare Marvelous Man. Marvelous Man was ignorant of the blackness due to his back being turned for attending his fallen comrade. There was not enough time for Sugar Skull to gather the energy to shout a warning to the illuminated hero.

The shadowy ropes shot through the air, but then dissolved the moment it became fully illuminated by the light encasing Marvelous Man’s hulking body. More tangling darkness ejected out, yet the result was the same. The Skeleton Lord observed from afar of the effect and quickly flicked his pale hand to command another bone spear pillar to appear.

As Marvelous Man was about to assist in healing, a yellowish bone column sprung from the ring of darkness. The impaling bone rammed Marvelous Man in the back and thrusted him into the air. With Marvelous Man knocked away, only pale moonlight lit the graveyard.

The Skeleton Lord frowned, “Hmmm, not what I intended, but it will do.”

He turned his attention back to the erected Gene Lightfoot; binded and molested by solid shadows. Darkness encased the bunny demigod’s spandex-layered godhood and began to vibrate. Black tendrils extended from the dark binds and playfully pulled at Gene’s cocoa nipples. Lightfoot could only helplessly wiggle and moan as his mouth was being raped by the shadow phallus.

The Skeleton Lord grazed his hands against Gene’s smooth body; gradually sliding all over the place and even dipping underneath the waistband. As he did so, a purple smoke seeped from Gene’s body that trailed behind the Skeleton Lord’s hands. The purple smoke that appeared from all the touching started to flow towards the Skeleton Lord’s face as if he were drinking it in.

Meanwhile, Marvelous Man tried to regain his senses after being flung high into the air. Marvelous Man activated his flight power; steadying himself as he inhaled oxygen to recoup the breath that was knocked out of him. His thoughts were snapping back together and then he realized how high up he was. Everybody looked like large ants beneath him. Perhaps this time, he should try a stealthier approach.

He commanded the light to retreat back inside of him, as Marvelous Man quietly descended to the ground. Marvelous Man levitated as low as he could without touching the earth beneath him. Clenching his arms and legs as close as his bulky muscles could allow him to, he flew as fast as possible towards Sugar Skull.

Upon reaching the ghoul, Marvelous Man came to a halt above Sugar Skull and quickly analyzed the wound. The hole in Sugar Skull’s torso was beginning to close a third of the way. And while the speed of the healing factor was amazing, it wasn’t fast enough.

Sugar Skull wheezed, “Don’t worry about me. Help Gene.”

“We’ll get him, but I need to heal you first. I hope this doesn’t feel too weird for you,” said Marvelous Man.

Placing his hands on Sugar Skull’s shoulders, Marvelous Man commanded the light within himself to flow into Sugar Skull and heal the hole to a close. Marvelous Man knew he needed to hurry, so they can save Gene. The floating hero then began to hum a tune in order to supercharge the light.

The light greedily fed on the humming song and illuminated Sugar Skull’s whole body. Tissues of bone and flesh grew at an explosive rate and sealed the gaping hole in Sugar Skull’s chest within seconds.

Sugar Skull trembled with renewed energy and lightly patted around his freshly healed torso. The TV static in his eyes transformed into the usual cartoon flower shape. However, each of the individual petals were shifting into different rainbow colors and the flowers themselves were spinning at an alarming rate.

His purple teeth chattered, “Oh my God! I feel like I got a caffeinated happiness injection! Why do I feel like practicing my guitar and the need to work out?! Why am I glowing like a rave stick?!”

“Probably a side effect of supercharging my healing powers. It should wear off, I think,” said Marvelous Man.

Levitating higher up, Marvelous Man held out his hand for Sugar Skull. The glowing ghoul accepted the hand and was helped up. During the handholding, Marvelous Man tried to command the light to dissipate from Sugar Skull, but it was no use. Whatever stealth plan Marvelous Man was developing was now rendered null. Sugar Skull was illuminated too brightly and could be instantly spotted by the Skeleton Lord.

Sugar Skull looked at Marvelous Man’s face and noticed his blood splattered on the hero’s face. He quickly pulled a handkerchief out of his sleeve and wiped the blood off in one stroke. Marvelous Man gave him a quizzical look as the ghoul said nothing.

Sugar Skull pointed at the Skeleton Lord’s pool of shadows, “The Skeleton Lord’s darkness can’t handle light. And I think all his bone attacks come from that darkness. If we can shine bright enough, his attacks won’t touch us.”

“...What’s he doing to Gene?” squinted Marvelous Man.

Sugar Skull chattered, “Something. And we need to stop it right now.”

Marvelous Man commanded the light within himself to envelop his body and glow as bright as it could. Sugar Skull dashed forward, as he bent forward to sweep up his gun. The ghoul then stuffed his black glock inside his sleeve; disappearing without any stretches or outlines it.

The whisping blackness dissolved in Sugar Skull’s path, as he made his way to the Skeleton Lord. The circumference of the light he expelled was expanded even further with Marvelous Man hovering above him; shining like daylight.

As they drew closer, Marvelous Man could see the Skeleton Lord draining some sort of purple smoke from Gene Lightfoot. He then grabbed his golden wreath from his head and commanded his light to imbue it with the shining element. Once he could feel it glow, Marvelous Man threw his wreath forward.

The golden athletic wreath obeyed Marvelous Man’s intentions and sailed through the air. Right when it reached close to the oblivious Skeleton Lord, it curved around the supervillain. The wreath then turned sideways and attacked the Skeleton Lord’s wrists; buzzsawing through them with a quick whiz. The Skeleton Lord could only hold up and stare at his amputated forearms as his hands fell into the smoky darkness.

“CURSED WRETCH!!!” screamed the Skeleton Lord.

Turning around, the disarmed villain spotted the two shining metahumans charging towards him as the golden wreath returned to Marvelous Man.

The Skeleton Lord shouted again, “Cursed wretch!”

Arrows of bones launched from the surrounding blackness that was not disintegrated by the light. The bone arrows bounced off of Marvelous Man’s overly muscular body without leaving a mark. Sugar Skull was pierced with shallow wounds, but the effect was reversed almost immediately with the wounds already closing and pushing out the arrows.

“Throw me!” shouted Sugar Skull, “Throw me at him!”

Without question, Marvelous Man picked up the ghoul as he spun in a counter clockwise motion to increase the velocity of his throw. Upon completing his twirl, the muscled hero flung Sugar Skull at the Skeleton Lord. Sugar Skull cackled with his flower eyes furiously spinning with its petals warping into different spectrums of the rainbow.

The Skeleton Lord stood there for a moment in fury before a thrown Sugar Skull collided into his chest and abdomen. The robed being was swept off his feet by the attack and fell to the ground with a hollow thud and tumble.

Sugar Skull immediately rolled back onto his feet and stood up. Reaching into his sleeve, he pulls out a folded butterfly knife. The ghoul playfully pivoted the twirling handles as he casually walked to the fallen Skeleton Lord. When he was within striking distance, Sugar Skull completely unsheathed the blade.

During this event, Marvelous Man flew to Gene; bounded by dark binds and stretched into spread eagle. The black tentacles still played with the bunny demigod’s body, but there was no purple smoke emanating from him at the moment. Marvelous Man took notice that even though his body fully illuminated the shadowy binds, it would not dissipate.

Marvelous Man floated up to Gene’s face, “I’ll get you out in a second!”

Gene could only glance with his eyes barely opened as the phallic darkness kept thrusting itself into his mouth. Marvelous Man had to admit that the display in front of him was very erotic. He could feel his heroic meatus fill with his justice essence as the familiar oppressive erogenous emotion weigh down on him. Marvelous Man shook his head and focused on his need to be a hero at that moment.

With his mind clearing, Marvelous Man figured that perhaps he needed more light. He placed his hands underneath Lightfoot’s armpits and commanded his light to spread onto Gene. The light obeyed, and it spread from his hands to encasing the entire body with shining brightness.

The vibrating black binds slowly disintegrated like paper devoured by fire. With Gene in his grasp, Marvelous Man slowly descended as he could feel the rabbit man’s lucky third limb poke with hard aggression at his diamond-cut abdomen. Marvelous Man drew close to the ground and allowed Gene to gently land on their feet.

“You okay?” asked Marvelous Man.

Gene cracked both sides of his neck, “I am alright. Though I would have liked to have been left to cum before the rescue, I still have gratitude for what you did. I have, as your country puts it, the blue balls and need to work out my frustration.”

Other than the oppressive sexual energy putting pressure on him, Marvelous Man could also feel some anger pressing on his emotional state. But he resisted. Marvelous Man searched about for a few seconds before spotting Sugar Skull approaching the fallen Skeleton Lord.

“There they are!” he pointed.

An animated horse skeleton emerged from underneath the Skeleton Lord; spraying a light layer of dirt as it rose. The skeleton equine neighed as it stood on its hind legs for a moment. Sugar Skull, caught in the small dirt explosion, stumbled back as he tried to clear earth from his eye sockets and mouth.

The Skeleton Lord sat up straight on his steed; his hood no longer bulked by the skull that was now attached to the horse. Black smoke connected to his severed arms and seemed to be channeling something.

The Skeleton Lord jeered, “It appears that in my most weakest, even a Totochtin, a ghoul, and a star child can best me.”

The twirling darkness attached to the Skeleton Lord’s stumps began to narrow as it revealed to be connected to something it was pulling. It pulled from the shadowy pool the Skeleton Lord’s hands that Marvelous Man severed. Like a fishing rod, the connected blackness reeled in the dismembered extremities with haste until the limbs were connected. The dark reel then oozed outside the wound like pus before being absorbed into the skin and sealing up the cleaved area. As it did so, the wound Marvelous Man inflicted appeared to have vanish; showing off bony, pale wrists with no scars.

“But I must thank you, Totochtin. When I was unsealed, my strength was that of a morning dewdrop on a leaf. And with what I was able to drink from you, before I was oh so interrupted, is now able to fill a small tin cup,” boasted the Skeleton Lord.

Raising his white hand into the air, he snapped his fingers. The pool of smoky blackness expanded far across the graveyard’s expanse; beyond what the three fighters could see with their illuminated bodies and the light of the full moon. The ground beneath began to vibrate.

The Skeleton Lord proclaimed, “A gift to you. For the generosity and entertainment.”

The skeleton horse neighed and took off; galloping away with the Skeleton Lord’s blood red cloak fluttering in the wind.

Gene reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a silver sphere the size of a large marble ball. The shining, bunny demigod threw the silver ball at the Skeleton Lord. It whistled through the air for a brief second before piercing into the Skeleton Lord’s side. The Skeleton Lord lurched forward but showed no other sign of being in lots of pain.

With the dirt finally dusted out of himself, Sugar Skull ran back to the two superheroes. Gene’s ears twitched as Sugar Skull rejoined them; lining their backs to each other.

“There is too many of them. I cannot keep the count,” said Gene, “All of them are underneath us.”

Marvelous Man exclaimed, “What, zombies?!”

“They have arrived!” shouted Gene.

Bones of skeleton corpses breached through the smoky pool of darkness. Skeletal beings clawed and clamored their way through, as the whisping blackness began to intertwine with the skeletals’ structures. The smoke on the animated skeletons solidified itself into swords, axes, and even black medieval armor that covered parts of the skeleton.

Sugar Skull pulled out his handgun from his sleeve. With the two heroes having their backs turned on the ghoul, Sugar Skull took the butterfly knife in his hand and briefly stabbed himself on his side before quickly pulling out. He winced a bit, as he took up a fighting stance with his black glock resting on the wrist with the bloodied blade. One hand aimed at the boney creatures, while having the other ready to stab. Already, his self-inflicted wound began to heal.

He spoke, “I really hope this army of the damned is the slow moving kind.”

“Hush those words unless you wish to inflict the jinx upon us,” said Gene.

Marvelous Man held up his fists; ready to fight as his sexual tool finally went limp.

The armored skeletons charged forward with their weapons raised. Sugar Skull fired his handgun; piercing the craniums of the raised dead in front of him. Marvelous Man threw his golden wreath and decapitate a few before returning. Gene reached into his pouch and hurled a silver ball; boring through helmets and pulverizing skulls into boney bits.

The skeletons who weren’t caught in the retaliation stopped to gaze upon their fallen brethren. The armor-mimicking darkness on the damaged skeletons dispersed into smoke before being immediately absorbed into the bones. It restructured and mended together all of the broken pieces as the inking blackness pulled the recovering boney creature to stand up straight. The pool of whisping darkness beneath them intertwined once again to form weapons and armor.

Sugar Skull shouted, “Switch to close combat! Our light should stop them from recovering if we stick close to them!”

The three stood their ground; ready to embrace the onslaught. Sugar Skull fired at the skeletons’ kneecaps to cripple those that drew in close to him. He then stabbed and slashed at the exposed bone parts with his bloodied butterfly knife. The boned creatures painted with only a dab of Sugar Skull’s blood shivered for a second before disintegrating into a pile of dust. After each attack, the ghoul would have to duck and twirl about to avoid the swings and stabs of the skeletal beings.

Gene Lightfoot ducked and weaved through the skeletons’ strikes; getting as close as he can before corkscrew punching through their craniums. He would follow up his punches with a roundhouse kick and swing his toned legs at any armored skeleton that would try to ambush his turned back. At any moment Lightfoot was about to be over encumbered by the attacking numbers, he shapeshifted into a small white rabbit and hopped away to a better offensive position. This would leave his opponents slashing at the air and befuddled with confusion.

Marvelous Man parried away the skeletons’ weapons with his golden bracelets before lunging forward to grapple the black armor. Quickly whirling about, he would slam the armored skeleton he grabbed into the attacking fray; smashing the other bony creatures into pieces. After creating a small clearing, Marvelous Man would then toss the skeletal being high into the air and let gravity take care of the rest.

The trio kept repeating their actions, but the numbers never seemed to diminish. Every time they moved away to dodge or fight more armored skeletons, their light drifted away from shining upon the remains. And every time it happened, the pool of darkness would seep into the bones; restoring them back to fighting condition and gifting them with armor and weapons.

“There does not seem to be any end to these skeletons,” noted Gene.

Sugar Skull stabbed another armored skeleton; causing it to atomize into dust.

He shouted, “We need more light! Marvelous Man!”

“I’ll see what I can do, but you guys need to cover me,” said Marvelous Man.

He brought his right leg up high into the air before slamming it down; axe kicking an attacking skeleton into many splinters.

Sugar Skull answered back, “That’s fine. But you need to get us somewhere else. Too many to fight!”

Activating his flight powers, Marvelous Man flew above the reach of the skeletal creatures before diving towards his temporary teammates. He scooped up each one with an arm wrapped around their torso. Marvelous Man then increased his altitude in the hopes of finding a fitting spot to defend and unleash a mass illumination.

“Go over there!” pointed Sugar Skull.

Marvelous looked to where Sugar Skull indicated. It was another mausoleum located a distance away; appearing newer than the one that housed the Skeleton Lord’s coffin. None of the bony creatures were there, and it would take some time for the damned to reach them. If things did not go as planned, the three could climb up to the top of the mausoleum to defend their point or escape. He complied and landed in front of the marbled structure as he released his grasp on the two beings he carried.

Emptying the magazine from the black glock, Sugar Skull pulled a pistol ammo magazine from out of his sleeves and reloaded it into his handgun.

He cocked his gun, “We will try to buy you some time. Try to clear away all this darkness. It’s empowering them with armors and weapons and restoring them. If you can do that, me and the bunny boy can clean out this bony mess with ease...Wow, I feel very articulated speaking English now. All the words just come to me so easily. Like juxtaposition and-”

“Please focus,” interrupted Gene, “We must let him concentrate, and we must defend him from the dark spawns.”

Sugar Skull sheepishly grinned, “Sorry.”

As Gene fished in his belt pouch for more silver balls, Marvelous Man tried to think. He could try to make himself brighter, but he needed to completely dissipate the dark pool of whisping shadows that covered the whole graveyard. So if increasing the intensity of the glow from his hulking body would not be enough to get rid of all the Skeleton Lord’s darkness, he needed to administer his light a different way.

Marvelous Man looked at the grass and dirt beneath his feet that his bodily illumination exposed from dispelling the blackness around him. An idea came to him.

He commanded his light to extend from his feet and irradiate the ground with brightness. Sunlight shined from the earth and shot into the sky like a piercing spotlight. Marvelous Man frowned as the light could only expand far enough to create a pillar of daylight that encircled only Marvelous Man. The light needed more energy.

Gunshots rang from Sugar Skull’s gun as the horde of armored skeletons charged towards the three fighters. Gene barraged the unit with his silver balls; breaking down lines of skeletons into little bits. Scores of skeletal beings would fall from the cover fire, but they would keep getting back up with the help of shadowy pool to piece them back together in only seconds. The army was slowly gaining territory.

Marvelous Man knew he had to supercharge his light, but he felt he would have to do more than humming in order to imbue the graveyard grounds with light. He would have to sing. Putting his hand in his pockets, Marvelous Man cleared his throat.

“When the night has come,

And the land is dark,

And the moon is the only light we’ll see,” sang Marvelous Man.

His light fed on his song and began to grow; expanding at a quickening rate and encircling his compatriots. Marvelous Man wished he had an instrument to go with his solo act.

“No, I won’t be afraid,

Just as long as you stand, stand by me,” continued Marvelous Man.

He could feel a cold, metal rectangle dance at his fingertips. Marvelous Man quickly pulled it out to reveal a golden harmonica. There was a name etched on the plate: Duskbell. Most likely, a gift from his dad, Apollo. It was better than nothing.

Marvelous Man shrugged and began to play the chorus. The muscle memory from practicing this pocket instrument back in his artificial world came flooding back into his fingers. He cupped the golden harmonica and blew into the holes. His body swayed with the somber notes that cried for his darlings to stand by him.

The light engorging on his songs and his emotions became supercharged even further; expanding at an explosive pace. Plants and insects began to burst out of the ground and thrived on the healing brightness. The spread of the imbued daylight had completed its encompass of the graveyard within seconds. Any residue of the Skeleton Lord’s smoky pool of darkness had completely vanished as well as the skeleton army’s weapons and armor. The whole graveyard property looked as if it were plucked from a sunny day and thrown into a setting that was in the middle of the night.

Everybody but Marvelous Man stopped what they were doing to stare at the new scenery.

Sugar Skull muttered, “Holy shit...”

The ghoul and the bunny demigod looked at the musical hero before turning their attention back to the mass of naked skeletons.

“Victory is within our reach!” cried Gene.

The two charged into the shocked fray as Sugar Skull stabbed himself in his side to give his blade a new layer of blood. Gene motioned his right hand as if he were picking up something. A yellow rune symbol glowed on the back of his fingerless black gloves. The silver balls Gene previously threw, with exception to the one lodged into the Skeleton Lord’s back, rose from the ground and floated at Lightfoot’s waist height.

Gene shapeshifted into a white rabbit and bounded towards the floating spheres. Upon reaching a sphere, Lightfoot would transform back into his human form and uppercut the nearby skeleton into pieces during the process. He would then whip his legs and arms about; roundhouse kicking and hook punching at the bony beings close to him in order to create a small clearing riddled with skeleton parts. After that, the bunny demigod would grab his sphere and hurl it at the crowd of skeletal creatures. The skeletons reacted to the punctures by exploding into trails of bony fragments immediately after the ball exited them. Shapeshifting back into a white rabbit, Gene would move on to the next floating silver ball.

As that went on, Sugar Skull shot any skeletons a small distance away from him and slashed indiscriminately with his bloodied butterfly knife at close proximity. The bony beings he attacked would shatter from gunshots or disintegrate into piles of dust from the slashing. He cackled maniacally as his purple teeth chattered.

The attacks from the two carried on without ever stopping. The skeleton army shrunk with bone fragments littering the graveyard as Marvelous Man continued his song.

Upon reaching the end of his song, Marvelous Man looked up to see the two fighters lightly panting and walking back to him. Gene stretched his arms as Sugar Skull pulled out a handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe the blood off his blade.

Marvelous Man cheered, “Great work, you guys! That was a close one!”

“Actually, I should say that to you. Without you, we’d have to retreat. And that would have been pretty bad if that army of damned got out,” remarked Sugar Skull.

Gene nodded, “Agreed. But I was wondering, your musical device increases your power, yes?”

“Well, kinda. My light power feeds on positive things like emotions, memories. And when I do something artsy like singing or playing an instrument, it kinda supercharges it to heal or light more stuff up more. I don’t really know all the side effects, to be honest.” explained Marvelous Man.

Sugar Skull snapped his fingers, “Aha! So that’s why you were singing when you healed me.”

“Pretty much. We were in a pinch, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to heal fast enough,” remembered Marvelous Man, “Oh, right! Here, let me take care of that.”

Placing his hand on Gene’s shoulder, Marvelous Man commanded the light embracing Lightfoot’s body to fade away. Gene eyed Marvelous Man’s hand and saw his bodily illumination beginning to dim and then vanishing altogether.

Gene smiled, “Much gratitude for that action. Will you be taking away the light surrounding him as well?”

Marvelous Man looked from Gene’s gesture to the shining Sugar Skull with rainbow flower eyes. Sugar Skull’s purple teeth chattered uncontrollably.

“Uhhh, I can’t really control any light I supercharge. It’s one of the side effects. It should go away soon...I think,” he said.

Sugar Skull gave a thumbs up, “It’s fine. But this supercharge is giving me a weird high. Like, a high where I feel really good and confident about myself and that I should do something productive. Yes! Loving this fluent articulation with big English words!”

Gene cocked his head at Sugar Skull in fascination. After being amazed, he turned his attention back to Marvelous Man and started fishing his hand into his pants’ pocket.

The bunny demigod pulled out a business card, “I see. I will have to collect my projectiles and report this event to my superiors. I would find it most appreciative if you were to visit the D.A.B. headquarters and give the supporting statement to my superiors as well. The address is on the back of the card I am about to give you.”

Taking the business card, Marvelous Man observed it. It was a cobalt blue card with the organization’s name spelt vertically in order to create a horizontal acronym. The first and last words were colored in white, the middle word’s color was in navy blue. Reading it vertically, it spelled: Demon Authority Bureau. Marvelous Man briefly wondered who had the idea to name their organization after the word “dab”.

“Oh, sure! I’ll drop by to help out,” grinned Marvelous Man.

Gene smiled back, “Wonderful news. Before I return to what is abbreviated as the HQ, perhaps you would like to join me in a victory threesome?”

Marvelous Man’s eyes went wide. He would love to engage in intercourse with this handsome man. But he felt too emotionally exhausted to feel excited, and yet he felt another emotion rising within him. Shyness.

“Wh-what?!...I mean...Here? I mean, uh, I-I have some things to take care of. Important things! Maybe later, or something,” stammered Marvelous Man, “OKAYBYE!”

Taking off, Marvelous Man flew to his home. It only took minutes from the graveyard to reach the roof of his penthouse apartment. Staring at the installed pool and Jacuzzi while landing, he questioned for a short moment about who is responsible for maintaining the water’s hygiene.

He entered the rooftop door and made his way down the steps to his apartment interior. It was dark inside.

“Hello?” called Marvelous Man.

Nobody answered.

Commanding his light within to shine, his body radiated with enough illumination to light up the room and part of the hallway it was connected to. He looked around for a few seconds before spotting the light switch and went to flick it on.

Marvelous Man stood there for a moment before his nose detected a rancid stench. It smelled like a poorly-maintained bathroom. Realizing something, he cupped his bikini-clad crotch.

He sighed as his shoulders hung in embarrassment.

Next Chapter

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