Pitch continued to rip and rare as things continued to escalate, eventually red ribbons and lightning joined in with the yellow with a tear opening up opposite to the eye of Phobos sometime after. When the cloud parted it revealed a red eye similar to the yellow one. “Thymós… anger.” Pitch muttered to himself softly before redoubling his efforts and pushing the limits of his true form's speed and strength as he started moving faster and grabbing as many targets as he could simultaneously before ripping them apart or slamming them hard against the pavement.
Pitch was moving faster than ever before, ripping apart Cryptid after Cryptid when suddenly he saw a whole lot of large projectiles get launched into the sky. Missiles of some sort that exploded in the clouds both in and outside the rifts. Shortly after, clouds formed and it started raining. The moment the rain started to move through his body, Pitch felt a calming sensation throughout his amorphous shadow-like body. “Holy Water? Heh, that's not a bad move. Most if not all the Cryptids on our side would be immune or benefit while the wild Cryptids and even the primordials would take damage.”
As the fight continued, Pitch heard the telltale sound of jet engines coming in from the distance. He looked to see a modified civilian jet being escorted by fighters as well as other air support. The central jet had its engine struck by lightning and started going down. A single person in Black Eagle gear shoved out a crate rigged with a parachute before jumping out himself to parachute down. Pitch, recognizing the jet as the one he and Ishwada used on several occasions, quickly went over to where the crate and soldier landed.
The soldier opened the crate to pull out an ornate box from which he produced a fancy looking katana. He then removed the helmet to reveal what Pitch already knew. It was General Ishwada. “Jiryu, I'm fairly sure you're not supposed to be on the front lines anymore.” Ishwada handed Pitch the golden apple artifact known as Pandora's Box or the Apple of Discord. Pitch carefully nestled it at his center mass, keeping it lifted at the core of his body. Ishwada smiled. “Did you really expect me to sit on my ass behind a desk while the world goes to shit?”
Pitch chuckled. “I guess not. So what's the plan?” Ishwada unsheathed his special katana, charging it with lightning using the gem in its grip, before sending lightning attacks at Cryptids that were nearby. “Keep killing monsters as we keep seeding clouds with Holy Water in order to force the primordial emotional energy entities to condense their form in one spot. Also we need to get the entire world to pray and hope for your victory so you can get as much hope energy as possible. Once you're nice and overcharged you fire that energy through the gem like a lens, creating a laser of hope aimed to decimate them both.”
Pitch hummed, his form shifting as his tendrils continued to kill Cryptids by whipping them with great force or grabbing them to pull them apart. “I mean I guess that was the plan from the get go. I just didn't realize how much stuff we would have to set up in order to get the energy we needed. We have to bring their energy down and get them to focus it all in one spot. Even then our plan depends on a majority of the people on earth pitching in.”
Ishwada nodded. “I know it's a lot, but it's our best and possibly only chance at victory.” Pitch groaned. “Any plan that hinges on the actions of your enemy or another group is a bad plan. I understand we are hard pressed for better strategies, but that doesn't make this plan suck any less.” Another set of missiles were launched, seeding the clouds with more holy water. The air itself seemed to shake and vibrate as what sounded like a groan of pain echoed from the sky. It started to rain harder as the clouds now had more material to work with.
Pitch turned the focus of his attention to the sky. “Well they are definitely feeling it, so the attacks are working. We've at least pissed them off real good. I guess all we can do now is kill as many monsters as fast as possible in order to force their hands so to speak.” Ishwada nodded as the two worked together. Ishwada used his sword to send out air slashes of fire, ice, or electricity depending on what gem he was using while Pitch continued to rip and tear monsters left and right. The monsters were now much weaker thanks to the blessed rain.
A third set of missiles were launched, seeding the clouds even further, resulting in it now pouring hard in torrential rain. Steam came off all the wild Cryptids as they were literally being burned like with acid at high volumes. Weaker monsters were now falling thanks to the rain alone and this freed up combatants to focus their efforts elsewhere. Another, more powerful vibration echoed through the air as another sound of pain and anguish boomed from the two entities. The two massive eyes twitched and shut hard as the sky itself started to shake and shift.
Where the two rifts were the eyes were formed two massive vaguely humanoid shapes made of extremely dense cloud-like material. On the head area of both entities opened two eyes, smaller than the singular eyes from before. The two entities seemed to get larger, but in fact were coming closer, and they each entered or more accurately exited the rift that they once occupied. They both did large sweeping gestures as they entered our world, causing massive hurricane force winds to force away the rain clouds in the D.C area. The rain had suddenly stopped, as quickly as it had started.
Pitch let out a light hum. “Looks like the plan is working.” Slowly, the yellow eyed Phobos floated to the red eyed Thymós, stretching out its arm as if extending a hand to the other entity. When the other Thymós started backing away, Phobos shot forward at it and the two entities clashed in a storm of yellow and red lightning. When the storm finally settled a single even more massive entity floated in its place. When it opened its eyes they were a mix of yellow and red. Clouds parted or darkened in the head area to simulate the shape of a wide open mouth. Emphasis on the wide.
The now singular entity let out a new groaning sound that vibrated the air itself, causing the remaining Cryptids to go even more berserk in their frenzy. However, since no more lightning strikes were making landfall, no new Cryptids were spawning. This would mean the soldiers could make headway, but they were also running low on resources. Pitch started to shape his own body into a vaguely humanoid form but didn't put on a new mask when he noticed a news crew in the distance. Ishwada grabbed some equipment from the crate and handed it to Pitch.
“Go, hook this up to the news camera and equipment. It'll let you emergency broadcast to the entire planet. There's even a speech to text translation program that automatically translates to the most spoken language of a region.” Pitch nodded as he rushed the equipment over. The new entity stretched its arm out and made red and yellow lightning strike the ground to make new monsters. “So much for finally making headway.” Pitch commented before he reached the news team. Once there he started setting up the equipment, much to the protests of the team.
“Hey! You can't just mess with my equipment, who the fuck fo you-” the news lady freezes when she actually let's her brain process Pitch's appearance. Two glowing blue shapes formed where the eyes should be on Pitch's humanoid shape before he started taking, flashing a badge as he did. “I'm with Black Eagle, I'm temporarily confiscating this equipment to make an emergency global broadcast. If you want this nightmare to end, you'll cooperate.” The lady hands her microphone to the cameraman to help Pitch as Ishwada defends them. “Hope you got one hell of a speech planned kiddo.”
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The equipment is set up and Pitch stands between the cameraman and the primordial emotional energy entity. “And we're rolling in three-” he counts the rest of the way with just his fingers. “People of earth. Men, women, non-binary, children, human, Cryptid. My name is Pitch Black and if you’re seeing this then I need your help.” Pitch gestured to the entity. “This is an ancient primordial eldritch entity made of emotional energy I'll dub as Malice. A mixture between Phobos or fear and Thymós or anger. This god-like being is beyond what any man made weapon can bring down.”
Pitch then stands straight again, facing the camera. “But, there is still a way to kill it. What we need to do is use an equal and opposite force. That force is the power of hope.” Pitch pulls the golden apple artifact out from inside his body. “This is the Apple of Discord, also known as Pandora's Box. Inside it is a crystal of solid hope energy. I also have within my body a solid amount of hope energy. But it isn't enough, and we need more. In order to have enough to overwhelm and kill Malice, I need each and everyone of you to pray. Send me your hopes and prayers.”
Pitch then makes a noise like he's clearing his throat. “I guess to summarize what I'm saying in a shorter way…” Pitch thrust his hands up in the air, mimicking an iconic pose from a popular anime. “People of Earth, give me your energy!” He spoke in an exaggerated fashion. Slowly Pitch's form started to glow blue from the center as it slowly started to look more solid. The top of his head started to shape like a crown as his silhouette started to look more like a solid human.
Pitch's body becomes blue, emanating a distinct glow and his eyes open again to show a deep black as his colors seem to swap. Blue lightning and ribbons start to arc off his body as he reaches an extreme state of overcharge. “I can feel it, the hopes and dreams of eight billion people.” He opened the apple and pulled out the blue gem inside. It floated above his now articulated blue hand with actual distinct fingers. He moved his hand to point both palms at Malice with the gem now floating in front of them.
Blue energy started to build in Pitch's palm between his hand and the crystal, highly concentrated hope energy. Once a solid about was built up, he fired it at the gem, taking its energy too as it shot into the sky at Malice. The beam struck the entity in the chest, causing the entity to grunt resulting in the air vibrating. All the flying Cryptids flew into the beam to take some of the blow as Malice pushed back, now slowly floating at Pitch against the beam. Pitch's legs started to vanish from the feet up as he started using the solid mass of his own body into the beam.
More and more of Pitch's body started to dissolve, and his eyes widened as he reached the halfway point and realized that he might not have enough to kill Malice without also killing himself. His look of panic changed into one of determination as he redoubled his efforts. “My life… is a small price to pay for peace. I'm sorry Adrian… but in order for you to have a future…” Pitch's body was just a head, neck, shoulders, and arms as everything started to go white and Pitch's vision faded.
Pitch found himself floating in a white void, a woman in a dress of liquid light with hair of gold strands that floated like she was underwater smiled at Pitch who felt slightly confused for a split moment. “I'm dead, aren't I?” The woman shook her head. “Not yet, just in-between. You don't have enough energy on your own. Normally I wouldn't step in, but just this once, I'll tilt the scale just a smidge.” She lightly poked Pitch in the chest, a blue light shining at the point of contact. “Happy birthday, Elpída.”
Pitch's vision flickers, and he was looking at Malice again as his body slowly restored itself. He didn't care about the how or why, just that it was happening. The blue beam became thicker before after a world shaking roar that vibrated both the earth and sky the beam finally burst through Malice and the rest of its body started to disintegrate. With the god-like entity gone, it was only a matter of time before the invading Cryptids were cleared out. The rifts started slowly shutting and the sky slowly returned to normal. Pitch huffed from exhaustion despite not needing to breathe.
As the sky cleared, new aircraft came in dropping off new soldiers with equipment that looked similar to Black Eagle but even higher end. This caught Pitch a bit off guard as Black Eagle tech was already close to the fringe. They surrounded Pitch with guns aimed and shouted at him. “Hands up and behind your head, slowly, right now! Slowly drop to your knees! Failure to comply will result in immediate execution!” Pitch slowly complied as Ishwada walked over. “Who the hell are you guys and who gave you the authority-” The man flashed a badge to Ishwada.
“Agent Darik Samson, F.B.I, Anti-Anomily Division. My authority in this case comes directly from the president” The armored man put Pitch's hands behind his back before putting special cuffs on his currently more solid form. “Pitch Black, you are under arrest for multiple counts of murder, manslaughter, mutilation of a corpse, wrongful denial of a legal burial, threats made to national security and government officials, and potentially even a charge of terrorism.” Ishwada suddenly became increasingly animated as he talked. “What are you talking about?! This man just saved the nation, hell, the fucking world. And you're just going to collar him?”
Agent Samson looked at Ishwada, his face unreadable under the helmet. “Yes, we are. Because no one is above the law. His achievements today do not absolve him of his crimes.” Ishwada notices a Fae finally catching up to them, and as soon as she sees what's going on she pulls Ishwada to the side to whisper to him. “This entire thing is a farce. The President isn't just a hybrid, he's like two hundred years old. His ancestor Bonaparte Merrow and he are the same. He's been slerping Doppelganger babies like slushes to stay young. He confessed to everything in front of us alongside other crazy shit.”
Ishwada hummed. “Unfortunately the first few crimes are technically on point. Pitch had to eat humans for several years. Doing the math he's probably consumed around five hundred criminals plus those death row inmates and a squadron of my own men. It wasn't until after he was sent to the fear realm that he gained the ability to sustain himself with nothing but Holy Water.” Fae’s shocked expression was hidden under her helmet, but Ishwada could feel it. Fae knew Pitch had eaten people, but she never thought about how many.
The arrest was paused as a national broadcast drew everyone’s attention. It was the president of the United States. “My fellow Americans, as much as I would love to tell you that the crisis is over, that's simply not true. Yes, the main crisis has been solved and the curfew can now end, but we must address the issues that lead to this crisis. Issues that haven't been solved. I was waiting to unveil this until it was ready, but to put your mind at ease I'll show it to you now.” He pulls out something that looks like a gun with a needle on the front and a test tube cartridge on the back.
“This is just a prototype, created by the company I handed off to my son Thomas Junior. But it is designed to detect anomalies in the DNA and will be able to identify people as Cryptids and anomalous humans as well as compare samples against records in the case of those who have DNA on file for committing crimes. These devices, once finished, will be distributed to law enforcement and military in the U.S on every level and will even be provided to our allies in Europe and other areas.”
Marrow then uses it on one of his Secret Service men, a light glows green. “This model is the simplest, and just turns red if the amount of anomalous DNA is over fifty percent.” He swaps out the needle and tube before testing on someone who's in chains and a prison outfit. It glows red after. “This person was already confirmed to be a Doppelganger thanks to testing during standard processing.” He swaps out the needle and cartridge one more time before using it on himself and gets a green light.
“As you can see, this technology will help ensure National Security against any rogue Doppelgangers or other Cryptids from abusing their abilities for malicious activities.” Ishwada’s face turned pale. “How the hell?” He whispered, his voice only loud enough for Fae to hear. Fae shook her head. “How he did it isn't important, now we can't expose him without sounding like conspiracy theory nutters. He's backed us into a corner it seems. Now we'll have to rely solely on the justice system when it comes to Pitch getting out of this fucking mess.” Ishwada shook his head. “I've got a bad feeling about this.”
There was nothing that Ishwada or anyone in the Black Eagle could do to prevent Pitch from getting taken away in a special containment car. The only hope they had now was in the trial itself, and Ishwada found it hard to feel hopeful that it would be anything short of a kangaroo court. “Pitch will be lucky to avoid execution.” Ishwada whispered softly, mostly to himself. Fae hearing him knew he was right, but she continued to hold onto hope. “There's still a chance, even if it's small. We have to have faith in him, in humanity, in people. That's all we can do right now.”
