"I shall bring the child to the altar!!!" Conrad declared as the ground shook around them.
Suddenly a large hand began to form underneath Griffith's body. The horses started to move back while Guts and Griffith were being elevated into the air.
Glenn stayed behind and prepared his Summon for the fight as he dismissed Boko.
Before they reached the top, Griffith was separated from Guts and forced to face the members of the God Hand alone.
"Are you afraid? One such as yourself?" Void Questioned.
"Are you scared of us? Or perhaps of the future, you will follow?" Slan followed up.
Ubick then floated in front of Griffith before staring into his eyes and saying, "Before we enter the future, let's return to the foundation of your past. Then you shall know what it is you are. This is not an illusion. It is the reality within your conscious realm, materialized within this dimensional plane."
Just like in canon, Griffith went through the same experiences and dialog that Ubick put him through.
Torturing him over the losses he suffered trying to achieve his dream, holding the young child that tormented him in his hands, the corpses of every member that died on their way to success, reaching out, and begging Griffith to take them with him.
It continued along the same linear path, right up to the point where Griffith lifted the boy's body and carried across the bridge of sacrifices leading to the castle.
"Was that an illusion?" Griffith thought as he looked around.
"It was no illusion. It's the reality within your conscious realm. Eyeing the castle in the sky, taking it by piling up corpses endlessly, that is you!" Ubick answered.
"Chant the words 'I sacrifice' in your heart, and you shall be granted raven-black wings upon which you shall soar in the heavens, higher than any summit!" Void declared as he lifted his hand and summoned the sigil of sacrifice.
"Griffith!" Guts shouted as he climbed over the ledge of the giant hand.
Griffith turned back to see Guts running towards him before he looked at Void and thought about his life.
The most recent happenings made him rethink everything he knew about life.
He focused on some of the advice given to him, and knew that thanks to Glenn's magic, Griffith's dream wasn't dead as long as he still drew breath.
All of time seemed to slow, when suddenly, the words Glenn said entered his mind.
"I just want you to make a different decision."
Griffith smirked as he stared down Void and said, "No. I don't need you to accomplish my goals."
The God Hand members stood stunned in silence as Guts grabbed Griffith, threw down the Behelit, and jumped off the hand.
"Impossible!!!" Void shouted in furious anger, "If you shan't act in his great name, then I shall pluck your soul from the infinite variations of reality. Our causality shall not be overridden by an outsider!"
Void began using an ancient and powerful time manipulation spell. A stream of souls screaming from the idea of evil appeared in front of him.
He raised his freakishly long arms and used his boney oversized fingers to pluck out a being from space and time.
If Glenn were here, he would have been surprised to see a copy of Griffith right before he made the decision.
This Griffith came from the natural timeline, the one without Glenn's existence.
The seal lit up as the words were uttered, "I sacrifice!" and shot out over the field, tagging everyone, including Glenn, with the Brand of the Sacrifice.
Glenn was at a loss for words when he felt the brand sting against his right bicep.
He was confused because he also saw Guts and Griffith floating back down, both of them branded with the mark on the backs of their necks.
"How? What the hell happened?!" Glenn thought as the monsters started charging towards the Band of the Hawk.
Guts quickly used his Summon Materia and transported Alexander over the Band.
The castle-like being sat down while rearranging its body to safely encase the Band of the Hawk within its walls. Giant lasers cannons powered with holy magic appeared from the center of its body and along with several points around the castle walls.
A loud blast of holy energy burned away a large portion of the demonic hoard.
Glenn appeared and stood on Alexander's walls. He then gripped his fists before saying, "You dare to use me as a sacrifice?!!! No, you monsters are the sacrifice here, not us!" Glenn summoned Neo Bahamut and watched as a giant dragon came crashing into the army of demons.
Glenn then equipped Griffith with an Antiquated Creed Set, a Regen Belt, and Seiryu's Sanctified Longsword.
He couldn't fight, but with the additional MP their magic armors granted them, Glenn could summon more Gods to aid them.
Glenn then gave Griffith, Casca, Pippin, and Corkus each of their own Summon Materia. As well as a bracelet with EXP Plus attached to them.
He gave Griffith the Phoenix Summon Materia.
Casca received the Odin Summon.
Corkus gained the Titan Materia.
Lastly, Pippin got the Kjata Summon Materia.
After telling them how to summon, they each held up a Materia and called down the mighty summons from Final Fantasy 7.
Odin, Phoenix, Kjata, Titan, Alexander, and Neo Bahamut all tore into the enemies in front of them while Glenn and Guts jumped off the castle walls and charged into the hoard alongside the summons.
Glenn and Guts continued to cut and cleave at anything that approached the castle walls while utter destruction was rained down upon the Apostles.
Beams of the Dragon God's Breath atomized the Apostles.
Fires from the Phoenix spread across the hellscape, incinerating everything it touched.
Titan's powerful physique was stomping about and using his massive body to wreak havoc on the Apostles.
Kjata, the bull, was casting powerful spells that consisted of all four elements.
Odin was riding around on Sleipnir and cutting through hoards of demons with Zantetsuken.
As for Alexander, it doing the most damage with Holy Elemental Beams and defending the lives of the Hawks with its massive body.
Casca knew they couldn't keep this up forever. The demons were like a colony of ants, endlessly streaming from the surroundings.
"Impressive magic," Void said as he watched the incubation of Griffith.
"Those two, they kill so well, it would be wondrous if they joined us," Slan commented.
"Too bad they are destined to be sacrifices," Ubick followed up.
"Even now, our forces breach their defenses," Conrad said as he pointed to the hoard climbing over their own corpses and jumping inside the castle walls.
Some were vaporized in an instant while others went to attack the band of the Hawk.
Some of them were killed before Casca and Pippin appeared and managed to kill them with the Mithril Weapons.
"Right flank, clear the field of bodies for Casca and Pippin. Corkus, lead your unit to the castle walls, and start fighting alongside the Raiders! I want ten men per demon, move!" Griffith ordered as he stood at the head of Alexander.
"I can't fight, but this suit of armor is at least letting me walk. And what is that strange sensation I feel bleeding into me?" Griffith pondered as his Experience Points were sky-rocketing.
It wasn't just Griffith. The more their Summons killed, the more experience they gained.
Guts had already reached level 7 after killing the Troll, so he maintained the lead.
But everyone wearing the EXP Plus Materia was gaining levels fast.
Within a few minutes, they reached level 10. Within a dozen minutes, they reached level 25.
Every kill, they grew in power and strength. The Mana inside their bodies exploded and continued to grow exponentially.
"I see, the Anomaly wishes to substitute the Apostles' souls for their own. No matter the source, our Dark Lord will come to fruition as causality dictates," Void said as he watched them struggle against their fates.
"I wonder what they are using to force an evolution of their Astral Bodies. The life essence of the Apostles seems to be flowing into those strange gems," Ubick pondered out loud.
"We cannot know, for no such thing exists in our universe, how perplexing," Conrad followed up.
Griffith suddenly dashed out next to the demons that made it inside the castle.
After experiencing multiple level-ups, Griffith's body had been restored to full power.
Griffith's stomach and body no longer looked like a bag of bones. His muscles were lean and sturdy, his complexion was healthy, and he had more strength than ever before.
The sword Glenn gave him cleaved through the demons like a hot knife on butter.
"I wonder if this is how Guts feels," Griffith delighted in the ecstasy that combat brought as he felt his strength continuing to grow.
Casca cut through dozens of demonic creatures with single strokes of her Mithril Longsword.
As she slew creatures left and right, she wondered how Guts was doing outside the wall.
Pippin held the wall with Corkus, only letting the smallest and weakest demons in through gaps every now and then.
Guts and Glenn took care of anything that came in sight and killed without stopping.
When they reached level 30, a loud crack echoed throughout the hellscape.
Everyone was covered in blood and gore, many men had already died, and only a third of the original Band of the Hawk remained.
Glenn felt terrible that he couldn't give out more EXP Plus Materias, but he only had 5. The ones he gave to Guts, Casca, Griffith, Pippin, and Corkus were the only ones he had left. Even if he had more, he didn't have enough slotted equipment to equip every man in the Band of the Hawk.
Just as Glenn was thinking this, Guts noticed that the Exp Plus Materia on his wrist suddenly spawned another one in front of him.
Quickly pocketing it, he continued his slaughter without paying attention to himself or noticing that he was obtaining even more EXP than before.
Guts had become like an Omen of death. He slaughtered every demon he came across and killed with ease.
They fought for what seemed like hours, and many times, they almost lost all their Mana due to sustaining summons.
The good thing was that Glenn had potions. The bad thing was, he was almost out.
The stronger the Summon, the quicker it drained Mana. A Summon like Chocobo/Mog, Glenn could keep out indefinitely. But a Summon like Bahamut Zero was too much for the current Glenn to handle the MP-Drain.
He could barely sustain Neo Bahamut mana drain much less a higher ranking Bahamut Dragon.
Luckily, Glenn's setup had plenty of Piety Bonus Points from the Red Mage outfit he wore; which meant that he had a high Mana Regen.
Guts and the rest, however, barely had any Piety-based equipment on.
Meaning almost all of his Ethers and Turbo went to his teammates, and he was also in charge of healing everyone when he had the chance. So he ended up missing out on more experience points.
After swallowing his second to last Turbo Ether, Glenn knew their time was almost up.
If the Skull Knight didn't make his entrance soon, they would run out of Mana and the Summons would disperse.
However, the sudden appearance of a powerful form of dark energy flew out from the top of the giant hand.
The Brands on the survivors bleed profusely, while the rest of the Apostles suddenly distanced themselves from the Band of the Hawk.
A black-winged hawk-looking god, Femto, raised his wings and flapped down as the Apostles cheered joyously.
"The Fifth Blessed King!"
"The New Demon Lord!"
Glenn gritted his teeth as he watched the Black Sun behind them suddenly crack and break apart.
The Skull Knight rode in on his horse and aimed his blade at Void's head.
Void reflected the attack by opening a hole in space time and aiming the sword back at the Skull Knight's chest.
The Skull Knight raised his shield and blocked the tip of his own sword before taking off and attempting to slay Femto.
"Everyone! Use your Summons to lift the castle through the portal!" Glenn shouted at the top of his lungs as he hopped onto the castle walls.
Guts followed suit as he revealed all the damage he had taken.
No one was in good condition, but they weren't dead or dismembered.
Neo Bahamut and the Phoenix grabbed onto the largest walls they could get ahold of. The Titan then lifted the castle up while Kjata used a powerful blast of wind to give them more uplift, and Odin used his spear to push the Castle from below.
The Skull Knight sent his sword flying towards Femto, but received a rude awakening when he saw the Demon King raise his hand.
Sensing danger, the Skull Knight tugged at the reins on his horse and jumped to the side.
A clump of Demons behind the knight gathered together and formed into a sphere of blood and guts.
Not giving Femto any time to think, he dashed off towards the exit to the realm and leaped towards the center of the bright light.
Femto looked at his hand and then back towards the Skull Knight and raised his hand to kill.
But it was already too late. The Summons vanished, and the whole party managed to make it through.
"Astounding!!! Fascinating! How unforeseen!!!" Ubick shouted as he clapped his hands.
"Unpredictable things happen at the temporal junction point. Albeit an extremely minute thing..." Conrad followed up.
"It's impossible to anticipate everything. We ourselves are not gods, after all," Slan said with a smile on her face.
"Perhaps this too was fated to happen," Void said as he looked at their newest member.
"Either way, a few leaping fishes would never disturb the flow of the river. And time has begun to flow again. The Fifth Angel has been born." Slan commented.
"The time of darkness descends. Wickedness, sacredness." Ubick called out.
"Illusion, reality. Hostility, Hope. Hatred, Love. The dead and the living." Conrad followed up.
"An age when every darkness shall eclipse the light. Yes... As when the moon covers the light of the sun." Void said with certainty in his voice.
"I suppose that's what people will call it afterward. The Age of Darkness!" Void finished speaking as he looked up at the hole in the Astral Realm closing.
Meanwhile, outside the portal to the hellscape, Rickert was nearby looking for the Band of the Hawk.
Judeau had sent out Rickert to see what was taking the messengers so long while he stayed and protected the Princess.
After watching Zodd and the Skull Knight face-off, he was shortly granted another surprise when a giant flaming bird and a dragon carried a castle out of the typhoon, followed by the Skull Knight himself.
The Band of the Hawk was beaten, tired, and exhausted. Glenn was as well.
He over-drafted his Mana by constantly and repeated healings of himself and others.
Keeping up Mana Reinforcement for such a long time was a pain too. Not to mention he wasted all but one of his Ethers and Turbo Ethers. Because of the high-level Summons used, Glenn was required to continuously give away dozens of potions at a time, sometimes forcing the potions down their mouths while they fought with the demon hoard.
"Note to self, having summoned Elidons makes one rapidly drains the Summoner's Mana. However, the Mana drain was depended on the strength and MP-Cost of the Summon," Glenn mumbled as he realized that he could only keep a Summon like Chocobo/Mog out forever without worrying about his Mana.
Glenn looked back over the survivors as Alexander disappeared, and everyone fell down to the ground.
Glenn then took notice of his surroundings before he sighed as he saw Zodd staring at him with an expression of complete surprise.
"How? How did so many survive the Eclipse?!" Zodd shouted with disbelief.
Guts took off his helm and growled at Zodd, "What the hell are you doing here?!!!"
The rage of seeing his friends being gobbled up was still fresh in his mind.
Many of the Hawk's Raiders died on that wall. After taking headcount, it was quickly discovered that only 30 of all 430 members of the Raider-Units were remaining.
Guts wanted to kill every last member of the God Hand, and Zodd was looking like a good outlet to release his anger upon.
But more than anything, Guts desired to kill that Griffith imposter.
"It's you!!!" Zodd started laughing before he said, "Skull Knight, we'll put this fight on hold. For the sake of his mad luck…No, I ought to say, bad luck. But don't forget, this doesn't decide the outcome of our battle."
Zodd then faced Guts and said, "You should hurry. Once the gate vanishes, they'll all come pouring out."
"What!!! All of those monsters will come pouring into Midland?" Griffith said as he stood beside Guts.
"You, how?!!! No, never mind, it is of no importance. I do not know how you are here while the Demon King is born, but this will become your world now. Your hell on Earth," Zodd replied as Glenn pulled out the Pumace necklace around his neck.
"I hope this works. I battled and managed to gain a few levels. It should be enough to fill the AP's meter. This would be so much easier if I could see my spell list." Glen thought as he raised the Pumace into the air and said, "Summon! Ark!"
A flash of light glowed in the distance as a massive airship came flying towards the group.
"Skull Knight, please direct Ark wherever it is that you wish to go," Glenn said before he passed out.
He consumed far past his limit and could no longer stay awake.
Unlike before, his drain hit -117MP. Blood sprayed from his eyes, nose, and ears as he collapsed from the strain.
"Glenn!" Guts and all of the surviving members of the Band of the Hawk shouted in worry.
Glenn wasn't the only one who passed out shortly after. When he lost consciousness, the armors were removed automatically, and Guts had to heal everyone's wounds before he passed out next.
Casca and Griffith were both spiritually and mentally drained.
Corkus just wanted all of this to be a dream.
And Pippin, he wore a worried expression and couldn't keep the fear from making him shake.
Glenn and the wounded were carried aboard the airship while the Skull Knight turned to the distance and said, "Follow me, metallic spirit."
The Skull Knight then took off, dashing towards the cave behind Godo's Forge while the Ark followed from behind.