Finale....

A look of doubt reflects on Morrigan’s face “None the less, he’s just another man.  If he is the one that can provide me with what I need, then I can handle him without a problem gypsy!”  Getting up from the table she asks “Where can I find him?  Tell me!”

Shaking her head from side to side, a worrisome frown carries her face “P-please, don’t go after him…there must be another way.  I beg you please, I…I don’t want to lose you again...my daughter!” cries the gypsy.

Her former mother pleas with worry, not wanting her to undertake such an impossible task “Don’t ever say that to me again.  You’re no longer my mother and I’m no longer your daughter.  However, if I’m to continue to live freely beyond the prince’s grasp, I must find him…I must find Akuma!  NOW WHERE IS HE?”

With hesitation, the gypsy stands up and walks towards Morrigan “Follow your dark path beyond this world.  There, in the seventh layer of hell is where you will find him.  Be warned though child, you are going into his realm…be careful.”

Walking away from their home and back into the dark wilderness, Lilith asks “So, are you going after this guy? And what was that all about you being her daughter and all?” 

“Don’t worry about that, it doesn’t concern you” replies Morrigan.  “And yes, I’m going after Akuma but YOU are going to stay in this world; I don’t want you going with me.  If what she says is true, this man can probably kill you!”

With another sarcastic tone “Yeah right” answers Lilith.

“Well sister, I’m off” as Morrigan gives a hug to her younger sister.  “Remember, wait here and try not to get into too much trouble – I shouldn’t be long.”

“Okay” replies Lilith.

Looking down at the ground beneath her, Morrigan raises both of her arms apart; chanting a spell to open a gateway to her destination.  Her fingers begin to emanate a glowing green tint, her eyes become red and bright.   From the ground in front of her only a few feet away rises a skeletal archway through the soft dirt with a glowing red transparent portal.  Looking one last time at Lilith, Morrigan walks through.  The portal begins to sink back down beneath the dirt leaving no trace of it presence.

SOMEWHERE DEEP IN THE SEVENTH LAYER OF HELL –

The smell of ash and brimstone pollute the air of this fiery place.  Volcanic mountains and rivers of lava flow downstream through the black charred valleys and riverbeds.  In a distant a dark cave, an illuminating light can be seen within.  Inside sitting erectly in an indian style position is a man dressed in a black sleeveless gi.  Wearing only soft brown laced sandals, his arms rest on each of his knees; red twine wraps around his waist tightly, red prayer beads rest around his muscular neck.  His grey skinned face is chiseled with a hardened look of battle; his red hair remains flared up and his yellow hellish eyes show no mercy or emotion.

With a sudden notion, Akuma wakes from his meditation trance.  His eyes look from side to side, expecting an unwelcome arrival “Who disturbs my meditation?  Who dares enter my realm?”  Standing up and staring outside his cave “I sense another evil in this place – an unfamiliar yet powerful evil.  I must find whatever came through and eradicated it!  There can only be one.”

The skeletal archway rises from the char and brimstone that makes out to be the ground of this hell forsaken land.  Stepping through the red portal, Morrigan walks out alert and ready.  The archway slowly sinks itself back into the ground and rubble.

Looking around, Morrigan scans the area full of volcanic mountains and rivers of flowing lava.  A reddish yellow sky gives this area a familiar feeling of home.  Walking alongside a river of lava, Morrigan ponders in thought “Where in this hell are you Akuma?  Where would you be?”  Moments later in the far distance, a shadowy figure glides forward towards Morrigan, answering her call.

Morrigan stares at the figure fast approaching; her hands are raised defensively, her ring glowing brightly with power.  The shadowy figure stops ten feet in front of Morrigan and assumes its complete human form.  Standing tall with his red hair and yellowish glowing eyes he stares at Morrigan with curiosity and interest “You must be what I sensed when you entered my realm.  What do you want here woman?”

Staring back at Akuma, Morrigan smiles “I’ve come looking for you actually.  You have something that I need.” 

Taking a fighting stance, Akuma replies “You’re an evil I have never felt before but no matter, I will show you what happens to those that trespass in my realm!”  With both hands emanating a glowing bluish tint and outstretched in front of him, Akuma yells out “GOU HADOKEN!”  A single fiery ball of flame shoots out from both his outstretched palms.  Like a speeding meteor heading towards Morrigan, she dodges out of the way in time to avoid the blast.

With a smirk on her face she retaliates by aiming her arm at Akuma.  With a bright glowing ball of light coming from her ring Morrigan yells out “SOUL-FIST!”  A gold bat shoots out of her ring towards Akuma.  Watching the glowing creature of light approach quickly, Akuma backhands the ball of light aside like an annoying gnat “Pathetic…tell me you have more little girl.”

Morrigan’s eyes widen for a moment surprised that her projectile attack was repelled so easily.  She ponders for a moment “The gypsy tells the truth, he must be powerful…Dimitri is the only other being that has repelled my projectile so easily.  This should be interesting.”

Looking at Akuma, “You are no ordinary man Akuma.  This shall be an interesting battle but in the end, your dark power will become a part of me…to sustain my craving”

Moments later, several hundred bats appear out of nowhere and surround Morrigan, completely covering her from head to toe in a cocoon like state.  Slowly, the cocoon breaks apart - her large bat like wings expand; her smaller wings from her head retract back, her once pale skin has now turned to a pale green, her eyes glow red as crimson, and her long sharp nails become razor sharp black claws.

Akuma’s glowing eyes narrow with more interest, “A succubi – how interesting.  Now I understand your reason for being here, but it is in vein demon.  You see, I no longer have a soul for you to feed and therefore the power you seek to sustain your hunger cannot be achieved.”  With a smile, Akuma continues “However, I haven’t fought someone of your power in a very long time and I’m getting a bit out of practice.”

Morrigan expands her wings further apart “You must take me for a fool!  I will put you down like all men before me and take your tainted soul.”  Flying up in the air, she aims her arm at Akuma again and fires another glowing bat of light from her ring.

Akuma waits for the light to approach closer and swipes at it again like before.  The blast is not brushed off and hits Akuma with full force knocking him back several feet near the river of lava “What the…”  Akuma’s surprise reflects in his face as he analyses the power of her blast “So her powers have grown in her transformation.  It makes no difference, however I must not take her lightly.”  Getting back up, Akuma leaps up in the air towards Morrigan, legs tucked in and arm pulled back he strikes at her with his glowing blue fist.

Using her huge wings, Morrigan shields herself from his powerful punch but is knocked back down to the ground.  When her wings part, a blue glowing fist comes striking her side of the face.  Akuma quickly unleashes a barrage of punches striking her head and body landing a power punch in her abdomen knocking the wind out of her.  Bent over and holding her stomach, Morrigan tries to catch her breath.  In that moment, Akuma grabs her small wings on her head and twirls her around in a circular motion and throws her in the air and landing hard on the ground.

Tumbling several feet away, Morrigan shakes her head and wipes the green blood from her lip.  Staring at Akuma, she gets back up on her feet.  Her ring begins to glow brightly, using her wings she dashes at Akuma with incredible speed as her fist leads the way.  Akuma is able to side step the flying punch that came across but failed to see another image of Morrigan coming from the opposite direction.  Akuma is struck violently across the face staggering him back; before long several other images of Morrigan fly in from all directions striking Akuma with fierce speed and power in her relentless assault. 

Akuma falls to one knee from the devastating barrage of blurring strikes, blood drips from his lip steadily as he looks up towards Morrigan, her ring glowing brightly and her arm aimed right at him, “SOUL FIST!” shouts Morrigan as the blast hits Akuma dead on knocking him back several feet and on his back.

With a scorched gi and chest, Akuma’s eyes open slowly in pain to an image of Morrigan standing next to him.  Her ring glows again, her arm raises high in the air lifting up Akuma with telekinesis.  At the peak of height she slams Akuma back down to the ground repeating the process like a hammer striking an anvil; after the fifth slam, she flings her arm tossing Akuma thirty feet beyond and tumbling hard on the brimstone surface.

Landing face first, Akuma struggles to get on all fours coughing out spit and blood; his dark thoughts swell with questions “Who is…this demon…with such power.  No one…has ever beaten me…before.  I cannot lose…”  

With his yellow eyes glowing, Akuma stands up in a defensive posture; his pain is obvious but struggles to conceal it from Morrigan.  Approaching slowly, Morrigan stops a few feet away from her adversary with a surprised look.

Studying him closely she states “You ARE indeed strong, but not strong enough.  You will eventually fall and your tainted soul will be my slave for eternity.  How does that sound?”

Angered by her threat, Akuma runs at her, with a leap in the air yelling out “ZANKUU HADOUKEN!”  A bright blue ball of flame fires from his fist down towards Morrigan.  Her wings quickly envelop her completely; the impact of the blast gets repelled by Morrigan without any harm.  Akuma lands a few feet in front of her in utter amazement “How could she have stopped that!?”  The thought staggers Akuma in his mind.

Immediately after his landing, Morrigan’s wings change shape into several black individual spear like tendrils waving fluidly behind her “MY TURN!”

With deadly accuracy they whip towards his flatfooted advisory penetrating his harden body.  A cry of pain wails the realm with Akuma’s torture.  With unmerciful force, the tendrils pull Akuma closer to Morrigan.  After retracting back out, the tendrils begin to change shape back to her wing but with an elongated curved blade edge.

With a determined look she cries out “SHADOWWW…BLADE!”   Rising up into the air, her ring worn fist strikes Akuma in an uppercut stroke landing solidly under his chin; her blade like wing follows through and slices his chest during impact.  Akuma is knocked back on his back yet again, this time with a deep cut wound across his chest.  Blood from his wound and punctures flows fluidly like a raging river staining his once crimson free gi.

Landing next to Akuma, she looks at him with disappointment “How can someone seemingly powerful be so weak?  You truly have disappointed me.  I’ll put you out of your misery and sustain my hunger now.”

With her glowing red eyes, she kneels down next to his head cradling it in her arms and stroking his hair.  Akuma still groggy and stunned is unaware of what is transpiring.  Reaching down with her black lips, Morrigan parts her mouth slightly and makes contact with Akuma’s lips.  Akuma’s yellowish eyes open widely with silent pain, paralyzed and unable to move; his power and life force begin to leave his body and into hers.  Slowly Akuma’s body begins to go limp; his eyes start to close slowly, fighting to stay awake until darkness arrives.

After draining the last bit of life force from Akuma she breaks her passionate kiss.  Standing back up she looks down at his lifeless body “Thank you for your power.  You have satisfied a craving that will last me a very long time.  Now a part of you is within me, forever bonded.”

Walking away from his body, a volcanic eruption begins to take place in the distance.  The lands in this realm begin to shake violently.  Morrigan takes flight while witnessing the area around her.  Looking back at Akuma’s body she sees something peculiar happening to it.  Dark purple and white clouds surround his lifeless body.  His wounds begin to heal, his hair slowly starts to change color from red to white; his eyes begin to glow a purplish haze and his skin becomes dark and grey.

The clouds then begin to enter his body breathing life back into Akuma.  Standing back up, he sees Morrigan in the air.

With a shroud of fear and disbelief, she thinks to herself “H-How can you be alive?  It’s not possible!”

With a twisted evil grin, his face radiates pleasure and satisfaction “Thank you demon!  Because of what you have done, you have awakened the true power of the Dark Hadou within me.  This was only possible by experiencing death at the hands of a being more powerful than me.  Now, the birth of a new form stands before you…I am SHIN AKUMA!!”

With precise aim, Shin Akuma yells out “GOU HADOUKEN!”  A purple and white ball of flame shoots out from the palm of his hand.  The speeding projectile strikes Morrigan before she realized it was launched.  The powerful blast knocks her back down to the hard rumbling ground. 

Morrigan quickly gets back up and points her ring at him and fires another Soul Fist at him.  Shin Akuma making no effort to move, lets her projectile strike him with no effect.  Morrigan begins to worry and backs away from her once fallen adversary.

Closing his eyes, Shin Akuma takes a deep breath, inhaling the essence of his realm “What’s this I smell?” Opening his eyes, “I s-m-e-l-l fear coming from you Succubi; your stench is wretched and polluting my realm.  Now, it is you that I will have my way with as you did with me.”

Morrigan quickly takes off running away from him knowing full well that she is overmatched.  In the blink of an eye, Shin Akuma appears in front of her – catching her by surprise, he yells out “TATSUMAKI SENPUU KYAKU” a devastating flurry of mid-air spinning kicks that connect across Morrigan’s face.  The power of his kicks sends her flying several feet up in mid air but is able to stop from falling. 

Like a target in mid-air, Shin Akuma teleports himself underneath the air born Morrigan.  Without a clue, she looks for him desperately then suddenly a loud battle cry is heard “GOU SHORYUKEN”

Looking down at her feet she sees first hand a flaming purple glowing fist rising up towards her.  The impact strikes her underneath her jaw reeling her back down to the ground with a hard thud.  Her body is battered and hurt.  Black tears run down the sides of her cheeks in terrible pain; Morrigan has never fought anyone with this kind of power or experienced this kind pain in her existence, not even from her ancient rival, Dimitri.

With a left broken wing and struggling to stand up, Morrigan looks at Shin Akuma with hatred and fear in her eyes “He’s going to kill me if I don’t get out of here.  He’s too much for me!”

With her fingers beginning to emanate a glowing green tint and her wrists twirling in a circular motion, she quickly and quietly chants the spell to summon the portal to leave his realm.  Realizing what Morrigan is doing, Shin Akuma smiles at her “You’re not escaping that easily.”

With lighting speed Shin Akuma unleashes his most devastating attack within his Dark Hadou arsenal, the Shun Goku Satsu.  Gliding himself towards Morrigan with incredible speed, he grabs a hold of her just after completing her spell and cries out “Now you will feel true power…DIE ONE THOUSAND DEATHS!”

Dark clouds of purple and white mist surrounds Morrigan within milliseconds of Shin Akuma’s hold on her.  Pain radiates all over Morrigan’s body, a pain unlike any other ever felt before.  Although Morrigan cannot see Shin Akuma, the impact of punches and kicks are felt with tremendous power.  The wailing of a succubus in pain echoes throughout the hellish layer of this realm.  The purple mist begins to dissipate and take its form back into Shin Akuma.  At his feet lies a beaten, battered, and bloodied Morrigan lying on her back; her left arm and both wings broken.

Taking a deep breath, a sense of satisfaction is felt through Shin Akuma’s veins; a wickedly evil smile is displayed at his fallen adversary.  Like a one night stand, Shin Akuma grabs what seems to be a dead succubus by her small wings “Time to leave you wretched bitch!” and tosses her through her summoned portal.

BACK IN THE REAL WORLD - The skeletal portal rises up before her sister.  Anxiously awaiting her sister’s arrival she sees her body flung through and tumbling before her feet; quickly kneeling down beside her and in a panic tone “SISTER!”

Looking at the portal, Lilith sees the image of a man standing on the other side as it begins to submerge itself back into the ground.  Before the portal disappears, Shin Akuma points at Lilith with an evil grin followed by his hand going across his throat.  An unfamiliar feeling of fear quickly enters Lilith, an experience never felt by her before.  The portal disappears leaving no trace of its existence.  Black tears run down Lilith’s cheek over her sister’s battered body.  She places a hand above her chest as it begins to glow a reddish color.

With a pleasant surprise “You’re ALIVE!  You’re still alive!” cries Lilith.  She lifts her body carefully and heads towards the gypsies to seek help. 

Calling for them, the gypsy mother steps outside and runs towards her former daughter “My DAUGHTER!” she screams.

“She’s badly wounded and won’t survive much longer.  We need your help, please” cries Lilith.

Quickly running back into her home, she comes out with a crystal vial with a clear liquid “Stand back child” exclaims the gypsy.

With curiosity and concern, Lilith points at the vial, “What is that?”

“This potion is something that has been passed down to me from generations ago.  It’s the drink of lost souls and it should help restore her essence” answers the gypsy.

After giving her a small sip of the potion, she puts up the vial and looks at Lilith “You should take her back to where ever you live until she recovers.  You are not safe in this world, her weaken state is like a beacon for others – go now!” 

Shedding a black tear, “Thank you” answers Lilith. 

Picking up her sister’s body, she chants a spell and both her and Morrigan submerge themselves within the shadows nearby as they head back home.