AN: Sorry for the wait...overtime at work is horrid. Anyways, ENJOY!

ARC Six: The Watergate City War

Chapter Forty Eight: Monsters and Spirits

At this point, Scarecrow had made it to the bottom of the stairs as he was now leering at his two opponents.

"Now listen, I have no anger towards you two for interrupting my little task, but I will say that you barging in here when I was so close to finishing...it is a bit discomforting."

Julius then got in a battle stance as he furrowed his brows and shifted himself closer to Scarecrow.

"End your insane prattle villain! Your words mean nothing to us. We have heard of your actions and they are nothing more than vile intentions on the people of Lugnica! No...you have done the same to Gusteko and Vollachia! The world will rejoice in your death Scarecrow!"

"...True. When you have succeeded in fine tuning Fear Toxin...there will be some casualties...Now how many was it again?"

Scarecrow scratched his face with one of his needle fingers trying to come up with an answer in his head. That's when he remembered it and happily clapped his hands together.

"Ah yes! I believe it used to be seven thousand and twenty two people….but now it went up by twenty...so seven thousand and forty four."

Garfiel was the most concerned about the number he gave...ever since they came into the refinery he smelled the terrible stench of death. He assumed it was the Cultists they had killed...but then he saw a large broom closet and its door was ajar.

He rushed over and opened the door…

"Ah shit…"

Inside he saw the bodies of twenty employees, all with faces of dread and panic, blood was all over the place.

Garfiel was at this point seething in rage and glared at the super villain.

"Ya bastard!"

"Honestly, I didn't think that the batch would be so strong on them. Still, the woman on the bottom of the pile was less scared for herself and more scared that her daughter at home would be alone."

"...!"

"If I recall...she said things like, 'My little girl needs me' and 'I'm sorry! But I have to live!' So courageous. If I could cry I would, but all that bravery ended when she...well, ironically she slipped on that blood and hit her head on the door hinge."

"..."

"How sad...all those people she killed and it was fate that ended up killing her. Truly...what a egregious ending."

Garfiel snarled at Scarecrow, but as he marched over to him Julius in front of Garfiel.

"Do not let this man get to you Garfiel. He is trying to get on you to lose your composure. Do not give him that satisfaction."

"...GRR. Yea'... this sick fucker is really gettin' under my skin. Let's just take em down and move on."

"Very well."

Julius summoned his trusty spirits around himself...preparing for the battle.

"By the honor of the Kingdom of Lugnica and by the creed of my family name, I Julius Juukulius shall slay you...Demon of Fear, Scarecrow!"

Garfiel cracked his knuckles and retrieved his twin shield.

"Prepare for an ass whoopin' you sicko! Time to pay for ya crimes!"

Scarecrow pulled out a farmer's scythe and scratched his chin with it.

"Let me see you two...face your nightmares now…okay?"

Scarecrow rushed forward, Julius also ran towards him...then he saw a magical stone fly towards him, so he quickly dodged out of the way. The stone collided with the ground, unleashing a powerful explosion.

Garfiel went around to get to the side of Scarecrow. Garfiel growled as he was now in hitting position.

"Shamak."

A cloud of smoke erupted from Scarecrow as he quickly spun in the heavy smoke formation. Julius effortlessly swept away the smoke with a sword strike...only to see orange gas sweeping around them.

"Urgh!"

"Agh!"

The two realized they fell into a trap set up by Scarecrow. Scarecrow quickly managed to reach the side of Julius. The knight fired a single fire blast at him...but it passed through him as if he was a specter.

"...?!"

Scarecrow then stabbed Julius in the back with his syringe fingers, further injecting him with Fear Toxin. Julius kicked him away, but Scarecorws body simply mixed in with the gas cloud.

Julius concentrated on using his spirits to undo the rising hallucinations that were coming. But he quickly saw that Scarecrow was literally crawling towards him like an animal, with his scythe in hand.

Julius summoned two spirits to create a barrier around him. Scarecrow sliced at the barrier, but saw nothing could be done about it.

Scarecrow then dropped several magic stones around the barrier and flashed away in an instant. The stones exploded, breaking through the barrier.

Scarecrow leapt through the gas and stabbed Julius through his left shoulder with the scythe.

"Arghhhh!"

Julius then escaped the scythe and kicked Scarecrow away making him roll on the ground for a bit...releasing more Fear Toxin as he did.

Soon the entire building was filled with it.

Garfiel was disoriented. He was having trouble concentrating as the Fear Toxin was attacking his mind.

Voices were screaming in his head, shadows were moving around through the gas and he was constantly being hit by magic stones, the resulting blasts were slightly hurting Garfiel.

"Fuckin' coward! Come on out an' fight like a man!"

Scarecrow made it behind Garfiel and stabbed him the shoulder with his syringe claws...but they broke apart.

"Ah!"

"Ya fucked up now buddy!"

Garfiel swung a powerful punch backwards, but it missed Scarecrow completely as he ducked down at incredible speed.

Scarecrow retrieved his pistol and fired five shots into Garfiel's abdomen. Though the bullets did not go fully through his flesh, it still did damage. Garfiel coughed up blood as he lost his balance. Seeing his opportunity...Scarecrow opened a jar of Fear Toxin and threw it at Garfiel's face.

Garfiel coughed up blood and Fear Toxin as he began to feel nauseous.

Trying to retaliate he tried to swing down his shield at Scarecrow...only for Scarecrow to slither away and use more Yin Magic on the young man.

"Al Sidoria!" To slow him down.

"Kiria!" To eliminate sounds from the world around him.

"Reso!" To decrease his stamina.

"Numatar!" To slightly blind his opponent.

Every spell he knew was used... so he could have an easier time killing him.

Just before he moved on, Scarecrow pulled out a canister of an oil that had a powerful smell to it and dosed it all over the place.

"It's not the first time I fought off a demi-human."

Scarecrow crept through the cloud of Fear Toxin.

Garfiel coughed more and more as he tried to look for his enemy...but just then he saw someone behind himself. He prepared to strike at his opponent...only to see his mother.

"Mom…"

Her orange hair matched the gas that was passing through the building.

She smiled at him and reached out her hand to him. He hesitated at first, but his eyes teared up as he was more than happy enough to see his mother.

"Mom...it's so good to see you again-"

When his hand grasped hers, large black hair spores sprouted out of its flesh.

Garfiels trembling eyes focused on her face which ripped open and rotted away, revealing a spider-like face underneath. Its large jade eyes reflected his fearful face as it spoke.

"...you left me to die…"

"AGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Garfiel's screams echoed throughout the building.

Julius was trying his best to stay focused, but the Fear Toxin was quickly spreading throughout his system.

He could hear the voices of his family and friends...mocking him, disappointed in him and even wishing nothing but disdain for him.

"Damn...I thought I'd be more prepared for this."

Subaru and Batman did inform the two about Scarecrow being a spirit user and his dreaded Fear Toxin.

He felt that he and Garfiel would have been better prepared for such a situation...but even he had to admit, that Scarecrow was quite the crafty foe and they may have very well underestimated him.

Julius tried to brave through the gas cloud, when he came face to face with a large golden tiger.

The beastified Garfiel roared loudly as it slammed its claw downward at Julius. Julius couldn't recognize the beast as Garfiel, as his vision was being impaired by the Fear Toxin, he aimed his sword at the tiger.

"Fell Goa!"

A large fire blast struck against the beast, sending it flying a bit, but it caught its fall...scraping the ground with its claws as it did.

"GROOOOOAR!"

The large tiger charged as it slammed its claws at the ground nearly shaking apart the whole building. Julius leapt over the beast as he aimed his sword downward, trying to stab at the top of its head. It saw this and turned its neck, allowing him to pass by. But Julius spun in the air and his sword turned bright white and he sliced upward.

"Clarista!"

Garfiel roared loudly as his chest was now sliced open, he did rapid attacks with his claws, trying to slice apart the knight. One strike hit its mark and sliced the side of Julius, making blood flood out of his body. Julius quickly landed on the ground and shot another fire blast at the tiger sending it to blind rage.

He tried to tackle Julius, but he somersaulted out of the way as the tiger kicked off the ground to face him.

Julius sliced at the beast's neck.

Garfiel tackled him away.

The two were now facing each other as their battle...came to a sudden end.

"Now those were some fearful faces you showed me. But my real test begins now."

Suddenly, a large hand revealed itself and grabbed at the ground. From the cloud of gas, a now humongous Scarecrow revealed itself. His eyes glowing bright yellow, he peered down at the two of them and opened his mouth.

"RAGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

The roar was accompanied by a vast amount of crows flying out of his mouth and attacking the pair. They both were bombarded with cuts and scratches...and then both were slapped away by the giant Scarecrow and into a nearby wall, causing a crater to form on it.

Garfiel shook his head and leered down at Julius, who was now also free from the wall.

Then, several chains shot out and wrapped around Garfiel's neck, trying to drag him away from the battle. The tiger roared as it pulled back...only to realize too late that several magical stones were attached to the chain...the impact to his body caused them to explode and sent him flying back.

Julius had now jumped up in the air and sliced the giant Scarecrow's head in half. And with it, out sprouted countless spiders with eyes similar to Julius himself and human rows of teeth. They bit and chewed at Julius as he sent them flying away with some wind magic.

Only for sudden deep cut to his back to catch his attention. He turned around to see Scarecrow on his back, the villain then dropkicked him back into the ground. Scarecrow then vanished back into the gas.

Garfiel was slowly changing back to his normal self, when he was slammed down back into the ground by the giant Scarecrow. Chains wrapped around his feet and dragged him away, even his claws began to weaken by the force.

Garfiel was then spun around by the huge Scarecrow, scraping his body against the walls of the building and then back into the ground causing the wall they had slammed into before to finally give way.

Scarecrow then saw Julius was actually running towards him with an intent on killing him...so he did the only thing he could, to give himself some more time.

He tossed two canisters of Fear Toxin. One at Julius and one at Garfiel. He then concentrated on the two of them. And when the canisters erupted-

"Yin Spell: Fear of the Dark!"

Two large orbs surrounded Julius and Garfiel, trapping them each in a small black void where they would fight enemies that really weren't there. With the Fear Toxin also trapped in there with them, this would cloud their judgment, stifle their actions and make them panic more.

Julius tried with all his might to save Anastasia and his fellow Camp members from the Witch's cult...but he was unable to fight them off as he watched them die one by one.

Mimi was decapitated.

Ricardo, Heataro and Tivey were set ablaze.

And Anastasia was stabbed trhough the chest with Scarecrow's scythe. Her body was lifted high in the air as her eyes fell dark. Scarecrow's giant form looked down and laughed as his face melted away and became a raging mass of blood, beginning to drown to Julius.

Julius tried to fight back...but his spirits were fluttering around...unable to help him in the dark void.

Garfiel could only watch as everyone was trying to fend off the Witch's Cult, only for Garfiel to feel something weigh him down and cause his breathing to lose it's normal function.

He watched as everyone was shot through the chest with fire magic. Garfiel's screams echoed in the dark void as the very ground crumbled underneath him...slowly burying him alive.

"Well, it would have been nice to see their expressions, but I need to end this quickly."

Scarecrow emerged from the illusion of the giant version of himself and walked over to the two voids.

He tossed in several magic stones inside of the voids and quickly readied his scythe. The voids shattered like glass and the two men slumped forward, covered in blood and with tired, panicked expressions on their faces.

Scarecrow tilted his head as he slit Julius's throat, then stabbed Garfiel in the head, ironically on his x-shaped scar. The impact caused the scythe to shatter away.

The two men fell over as their injuries took their toll. Scarecrow was now reading his pistol and checking on how many rounds were left.

"...Four rounds left."

He was preparing to execute the two exhausted men…

"SCARECROW!"

"What?!"

Garfiel sprung up in a mad craze and bit into his shoulder. Scarecrow then tried pistol whipping the young man off of him, but quickly realized Julius was now standing up. Scarecrow and Julius were now angrily staring at each other.

Julius had dropped the X-Potion bottle he had just drank on the ground, and while it did heal him, the healing mostly focused on his neck wound and some of the wounds received by Garfiel. He was still bleeding continuously.

Scarecrow finally freed himself from Garfiel's bite and kicked the boy away, as Julius charged at the villain. Scarecrow fired two shots at him, but Julius summoned a barrier around himself that saved him in the nick of time.

Julius swung his sword at Scarecrow-

"Al Sidoria!"

Scarecrow slowed Julius down considerably, giving him a chance to try and toss another canister of Fear Toxin at the knight, but Julius saw this and quickly used his sword and some wind magic to toss it to the other side of the building. Julius then sliced upwards cutting through Scarecrow's chest. Scarecrow then did a quick crane kick on Julius's forehead before quickly using his broken syringe nails to cut away on the right side of his face. Julius retaliated by using his sword to stab him in the shoulder that Garfiel bit into earlier.

Scarecrow pushed the knight away from him with enough time to shoot Julius twice in the left leg. Scarecrow looked behind himself quickly and realized that the hole they made earlier helped let most of the Fear Toxin escape out of the building. This made him kick Julius in the very same leg he shot in a fit of annoyance.

"Agh!"

"I'm not dying here! You two will! I'm going to see you filled with terror before I do the same to the rest of your friends! Especially Batman and Natsuki Subaru!"

Garfiel came up behind Scarecrow and swung a kick at Scarecrow, he missed but the villain could easily feel the power behind the kick. Scarecrow then tried to fire his gun...but realized he was now out of bullets.

Garfiel swung his fist downward at him, but he lost his balance quickly and only scrapped his cheek open, forcing blood to gush out of it. Though the hit nearly made Scarecrow lose consciousness. Scarecrow pistol whipped him so hard that the gun broke apart and left him no choice but to leap over the feral man.

Julius aimed his sword at Scarecrow, with his spirits surrounding it.

"Al Clarista!"

The sword fired a beam of light that struck Scarecrow in the right shoulder, destroying it completely, and sent him flying out the hole in the side of the building.

"Damn knight! I'm gonna cut your head off and put it on a spike! Julius!"

Scarecrow escaped the beam of light and clenched his hands a bit as he was now in free fall.

"Murak!"

He was now suddenly floating and literally swam in the air back to the building, but was losing a bit of steam.

"Hk! Too much blood loss...and I'm practically out of mana..."

He then turned his attention as he heard what sounded like yelling coming right towards him.

"Scarecrow!"

"Garfiel!"

Garfiel jumped out of the hole and was barreling straight at him, Scarecrow roared as well as he aimed his palm at him.

"Shamak!"

"Die!"

Scarecrow tried to use the black smoke of his spell to try and escape...but Garfiel's glimmering eyes were the first thing he saw. Then Garfiel's body shot through the dark spell and his fist came flying towards Scarecrow.

"...Well darn."

Garfiel's fist shot through Scarecrow's chest, blood spraying out from his back.

Scarecrow coughed blood as Garfiel spun in the air and tossed him into a nearby cafe. His body crashed through the roof and the glass shattered from the collision.

Garfiel landed on the ground and breathed heavily as he stared at the cafe. Julius was using his spirits to help guide him down into the ground below.

Garfiel went over to him as he saw the wound on his leg was giving him trouble to stand. He helped lean him on his shoulder as the two observed the destroyed cafe. Julius reached into his knight coat and pulled out Garfiel's usual shirt.

"Ah, here your shirt. I thought you might have wanted it."

"Oh, thanks."

Garfiel carefully wrapped it around his waist as he and Julius began walking to the cafe...after entering through the door they saw Scarecrow sitting on the ground, his legs spread out and his back leaning on a destroyed counter. He looked up as the two of them entered.

Then his spirit Amygdala floated around him several times...before it began to dissipate. He looked at it, with the first form of affection the two of them had seen at all.

"Thank you for your services, Amygdala. But I'm afraid our partnership...is over...take care…"

The spirit then disappeared as Scarecrow coughed blood several times turning his attention back to the two young men.

"So...you killed me...huh?"

"..."

"It's fine you two...I've lived a...truly enriching life….but…"

The two men noticed Scarecrow was now looking at the ground, as blood and glass covered everything underneath him. He even had a worried expression on his face.

"But did I….do enough for her...the witch….Satella...did I...fail you...did I…?"

That's when the two of them noticed that his clothes were emitting smoke and showing a glow to them.

Garfiel quickly leaped back with Julius in tow, as Scarecrow had a look on his face...it was fear.

With the last ounce of strength in his being...he tried to speak to her.

"I did everything for...you...Satella...so please...answer-"

The magic stones exploded, causing the entire cafe to finally collapse and sending vast amounts of debris to fly everywhere.

With that, the Demon of Fear, Dr. Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. Scarecrow, died…

Garfiel was helping Julius a bit by aiding him with what little healing magic he had learned from Emilia. Julius was sitting on the ground a few yards away from the cafe that was destroyed, near a bridge that overlooked the refinery.

"Thank you again."

"Nah, it's not a prob, yer a buddy of th' Boss. And ya' really saved me a buncha' times in there."

"We both helped each other in the end it seems."

"Yeah….listen…"

Garfiel seemed despondent about what he was trying to say, but Julius could tell what it was for.

"I understand, I forgive you for attacking me. The Fear Toxin was very potent as they said, we both lost our composure...so I hope you forgive me as well."

"...Yeah, I do. Besides, we made that crazy bastard pay."

The two nodded proudly as the healing session was now complete.

However…

"Yeah...th' thing is, tha' was th' one thing I wasn' able ta' cure fully...it's a scar now...I hope ya don't mind."

Julius got a hold of a piece of glass and stared at his reflection…

Three scars ran close to his eye and downard on the right side of his face, evidently from Scarecrow's attack on him.

"It is nothing."

"Ya sure?"

"Yes. I have seen Batman-dono's face and know now, that scars...aren't always something to be ashamed of."

"Hell nah, ther' a reminder of sorts. Let ya' know not ta' do it again."

"Yes, an eloquent way of putting it. I shall wear it as proof of this battle then."

"Tha's the spirit!"

Garfiel slapped Julius's back. Though the knight was surprised by this...he let out a faint smile. The two of them watched as the last remaining Fear Toxin dissipated into the air.

"Wha' ya' think he was actually plottin' Julius?"

"...My best guess is...he was trying to find a way to bypass filtration stones."

"...?"

"Priestella has some of the highest quality ones in the kingdom...if he could find a way to bypass the ones here, he could also bypass them not just in Lugnica, but also the other kingdoms."

"...Crazy. So th' Capital woulda' been in danger?"

"Yes...he would have put countless people's lives in danger."

"Hmph, tha's over."

"Yes...his plans died along with him."

The warriors then began walking away as they completed their mission in stopping Scarecrow's plot.

"Garfiel let's split up...I'm going over to help fight with Ricardo and the others!"

"'Kay! I'll head over ta' help fight with th' Boss and Bat-aniki!"

"Good luck."

The two then headed opposite directions, leaving the deserted refinery and destroyed cafe behind.

Wilhelm and Deathstroke were standing above the corpses of a vast amount of Witch Cultists.

"There is no end to these men."

"Then it's easy. We should just keep going until there isn't a soul left."

Deathstroke noticed in the corner of his eye a Witch Cultist attempting to crawl away unnoticed...Deathstroke immediately hopped over and stabbed him through the head with his sword.

Wilhelm could only shake his head and sigh loudly.

"That bloodlust of yours is truly fierce."

"Just call it a form of expression on my part. Killing is my business...and I love the business."

Then Deathstroke looked over as two people in cloaks now entered the plaza.

One was clearly a woman with red hair. The other a very tall man with extra arms.

Deathstroke tilted his head at the two, as he began pulling out a small tomahawk.

"Is that them?"

The two then removed their cloaks...revealing themselves to be the former Master Swordsman, Thearesia Van Astrea and the Eight Sword Kurgan.

Wilhelm held his breath as he saw Thearesia looking straight at him...with eyes akin to dark voids.

Wilhelm closed his eyes and remembered how Thearesia looked when she left to battle the White Whale...how she had been dressed and how she had her hair….

It was the exact same as all those years ago, as if she remained unchanged.

His shoulder wound began bleeding profusely due to her Divine Protection of Shinigami. Thus proving it.

"Yes that is the two of them...the ones we have been sent to defeat."

"But one of them is your wife right?"

"...Former wife...no longer of this world…"

"..."

Deathstroke could clearly see the trouble Wilhelm had in saying those words and sighed loudly.

"Fine fine. You take care of your wife, old man. I got the octopus over there."

"...Thank you."

"Enough of this mushy crap. LET'S GO."

The two began slowly walking towards their opponents, as they too began unsheathed their weapons…

Al had made it to the bottom of the broadcast tower and found himself coming face to face with a pink haired girl with red eyes...and dragon wing on her back as she smiled at him. Her red shirt and skirt matched the blood that covered the ground underneath her feet.

"Hey there…"

Al scratched his helmet as he looked over the situation.

"Maaaan….I really wanna go home."

Priscilla and Liliana were atop the tower, now looking at Sirius, who was sitting on the ground, tilted her head back and forth.

"Have you brought my Love to me?"

"We have not done so...and even if we were asked to, we would do no such thing, you fool."

Sirius patted off some dirt off herself as she got up.

"Then if you not brought love to me...I SHALL BRING IT TO YOU…"

The battle for the Watergate City continued raging on, as death and destruction followed.