Chapter 70

April was lighter on the Whirlwind Plots than March had been, allowing me to delve further into training than I had before. With my full attention given to training and my various training tools multiplying the effectiveness of that training, my capabilities grew even further over the course of April. I wasn't exactly a Ninth Circle Badass or a Grandmaster Chi Adept, but I was closing in on those levels with each training session I engaged in. In terms of base capability, I could now learn seventh-circle spells, for instance. Conjuring a Delayed Blast Fireball capable of melting through the armor of most tanks was now in my power, albeit doing so would use enough mystic energy to drain a sixth of my reserves. Meanwhile, my Chi abilities had increased to the level that with all my enhancements up and running, I was capable of breaking iron and denting steel with my punches and kicks. Mind you, given how some Grandmasters were capable of shattering Diamonds with their blows, I still had a ways to go.

I continued my efforts to use music as a medium for Sonomancy, trying to get a more general empathic manipulation thing going on. That was slow going, but not the only thing that I was working on mystically, as Buffy had swung by the day after I'd killed the Judge and dropped off something she'd taken off of Dave Gustafson. His spellbook. That gave me access to a number of sixth, seventh, and even a smattering of eighth-circle spells that I hadn't been capable of learning without something to go off of. Some of them weren't the sort of things that I was comfortable learning, such as the Standard Necromantic Death Spell or the spell to Conjure an Invisible Stalker. Others were worth me learning though, such as the aforementioned delayed blast fireball and the spell to Conjure Animals, which Dave had used against us to conjure a smilodon minion in our last fight.

For Chi Abilities, I worked on learning to utilize the Chikara no Hadou, a type of Chi that was heavier than that of the normal sort used by various Chi Adept Traditions, though not as tainted by Dark Energy as the Satsui no Hadou, which the Ansatsuken Manual warned against using. Supposedly, the Chikara no Hadou was not as powerful as the Satsui no Hadou, but it didn't come at the risk of the user losing themselves to the concentration of Dark Energy present within the Satsui no Hadou. The key to the Chikara no Hadou was, apparently, Willpower over Killing Intent. I had willpower to spare, so training the Chikara no Hadou came fairly easily to me. Furthermore, I had experience with denser types of Chi thanks to training the Geki Hou of Master Tung Fu Rue. By the end of the month, I had unlocked the ability to tap into the Chikara no Hadou to fuel my techniques, though I was a long way off from mastering it fully.

Aside from that, I continued to train my Polish Sabre and Guitar Playing skills while also learning two new languages and two new cooking recipes. My guitar and sabre skills were already fairly good, with my Guitar skills being better than my Sabre ones. This only made them both even better, and I figured I could begin to tackle some really advanced songs now on the guitar and begin integrating other styles into my Sabre technique alongside the basic Polish Sabre. I chose to begin adding in moves unique to French Sabre as a test run. A French Sabre actually has a decent point on it, so thrusting was a thing that style did. Oddly enough, while Jyoti's Tulwar didn't have that pronounced of a point, the point it did have was enough to make adding thrusting maneuvers viable.

I also now was able to speak Ancient Phoenician as well as Hebrew. Ancient Phoenician was just good sense to learn given which Go'auld's genetic material had gone into my creation, and Hebrew was close enough Grammatically to Phoenician that I figured I might as well pick that up as well. It had gone so well that I'd been able to begin learning a third language in April, picking up Yoruba as a stepping stone to potentially learning to use Vodoun-style spells later on. Culinary-wise, I could now do a passable Chicken Fried Rice and Chicken Satay. Chicken Fried Rice had been easy enough to even put me ahead of schedule to begin learning to make Irish Stew, though my execution needed more work.

I also made time to do date night with Cordy, though she seemed a little hesitant while we were out. I didn't want to pressure her, though, so I didn't ask about it. We also didn't do anything more than kiss and cuddle, since she seemed not in the mood for anything more than that. Instead, I focused on ensuring she had a good time, taking her out to the Third Street Brasserie, taking her dancing at the Bronze, and going to the movies to see some sort of Romantic Comedy with Elliot Blitzer. Apparently, it was the last film he made before his death in a police shootout a couple of years back and had been held back from being released for a few years due to the trial that had spun out of that. Apparently, releasing the movie while the trial was ongoing was disrespectful, but marketing the movie based on the shootout after the trial was over was fine. Go figure. Cordy seemed to have fun, but I could still tell something was on her mind.

Of course, by the time the end of April rolled around, movement finally happened on the Whirlwind Front. Apparently, Angelus managed to cotton onto the fact that we were watching the Sunnydale History Museum and had instead hijacked the Virtucon Shipping truck that had been carrying Acathla to the museum from the docks while the driver had been stopped for a Red Apple Cigarette in the parking lot of the Teriyaki Donut. Apparently, he'd left a few bodies on the ground in the parking lot, not just the driver, but two, gray-uniformed security guards as well. The cops were on the scene and seeing the cop cars racing for the S-Mart Parking lot had clued Buffy's group into something being wrong. Giles called me to let me know they'd used magic to track the stolen truck to the Crawford Street Mansion.

"Buffy is already on her way there, and we have Williw working on a mystical solution, but I would appreciate it if you could go back Buffy up. Loathe as Buffy or Willow would be to admit it, you are the only person with the expertise and capability to do so at the moment. Unless you believe Xander, Sheila, or Amy capable of doing so without your help?" Implored Giles.

"As a unit, sure. The problem is that Amy is visiting her Grandmother to help bind a familiar and Xander went out looking into a potential Tu Lung Sighting in the desert around Highway One-Fifty. Apparently, someone reported a sort of mini earthquake that swallowed up a parked camper van near a rest stop in the desert out there." I admitted.

"Tu Lung? That's a long way from the Perfection Valley, isn't it?" Questioned Giles.

"Which is why he's investigating. Normally, I'd say leave it to the authorities, but better to be safe than sorry. Those things can cause chaos like you wouldn't believe, and even if there's nothing magical about them, they're still weird enough to be worth checking into." I replied.

"Fair enough, however, I don't understand how you even know about it, though?" Pressed Giles.

"Xander sprung for a fairly powerful police scanner with some of the money he's gotten from hunting. It can pick up state police signals all the way in San Francisco if you tune it right. This was closer than that." I answered.

"Fair enough. How long will it take you to reach Crawford Street?" Queried Giles.

"Maybe five minutes. There's not a whole lot of traffic at this time on a Thursday Night. Why?" I asked.

"Because as much fun as learning about Xander's new hobby of vigilantism is, we are on a ticking clock." Intoned Giles.

"Right, I'll head out now." I nodded.

"Yes, I think you'd best." Agreed Giles.

And with that, I suited up, hopped in my Camaro, and sped off toward Crawford Street. I only hit one light on the way over there, near the S-Mart. I wasn't in transit long, but that was apparently long enough for Buffy to be intercepted by Spike in the Garden. I found them staring each other down after parking and leaping the fence. Spike looked over Buffy's shoulder as I arrived and his face visibly fell, puckering in on itself as if he'd just bitten into a lemon. Buffy spared a glance over her shoulder at me and got a vicious grin on her face as she spotted me before turning back to Spike.

"Looks like I don't need to take your deal, Spike. I've got backup of my own now." Grinned Buffy.

"Sodding Hell, Slayer! I'm trying to tell you Angelus made sure that you lot wouldn't be able to stop him! You need a bloke on the inside if you're gonna have any chance of getting through the mess of traps he set up in time to keep the bloody world spinning!" Groused Spike.

"And what do you care about keeping the world spinning, Spike? The way I heard it, you were all too happy to sick the Judge on random mall-goers!" Challenged Buffy.

"That was only a spot of the ol' ultraviolence, just a bit of mindless chaos, nothing that'd cause the bloody world to end! I like the world, it's where I keep all my stuff!" Protested Spike.

"Right." Scoffed Buffy.

"I believe him." I interjected.

"What?" Blinked Buffy.

"I think he realizes exactly what would happen if the Earth got sucked into a Hell Dimension. Not only would all the Humans get herded to their deaths, but all the halfbreeds and lower-order Demons would suddenly rocket to the top of the Demonic Shit List. That includes Vampires like him." I informed.

"Really? Evil isn't just one big happy family? Whoever could've figured that out?" Snarked Buffy.

"Look up the Scourge sometime slayer, the Holy Roller over there's not wrong." Shrugged Spike.

"I can see the enlightened self-interest there, at least." I concurred.

"You haven't heard his price. He wants us to let him and his girlfriend go if he helps us. I don't know if I wanna let them skate." Frowned Buffy.

"Can we afford to spend time dealing with him and Drusilla? What about the time spent negotiating whatever traps Angelus set?" I pressed.

"You lot can't even afford the time to have this bloody conversation. Angelus is doing his little awakening ritual as we speak!" Insisted Spike.

"See?" I remarked.

"I don't like it, it sounds too much like just letting them walk." Grumbled Buffy.

"It might be the only way to stop it in time." I pointed out.

"Ugh, you and your stupid logic!" Grunted Buffy.

"Tick tock, Gents. What'll it be?" Cut-in Spike.

"Fine. We agree, but if you come back to Sunnydale after we let you go to cause trouble, there won't be a third chance!" Cautioned Buffy.

"You made the right call there. Come on, I'll lead you lot through the bloody traps." Smirked Spike.

He turned and led us on a specific path through the Garden. As we followed the winding path to the back door of the mansion, I noticed a smell like brimstone hidden beneath the aroma of the various overgrown flower bushes that permeated the Mansion Garden. A brief flash of metal and a red glow revealed Angelus had either paid for or more likely stolen, a number of alchemical brimstone mines from someone. Those things are nasty, especially if you weren't expecting them. They used alchemical processes to render sulfur down into a powder that, when water is acid, turns into what can only be described as a sort of magical Super Sulfuric Acid that can burn through almost any substance. Funnily enough, the going rate for those sorts of weapons tends to be measured in the tens of thousands of dollars. With the dozen we passed? Some master alchemist somewhere has to be down at least five hundred grand from stolen Brimstone Mines.

As Spike led us into the house, he hit a hidden switch on the back hallway wall and led us out into the kitchen, hitting another hidden switch as we went. I smelled oil and metal as we passed both switches, which meant some sort of hidden mechanism. By the time we reached the basement stairs, we'd passed by three more hidden switches that Spike had hit covering for three more hidden mechanisms, along with a pair of glyph-like, magic traps that had to be deactivated with Vampire Blood in order to not be set off and fill the hallway with white-hot flames or freezing hoarfrost respectively. I recognized those glyphs as belonging to Outworld's Mystical Tradition. Had Angelus been doing business with Shang Tsung?

If so, that could be a problem. I very much doubted Shang Tsung didn't have a way to scry on his business partners, after all, and if he chanced to do so now, he'd see me. I knew that Kano and the Black Dragon had been looking for me, after all. There had been bounties placed on my head, though it had been a year since I'd last been active anywhere that might have had the Black Dragon able to track me down. What's more, I knew the Black Dragon and Goa'uld System Lord Ba'al had cooperated with Shang Tsung to bypass the various hard-coded restrictions in Go'auld DNA to create me in a way that wouldn't violate Ra's Law against Harcesis Children and Apkullu. There's no way that Shang Tsung didn't let news of my whereabouts slip. I had to ask Spike where they got those glyph traps.

"These? Angelus bought 'em off some bloke with the Black Dragon. Said his boss had a line on a bit of magic what couldn't be traced by your average spell-slinger. Why?" Questioned Spike.

"This guy's boss. Was he an Australian Guy with a techno-magic cybernetic eye?" I pressed.

"Nah. Bloke was some kind of scarred burn victim. He never took off that bloody gas mask." Refuted Spike.

"Scarred burn victim? Did he carry a pair of hook swords?" I queried.

"Yeah. You know blokes with the Black Dragon? I gotta say, that ain't what I expected from a White Hat." Frowned Spike.

"You'd be surprised what I know." I huffed.

"Can we keep the chatter to a minimum? I'm not exactly here to be friends, you know." Asked Buffy.

"Suit yourself, Slayer." Shrugged Spike.

As Spike fiddled with the door to the basement to disarm the last of the traps Angelus had set up, I couldn't help but breathe out a sigh of relief. Angelus had bought the glyph traps from the Black Dragon, not Shang Tsung, and not from Kano, but from Kabal, who ran something resembling an opposition faction within the organization. Even if Kabal had a way of looking in on things, he had every incentive not to tell Kano where I was, if only as a way to help knock Kano off the number one position within the Black Dragon. After all, Kabal wanted to be in charge himself. Eventually, though, Spike got the trap disarmed and the door to the basement open before turning back toward Buffy and I.

"All right, I helped you lot out. That's my end of the sodding deal over and done with. Now I'm gonna grab Dru from her room and scarper. Good luck, you'll bloody well need it if he finishes that ritual." Nodded Spike.

"Remember what I said about coming back here, Spike. No third chances." Warned Buffy.

"Heard you the first time, Slayer." Grunted Spike.

Then he dashed away, presumably to kidnap Drusilla and fuck off to Mexico or somewhere. I briefly wondered whether Dru would put up a fight at being taken away, then cut off that stupid train of thought. Of course she wouldn't, this was Spike and Drusilla we were talking about. They probably thought a kidnapping was romantic or something. Best not to contemplate that sort of line of reasoning. Buffy's throat clearing brought me back to the present. I looked over to see she was already part-way down the basement stairs and was looking at me with a cocked eyebrow and a hand on her hip.

"You coming?" She demanded.

"Right behind you." I affirmed.

We got down to the basement just in time to see Angelus, hand bleeding, pull the sword out of the statue of Acathla. He had a manic gleam in his eye as the ground quaked and the statue peeled apart to reveal a swirling orange vortex opening up in the space where the statue had previously been. Angelus let out a maniacal laugh as the Vortex opened and turned to face the two of us.

"Yer too late! I've done it, now Acathla'll swallow the whole o' the world!" Cackled Angelus.

"How do we stop it?" Questioned Buffy, frantically.

"Stop it? Yer too late, Lover! Ye can't stop it, it's already done!" Crowed Angelus.

"He's lying. His blood and the sword together opened it, they can close it too. That's how that sort of magic works." I pointed out.

"Ye know how ta rain on a parade, don't ye boyo? Well, if ye think it'll be that easy, yer welcome ta try! Only it looks like ye ain't got a blade o' yer own, while I'm armed." Grinned Angelus.

"Think again." I challenged, drawing Jyoti's Tulwar out of my expanded duster pocket.

"Wait, Ulysses! Willow is trying a re-ensoulment spell! Just try and disarm and wound him if you can!" Hissed Buffy.

"Are you still on that? Buffy, the World's literally ending! I can't afford to play around!" I snapped.

"Aye, and ye might be interested ta know that I ain't just relying on me own abilities. The Black Dragon sold me more than just a few glyph traps and brimstone mines. They gave me these too." Smirked Angelus.

He pointed to the pair of leather boots and a wide leather belt with bronze buckles he was wearing. Both glowed to my third eye and I realized that the Black Dragon must also have a presence in other realms aside from Outworld because he literally just showed me a Girdle of Frost Giant Strength and a pair of Boots of Speed. Combined with his abilities as a two-hundred-fifty-year-old Master Vampire, Angelus could just about match me with all my enhancements in terms of raw physical ability now, though I had Magic and Chi Techniques as well. It was still going to be a hard fight.

Growling, I surged forward moving to engage him while Buffy moved around to the side, pulling the Owlbone-handle Dagger I'd made for her. As I threw a Muscovite Cut at Angelus, cutting at him diagonally from above with my whole arm behind the strike. Angelus parried with the Acathla Sword and that initiated a moment of winding and binding as our blades locked together and we maneuvered for leverage. Angelus seemed unwilling to allow that to go on for long, though and lashed out at me with a headbutt. My nose crunched as his ridged forehead slammed into it, breaking it as blood flowed out. I stumbled back and barely ducked a cut that would have taken my head off. I came up with a Polish Quarte, the rising diagonal cut would have disemboweled Angelus had he not parried. He did, though, spitting into my eye, and blurring my vision long enough to smash a kick into my ribs, sending me skidding backward and bruising my ribs under my Wyvernscale vest.

I stood up and wiped the spittle from my eye, realizing that he was countering my skill advantage with dirty fighting. I snarled a mystic syllable and made a mystic gesture and suddenly Angelus found his feet frozen to the floor of the basement. He used the strength granted by his Girdle to break his feet free of the ice, but in that time, I had charged a Hadoken with the power of the Chikara no Hadou, giving my one-handed Chi Blast the power of a normal, two-handed Chi Blast. Angelus' eyes widened as I thrust my hand out and the blue ball of Chi went flying forward, crackling with arcs of yellowish power. Angelus was forced to leap away from the Chi Blast at the last second, which exploded the solid stone wall and caused bits of dirt to slide into the basement that was picked up by the nearby Acathla vortex and swallowed.

"You fight dirty and have a few magic items to boost your strength and speed. It won't be enough." I growled.

"We'll see about that, Boyo!" Spat Angelus. He rushed towards me with his blade cutting out at my neck. I parried his strike and pre-empted the stomp he was about to send to my insole with an elbow to the face that sent him reeling. That allowed me to launch into a Senkugoshoha, slipping past a knife he pulled from out of his jacket as if Gliding and smashing a punch into his face that sent him flying back into the wall near Buffy. The wall smashed apart and more dirt slid into the basement, causing Angelus to slip as he attempted to right himself. He dropped the Acathla Sword in the process and Buffy snatched it up. Angelus snarled, pulling a second knife from behind his back.

"If ye won't die easy, I'll take the Slayer down with me instead!" Snarled Angelus, lunging for Buffy with his knife.

Angelus's Girdle and Boots had enhanced his already superhuman physical abilities to match mine. Between that and the shock of being attacked by someone she was clearly still in love with, Buffy couldn't match Angelus' speed. She had to rely on her instincts, which always were more offensive-minded. Buffy presented the point of the Acathla Sword to her opponent as hundreds of Slayers before her had done in similar situations. Angelus wasn't used to moving quite so fast himself, and he couldn't redirect his momentum in time. The sword slid into Angelus' torso with a wet, thunk. Buffy's eyes widened as she saw what she'd done. Angelus stumbled backward in shock, looking down at the length of blessed steel jutting through his stomach as he dropped his second knife. Then, he did something unexpected. He laughed.

"Hah! Didn't think ye had it in ye! Shows what I know!" Chuckled Angelus, staggering to his feet. As he did that, the ground began to quake again as the Vortex started to expand.

"Buffy! Now while he's still run through! Hit him!" I shouted.

"But Willow was re-ensouling him!" Protested Buffy.

"It's too late for that! If the Vortex gets bigger again, I don't know if we can stop it!" I pressed.

"Aye, listen to yer friend, Love. Unless ye still can't bear ta be without me?" Sneered Angelus.

"I don't. . ." Started Buffy.

I wasn't going to let her make the decision if she was still this torn up about it. I charged for Angelus only for him to whip around and bring his hand down on my thigh. Pain bloomed in my thigh as I looked down and spotted a small, triangular, metal, spike had been stabbed into my thigh. Angelus then backhanded me away, splitting my lip as he taunted me.

"Didn't think I had a third blade, eh, Boyo? Ye pack a wallop and me tailbone and ribs are bruised and cracked, but that ain't no substitute for cold steel is it?" Sneered Angelus.

Then, his hand reached out and grabbed the hilt of the Acathla Sword and he began to pull it out. Likewise, I levered myself up, pulled the spike out of my thigh, and grabbed a Potion of Health from my expanded pocket. I downed the potion and my wounds healed as Angelus stopped removing the Acathla Sword to glare at me as I stood up, good as new.

"That just ain't fair!" He grumbled.

"Life's not fair. Deal with it." I snorted.

"I ain't exactly alive in the strictest sense, Boyo." Frowned Angelus.

"Guess what? Unlife isn't fair either." Intoned Buffy, steel in her voice.

It seemed like she'd found her backbone because she kicked the pommel of the Acathla Sword, sending it right back down into Angelus' torso to the hilt and Sending Angelus skidding back toward me. I hammered him in the back of the head with a Chi-enhanced punch that sent Angelus stumbling into a punch from Buffy which sent him collapsing to the floor at my feet. I lifted my leg and slammed it down on his sword arm with the Dragon Stomp of the Great Kung Lao. His arm snapped like dry wood as Angelus cried out in pain. He pushed himself up with his remaining arm and scrambled to his feet just in time for Buffy to kick him into the Vortex with a leaping roundhouse.

The Vortex swallowed Angelus up, destabilizing under the mystical weight of the Blessed Acathla Sword and the blood of the one who opened it. As the destabilizing vortex began to leak energy, the floor and walls began to crack open and the Mansion threatened to collapse. I looked over at Buffy and motioned to the stairs. She nodded back and we raced for the stairs and the outside. We made it out of the Crawford Street Mansion just before the final destabilization of the vortex brought the whole thing down in a pile of stone, sinking into the ground as if swallowed by a sinkhole. By the time we'd gotten back onto the street, it was all over. Angelus, and Acathla, were no more.

With that over with, and Spike and Dru fled out of Sunnydale, that was an Apocalypse averted. I offered to take Buffy home before I headed home myself. Buffy agreed and we sat the whole drive in silence. I dropped her off and headed back to my converted warehouse to sleep the sleep of the dead. With Acathla and the Judge taken care of, that was everything my Patrons wanted me to deal with in Sunnydale done with. Hopefully, now, I could actually relax a bit. The Town had some pretty decent beaches, apparently, and my sleeping schedule hadn't allowed me time to go out a lot during the day as a necessity of the hunt. Maybe I could go swimming? I had no way of knowing this now, but I would be gone from Sunnydale in two weeks' time.

By the start of the Third Week of May, I would have no real reason to stay in town. . .

XXXX

AN: So yeah, Acathla is handled and Angel still winds up sucked into Acathla's Hell Dimension. The only difference here is that Willow doesn't manage to re-ensoul him beforehand so Buffy feels less badly about it, especially after how Dirty Angelus was fighting in the fight at the end. Angel wouldn't have fought like that and seeing Angelus do that sort of thing with no remorse and gloat while doing it sort of broke the spell for Buffy this time around.

As to Angelus himself, well he had to resort to magic items to enhance his already superhuman capabilities as well as dirty tricks just to fight evenly with Ulysses. Once Buffy shook off the whole Angel-Angelus thing, he didn't really have a chance to win, even with dirty tricks and magic gear enhancing his abilities.

Other nineties stuff this chapter includes mentions of Red Apple Cigarettes and Teriyaki Donuts from the works of Quentin Tarantino, Elliot Blitzer, the actor/coke addict/police informant is from True Romance, the techniques of the Ansatsuken and both the Satsui and Chikara no Hadou are from Street Fighter, Outworld, Kano, Kabal, Shang Tsung, the Black Dragon, and the Techniques of the Great Kung Lao are from Mortal Kombat, S-Mart is from Army of Darkness, while Tu Lungs and Paradise Nevada are from Tremors. Ba'al, Ra, and everything to do with the Goa'uld are from Stargate, while all the Spells by Circle, the Girdle of Giant Strength, and Boots of Speed are from Second Edition Dungeons and Dragons.

At any rate, we'll only have one more wrap-up chapter before we're done with the Buffy Section of the crossover taking full focus for a while. That's coming up next.

Stay tuned. . .