[MV] The Super Wizard From Space #27: To Hell And Hell And Hell And Hell And Hell And Back Again, Part 3

[Andrew Perron]

On Wed, 4 Jan 2012 15:48:54 +0000 (UTC), Wil Alambre wrote:

> "Once upon a time, five dark lords of multiple underverses made the
> mistake of signing a series of magical contracts in an attempt to insure
> some level of trust between them. Inevitably, all five of them went back
> on their words and now the tangled wording of those contracts have
> trapped them in the stone sepulchres of Quinto-Hell."
> 
> Super Wizard From Space was unsympathetic. "Understand me, Devil. I
> would be happy to leave you and your four brethren in the prison you
> have made for yourselves. But I bound by the cosmic challenges forced
> upon me by the seven super civilizations of the universe. I only agree
> to assist you because I see no other way to collect the Super-Devil's
> black circlet."

Now, tonight's episode...

> The Devil raised his hands defensively. "Understood. Circuitous
> circumstances. An entirely temporary team-up."
> 
> "This is not a team-up," the wizard said angrily.
> 
> The Devil silently nodded with a mischievous smile.

I so want to read Diabolical Devilman Team-Up.

> "I presuppose you have methodized some differentiating conveyance for
> our capitalization?" asked the Secret Living Language, like a sticky wet
> idea that hung in the air unwelcome.

You know, I just realized what this reminds me of: the Wordinator, from the
second Drabble Girl series.

> Though there was no real sound when
> it spoken, there was still the slithering feel of a hungry snake around
> the words.

*shudders* You do well in making it creepy.

> As the sentient notion leaked into the cab, the wizard grabbed the
> Devil's shoulder and whisper in his pointed red ear. "We cannot trust
> this conceptual monster, even chained by cosmic law as a passive witness
> to the challenge. It is a dangerous creature, hungry and envious and
> infected with space-greed. It has stolen incalculable knowledge, drained
> countless societies and left them to wither as it has grown fatter and
> bolder. We cannot trust it."

The thing is, the Devil really is the most trustworthy one in all this.
(Other than Brody Dharma, but he has his own problems.)

> "I've already told Ron where to go. He'll get us there as long as he
> gets his fare." The Devil reached into his top hat and pulled out a
> single golden branch lined with auric leaves.

Innnnnnnteresting.

> They were in motion only for a handful of moments before their
> surroundings started to peel away. The road, the storm filled sky, the
> ragged vegetation, the abandoned buildings, it all broke apart and
> curved away, replaced by a thickening red mist that seemed to claw and
> yank at the car.

I'm imagining a low-budget but effective effect of literally breaking the
set apart and peeling it away.

> "Hey, don't look at me like that. I don't make the bloody rules. We paid
> the full fare but we don't have directions. Only way to get there is to
> kill someone from here and condemn them to Double-Hell. And when there,
> we'll have to kill someone else, condemning them to Triple-Hell so we
> can follow that route, and so on and so forth." The Devil sighed. "Look,
> I'm sorry if I put you in a spot, I know you might be reluctant to..."
> 
> The Super Wizard From Space raised his hand, pointing at the Devil. The
> glow of star-fire emanated from him, blinding the surroundings before
> wrapping itself around his arm and ejecting from his finger. A lancing
> bolt of fusion rammed into the Devil's chest, vaporizing his torso and
> liquifying the rest in atomic fire.

Heeheehee catharsis.

> The creature standing over the statue was of womanly shape, of a medium
> height and pleasing shape, but it wore a ragged white toga, torn and
> dirty as it she had rolled about on a muddy floor. She was drenched
> completely in blood, none of it drying despite the harrowing heat
> everywhere. And instead of hair, she had a writhing shifting mass of
> snakes, the crazed heads all trying to snap and launch themselves at the
> statue, venom spattering from their fangs.
> 
> The chorus of winged shapes along the wall called down to them, chanting
> and jeering in unison, "Double-Hell is closed! Closed to all! By twice
> furious command of Megadusa!"

...interesting.  Dun dun dun. `.`

> Plus, I'm a big fan of the old comic troupe where
> comic characters had to blurt out the situation in the first panel of a
> continuing story, just in case the reader hadn't picked up the last
> issue ("If I don't find a way to disarm this bomb in the next two
> minutes, the city is doom!").

Honestly, me too.  It fits with your style here.

> It also struck me that, if this series is to continue past the current
> tournament-crowns bit, I should probably think of where I want to go
> with it.

Indeed!  One idea is to move away from the Wizard himself and into the
greater universe.  Of course, that could be precipitated by whatever
happens to the Wizard/what he does when all the crowns combine...

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, very enjoying this arc.