Too bad, Demagog. You don't get to have your riddle, because Jonathan is going to slam the Sphinx with a giant energy-light-sword attack the moment it is distracted.
Editing.
A gargantuan monster with giant leathery bat wings, the body of a lion, and a disturbingly human-looking head rose out of the abyssal depths.
A Sphinx, Jonathan thought. That monster was a Sphinx. Jonathan had seen a Sphinx before in his life, but that Sphinx was quite unlike the one that was chasing them right now; that Sphinx had white, bird-like wings, no twisted horns and snake-like tongue, and it did not refer to itself in third person. Perhaps the thing that was chasing Jonathan, Arcterael and Nanuuk right now was a Sphinx corrupted by Darkness.
That beast was powerful. Even from a distance away, Jonathan could sense the raw metaphysical mass of that creature. It had so much innate magical power, that even Jonathan in his Angelic form might have trouble defeating it. If worse comes to worst, he could enter his Demigod form and slay the beast with relative ease, but handling the powers of a God would put a heavy toll on even the body of a half Angel. But as of now, Arcterael suggested that they retreat into a smaller room, where the demonic beast would have less room to maneuver.
The three of them were now inside a small, enclosed cavern, with rock on three side and a heavy wall on the fourth. The gap in the wall was small enough for a roughly human-sized creature to enter, but it was certainly far too large for the colossal Sphinx. "Your pathetic wall of rock will not stop the mighty Sphinx!" The beast roared again. Pointing its vicious horns forward like a bull, the Sphinx prepared to charge forward and reduce the wall to a pile of rubble.
Jonathan was quick to respond. He immediately called upon the inner Light within himself, a beautiful golden sheen like the Sun. Holding out that light in his hand, Jonathan touched the stone wall in front of him, infusing the dark granite with his own energies. Arcterael quickly joined in, fortifying the wall with his own inner Light, which was a calm, peaceful light blue. For a moment, that blue reminded Jonathan of someone else, the lithe and graceful form of a young girl with gentle blue eyes and long black hair.
How could I forget? Jonathan asked himself.
I should contact Luna; she might be able to find out where we are. Wait... Her name is Jennifer now, isn't it? He shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking about his lover, the moon goddess Luna; he needed to contact her, after the Sphinx was defeated. Returning to reality, Jonathan saw that Nanuuk had formed a barrier of ice around the stone wall.
Hopefully the ice will be stronger this time, Jonathan thought.
Jonathan silently readied himself for the impact. However, the beast never came. His curiosity getting the better of him, Jonathan decided to look outside, just in time to see something slam painfully into the Sphinx's eerily humanoid face. The blast was fired by a strange, brutish, orange-skinned creature, holding some sort of hand cannon. Beside the orange brute was a large, bald man in a white labcoat, with an even larger black hound. The orange-skinned creature seemed to be a troll, while the man in labcoat appeared perfectly human; the dog, a mass of jet-black fur and blood-red eyes, was a Hellhound.
This keeps getting weirder and weirder, Jonathan thought.
The Sphinx roared in agony; it was hurt, but definitely not dead. "You have hurt the Sphinx, now you must perish!" It bellowed, and prepared to pounce.
"O great Sphinx," the big man in the labcoat stepped forward, "forgive my friend."
"Such deeds cannot be forgiven," the Sphinx boomed. But strangely enough, it did not attack.
"You see, we were sent here to assist you, and it appears that you really do need our help," the big man continued. "We would be more than happy to chase after your previous prey and bring it back to you. All we ask from you is safe passage and maybe a lift."
"Very well," the Sphinx replied. Jonathan was surprised. "The Sphinx will consider your request... if you can answer this riddle."
Jonathan almost laughed out loud.
Yeah, right, he thought.
As if the Sphinx will spare you after being outsmarted by a human. In Jonathan's previous encounter with a Sphinx, his girlfriend Luna easily answered the creature's riddle; humiliated and enraged, and seeing Luna as a luscious human female, the Sphinx decided to eat her anyways.
Try to eat her. The beast had to be subdued, and Jonathan had made a mental note to himself: do not trust a Sphinx's honesty.
It might be a dirty way to accomplish things, and Jonathan did not like backstabbing even his enemies, at the moment they needed to finish off the Sphinx as quickly as possible. He began to squeeze through the roughly man-sized hole in the wall.
"What are you doing?" Nanuuk asked. "Why are you going out there?"
"I'm going to hit it while it's distracted by those two down below," Jonathan answered. Then he was out. He began to murmur an incantation, one of his more powerful techniques that required at least the Judgment form of the Excalibur to execute. Golden lightning began to crackle on the silvery white edge of the Excalibur, as energies of divine Light was gathered. The blade glowed white-hot, changing from silver to an intense, incandescent white. As the energy gathered, the sword seemed to grow in size again; but in fact it was being covered by one of the conjured energy swords that Jonathan used to materialize into thin air, albeit a much larger and more powerful one. In a few seconds while the Sphinx spoke its riddle, the attack was ready.
"剑破苍穹!"A massive energy sword, composed of pure, incandescent white Light crackling with golden lightning, slammed into the winged back of the Sphinx. Its immense power seemed to rip open the very sky, as it crashed upon the horrendous beast.
