The passageway beyond the door is narrow and rather tidy, as though meticulously carved from the earth. Reminds me of a mineshaft, minus the wooden supports. It’s also lit like one, though there isn’t a lantern in sight. Makes for some cozy ambience as I walk along, if a little strange.

So Spike ol’ pal, we’re on the straight-ish path to our perp. Care to take guesses as to the nature of the ordeals Hecate mentioned?

“I’ll worry about them when I face them. Speculating is just a waste of focus.”

Yes, that is true and most wise. But it makes passing the time such a bore.

“For you. I like the quiet.”

That’s a back-handed way to say you don’t want to chat. Fine, be like that then. Hmph!

Guarantee you’re still gonna gab regardless, I think as I go down a sloped section of tunnel. It’s begun turning to the right, and there’s these dips like ramps that take me lower and lower until I end up in a small dome-like room. Absolutely bare and unremarkable, save for the… large square hole in the center of the floor.

Perfectly cut, smooth edges. Leaning over, it’s total darkness as far as my eyes can see.

Now isn’t this a promising sign! And of course you’re gonna dive right in. (What did I say?)

“I’m not seeing any other way. And it wouldn’t be the first dark pit I’ve jumped into.”

Indeed, indeed. Remember: deep breath.

I sneer, taking a step back. No point in hesitating, and no one around to push me in. With a light hop, I take the plunge.

After ten seconds of falling my feet and knees touch down on… something squishy. And wet… and warm. The smell hits me as I straighten up, and immediately next I see that… I really shouldn't be surprised. It was just a matter of time before I found the meat room.

Extra Verse

In The Flesh

Specifically it's the bottom of a tall square rectangular pit, where every discernible surface I can make out is covered in meat. Living meat at that, judging by the warmth and how everything throbs and undulates constantly. At least it's reddish meat, based on the color and the tang of iron in the air. I'd probably be more disgusted if this was viscera I wasn't already intimately familiar with (a very concerning statement if there ever was one). Still, very frickin’ gross. There's also this weird-ass droning sound that makes all this feel more uncomfortable.

“This better not be some monster's stomach.”

Ohhhhh ho ho, that cheeky bitch.

“What? Did she seriously send me to get digested?”

No no, my boy. It's more she sent us to an… “alternate” Tartarus, so to say.

“What do you mean?”

*Sigh* Frankly it would be too long and complicated to explain, and most of it would go over your little scaley head anyway. Just focus on getting us out of this flesh pit like a good spelunker, would you?

Alright, yeesh. Didn't know I hit a nerve there (or maybe he's just grouchy from before. He’s petty like that).

A closer look and I see recesses in the meat walls: ledges slanted as slopes that lead up to outcroppings. Too smooth, sharp, angular for natural flesh, but I mean, look where I am.

I step over and hop onto the lowest ledge and start climbing up. The flesh underfoot is slightly slippery, but firm and solid (again very unnatural). A few meters up, I have to leap across to get to a higher ledge—twice in fact—but otherwise it's a straightforward (if sticky) climb.

Eventually I hoist myself onto the highest ledge… and almost immediately fall off upon spotting the giant eyeball glaring from the ceiling. It takes me a moment to realize it's merely tracking my movements and nothing else. Creepy, but harmless. Better move before it decides to prove me wrong.

And now there's a massive set of teeth in the flesh wall. But when I get within a foot of it, the mouth splits with a wet smacking sound (eugh). Rather handy; saves me from doing some impromptu dental work.

Stepping through the opening, I find a narrow bridge of meat spanning a vast black chasm, another toothy mouth visible at the other end. Not ominous at—

“Dragon. Turn back now.”

Oh swell, a disembodied voice. Wait… organ music?

“The layers of this palace are not for your kind. Turn back, or you will be crossing the will of God.”

What god is he (sounds like a “he”) talking about? Also, who would call this a palace?

“Who was that?”

Clearly someone who doesn't want you here. Let's delve deeper and see what it is!

“Would you happen to know who that was, by chance?”

Hmmmm… No, won't spoil it. Discovery is an integral part of any adventure. Besides, you said you would take them as they come. Need to keep your adaptability honed, after all.

“Oh ha ha, wise-ass.”

Age begets wisdom, child. Now tally forth~.

Whatever; be all tight-lipped about it. Though, should I be concerned that he knows what’s ahead…? Naah.

I move across the flesh bridge, digging the out-of-place chamber music. Past the next icky mouth door, I stop before a long, shallow pool of yellow, steaming liquid, undoubtedly acid (guess this is the stomach). What makes it weirder are the octagonal rock pillars spaced widely apart in a line, moving left and right in the liquid. The spines set into the walls add a nice macabre touch, however (ah yes, bones was what was missing).

Bet you weren’t expecting a platforming challenge here, did you?

On the contrary: I’m more surprised I didn’t see any sooner. Welp, time for leaping.

I take a few steps back and sprint-leap to the closest pillar. Land on it smoothly, look over to the next and leap to that as it moves to the right. Wobble a bit on the landing, but steady up and leap again.

Getting to the fourth pillar, I stop to assess the wall of thick teeth and darkened gums sliding side to side. Luckily there’s a handy gap for me to leap into. Gripping my claws between the rightmost teeth (ick), I see another pillar and, waiting for them to align, I push off and onto safety. It’s one more hop and I’m back on firm flesh, with yet another set of chompers waiting for me.

Expertly done, Spike! Not a scratch on you. Though you could have zipped more quickly, in my opinion.

Like I’m being graded on speed in a place like this. Get real.

The next mouth holds a small room and, oh boy, another square hole to fall into. Odd to find one so soon after the last one. Deep holes must be a running theme in this place (alongside the entrails).

Care to push your luck some more?

No question: it’s down down down for me, baby, I mentally chant as I take another plunge.

Slip and slide down a curving fleshy shaft then get dumped onto… a massive stone palm? Before me are three additional stone hands, aligned side to side with palms upright over a black abyss. I say they’re stone, but the feel and look of them is more akin to ashened flesh. Somehow this strikes me as more unsettling.

That voice suddenly rings through the air again.

“Your choice is made. As the righteous hand of the Father, I shall rend you apart! And you will become myth once more.”

‘Once more’?

“Out of curiosity, at what point in history would dragons have been considered mythical?”

From his worldview, your species shouldn't even exist. Or rather, shouldn't have existed for a long, LONG time.

“Interesting. Still no chance of giving any hint on how to handle him?”

Stay light on your feet is all I'll say.

“I always do.”

I make good on that by bounding over the hands, leaping from fingertip to fingertip, following the beam of red light shining down on the thumb of the furthest one. This turns out to be illuminating a ledge of flesh and the narrow, rectangular hole set into it. And by narrow, I mean only knee high.

Looks like you're going to have to get down and dirty for this one.

Yes, yes it does (asshole). I go down onto my belly and get to crawling. It's slow, cramped goings, wiggling my way like a lizard (ha). I'm not getting soaked with blood or juices doing this, oddly enough. It's only the sensation of being soaked, which is arguably just as bad. Faster I move, the faster I can (hopefully) get out.

Over one tiresome minute later the space widens out, and I can once more stand upright before a mouth door. Past this one is a very long, darkened corridor. At the end of it, I step out onto an open, circular platform of stagnant flesh (what else?). The outer rim is lined with spinal bones, beyond which is darkness in all directions. Scratch that: I spot the massive pulsating heart across from me, hanging over the abyss. And there's another huge moving eyeball embedded in the center of the platform because sure.

But, as I walk further in, I get the impression this platform looks like an… arena.

Probably because it is, hohoho.

Moving closer to the eyeball, I'm suddenly blinded by a loud, golden shaft of light. My eyes adjust enough to spot the figure materializing within.

“Behold! The power of an Angel!!”

The light disperses, leaving some guy in full armor, made of glowing steel with gold trimming, hovering above the eye with a set of ethereal blue wings. He flaps them twice before zipping down to me and ah Ah Crap!! I hop back and stumble as he comes at me with a golden sword. The first two swipes nearly hit me, but I regain my footing and whip out my own sword to deflect his third. This halts him, giving me the chance to spring back and put some space between us.

Told you to stay light on your feet.

Yeah, no kidding.

“Playing at swordsmanship? What pitiful mockery.”

The guy conjures two golden axes (maces?), clacks them together, and throws them at me like some oversized boomerang. I sidestep, and instantly he’s right up in my face with a fresh sword. But I’m ready to parry, although he swings real frickin’ fast and I’m barely able to deflect his blade. He spins and holds, charging for a wide sweep (I swear there’s a gleam), which is time enough to slash back.

It connects and there’s a spray of blood, but I don’t see a cut. He doesn’t even appear fazed by it. Instead he pulls away, his sword gone as he hovers with arms crossed.

“A mere reptile is all you are.”

Holding out a hand a golden spear appears in his grip, before shooting up out of sight.

Above!

I dive from the plunge attack, then dive again from the ludicrously quick follow-up.

“An abomination that needs to be cleansed!”

Look up in time to see the “angel” pull back and toss the spear down at me with explosive force, as that’s exactly what happens when it hits the meat floor. The blast throws me onto my back, and I struggle to hurry back onto my feet. Turns out there’s no rush, as he’s just hovering and judging me.

“Surrender your life, serpent.”

Talking smack already. Though it's sorta refreshing facing someone who skips the monologue and goes straight to fighting. Speaking of, he comes rushing at me once more. If he's gonna be aggressive, I'll try leading him on.

Back away as he goes swinging, practically sprinting to keep out of his reach. He does his wind-up again as I hurry back a few more feet, then executes a charging lunge. Bingo.

Sidestep and bring my sword across his back in passing. Another gory spray, yet the guy turns around to toss another ax-staff at me without pause or even a sound (what's he made of??). My blade catches the projectile before it guts me, the impact knocking me on my back. This allows me the perfect view of metal boy popping up overhead before dropping like a guillotine.

I roll before I get skewered and keep rolling, stopping after he does his second plunge. On my back, I look over to see him pull back, cueing me to twist my sword around and bat away the spear. There's an explosion in the darkness as I spring up and my attacker just hovers.

“Foolish, dragon. Utterly foolish.”

Is he gonna talk shit this entire fight?

Maybe do more than “leading him on”, perhaps?

Fine: let's give direct aggression a spin.

The knight rushes me for more swipes, but I respond in kind. Duck and shift from his slashes while landing my own, drawing more of his blood without leaving a single scratch on his armor (seriously how is this even possible?). Another of his pauses and I choose a quick straight punch to his side, which actually knocks him back in a splash of red. Unfortunately it also leaves my fist sore (owch).

He's quick to recover as he clacks two fresh axes and sends another blade frisbee that I duck under (whew!).

“You are less than nothing.”

We'll see about that flyboy because, yep, you've gone back up to the rafters. Backflip from the plunges this time around, and face him dead on as he pulls back to toss his spear. It goes loose, but I leap, snatch, twist, and fling it right back at him. He cries in pain as his own weapon hits and explodes in his face; weren’t expecting that now, were you?

Excellent shot!

Hell yeah it is. And it even clipped his wings, leaving him to fall down to my level (and looking nowhere as radiant, either). Yet the millisecond his feet touch the floor—

“Enough!!”

His wings sprout back into being—now a searing yellow—and his armor switches from silver to bright crimson. A corona of pure wrath envelops him, along with a ring of golden swords circling his waist. He draws his personal one before flying at me wait whoa WHOA!!

“Stand and face me, coward!”

Not while you got a gilded buzzsaw whirring around your waist, ass! I run from guaranteed evisceration as he swipes madly, but in a blur of blue he teleports to directly in front of me!

The front of my shirt gets nicked before I force myself onto my butt and he does a pincer move that could have cleaved me in two. I roll and spring backwards onto my feet in case of, yep, that spear attack again, only coming down faster. Once, twice—three times, frick! And he throws his spear even harder, the explosion being bigger.

“You make even the devil cry!”

Are you really going to take that, Spike?

Yeah screw this. You want to raise the intensity? I got intensity.

Dig a claw into my free palm, get a trickle started, but I’ve barely wetted the blade when a golden doomerang comes down. Smack it away with my sword but it overshoots as he rushes in for more melee. Keep my distance from his sword skirt, outstepping his swipes, prep myself for his relocation BS. But there's a flicker and I'm suddenly surrounded by swords pointing at me—Aah! Jump before they close in, only for the bastard to come at me swinging midair.

“Your existence is blasphemy!”

And your mouth needs to shut, gergh!

Try staying focused here, dear boy.

I know!

Lower arm's cut, but I manage to land some on him, so the blood tally’s still in my favor (different story if the sword hula-hoop stuck around). I hit the ground and side roll back onto my feet, whispering the incantation as my blade gets its special coating (thanks for the assist, idiot). Heat growing in my grasp, that ignition of green over steel, then throw out a Jade Slicer the instant it's prepped.

It hits full-on and bursts, but the dude remains in place (seriously, what is he made of???). Don't let it distract me from flinging out two more Slicers: one hits, but the other misses completely as the raging trashtalker shifts well over sideways. Clack, toss, and it's another ax staff I twirl around before dashing from his rapid plunges.

Then I get a crazy idea.

Oo-hoo-hoo, risky. Go for it!

Before Anger Management throws down his spear, I load up my sword with more fire, but my target is downward. Plunge the sword tip into the flesh and set off a Malachite Piston just before the spear hits, making a dual blast of green and yellow. Soaring up high into the dark expanse above the arena. Completely open, no cover or means of maneuverability. He charges at me, that gleaming sword set to end me.

Predictable.

An aerial twist brings me and, more importantly, my burning blade to face him, and as he's in midswing, my own finishes and I set off another Piston… Directly into his head.

Everything slows down as darkness is replaced with glaring, fiery green. No sounds, save for a singular shout of pain.

Takes me a good moment to come back down, landing back on throbbing meat in a smooth one-knee crouch (nailed it).

“What..?”

Ahead of me, Mr. Almighty has somehow landed onto the eyeball in the arena’s center, still in one piece. But he's kneeling in exhaustion, his armor reverted back to gray, wings and divine glow gone.

“How can this be?” he whimpers, raising his head. “Bested by this… this creature..?”

Clutching his helmet he rises, shuddering, his wings reappearing. The whole room shakes as he throws out his arms.

“You, insignificant FUCK! THIS IS NOT OVER!!”

That blinding light shaft from before booms in, encasing the guy before shrinking and disappearing, taking him with it. The eyeball explodes (lovely), and it's only me, that giant pulsating heart, and calm.

“May your woes be many. And your days few…”

All that and he just bails? Little disappointed, not gonna lie.

Huh. I didn't expect him to turn tail so readily.

“Now can you spill as to who in the hell that was?”

Someone of considerable prestige and importance, so pat yourself on the back. You did marvelous in fending him off!

That doesn't fully answer my question. Meh. “Should I be worried about him coming after me, given what he said?”

Only if we stick around. Once we return to our Tartarus, he will have no hope of finding us.

“Riiight, you mentioned this was a different Tartarus. Probably should see about getting back.”

My suggestion exactly!

I approach the rim of the crater where the eyeball had been, sheathing my sword. Surprisingly there’s no trace of gore or even eye goop. Unsurprisingly, another square pit awaits a few feet down. Only this one looks lit and… metallic? Certainly cleaner than the current surroundings, from what I see.

Very gracious of him to open the one exit out of here. Shall we be off, or do you want to soak in the scenery a little longer?

“I’ve soaked in enough of this place. And I’d rather not chance being here when he decides to come back.”

Smart move. Downward, ho!

And into this latest pit I do go. Hopefully it leads somewhere way less unsanitary (better not have jinxed myself thinking that). More importantly, I hope it gets me back to the Tartarus I started out in. Otherwise me and the warden are going to have a few words…

TIME: 6:37.431 B

KILLS: 0 S

STYLE: 3174 S

A

I did say you could have moved quicker.

“Shut up.”

Author's Note

Not even two weeks later, baby!

So funny story: I had only two bonus chapters originally planned after Dragon's Descent's completion. But while writing up Pinkie's, I had the silly thought of "Spike fighting Gabriel Ultrakill", and I enjoyed it so much that I went and made up an entirely new DLC chapter featuring everyone's favorite angelic f***boy. Something that never could have happened seven years ago (given the game didn't even exist then). As such, plus a few other factors, I don't believe this can be considered canon to the main plot.

Past reviewers/commenters had mentioned how boring and tiresome the fight scenes could get in Death by Dragon, so I figured I'd make this one snappier, see if that does anything. Though there will be no such restraints for the final DLC.

Hmmm, so we've had a Pinkie Pie and a Gabriel chapter. Who will be featured in the very last bonus chapter? I guarantee you won't be able to guess! Unless you know me really, really well.

And for those of you who still don't know what Ultrakill is about, here's a handy primer (ie the thing that got me to play the game in the first place).