He's gone… He threw him away. Shattered him through space. And I…have no power. I can't get him back. Without my access into Heaven, I can't traverse through space.
"Micheal…how could you…" I questioned, pain audible from my voice.
"This universe has fallen into utter chaos," Micheal muttered. "Nothing makes sense anymore. Everything about it is nothing but chaos without order. Without organization. It's all nothing but a cluttered pile that nobody bothered to clean up."
"What happened to you? You were the one who showed me the beauty of the universe. Why do you reject it all of a sudden?"
Micheal slowly raised his hand and pointed straight at Lust.
"Oh my~" Lust shivered with an eerie smile. "Yep, it was me. During our little reunion after the whole nomination ceremony, I kinda stowed away in Heaven and gave Micheal…a tiny little nudge."
A nudge? To what. What the hell did this witch make him do?
"They say that knowledge equals power, so I gave that to him. He said he wanted to grow stronger to fight, so I gave him that power."
"No…don't tell me…"
"I could only ever see the good in this universe, but never the bad," Micheal muttered. "I always wondered why. Until I realized the dark truth. He made me this way. He never wanted me to see the bad in anything because He loved me. But now he's gone, and all I have left is that wretched brat. And now that I can see the evil in everything, I can fix finally fix the broken pieces together."
"You bitch," I screamed. "You made him eat from the forbidden tree?! I'll kill you!"
"Well, you probably should've done that when you had the chance silly~" Lust giggled.
Then, her face suddenly went dark.
"I really did love you you know. I had always hoped that you would love me back, but then you just cast me aside like everyone else in my life did. And now I'm here, with people who actually appreciate me! They love me. All of them. So now, I don't really need you here anymore. Unfortunately, I can't kill you since Micheal has other plans. However, that won't stop me from hurting you as much as I possibly can."
A field of jet-black knives suddenly flew straight at me. I couldn't dodge. This field kept me trapped inside. I can't-
*SHIIINK!*
Every single knife hit their point. The pain was instant, like it was ripping open my skin and scraping hot coals onto my bare flesh.
"GRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
"My oh my that's a wonderful scream~" Lust squealed. "Hey, you remember the verse from John Chapter 11 Verse 35? You know, the one that's most famous for being the shortest verse in the Bible? Well, I was thinking. How about we update that a little?"
Lust lifted her arms up as if she were conducting an orchestra, and my body suddenly started moving on its own.
"What…the…hell?" I gritted through my teeth.
"You're my puppet now."
She suddenly dragged me out of the field that slightly dissipated and brought me high up into the sky. She took me so high up, that the entire floor of Hell was visible to me. Both my arms suddenly shot outward. Lust flew right up to where I was, a crazed smile stitched onto her disturbing face.
"A crucified god, oh how the mighty have fallen," Lust mocked. "This is quite the spectacle that I never thought I would ever see."
"What game are you playing witch!" I snarled at her.
"Huh, it's been a while since you called me that. You know how much I hate that nickname, right?"
"That's all you are though. Nothing but fueled hate. Not even your love for me was real. You were nothing but a ticking bomb ready to explode any second. Even over a century later, you're still ticking."
That one nickname brought back so many bad memories for her. Back then, I did feel bad for her. Even now, I still worry for her. But this is the only way she'll learn. She has to bury her demons six feet under and learn how to live again.
Demons however, as we all know, are very possessive.
Her smile turned wicked…
"I'm still ticking eh?" She muttered.
Her eyes had a sinister glow…
"We'll see about that."
And her hands raised mine into the sky, forcing elements of fire, stone, and ice to suddenly light out from my hands.
"I quite enjoyed the Old Testament stories whenever I was learning about these huge figures," Lust smiled. "How about we recreate one of those famous ones?"
"No…STOP!!!"
I tried to bring my hands back down, but that scorching feeling inside my flesh along with the overwhelming strength of Lust's magic prevented me from being able to control my own body. My eyes looked over to Kirino. The look of devastation and fear filled her eyes and corrupted the tears that streamed down her face. She cried, banging desperately against the field to break it. Her hands burned and skin peeled off every time she hit the field, but she wouldn't stop. She spent so much time trying to fix this broken place.
And now it was all going to be destroyed. And I can't stop it…
"Please, don't cry…not again…" I whimpered.
…
…
Nothing could be heard. The impact was so massive, it sent me flying through all nine gates. I broke through the barrier and drifted off.
Micheal eventually found me and captured me. I don't know what happened, but I couldn't do anything with the state that I'm in.
"I'm sorry old friend," he said to me. "I really did care a lot for you, even now I still do. But you're in our way and I have no room for delays. I hope that one day you understand just how corrupt this place truly is."
Hiro…wherever you are, please. You need to remember who you used to be. Without Adam's power, I'm afraid that…none of us can be able to take Micheal down…
Xylvia
A swarm of corrupted came breaking through the front door. Horrid colors of purple and black mixed in with their tearing, sagging flesh.
"EVERYONE GET BACK," I shouted to the crowd of people behind me. "GET AS FAR BACK AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!"
I yanked my duel daggers out of their leather holsters on my hips and surrounded them with some very powerful flame magic. I was taught from Aria that condensing my flames into a smaller size would create a more powerful impact. These daggers also help with maintaining more fine control and accurate swings.
Plus…
*FWATHOOM!*
The sound that the flames made as I swung them while they left orange blazing trails was so cool.
Leonna took action along with me. We were able to easily keep them back, but their numbers were still quickly increasing as we kept killing more and more of them. Eventually, their dead bodies would create a blockade to prevent any new ones from coming.
"Shana! If you're up to it, then please get these civilians somewhere safe!" Leonna shouted to the shaking Shana behind her.
"Huh?! R-Right," Shana nodded. "E-Everyone, follow me please! Don't worry, I'll get you to a sa-"
"GRAAAAAAAAAUUUUUHHH!!!"
A horrible scream echoed throughout the castle walls. They came from a woman who was at least grove meters up in the air…with what looked like thin, disgusting branches stabbed throughout her entire body. The branches rattled a little as she continued screaming. And then…
*SHRRIP!*
…her entire body was ripped to shreds. Then, an incredibly tall and thin figure was revealed behind all the bloody branches. It was almost human like, standing to be at least nine meters tall. It's arms were like long thin branches that curved upwards into sharp ends. It's back was pricked with tiny little branches sticking out. All of them were covered in blood. The branches themselves were grey and covered in a brownish mold.
But the most horrifying part of it was it's face.
No eyes…just black pupils that stared endlessly into your soul. A mouth that had the permanent shape of a sickening frown, it's black, veiny teeth showing through it.
Everyone was stunned for a few seconds. Leonna and I had killed enough to create a barricade, but this was a completely different problem.
I was getting ready to fight, but Leonna dashed straight at me without hesitation and slapped her hand on my mouth while keeping me completely still.
"Shhh~." She shooshed with her index finger on her lips, a terrified look engulfing her usually composed face.
She ran into this thing when we did that expedition thing. And one of them even took out one of Jayden's legs. These things must be incredibly dangerous.
But the crowd of people didn't know that. They screamed and tried to all run away…
They were all stabbed. Not even a second could pass before they were all stabbed, and they were all…
*SHRRIP!*
Ripped to shreds.
So much blood…so many dead…in such a quick moment… How the hell could anybody be able to kill these things?
Leonna slowly turned her head to Shana, who was standing right in the middle of all the bloody corpses scattered across the floor. Part of her body was covered in it. She was on the verge of tears, but didn't let out a single peep after seeing Leonna slowly shake her head. Shana was shaking violently and her eyes were widened and bloodshot. Fear dropped out of every pour in her body as the Screecher went on an aimless wander throughout the area.
I took Leona's hand off my mouth and slowly started to walk towards her, being extra careful not to step on any of the corpses or slip on any blood. I was scared though. Maybe even more scared than Shana or Leonna were. But I wasn't stopping. No, I won't let this get to me. I won't let her get hurt by anything, and I'll kill whoever or whatever even tries to lay a finger on her.
I was only wishing arms reach from her. I'm almost there Shana. Just a little-
*SPLURCH!*
"…"
"…"
It was a dismembered arm. It got caught onto the chandelier above us and fell down right between Shana and I.
"No…" I whimpered.
*SHLICK!*
Five different branches stabbed right through the flesh in my body, one snapping through my spine.
*CRACK!*
Any feeling I had in my legs was completely gone, and a jet black liquid spread throughout the veins in my legs.
"AAAAAUUUUHHHHH!!!! GRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"
What kind of pain is this?! It's hot…it's boiling hot! It's too hot! It's burning me! Someone, stop it! It hurts! IT HUUUUURTS!!!
I desperately grabbed the branches and tried breaking them apart. They wouldn't budge.
"RRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
"LET HER GOOOOO!"
A swipe and a trail of light sliced through all the branches that were stabbed into me. As soon as I was detached, I quickly yanked every single one of them out of me. I was still in pain from this black ooze and the open wounds, but that painful burning was dissipating.
"Xylvia, are you ok?!" Leonna asked, lifting me up.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I muttered. "Just give me a-"
I couldn't get up. I tried to set my legs up for me to stand back up, but they wouldn't listen. They were completely limb on the ground.
"What's wrong?" Leonna asked me.
Tears streamed down my face when I realized what had happened…
"I…I can't…feel my legs." I strained, trying to keep myself from crying.
"Guys, there's an opening in the back of the castle," Shana screamed. "Come one, we need to hurry."
Leonna lifted me up with her arms princess-style, but was suddenly thrown back to a wall. I was dropped to the ground on my back.
"LEONNA! ARE YOU-"
I turned myself around to see the Screecher face to face with me.
…
…
"…get…away…"
Every bit of composure that I felt inside my body was completely gone. Tears streamed down my face, with an opaque color of red mixed into them.
This black ooze inside my body was starting to make me feel weak. My eyes grew blurry and my hearing was starting to grow faint. It leaned in close to me…and opened its mouth. A disgusting assembly of flesh could be see in it's esophagus. It's teeth brown and bloody. The saliva inside it's mouth frothing down it's body.
I could here it take a deep breath, then…
"GET AWAAAAAAY!!!"
Leonna suddenly came flying straight at the Screecher and alcoves it's throat with her light magic. I could here the creature gasp, but no scream came out of it's mouth. Leonna had wings, Shana's wings.
"We're leaving right now!" Leonna said, picking me off and flying straight out of the castle. Far away from the castle. All the way until my blurry eyes couldn't even see it anymore.
I could feel myself being set down to the ground. Muffled voices and mixed blurs of colors was all I could sense anymore. The burning pain was completely gone, but now I started to feel cold.
Am I dying?
Is this really it…?
But what about Hiro?
What about Shana and Leonna? Dusk and Jay? Aria and Norman? Kagashi and Yuno and Kay? And Jayden? And Kuro and Kirino?
No…please… Not yet. God, please don't let me die…
"Not…yet… Pleaae…n-n-not...y-y-yet-t…"
I couldn't hear anything anymore. I couldn't see anything anymore. I couldn't feel anything anymore, except this freezing sensation. I didn't know what was happening to or around me anymore. All I know was that I wanted to cry. I probably was right now, but I didn't know.
All these memories…so dark. And then, so happy… Hiro… My…love… My first and only…love… I'm sorry. *hic* I'm…so sorry… I don't want to leave. I don't want to leave you…
HIROOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
…
…
…
"…Xylvia…Xylvia…please…wake up! Xylvia! Xylvia…no…please…wake up…"
…
…
"MAMAAAAAAAAA!!!"