"You will not leave here with your life Reaper of Earth!" He said to me. Seeing that he was in no mood to answer my questions, I then expelled a huge amount of dark fumes from the dark cloud surrounding my body.
The poisonous fumes covered a 100 meter radius, Armando had no way dodging from such a distance. This caught him off guard, causing him to inhale some of the fumes.
Armando swiftly spun his rods and blew away all of the fumes. As soon as it was clear, he continued his approach. He then attacked once more with another flurry of attacks. However, this time, his movements didn't have the ferocious speed they once had and the force of his attacks had diminished significantly.
Even though he was slightly weakened, he still manage to overpower me with his relentless strikes. I was able to successfully block and redirect the force of his blows by applying what I had learnt from Hapkido. This however, only helped me from suffering any life-threatening injuries.
Although I wasn't in any immediate danger, the injuries were slowly accumulating and I was running out of options. At that moment, there was only one thing that ran through my mind, 'SURVIVE.'
This feeling of being backed into a corner, I hated it! This lack of control, this feeling of helpless, it hurt more than the wounds on my body. I resented this feeling to my very core. These past 2 years had made me soft.
I believed myself to be a god; someone who was untouchable and looked at everyone else from above. Unfortunately, reality isn't like the illusion I had been living in these past years. I am no god and the fact is... 'There is always someone stronger!' I thought.
I hated that this reminded me of the weak little boy I used to be in that basement. I never wanted to feel this again. 'I need to get stronger…I need to get stronger…!' I kept thinking to myself.
These words echoed through my mind as I continued to redirect the attacks coming at me. 'Realizing your self-interests is the very flaw in humanity. This applies to everyone. Not I, nor Armando, nor Theós are an exception!' I continued to ruminate.
'The only thing that matters is strength. I now see, only the strong have the right to realize their self-interests! I shall become strong enough to be free to realize my self-interests. No one will ever make me feel weak again…! I must survive!' I thought to myself.
Armando was fierce but calm with his attacks. It was obvious that nothing else mattered to him other than the fight at hand. There wasn't anything special with his skills with the rods, but each attack came quick and was direct. There was no hesitation. Even after failing to take me down for so long, he didn't let it get to him and never relented.
I then released an even greater amount of poisonous fumes than last time, as a last resort. This took almost all of the energy that I had left. However, Armando was on guard of this attack and used his power over purple lightning to create a layer of protection from the dark cloud's decaying effect.
Nonetheless, it didn't matter cause the fumes served their purpose by blocking Armando's vision. I then used this opportunity to open a gate, with the little energy I had left, then teleported to the edge of the stormy planet's atmosphere where the tailed Lilith and Azrael were waiting.
"Take us back to Earth NOW!!" I commanded the tailed Lilith in a rush. With Armando's speed, he could be there in a second.
The tailed Lilith then immediately opened a gate. After flying through, we then appeared above the old family farm. The house had long worn out as no one had lived there for the past 2 years.
I then crashed in the middle of a dead cornfield, completely exhausted, and battling to keep myself conscious. I struggled to get up then dragged my body to the barn.
"Tailed Lilith, it's too dangerous out there. I need you to go and retrieve all of the low-grade shadows that are not on Earth before another gets destroyed." I said to her as I struugled to walk.
Azrael then stood by my side to support me and walked over to the barn with me.
"I'll get on it immediately." The tailed Lilith said to me then turned around to leave. Before she left she turned back to I and Azrael with a pitiful look. I had scorch marks all around my body and Azrael had lost an arm. We were both in bad shape.
She then opened a gate underneath our feet. The next thing we knew, we were on the barn floor next to some dilapidated haystacks.
"She could have been more accurate with where we land." I commented before finally passing out. "That woman, to treat the master so poorly…truly a witch!" Azrael said then proceeded to pick me up and lay me on top of the old, withering haystacks.
Azrael's arm had still not grown back yet. Fortunately, it was slowly healing…very slowly. My wounds and fractures were not any better, and for the next six months I was supine and looked totally lifless.
If it were not for the dark cloud moving around my body, one would think that I was dead. It was beginning to look like I wasn't going to wake up until one fateful day...
"Son of a…" I said out loud holding my head as I woke up. It felt like I had a heaven defying hangover. "Master, you have finally awoken!" Azrael said to me excitedly. "Aaah, stop shouting. My head is spining." I said to him.
The tailed Lilith then appeared before me and said, "Oh, you're awake? It's about time." She said to me rolling her eyes. "Tell me what happened…without shouting." I said to the both of them.
"Lilith has been considerably worried about you, only leaving your side to handle buisnesses. She already explained your absence to Anna and the company. She's also been taking charge in your other businesses. Apart from that, she also…."
(Slap!)
Azrael began to explain but was cut off by the tailed Lilith's furry tail slapping the back of his skeletal head. "No one asked that!" the tailed Lilith said after slapping Azrael.
"As you can see, she is still a witch." He added, only to receive another slap to the back of his head. 'I have never seen Azrael so…bullied.' I thought to myself. "So, where are we now?" I asked the tailed Lilith.
"One of the safehouses in New York." she answered. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked her. "Almost 6 months." she replied. "Only 6? I had imagined it would take longer, given the state I was in. I was at my own door." I said to her, feeling amused.
"It would have, I suppose, but something…unexpected happened." she said to me. "Tell me everything." I commanded. "After you lost consciousness, I went to retrieve every low-grade shadow that was not on Earth.
When we got back, all of the low-grade shadows stood outside the barn like statues, unmoving. As you commaned, they only took orders from Azrael and not even I could tell them to leave.
As soon as they finished their objectives they would go back and stand outside the barn as usual.
I brought you to this safehouse after seeing no changes to your condition. The shadows immediately followed us here and stood outside the safehouse as if standing guard.
However, a week ago, one of the shadows walked into the safehouse and stood next to you. It placed its hand on your chest then turned into a dark cloud. Your body then began to absorb the cloud. Your wounds which once looked fatal, now began to faintly improve.
The following day, another shadow did the same and it went on like this. By the time there were only 5 shadows left, your wounds began to heal at a visible pace. It was as though the shadows were giving back their life to you.
"That is quite strange. They went from not moving at all to suddenly making this decision on their own." I said to her, puzzled by their actions.
"It gets stranger. I could sense Theós' presence within the shadows. Although it was very small, it was definitely there." she said to me.
"What kind of game is Theós trying to play here? He can even control my shadows!" I said out loud in frustration.
"We are going to the narrow path. I need to see how I fare against Theós." I said getting out of bed. I opened a gate then walked through it alongside the tailed Lilith and Azrael.
We then appeared at an intersection between a wide and narrow road. "Wait here." I said turning to Azrael; the tailed Lilith would never follow me here. I then proceeded to walk on the narrow road. The first few steps were a breeze as usual.
'Last time I could only go up to 50 steps, before Theós restricted my movements. Surely my resistance must have improved by now.' I thought to myself as I kept moving forward.
Thirtieth step…
Fortieth step…
Fiftieth step…
The pressure was becoming unbearable, as each step was heavier than the last. It took everything within me just to make the fifty-first step. Unfortunately, that was as far as I could go. My body was in excrutiating pain and I felt suffocated.
"Impossible…one step! That's all I have accomplished after all this time. Just one-bloody-step!" I struggled to say. I then began to walk back, gaining some relief from the pressure.
A suffocating feeling began to swell within me. Unlike the one I just experienced from the 51st step, this feeling stemmed from frustration. 'What have I been doing all this time? I thought I was the stronget being out there. It made me too comfortable; made my plans secondary priorities...!' I thought as I approached the tailed Lilith and Azrael.
"I have postponed my plans long enough. I need to get stronger in order to take down this new reaper. It's safe to assume that there are other reapers as well in the universe. We do not know how strong they may be so I need to increase my strength. It's finally time to begin phase three." I said to the both of them.