- Underworld -
Chronos slammed his scythe's blade into Lucifer's chest, lifting the archangel off the ground. Before he could rip the blade upwards, his eyes were slashed by Lucifer's sword.
Death grabbed the scythe while Hades shoulder-tackled Chronos.
["ENOUGH!"] Chronos roared.
A wave of blue flames lined with snakes shot out from around Chronos. Before Lucifer and Hades could redirect them, the flames stopped, then started again. The fire was stuttering.
"HE'S TRYING TO BUILD UP THE FIRE!" Lucifer shouted.
Lucifer and Hades couldn't redirect the fire without freeing it from Chronos's time stop. Both of them were missing an arm, limiting their control. Hades backed off, readying himself to stop the waves. Lucifer was less patient.
"GET BEHIND ME!" Lucifer shouted to Death.
Lucifer conjured his other wing. He had already tested the wings' durability against fire and was confident that if they could withstand his flames, they could withstand Chronos's.
"GO!" Death got behind Lucifer.
The two pushed through the stuttering waves of fire. They pushed closer and closer until they were on top of Chronos.
[I said-"] Chronos was interrupted.
Death jumped over Lucifer and cleaved his scythe through Chronos's arm and body.
"Shit!" Death cursed.
The blue flames, no longer stuttering, roared outward. Luckily for Lucifer's team, Hades caught the stray fire that was heading for their makeshift hut. Lucifer caught what he could, keeping himself and Death safe.
"Didn't mean to kill him," Death apologized.
"It's fine..." Lucifer huffed. "We can keep killing him if we need to. I'll catch his flames, you slash him."
As exhausted as Lucifer was he couldn't help worrying about Death. He didn't know why Death had been going through the fight without using magic.
"We might be able to put him back in his prison," Hades suggested.
Chronos's body reformed, causing the three to look over with a sigh. The moment Chronos came back into consciousness his arms were severed by Death.
Chronos kept attempting to yell as his body was torn apart by the three in front of him. He couldn't get the words out no matter how he struggled. He self-immolated his body while screaming.
["JUST KILL ME!"]
Chronos's charred body fell into the shallow water, steaming as it did. Lucifer looked at Chronos's corpse and had a question come to mind that he asked Hades.
"How many times has he been killed?"
Hades didn't understand why Lucifer would ask. He hesitated for a moment before answering.
"Hundreds of thousands of times at this point."
"What?!" Lucifer exclaimed.
Chronos's body started to reform once more and the three repeated their actions from before. Again, Chronos tried to yell something but was cut off. And again, Chronos immolated himself.
Lucifer spoke quickly, "Can he control this magic?"
"I would assume so..." Hades answered.
"That can't be," Lucifer mumbled. "He should be crazy for revenge if that was the case."
Chronos's body reformed once more but this time Lucifer yelled the moment after Chronos's arms were severed.
"WAIT!"
Everyone involved was looking at Lucifer. Chronos didn't attack or self-immolate this time.
["Listen to the angel!"]
Lucifer questioned Chronos. ["Can you control your revival magic?"]
["No..."] Chronos choked out.
It was clear to the three that Chronos didn't want to reveal this truth. Under better conditions, Chronos would have lied, however, he simply didn't have it in him anymore. He had finally obtained freedom, only for it to soon be taken away again. He looked at Death, stopped time so the rain would cease for a moment, and spoke as genuinely as he could muster.
["If you can't kill me, please find someone who can."]
Hades and Lucifer exchanged a look. They weren't sure what Death could do about it. They both supposed it made sense, given the situation. Lucifer turned to Death, ready to give suggestions for gods that might be able to deal with Chronos, but was cut short by Death.
["If?"] Death's tone was hollow.
Death's hand gripped his scythe, cracking the already damaged handle further. The black pulsing veins of energy on the scythe started to spread along the full length of the weapon.
["IF you live this, then there isn't a god in this world that can help you,"] Death walked towards Chronos.
"What are you..." Lucifer mumbled.
Suddenly, pressure filled the air. A tension so taught that even the stopped rain that hung overhead seemed to grow even stiller. Hades looked to Lucifer for some kind of answer as to what was happening.
Lucifer didn't respond to Hades's stare; his full attention was on Death. He knew whatever was about to happen needed to be observed closely.
Death spoke as he reared his scythe back. ["Return to the beginning, the end, and the absolute truth."]
In Chronos's eyes, Death's scythe seemed to swing in slow motion. The blade had been, at most, a second or two from hitting him, and yet he felt something coming off the pitch-black blade; something that made his mind scream at him to dodge. He stood still and quieted his thoughts.
The moment the scythe's blade went into Chronos's chest, the rain fell once more, drenching the two in a temporary waterfall. Lucifer and Hades were unable to see what happened next.
["Thank you,"] Chronos said sincerely.
Chronos's body started to rapidly darken until his entire form was pitch black. Death pulled the scythe's blade out, and Chronos withered away, his body disappearing like a burning leaf in the wind. Not a single trace of the time god remained.
Death spoke, ["Be freed from the burden of existence."]
Death fell over into the water, unconscious. His scythe didn't disappear. Hades and Lucifer ran over to him. The two picked him up out of the water and propped him up.
"I thought his scythe was a conjuration?" Hades asked Lucifer while looking at the scythe.
"It might work similarly to Michael's sword," Lucifer lied.
Lucifer's team ran over, taking the non-stop rain as a sign of Chronos's defeat. Lucifer waved Dimitri over to hold Death. Peter grabbed his sword out of the water and stared at Death's scythe.
"I'll grab that," Lucifer said.
"Yer not seriously goin' to touch that thing?" Peter whispered.
Lucifer ignored Peter's warning and grabbed the scythe. He felt his hand burn as he touched it. It was as if the metal was melting onto his skin. He didn't let the pain show on his face.
'I don't think you should be holding that,' A slow-speaking male voice echoed in Lucifer's mind.
'One problem at a time,' Lucifer sighed.
"I'll ask Persephone to use the roots to retrieve my brother's body," Hades said to Lucifer.
"About that..." Lucifer's hand twitched with pain.