- Death's side (Past) -
Death was repeatedly warned over the years about the anger that had been pointed at him after what happened with the human Raphael. Death had learned that angels were severely vindictive when it came to the loss of their own and that some angels had considered the human Raphael to be one of them. Death paid no mind to the warnings, for he felt he couldn't. The moment he thought of the angels as proper threats would be a shift in their dynamic he didn't want.
Somewhere in Heaven, Saliel was speaking with a silver-haired man who faced away from Saliel as the two conversed.
"Father, you have to stop Raphael and Azriel! They're going to start a fight with the [Hunter]!"
The silver-haired man sighed, "You know Saliel, when I told the others to view your powers on merit, it was to avoid circumstances such as these? Stop getting others to do YOUR work for you. It's lazy and deceptive. To think that Lucifer would brazenly ignore-"
"HE DIDN'T IGNORE YOUR WORDS!" Saliel yelled.
The silver-haired man turned slightly. He sighed and shot a bolt of lightning through one of Saliel's knees. His tone was melancholic.
"Lucifer helped you out of pity. You didn't convince Lucifer through your words or actions, you appealed to his emotions like a groveling child," he knelt and healed Saliel's injury. "Lucifer shouldn't have helped you."
Saliel's mind was awash with fear. The moment his Father had struck him, a deep sense of dread had filled his every nerve. He remembered his conversations with Death in an attempt to summon the courage to speak.
"H-He made the right choice!"
The silver-haired man stood up. "Be that as it may, If your brother has a problem with how I do things, he should speak with me," he conjured a sword and pointed the blade's tip at Saliel. "You will not speak to me again about the problems between the [Hunter] and your siblings, understood?"
Saliel looked into his father's silver eyes, "Yes, I understand."
The silver-haired man lowered the blade and pierced Saliel's chest. "You understand what?"
Saliel started hyperventilating. "I understand to not speak with you again about my siblings and the [Hunter]."
"Good," The silver-haired man removed the blade and placed his other hand on Saliel's head. "I expect great things of all my children," he healed Saliel's wound as tears fell down his face.
Death had been invited to Purgatory's main arena by Raphael. Despite wanting to turn down the invitation, he thought it might be better if he conversed with Raphael away from humans. As he stood in the open arena, surrounded by angels, he attempted to calm his mind. Every angel had a sword pointed at him, a bitter look of hatred in their eyes. Whenever Death's eyes met an angel's, the angel would look away. Raphael stood across from Death and shouted.
"WE CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!"
"'We?'" Death questioned. "From what I understand, a duel is meant to be between two beings?"
Raphael raised his hands to his side. "Every angel here wants revenge for your murder of the human Raphael. None of us would present enough of a challenge to you on our own, so we decided it would be better this way. The only other being worthy of this challenge is our father, so take it as a compliment."
Death looked around and counted the number of angels he could see. His mind started to play through how he would go about tearing apart the angels. How he would move from target to target. He shook his head and tried reasoning.
"Every one of you will die."
Death's warning had only sparked further anger from the angels. Some of the angels started to move closer. As Death took in deep breaths, Raphael spoke.
"It's just a duel!"
Death sighed, "I killed the last being that challenged me to a duel. I am not skilled enough at holding back to stop myself from killing, even more so in cases where I am pushed to my limit."
Some of the angels were whispering to each other. The two main topics were whether what they were doing was the right choice and the noted absence of Azriel. The more the angels discussed with each other, the more they started to lose the will to go through with their plan. Raphael noticed the other angels' growing hesitation and decided on an alternative.
"ALL OF YOU, TO ME!"
Death wasn't sure what was going to happen, but as long as he wasn't fighting he assumed things were going well. Multiple angels started to place their hands on Raphael. A glow from the angels started to emanate and flow into Raphael. After a few minutes, the angels backed away from Raphael. Raphael's skin had formed glowing thin blue lines. Raphael whispered to the other angels.
"I know you all wanted your chance, but it's probably for the best if I'm the only one that fights him unless Azriel shows up."
"Are we done here?" Death asked.
The other angels flew away from Raphael and Death, giving the two room to fight. Death stared deeply at the blue lines. Raphael noticed Death eyeing the lines.
"I carry the burden of my brothers and sisters, their hopes, their-"
"Did you absorb their magic?" Death interrupted.
Raphael was surprised by the question. It seemed uncharacteristically curious of Death. The surprise made Raphael answer honestly.
"Yes."
Death exhaled slowly through his nose. 'An ability such as that could be extremely dangerous. If he came after me with serious intent to kill after absorbing other beings' powers...'
Every angel in the arena could sense a shift in the air the moment Death decided that Raphael had proven himself as a threat. Death shifted into his hunter form. One of the angels shouted.
"CALL IT OFF!"
Raphael was more than committed to this match. His body was overflowing with strength, so much so that it caused him severe pain. The pain kept him from considering any other option besides defeating Death at this moment.
"COME ON THEN!" Raphael shouted at Death.
Death disappeared, reappearing and striking Raphael's left eye. Raphael grabbed Death's hand.
'You can't teleport while another being is touching you!'
Raphael wasn't as foolish as to challenge Death while being completely ignorant of the [Hunter's] abilities. He had done his research and planned on ending the fight in one move, since he assumed that added time to the match was to the [Hunter's] benefit. A flame appeared in Raphael's free hand. Death tried to free himself from Raphael's grip but couldn't.
'I know you're durable enough to take this hit!' Raphael thought as he blasted Death with fire.
Raphael was confident he had landed a strong hit against Death. A sudden sense of worry filled Raphael as he noticed just how limp Death's arm felt. He was terrified that he might have miscalculated the strength of his attack. As he pulled Death's arm closer, the lack of resistance worried him further.
"What-" Raphael held up Death's severed arm.
The blade of Death's scythe slammed down between Raphael's collarbone. Death dragged Raphael closer to him. Raphael's blue lines faded. The angels above wanted to join in but a look from Raphael's eyes warned them not to. Raphael knew he needed to admit defeat immediately.
"You win..." Raphael spoke through his growing terror.
["What does your ability allow you to absorb?"] Death asked.
Raphael thought Death was asking out of fairness. Raphael had done his research on Death, but Death had clearly entered the fight unaware of Raphael's abilities. Raphael wanted Death to understand that the match was over and had every intention of explaining his magic afterward.
Raphael stammered, "The v-victory is yours, I w-won't-"
Death dragged Raphael even closer. The two's faces were now close enough that Raphael could tell that Death's hunter form didn't breathe. Raphael realized that Death wasn't upset about fairness, but was deciding whether or not to finish him off. Raphael looked into the smoky shadow before him as an angelic saying played in his mind.
'Look not to my eyes for mercy, for you shall not find it. Look not to my hands hoping they will hesitate, for they will not.'
Raphael wanted to scream for help but could sense deep within himself that if any of the other angels got involved, the [Hunter] would kill them. He focused every drop of strength he had in explaining clearly and concisely.
"I can absorb mana and abilities, but it has to be consensual. I cannot forcibly take another's ability or mana from them nor does my absorption steal one's abilities."
Death pulled his scythe out of Raphael and made the weapon disappear. Raphael fell over, his body fully paralyzed with fear.
'I'm sorry for not believing you, Brother.'
["If you ever present yourself as a threat to me again, I will not hesitate like I did today."] Death returned to his man form.
The match between Death and Raphael shook Heaven. Raphael had been considered the strongest archangel with his ability at full strength. While Michael and Lucifer were stronger on average, the two had both acknowledged they couldn't beat Raphael at his strongest. The look of fear that now lived in Raphael's eyes scared most other angels into leaving Death alone.
Raphael was in a brightly lit room writing in a book. A knock at his door caused him to flinch.
"Come in!" he looked over and stood up immediately. "Father! Had I known you would be visiting..."
"Sit," the silver-haired man ordered.
Raphael sat down, his hands shaking. "I assume this is about training?"
"Correct," The silver-haired man said. "Your pathetic show of weakness is infecting your brothers and sisters. You challenged the [Hunter] and you lost, do not make your problem everyone else's. You're an archangel, you're supposed to be a beacon of strength and yet here you are!" he shot a lightning bolt at one of Raphael's many torches. "COWERING FROM THE DARK!"
As Raphael looked into his Father's eyes he couldn't help the words leaving his mouth. "You don't understand it. He's not like my brothers and sisters, not like you...he is a weapon."
The silver-haired man shook his head and walked out of the room.
Elsewhere, a brown-eyed Lucifer was discussing things with Azriel.
"I owe you one," Azriel said. "If I had been there with Brother..."
Lucifer sighed, "All Brother has to show for his bravery is a fear of the dark. I'm sure Father won't help with that..."
Azriel glared at Lucifer. "Careful. Michael tolerates your words about Father because he trusts your intentions."
"You don't?" Lucifer joked.
Azriel shook his head. "Just be careful, Brother."
Death was doing another one of his daily walks among the humans that Gabriel had told him to take. Even though the humans would always avoid Death, Gabriel had assured Death that it was contributing to improving the [Hunter's] image. He kept his head down as he walked, not wanting to scare humans with eye contact. He noticed a group of humans running past him. He looked up to see what was going on.
"What's your name?"
"Your hair is beautiful."
"You're as tall as the [Hunter]."
Death could easily see the silver-haired man among the crowd. The silver-haired man smiled at the gathering humans and pushed softly past them. He and Death were standing an arm's length apart, looking into each other's eyes. The silver-haired man slowly raised his hand to Death.
"Hello [Hunter], I'm [Creator]."
Death ignored the offered handshake. He looked deep into [Creator's] eyes and entered his hunter form. Screams echoed throughout Purgatory as Death and [Creator's] battle began.