- Death's Side (Past) -
[Creator] conjured his wings and flew away from Death. He conjured his sword in his right hand and baited an attack from Death.
'If his scythe negates magic-
Death conjured his scythe and threw it at [Creator]. [Creator] attempted to block the scythe with his sword, but the moment the two weapons touched, [Creator's] sword disappeared.
'Thought so,' [Creator] confirmed as the scythe hit him in the chest, cracking his ribs.
[Creator] healed his ribs and started a back-and-forth with Death. [Creator] conjured a new sword and focused on blasting Death with fire or lightning with his other hand the moment Death reappeared from a blink while keeping the sword ready in case Death went for a close attack.
'Your movement ability doesn't allow you to phase through objects, so as long as I keep my sword in front of me and my wings behind me, you won't be able to get within striking range.'
[Creator's] analysis of how to handle Death was by no means a spur-of-the-moment plan, but the result of having planned out this outcome. Despite the planning, however, and despite [Creator's] quickness to adapt, Death's unrelenting charge was slowly gaining ground against [Creator].
"I'M NOT YOUR ENEMY!" [Creator] shouted.
Death wasn't listening. [Creator] signaled to all nearby angels to avoid helping him and instead focus on getting the humans to safety. As the main town center emptied, it was just Death staring up at [Creator].
[Creator] looked down at Death and tried reasoning again. "I am not a threat to you! I'm not going to fight you, so please, LISTEN TO ME!"
Death conjured his scythe.
'What is he doing?'
Death flipped the scythe in his hands so that he was holding it by the back of the blade. He threw the scythe at [Creator]. [Creator] dodged out of the way and assumed what Death was planning. Death blinked and appeared next to the scythe. Death grabbed the scythe mid-travel, spun in the air, and threw the scythe at [Creator].
'You can't do this forever,' [Creator] reassured himself.
[Creator] did his best to avoid Death's volley of scythe-throws. He was confidently avoiding being too close to the scythe while keeping an eye on Death's movements. As he assured himself that Death would soon exhaust the blinks, he felt a tug on his leg.
'YOU-' [Creator] thought as Death tightened his grip.
[Creator] severed the leg Death was holding on to. As his sword swiped down, Death blinked again, reappearing nearly face-to-face with [Creator]. Death held his hand up, conjuring his scythe and tapping [Creator's] wings. [Creator] grabbed Death's wrists and did his best to lock Death's movements as the two fell to the ground.
Before the two slammed into the ground, Death was able to throw [Creator] into the side of a building. The moment [Creator] smashed through the wall of the furniture store, he conjured his wings and scanned with his eyes as quickly as he could. [Creator] felt himself be tugged backward as Death reappeared from a blink and grabbed the tip of one of his wings. [Creator] dematerialized the wing and landed.
"I," [Creator] stared with vicious hatred, "am not," he conjured his sword, "YOUR ENEMY!"
Death conjured his scythe.
[Creator] stabbed his sword into the store's floor. 'He can't use his movement while holding the scythe,' he conjured another sword and threw it into a nearby wall. 'I'm going to have to cripple him if I want to stop him,' he conjured multiple swords and started throwing them all over the store.
Death looked around at the swords, unsure if perhaps the weapons might explode or start to move on their own. The hesitation bought [Creator] more time to plan. The furniture store now housed more swords than an armory as [Creator] continued his conjuring.
'That should be enough.'
[Creator] ran at Death. Death swung his scythe at [Creator] but [Creator] ducked under the swing and channeled lightning in his palms. Death let go of the scythe and blinked away. [Creator] grabbed the scythe the moment Death disappeared. Death reappeared but didn't charge to attack.
'This isn't a created conjuration,' [Creator] thought as he held Death's scythe. 'The same way your movement ability won't function if someone's holding you, you can't "conjure" this if someone else is holding it, and,' he kicked one of his conjured swords into his other hand, 'its negation won't dematerialize my swords as long as I don't let them touch.'
[Creator] pierced the handle of the scythe through the back of his clothing, making sure the scythe was touching his skin as he fashioned a quick makeshift holder for the weapon.
'I can't use any other magic while this thing is on my back, but if I can't beat you with a sword, then I don't deserve to live!'
[Creator] ran at Death. Death picked up one of [Creator's] swords and threw it. [Creator] barely deflected the throw. Death started to blink all around the store, picking up swords and throwing them. From the outside of the store, it sounded as though two beings were powerfully clashing swords with each other.
Eventually, Death stopped blinking.
'He's finally exhausted the movement ability!' [Creator] thought as he charged forward.
Death picked up a sword and clumsily swung it. While Death's strength did delay [Creator's] movements slightly, it wasn't enough to stop [Creator's] advance. As [Creator] started landing strikes on Death, Death blinked again. When Death reappeared, he stumbled.
'NOW!' [Creator] threw his sword at one of Death's legs.
The sword pierced clean through Death's thigh. [Creator] kicked another sword into his hand and charged at Death once more. Death pulled the sword out and fell to his hands.
'I'm not falling for that!' [Creator] swung his sword down toward Death's right arm.
Death pushed off his good leg and tackled [Creator] as [Creator] severed Death's right arm. Death managed to push [Creator] to the ground in the exchange.
'You think you can-'
[Creator's] thoughts were interrupted by Death pushing the sword in [Creator's] hand until it touched the blade of Death's scythe, causing the sword to dematerialize. Time slowed for [Creator] as he realized the full danger of the situation. Death's hand shot for one of [Creator's] eyes but was barely stopped.
'He can't overpower me with just one han-' [Creator's] thoughts were interrupted by Death's elbow driving into his ribs.
[Creator] was able to reverse the position and was now on top of Death. [Creator] immediately stood up, not wanting to fight Death on the ground. Death blinked and reappeared in [Creator's] blind spot. Death's footing was off as he struck at [Creator's] head, causing Death to trip and land on his back.
[Creator's] breathing was heavy as his right eye gushed blood but he didn't hesitate to seize this potential advantage. He kicked a sword into his hand and pierced through Death's other arm, severing it.
"Now then," [Creator] spoke through his heavy breaths, "I-"
Death kicked up into [Creator's] stomach with both feet, sending [Creator] through the ceiling of the store. As [Creator] fell back down and through the ceiling, Death stood up and attempted to kick [Creator's] head mid-fall. One side of [Creator's] face was torn off as he barely dodged the full brunt of the attack. [Creator] grabbed a sword as he hit the ground, spun, and severed both of Death's legs in one swipe. [Creator] pulled Death's scythe off his back and pushed the back of the blade into Death's chest.
"I..." [Creator] steadied his breathing, "Am not," he pushed down on the scythe, "YOUR FUCKING ENEMY!"
[Creator] thought to himself about how he was glad none of his children were nearby to hear him swear or to see him so damaged. He wanted to let go of the scythe so he could heal himself, but wouldn't dare move until Death proved to no longer be a threat.
Death left his hunter form and spoke, "What are you? Why do my instincts scream at me to kill you?"
[Creator] was confused but didn't have it in him for a long series of questions after everything he had been through.
"If I wanted to kill you, I could. There is no reason for me to spare your life right now except for the reason that I have been screaming at you."
Death's eyes started to go dark as his consciousness waned. "I'm...sorry."
Death passed out. [Creator] waited a few minutes before letting go of Death's scythe and healing himself. [Creator] looked over Death's body to see what he could heal without restoring Death's limbs.
"As tenacious as one of my children," [Creator] commented to himself. "If you attack me when you wake up, I'm killing you."
Death eventually woke up. He noticed that he was missing his legs and one of his arms.
"I'll heal the rest once I confirm you won't kill me," [Creator] said, sitting across from Death. "Let's try this again, properly," he offered his hand to Death. "I'm [Creator], leader of Heaven, and father to the angels."
Death grabbed [Creator's] hand and shook. "Why did you send Gabriel to me?"
"Because of this," [Creator] let go of Death's hand and gestured to the damage around the store. "Your strength, and what it can stand for--what it should stand for, interested me."
Death looked around the store confused.
"Strength like yours needs to be properly trained and pointed," [Creator] said.
"Otherwise it's just destruction. You hunt monsters because you believe it will help the world, but how you define "monster" can be dangerous if you aren't careful."
"Is this about the human Raphael?" Death asked.
"No," [Creator] sighed. "It's about all beings. I was not your enemy, I am not a monster, and yet look what you did."
Death looked around at the damaged store and then his body. "What are you then? Why did my instincts tell me to kill you? WHY?!"
Death was surprised by his anger. He shook his head out of frustrated confusion.
"I don't know," [Creator] said. "But as much strife as your 'instincts' have caused me, they do well to serve my point. What if you had killed me? You would have become an enemy of Heaven, Purgatory, and you would have had to fight innocent beings! I'm not trying to tame you or control you, I'm not even trying to lead you!" he took a breath and calmed himself. "I am simply trying to make sure your fangs stay bared at monsters."
"Why?" Death asked.
[Creator] sighed with deep frustration.
Death continued, "If I've learned anything from being around humans it's that no deed is done without reason. Why do you care about me specifically? Are there truly no other strong beings in this world you could have focused on?"
[Creator] held out his hand to Death once more. Death hesitated for a moment before grabbing [Creator's] hand.
"I'm done discussing this," [Creator] said as he began to restore Death to full. "I'm not your enemy. If you want to leave Purgatory and go back to being a wandering shadow, fine."
Death clenched with his newly restored limbs. The pain he was in prevented him from standing immediately. [Creator] offered him a hand up.
"Thank you," Death said as [Creator] pulled him up.
"If it's truly that important to you, I wanted you as an ally because you remind me of my children," [Creator] lied.