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Chapter 6 - King of the Monsters

[ Mandatory lore dump. ]

It was a day unlike any other, the war reached a boiling point. Neither Demon nor Angel could stand it any longer, a full-on assault between the two factions began.

The Demons, led by their cruel leader 'Umbra', went on to cover the world in an endless black… powered by the new energy named 'Void', they utilized Void Arts that made the efforts of healers and those capable of regeneration pointless. Soon, the Humans were forced to retaliate as a whole.

Led by Arch, the Humans gathered into their war machines and set off to defeat the demonic invasion that was tearing their planet apart. With the assistance of the Monsters, led by Avery, they successfully held off the demons long enough for Avery and Arch to corner Umbra.

The fight lasted days, neither being able to fully defeat the other in a fruitless struggle for survival. Until the Angels arrived. The holy energy of the Angels suppressed the Demons and allowed Arch and Avery to conquer Umbra in battle. 

The unholy energy of the demons suffocated the Angels, allowing the armies of Earth to take advantage and press the attack against both of the unworldly factions. 

Between the loss of their leader and the suppression from the Angel, the Demons swiftly fell and retreated back to hell. 

The Angels didn't go down without a fight, their leader attacked and destroyed most of Earth's armies in a swift series of battles… Earth was equally as fast when they overcame their armies with  Avery and Arch leading an assault, and it was reported the leader of the army took their own lives in response.

They rejoiced.

Much too early, though, because barely minutes after they set their weapons down in victory. The threats reemerged.

Both the Demons and the Angels, those remaining at least, came back with a new leader that bolstered their armies and continued the war. It was over in a week, and humanity was lost.

The Monsters struggled to survive against the wave of Holy and Unholy attacks, but the power was far too much for their weak souls to handle. Some found themselves turned into Demonic Beasts, or into Celestial figures… and soon, the rest disappeared. 

At the very moment, Avery fell in battle against the Angel of Order, the Monsters around the globe scattered into dust… and disappeared into the wind. Only Scarab, a Monster made not of Flesh but Steel, remained with Arch in the abandoned world. 

The two of them, fearful of the power of the Angel and Demon, retreated to a safe haven that was prepared much earlier in the war. The Vault, a space station originally created to house storage units, became the home of an entire colony of Automata created by Scarab. 

They worked together to gather all that they needed to continue the war efforts, including the necessary things to revive Avery. 

The Great Angel of Order and The Great Demon of Destruction were both defeated, and their corpses were taken back to the Vault as material. 

What was left of Avery Hall was nothing more than a single scale, but that single scale was used as the catalyst for his resurrection. Combined with the body of the Angel and the Demon, the Scale took root and turned the body into a vessel capable of housing Avery's soul. 

Avery's soul was hard to track down, but eventually it was recovered and placed into his body. It wasn't enough to power the vessel, however, so the souls of Fallen Heroes were taken and used to fuel his own.

This is what happened within the chamber that Avery found himself in.

The body Avery finds himself in now is a combination of his greatest foes, and the souls that empower him and keep him alive are the consequences of his failure. 

There was a glimmer of hope though, as his resurrection with these new features were of much greater potential than his original body and soul.

While a Monster's soul is typically insufferably weak compared to a Human's soul, a Monster can absorb a Human soul and gain immeasurable power. Swirling within him now, Avery now had six. 

Though he can utilize the potential of neither the souls nor his new body just yet, he figured that soon he may become strong enough to finally rid this world of the menace that has plagued it for so long.