It was a self-deprecating laugh that continued, a laugh of self-loathing and hatred towards oneself.
'Belladonna poisoning. What a way to go.'
Kaiser could feel the poison. Liquid iron melding into nerves and tendons. He felt heavy, so heavy. A lead block crumbling, as lava melted it inside out. Blood spilled through gritted teeth, a gurgling pop from choked throat. Kaiser coughed a mouthful of red. Vision blurring, heart beat arrhythmic.
He grinned like a madman. Still laughing. Still struggling in death. Kaiser spat.
"Eternius. Glory to the Empire. I hope you remember, in your best dreams and worst nightmares, of how you killed the Demon Mage. How you killed Kaiser Grayson. Not in a honorable battle, but by kidnapping his wife and feeding him poison. How heroic! How bold! The light is nothing but a joke now because of your actions! None will ever revere you or respect you."
He stumbled, dizziness overwhelming. Muscle convulsions barely stopped by his remaining mana.
Another mouthful of red splattered onto the sunlit floor. Kaiser could hear screaming. The people he killed screeching at him. Thousands of hands gripping his feet and ankles, dragging him to hell. The cacophony of the underworld beckoning him. But those outside Kaiser's mind only heard the crying of mother and child. The Archmage himself seemed to be too far gone.
For the first time, Anderson's features shifted. Kindly aura vanishing, a heavy gloom taking its place. Such a change startled even Ishtar, who looked back to see shining eyes in a somber, gaunt face. A faint trail from eyes to chin gleaming softly in the shade. She saw her expression mirrored in his.
And even inside that enveloping grim haze, Kaiser saw the trail of blood spill past Anderson's lips as he angrily commanded the blackguards, dragging a kicking, sobbing Raze into the Prime Minister's grasp. The Archmage tried standing. He barfed out blood and guts. Shiny, slick innards strewn like a horrible, gory painting. He tried using magic. His fingertips crumbled before any spell could form.
Raze wailed, not knowing how to mourn, but mourning all the same. Ishtar, a picture of grace and elegance, broke down calling his name. The guards shuffled uncomfortably. Anderson's jaw ticked.
Kaiser squirmed on the ground, trying to reassure them, but his vocal cords had long been melded with his throat. Eyes bloated with dark red blood. Fingers coated with dissolved flesh.
However, even in this state, he could perfectly see the moment of his passing.
The Prime Minister stood straight. Spotted arm outstretched to the heavens as he chanted verses and lines. Sonnets and Epics. Brilliance sparked. Drowning sages in beds of white feathers, and sinners carrying toppling stakes. It was the 'world' of Anderson Fides. Crosses illuminating human desires, as the angels sang to cease worldly pain. Hyssop flowers fell as arcane words grew. An accumulation of life.
{Faira}
{Saira}
{Gaira}
Anderson's body shone with angelic strength. A set of wings sprouted from aged back and a suit of divine armor from fleshy skin. Archaic symbols articulated endlessly, gushing relentlessly from dried up mouth. Heavenly light flashed in the palm of his hand while sweat trickled slowly past bony chin.
Kaiser recognized it as {Kaira}. Image magic not bound by the three rules but formed by one's own heart. The most powerful type of all. And the most draining. Dying by the image of Eternius' sages, a demons' purest bane conjured to reality by Eternius' Most Holy. It would be an grand passing.
One worthy of himself. A true death.
The lance of Longinus materialized in its boundless glory.
Oh how Kaiser wished to test his own 'image' against it, but alas.
{Faira}
{Saira}
{Gaira}
{{Kaira}}
Kaiser closed molten eyelids.
"Anno Domini. Ad Sacrificium."
Anderson whispered, gripping the spear of destiny. Golden eyes downcast, somber. He looked dead at the man dying on the ground, but Kaiser could no longer see him mouth the words. . .
'I'm sorry.'
{{"Salvatio!"}}
The land whitened. Longinus had, for a fraction of a tick, outshone the three midday suns by itself.
Intense, vibrant light unlike anything felt before torched Kaiser's open flesh. Not that it needed to do much. The poison had already become rooted. It simply sped up what was meant to be longer. The ultimate weapon against demonic entities, relegated to an executioner's guillotine. Hah.
This searing glow pierced his retinas.
Kaiser Grayson embraced death much like a friend. The void took him whole. The End.
.
.
.
However, there seemed to be something else in this emptiness. This void. Something that shouldn't belong. A voice so familiar, but one his ruined ears could not differentiate. Such a shrill, beautiful voice. Like a crying angel. He'd heard this before. Seen it and held it and loved it. What was it?
A faint memory alighted in muddied mind. Of a small babe he carried. Of the best day of his life, a most cherished sight. Ishtar, breathing hard, perspiration sticking stray strands of hair onto her face as she hugged a tiny object swaddled in cloth. Her smile and his own as they looked on adoringly at the porcelain features of their beautiful boy. His bundle of joy. Raze.
The buzzing got louder. Shouting? But who was shouting? He held the babe in his arms, smiling.
There was nothing else he wanted right now.
"- A - - - -!"
Nothing else he needed.
"F - - H - -!"
Nothing else-
"RAZE!"
Kaiser Grayson awoke to a vision of hell. He awoke to his wife, screaming. He awoke to his son, run through by the spear of destiny meant for him, slowly bleeding to death. His son, mouthing words that could not be made. Sounds that could not be spoken. No. No. No. This had to be hell.
This has to be.
His bundle of joy.
Kaiser desperately crawled towards him. Dragged by his arms as his hands broke down, then by his elbows as his arms did the same. More flesh dissolved. Even fragile bones broke and scattered. His mangled body was unrecognizable by the time he reached his son. But what did it matter? His son was hurt. He needed to heal him. Save him.
Yet Kaiser did not even have arms to embrace him with.
"ARGH! AHHHHHHH!"
He did not even have a voice to mourn him with. Kaiser knelt before his son, crying for the first and last time. His tears fell on perfect, porcelain features. Pale features. Bloodless features. The Demon Mage finally felt guilt and regret. Remorse. A slow burn that ate at him worse than any poison. The thoughts he leaked spiraled into mania.
Why? Why did he not spend more time with his son? Why did he leave them alone? Why were they hurt because of him? Dying because of him? Kaiser cried out in agony, weeping over the corpse of his dead son. His murdered joy.
The winds rustled the morning dew grass. Anderson strode closer to the mourning demon.
"Kaiser."
No response.
"Look at me."
Broken pupils stared blankly at the holy knight.
"I want you to die. With regrets. In resentment. I want you to hate me. Abhor me. To try your best to kill me—to kill the person who has taken everything from you! I want you to remember who you are as you lay there dying. The true you. Not this sorry, pathetic excuse of a demon!"
Anderson yelled.
"Where is it! Where is your rage, where is your fire! A will to burn the heavens themselves. You told me this. You swore to become the first blade to slash the sky. So where is your conviction! Where is he? The Demon Mage. The lord of destruction. All I see is a shell of a former god. A loser."
Anderson placed the knife against Ishtar's neck once more. Kaiser's frayed pupils widened in fear.
"And those who are defeated, lose everything."
Slice. The Prime Minister slit clean the throat of the Moonlit Goddess.
.
.
.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Ruby red blood slowly dripped.
Splat. Splat. Splat.
Before her body hit the ground, the whole of Eternius felt 'his' wrath.
The air screamed. It howled. It screeched and it roared. A guttural, heart-wrenching noise. Sounds of a beast with nothing else to lose. Bloodlust bubbled to the surface, but this time it was different. It was endless. Horrifyingly vast. It blotted out everything. No one could escape. The suns hid.
Kaiser had no limbs. He had no face. He had no magic. Yet the blackguards retreated, one by one they stepped backwards. Suicide warriors who did not fear death, now trembled. Anderson, at last, showed vivid shock on a previously stoic expression. Apprehension. Fear of mortality.
The living bloodlust congealed, so dense it became solidified. Into words. Kaiser could not speak, so his hatred spoke for him. Everyone in Eternius heard him. The people. The guards. The King. And most importantly, the Prime Minister. Anderson.
Ten words carved themselves onto the sky of the kingdom. Never to be erased. Never forgotten.
Bloody, vengeful words. Demonic words.
{{"I. WILL. KILL. YOU. ALL."}}
Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again.
{{"I. SWEAR. BY. THE. GODS."}}
The kingdom rained tears of crimson. The ruler's oath flared in its apocalyptic judgement.
Kaiser's skull looked dead at Anderson, rictus grin and burning sockets. He 'spoke' once more. A sentence only Anderson could hear. A burden only he would carry. The skull laughed.
{{"You Are First, My Enemy"}}
And Anderson. . . he laughed. He laughed in such joy that tears fell. Laughed and cried. The knife in his hands flared with holy light. Longer and longer until a heavy broadsword took its place.
The Minister replied.
"I'd love to see you try, my friend."
A swing of a blade. A total decapitation. A killing blow.
And Kaiser Grayson, died.