The sound of Inari's bones shattering under the force of the hammer filled Akuro's ears. He felt rage overcome him as his sight turned red, his aura cloak engulfing his body as he ran at the enemy with no concern for himself, his scythe clanging against the massive figures armor with no effect. Then an unseen force sending Akuro back, sprawled out on the ground.
The figure stood, hammer at its side. Then it spoke, it's voice rough an harsh.
"I am Edo, one of the Archdemons. Against me, your life is forfeit."
Akuro ignored the demon's words, his eyes focused on Inari who sat unconscious in a pile of rubble covered in blood. His vision became static, he was no longer able to tell what was real or not as he saw Hope's face over Inari's, going back and forth between two faces that he couldn't stop seeing.
Then Akuro heard the voice of Mato speak to him in his mind, "Let your rage consume you. Kill them, kill them all, look what they've done to you and those you love. Don't you want to return the favor?"
"Akuro, relax." He felt a hand settle in his shoulder. He looked over to see Darius beside him, his invisibility fading. "Inari is alive, I confirmed it. She'll be fine, so calm down. We can't have you go berserk again."
Akuro looked down at his own hands, clenching them as he began to take in deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself.
"What do you want?" Darius called to Edo.
The demon raised a hand and pointed at Akuro. "The boy."
"Why?"
"As payment for the death of Gallatine, he must die. Blood for blood." Edo spoke.
"Except for the fact that I'm the one who killed him." Darius grinned, holding his dagger in one hand. "So shouldn't I be the one you want?"
"I was ordered to kill all of you. It does not matter either way who it is that dies first."
Darius cursed under his breath. "This is gonna be a pain. We haven't even had a chance to test our new abilities yet…"
"Darius," Akuro spoke, "be careful. He has some kind of barrier around him. I'm not sure exactly, but when I hit him something knocked me back, but he didn't even move."
"Interesting. I'll keep that in mind."
Akuro rose to his feet, his aura shifting as he did so. "Let's kill this bastard."
"Nah. You go to Inari, help her. I'll fight him." Darius said.
"What? You can't take him on alone!"
"Trust me." Darius said, "there is something I wanna test out."
Darius knelt down, his bow drawn as he pulled back the string. Massive amounts of aura began to gather into the string, forming into a silver-green arrow. The ground trembled at Darius's feet and began to crack from the force of the aura.
"Go! Get Inari before she is caught up in my attack!"
Akuro nodded, then jumped as high as he could over Edo, who only stood there, making no move to attack. He landed beside Inari, scooping her into his arms carefully. Most of her bones were broken and her limbs were misshapen. He ran away from the battle for a good distance as Darius had told him to. He set Inari down in the grass carefully.
He needed Makane, but he didn't think that she could appear without Inari calling to her. He cursed under his breath, hoping Darius would be alright.
Darius gathered more and more aura into his bow, though he found it odd the enemy was not making any move to stop him. He grinned, 'Oh well, if he's gonna underestimate me… that's his problem.'
He loosed the arrow, the ground shattering around him as a wave of aura decimated everything in its path, but as it struck Edo, his armor began to illuminate a faint red, the arrow having no effect on him.
Darius's eyes widened as he realized what this demon was doing. The reason it wasn't making any move to dodge his attack was because his armor absorbed and reflected attacks.
Darius smiled. 'Sorry Akuro, I didn't take your words into consideration as much as I should've.'
The same arrow he'd shot before now whistled through the air towards him, leaving him no time to avoid the attack as it struck his heart, leaving a large hole in his body.
Darius fell on his back, as he lay in a pool of his own blood he stared at the sky. Only then did he realize how pretty that scarlet shade was.
•
•
•
Akuro cradled Inari's head in his arms, gently tapping her to wake her up. After a few tries she eventually came to, groaning in pain.
"I know," Akuro said, "I know it hurts but you need to call out Makane to heal yourself, so please hold in there."
Inari grit her teeth as she raised her hand. The fox spirit slowly materialized and turned to her owner.
"It would seem you've got yourself into yet another bind." The fox spoke.
"Just heal her!" Akuro yelled, becoming impatient.
"Alright, don't worry, she'll be fine." Makane responded, one of her tails touching against Inari's body.
"Watch her!" Akuro ordered.
"Well, your just in a mood, aren't you?" Makane spoke.
"I'll be back."
"Akuro.." Inari said as he turned away. He stopped, but didn't look at her. "Please… don't die… don't leave me."
Akuro clenched his fist, but gave no response.
He ran back in the direction of the battle, anxiety growing in him as he grew closer. 'Please be okay, please be okay…' was the only thing going through his mind on repeat.
And then he saw Darius. His body laying on the ground in a pool of crimson, ash alighting down on his body in a thin layer, his eyes faded and skyward.
Akuro shook with rage and turned towards the demon.
"Yes, that's it, that's it! Your friend is little more than a corpse, and that demon is responsible. The gods are responsible. This world is responsible! Kill him, Akuro, destroy him, destroy everything! Kill them all!" Mato's voice roared in his head.
Akuro took a step towards Edo, his aura hissing around his body obscuring his features.
"Nothing you do will help. You will fail just as he did." Edo spoke, facing Akuro.
"Don't… fucking… say his name… ever again." Akuro growled. Then his eyes turned crimson red and his skin became rough, covered in black scales. Two large, black horns curled from his head and black wings extended from his back. Talons grew from his fingertips and every step he took cracked the ground below him.
"That's it…" Mato's voice echoed in Akuro's mind as his vision blurred red, "let your rage swallow you whole! Destroy everything!"
Akuro kept calmly walking towards Edo until he stood an arms length away from the demon. He then raised his hand, his thumb held over his middle finger.
"Give it up, Deity. Your fate has already be-"
Akuro flicked the demon in his chest, instantaneously shattering its armor and sending its body careening through the air, crashing through layers of stone and rubble.
"What… the hell?!" The demon roared in frustration and confusion as it began to rise back to its feet, but Akuro appeared above the demon, fist raised.
Edo held up his arms to cover himself, but as Akuro's fist crashed into the demon's arms there was a loud *SNAP* as the limbs were shattered completely, Akuro's fist going through the arms and crushing Edo's chest, a shockwave emitting from the impact as the ground below was indented, leaving a crater in the earth.
"Let it consume you, let that anger and pain consume you, let your wrath control you!" Mato's voice came once more as Akuro raised his other fist, black aura condensing into his arm.
"Damn you!" Edo roared, and then Akuro's fist came down like a hammer on the demon's head, the impact causing the earth to quake as a massive cavity was carved into the ground. Black aura enveloped Edo's body, pressing down on him and crushing his bones, then he let out a scream as his soul was forcefully crushed and shattered by Akuro.
•
•
•
Lilith froze, a cold shiver running through her body. She turned in the direction that Edo and Onoma had gone.
"Impossible…" she hissed.
"What?" Adeline asked.
"This aura… is that really that brat? It feels…"
"What is it?"
Lilith's eyes went wide, and then a black figure flashed into existence in front of her, a black scythe sweeping in a wide arc through the air. Lilith jumped back, her wings spreading as she flew into the air. A black wave of aura cut cleanly through the Statue of Liberty, severing the torch from the hand and the head from the neck, crashing to the ground below.
Adeline jumped away from the figure, landing on the statue's stump of a neck.
"So you really did it. You actually managed to became as strong as Azazel… Akuro." Lilith hissed.
Akuro raised both hands into the air, aura pooling into both of his palms.
Lilith waved her hand through the air, "Get away from him! Now!"
Adeline then jumped from the statue and down to the streets before running in the opposite direction, while Lilith flew higher and higher into the air.
Akuro clapped his hands together and a loud hum resonated through the entire city as the two points of black aura came into contact, sucking everything into them before bursting outward in a wave of darkness that expanded at a rapid pace.
From above, Lilith waved her hand downwards and a force of pressure collapsed against the wave of shadow, causing it to waver and become static.
•
•
•
Inari held her broken arm out towards Makane. Her body was mostly healed now and she wanted to get back to the others. She remembered Akuro turning his back on her, his trembling fists. She could feel the rage inside him, and she was scared that he'd lose control again.
Inari flexed her arm, moving it around. She thanked Makane and stood. She was about to run in the direction Akuro had gone before, but then a burst of wind struck her, knocking her to the ground. She looked in the direction that the shockwave came from, and her eyes went wide as her heart rose to her chest.
A globe of shadow had enveloped all of New York, swallowing the entire city. The globe then seemed to be crushe, pressed downwards towards the earth, causing it to collapse on itself before violently erupting. The earth shook, rattling Inari's bones as wisps of shadow shot up from the city and into the sky.
'There's no way…' Inari thought. 'There's no way that was Akuro just now…'
•
•
•
A massive crater spanning the whole of New York City was carved into the earth as a permanent scar on the land. It was as if ten nukes were dropped in one spot, destroying everything in their wake. Lilith hovered above the crater, breathing heavily. She couldn't believe what she had seen, the destruction the had been wrought across the land.
Akuro stood in the cavity, his eyes on Lilith. She clenched her jaw in frustration.
"I will not be bested by some pathetic Detiy! Die!" She screamed, waving her hand. A force of aura crashed into Akuro, splitting the ground, but the impact had no effect on him. Akuro didn't even flinch as he glared up at the demon above him.
"How…?" Lilith began, but then Akuro flashed out of sight, reappearing above her, a shockwave being sent through the air as his heel collided into her back. Lilith fell to the ground like a falling angel, her body shattering as she struck the earth.
Akuro alighted on in the crater a couple yards away from Lilith as she rose to her feet, her bones snapping back into place. He approached her slowly, step by step.
"What the hell are you… you are no Deity, this isn't the power of some slave!" Lilith screamed at Akuro, but he never gave her an answer, he just kept walking calmly towards her. "WHAT ARE YOU?!!"
In that moment as Lilith screamed, Akuro flew at her, his fist crashing into her stomach in an uppercut, the air exploding with a wave of pressure from her back due to the impact.
Akuro then spoke, his tone cold and grim as he echoed the words of Mato in his mind;
"I am death."