Lucifer held out his hand, a giant sword with a wide blade that was larger that Akuro. The sword was black with red markings and aura spilt from it. He held it out with one hand, then swung it through the air towards Akuro, who caught the blade between his pointer finger and thumb. Lucifer blinked in surprise, and then Akuro sent a wave of aura through the sword, shattering it into countless small shards.
"Oh, sorry, was that some kind of legendary sword?" Akuro said, the metal in his body still glowing and steaming.
Lucifer let out an overconfident laugh. "Impressive! It's of no matter, you cannot defeat me, even if I have no weapon, I will never lose."
Akuro tilted his head, the metal pieces in his ears dangling as he did. "We will see about that."
Lucifer dashed at Akuro, his fist flying through the air. A shockwave burst through the entire chamber as Akuro caught the demon's punch with his hand.
"Haha! You are stronger than I-"
A wave of aura shot through Akuro's hand and into Lucifer's arm, which then exploded in a spray of bone and blood.
"Shut up." Akuro said, "You're annoying." He then flicked his hand and a black wave of energy burst from Lucifer's body like a shadow before dispersing into nothing. Lucifer's body was completely still, and then he collapsed to the ground face first at Akuro's feet.
"W-what… did you just do…?" Lilith asked in a quiet, scared voice.
"I figured out how to kill an Archdemon. If you don't have a soul, then the only thing keeping you alive is your aura, and if your aura is forced out of you, you die. So, all I did was separate all of his aura from his body." Akuro said, he then turned to Lilith. "Come here." He pointed to his feet, the metal spikes and chains on his body no longer glowing but still giving off waves of heat. Lilith crawled on her hands and knees to Akuro, laying below him.
Akuro grinned. "Strip." Lilith gave him a look of fear. "Now." She slowly began to remove her short, and as she did Akuro walked over to the demon throne, kicking Lucifer's corpse out of his way as he grabbed a chain from beside the throne. He then came back to Lilith, who was now in only her braw and underwear. He then clipped the chains around her neck, then pulled her close to him, whispering in her ear saying, "You're mine."
•
•
•
Gozzu suddenly stopped moving, his body frozen. Inari looked to Onoma, exchanging confused expressions before she knelt down beside the small demon. His eyes were distant, as if he were unconscious with his eyes open.
"Gozzu?" She asked.
"Come." He said suddenly. "You have no need to worry. Your friend is fine."
Inari gave a look to Onoma. Gozzu had suddenly began to talk normally, he'd become almost robotic. Nonetheless, Inari and Onoma followed him down a hall until they came a large set of double doors. Gozzu pushed the doors open, and what they saw made Inari's jaw drop.
Akuro sat on a large black throne, metal spikes embedded in his body and chains wrapped around his arms. Metal pieces hung from his ears and his were embedded in his nails like metal talons. He sat, his head resting on his fist as his other hand held a chain that was attached to Lilith who sat naked on all fours with red tears rolling down her cheeks and Akuro rested his feet on her back. On the ground lay the body of another demon that Inari had never seen.
As Inari stood, her eyes meeting Akuro's, she saw a darkness in him that she'd never seen before. It put her on edge, and she could feel the immense power that flowed out from Akuro's body. His presence alone made the chamber hum with energy.
"Akuro…?" Inari asked in disbelief.
"Inari. Why are you here?" Akuro asked, his tone nonchalant.
"What… happened to you."
"Simple." He said, pointing at the corpse. "I became the demon king."
"You saying you killed Lucifer?" Onoma asked, folding his arms.
Akuro pointed at the corpse on the ground. "Do you need proof? Well there it is. And why are you of all people here exactly? Have you come to challenge me?"
"No, actually I-"
"We came to save you." Inari cut Onoma off.
"Save me?" Akuro looked around in exaggeration. "It would seem you're a bit late."
A silence fell over the chamber then as Inari stared into Akuro's dead eyes, trying as hard as she could to find anything like the Akuro she wanted to believe was there, but all she saw in him was pain and hatred.
"Akuro." She said, breaking the silence. "Are you still you?"
Akuro's head tilted. "That's a stupid question. No matter how I change, I am always me, because nobody else can take my place. I am who I am, no matter the time or place. Even if I am a demon, or a god, I am still me."
Inari clenched her fists. It wasn't right. She thought of the smile she'd seen on Akuro's face the day they had killed Gallatine. Where did that Akuro go? Was he drowning in suffering… or did he never exist? She wanted to know Akuro, she wanted to know who he really was, before all the pain. Before all of the hatred.
"So how'd you do it?" Onoma asked, stepping forward.
"Do what?" Akuro said, his eyes turning to Onoma.
"Kill the demon king."
"He was nothing but a child in reality. He was weak."
"So your saying I could've killed him?"
Akuro's eyes narrowed. "Are you testing me? Is this not enough proof for you? I've made Lilith my pet, she was stronger than Lucifer."
"I was?" Lilith asked. "You really think so?"
"Shut it." Akuro growled.
"Sorry." Lilith whimpered.
"I just wanna know how strong you really are now." Onoma said with a shrug.
"Do you?" Akuro said darkly. "Then allow me to show you." Akuro's eyes flashed red, and then Onoma let out a groan of pain, crumbling to his knees and clutching his head. Akuro compressed is pressure down on Onoma, crushing him.
"Enough!" Inari roared, and to her surprise Akuro listened, pulling his aura back. She looked up at him and caught him glance at her before returning his eyes to Onoma, then down to Gozzu.
"What is that?" Akuro asked, furrowing his brow.
Gozzu took a deep bow, his ears flopping over his eyes. "My names is Gozzu. I is the weakests of Archdemons, and as Archdemons, I is your servants, lord."
"You? An Archdemon?" Akuro asked doubtfully.
"He is, he one tapped a big ugly demon earlier and ate his soul." Onoma explained.
"Ate his soul?" Akuro asked in interest. "Demons have this ability?"
"Only Archdemons, and we cans only eats the souls of lower demons." Gozzu said. "It's a methods used to restore our auras."
"Interesting." Akuro said, tugging on Lilith's chain and leaning over. "Well then Gozzu, was it? I appoint you as my advisor. And for your first order, I want you to gather all of the Archdemons in this room. It's time they met their new king."
•
•
•
"Lord!" A goddess called as she ran up to God who was walking down one of the many halls of the Holy Temple of Heaven. "Lord!"
God stopped and turned to the goddess, Aphrodite, who came stopped when she reached him. "What is it, Aphrodite?" God asked.
"Lucifer, he's dead!" She answered.
"Oh? By who? He was weak, it was only a matter of time before he was killed, so tell me, which of the Archdemons took his throne?"
"It wasn't one of the Archdemons!"
God's brow furrowed. "What?"
"It was the Deity, Akuro! He's claimed the throne of the Demon King!"
"Hmm. A Deity as the Demon King… he really might as well be Azazel's reincarnation. Inform the other gods immediately. We will decide our actions at council."
"Yes, of course." Aphrodite bowed, then turned back the way she came.
God grinned. "So. There is a new king. Fitting. A new war will begin under the rule of a new king. I hope he will be able to entertain me."
•
•
•
Again, Raijin sat in the same seat he always did when the gods held council. He did not know why there was a sudden order for a meeting among gods, especially when they had just held one not long ago. He couldn't help but be curious about what was going on. He looked from god to god and saw that many of them appeared bored, annoyed or uninterested. 'Fools' he thought. It disturbed him how overconfident the gods were, as if they thought they were indestructible. If only they had seen what real war is like, they'd think otherwise. Raijin's mind flashed back to memories of Titans, Archdemons and of Azazel, the strongest of all Demon Kings. The gods had all forgotten what those times were like, they had grown lax and conceited.
"Greetings, my children. I apologize for calling another meeting on such short notice." God spoke from his seat at the table. "But there has been a drastic change in the world."
"And what would that be?" Ares asked, his tone that of a bored, impatient child. Raijin shook his head.
"Lucifer is dead."
None of the gods seemed affected by this, seeing as they all expected this to happen sooner or later.
"But it wasn't by one of the Archdemons." Now the gods interest grew. Soft murmurs fell over the group.
"Lucifer was killed by Raijin's Deity, Akuro, who has now taken the throne. Apparently, his aura is almost identical to that of Azazel."
Raijin's eyes widened. The gods all burst into a ramble of confusion and shock. Raijin stood from his seat and turned towards the door.
"Raijin!" Ares roared. "Where are you going?"
Raijin ignored the god and opened the doors to the council room.
"Raijin!"
"Let him go." God ordered. "Relax, Ares. He will be our guinea pig."
Raijin stormed down the hall to his private chambers where he then slammed the door shut behind him. He breathed heavily, his nostrils flaring. He then went into a rage, thrashing his room. Papers flew, glass shattered and furniture fell and broke.
When his rampage was over, Raijin turned to face the opposite wall, his eyes resting on a large spear.
'That little shit…' he thought, walking towards the weapon. 'I knew I should've killed him when I had a chance. And now, I have to resort to this.'
Raijin gripped the weapon, holding it in his hands. It was sleek and thin, the pile of it was smooth and polished dark blue, while the blades on either end were disc shaped and glistening silver with lightning blue markings. As Raijin's hands gripped the spear, electricity began to arc along the blades of the weapon.
"Akuro…" he growled. "I swear I will kill you."