Raijin sat atop the edge of a winding cliff path that led down to Xinoll, which was little more than rubble now. He decided to wait for his prey, his trap being set.
"That little brat…" he growled to himself, "I should've shattered his soul the moment he decided to become death. Now I have to clean up his mess." He held his spear in both hands, caressing one of its blades. He grinned. "Nothing can survive a strike from this weapon. On this day, Akuro, you will meet your end."
Nizzra thrashed her heads about in a crazed rampage of lightning and destruction, leaving nothing in her path. No building was left standing and the demons ran about in chaos like an angry anthill, being crushed underfoot by the massive hydra.
"He will be here soon…"
Just then a wave of shadow burst through the air, decapitating all four of Nizzra's heads at once, the hydra's body falling to the ground, electricity arcing around its body.
•
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•
*a few minutes earlier*
The ground shook, taking Akuro by surprise. At first he looked to the Archdemons, expecting one of them to be attacking, but they all seemed confused as well.
"What's going on? What was that?" He asked.
"It seems there is ans intruders." Gozzu said. "In Xinoll."
"Xinoll?" Akuro asked.
"The demon city." Zealous said. "It would seem the gods beat you to the punch, they've made the first move."
"So they've come here?" Akuro said, "I have a good feeling I know who it is. Take me there immediately."
"Yeps, as yous commands." Gozzu said, exiting the coliseum.
"Do you want us to assist you?" Xell asked.
"No, this one is mine." Akuro answered.
"Good, so I can take a nap then." Xell said, blowing out a puff of smoke.
As Akuro passed Inari and Onoma, he stopped beside her. He never made eye contact with her, but when he spoke, his voice was cold and emotionless.
"Did you fine Darius's body?"
"Body? Wait… Darius..?" Inari asked, her eyes going wide.
"I see… so you didn't." Akuro said, then continued to follow Gozzu down the dark halls.
"Should we follow him?" Onoma asked, but Inari didn't care. She couldn't accept the fact that Darius was dead. But then, why did Akuro act so weird about it? She never found a body… so how did Darius die?
"Inari." Onoma said, his hand on her shoulder now as he shook her. "You good?"
"I-I'm fine. Let's go." She said, glancing at the demons around them that were giving her and Onoma hateful looks. "We aren't welcome here."
•
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•
Gozzu led Akuro some ways down the cold, empty tunnels of hell. The caves shook every now and again, dust tumbling down from the ceiling as if there were an earthquake.
Eventually, Gozzu stopped, an opening leading to an immense cavern. You'd think the first thing Akuro's eyes would go to would be the hydra, but no, his eyes locked immediately onto Raijin, who sat on a cliff on the far side of the cavern. Akuro's hunch was right, Raijin was behind the attack.
'Oh well,' he thought, 'I'd have to kill him eventually anyway, him coming to me makes my job much easier.'
As Akuro materialized the God Slayer, Gozzu spoke, saying "Be carefuls. That hydras a legendaries beasts. It's names is Nizzra, is very powerfuls."
Akuro glanced at the small Archdemon, then sighed. He stepped out of the tunnel and onto a large cliff overlooking the entire demon city.
"I'm not worried." He said, swinging the black scythe through the air, wind whipping at his clothes as a massive wave of black aura was sent at the hydra, cleaving all four of its heads at once.
He then snapped his fingers, his physical form fading in black wisps as he reappeared standing a few feet away from Raijin.
"Impressive, you've gotten stronger." The Thunder god said, "But removing its heads will not kill it. Do you not know the lord behind hydras, hmm?"
"Who said that blow was meant to kill it?" Akuro spoke.
"I see, then what was the point of attacking it at all? It's simply a waste of aura, is it not?"
"My aura reserves won't drain from one weak attack."
"Weak?" Raijin laughed. "I see, so you have grown indeed, but…"
A roar resounded across the chasm as the hydra's heads began to regrow, bolts of lightning zipping around its body. All four heads then turned to face Akuro and Raijin, electricity sparking from their mouths as they reared their heads back. Nizzra's chest emitted a gold light as lightning burst from its jaws, rushing towards Akuro, who simply stood, staring at the hydra. A wall of shadow suddenly rose in the air before Akuro, the lightning crashing into it violently before the wall folded in on itself, swallowing the hydra's energy, creating a massive ball of black and gold aura that was sent flying back at the beast, crashing into its body and melting away its scales.
"Ohoh." Raijin said, "Well done, but Nizzra is immortal, otherwise it wouldn't be much of a legendary beast." As he said this, the hydra's body began to heal over, gold glistening scales reappearing across its body.
"Immortal, huh, why didn't you say so, that makes this easy." Akuro's said, snapping his fingers. The hydra's movements stopped, and a moment later it's body began to fade away in a cloud of golden aura that eventually dispersed throughout the city.
"I see, so you've learned to manipulate the souls of others… and even shatter them." Raijin observed. "I should've killed you a long time ago."
"Maybe." Akuro agreed, "You actually stood a chance of killing me back then."
Raijin laughed once again, but this time there was an edge to it.
"So, what, you think you're the strongest son-of-bitch around now?" The god said. "Sorry to inform you, but you aren't. Compared to half of the gods, you are nothing! We could end the world with a snap of our fingers, that's much more power than you could ever have."
Akuro smiled. "Just the world?"
"What?"
"Just the world? You could only end the world? What about the other worlds?"
"Does it matter?" Raijin growled. "Even if it's just the destruction of a single world, that's more than you could ever do."
Akuro's eyes became narrow and cold.
"Are you certain if that?"
"You are young and naive. Not only that but you are nothing more than a pathetic Deity, you have no true power."
"Is that what you think? You really think I'm weak, not a threat at all?"
"Correct." Raijin said, nodding his head and stroking his beard.
Suddenly the entire chasm went cold and the air became tense.
"Then why are you so intent on killing me if I'm not a threat?" Akuro asked, his voice cold and dark.
Raijin was quiet for a moment, then, with a grunt, he slowly got to his feet, holding his spear above the ground an inch or two.
"I am sorry Akuro." He said. "But whether you are a threat or not… your tale ends here."
The tip of the spear's blade softly tapped against the rock ground, a faint ring resounding in Akuro's ears, and then light blue arcs of electricity began to flat across the ground. Akuro leapt off of the ledge and fell down towards the the city below as the entire cliff suddenly exploded in violent bursts of lightning, blowing a massive hole in the side of the chasm wall.
As Akuro fell, Raijin rushed down to greet him, his weapon coming near inches to Akuro's face before his Aura Cloak took form and he launched himself away from Raijin, skidding across the ground as he landed.
When Raijin made contact with the ground, a pulse of blue light emitted from the spear and a wave of lightning exploded outward from the weapon, creating a deep crater in the ground and obliterating anything that was left of the demon city to dust, leaving the chasm an empty, barren waste.
Akuro was surprised, he wasn't expecting this much power from Raijin, but then his eyes went to the spear he held, which gave off a blue light. "I see.." he said, rising to his feet and his wall of aura lowering once Raijin's previous attack had ended. "That weapon of yours, it's got its own aura, doesn't it?"
"Observant as always." Raijin responded, holding the spear above his head. "Yes, this spear is known as the Infinite Arashi."
"Arashi, meaning storm. A fitting name, though not too creative." Akuro said.
"When the blade was forged the soul of the ultimate Thunder God was infused into its metal; Zeus." Raijin explained. "In the last war, the Sixth Immortal War, Zeus led the gods into battle, but he was defeated. He was killed by none other than Azazel, the Demon King of the time, and when he died we infused his soul into this weapon, that way it would not be shattered completely." Raijin raised the spear. "The true King of the Gods lives on in this weapon! And it will be your end."
"You're really putting your faith in a piece of metal? You really must be desperate." Akuro remarked. "It seems to me like you came here expecting to die."
"And why is that, hmm?" Raijin asked, "This weapon kills anything it strikes, immortality or not."
"You mean kind of like the dagger you gave Darius?" Akuro said.
"The weakling failed in his duty, why does it matter what weapon he received or didn't receive? He's dead now, so it's of no concern to me."
Akuro's eyes narrowed. "I see. And this is why I despise you gods, you're all so egotistical and couldn't give a damn about the lives of those you created."
"You all only exist to serve us, that's the purpose of your creation to begin with." Raijin growled. "Yet you rebel, acting as if you have any right to life, even though we are the ones who gave it to you."
Akuro grit his jaw. "And you act as if everything belongs to you, and when you don't have your way you go on a rampage. You gods are no more than children having temper tantrums because they can't get what they want." Akuro nodded at the spear. "Not just that, but if you honestly expect to defeat me just because you've got some fancy metal, you are mistaken."
"Hmm, we shall see. This fight will mark the beginning of a new era. The outcome of this battle will decide the events of the Seventh Immortal War. And I do not plan on letting you live."
"And I don't intend on dying. You know, if you had just let me be, I wouldn't have ever come to the decision of killing the gods. I wanted to live in peace, it was your actions that brought me to this path." Akuro said.
"My choices? You can't blame me, the demons also had their hand in all of this. Or did you forget, Lilith is the one who attacked you, and Gallatine, and all the other demons. They started all of this."
"And it would never of happened if you gods didn't decide to play your little game." Akuro said. "You all decide to revive a handful of humans as Deities just to bring about death and war, that way you all get to consume our aura when we die. All you do is throw us into chaos and suffering for your own gain, and the demons never would've attacked if you'd left me dead, like I was. I died, my life ended a long time ago, and you decided it was a good idea to make me suffer more than I already had. This is all because of you gods and your selfishness."
"If you believe that you should've stayed dead, then you should allow me to grant your wish, boy." Raijin spoke, a gold spark flashing in his eyes as he held up his hand. As he did, gold markings appeared on the ground at Akuro's feet, bolts of lightning engulfing his body, but they had no affect.
Akuro stood, the lightning simply being absorbed by his Aura Cloak. When the blinding gold electricity finally faded, he tilted his head to one side, popping his neck, before tilting it to the other. He then looked up at Raijin with cold dead eyes.
"You done?"