"You are a bad liar, I'm surprised she fell for it." Brimgarn's voice echoed in Akuro's head.
'Liar? What do you mean?' Akuro asked mentally.
"Don't play dumb, Akuro." Mato's voice came then. "You may have become colder than before, but you aren't so cold that you have lost all your emotions."
'And how would you know that?'
"Because," Brimgarn said, "we may share the same body, but we also share the same mental space, meaning we can feel one another's emotions."
'Then why can't I feel yours?'
"Because, unlike you we can actually hide them." The dragon answered.
"Not just that, but it's obvious you care about the girl. You are quite attached to her, yet you are scared to be more attached than you already are… because of the past."
'You don't know shit. I meant what I said back then.' Akuro denied his words.
"You may be able to lie to her, but you can't lie to us, Akuro." Mato spoke. "You pushed her away because if she stays near you she will get hurt, just like she did before. You never wanted Emma dead. You just wanted Inari to think that you've become cold and heartless."
Akuro stopped walking, a sad smile crossing his lips. He closed his eyes, clenching his fists.
'I can't let the past repeat itself… it hurts too much. Not just that… but I lose control whenever my allies get hurt, I can't let that happen anymore.'
"Then why don't you tell her that instead of breaking the poor girl's heart?" Brimgarn asked.
"Because," Mato said. "I know this story. If you tell them how you feel, if you give them your reasons, it only makes them become even more bonded to you, and that leads to them staying even when you tell them to go. In the end, that leads to them dying. I've experienced the full story first hand."
"Yes… I almost forgot." The dragon hummed sadly.
'Your story sounds like a long one, Mato.' Akuro said.
"Yeah… it is."
'Maybe you could tell it to me some day.'
"Maybe. But not today. Today, you will revel in the glory of your accomplishments and behold your army."
Akuro nodded, then continued walking down the hallway to a balcony attached to a sheer cliff looking over the open chasm that was once the city of Xinoll, now destroyed and nothing more than an empty cavern. But now, it was filled to the brim. Akuro's eyes widened and a smile pulled at the edges of his mouth as he looked down at the thousands and thousands of demons of all shapes and sizes gathered below him in six large groups.
Akuro could spot his generals among the demons at the head of each group. Everything was going as planned.
Soon, the gods would fall by his hand, and the knot of fate would be undone.
•
•
•
*Sometime during the 6th Immortal War*
Mato stood across from his opponent, arms crossed as he waited for them to speak. All around him laid the bodies near a thousand humans. It upset him, how the gods could just create an entire race out of thin air just to throw them into the flames of war. This is what fueled his hate for the gods, mankind was only a couple hundred years old at the time of the 6th war, and yet they were already on the verge of extinction because they were used as cannon fodder for the gods.
And now, Mato stood alone, his allies all killed by one demon… the one that stood before him.
"Who are you?" Mato asked, his opponent simply staring at him. He clenched his jaw. "Is this some kind of joke to you!? Or are you just mocking me!?"
Again, the demon gave no answer.
"Damn you.." Mato cursed. He held a large two handed sword at his side, the golden blade seeming to give off a light. 'I know I promised to give this sword to Sedori.. but I need it's power now!' He thought.
The sword he wielded went by the name of Etskarius, but, once it's power is used, it becomes little more than a fancy piece of metal, although the immense power it held was enough to win almost any battle on its own. It can be used up to three times, and Mato had already used it twice. He'd planned on saving the last time to give it to Sedori so that he could kill the Titan King, but…
"You're the Demon King… aren't you?" Mato asked as aura began to gather into the golden blade. "Azazel."
The demon's head tilted, though Mato could not see its expression, as a cloud of black aura blotted out the demon's features, all he could see were glowing, pale white eyes.
"Answer me, damn you!" Mato roared, "You killed them! You killed her! You took everything I cared about! The least you can do is tell me your name!"
"But you already came to the answer of your own accord, there was no reason for me to speak." Came a cold hiss.
"Ha, so you finally speak only to mock me." Mato said. "So you are Azazel."
"Yes… and you are a nobody." Azazel hissed. "And you do not belong here…"
"A nobody, huh..?" Mato said quietly. "Don't doubt me, demon!" He raised his sleeve, revealing the tattoo of a dragon marked into his skin. The mark began to give off a faint blue light, and as it did light blue symbols were etched into the ground and the air turned cold as snow began to descend, churning in a violent blizzard that quickly turned the battlefield white, patches of red showing in contrast as blood seeped into the snow.
Then a tremendous roar shook the earth and a massive silver-and-gold scaled dragon descended from the sky, shards of ice covering its body.
"Scillia, I request your aid." Mato called up to the beast. A powerful, feminine voice that echoed across the valley and the mountains came in return;
"Of course, it is my obligation to aid you in your destiny, Mato."
"A dragon?" Azazel hissed. "Maybe you are someone, but not someone that matters."
"We will see about that, in the end I will be the victor!" Mato spoke as he jumped up onto Scillia's back. With a powerful downward thrust of her wings, the dragon rose into the air, then drew her head back, her chest glowing with a faint blue light as aura gathered into her body, then it was all released into a stream of destruction that was sent straight at Azazel. The demon simply held up his hand, his fingers splitting the beam of aura into two different rays of energy that were sent in two different directions, one of them crashing into the earth and blowing a massive city sized crater into the ground after a large explosion, and the other blasting through two mountains, reshaping the land itself.
Azazel shook his hand as if he'd slapped someone too hard and had hurt his finger, smoke trailing up from it.
"Impressive, you made me move." the demon said.
"Mato, just who are we fighting?" Scillia asked.
Mato was quiet for a moment, then answered in a grim tone, "Azazel. The Demon King. I'm sorry, Scillia, but this… might be our last battle."
"I see… well, I do not hold this against you, so do not worry. He has killed many of my kind, I have been wanting to bite his head off for some time!"
"You think we can defeat him?"
"We can, and we will, even if it means we shall die in the process! If it comes to it, I will seal him myself…"
Mato's eyes went wide. "Wait… you mean..?"
Scillia gave a soft hum, that hum that all dragons made deep in their throats. When it came to dragons, that was the equivalent of humans saying "mhm".
"I see… well, let's hope it never comes to that!" Mato said.
"Are you done?" Azazel asked.
"Yes. I apologize to keep you waiting, you bastard!"
"Well, will you attack? Or will you stand there." Azazel hissed.
"I could ask the same if you. Come at us! Unless your scared?"
"Why are you provoking him?" Scillia asked.
"We need to see what he can do, better now than later. If we draw this battle out too long we will run out of aura and die. We need to end this quickly, and that means we need to get him to fight."
The sky was pale gray, clouds blotting out the sun. Cold wind whistled across the mountains and snow drifted through the air. The constant beat of Scillia's wings were the only sound to be heard across the valley as flakes of snow fell on the corpses of the dead.
Mato and Scillia never removed their eyes from Azazel, who stood perfectly still, his dead eyes locked onto them. And then he moved.
Azazel slowly raised his hand, and as he did inky black aura gathered into his palm, forming a ball of shadows that swirled and spun. And then a thin line of black shot from the ball, flying at Mato and his dragon, who swerved to the side. The dark line of aura streaked past them and high up into the sky before hitting the clouds, violently splitting them open before the aura expanded, bursting into a massive explosion of black that blotted out the sky before fading, revealing the crystal blue that was once hidden behind the clouds. A shockwave was sent through the air, causing Scillia to lose her balance and almost plummet to the ground below, but she managed to regain her posture and stay airborne.
"Your turn, boy." Azazel hissed, lowering his hand.
"Is this some kind of game to him?" Scillia asked.
"That's what I asked… and apparently it is, he is really going to let us get a free blow." His grip tightened around Etskarius's hilt. "Take me to the ground."
"What?"
"I'm going to use Etskarius."
"But what about Ballakon? The Titan King?"
"Just do it… this guy is just as much of a threat."
Scillia hesitated for a moment, then gave in. "Fine, just make it count. Be careful."
"I'll be fine." Mato said this, but as the words left his mouth, he felt uncertain of them.
Scillia landed on the ground, her talons making imprints in the snow. Mato hopped off of her back.
"Listen, if this doesn't work, I want you to do it, Immediately, understood?" Mato said.
"But what about you?"
"It doesn't matter. Just do it."
"…alright.."
Mato began to approach Azazel, but stopped next to one of the corpses. It was a girl with long black hair, her face buried in the snow, which was dyed crimson around her body.
"I'm sorry…" Mato said softly, his voice choked.
He then continued forward, holding back tears as cold wind and snow scratched his face. The snow crunched under his feet as he walked, one step after another, towards Azazel.
'I've had enough time..' he thought, glancing down at his sword, which was now humming with power and glowing a brilliant rose gold. Any snow that landed on it instantly melted.
When he was about five feet away from Azazel, he stopped, his eyes zeroed in on the demon. For a long minute, he stood there in silence, taking in the events. His memories of the life he'd led ran through his mind, as if he were watching a recording that was playing on rewind. He tightened his grasp of his weapon, as well as his resolve.
He held Etskarius above his head with both hands, then a storm swirled around the sword like a tornado, wind whipping violently around the blade as gold light filled the valley.
Azazel raised both of his hands. "Come then, show me your resolve, mortal!"
Gritting his teeth, Mato let out a war cry as he whipped the sword in a downward slash, the rose gold aura thrashing forward like a tidal wave, crashing into Azazel's body. The earth around the demon began to churn, being obliterated as the clouds parted and the earth was split open, a deep ravine being permanently carved into the face of the world like a scar that would never heal over. The immeasurable power of the sword cut the world open, forever changing the landscape and making its mark in history.
Then the light faded from the weapon and it lost its weight, now devoid of any aura, a worthless piece of metal.
When the dust settled and the aura faded, Mato's eyes widened and his hands loosened, Etskarius dropping from his hands and clanging to the ground.
Azazel stood, unscathed, upon a newly formed cliff looking over the ravine formed from the sword.
"I will say that you've succeeded in making the largest ravine on the planet." The demon hissed. "But you've done nothing more than that."
Mato fell to his knees. He felt hopeless, his ultimate weapon not even managing to scratch his opponent. Just how strong was the demon standing before him?
Then a powerful, cold wind screamed through the valley, and as it did the entire landscape began to illuminate with a faint blue glow. Mato turned to look at Scillia as her talons were clasped together and her wings were spread wide. She was doing it, soon, her sealing magic would change the entire country, turning it into a land of ice and snow, barren and uninhabitable, and anything caught in her ice would be forever sealed no matter how powerful they were, never to be free again.
Ice began to form on the ground, slowly rising up and up, encasing Mato's legs and waist.
"What is this?" Azazel asked, trying to move his legs. "Sealing magic?"
"I may not have been able to kill you…" Mato said, "but we will seal you here. You will be trapped away by a no one, meaning that nobody will know how your story ended. No one will know where you went."
"This is where your legend ends!" Scillia spoke, "Forever encased in ice, a relic of the past never to return! You will be forgotten, or you will be remembered as the demon who abandoned his own kind!"
"I see…" Azazel hissed. Black aura lashed at the ice, but it didn't even make a dent. Mato bowed his head, letting the cold rush over his body. 'This is also where my story ends… I'm sorry I failed you… Lyra…"
And with that, the entire continent was froze over, encased in ice that would never melt. This is how Mato met his end, as well as how the Arctic was made.