The sky began to darken as black clouds blotted out the sun, as though black ink had been spilled over a beautifully painted canvas.
"Yes.." Azazel hissed, laughing to himself in a soft hiss, "yes, my puppet, you shall be my greatest creation yet, you shall be the tool I use to end this reality.. and all others.." He raised his hand, his talons shifting like spider legs. "The last piece for my chess board...my Dread King.."
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Darius was pinned to the earth, his bones being crushed beneath the massive pressure that Akuro emitted.
'Damnit…' Darius growled as he sat there, frozen and helpless. 'Am I actually gonna die here…? How'd he get so strong so suddenly… it makes no sense..'
Akuro's fingers began to close, his hand forming a fist. Darius could feel his soul being crushed, as if it were a physical part of his body. He was gonna die..
He then felt something in his pocket. 'Or maybe I wont..' he may not have been able to move.. but…maybe if..
He grasped the dagger in his pocket. He preferred not to do this, but he didn't have much a choice. He began absorbing the aura of the cursed weapon, and as he did, it began to erode until it was nothing more than dust in his pocket. He felt the new aura rushing through his body. Now he had a new idea. He may not have been able to move, but he had an idea as to how he could.
Suddenly mirrors surrounded Darius from all sides. At first they were smooth and flat, but then they began to shift and change as they warped around Darius's body, until, eventually, he had a glimmering armor of mirrors that covered him from head to toe. Nothing could strike him now. Not even pressure affected him, he was immune to every thing. Then seven mirrors appeared behind him in the air. Any attack that struck him would go straight through and come out through one of the seven mirrors. He was invincible.
Akuro tilted his head slightly, finding it strange now that he could no longer directly affect Darius's soul.
"Akuro." Darius spoke. "I have no clue what your fucking issue is, but I'm gonna kick your ass until you snap out of it."
Then, two shimmering swords made from the same glass as the mirrors formed in either of Darius's hands.
Bending his knees in, Darius exploded forward, rushing at Akuro. He would swing the blades to and fro, but again, even though he knew where he was aiming, even though he knew he shouldn't be missing, for some reason every strike would miss without Akuro even having to move a finger.
Darius stepped back, confused. 'What the hell is this!?' He thought. 'Why the fuck can't I hit him?! It's almost like…' Darius froze, realization hitting him. 'No way… how would he have gotten a power like that..'
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Azazel grinned as he watched from a distance. "That boy is smart. Seems he has finally realized what's going on, and why he doesn't stand a chance." The Demon God turned his eyes to something moving in the distance. It was all of the Archdemons in a group, rushing towards the battle, Inari following them as they seemed to have picked her up along the way. "Heh. The girl with the omnis may prove to be annoying. Well then, looks like I will have to intervene."
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Inari dashed alongside Onoma, Emma and the other Archdemons. Apparently Emma could nullify auras, meaning she made it so they were not crushed beneath Akuro's insane pressure. Onoma had also reversed time on her, returning all her aura to her.
"Gozzu and I will be front line against him. If any of you leave Emma's nullification field you will undoubtably die." Zealous ordered.
"How could we even help then?" Asked the twins unanimously. "We can't use our abilities in this field.
"You can help by moving a part of yourself out and focusing your attacks on Akuro."
"Well.." Emma spoke, "I am pretty sure I can make it so you can use your powers. You won't even have to be In my field either."
Zealous looked over his shoulder to her. "How? Why didn't you say this sooner?"
"Because I just figured it out. If I give each of you a portion of my aura, it'll nullify outside forces but let you still use your powers."
Zealous stopped, as did the others. "Alright, go through us one by one and give us your ability."
Emma went from demon to demon. She was hesitant at first but eventually got over it and had no fear towards them. After blessing Inari and Onoma with her aura, Emma was panting and all she had left was Tetsuno. The scorched demon held out his hand to the girl. He was oddly gentle about it, like a prince reaching out a hand to a princess. Emma felt no fear towards Tetsuno whatsoever and she placed her hand in his, a slight glow emitting as she transferred her aura into him.
An instant later the air became lung piercingly cold. All the Archdemons froze, as if something took hold of them and paused time for them.
"Tetsuno." Zealous said softly. "You feel it too then?"
A hiss emitted from Tetsuno as he turned, all of the Archdemons following his gaze.
A shimmering mirror of glass formed in the air, and through it came a being shrouded in pure darkness, the only feature able to be seen being the pure white eyes.
"My demons…" the being hissed, bringing its body through the portal. "It's been a very long time.."
"Azazel…" Zealous growled.
"Look, I don't wanna hurt you. I created you to serve the new king, Akuro, the Dread King. But you can't be siding with these.. Deities. Just let me kill them and then do as your king commands. Fair?"
Suddenly the air grew hot. Zealous turned to Tetsuno, obsidian growing about the demon's body as his skin became superheated.
"Tetsuno!" Zealous roared, but it was too late.
Drawing his sword, flames exploding from it and his body, Tetsuno dashed at Azazel at full speed, leaving a trail of flames behind him. Crashing into Azazel, the Demon God clasped Tetsuno's weapon in his talons, holding it in place as scarlet flames danced agains the shadows and the ground became molten rock.
"Ah, Tetsuno. I always liked you, you should stay loyal. I'd feel absolutely horrid if I killed you."
Then crimson flames exploded from Tetsuno, rage enveloping him. The blade began to change form, becoming a katana.
"Ah! Will we replay our first meeting then?" Azazel laughed, and what came after was an intense battle, the fiery blade clashing against Azazel's talons again and again at an impossible speed, flames and aura exploding in shockwaves as the two dashed about clashing again and again, the sound of the obsidian katana clashing against the Demon God's talons ringing through the air.
Then, Tetsuno stopped, crashing his foot into the earth and sending fissures through the land, lava exploding into the air as he pulled up his mask and threw back his head. A tremendous roar exploded from the demon's jaws, flames flying through the air. Zealous and Xell, all of the Archdemons, stood awestruck, unaware that Tetsuno could even make such a sound.
"HAHA!!" Azazel laughed, "IS SOMEONE MAD?"
Tetsuno hunched forward, the sword in his hand growing and growing and growing until it became a massive twelve foot long blade, flames coiled around it like a fire dragon. Smoke and flickering scarlet trailed from Tetsuno's mouth as he raised the blade into the air, and then, as he lowered the weapon, it gained speed and crashed directly on top of Azazel, who caught it between two talons. The Demon God's legs buckled and flames engulfed the entirety of the surrounding area as the earth erupted in volcanic bursts of flame and magma while a massive split was forged into the land and flames flew into the sky, casting scarlet over the black clouds.
A shockwave exploded from the strike, sending massive chunks of rubble trough the air. A moment later Xell appeared in the air above the massive blade, bow drawn as an immense amount of aura gathered into his bow before he released a missile sized arrow down on the weapon, adding increased force to the attack as Azazel was hammered deeper into the earth.
Azazel stayed beneath the sword, sinking further and further as the ground was melted into magma and a ravine was carved into the land from the blast and the intense heat, plus the impact of Xell's attack. Azazel's legs were bent as he pushed his back against the blade's edge. Then Zealous flashed into sight, dashing at Azazel, his Aura Cloak enshrouds got him as a blade of black aura was thrust towards the pinned Azazel.
"Ha…" Azazel hissed. "Not the play."
Suddenly Azazel hefted the blade up and stepped aside before a wave of black aura engulfed the blade and wrenched it down with all the force of a hundred gods, directly on top of Zealous. The earth split open and shattered apart as through a massive nuke erupted from beneath, immense splits forming across the earth while streams of magma exploded into the air.
For a moment, they thought, that the attack had pulled through and Azazel had been crushed. Nobody had seen that Azazel had turned the attack on Zealous, the flames blocking that from vision. But as they could see a faint figure making it's way through the dancing flames, they knew, as the white eyes glared at them through the waves of scarlet, that the attack had failed.
"Impressive. You three have surely grown." Azazel glanced back at Zealous. "Maybe not so much him but, you know."
A massive figure appeared above Azazel then; it was Mettrag, attacki from above and attempting to smash Azazel.
"Oh come now," Azazel hissed. "You should know better by now." A wave of aura crashed into Mettrag, sending the obese demon crashing to the earth, which created a massive crater as well as a shockwave through the earth.
"I'm far stronger than you can even fathom." Azazel hissed.
Suddenly the Demon God stopped, then turned his eyes directly at Kessana. "Oh, dear. You really thought your sensory blind would work on me? Come now, Kessana."
A spike of black aura shot from the ground, skewering Kessana before she could dodge away. The aura seemed to paralyze her, holding her in place.
"Listen, all I want-"
Azazel swiftly leaned aside as Tetsuno's katana flashed by his head.
"Let me…" Azazel growled, "TALK!" Black talons grasped Tetsuno's throat and slammed him to the ground, instantly creating a crater and sending deep splits through the earth as Tetsuno's body was embedded into the rock. Azazel then raised his foot, and the brought it down on Tetsuno. When he did, a massive shockwave of black aura blasted outward as the land was being completely obliterated from the blast, and in the confusion, Azazel's figure dashed about, at an impossible speed, as he went from demon to demon, hitting them, striking them with aura, pinning them or obliterating everything near them.
Then he appeared face to face with Emma.