Akuro and Azazel stood alone amongst the dust from the explosion. Everyone will there than them had simply disappeared. If their bodies had reformed by now, they were hidden within the dust.
"Heh. That should be enough." Azazel hissed. "We are running out of time."
"Time?" Akuro asked, turning to Azazel. "For what?"
"You will-" suddenly a figure shrouded in black aura appeared behind Azazel, grabbing the Demon God's jaw and wrenching it back. But it really had no affect other than just bending Azazel backwards slightly.
"Zealous. You really are just a disappointment, aren't you?" Azazel hissed.
Zealous leapt away from Azazel. "What do you want, Azazel? You've been gone for so long, and now you just show up out of nowhere?"
"What?" Azazel spoke, "does someone feel abandoned? Sorry, but I'm not your daddy."
"Damn you.." Zealous growled, then held his hands out, black aura beginning to churn around him in thick waves of shadow. Plate of black armor covered his whole body now, his Aura Cloak taking its solid shape. "Let me show you the result of all my training over all these years.."
Zealous raised his hand into the air. Black aura began to slowly flow out from him like mist, enshrouding his figure.
As the mist began to spread, Akuro suddenly flashed behind Zealous, spinning on his heel as his foot crashed-no-flew through Zealous, whose body simply vanished in black smoke.
"Oh?" Akuro spoke, as if surprised, though his expression and tone did not show it.
"Huh. You weren't kidding. I've never seen this truck before." Azazel hissed, seemingly intrigued.
"No," came Zealous's voice, as if from all angles, a distant echo, yet also directly in your ear. "You haven't."
Then something suddenly cracked against Azazel's head, knocking him aside.
"What..?" Azazel hissed venomously. He wasn't even able to sense anything, so how did he get hit?
Then something struck Azazel in his gut, causing him to lurch forward, then a shockwave emitted as he was struck in the head and crashed to the ground.
"How the hell.. are you doing this..?" Azazel growled.
Akuro stood still among the shadows. He closed his eyes and listened intently, extending his pressure to sense for any form of motion around him. But it was all just fuzz. Nothing, he could sense absolutely nothing.
Then the sound of his skull cracking in on itself echoed through the air like a thunderclap as something struck his face, slamming him to the ground violently.
Quickly, Akuro shot out a wave of aura, but for some reason it simply faded out instantly, joining into the mist.
"I see." Akuro said simply. "So that's what you are doing."
"So you figured it out?" Zealous asked. "Doesn't really matter. Not much you can do about it anyway."
"Zealous.." Akuro spoke. "You are weak."
"Tch! What? Where the hell did that come from?"
"You hide behind shadows and can't face me yourself. You are a coward. You have no real power. Even when you fought the Demon Lords, you had to hide behind Tetsuno. Didn't you?"
"How.. did you know that..?"
"This power of mine comes with many benefits." Akuro said. Then his eyes gleamed, the red shining through the black mist.
Then he disappeared.
From a safe distance, Zealous watched, as he lost track of Akuro completely. 'What..? Where did he..?' He could no longer sense Akuro, and the black smoke shrouded the entire battlefield, making it impossible to see.
"I'm using your own trick against you. You should know, Zealous.." came Akuro's voice, a distant echo. Then it came again, directly in Zealous's ear. "You aren't special."
Suddenly a blast wave sent the black mist exploding away from where Zealous was, leaving him wide open as the mist began to disappear completely. Akuro was directly behind him.
Zealous tried to jump away, but Akuro's fist grasped about one of Zealous's chains, then he was wrenched back and whipped into the earth, the ground shattering apart from the impact.
Akuro stepped over Zealous, placing a foot against his chest and applying pressure, the sound of Zealous's ribs cracking one by one could be heard clearly across the battlefield.
"You aren't unique. You aren't strong." Akuro spoke coldly, dead crimson eyes glaring down at Zealous with contempt. "You are absolutely worthless to anyone. Your greatest trick was absolutely nothing. All you did was make a field of vibrations that caused all aura to be turned to a mist, making it impossible to use abilities. But you forget, I can absorb that aura."
"Akuro.. please.. you were.. our king..I accepted you.. don't listen… to Azazel.." Zealous choked.
Akuro leaned down and, in a soft whisper, spoke, "I dont follow Azazel."
"Then.. why..?"
"Because.." Akuro leaned back. "It's what she wants."
"She.. who the hell is she..?"
The sound of Zealous's ribcage shattering inward came then as Akuro leaned into his foot.
"That's enough. You don't deserve to know. You are nothing, and you will be dead soon anyway."
"Akuro.."
"Akuro!! Stop! Please!!!" Came a cry. It was Kessana, desperately begging for Zealous's life. At the sight of her misery, as she lay helpless upon the ground, Akuro grinned.
Then he pulled up Zealous's chains. Black wisps of aura began to wind themselves about the chains like ivy. Zealous laid back his head. He knew he was helpless here. He turned his eyes to Kessana, his locking with hers as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Then cracks began to show upon his chains as Akuro absorbed his aura.
Zealous smiled sadly, then, as his chains began to break apart into nothing and his body began to fade, he spoke to simple words.
"I'm sorry."
And then, just like that, he was gone. As though he had never existed to begin with. He would be forgotten by all mortal beings, his existence would be wiped from the minds of every single being that was without large amounts of aura. He'd be wiped from existence.
"ZEALOUS!!"
•
•
•
Flames engulfed Sedori's entire body as he broke through the atmosphere. His skin began to burn away faster than he could heal as he careened down from the sky, falling down and down. He could barely make out New York, at least what was left of it, as he fell. He was headed straight for the water, and there was no way he'd be able to change his trajectory, he couldn't even move, his body being broken and healed repeatedly.
'Damnit..' he thought. 'I wanted to have an impressive entrance and save the day..' he laughed. 'I really fucked that up.'
He knew he wasn't going to die, but he didn't enjoy the pain that came with falling from the sky. He wondered what happened to the souls of the Origin Deities. He failed to protect them, and it seemed, he had also failed to protect the current Deities. The image of Akuro, cold and heartless, flashed through his mind at that moment.
'What could have caused such a drastic change…?' Sedori wondered. 'I cannot understand this.. it makes no sense.'
He sighed as he came closer and closer to the water below.
'Not that it really matters anymore.. I can't really do much to help right now.'
Then he crashed into the water, the surface erupting as he broke the surface and sank deeper and deeper into the darkness.
•
•
•
Emma slowly got to her feet. She was alive somehow. She was never aware that she was immortal, though, it seemed that she was, otherwise she would've been completely erased by the nuke. She would have been gone, but she wasn't. She was completely fine. But she didn't really care.
She stood to her feet and looked over at Akuro, who stood over the corpse of Zealous's fading body.
"ZEALOUS!!" Came a scream of anguish from Kessana.
An intense heat began to spread through the air. Tetsuno, who had managed to get to his knees, glared up at Akuro, the ground about him becoming magma.
Azazel slowly walked past Emma then, not paying her any mind, as he approached Tetsuno and crouched down so he was face to face with him.
"You always were my favorite, Tetsuno. You are strong." Azazel hissed. "I won't kill you, but if you don't calm down, I won't be left much a choice."
The flames only intensified, Tetsuno's rage growing.
Azazel sighed, then cracked the back of his hand across Tetsuno's face, knocking him to the ground.
"Alright. Let's go." Azazel hissed.
"What about that one?" Akuro asked blankly.
"You mean Gozzu?" Azazel looked over at the small limp demon. "Leave him. He could be fun later on. I think we'd get bored without him."
"Fine."
Azazel held out his hand, a vortex of black aura forming in the air. "Come along then."
Akuro began heading towards the vortex, and then Kessana's voice came.
"I swear.." she growled, shaking with rage as tears streamed down her face, "I will kill you!!"
Akuro didn't even glance at her. He paid her no mind, after all, why should he? She was below him.
"Take me with you." Emma spoke.
Azazel turned to the girl. Then laughed. "Are you certain? What has come over you to make you join us so suddenly?"
"I don't know." She said, staring at Akuro. "I just can't help it.."
Azazel looked back and forth between her and Akuro. "Fine then. You shall come with us, your powers may be useful."
"Thank you."
"Can we go?" Akuro asked, impatient.
"Yes, yes, go on."
Akuro stepped through the vortex, followed by Emma. Azazel turned to face the Archdemons and Onoma. He chuckled to himself. "It's been nice knowing you all, but when next we meet, I shall not be so kind as to let you all live. Goodbye, enjoy your last days."
And then he was gone. The battle was over. The pressure levels returned to normal, gravity becoming natural again and allowing the Archdemons to stand. But they didn't. They stayed still, defeated, and broken. The only one to stand was Tetsuno, who let out a hollow bellow of rage as flames erupted from the earth around him. But even he was defeated, as he fell to his knees in despair.
To be defeated.. it was such a bitter taste.
•
•
•
Darius pushed off the shields that covered his body. They felt much heavier than they should've. As he got to his feet, he found that every movement seemed slow and difficult, his body heavy and sore.
He'd almost forgot what it was like to be a mortal.
He looked across the battlefield, then saw Inari sitting up and looking down at her hands. He began to walk towards her, but everything he did was so damn slow, so painfully slow.
Inari looked up at Darius as he approached. Tears began to well in her eyes.
"Darius.. he's gone.. Akuro.. he's gone.." she said.
Darius avoided making eye contact with her. Instead he stared at his feet, but out of the corner of his eyes, he could see her. It was strange. Why was it that women were so beautiful when they cried? It made his heart hurt. She seemed so helpless.. but he knew she wasn't really. She was strong. Possibly stronger than him.. that's why seeing her cry was so painful.
He wished he could tell her that Akuro wasn't gone, that he'd come back.. but he couldn't bring himself to say that. He didn't know for himself whether that was true or not. When he thought of those cold eyes, he couldn't help but wonder.. was Akuro gone for good? It really seemed as though he was.
Darius walked closer to Inari, sitting beside her. She suddenly sprang at him, her arms draped about him as she clung to him and cried. He wondered if being mortal made their emotions even more intense. He wrapped his arms around her. He knew he felt something towards her.. but he also knew she loved Akuro. He knew she would never care for him the way she did Akuro, he was just a friend. Then he cursed himself. He was thinking of something like that at a moment like this? Why was he so selfish…?
As Inari cried into his chest, Darius bit his lip. The taste of blood, that irony taste, spilled into his mouth as he choked back tears. Then he realized with cold fear and helplessness..
His lip wasn't healing.