Zealous was pinned below Azazel's claws. He couldn't do anything. He knew now why the gods gave up the Fourth Kingdom. Azazel would've killed all of them if they didn't.
"Ethan Zealous." Azazel hissed, sending shivers through Zealous's spine. Azazel knew his name?
His grip tightened on Azazel's arm.
"If you are expecting your friend on the cliff to help you, he is dead. Sorry to inform you. But all your friends are dead."
Zealous dug his nails into Azazel's arm.
"Oh, dear me, is someone upset? It is too bad you are nothing but a worthless weakling."
Rage enveloped Zealous in that moment. His fingers wrapped about Azazel's arm and black aura enveloped his hands as he suddenly pulled the demon's arm from his throat and the wrenched him to the ground, jumping to his feet and crashing his foot on the Demon God's head, sending tremors through the earth. Waves of black aura began to coil up from Zealous's body.
Leshak suddenly jumped at Zealous, who simply swung his arm, backhanding the demon across the face, shattering its head apart while sending a shockwave through the battlefield, waves of aura consuming the monsters while obliterating Leshak's body.
"Astonishing.." Azazel hissed as his shadowy figure began to repair itself and he rose from the ground. "You are still a mortal, an aberrant maybe, but even aberrants don't have the capability to use aura.. they can't manifest it. They have it, but they cannot manifest it.. yet you.. how intriguing. Not only that.. but you have my Royal Mark.."
Zealous turned his eyes towards Azazel. "I don't give a damn what I have, you old relic!" Zealous roared. "I'm going to destroy you!"
Azazel did a little dance, shrinking and waving his hands as if he were shaking. "Oh, yes, me oh my, I'm so terrified, please don't hurt me" then the Demon God became cold as his aura shifted chaotically. "Kidding."
Spikes of black aura shot out from the earth. Zealous jumped into the air, just barely dodging them, but a moment later he felt the massive hammer crash into him from behind, throwing him down to the earth where he landed on one of the spikes, the black point running through his body.
Blood spilled from Zealous's mouth as he clawed at the spike. He watched as his own blood spilled out of him, pouring to the ground.
"It was a good try." Azazel spoke, clapping his talons together. The tall demon with the hammer came up behind Zealous, grabbing him by the head and lifting him into the air as the spike vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
Blood spilled from him seemingly without end. It poured like a river, flowing to the earth and coating the cold snow, sinking into it and painting it all a brilliant crimson.
"Let him go." Azazel ordered. The demon that held him opened its hand, Zealous's body dropping to the red snow below.
Zealous's breathing was hoarse. His throat hurt and he could only feel one thing; pain. It's all he knew in that moment, but, for some reason, it didn't bother him. It's like he became numb to it. Nothing could hurt him then. He was immune to it all.
Azazel leaned over Zealous.
"Really." The demon spoke, "I mean it. Good try. I can't wait to see what you will be capable of as a demon.."
Azazel's talon was placed against Zealous's forehead. A sense of cold, bitter pain rang through his body. And then he was gone.
His corpse lay in the snow, his blood dying the pale white a rose red. It was an almost beautiful death, a gaping hole in his chest being the bud of the flower as the blood was the sprouted petals.
The first Archdemon had been made.
•
•
•
The Harbinger of Death. It was a name that became fairly well known in Xinoll. In fact, it became so well known it caught the attention of the Demon Lords. Not that they cared, they simply took note of this demon's existence.
This demon, of course, was Zealous. He'd been going around Xinoll for a long a time now consuming the Soul Chains of countless demons.
"I.." Zealous would tell himself, "will kill Azazel. I will be the true king of Xinoll. I will be the one to bring down the tyrant." He firmly believed that, one day, he would be strong enough to fight Azazel. He'd use all of his power to defeat the Demon God, and he would come out on top. But for now he had to follow that bastard's orders like a slave. At least until he knew he was strong enough, he had to play along to the strings of the puppet master.
It was not long ago now that he had met Tetsuno and they had defeated the Demon Lords and became the first of the Archdemons.
Over the span of many years, more Archdemons were made, each of them having the same horrid stories of how they had died. By Azazel's hand, or that of some other demon. Soon enough, Zealous considered the Archdemons family, his closest allies. But he knew there were multiple of them who had complete loyalty towards Azazel.
Zealous was the only demon immune to Azazel's strange mind control power, but he had to play the part of a puppet and go along with it, otherwise he'd be killed instantly.
At some point in time, the decision of who the leader of the Archdemons should be came up. It was a tied vote between Zealous and Tetsuno, the two strongest of the Archdemons, other than Gozzu, but Gozzu was a strange character who didn't really associate himself to anyone.
And then the day finally came. The day Zealous and Tetsuno, the strongest of the Archdemons, would fight one another.
•
•
•
"Well," one of the Archdemons standing beside Kessana spoke, "who do you think will be victorious?"
The demon was Gallatine.
"My bets are all on Zealous." Kessana spoke.
"Of course they are." Gallatine responded, "you are too blinded by your infatuation with him to see that Tetsuno is clearly stronger."
"We'll see."
Zealous stood in the coliseum across from Tetsuno.
"I don't think we've ever actually fought, have we, Tetsuno?" Zealous called. The masked demon gave no response. "I see there is really no point in talking. So I guess we should just get into it."
Black aura began to wave around Zealous's body and then in that instant black daggers flew towards Tetsuno, who didn't even bother to dodge, his body twisting and bending awkwardly as they struck him. Then he hunched over, his head tilting with a crack as he looked up at Zealous, a hand raising to his mask.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot you can do that." Zealous said suddenly as Tetsuno lifted the mask, sending Zealous's attack back at him as he dashed with the daggers at Zealous.
Zealous stepped back and swung his hand diagonally, a wave of black aura launching at Tetsuno who spun on his heel around the attack while drawing his sword and making a full spin, swinging the massive blade in a wide arc. Zealous held up his hand and caught the sword, but it suddenly clicked and became a thin katana that slipped through Zealous's defenses.
Kneeling down, Zealous let the blade slip beneath his palm as it was thrust forward then he crashed the palm of his other hand against the underside of the weapon. A shockwave blasted outwards as Zealous exerted his aura and cracked Tetsuno's blade upwards, ripping the handle from the masked demon's hands before he lifted his foot and sent it forward like a piston crashing squarely into Tetsuno's chest and launching him back.
"Come on, don't give me your basic shit! Really fight me!" Zealous roared as Tetsuno's sword fell to the ground tip first.
Tetsuno turned towards Zealous, his body contorted. He held out his hand and a moment later the blade began to hum and then it folded out, exploding in a blaze of flames and spikes of obsidian. Zealous roared in pain and leapt back, throwing up his arms in reaction. As the flames only began to subside, Tetsuno rushed at Zealous, his fist crashing into his raised arms, shattering them and sending Zealous flying back. Tetsuno then grabbed his sword, which took the shape of a zweihander now.
Tetsuno dragged the tip of his blade across the ground as he moved towards Zealous who was now recovering from his wounds. Zealous's eyes flashed and then the aura density began to increase, causing the air to become tense and a black mist lingered in the arena. Eventually it built up to the point that Zealous and Tetsuno could no longer be seen.
*KOOM*
A shockwave rang through the coliseum. For a long moment there was simply silence, and then the mist began to clear. Everyone on the sidelines strained their eyes to try to see through the fog, and as it became more visible they could see a figure standing over another.
Zealous stood above Tetsuno, foot planted against the demon's mask.
Zealous was the victor.
"What??" Gallatine asked in shock. "There's no way.."
"Told you." Kessana said with a grin. "Don't underestimate him."
Zealous stepped away from Tetsuno slowly. In his other hand he held Tetsuno's sword. He held out a hand to the demon below him, who took it and let himself be helped up.
"I swear." Zealous turned to his allies, "I'm not in this for the selfish strive of power. I care about all of you," his eyes rested on Kessana for a moment. "You are my friends, my family, and as your leader I will do everything I can to protect you and lead you down the right path. I swear, I will not fail you."
Zealous turned to Tetsuno, placing a hand on his shoulder. "From the beginning, my only goal has been to protect you. All of you."
•
•
•
Zealous may have been a demon, but he still had the heart of a man. He may not have shown it often, but he cared for his comrades deeply, so much that he gave it everything he had, including his soul, to protect his family. He was viewed as a villain, but he played the role of the hero.
Zealous gave his all.. but a lesson that many will learn in life.. is that, sometimes, no matter how much you want something… not matter how hard you want it.. no matter what you do.. you can never reach that light at the end of the tunnel. For Zealous, his challenge was to defeat Azazel, but it was a hopeless dream, a lightless tunnel that he walked down blindly, leading to his death.
But we cannot say his life was taken in vain, as he had successfully saved the life of Gozzu, who is one of the only beings capable of even hoping to challenge Akuro.
In the end, it wouldn't be fitting to call Zealous a hero or a villain. It was more fitting to call him…
Human.