"Don't... fucking... say his name... ever again." Akuro growled. Then his eyes turned crimson red and his skin became rough, covered in black scales. Two large, black horns curled from his head and black wings extended from his back. Talons grew from his fingertips and every step he took cracked the ground below him.
"That's it..." Mato's voice echoed in Akuro's mind as his vision blurred red, "let your rage swallow you whole! Destroy everything!"
Akuro kept calmly walking towards Edo until he stood an arms length away from the demon. He then raised his hand, his thumb held over his middle finger.
"Give it up, Deity. Your fate has already be-"
Akuro flicked the demon in his chest, instantaneously shattering its armor and sending its body careening through the air, crashing through layers of stone and rubble.
"What... the hell?!" The demon roared in frustration and confusion as it began to rise back to its feet, but Akuro appeared above the demon, fist raised.
Edo held up his arms to cover himself, but as Akuro's fist crashed into the demon's arms there was a loud *SNAP* as the limbs were shattered completely, Akuro's fist going through the arms and crushing Edo's chest, a shockwave emitting from the impact as the ground below was indented, leaving a crater in the earth.
"Let it consume you, let that anger and pain consume you, let your wrath control you!" Mato's voice came once more as Akuro raised his other fist, black aura condensing into his arm.
"Damn you!" Edo roared, and then Akuro's fist came down like a hammer on the demon's head, the impact causing the earth to quake as a massive cavity was carved into the ground. Black aura enveloped Edo's body, pressing down on him and crushing his bones, then he let out a scream as his soul was forcefully crushed and shattered by Akuro.
•
•
•
Lilith froze, a cold shiver running through her body. She turned in the direction that Edo and Onoma had gone.
"Impossible..." she hissed.
"What?" Adeline asked.
"This aura... is that really that brat? It feels..."
"What is it?"
Lilith's eyes went wide, and then a black figure flashed into existence in front of her, a black scythe sweeping in a wide arc through the air. Lilith jumped back, her wings spreading as she flew into the air. A black wave of aura cut cleanly through the Statue of Liberty, severing the torch from the hand and the head from the neck, crashing to the ground below.
Adeline jumped away from the figure, landing on the statue's stump of a neck.
"So you really did it. You actually managed to became as strong as Azazel... Akuro." Lilith hissed.
Akuro raised both hands into the air, aura pooling into both of his palms.
Lilith waved her hand through the air, "Get away from him! Now!"
Adeline then jumped from the statue and down to the streets before running in the opposite direction, while Lilith flew higher and higher into the air.
Akuro clapped his hands together and a loud hum resonated through the entire city as the two points of black aura came into contact, sucking everything into them before bursting outward in a wave of darkness that expanded at a rapid pace.
From above, Lilith waved her hand downwards and a force of pressure collapsed against the wave of shadow, causing it to waver and become static.
•
•
•
Inari held her broken arm out towards Makane. Her body was mostly healed now and she wanted to get back to the others. She remembered Akuro turning his back on her, his trembling fists. She could feel the rage inside him, and she was scared that he'd lose control again.
Inari flexed her arm, moving it around. She thanked Makane and stood. She was about to run in the direction Akuro had gone before, but then a burst of wind struck her, knocking her to the ground. She looked in the direction that the shockwave came from, and her eyes went wide as her heart rose to her chest.
A globe of shadow had enveloped all of New York, swallowing the entire city. The globe then seemed to be crushe, pressed downwards towards the earth, causing it to collapse on itself before violently erupting. The earth shook, rattling Inari's bones as wisps of shadow shot up from the city and into the sky.
'There's no way...' Inari thought. 'There's no way that was Akuro just now...'
•
•
•
A massive crater spanning the whole of New York City was carved into the earth as a permanent scar on the land. It was as if ten nukes were dropped in one spot, destroying everything in their wake. Lilith hovered above the crater, breathing heavily. She couldn't believe what she had seen, the destruction the had been wrought across the land.
Akuro stood in the cavity, his eyes on Lilith. She clenched her jaw in frustration.
"I will not be bested by some pathetic Detiy! Die!" She screamed, waving her hand. A force of aura crashed into Akuro, splitting the ground, but the impact had no effect on him. Akuro didn't even flinch as he glared up at the demon above him.
"How...?" Lilith began, but then Akuro flashed out of sight, reappearing above her, a shockwave being sent through the air as his heel collided into her back. Lilith fell to the ground like a falling angel, her body shattering as she struck the earth.
Akuro alighted on in the crater a couple yards away from Lilith as she rose to her feet, her bones snapping back into place. He approached her slowly, step by step.
"What the hell are you... you are no Deity, this isn't the power of some slave!" Lilith screamed at Akuro, but he never gave her an answer, he just kept walking calmly towards her. "WHAT ARE YOU?!!"
In that moment as Lilith screamed, Akuro flew at her, his fist crashing into her stomach in an uppercut, the air exploding with a wave of pressure from her back due to the impact.
Akuro then spoke, his tone cold and grim as he echoed the words of Mato in his mind;
"I am death."