Raijin sat atop the edge of a winding cliff path that led down to Xinoll, which was little more than rubble now. He decided to wait for his prey, his trap being set.
"That little brat..." he growled to himself, "I should've shattered his soul the moment he decided to become death. Now I have to clean up his mess." He held his spear in both hands, caressing one of its blades. He grinned. "Nothing can survive a strike from this weapon. On this day, Akuro, you will meet your end."
Nizzra thrashed her heads about in a crazed rampage of lightning and destruction, leaving nothing in her path. No building was left standing and the demons ran about in chaos like an angry anthill, being crushed underfoot by the massive hydra.
"He will be here soon..."
Just then a wave of shadow burst through the air, decapitating all four of Nizzra's heads at once, the hydra's body falling to the ground, electricity arcing around its body.
•
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•
*a few minutes earlier*
The ground shook, taking Akuro by surprise. At first he looked to the Archdemons, expecting one of them to be attacking, but they all seemed confused as well.
"What's going on? What was that?" He asked.
"It seems there is ans intruders." Gozzu said. "In Xinoll."
"Xinoll?" Akuro asked.
"The demon city." Zealous said. "It would seem the gods beat you to the punch, they've made the first move."
"So they've come here?" Akuro said, "I have a good feeling I know who it is. Take me there immediately."
"Yeps, as yous commands." Gozzu said, exiting the coliseum.
"Do you want us to assist you?" Xell asked.
"No, this one is mine." Akuro answered.
"Good, so I can take a nap then." Xell said, blowing out a puff of smoke.
As Akuro passed Inari and Onoma, he stopped beside her. He never made eye contact with her, but when he spoke, his voice was cold and emotionless.
"Did you fine Darius's body?"
"Body? Wait... Darius..?" Inari asked, her eyes going wide.
"I see... so you didn't." Akuro said, then continued to follow Gozzu down the dark halls.
"Should we follow him?" Onoma asked, but Inari didn't care. She couldn't accept the fact that Darius was dead. But then, why did Akuro act so weird about it? She never found a body... so how did Darius die?
"Inari." Onoma said, his hand on her shoulder now as he shook her. "You good?"
"I-I'm fine. Let's go." She said, glancing at the demons around them that were giving her and Onoma hateful looks. "We aren't welcome here."
•
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•
Gozzu led Akuro some ways down the cold, empty tunnels of hell. The caves shook every now and again, dust tumbling down from the ceiling as if there were an earthquake.
Eventually, Gozzu stopped, an opening leading to an immense cavern. You'd think the first thing Akuro's eyes would go to would be the hydra, but no, his eyes locked immediately onto Raijin, who sat on a cliff on the far side of the cavern. Akuro's hunch was right, Raijin was behind the attack.
'Oh well,' he thought, 'I'd have to kill him eventually anyway, him coming to me makes my job much easier.'
As Akuro materialized the God Slayer, Gozzu spoke, saying "Be carefuls. That hydras a legendaries beasts. It's names is Nizzra, is very powerfuls."
Akuro glanced at the small Archdemon, then sighed. He stepped out of the tunnel and onto a large cliff overlooking the entire demon city.
"I'm not worried." He said, swinging the black scythe through the air, wind whipping at his clothes as a massive wave of black aura was sent at the hydra, cleaving all four of its heads at once.
He then snapped his fingers, his physical form fading in black wisps as he reappeared standing a few feet away from Raijin.
"Impressive, you've gotten stronger." The Thunder god said, "But removing its heads will not kill it. Do you not know the lord behind hydras, hmm?"
"Who said that blow was meant to kill it?" Akuro spoke.
"I see, then what was the point of attacking it at all? It's simply a waste of aura, is it not?"
"My aura reserves won't drain from one weak attack."
"Weak?" Raijin laughed. "I see, so you have grown indeed, but..."
A roar resounded across the chasm as the hydra's heads began to regrow, bolts of lightning zipping around its body. All four heads then turned to face Akuro and Raijin, electricity sparking from their mouths as they reared their heads back. Nizzra's chest emitted a gold light as lightning burst from its jaws, rushing towards Akuro, who simply stood, staring at the hydra. A wall of shadow suddenly rose in the air before Akuro, the lightning crashing into it violently before the wall folded in on itself, swallowing the hydra's energy, creating a massive ball of black and gold aura that was sent flying back at the beast, crashing into its body and melting away its scales.
"Ohoh." Raijin said, "Well done, but Nizzra is immortal, otherwise it wouldn't be much of a legendary beast." As he said this, the hydra's body began to heal over, gold glistening scales reappearing across its body.
"Immortal, huh, why didn't you say so, that makes this easy." Akuro's said, snapping his fingers. The hydra's movements stopped, and a moment later it's body began to fade away in a cloud of golden aura that eventually dispersed throughout the city.
"I see, so you've learned to manipulate the souls of others... and even shatter them." Raijin observed. "I should've killed you a long time ago."
"Maybe." Akuro agreed, "You actually stood a chance of killing me back then."