Akuro glanced at the unconscious bodies of Inari and Darius. With Sedori gone, nothing proposed a threat to him any longer. He turned his attention to where the battle with Azazel and the Archdemons was taking place. It seemed Azazel was in a tight spot.
Akuro leapt up into the air, flying towards the battle. The sooner he helped Azazel, the sooner her wrapped this up, meant the sooner he was able to meet his goal..
•
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•
Dust clouded the battlefield in thick layers as rubble crashed to the ground. The sound of shifting and cracking rock was the only thing to be heard. Every one of the Archdemons looked on in awe, as did Emma and Onoma, as the dust settled.
Gozzu stood over a shroud of shadows, misshapen and crushed completely into the ground. Motionless.
"Is.. that it..?" The twins asked.
No one dared speak. Nobody dared answer her question out of fear that the slightest sound could wake Azazel.
Gozzu stepped back from Azazel's motionless body. Aura could be seen as it was absorbed into Gozzu's marking in streams.
"I believes.." Gozzu spoke, his voice a deep, stony rumble, "it has been done."
"How did you..?" Zealous asked in awe, but he couldn't even finish his question, too awestruck to speak.
"I used his own auras against hims ." Gozzu growled. "I also has the abilities to poisons auras. I cans mixes my auras with others auras and it cans cause their souls to shatters."
"Wait.. are you saying to actually killed Azazel..? He's gone? For good?" Xell asked, getting to his feet as dust fell around him.
"I am not sure.." Gozzu spoke, talking normally for once. "The gods attempted to shatters his souls long ago, but failed.. not even sure if his souls is shatterables."
"Hah.." came a cackle from Azazel's corpse. "You'd be right about that.."
The body suddenly began to crack and twist unnaturally as it rose from the ground, pearl white eyes locked on Gozzu.
Gozzu let out a snarl and the aura about his body flared and churned about, but then another figure suddenly appeared, their hand crashing into Gozzu's face and slamming him backward, his back snapping as he was slammed to the earth.
Everyone stood in silence as they stared in awe at the newcomer.
The first to speak, breaking the cold silence, was Emma.
"...Akuro..?"
The figure stood, turning his cold eyes onto Emma. Sure enough, it was Akuro. But he was changed. He was colder. Emotionless. His face was that of a delicate doll, or a sculpture of perfection. A cold beauty, dark and charming, but also threatening. The air seemed to vibrate around him. Emma found herself entranced by Akuro's cold beauty, it was intoxicating, and she found that she could not look away, she could not break away from his cold red eyes, so hollowed out and empty, yet gorgeous. She was drawn into those cold crimson eyes.. why was she so drawn to him.. she could feel that she was losing herself in him.. she was drowning within his infinite darkness..
"Akuro." Zealous growled. "So you really did go berserk." Zealous was now fully healed from the attack early, when he was crushed beneath Tetsuno's sword. "That's too bad.."
"How do we snap him out of it..?" Onoma asked.
"You don't..." Emma spoke suddenly, her voice low and monotone.
"What..?" Onoma and the Archdemons turned to her.
"He is perfect.. he is your king.. now bow.."
Suddenly Emma's blessing vanished from them and everyone other than Zealous and Gozzu collapsed to the earth, crushed beneath the combined pressure of Azazel and Akuro.
"Emma... what.. why?" Onoma asked, confused.
Emma never gave an answer, she simply stood, completely still, and stared at Akuro.
"Interesting.." came Azazel's hiss, his warped figure appearing before Emma. She didn't even seem to notice, her eyes never moved, not even when Azazel was face to face with her. "You seem drawn to my dear apprentice.. and there is something.." a talon rose to her cheek. "Special about you.."
Azazel turned to Akuro. "We are taking her. She will be useful to us, her power is unique."
"I do not care." Akuro growled.
Then a shudder ran through the earth.
Akuro and Azazel both turned to see behind them.
There stood Gozzu.
He was now a massive beast, towering over all the others, at least twenty feet tall. Markings were engraved all across his body while stone spikes jutted up from his skin and his wings spread wide. At the center of each wing was a spherical orb of black aura, swirling violently as it condensed like a black hole. Aura could be seen being sucked into Gozzu's markings, absorbed as he grew larger and more powerful.
The ground about Gozzu's feet shattered and the air around him began to warp. His snout grew longer, his fangs becoming sharper and larger.
"Well." Azazel growled. "That is also interesting."
•
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•
"SIR!!" Came the voice of one of the soldiers. "New York is completely gone. We can't contact them, and when we sent a drone.."
"What? Gone? What did you see?" The general asked, both shocked and confused.
"You.. you need to see for yourself."
General Hammeron considered himself a very logical and intelligent man. He was tactful and he knew real from fake. He didn't believe in the idea of god or fate, he only beloved in proven facts, as well as power. So what he saw when he entered the screen room.. it sent chills through his spine and froze him in place.
Unnatural beings dashed about at impossible speeds, fighting and destroying the landscape with immeasurable force. It seemed like something straight out of a movie.. he couldn't believe what was being shown.
"Is.. is this some sort of prank?" He growled. His voice was hoarse. "This is fake! Are you really telling me some... super beings straight out of Marvel or DC destroyed New York?! Are you on drugs, boy?!"
"No, sir! This is real!" The soldier responded firmly. "It's directly from the drone footage."
Hammeron stared at the screen for a long moment. Then spoke something softly.
"What..?"
"Send in troops! I want you to bomb the fuck out of all of New York, focus most of your attention in those.. things!"
"Yes sir!"
"Contact the president! I want to get the order for a nuke through!"
•
•
•
Gozzu spread his wings out as wide as possible, blotting out the sky as aura gathered about him. He opened his jaws wide, aura condensing into his mouth.
"Stop him." Azazel ordered.
Akuro suddenly leapt at Gozzu, his knee slamming into the massive Gargoyle's lower jaw and slamming his mouth closed, the ball of aura exploding in his mouth as it blew off his head. Gozzu stumbled back, the sound of grinding stone emitting from him as his head reformed itself.
"Enough." Akuro growled, waving his hand. Suddenly all the aura vanished from Gozzu, absorbed instantaneously into Akuro. Gozzu's body froze, cracks streaking across his skin before he shattered and crumbled to the ground, back to his original form.
"The power to warp reality is quite a powerful one." Azazel hissed, pleased. "We should probably kill him. He could prove a problem, after all, he is the first to be able to actually fight me. To a degree." Azazel grasped at his chest. "He was also one of few to be able to truly wound me."
Akuro held out his hand to Gozzu. No one was able to do anything, they were all pinned and powerless. But then Zealous appeared before Akuro, standing between him and Gozzu's small figure.
"Enough." Zealous said. "Wake up already. You are supposed to be our king, not a tyrant to be manipulated by Azazel."
Akuro stared blankly at Zealous.
"Remember? Nobody stands in your way. You get what you want when you want. So why are you letting Azazel control you? He's in your way. Is he not? So wake up. Be our king. Akuro. The Omnipotent Death."
"It's pointless, Zealous. He's at peace." Azazel hissed. "You will never wake him from his slumber."
Aura began to coil about Akuro's arm, but just as it did, the faint sound of the spinning blades of helicopters could be heard, accompanied by the sound of fighter jets.
"Mortals?" Zealous asked.
"These weaklings honestly believe they could possibly interfere here?" Azazel laughed. "How amusing."
The sound of bullets being shot off echoed through the air as the helicopters shot at them. Then the thunderous sound of high caliber cannons shooting off followed. Bullets cracked against the earth and bounced off of Akuro and Azazel, as well as the other Archdemons. The bullets never even made contact, they simply were crushed against the aura waves before falling to ground worthlessly.
"This is just sad." Azazel hissed.
Four jets thundered by overhead then, light flickering as missiles were launched from their wings.
"Oh come on!" Azazel growled as the missiles exploded against him, having little to no affect, "do you really just see literal demons and gods destroying the entire landscape and fighting with unnatural powers, and think 'oh yeah, we strong, shoot missiles'. Fucking mortals I swear."
Azazel waved his hand, and in an instant every single aircraft in the sky blew up, lighting the sky with firelight like fireworks.
As metal plates fell to the earth in balls of fire, Akuro returned his attention to Zealous.
"Move. Or you will die." He said coldly.
"I refuse to move." Zealous growled.
Black aura began to gather into Akuro's hand, but Zealous dashed forward, hitting Akuro's hand aside while cracking his elbow into his nose. Akuro stumbled back for a moment, caught off guard. Zealous then formed a blade of black aura in his hand and thrust it forward into Akuro's ribs, but Akuro caught Zealous's wrist, then a shockwave ran up his arm, shattering his bones to dust before he was sent through the air, collapsing to the ground a ways off.
Then the sound of a jet in the sky could be heard.
"Again? Did I miss one?" Azazel growled.
"That's not a jet." Onoma said, his eyes widening. "Oh fuck.. that's a fucking nuke!"
Akuro looked up at the missile in the sky. He then held his hand out to it. A black stream of aura wrapped about the missile, then, in a burst of speed, the nuke was slammed down on the earth, directly on top of Gozzu.
A bright flash emitted, blinding them, as the explosion began to expand outwards, obliterating everything to dust, except for Azazel or Akuro. The nuke had absolutely zero affect on them.