Nightmare or not, the sin of Wrath was looming over them, the growl it made reverberating all over, shaking the bones in their bodies. Martha took a deep breath, fear in her eyes. She could see the same thing in Kyler's, although he hid it behind his wry smile. As for Jhin...well...
As of now, all communications between Prime Diego and them had been cut off, which meant they were on their own. Deep down, Martha was regretting her choice. Maybe they should have called for backup. The shield was unlikely to come to their aid, but anyone would do. Prime Klaus, Damien, even Prime Kael would do.
"Any bright ideas? Jhin asked, breaking the silence, "We've waited long enough."
"Wish we could wait a bit more." Kyler replied.
"I can tell something's changed. Plus the giant footsteps is a dead giveaway, but we can't be sitting ducks here until our inevitable death."
"I know, but we need to focus on getting as far away as possible."
"So...are you asking as to retreat or run away."
Retreat or Run away. A memory reemerged in Martha's mind, playing out like a tape. She had not been at the trial of her father but she remembered sitting in her brother's lap, while watching the trial on tv, tears streaming down her eyes. She remembered all the awful things they had said about him. When he had tried to defend himself, she remembered the cold words of the man that was then the head of the Lionharte family.
Did you retreat or did you run away.
It was a perfect trap. She came to understand it years later, right now as she stood here. If he retreated, then that had meant that he had planned to use the necromancy technique and if he had run away, then it meant that he had left all the people in the White city to die. Either way, the blame was still going to be put on him.
Martha struck the ground with her claymore.
"Screw that!" Martha said, "We're charging head on!"
"What?!" Jhin exclaimed, "I'm not hearing right, right?"
"You heard me damn right, Jhin," Martha exclaimed, "We're taking this daemon down right here, right now."
"What's the plan, cupcake." Kyler said, standing up.
"Jhin, I need a big distraction. As big as you can make it that will also alert the others. Kyler, attack the parts with the smaller daemon. I'm going for the eye."
Donna was almost at her limit. As was Diego. The site of the White City walking towards them was enough to send shivers down their spine. Kai and Valerie were powerless before it. Besides, the smaller daemons had resumed their kamikaze as they tried to escape.
Diego leaned against a car, sighing as he took out a cigarette. He'd quit smoking a long time ago. Guess today seemed like a good day to have a last puff. He smoked some and handed the rest to Donna, but she swatted it away.
"I don't plan on dying today." Donna said.
"Glad some of us are optimistic." Diego replied.
"Some of us have a life outside the inquisition, Diego. We have more things to lose when we die than ever before,"
"That's kinda nice I suppose." Diego said, "Some of us have never had that life."
"Diego..."
"What else do you expect from me, Donna? I was born in a burning fire. Got shot at when I was sixteen. Youngest doctor to ever graduate only to be thrown into a war that neither side knew what it was about. I've lost so many friends both in and out of the inquisition, and don't get me started on the what happened a few weeks ago with that damned half breed incident. I'm so damn tired."
"So was I." Donna said calmly, taking the cigarette and throwing it away. "I remember that day. The second daemon incident. I was so done with living. I remember lying in the hospital bed, with so many broken glass around me, ready to kill myself. But you stopped me. You watched me from dusk to dawn, just so that I wouldn't commit suicide." Donna sighed. "And I remember what you told me. Die for the cause and not because of it."
Diego looked at her and groaned. "Dammit, why did you have to remember?"
"I am one of the world's best actors, Diego. Memorization is my specialty."
A loud bang caught their attention, their eyes slowly turning to face the direction of the White City. Fireworks of many colors and designs popped up in front of the daemon, distracting it as it try to find the cause of it.
"That's Jhin!" Kai exclaimed, "They're still alive."
"KANON!" Diego cried "How much licht energy can you fire."
"Barely enough."
"Aim for the head and make sure it hits. Kai, Donna, cover her. Valerie, I need your buff."
"When?"
"Now."
Karma. A rei that allowed Diego to manipulate the balance of Karma. For every action, there was an opposite an equal action, What goes around comes around, you reap what you sow. It had many meanings, but a abstract one was in regards to cause and effect. But Diego didn't know about that yet. All he knew was that good things should be rewarded and bad things should be punished. The circle that had appeared on Donna's back was an indicator of whom the rule was applying to. And the daemon had been attacking her non-stop the entire time it had been active. Of course, it had its own toll on both the favored target and the caster, but that wasn't important.
The White city began to bleed all of a sudden right before their eyes. Diego smiled as he felt to the ground unconscious. Charging up all the licht energy she could gather, she fired a large blast at the daemon, disintegrating the daemon's face clean off.
The daemon stumbled backwards as it reached for its face, shocked that it was gone. But it was only the beginning of its ordeals. All over its body, deep cuts began to open up, destroying most of its smaller daemon in the process. It eyes darted about, looking for its targets until it settled on one.
The first day she injured her leg, she was nine. She won her first prize at the age of 10. Her brother bought her first ever necklace. She was playing with Elizabeth Lionharte and they both fell down a cliff and the two laughed about it despite their bruised legs. She fell in love and it got shattered in a matter of minutes. She watched her mother breath her last breath when she was 17. Her father was dragged before her eyes in chains. They accused him of being a murderer and lied to her. Her brother and she were forced to fight daemon when they had never even held a stone to her a fly. Her brother was killed before he could even get to the Inquisition. She made new friends only to watch them die. Barry died and she was too powerless to save him. She fell in love again with a murderer and got promoted to aide. Rebecca was turned into a monster and she let a boy no older than 18 be the one to take her life. She found out that her father was innocent this entire time and that all the pain she had felt was just out of spite for her family
All this pain, all this sorrow, all turning to flames as she swung her blade with full force from below
"Licht flamme." Martha cried. "AMBIVALENCE!!"
The blade of fire landed right on the daemon's eye. The flames then seeped into its wound, coursing throughout its body and burning it from the inside out as it melted to the ground. Martha sat back down on the ground, exhausted. They had won.
"MARTHA!!" Kyler cried "MOVE!"
Martha moved just in time for the yellow ball of energy to almost hit her. She watched as it flew into the forest, causing an explosion.
It wasn't a stray blast. It was a daemon core. Instinctively, Martha grabbed her blade and rushed into the forest.
"Martha wait!" Kyler cried after her. He run towards her direction only for a daemon beside him to explode. Kyler dodged just in time, spinning round to see several of such daemon around him.
"Damn it!"
The forest was dark and cold, only the light from her flames and the daemon's core shone. Martha had reached the landing sight, the small crater being an indication. The daemon core was no more, reforming into a full body. It looked more humanoid, especially its face, with short black hair and the usual black eyes with white pupils. Its mouth however literally left much to be desired, especially with all the teeth. Its arms and legs were also animal like, especially with the long claws for fingers and the hind legs.
[Your flame] It said hoarsely [It has a good wrath behind it]
"Shut up and die," Martha said coldly, "Daemon."