While I struggled to stand up, it felt as if there were some other force holding me up. As I looked down, I noticed Mirage's mask had grown all over my body. I lay shrouded beneath a grotesque sheath of obsidian foam, an armor woven from the very essence of darkness.
The black foam clung to the contours of my body, pulsating with an unholy vitality. Sinuous tendrils, akin to serpentine veins, crept across the surface, securing the eerie carapace in place. The armor exuded an otherworldly luster, reflecting a spectral glow that seemed to dance with the shadows.
'This,' I looked down at my hands. 'I see. It's trying to be another Aeonis to me, a part of my soul. I shall allow it.'
Although I couldn't see my actual body, I felt my back revitalized, the snapped bone resting within my body. 'It isn't enough, though.' I cursed, pinching the armor that felt as if it were my own skin. 'I can still hardly stand.'
"D-Do you all see this?!" Michael pathetically yelled out, "He has turned into the Devil! We must end him!"
"Devil!" They cried out. Those who had weapons on them quickly pointed their ire at me, waiting for Michael's command. "My angels…Charge!!!"
"Oh well. Wouldn't be the first time I was outnumbered." I raised my left hand, thrusting it into my stomach. 'Guess I'll take a stroll down memory road.'
Emerged from within, my hand revealed a double-edged spear, its mantle shrouded in black and the blades gleaming with a resplendent golden hue.
Stomping my foot on the ground, I slightly crouched and looked at the tens of thousands of angels in front of me, "Michael! I'm coming for you!"
My voice echoed throughout Heaven, a chilling symphony that sent shivers down the spine of those charging me. A manifestation of the darkness itself. The words, spoken in a tone both seductive and threatening, wove a tapestry of dread.
But angels would never stop charging from a yell. After all, we were created with the intent of war.
Leaping into the closest angel, I executed a swift spin, separating his head from his body. The next adversary, attempting a war cry, fell silent as my blade slid through his throat, even impaling the person behind him. Expanding my spear tenfold, an ominous aura emanated from the weapon. Spinning once more, I effortlessly eliminated another couple hundred, crimson staining the crystal floor of Heaven like an artist's frenzied strokes.
Glancing up, multiple angels floated above the fight, aiming with bow and arrows capable of breaking through Heaven down to the mortals' land. 'As always,' I thought, thrusting my spear forward as soot-black flames emerged, 'archers remain annoying.'
In order to create some space, I jumped tens of feet in the air, "Aeonis, your form is my will!" Retaining its jet-black color, my weapon turned into a bow, and to suit my needs, Mirage's mask created quills onto my back. Upside-down, I knocked four arrows and aimed at the hundreds of flying angels.
"Fire at will!" An angel commanded.
My face, the sole recognizable feature, contorted into a cocky smile. Summoning all my strength, I yanked the bowstring to my chest and unleashed the four arrows, an immense gust of wind propelling me farther away.
All four arrows found their mark, exploding upon impact, and black flames engulfed the angels in the air. The echoes of despair filled the air as the celestial beings burnt to a crisp, leaving nothing but ash in their wake.
"HA!" I laughed maniacally. "Did you all forget who I am?" Shooting a few more arrows at the ground, I then collapsed onto it. Rising swiftly, I ran through the flames, transforming Aeonis back into a spear. I hurled it in a straight line, claiming more lives before it returned to me, like a deadly boomerang.
"I am Uriel! First creation of God!" Declaring my identity, I drove Aeonis into the crystal-like ground, twisting it. A circle of flames erupted, engulfing many of the angels, still numbering well above three thousand.
An angel lunged from behind, attempting to stab me. Yet, Mirage's mask extended from my body, snaking like a vine to seize the assailant's wrists. With a sinister smile, I taunted, "gotcha!" Panic seized the angel, causing him to drop his weapon and spin around in a desperate attempt to flee, only to meet his demise as my spear caved in his skull from behind.
'This feeling!' I huffed, saliva slipping from the corners of my mouth, 'Mirage's mask…it's hungry for more blood.'
I wiped the saliva from my mouth, "Haa, I need more of you dead!"
"Aeonis," I chuckled, "your form is my will."
In my clasp, the lower half of the spear underwent a haunting transformation as Mirage's vine-like tendrils meticulously wound around it, birthing a formidable mace adorned with multiple spikes. Allowing for this eerie metamorphosis, Mirage's mask fully embraced my face, leaving only three minuscule circles for my eyes and mouth, creating an unsettling visage.
"We cannot let this Devil live! Everyone, use everything you've got!" An audacious yet valiant angel charged at me, the others swiftly following. Lifting my mace above my head, I drew a deep breath and delivered a forceful blow to the fool's head. His brains splattered, momentarily blinding those nearest to him. I swung the mace horizontally, sending multiple angels flying.
'Mirage's mask, it has stored both arcane and aura. Let's see just how much.'
Driving the mace into the ground, spiky crystallized mountains impaled angels, lifting some high into the air. "Not enough." I caused Aeonis to momentarily vanish, hovering my palms over each other. A purple aura emanated from the mountains, exerting a gravitational pull so intense that the angels struggled to descend. "MORE!"
Straining, I threw my hands into the air, and the mountains broke from the ground, soaring even higher into the sky. "Now die!" The mountains converged at top speeds, crashing into each other.
Preparing for the large chunks of rubble, I summoned Aeonis into an umbrella. "O-Oh, please no!" An angel pleaded.
"Liege, please save us!"
"He won't save you." I assured him, rubble falling onto my impenetrable umbrella.
Tears strolled down his eyes, his right wing damaged. Probably from the rubble. Stumbling, he walked towards me. "Please, please save me-" A large piece of one of the mountains interrupted us, crushing his entire body in an instant.
Like idiots, even in this catastrophe, some angels charged at me, Though, I sliced them with the umbrella before any of them reached me.
The passing minutes left a morbid tableau, a tall mound of bodies surrounding me. The rain of rubble subsided, replaced by the chilling symphony of groans and harrowing angelic screams. "Now then," I directed Aeonis downward, a regal great sword materializing and gracefully sheathed on my back. "Where is Michael?"
My legs were on the brink of giving out but, "I can't show weakness right now. Not against him."
Walking past the dead and the unfortunate, I searched for my last act of living.
Each step I took carried an increasing burden, my head pulsating with pain, and my vision succumbing to a disorienting blur.
And that of course meant all my senses were worsening.
"!" A frantic twist of my body aimed for Aeonis, the elusive weapon slipping from my grasp. A warm, intrusive feeling enveloped my chest, propelling me several feet. "Tch!" I bit my lip, rising with blood oozing from my chest and back, a stark reminder of the battle's toll.
"Who knew you could still do something so absurd like this?!"
'Michael.'
"And you," I pointed my greatsword at him, "you saw this and thought to attack me?"
Michael popped his wings out and pointed the weapon he stabbed me with.
"A regular sword?" I said out loud, confused as to how such a thing could pierce me.
Michael's lips curled, flapping his wings for a height advantage, "sure, let's go with that." He professed.
Pressing a hand onto my blade, I opened my mask to reveal my face, fire intertwining with the blade. "It's time I rid myself of y-" I groaned, grabbing my wound, a peculiar green liquid inside it as I flicked it off my fingers. "To resort to such a tactic. A coward through and through."
"You know what?" I scoffed, holding my weapon in the air, Michael's face turned aghast, "W-What're you doing, Uriel!"
"This part of Heaven is your dominion, something that is never-ending." Mirage's mask unmasked my previous tattered body, it's vines going to Aeonis. The two-merging turned everything into a huge orb of darkness spreading thousands of miles in each direction.
"See you in Hell, devilfucker!"
"URIELLLL!"
Mustering every ounce of strength, I forcefully impaled the ground, and all life within its radius disintegrated into dust, their souls snuffed out in a macabre dance of obliteration.
Conceding to the triumph of my weariness, I cast a poignant last look at Michael before collapsing, his expression marred by defeat. As the other angels disintegrated into dust, he faded into light particles, the only light in the hole of nothingness.
And then, my eyes closed.