" Ice... Prison... " A barely visible smile dawned on Ramiel's face. Combined with the slushy blood at the corners of his mouth, it made for an awful sight.
The hunter couldn't have been happier. Through arrogance and hubris, Night Deuce had signed his indictment.
Ice Prison
A skill that Ramiel acquired with the discovery of the Dark Spectre but which he never had the opportunity to use. When selected, it was a wild card in the deck that won the entire game.
Ramiel had high expectations for it. And he wasn't disappointed.
Quick to activate, effective, and hellishly dangerous.
The mana that Azazel brought back was instantly lost, becoming the driving engine for Ice Prison's insatiable appetite.
Swish
The whole thing lasted no more than two seconds.
Night Deuce didn't even know what had happened. By the time Ramiel's words reached the monster's mind, the monster was already encased in a miniature glacier the size of a full-grown tree.
It was surrounded on all sides by a sulfurous frost that slowly, like the worst sadist, sucked the vitality out of the relic of the past. It was an extremely painful and traumatic experience.
Imagine the feeling of teeth being pulled out without anesthesia. Night Deuce experienced something similar... and this was only the beginning of endless torture.
The process was very slow but extremely effective. At the current rate, it should take up to two years for the Dark Spectrum element to destroy the monster.
Exhausted, Ramiel rested a trembling hand on the smooth surface of the black ice. He tried to support himself on the imitation iceberg, but his hand, covered with fresh blood, slipped on it.
The man slammed his forehead against the icy surface of the Dark Spectrum. A pleasant and soothing chill flooded his heated body, effectively cooling it down.
For a moment, he felt as if he was alive again, but it was a fatal illusion.
Ramiel wanted to howl in pain as soon as his body temperature normalized.
His internal organs were being devoured by corroded mana, which had turned from life-giving energy into the worst kind of disease, destroying a person from the inside out.
The hunter lifted his gaze with difficulty, looking closely at the beast trapped inside. Their gazes aligned, and the tension that arose between them could be felt on the bare skin.
In the Night Deuce's wild and untamed eyes, Ramiel saw a boiling and unbridled desire for murder directed at him. His irises were literally bathed in bloodlust to the point where their green color was tinged with a bright shade of red.
The hunter sensed the monster's intentions even through the spell separating them.
Ramiel's feelings toward the Night Deuce were similar. The relic of the past had given him enough blood. With all his heart, he wished he could sink the blade of his weapon into the beast and patiently watch its life drain away. He would have loved to see the end of the monster.
Unfortunately, Ramiel didn't have the means to do so. He was already barely able to stay on his feet... the potential fight isn't even worth mentioning. It would end even faster than it began.
But even that feeling was soon gone, replaced by indifference. Ramiel just stood there, staring dully at a piece of meaningless ice.
The memories that defined him as who he was slowly disappeared into the depths of an unexplored abyss, leaving a void behind.
Inexorably... he was becoming an empty shell.
' Kid... you should go... if you hurry, you may be able to see her one last time... What did you call her? Avi? '
Unlike the demonic aura that Azazel usually surrounded himself with, the current one reminded Ramiel of a father taking care of his family rather than the embodiment of unbridled anger and chaos.
" 'Where... where should I go... "
' Sigh... Home kid... home... "
" Home? I... I don't know what you're talking about... Home - home stayed on Earth..."
A lone tear was lost in Azazel's eye. Watching Ramiel's unpleasant end awakened emotions in him that he had forgotten existed thousands of years ago.
Even to his worst enemy, the demon wouldn't wish death through the disintegration of his soul. It was a terrible end. The man gradually, piece by piece, lost part of himself, slowly becoming nothing more than an empty shell.
Memories… emotions… desires… experiences... it was all gone forever.
Azazel respected Ramiel for what he had accomplished. It was only through determination that he had managed to get this far. But now... the end of the man's adventure was imminent.
' Kid... Home isn't a building or a shack in the woods. Home can be anywhere and can be anything. I don't know if you remember, but you once told me that yourself. Material things don't create a home. Home is where you feel comfortable and safe. But most importantly, it is where the people closest to your heart are. '
Suddenly, Ramiel's fog-shrouded mind brightened, restoring his ability to think logically and connect facts.
" You are ... right ... "
Mobilizing every cell and exerting even the weakest connection between neurons, Ramiel moved forward.
It hurt like hell. Every nerve was burning as if someone had burned it with a red-hot piece of metal. His eyelids became heavy as lead, and his right leg dragged freely on the ground.
Despite it all, Ramiel didn't give up. He steadily made his way across the ruined battlefield toward the presumed exit of the cave.
Dismembered body parts of the Night Rippers were scattered everywhere, and the man occasionally stumbled over them. These were his moments of weakness, during which Azazel's voice served as a beacon illuminating the gloomy night.
The demon proved to be an invaluable support, without which the hunter's journey would have ended many times over. He constantly brought the man's mind back on track when he went astray.
Unfortunately... Ramiel's time was inevitably coming to an end... The specter of death hung over him, sharpening his macabre scythe.
About halfway through, Ramiel was deprived of his sense of taste... after that, it only worsened. Along with chunks of his soul, his sense of touch was lost, next in line was smell.
Not feeling the all-encompassing stench of death, Ramiel realized that something was wrong.
'Don't worry about it, keep going... '
Obediently, like a lost lamb in the fog, Ramiel followed the guide's words.
Then, the sense of time and space disappeared. Every second seemed to Ramiel an eternity stretched out in time, and eternity seemed to pass in a brief second.
Each step brought the hunter closer to his goal while moving him further away.
Later came the pain. It was the only thing Ramiel enjoyed. For a brief moment, he could walk normally before his legs refused to obey him. The weakened bones couldn't withstand the strain, breaking like dry twigs.
The man didn't bother to keep moving forward... or he just knew he couldn't stop in place. If he did, he certainly wouldn't be able to start over.
Ramiel looked pitiful as he crawled to the ground. With the strength he had left, he pulled himself up with right hand, the torn skin revealing snow-white bones. Behind him was a long, bloody trail from his mutilated legs.
He wanted to bite them off in an amok, but Azazel successfully dissuaded him from this idea.
Being at the end of his endurance, Ramiel was robbed of his personality traits. His courage, pride, bravado, arrogance, love, devotion... all these and much more disappeared as if by magic wand... leaving behind only fear and a sense of loneliness.
Climbing to the cave's exit, an event occurred that became the nail in the man's coffin. He lost his hearing. Literally, there was a void in his head. He couldn't hear the sounds of the outside world, the beating of his heart, or the voice of Azazel, who had guided him for so long.
Ramiel was left alone... with his own thoughts... and it frightened him deeply. Things he tried not to think about flooded him like a tsunami. A sea of thoughts erupted, causing a storm in the middle of the ocean.
Visions of the past related to decisions he regretted haunted him incessantly for the rest of the trip. His conscience, which had been supposed to be dead for a long time, recalled itself harassing the devastated man.
Every now and then, before his eyes, he saw scenes from the past, when he had taken revenge in cold blood or sentenced to death people who had gotten under his skin.
This didn't bode well.
Worst of all was the memory of his last conversation with his late parents... or a more correct word would be to call it a quarrel.
Ramiel said many things that he regrets to this day... and if only he had had the opportunity to turn back time and go with them the day before to that stupid funeral... he would have done it without a second thought...
But the past belongs to the past and will forever remain so. Even knowing the element of time doesn't allow for such abstract things as time travel.
For now, it is better to focus on Ramiel's actions...
After several attempts, he finally managed to climb up to the rock shelf, which is both the exit and entrance to the forest of the Night Rippers.
Boom
Being completely exhausted, Ramiel fell inertly against the wall, leaning against it. The rough surface of the rocks pounding into his back didn't bother him. He had long since lost feeling in his body.
Splash Splash
Unexpectedly, Ramiel's eyeballs exploded, leaving him all alone... in impenetrable darkness. He tried to find the eye receptors with a trembling hand, yanking the one without the sense of touch into the darkness.
The resigned man gave up.
With time to himself alone... he realized it was over.
The sad truth finally reached him, opening eyes to reality.
He... he's going to die... he's really going to die.
The thought of dying alone terrified him. When the qualities that define him as a person were missing, Ramiel became a terrified child.
Ba-Thump Ba-Thump Ba-Thump Ba-Thump
Ramiel's heart quickened with each beat. Moments later, the caves were filled with mournful screams caused by a sudden panic attack.
Fresh blood mixed with melted protein dripped from Ramiel's empty eye sockets and stopped at his wide-open mouth.
The man was throwing himself... or at least trying to do so. His body wasn't responding to commands... completely, as if it no longer belonged to him.
Being alone. Ramiel was afraid... the omnipresent emptiness filled his heart with anxiety, intensifying his fear of the unknown.
' Help... ple-please... Help-help me... '
Unable to scream any longer, Ramiel begged in his mind for someone to help him.
There were so many things he hadn't done yet, and he wanted so badly to try...
There were so many unfinished things he wanted to finish...
There were so many people he wanted to meet again...
There were so many people he still wanted to take revenge on...
' Anyone is - is here... with me... Please - help... me... '.
He didn't want to be alone anymore...
He didn't want to be afraid anymore...
Avi - Avi... I'm begging you - you... if you can hear me...please... '
Ramiela was afraid of what was waiting for him on the other side...
' Anyone... Sarron? '
He was afraid of death.
' Azazel ... I'm afraid, I ... I don't want to die.'
' Please... help me... '
' I beg... '
' I... I'm afraid... '.
Ramiel didn't want to die...
In the end... no one wants to die.
Ramiel cried like a little child. In his mind, he kept calling out to Ceti to come to his aid.
Azazel watched Ramiel's last moments with an indifferent face. His demonic heart squeezed with grief. A small part of his personality wanted to shorten the torment of the host, but common sense effectively advised against it.
Finally... Ramiel's heart couldn't bear to break in two.
' It was a nice time, kid ... I hope ... you can find peace. '
~~~~~~
A few minutes earlier.
A shattered Avi fell to her knees in front of Seraphine. Her face contorted in fear and horror. Her mouth opened wide, and a continuous river of tears flowed from her eyes.
" No ... this, this isn't possible ... "
In an act of desperation, the fairy grabbed her head, trying to deny reality.
Suddenly, the desperate screams of Ramiel begging for help popped into her head. The mental barrier the man had created just for such occasions broke.
A ton of emotion hit the fairy like an artillery shell.
Avi felt his fear.
She felt his terror.
She felt how lonely he was.
She felt how much he longed for the closeness of another person.
She felt how broken he was...
She wasn't prepared for such a drastic collision with reality.
" Ramiel, Wait! I am with you! "
The fairy tried to get up, but her shaking legs and wings effectively prevented her from doing so.
She wanted to help Ramiel with all her strength but couldn't. She didn't even know where he was.
" I will be right there. You have to wait. Can you hear me? Ramiel! "
In response, she received even more repeated screams.
" Ramiel, please... "
" You must ... you must endure ... "
A breaking squeal mixed with crying caught Seraphine's attention. The necromancer was confused by the behavior of the dungeon fairy. Just a moment ago, everything was fine... until she suddenly had a panic attack.
" Avi ? "
" Seraphine! You must ... you must help me! Ramiel! He... "
The fairy stopped in mid-sentence. Her eyes became empty for a moment, devoid of any will to live. Her heart, which had just been filled with fear, felt empty.
Avi felt empty, as if someone, or something, had ripped an important part of existence from her.
The place inside her that was usually filled with warmth had been replaced by a freezing blizzard of snow.
The fairy's hair turned pale and her skin white. Her translucent wings were covered with a gray coating.
Avi hugged her knees with her hands while quietly sobbing.
Seraphine asked her several questions, but none of them were answered.
Avi just looked at her without saying anything.
The necromancer shifted her attention to Sarron, who had curled up in a ball and silently cried on Caera's shoulder.
Seraphine needed no more clues to understand what had happened. Later events confirmed it for her.
Suddenly, the Dungeon of Condemnation shook in its foundations, and the core threw out absurd amounts of mana. Numerous cracks appeared on the walls and vault, compromising the supporting structure of the dungeon.
Slowly, with each passing second, the core emitted less and less energy until, finally, it stopped and became nothing more than a glass ball.