Zephyr looked towards Ili, desperately holding out his hand... He screamed out her name... This couldn't happen... It couldn't end like this... "NO!"
The axe touched Ili's back... But then...
Everyone froze... The atmosphere became sickeningly heavy for a moment, making everyone in sight want to puke from the sheer pressure they felt in their stomachs... But it wasn't because of the sight of blood or of a severed body...
Everybody in sight froze. The kalzraak army stopped in the middle of the war, stopping their advance towards the walls... The demons stopped as well, along with every other living creature in sight...
The axe demon's body vanished in an instant, along with his weapon, cut in so many pieces that even his blood particles were split in half, vanishing in the air...
Ili felt her body continuing to move past the axe, finally stopping as she crashed into a wall, falling on another rooftop underneath it. Her breath was caught in her throat... She expected to feel pain, but she didn't... She was too scared to move, thinking that if she did, she would feel the cut. But instead, she finally realized that her body was unharmed, untouched by the axe.
Looking forward, she saw a person... A tall figure, its body covered by dark clothes and pieces of cloth wrapped around them. The air was blowing through the person's dark hair, picking up the pieces of cloth along with it...
Ili froze, looking at the person's back... "Master..."
Everyone in sight had frozen as well. His mere presence was enough to crush a person's soul... Enough to stop a war...
Mephisto's eyes were locked on the person, his arms shaking. Apl was petrified, not even able to have her limbs shaking in fear.
Zephyr looked at him. He's heard so many stories about him, from Ili and others in the past, but this was way too much... Even though he was his apprentice's friend, he couldn't stop feeling an overwhelming fear crushing his body... It brought him to the point of questioning if he was even allowed to breathe... "The Dark Angel..." he muttered, the words freezing in his throat.
As time passed, the Dark Angel's presence was starting to become more bearable, lowering in intensity.
Mephisto was the first to break through his fear, placing his hands together in a hand sign. A massive demon was summoned next to him on the rooftop, but it was instantly reduced to nothing.
"Don't underestimate me!" Mephisto screamed, as tens of demons appeared around him, attacking the Dark Angel.
The horde of demons he sent to attack the townsfolk was completely gone, having brought them out the field and preparing to use them all against the Dark Angel.
The Dark Angel smiled slightly, jumping backwards on another building, dodging the demons' attacks with the slightest effort, not even needing to use his speed or strength against them. Tens of demons were constantly appearing every second, attacking their sole target.
Mephisto was concentrating all of his mana to summon each and every demon he could summon, summoning hundreds upon hundreds, as they started to pile up over one another trying to even touch the Dark Angel.
"Die!" Mephisto screamed, blood coming from his mouth as he pushed his body to the very limits.
A small chuckle was heard from the Dark Angel's mouth, as he jumped into the air. All around him, thousands of demons launched at him, trying to tear him apart.
"You're a million times more demons short of touching me..." the Dark Angel spoke with a wide smile, crossing the fingers of his hands through one another.
As he closed his fingers, the entire horde of thousands of demons vanished, in an instant, reduced to blood particles.
Mephisto suddenly felt a hand pulling him amidst the chaos. It was Apl.
"We must get out of here. Now!" she said desperately, running through the alleys, pulling his arm. She took him as the demons were surrounding the Dark Angel, keeping his attention. Flames started to burn the surrounding buildings, ignited by some demons from the hundreds Mephisto sent.
"Just where do you think you're going?"
The two froze completely. In front of them, the Dark Angel was standing, without a scratch on his body.
The facade of a building fell over him from the flames, but was reduced to nothing before it even touched him.
"Give up, and I might let you live!" the Dark Angel said with a casual smile, looking at the two. "Is New Heaven really worth dying for?"
Apl froze, looking at him, then at Mephisto, desperately. "Mephisto..."
Mephisto calmly placed a hand on Apl's head. The building behind them was burning up, ready to crumble as well, smoke engulfing the atmosphere.
"Apl... Run... I'm going to do the ritual..."
Apl's eyes stopped blinking, looking at him in pure horror. "No... No! No, don't! Please! You can still... We can still survive! Let's just..."
"We've come too far... There is no outcome in this where we both get out alive... I can't forgive, and I can't forget... I have walked on this path for far too long... I can't betray, not anymore... But it's not too late for you. Run away… I'll hold him off…"
Apl's eyes were filled with tears. She slowly let go of Mephisto's arm. She knew he had made up his mind. There was nothing she could say to change it. She looked up in his eyes...
"Goodbye..."
Apl ran away, not looking back. Mephisto placed his hands one over another, making a hand sign. Flames were starting to grow around him from the ground.
Ili jumped down next to her master, looking at Mephisto. "Master..."
"Ili, go evacuate the people from this city," the Dark Angel spoke calmly, his gaze remaining on Mephisto.
The girl nodded, leaping back on the building and running off towards the eastern gate.
"So, this is your final choice?" the Dark Angel asked, looking at the growing flames around Mephisto's body.
"Nazcher... Sangvi o mortes... Naise horus...(1), Demon of the Seven Sins, Demon of Hatred, heed my summons... I offer you this mortal body, for you to bring your flames of hatred and purge these mortal lands once again..."
The flames grew stronger, surrounding his body completely. A dark, demonic voice was heard through the flames. "Say the words..."
Mephisto closed his eyes. He felt the flames slowly taking over his body, burning towards the sky... He felt... Calm...
"I sacrifice..."
His body was completely taken over by the flames. Through the flames, large bones started to grow from his body, growing larger and larger inside the flames, forming into the shape of a massive creature…
A beam of fire shot in the sky, breaking through the air, as a terrifying growl echoed through the sky. The Demon of Hatred...
Footnotes:
1 - In old ephreemian, "Hatred... Death and tragedy... Flames of destruction..."