AN UNWORTHY KING

Zahad stood over Edward with an imposing aura around him. Edward couldn't face him, so, he faced the valley. Unable to face Zahad in shame, he buried his head in the valley of red sand, with his face completely lowered to the ground

"Aren't I the strongest?" Edward asked himself as he clinched the red sand of the valley in his hands.

The sand of the dead valley was especially shard, so this was extremely painful. But it was second only to the pain Edward felt in his heart

Zahad took a short step back as to truly understand Edward's feelings in this moment. Seeing as he wanted to remember this battle long after this day, he made sure he could recall every detail. As he stood back and stared, as he saved the moment in his mind he answered Edward's question

"You are Edward. You are the strongest. It's because of you, that I went this far. It is because of you, that I could have such a battle like this. It is because of you, that even after attaining my true form, I could fear death. Truly Edward, you are strong. In fact, I can go ahead as to say that, if you had been any weaker, your death would have arrived long before this. So, take pride! That after me, you are the strongest"

Zahad proclaimed, but Edward still laid there surprised. So, Zahad continued

"Why act so surprised? Did I not tell you that this would be the outcome? You shouldn't be bothered by that. You should be feeling bold that you came close enough to killing me"

Edward grit his teeth in frustration and squeezed the sand in his palms until he threw it into the air with his right hand

"I don't accept it. it isn't enough to be proud, or bold. Not when you were only an inch away from death…That's why it doesn't make any sense…How? Tell me, just how the hell are you still alive?!"

Zahad suddenly dropped his smile and folded his arms. He had considered telling Edward his answer at first, but he became skeptical. But since his victory was more than certain the battle had already concluded, and his victory was all but sure and guaranteed, he gave in

"Woooooooosh" He exhaled and sighed, then he said

"I survived…with the devil's luck"

"What? The hell? devil's luck?"

"That's how I survived your attack. I can't lie, I was surprised when you came at me like that. I didn't believe that I would come so close to death, but it went that far and I ended up using it"

"What the hell are you talking about? This makes no sense! How did that prevent your death?"

"I'll explain. You see, just when the sword came close enough to killing me, my devils luck kicked in, and in that second, I lost my footing and slipped back. So, rather than taking my head, I slipped back so fast that you took my horn instead" Zahad pointed to his horn

"There's no way…there's absolutely no way. Your telling me, that the deciding factor of our battle was luck?"

"Yes. So, do you see it now? Do you see why I said you could never hope to beat me? This is the chasm that exists between the two of us. This is the power that is soon to overthrow god..."

Zahad suddenly paused his self-proclamation

"Now that I think if it…you didn't die from my attack either…is that not a bigger feat?"

He turned back and looked at the hole at the foot at the mountain and turned back to Edward, whose eyes stared at him with a glint of hatred

"How? Tell me how you aren't dead, Edward"

Edward gave him no response, he didn't want to answer. But when he thought about it, he realized there was no reason to hide anything from him. Well…it was more like there was no point. He still wanted to come up with a reason not to tell him, but he couldn't think of anything

"Well it wasn't anything impressive, or luck carried like you. I was going to die for sure, because I failed to block. I was in shock and I left myself open to attack"

Edward slowly lifted his head

"Yet… My arm managed to move on its own and used my Katana to block your attack. Once that happened, I was able to come back to my senses. I summoned all the power I had left to cover my sword in protective aura. I applied it to the Katana at the last second and blocked your attack"

"So, that's how you survived" Zahad said, feeling genuinely pleased

"Yes, it was…but it wasn't enough. In the end my failure to react fast enough cost me my left arm. Once your punch landed the vibration caused my loose grip to slip and I let go of my sword…the result is as clear as day"

Zahad looked at Edwards left hand, and couldn't help but smile. He had absolutely nothing but praise, and respect for Edward. He told him

"Truly, you are a dangerous man. A man deserving of the title strongest. You really should be proud of yourself"

Edward started to chuckle as he slowly gripped his katana in his right hand

"Strong? Proud? If I didn't tell you before. Let me make it clear, right now...It" Edward tried to get up and staggered and pointed his broken Katana at Zahad

"It will never, ever, be enough. Not unless I beat you" Edward's right hand shook and swayed as he smiled

Zahad cracked a smile in response "Your pretty greedy you know. You sure you're not a demon?"

"I wish. I could use some of that luck for myself right now" He said playfully, then continued

"Come on, let's go"

"Don't be absurd Ed! That's enough horsing around"

"You think I'm joking? I'm dead serious right now. Come on, LETS GO!" Edward said with a menacing smile on his face

Zahad's smile slowly started to fade. He said "You can't be serious. Do you still want to face me?" Zahad asked, still sharing a smile with Edward

"Of course, I do! Didn't you just hear me? It will never be enough! Not until I beat you!"

Zaahd's face had now lost its smile

"Well… this is no longer funny. There's no way you expect me to actually entertain this, right?"

Edward began to giggle and taunt. Saying "Oh? What's wrong? Is the almighty, and all powerful Zahad already weakened from fighting with little old me? Here I thought you were supposed to be strong enough to subjugate god"

Zahad sighed in disappointment "I know what your trying to do Ed, it won't work on me. I'm not doing this with you, you've already lost. Just accept it"

"I said no! I'll never accept it! NEVER!"

Zahad has no words and merely responds in silence. He turned away and looked to the emptiness of dead valley. It looked as though he began to regret the decisions he made that led up to this point, but that didn't faze Edward. He continued to taunt

"What's wrong Nate? Feeling regret? Remorse? Pity?"

Zahad with a cool response simply says no

"That's not it. The problem is that I want to remember this victory…I want to save the image of our battle here in my mind. I want to remember every important moment and every detail of it so that even a hundred or a thousand years from now, I can look back on this memory. My first challenge as a true demon, my first victory after taking this form. I want to be able to remember it as one of great trial but triumph"

He turns his head to Edward with a clearly displeased expression on his face

"But you want to have me soil that memory. You would want to tarnish the image I have of you in my mind with this image of desperation. My path to god hood should have a worthy adversary as my first challenge, a memory of my opponent's strength and how hard the battle was should be what I carry with me even long after your death! Not this. That is why I can't give you what you want. Selfish as it may seem I cannot grant your request"

"But why!?"

"I've already told you Edward! This look of desperation on you disgusts me. and I can't have you tarnishing the image I already have of you in mind. It is not the look of the strong, and it certainly isn't the look of a king. Take your loss with what little pride you have left, so I can tattoo these moments in my head"

"Grnnnnh! Why you!" Edward grunts

"I can't offer you another fight Ed. All I can offer you now is a quick death. It is the last thing I am willing to offer you, from one strong fighter to another"

"Wow. How considerate of you. Who knew you had it in you to be a nice guy. Wish you could have shown Cayafaz some of this mercy"

"Well, I had. But he refused"

"Well, it's probably cause you gave him an unreasonable offer"

Edward laughed as he then put the knuckles of his right hand to his forehead. Zahad stared and turned his head, having no idea why Edward suddenly started laughing. The conversation they were having wasn't funny enough for that

"Mocking me, are you? Or have you finally lost your mind?" Zahad asked seeing at it was the only logical reason for Edward to laugh that way

"No, no, no. That isn't it. I was just laughing at the idea that this would be how things end"

"And that amused you?" Zahad asked

"Of course, it did. You genuinely think I have no fight left it me, I have no strength left to use my aura, my left arm is broken, and my Katana has snapped. When last were odds this stacked against me?"

"A very good question" Zahad said

"Not only that, but with everything going on I'm still alive, yet you won't fight me. honestly it feels like you're the one mocking me…and I can't have that. If you won't come at me" Edward puts on a serious demeanor

"Then I'll come to you!"

Though Edward made such a bold statement, he couldn't actually back it up because in truth, he was far to weak for a fight. When he tried running to Zahad for an attack, he moved at an old man's pace. He may have been trying to deny it, but the reality of the situation was, he was too injured, to weak, to incapable, to fight. He walked with a lip and had planned to use a broken Katana to fight this demon. What's worse? He planned to do this with only one working arm that could barely even grip the sword properly.

Zahad couldn't be more pained by the sight of this. Yes, Edward was the one with the injuries, but it was Zahad who felt more pain at the time, having to watch his opponent fight so desperately made him feel deep sadness. He even walked up to Edward just so he could close the gap between the two and spare Edward the humiliation.

Edward was humiliating himself, yet Zahad was the one to feel the humiliation. Zahad, just won a battle and should be feeling the excitement that comes with victory, but Edward was the one excited. It was as though they took the burden of their emotions on their shoulders and switched it.

And so, Edward shamelessly swung his broken sword, desperately trying to hit Zahad. But each time he swung he missed with Zahad having to barely do anything. Because, when Edward swung, the sword would be off by several meters or miss completely. Zahad couldn't bare the shame of having to watch this and over time he began to shed gentle tears. Not knowing what to do or how to feel, not knowing how to stop Edward, he felt all he could do was put a little effort into his dodges. He thought eventually, over time Edward would get tired…but he didn't

Edward mistook his desperation for victory for resilience and put in a meaningless amount of effort in hopes to grasp victory and the more he fought the more deluded he became. And for Zahad, who had been shedding gentle tears through out this pathetic showing, couldn't hold back any longer. His eyes began to burst with tears as he dodged each and everyone of Edward's attacks effortlessly. It got to the point where Zahad thought to himself

"Maybe, just maybe. Maybe if Edward wasn't putting such fruitless effort into this fight, he might just notice how sad he looks"

The battle went on for a few minutes longer with Zahad no longer being capable of continuing the farce any longer. But Edward was not just determined, he had gone battle frenzied. With a crazed look in his eye, he hopelessly swung his sword nonstop. Once Zahad saw this, he was convinced that he had to stop him.

He used his tail to knock Edwards Katana to the furthest reaches of hell. But even that wasn't enough to stop Edward. He then started to throw blows with his right hand and then his broken left hand. But he punched like a child with no direction, so much so that Zahad only had to move back by an inch for Edward to miss. Edward then began to protest mid fight

"How could you face me like this!? Huh!? How could you?! After all your dirty tricks and your cheap tactics! Can you not even face me with honor? I won't let it end this way. Do you hear me? I won't let it end like this Zahad! This will not be the end of me!"

The more Zahad looked at Edward like this, his eyes hurt. At first, he gave no response, he didn't even move, but he suddenly pulled his hands over his eyes and shut them all. After that, he put one arm behind his back and said

"Come then. The fight is fair now"

"What?" Edward asked

"With no tricks and all the power equal to yours. This is the only way I can face you at the moment. It pains my heart that I have to face you at all, but I wish to honor you even by a little. So, come. Now our fight is fair"

Edward rushed at him, and as he approached, Zahad thought to himself

"Yes, this is the only way I can be fair t you. By giving you what I can, while you fight with what you have at the moment. Only by fighting you with equal strength to the strength you have now can things be equal. And by ending you with what I can while the image of a strong you still stay's fresh in my mind, this is the only way I can be fair to you…Edward"

Once Edward comes close enough to attack, Zahad says

"Do not feel ill towards me for this"

Zahad knees Edward in the stomach, causing some organs to rupture, ultimately leading internal bleeding.

"Gwagh!" Edward exclaims as he coughs up blood violently

"But in order for me to stop you" Zahad says as he holds Edward up

"I must break you"

He punches Edwards face to the left, then to the right, then an uppercut

"And I must destroy you"

He catches him with his hands as Edward's body lifts off the ground and into the air

"Till there is no form of resistance left inside of you"