11 King

Haruto's glowing, green Earth shield finally shattered and the broken pieces of light dissolved into the air as they fell. 'What had that been?' He'd sensed Lucifer's spell coming and instinctively put up a barrier, but the sheer force of it. 'How!? That was the strongest spell I have ever seen.' He looked around and stared in dread; almost all of his group had been wiped out. Most students were convulsed in extremely odd positions, their eyes wide open, yet frozen in time as saliva drooled down the sides. The arena had turned into a battlefield of absolute slaughter as he saw all the students lying in the sand, utterly broken. 'And that was just ONE spell?' He looked up and saw Lucifer smirking at him from across the arena, his eyes black and his pupils formed into a Demonic, glowing white star.

"The Forbidden Spell." he muttered. Anger rose up inside him like he'd never felt; pure rage at the arrogant smile Lucifer was flashing as he proudly stood in the world of the dead...finally at home.

"Oh well," shrugged Lucifer down in the arena. He noticed Haruto was still standing, but his eyes were wide in revulsion. "I wanted to toy with you lot a bit more, but I suppose the rest of you will have to do."

Haruto dashed. A green disc under feet gave him his speed as another one on his fist lowered a golden spear into his hands. He was flying...covering the distance between Lucifer and him in an instant, faster than he had ever been, his Divine spear angrier than it had ever been, aimed right for Lucifer's chest. Flying, closer and closer...

And suddenly Lucifer caught it. The audience stared in horror. It was as if Haruto had vanished in a cloud of dust with such speed that even their eyes couldn't catch up, yet just as Haruto's spear neared Lucifer's chest, barely inches away from his clothes, he simply caught it. Even Yasu's eyes widened; she wasn't sure even she could've dodged that attack it had been so fast.

Haruto stared in building fear as he saw Lucifer's hand close around his spear, his grin horribly ominous up close. "Tsk-tsk, Haruto." said Lucifer, his arrogant smile wide. "You let your emotions get the better of you here. After all this time making sure to keep them in check since the very moment you stepped into SK, when it truly mattered, you couldn't control your feelings in the end, could you?"

Haruto saw Lucifer's grip tighten on his spear. "Heh, you still have quite a lot still to learn, Haruto!" exclaimed Lucifer as he suddenly punched with his other hand. His fist cleanly connected with Haruto's cheek, and it was as if his mind just shut down. A small shockwave erupted from the force of the punch, instantly knocking out Haruto as he literally flew through the air to crash into the adjacent wall with such speed that he shattered it and collapsed in a pile of broken bones and bricks.

"Now," said Lucifer, his five-point star glowing even more as he turned to the remaining opponents. "Where were we?" 'Ten to go.' Like an audacious predator, Lucifer started walking, his steps fearless as he approached his agitated prey.

James saw Haruto's glowing white spear which Lucifer still held in his left hand slowly turn black. Like clouds of fire, a black aura started rising from where Lucifer was holding it, soon engulfing the golden purity of the weapon into utter blackness.

"He can corrupt Divines weapons?" asked a student in shock as he turned to James. The instant he'd barely uttered the last syllable, something suddenly hit him like a bullet with such force, it was like he vanished as he flew backwards through the air and crashed into the wall behind him, the black spear stuck in his abdomen like a harpoon.

"That's right." said Lucifer, his voice low, his smile hungry as he continued walking. "I can corrupt Divine weapons. But..." he stretched out his right hand to the side. "I prefer my own."

James saw a black flame soundlessly erupted on Lucifer's palm for a second, and as it vanished, it gently placed a black katana into his hands. Darker than the darkest night, the menacing blade seemed to absorb all light as it almost...glinted? He suddenly realized Lucifer had dashed with such speed, he had lost vision except the glint of the sword.

With a sonic boom something hit the two Divines standing on the far left, immediately knocking them out. 'Eight to go.'

"Get together!" shouted James at his group of third-years. "Everyone on me." With uncanny efficiency, the four other third-years immediately dashed to him just as one other first-year student got wiped with that same sonic-boom, a deep cut over his legs. 'Seven to go.'

"A - formation, straight ahead." shouted James. He finally had eyes on Lucifer dashing through the battlefield.

The two remaining first-years stood back-to-back, frozen in horror, when Lucifer jumped up, and dived straight down, grabbing both of their heads with the same momentum and crashing them onto the ground with a force strong enough to crack their skulls as he knocked them out as well. 'Five to go.'

From the corner of his eyes, Lucifer spotted the grouped up third years, and with a smile, he finally stopped running as slowly stood up, his forbidding aura growing; he saw the five third-years stood in a V-formation with James in the middle. 'More efficient than I thought they were capable of.'

James smirked. "I've got you now, Demon. Nowhere left to dodge." he smiled. "Go!" he shouted suddenly.

The four third-years of his team slashed towards Lucifer maintaining the V - formation, their weapons cutting the air as they stopped his escape to the sides. As if in slow - motion, James watched his team rush Lucifer as he stood there helplessly. 'He's got nowhere left to escape except up...and when he jumps, I'll take him out mid-air with my spell.'

The third-years' weapons hit and a cloud of dust rose up from the sheer shockwave that erupted. The students smiled; a direct hit. But...there was no flesh? What had they hit then? The dust showered back down, and the audience could make out two very large black discs glimmering in the still air. Shields from either of Lucifer's hands had blocked all of their weapons at once.

James smirked. He had been afraid of something a lot more powerful. "He's still locked in place. He's got nowhere left to go but behind and we can keep pushing him till he's out of bounds. Maintain formation! BREAK THOSE SHIELDS AND KILL HIM!"

"Heh." Lucifer smiled. "Nice plan. Would've worked too...if only these were shields..."

Suddenly, James realized as the runes started to glow and right as he put up an instant barrier Lucifer's apparent 'shields' exploded in a huge blast, echoing all over the stadium.

"That was a trap spell! He blocked them with a trap spell-disc, pretending they had him on the ropes just to lure them in...then used it to blow them away! He KNEW what we'd do!" said James horrified with Lucifer's efficiency, still inside the sphere of his fire-shield.

"That's right." said a whisper.

"Huh?"

Sakura saw Lucifer dash again and before James could barely even look up, he hit his shield with such strength it literally turned into fine orange powder and using the same momentum, Lucifer grabbed James' collar and threw him into the opposite wall, smashing him out of his shield.

"I told you I'd make you bow to the King of Hell today." said Lucifer as he watched James writhe on the floor, his Divine mace knocked out of his hand. "And now, it is time." Once again Lucifer stretched out his hand and the black katana was borne of fire. "Now, you pray." said Lucifer walking over to James, his katana barely a few inches from his neck.

James looked up, his vision blurry but the piercing white-star slicing through it. Lucifer's eyes were cold...emotionless...soulless. James heart jumped as he saw the glint of an experienced killer in Lucifer's black eyes...effortless as they took lives.'He's really gonna kill me...he's gonna kill me? I - I...don't wanna die. Help. Help me!' "Help me!" shouted James out loud suddenly. Lucifer's eyes were boring into his very soul, reaping it before he slashed. "Help me! Help me! I don't want to die! Get him away from me!"

Lucifer stopped and a wide smile spread on his face, one of pure pleasure as he watched the Divine at his feet cry for mercy. He let go of his katana and before it could fall, it dissolved into the air. "Is this what the 'proud' third-years really are?" he asked, his tone amused. "Flailing children crying for help?"

Suddenly, the aura of terror Lucifer had been emanating lifted and James realized he was in the middle of the Hall of Hell, begging for help as the audience stared. None of them had felt what he had, heard what he had. All they had seen was Lucifer wipe out 51 Divines...and make a third-year beg for his life like a coward. A loud gong echoed in the distance once more, the echo marking the end of the duel.

Lucifer's smile widened. He fixed his Demonic eyes on James once more and watched him cower, then turned them back to normal. "Heh, looks like it's my victory, SENPAI." Still smiling arrogantly, he turned on his heel and started walking away, crossing a battlefield of massacre he had created.

Yasu clapped. Her lone clap rung out in the entire arena as all the students just stared in shocked silence. Then the wild haired boy in the VIP seats started clapping from the shadows. Mr. Albrecht followed their lead, and soon enough, the entire arena erupted in claps.

"He's got a nice attitude!" shrieked a second-year girl as she watched Lucifer walk without acknowledging the cheers. "Handsome and powerful!"

"He's from the great Arima-clan after all!" giggled her friend. "Let's go see him tomorrow!"

All the students clapped, yet there was a certain uneasiness on the faces of the few who recalled his performance. "Wasn't that...kind of scary? 51 students wiped by one mage... How easily he did it all as well." They looked at each other their eyes worried. "I don't want to be on the wrong side of that mage...EVER."

That afternoon, Lucifer gained a new name in Shukuto-Kodo: 'The King of Hell'.