I Killed Them

I...I...killed them, I killed everyone I love" the boy with obsidian black hair chanted in a daze, staring at the pile of ash and incenerated corpses that was once his hometown.

The pungent odor of burning flesh and rotten wood turned his stomach to no end, with the desperate plea of dying voices enveloping his ears, the white of his eyes now blood red from constantly crying and praying that he would wake from this hell he had found himself, his once black pupils now ashen grey lost and hopeless.

He lifted his now broken and deformed hand caused by the repeated striking he had done to the ground, to wipe the last tear on his emotionless face that has seemingly accepted his cruel and unforgiving circumstances.

"I have committed the iredeemable " he said with a voice filled with despair.

Recalling the hundreds of fellow citizens that had been burned to ash.

'YOU HAVE COMMITTED A GRAVE SIN' an otherworldly voice resounded in the air making the space around him tremble with a maniacal laugh.

Yet he remained unfazed "I bid you all farewell, I will do all in my power to fulfil your last wishes, death is not the end." he said desperately trying to retain his cold expression and failing horribly, remembering the faces of the villagers he had burned.

'you have comprehended the true meaning of death' a different voice filled with supremacy and a divine presence that froze the air around him announced.

"I have done evil" he said.

Clutching his fists so hard that it bled.

'Then You Shall Receive  MY NAME SHIKARU DO-NO-EVIL ' the voice declared.

"And I shall atone for my sin" the grieving young man continued.

'You have met the qualifications to receive my grace the mission of AZRAEL THE ARCH–ANGEL OF DEATH' the divine voice announced.

'NOW RECIEVE MY NAME ' the otherworldly voice demanded.

Immediately after the boys arms were consumed in black flames scorching them from the inside out, he released a deafening shriek of mind shattering pain that reached the heavens.

Soon after, the arms were binded with a bandage engraved with unrecognizable runes, his eyes rolled back in horror as the bandage fused with is burning flesh.

'Now receive my grace' the calm voice declared.

Following it a beam of light from the heavens broke through the ash covered sky enveloping him fusing with his very existence.'

'Show Off' the otherworldly voice coldly snorted.

The pain continued even fiercer than before, knocking him unconscious from pain and anguish.

*** time till full synchronisation 717 days ***

** Earlier that day

"A-At this rate w-w-we'll die of starvation before the c-c-cold gets us or thirst b-before that." a burly man with arms as large as cattle heads said whilst closing the door, shaking and shivering with every word.

"Is there no way to get rid of this demonic winter before we all die" an older man said.

"We have tried everything even pleading for mercy from the demon responsible yet he remains determined to torment us" another villager pleaded.

It has been over a year since the small town of Mila was scourged with a never ending winter, several times worse than any winter the occupants had ever encountered even preventing them from leaving without meeting an awful demise.

"The fires barley stay lit and the winter's essence creeps closer and closer to the village, we estimate it'll reach us before midnight tomorrow."a voice filled with rage announced.

Soon after, the meeting hall that held all the occupants of the settlement both man and child was quickly filled with crying mother's and men with looks of despair etched on their faces sounds of weeping and denial could be heard all over.

"I-I don't want to die I'm too young."

'Sigh'

with a heavy sigh, filled with the silent desperation of a helpless ruler, the head of the town rose from his sit, raising his hand cause the villagers to quickly quite down so they could hear what he had to say.

He had been their leader for over 3 generations protecting them from bandits and snobby nobles countless times, he had earned more than their respect, quieting down for him to speak was the least they could.

"I know the situation is dire and I believe we might have a solution."he said

"The demon seemed to have been contracted by someone meaning he should still be around here feeding the demon with enough faith to fuel this spell"

"If we can find out a way to get to him and possibly find a way to contact an arch-deacon or even a deacon we might still have a chance, we need volunteers to proceed to the far south of the valley where after many months of investigation we discovered has the most amount of demonic fate."

"Excluding the demons location that is brimming with demonic energy."

"If we can jus—–" he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of explosions and sounds of fighting.

KRAAAKK BOOM

The sound of flying projectiles hitting their targets could be heard all over the town.

"Quickly!!! all men go outside and protect the building" the head of the town roared.

Immediately after all the men picked up their arms and headed outside to fight. A young man around the age of 15 was shielding his aunt and cousin with his body hoping and praying that no debris falls on him.

"Damien quickly take your cousin an––" putting his hand over her mouth Damien quickly sealed his aunts mouth.

"There is no way in hell I am leaving you here, what do you expect me to tell Razz when he's older" the youth with obsidian black hair and even darker eyes said.

Damien quickly looked around noticing that he was the only male around fighting age still present, he lead his family under a safe makeshift canopy of timber before picking up a sword and running outside ignoring his aunts helpless cries for him to return, he quickly arrived at a defensive line, looking around he saw the men battling humanoid beings that looked more like puppets than humans.

"Quickly! hold the line... the first line of defence will not hold for long"

A soldier yelled stabbing and beheading puppets like they were butter, seemingly the leader of the line.

But what shocked Damian more than the soldier's prowess was the fact that this was only the second line of defence, he thought he was right in the middle of the action due to countless number of puppets that filled the street.

The sound of death and sight of missing limbs almost made him puke his intestines out.

The more skilled soldiers had an easier time dealing with the onslaught compared to the mecharnts and farmers that had never even dealt with thieves talk less of murdering puppets. Some of them were hiding under carts while the braver ones only managed to deal a small cut on the puppets before meeting their demise.

SWOOCH!!!

Narrowly missing a sword aimed for his neck Damien fell on his ass, quickly realising the horror before him, a puppet stood before him with emotionless eyes lifting its arm ready to deal the killing blow.

KRAAAKK!!!

A sword pierced the torso of the puppet killing it.

"Jesus Damien, you trying to get killed?" a beautiful girl that looked no older than Damien himself shouted slapping the back of his head.

It wasn't uncommon for women to be found in the battlefield infact women occupied almost half of the war effort in the world but in a back water town like Mila, Katharine Everton was the only female known for hunting and fight bandits and she was only 15.

Both Katharine and Damien have known themselves for practically their entire lives, Katharine was always known as the stronger of the pair, whilst Damien was the more tactful one.

"I'm sorry.. I just...spaced out "He replied, thinking of how his life just flashed before his eyes.

"You don't just space out in the middle of a battlefield, and by the way you aren't meant to be here the head tasked you with a solution" she said

Damian was widely known around the town as a kid with otherworldly intellect despite his naive demeanor he also had the most faith in the town and he was expected to become an arch-deacon once they found a way to fund his schooling, so tasking him with such an important role wasn't strange.

"He did WHAT !!." He exclaimed

"He's too busy holding the frontline... if he leaves his post, we all die."

"And he's also waiting to hold off the winter's essence before it reaches us."

"Fine.. stay here and hold them off, I'll be back"

He then proceeded towards the southern part of the valley that was about 30 mins away, once he was close enough all the hair on his body stood on end due to the very dense amount of demonic faith.

He approached a natural elevation that was high enough to see the whole town, he continued to move towards the source of the unholy energy.

Every step he took, made his body tremble from the steadily increasing demonic energy, slowly his consciousness began to slip, every thing around him being enveloped in darkness until he was surrounded with nothing but pure darkness and complete oblivion.

After what felt like an eternity in this hellish void filled with killing intent and the suffocating pressure of a murderous demon, he heard a shrilling voice that heightened every sensation he felt before.

'How would you like to put a stop to this' The unpleasant voice like metal grinding against metal resounded in the void making his skin crawl, right now he preferred to stab his ears till he could no longer hear.

But alas he had lost all strength in his arms, and his consciousness was fading fast with nothing but the demons maniacal laugh resounding all over the void he soon had to reply.

"And what will you have in exchange? "

'Just a piece of your mortality... 25 yearssss.... that is.'

Damien immediately frowned, the thought of losing his life was something he hadn't had the misfortune of experiencing, so he found it hard to think straight.

'I'd be quICk if I WerE YoU' the voice chuckled.

Whilst showing Damien what was occurring in real life.

Damien had pocessed the eyes of a soldier fighting in the village, there he could see the evacuating women and children and the men trying their hardest to hold the line, when suddenly a wave of indescribable fear struck the hearts of every villager present they began to shake and shiver vigorously and a single sentence broke the spirits of everyone present

"Th-the  d-d-demon is here, the winters essence is here" a muffled voice cried in the distance causing the villagers to run for their lives, the eyes of the soldier Damien was seeing through began to run as well.

As a humanoid fog exuding devastating aura, the stench of death lingered around it killing the air in the surrounding atmosphere, the head of the town stood before the figure preparing to combat it.

"A–a marquis rank demon" the head said in a dazed voice seemingly losing the will to fight.

He could only fight with a peak ranked lesser demon and kill it and that was with him losing his life in exchange, and this demon was three whole levels above it, he stood no chance.

With a flick of its wrist the arm of the head flew of his body, blood gushing, the head released a deafening cry as he held his arm in anguish.

Soon after, the temperature of the village began to drop drastically, the villagers numbed with fear, could hardly think as they could feel their blood coursing through their veins feeling like multiple needles were violently stabbing every corner of their body.

Damien feeling a quarter of the pain the soldier had to endure, he quickly pulled out of the soldiers body after returning to his body in the void he began to beg the demon for a solution agreeing to the deal that was previously made.

The demon then proceeded to ask him what he believed to be the best way to handle the situation.

His brain began spinning in search of a plausible solution, soon after he found one.

"An external source of heat one with enough spiritual energy to reverse the effects of the ice." He said.

The demon was silent for a moment before it began to laugh hysterically.

'I can see why he likesss you so muuuch...' licking his lips.

The demon agreed soon after, returning Damien to his original body that was already standing with a piece of worn out paper with words on it floating before him.

The demon began to instruct Damien on what to do. He slit his finger with a knife, and with blood dropping on the paper, soon began chanting in words Damien himself could not comprehend,  yet it seemed oddly familiar, nostalgic... even.

*crjhgk albaidio aman driel striep tos aebuzub frilh rilbmv* he chanted repeatedly.

From what he could understand he was calling something–something called 'Aebuzub' and he wasn't sure of it but whatever he was doing was working cause he could feel his life force being sucked away as a small spark of light began to flicker directly above the town.

Soon the spark turned into a full blown flame growing and growing until it became even larger than the city. He began to feel like something was off... then he heard the voice of the demon.

'Congratulations!!! you have summoned the 7th sun of the fifth hell, Aebuzub' the demon laughed.

Almost immediately he could hear the shrieking screams of the villagers as the whole town was quickly being engulfed by flames. The trees and even the land around him quickly began to burn from the inside out.

"Razz..., Aunt...,  K-Katherine, no no no no no."

He quickly began to run towards the settlement, he ran, with disbelief and tears in his eyes, his mind lost.... constantly repeating in his head.

'it's my fault, it's my fault.'

Once he reached, he couldn't believe his eyes nothing but miles and miles of ash, the place that was once his home town was nothing but a pile of ash and incenerated corpses.

His leg soon gave out, his knees struck the coal filled ground. He began to strike the ground over and over again until both his hands were nothing but a bloody mess, the ground before him filled with his own blood, yet his eyes remained on the scene before him. He stayed in that state for hours before.

"I–I–killed them, I killed all of them."