Goodbye

Akuro and Azazel stood alone amongst the dust from the explosion. Everyone will there than them had simply disappeared. If their bodies had reformed by now, they were hidden within the dust.

"Heh. That should be enough." Azazel hissed. "We are running out of time."

"Time?" Akuro asked, turning to Azazel. "For what?"

"You will-" suddenly a figure shrouded in black aura appeared behind Azazel, grabbing the Demon God's jaw and wrenching it back. But it really had no affect other than just bending Azazel backwards slightly.

"Zealous. You really are just a disappointment, aren't you?" Azazel hissed.

Zealous leapt away from Azazel. "What do you want, Azazel? You've been gone for so long, and now you just show up out of nowhere?"

"What?" Azazel spoke, "does someone feel abandoned? Sorry, but I'm not your daddy."

"Damn you.." Zealous growled, then held his hands out, black aura beginning to churn around him in thick waves of shadow. Plate of black armor covered his whole body now, his Aura Cloak taking its solid shape. "Let me show you the result of all my training over all these years.."

Zealous raised his hand into the air. Black aura began to slowly flow out from him like mist, enshrouding his figure.

As the mist began to spread, Akuro suddenly flashed behind Zealous, spinning on his heel as his foot crashed-no-flew through Zealous, whose body simply vanished in black smoke.

"Oh?" Akuro spoke, as if surprised, though his expression and tone did not show it.

"Huh. You weren't kidding. I've never seen this truck before." Azazel hissed, seemingly intrigued.

"No," came Zealous's voice, as if from all angles, a distant echo, yet also directly in your ear. "You haven't."

Then something suddenly cracked against Azazel's head, knocking him aside.

"What..?" Azazel hissed venomously. He wasn't even able to sense anything, so how did he get hit?

Then something struck Azazel in his gut, causing him to lurch forward, then a shockwave emitted as he was struck in the head and crashed to the ground.

"How the hell.. are you doing this..?" Azazel growled.

Akuro stood still among the shadows. He closed his eyes and listened intently, extending his pressure to sense for any form of motion around him. But it was all just fuzz. Nothing, he could sense absolutely nothing.

Then the sound of his skull cracking in on itself echoed through the air like a thunderclap as something struck his face, slamming him to the ground violently.

Quickly, Akuro shot out a wave of aura, but for some reason it simply faded out instantly, joining into the mist.

"I see." Akuro said simply. "So that's what you are doing."

"So you figured it out?" Zealous asked. "Doesn't really matter. Not much you can do about it anyway."

"Zealous.." Akuro spoke. "You are weak."

"Tch! What? Where the hell did that come from?"

"You hide behind shadows and can't face me yourself. You are a coward. You have no real power. Even when you fought the Demon Lords, you had to hide behind Tetsuno. Didn't you?"

"How.. did you know that..?"

"This power of mine comes with many benefits." Akuro said. Then his eyes gleamed, the red shining through the black mist.

Then he disappeared.

From a safe distance, Zealous watched, as he lost track of Akuro completely. 'What..? Where did he..?' He could no longer sense Akuro, and the black smoke shrouded the entire battlefield, making it impossible to see.

"I'm using your own trick against you. You should know, Zealous.." came Akuro's voice, a distant echo. Then it came again, directly in Zealous's ear. "You aren't special."

Suddenly a blast wave sent the black mist exploding away from where Zealous was, leaving him wide open as the mist began to disappear completely. Akuro was directly behind him.

Zealous tried to jump away, but Akuro's fist grasped about one of Zealous's chains, then he was wrenched back and whipped into the earth, the ground shattering apart from the impact.

Akuro stepped over Zealous, placing a foot against his chest and applying pressure, the sound of Zealous's ribs cracking one by one could be heard clearly across the battlefield.

"You aren't unique. You aren't strong." Akuro spoke coldly, dead crimson eyes glaring down at Zealous with contempt. "You are absolutely worthless to anyone. Your greatest trick was absolutely nothing. All you did was make a field of vibrations that caused all aura to be turned to a mist, making it impossible to use abilities. But you forget, I can absorb that aura."

"Akuro.. please.. you were.. our king..I accepted you.. don't listen... to Azazel.." Zealous choked.

Akuro leaned down and, in a soft whisper, spoke, "I dont follow Azazel."

"Then.. why..?"

"Because.." Akuro leaned back. "It's what she wants."

"She.. who the hell is she..?"

The sound of Zealous's ribcage shattering inward came then as Akuro leaned into his foot.

"That's enough. You don't deserve to know. You are nothing, and you will be dead soon anyway."

"Akuro.."

"Akuro!! Stop! Please!!!" Came a cry. It was Kessana, desperately begging for Zealous's life. At the sight of her misery, as she lay helpless upon the ground, Akuro grinned.

Then he pulled up Zealous's chains. Black wisps of aura began to wind themselves about the chains like ivy. Zealous laid back his head. He knew he was helpless here. He turned his eyes to Kessana, his locking with hers as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Then cracks began to show upon his chains as Akuro absorbed his aura.

Zealous smiled sadly, then, as his chains began to break apart into nothing and his body began to fade, he spoke to simple words.

"I'm sorry."

And then, just like that, he was gone. As though he had never existed to begin with. He would be forgotten by all mortal beings, his existence would be wiped from the minds of every single being that was without large amounts of aura. He'd be wiped from existence.

"ZEALOUS!!"