~63~ Archdemons: A True Demon

Tetsuno stood among the flames. Though the obsidian that cling to his body dug into his seared flesh and burnt his scorched skin, he didn't feel anything. He had no sense of pain whatsoever, and as the star of purple light above him erupted outwards, he was completely unaffected. The obsidian about his body began to glow a bright white from being superheated, but in the end the blast never really affect him, he was left unscathed. Meanwhile Zealous had vanished beneath a wall of obsidian, pinned against the wall and kept away from the blast of the sun.

"BWAHAHA!!" Aamon roared. "YOU NEVER STOOD A CHANCE!!" Then the demon looked down, hearing a loud hiss from within the blast. "Eh?"

Aamon reared his arm back and vaulted his fist into the melted earth. He figured if anyone had survived, this would finish them. How wrong he was. Suddenly, a blur of superheated obsidian, Tetsuno dashed up Aamon's arm at an impossible speed, his feet crashing down on the Demon Lord's arm and shattering the bones in multiple places as he went. Then he leapt up at Aamon's head and lifted his mask, a blast of chaotic flames erupting from him and straight into Aamon's eyes.

"ENOUGH!!" Aamon roared as his body began to glow, purple light appearing through thin cracks in his body. Talons came crashing down on Tetsuno, piercing his frame in multiple places as he was flung across the chasm, which was now nothing more than a volcano, nothing but volcanic rock and magma anywhere the eye could see.

Gaping holes were drilled through Tetsuno's chest, shoulder and waist, but he didn't seem to care as they hissed and began to close over, smoke rising from them. He hunched over, head tilting to one side as he let out a breath of smoke and his bones cracked and popped as he twisted himself, his wounds healed completely now.

"You are quite annoying." Aamon growled. "Fine. You want to play? Let's play, boy."

Aamon's body suddenly began to shrink until he was the same size as Tetsuno. Then he held out either hand and two massive blades of molten rock, purple gems and markings glowing from within the weapons while at the tips of each blade was a miniature star.

Aamon pointed a blade at Tetsuno, the star hissing and giving off a soft hum.

"Come then. Show me your true bloodthirst.. mortal scum." Aamon hissed, and then a loud *VVVMMM* emitted from the star at the tip of his blade as a beam of aura was blasted towards Tetsuno, who had no time to dodge and didn't even bother trying, the attack blazing through him and leaving a massive hole in his chest. "Oh? Are you giving up now? Come on!! Is that all!!"

Aamon swung his other blade through the air and the same strange him sound emitted as a beam of starlight flashed across the chasm like a strobe light, splitting the chasm apart and leaving deep gashes in the earth and cavern mouth. This time Tetsuno dodged away from the attack, and then the obsidian about his arm began to glow and shift as it folded out into a his own sword, much larger than either of Aamon's swords. The blade began to vibrate as the markings gave off a vivid red light and pure red flames began to engulf the weapon. Tetsuno raised the blade above his head.. and then..

•

•

•

*in the main city of Xinoll*

A small demon crouched down, picking at something on the cold stone ground as it mumbled unintelligible words to itself. The creature had large, floppy ears and beady eyes. The small demon then picked up something off the ground and rose it above its head. It was a Soul Chain.

*CRUNCH*

The demon bit down on the chain links.

*GULP*

And consumed them.

All around the demon were corpses of demons, their chains stripped from their bodies as they lay still, dead, their souls consumed.

The small demon was about to move to another corpse, but then stopped. The creature turned its eyes downwards. The ground was rumbling, and a moment later wisps of steam began to rise from the stone floor as the rumbling grew more violent. The underside of the creature's feet began to burn and it began dancing around, quite clumsily, as it made strange sound, trying to escape the scorching heat.

The the earth split, a raging blast of magma and crimson flames blasting from below, splitting the floor open and continuing to strike the mouth of the cavern, leaving a deep gash in it as boulders and magma descended from above and all of Xinoll erupted in flames and chaos, completely split in half by a single strike.

The small demon leapt up atop one of the walls that lined the sides of Xinoll's streets, misshapen and warped. The ground hissed, superheated from something deep below the earth. The small demon began dancing along the walls, it's arms flowing through the air as its little feet tapped along the wall, singing in an unintelligible language. The only words that could be made out was one line-

"Rise to new Lords, ends to old worlds"

•

•

•

The cavern was completely clouded by smoke, the only visible thing was the dim light of flowing lava, as well as the faintest outlines of the figures that stood amongst the black clouds.

Rubbles, magma and stone fell from above, clacking to the ground or hissing as they melted into the lava. As the smoke began to gradually clear up, one could see Tetsuno standing in the center of the chasm surrounded by lava. The obsidian that cling to his body was sleek and gave off trails of steam from being superheated. Across from him to the side of the massive split in the earth from his attack was Aamon.

The Demon Lord was crouched low to the earth, kneeling on the ground, his knees deep in the lava. He was breathing heavily and appeared to be wounded, a deep gash across his shoulder while red cracks appeared in his skin across his body.

"What.. the hell are you..?" Aamon growled.

Tetsuno gave no response. He couldn't. Even if his voice worked, he was devoid of thought. In that moment he felt nothing but rage and hate and he ran on nothing more than instinct, like a raging boar.

Then a black wall of aura formed beside Aamon and from it emerged a demon enshrouded in black, chaotic aura.

Azazel.

"He, Aamon," Azazel hissed, "unlike you.." The Demon King placed a hand on Aamon's head, grabbing him by the horn. "Is a perfect demon."

*SNAP*

In a swift motion, Azazel snapped off Aamon's horn. The Demon Lord let out a roar of agony as he crumbled.

"Damn you.." Aamon growled. "YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER BECOME THE DEMON KING, YOU ARENT EVEN-"

Azazel touched a thin pointed talon shrouded in black to Aamon's forehead, the Demon Lord silencing immediately as black aura enshrouded his body. A moment later Aamon seemingly ceased to exist, his body fading to nothing, the only proof of his existence being the chains that clattered to the ground.

Azazel then turned his attention to Tetsuno. A demonic hand that would remind one of the many legs of a black widow as it descended from its web, the talons shifting and sending a cold shiver through the air as Azazel motioned for Tetsuno to come closer.

Tetsuno's head tilted to the opposite side.

"Come now, my dear Tetsuno.. you have done well. Come to me, my perfect demon.."

The mark upon Tetsuno's forehead began to illuminate, and as it did the obsidian armor about Tetsuno's body began to shrink until was once again the massive sword. Dropping the weapon, almost as though he were in a trance, Tetsuno walked towards Azazel. When he came close, one step after another, Azazel held out a the Soul Chains of Aamon to Tetsuno, who took them without any hesitation.

Barely visible beneath the cloak of shadows was Azazel's face, only faintly seeable due to the light from his hollow eyes. His face was deformed and horrible, disturbing with misshapen teeth, the lips split, cut and stretched over the mouth as his flesh and skin was sunken in. No other features could be seen, but those features enough were horrible as they were.

"You.." Azazel hissed as Tetsuno lowered the chains into his mouth. "Are mine.."

From a distance Zealous watched as Tetsuno seemed to fall under a trance from Azazel. Zealous tried to call out to Tetsuno telepathically, but he receive nothing but silence in return. And then an unsettling cold overwhelmed him as Azazel's eyes turned to him.

Then he too lost all sense of himself.

•

•

•

*Teletosh Mountains; 6th Immortal War*

"You really think you, alone, can take on four gods by yourself?"

Atop the highest mountain in the Teletosh range, Mt Tosh, the wind was bitter cold and violent, whipping through the air at insanely high speeds. It was difficult to breath, every single breath drawn in was a cold shot of pain through one's lungs.

It was a good thing Tetsuno didn't really have a need to breath.

He stood atop the mountain, at the highest point of the peak, while surrounding him on all sides were four high ranking gods, hanging in the air and looking down on him with contempt.

"Pah!" One of the four gods mocked. "We are the great gods of the Four Winds! You don't stand a chance, you fool!"

"Though it is amusing that you think you could even try." Laughed another.

"It's quite pathetic, really." Spoke the third.

But the fourth, the fourth was silent, his eyes locked on Tetsuno, watching intently. It would seem he was the only one able to understand the situation.

"PREPARE TO GET YOUR SOUL RIPPED TO SHREDS IDIOT!" Roared the first as he and his siblings rose their hands, wind beginning to swirl in a violent cyclone.

"NO!" Roared the fourth. " STOP!! YOU DINT UNDERSTAND WHAT-"

It was too late.

The raging wind drowned out his warnings as the cyclone was directed at Tetsuno. His body was pulled up into the violent air currents, his body being torn and bent at unnatural angles before the winds began to dissipate and slammed him crashing into the mountain, a sharp rock jutting up from the earth skewering him through the chest.

"Ha, that was easy. This nobody really thought he could beat us?" The second laughed.

"You idiots.. that isn't some nobody.." said the fourth, his skin going pale and his voice trembling as he spoke grimly. "That's.. Tetsuno, the Incarnation of War.."

"One of the Archdemons? Hah! You are kidding right? Don't be so foolish!" The first waved his hand.

Then Tetsuno began to get up.

All four gods watched in horror as Tetsuno rose from the ground, his back bent unnaturally, as if his spine had been snapped backwards before series of cracking and popping sounds could be heard as he leaned forward and his arms hang low, his head hanging limp. The trademark sign of the Incarnation of war. Those zombie like movements, it was unmistakable now.

All four gods went pale as Tetsuno's hand slowly rose to his mask. The stayed still, frozen by fear, but the fourth dashed at Tetsuno with a roar of rage.

"Stop!!" He roared, but there was no point. The mask was lifted from Tetsuno's faced and as it was a cyclone of aura shot from beneath it, the wind ripping and tearing the God's body into shreds before scarlet flames were then added to the tornado, scorching the God's body as well as covering the mountainside in flames that melted away the snow.

The god was dead. The scarlet flames has broken his soul. Tetsuno's flames were able to burn away the souls of weaker beings, and these gods were below him.

Tetsuno reached over his shoulder to the hilt of the massive weapon tied to his back, tightly wrapped in white cloth. As soon as his hand met the weapon's handle, crimson flames engulfed the blade, burning away the cloth while revealing the sleek black blade of obsidian below.

Tetsuno placed a hand over his mask as he held the blade over his shoulder and leaned back.

"We.." the third god spoke weakly, "we don't stand a chance.. how.. pathetic.."

In a single swing, a raging blast of aura and flames exploded through the sky, cutting a deep gash into the earth and wiping out the gods completely while splitting open two whole mountains.

The soft clinking sounds of ice could be heated a moment after.

Tetsuno looked down and saw that sheets of ice began to rise from the earth. It was sealing magic. Not that he cared. He walked away from his show of destruction, the ice melting at his feet where he walked.

Archdemons: Arc 1, Tetsuno, end.