Taming The Beast Pt. 2

Valefar yelled, red energy surrounding his entire body as he flashed forward, slicing his claws into Argen's chest.

Argen backed away, wincing as he felt the burn on his chest. "God..." He whispered as he saw the red energy seeping into the wound.

"That's a little trick Astaroth used back in the day, he would let his energy slowly devour his opponent's soul before taking it back, destroying his enemies very existence."

"Stop speaking about him so much, I know you guys think I'm some reincarnation, but I'm me, there's never been another. Astaroth died when you devoured him, The demonic energy I have is only because of you, stop trying to make sense of a situation... That shouldn't have happened!" Argen lashed out.

Silver energy worked into his wounds, slowing down the demonic energy trying to attack his soul.

"Gods, so annoying," Argen murmured as he breathed heavily.

Argen jumped into Valefar, slamming his knees into the devils face before grabbing his neck and head butting him as well.

"Asfalis," Argen said as he dropped down, being caught by the wolf and transported behind Valefar.

Argen aimed his two glocks and let off dozens of shots, red and silver energy burst forward at the speed of sound, chasing after Valefar.

Argen controlled each beam with his mind, making a pattern as Valefar tried to dodge the beams of energy.

Everytime Valefar managed to get close a beam would cut him off, sending him scurrying away to try a new position.

Argen caught his breath, his headache was worsening, his vision was dimming, and his energy was depleting.

After all this time he knew his body had reached its limit. There was only so much a mortal soul could do before it burned up.

It certainly didn't help that ancient demonic energy was currently making it way through his spiritual system to rip and tear apart his soul to be devoured by Valefar.

"You think you're good with the destroyer energy? I'm better!" Valefar yelled as the lion devil flashed around, his form blurry as Argen turned, stepping and crossing his feet just to keep his body up with the impossibly fast movements Valefar pulled off.

Argen's eyes glowed as they snapped every which way, tracking Valefar as he pulled out his other Glock, this one crimson. "Omega beam," Argen whispered as he raised his guns and shot two shots, the energy spiraling in the air and mixing as Valefar flashed in the spot Argen aimed at, the devil's eyes widening as he attempted to dodge the attack.

"Left, right, around" Argen murmured, directing the energy to follow the dodging devil. 'Crap,' he thought, gulping as he dispelled Asfalis. Even after all his training, all his battles and hardships, he was still mortal, and all mortals had limits.

He only had so much energy to use, once he burnt out it would be over.

"Got you!" Valefar said, appearing in front of Argen just as the silver haired boy made an L gesture with his fingers, changing it into a fist and then putting up three fingers as he kicked up.

"Asfalis," He said, jumping up and being whisked away by the wolf as he pulled out his weapons, transforming them into a bow and bringing all the energy he'd expelled toward him, condensing it into an arrow of pure energy into his fingertips.

'I'll give it my all,' He thought to himself, letting the arrow grow ten times bigger, energy cracking all around it as he grimaced, sweating as he stood on top of the flying wolf.

"A last ditch effort Argen?" Valefar said, feeling the energy rise and rise as Argen pulled the bowstring back.

"You could say that," Argen said as he vanished, reappearing behind Valefar and letting go of the bowstring.

*BOOM!*

The arrow flew forward with enough force to break the sound and speed barrier, flying into Valefar and exploding as Asfalis dissipated and Argen dropped to his knees, spent from the nonstop battles.

Every fight he'd had with the devils and Abbadon and even sometimes Mephisto was catching up to him. All the damage he'd received, the deaths he'd faced, each one was making a mark on his body, mind, and soul.

Argen breathed heavily on his knees as everything went quiet in his ears. His vision was fading but as it turned out his hearing was leaving quicker.

Argen watched as the dust cleared, his eyes hopeful. 'I need to hurry, this needs to be over, I can't afford another loop,' Argen thought, not wanting to imagine how destroyed he'd be if he went back into his loop point and refight Abbadon and do this all over again.

As the dust cleared a shiny gleam was in Argen's eyes. It wasn't hope this time, but tears.

"Oh well..." Valefar whispered, standing there with his body decaying and reforming at the same time, as if not sure which to do. Argen could see his attack had definitely been a killing move, but with someone who devours literal beings of pure energy, Valefar was able to still survive, even though his form looked broken.

"It was a good attempt," Valefar said, walking slowly toward Argen as the silver haired boy plopped face first into the dirt.

"Now... I think I'll devour you as well Argen, devil and god mixed? No one else will be able to stand against me... I will reign over all, I will take over heaven, hell, the mortal realm, and every pantheon around until everyone bows to me... All because little Argen was too weak to beat me."

Argen grimaced. "Shut up…" He croaked out. "I could never let that happen… Because then I wouldn't have fulfilled my goal," Argen said as his vision went blurry, his ears barely picking up Valefar's taunts.

"Your goal? Yes yes you've mentioned it quite a few times now, yet… It seems you're at your limit. My energy has reached your neural core Argen, I won, your soul, body, and very being is mine to devour."

"Why are you still talking..." I said shut the hell up," Argen said as he raised his hand, a beam of energy escaping from the crack Havoc sat in.

"No havoc" Argen said, raising his hand and lifting his head high.

"Your goal is most important," A voice said as Argen felt time freeze. A huge wolf stood in front of him, shrinking down to normal size and nuzzling its nose against Argen's neck.

"I've been protecting you as long as I could my brother, but I'm afraid time is something we have no more of…"

"Asfalis?" Argen said in shock. He knew Asfalis was created using his energy, and also that he had a mind of his own, but this was beyond everything he'd imagined of the protective wolf.

Then, Asfalis's words sunk in.

"Yeah, I guess it's impossible now huh? I'll never achieve what I need too. Asfalis it was fun," Argen said, sighing before he felt a paw on his cheek.

"My last protection, I will be your soul," Asfalis said, nuzzling against Argen's chest.

"Finally… Rest," Asfalis whispered as Argen opened his eyes, the color returning to his skin and his energy feeling as if it was at an all time high.

Suddenly, the sounds of battle stopped. It was over, Argen felt it, he'd done it, the bloodshed could end.

"Your soul is mine," Valefar said, unhinging his jaw and stepping over Argen, not aware of the pause in time.

"Nah," Argen said as he waved his hand, moving the energy away from Valefar and looking up in the sky. "Havoc!" He yelled, "Escape your realm, it's time!" and Havoc, the beautiful silver and black scaled dragon he'd summoned when he was only a kid, was finally free.

Argen stood as Valefar froze, his jaw unhinged and his eyes wide in shock.

"You were done? How? How are you-" His words were cut off from a screech and a tear in the fabric of the world that almost sounded like the screech of a chalkboard.

"The abyssal dragon," Argen said, smiling a big as he saw the giant dragon fall down from the crack in the sky.

"I named it Havoc, but in truth it's name is... Tiamat."

—

We're nearing the end of everything, Argen's true goal will be revealed and he will accomplish it. Or will he? I'd say there will be around 5-10 chapters max left. We'll see though