Note: Apologies denizens of Literotica for taking this long to get the other half of this chapter posted. I might as well tell you all that Ch. 27 is finished and someone offered to edit it... GASP! A chapter is actually getting proofread? Well, that's if they actually do it. Either way, thank you for your patience.
Ch. 25 - They're dropping like flies!
One day, I found myself filled with Wrath. A Wrath so pure and inescapable, that I acted out upon my Wrath and destroyed everything in sight. Of course, it was in my nature to be Wrathful, being a demon born from Wrath. Yet it was odd, I felt so hateful and furious that I despised all of creation itself. I wanted to destroy everything in existence, even if that meant dying along with it and not seeing my work. I killed and I killed, destroyed and destroyed, at least until you stopped me, my eternal enemy.
You gave me this mark, this damned star on my face. I want to kill you, mutilate your corpse, shit on your skull, grind your bones into dust, and I want to revive you so I can do it all again. Yet why is it, why is it that you don't hate me back? Emiel?
"We may be enemies, but I found a kinship in the one I fought since our first meeting. Usually it is that familiarity breeds contempt, it was the other way around for me. Still, our relationship is one made of poison, and when eating poison, you might as well lick the plate afterwards. Let's make an agreement here, only one of us will live from this day onwards."
"Ha... Ha... Ha... Ha... Ha..."
"You find this funny, Xizaen?"
"Ha... Ha... Ha... You... Actually think you have... A chance?"
"Oh, very much so."
"Die... You accursed bastard!" Xizaen screamed as he crushed the bars in his cage with his strong grip, tossing them at Emiel point forwards.
Emiel saw that his suspicions from earlier were true, Xizaen had gathered his full power and released himself from his prison. It was purely by chance that Emiel arrived at the exact same time Xizaen was about to do this deed. He arrived in time to fight a duel to the death with his foe.
Off to the side, Luce watched the beginning of a deadly duel that would encompass everything and everyone around it. (Should I really interfere? This is not a battle I can enter and escape unscathed more than I am. I still have fairly severe wounds.)
Emiel tried to crush Xizaen with chunks of stone taken from the walls of the prison, only to find that each one was soon smashed after entering the range of Xizaen's arms. The wrathful black demon punched each boulder with his bare fists, which drew blood from his skin but did not dent his bones or sever his major arteries and veins. Emiel clicked his tongue and grabbed a broken bar from the prison and thrust the jagged point several times at Xizaen, he attached a red crystal to the point for a certain magical effect.
Emiel specialized in crystals when it came to Earth magic, but either way, he was still a complete master in everything Earth magic related. The improvised polearm missed each time thanks to nimble dodges and ducks from Xizaen. In retaliation, Xizaen whacked Emiel's side with a metal bar, causing the green incubus to cough up blood from the impact.
"Ha... Ha... Ha... Finally, I'll be killing you. You're nothing but a shadow in my blue sky, begone!" Xizaen roared happily as he hit Emiel on the side several more times, snapping some of the ribs in the incubus' ribcage.
Though while he received the blows, Emiel finally managed to pierce Xizaen's skin with the red crystal, causing a fountain of blood to spew forth. Xizaen staggered back from the sudden loss of blood, but that amount paled to the amount of blood he shed in their last encounter.
The two had fought in a small forest area of the Plains of Pride where they were both hired in two different jobs. The two had found each other by coincidence and their confrontation resulted in a deathmatch. In the end, both mercenary groups had to do the job themselves because their leaders were caught up in a feud duel. By the time their duel was finished in a draw, each tree in an eighty meter radius was covered by some amount of blood.
Emiel, regaining his composure, attached a green crystal to the resilient metal bar, pocketing the red one. The red crystal drew out large amounts of blood with each wound, but it drew out blood from any wound nearby and it was unreliable when Emiel had taken as much damage as he just had. The green crystal had the most affinity with Earth magic, so Emiel planned to use it in conjunction with his own Earth magic.
Xizaen jumped up several meters and slammed down on the ground, kicking the prison floor with all his might. This particular move, otherwise known as the 'Earthquake Kick' sent shockwaves through the ground from the kick's epicenter. Xizaen, being unaffected from his own move, held steady while Emiel failed to stay afoot from the shockwaves.
Emiel tipped over and shoved the green crystal into the ground. As if the floor was made of soft mud all along, the floor lost cohesion and Emiel sunk into the mud. As Xizaen surveyed the area, wondering what was up with this new trick of Emiel's, the ground beneath him suddenly lost cohesion into soft mud and two green demonic arms went forth and grabbed Xizaen's legs. Emiel's arms burst from the ground and pulled hard as if a game of tug'o'war was in session. He managed to pull Xizaen down at least half a meter in his surprise. Emiel left, turning the soft mud like ground back into a hard stone floor and emerged from the ground. Emiel attached a translucent white crystal onto his improvised staff and swiftly, before Xizaen managed to free himself from the hard ground, stabbed Xizaen through his chest.
The staff passed through as if it was made of air, but suddenly became tangible and Xizaen found a metal pole embedded in his chest. "Kuh, bastard!" In another fit of rage, Xizaen punch the ground with his fist. He freed his legs and feet while grabbing a rock with the other hand and tossed it at Emiel. Emiel received the attack head on, leaving a bloody red mark on his right shoulder.
"If you didn't actually stab me in the first place, then this damn trick will do SHIT TO ME!" Xizaen shouted as he pulled out the improvised polearm with one hand, revealing a messy hole that led to his internal organs. The bloody staff, which still had the white crystal embedded on the tip, melted in the extreme hatred of Xizaen's hand. Everything that Emiel owned melted in the extreme wrath and heat of Xizaen's body.
(Shit, this is bad...) Emiel told himself as he cast another spell with a quick incantation, his arms became covered in jagged rocks and crystals, ready to rend flesh. If Emiel could not destroy Xizaen's bones, then why not rend the flesh off of them?
