A/N: Hello guys... sorry to keep you waiting... got busy with work... but thanks to those who's still following... anyway, ONE reminder - some characters in here are NOT mine, only borrowed from "Take these wings" by Aragem...

XIV

White City Gates...

The Hellguards had just crossed the Great Gates when they halted on their tracks. There, before them, is the Angel of Death himself, descending from above – the Archangel Azrael. Both hands were clasped together before him underneath his sleeves, a common sight when he was seen. The wind billowed at his robes, along with his silvery-white hair. His face was calm as he was constantly seen, but his white eyes had that intensity as he gazed on each face of the Hellguards before him. He is a powerful caster and they knew it; crossing him would not be a good idea.

The Hellguards paused, waited. The only one who could match an Archangel is another Archangel. So they waited for their leader.

Azrael finally set foot on the golden platform, his eyes fixing on one in particular and watched as he made his way towards him.

"Abaddon…" he greeted.

"Azrael… you too?" The Hellguard leader said; narrowing his eyes and putting a hand onto his sword's hilt.

"I'm not here to stop you or beg you not to…" Azrael replied calmly. I'm here to help. And by the looks of it, we don't have enough time."

"So you felt it too then…" Abaddon spoke as he eased his hand from his sword.

"I did. And I had already sent words to those on patrol at the Third kingdom". He turned around to face the vast cloudy sky. "This will take us to the Third Kingdom faster". He waved both arms as his hands starts to glow golden-blue light with power. The air a dozen meters in front of him starts to crackle with energy, the clouds starting to be drawn to a certain point in a spiral motion, until a vortex was formed. It gradually grew in size at a rapid pace, flashing golden lights in the process. He outstretched both arms, at which it responded by widening ten times its size. A minute later and a stable portal to the Third Kingdom was in place, wide enough for a great force such as the Hellguard to pass through. "Let's be quick". He stepped aside to let the forces through, then turned to his friend. "For the second time, let's finish this together… Let's end it once and for all."

Abaddon nodded and then disappeared in a blur.

Underground...

The whole cave practically shook under the demon's rage… and pain. He had crashed down moment ago after his bare escape from the jaws of death – only to discover that his entire right arm did not came along with his body. In his rage, boulders – or in this case, the stone pillar in front of him – broke under his brute force; he pounded it with his left arm to ease the excruciating pain that ate at him, cursing in his language as he trashed around. The demonkind was known for their resilience against pain, even for mortal wounds that would kill most creatures. But this was something new for him; it was as if he is feeling the pain of his very soul being ripped apart. After the trashing, he chose to settle on one knee as he nursed, or clenched, the stump where his right arm formerly was.

A bluish blur then caught his eyes, and it was coming from the flank.

A massive gout of infernal flames met Fury as she darted forward, so intense that it started to melt the stone beneath it. A quick wave of her hand upward and a veil of shadow shot from the ground, enveloping her protectively. The flames blew against the solid shadow, circled around it to lick at the one behind it – but no such luck, as no one was behind it just a moment earlier. From above the line of fire, the Rider lashed downward, the weapon accelerating so fast that its path crackled from friction; until the weapon Justice reached its intended target. A loud thud later, the flames were extinguished abruptly like snuffed candle flame, but something else flared up in intensity.

A thunderous roar left the demon's jaws after uprooting it from the floor where it was 'planted', glaring around in search of his opponent until he found her.

"Amazing…" Fury remarked sarcastically with a smirk on her lips. "That blow can shatter a boulder to pieces and yet, here you are still. But, a crack should do", she mocked. Another curse escaped from the demon.

"Damn you!" the words barely left the demon's mouth when Fury dashed again forward. Her body however, froze mid-dash, then was violently flung to the wall. She was still reeling from the impact when she was thrown back to the pillar, then next she was thrown upward, and lastly was slammed hard against the ground. She grunted as she tried to stand up, but was pulled towards the demon's waiting grasp, then was repeatedly being slammed hard to the ground. Each impact reverberated on her flesh and bones, dangerously close to literally break her. He then held her before him and roared at her face, some tongues of flame spewing out and singing her skin and some strands of her hair.

"Die!" he roared and leapt high as his wings could take him. He then dived down with the trapped Rider held on the fore. He can already smell victory as he watched her face in the hopes of catching a glimpse of fear. But no fear even registered on her features as she stared back.

"No…" she replied." Not my time…" with that, she wrapped her arms around his as they neared the ground. A metre closer when she was forcibly yanked backwards by something, pulling his arm along. And with the closeness to the ground and the velocity of the dive, the demon rammed straight to the ground; without the arm to break the fall, his head instead dug yet another hole, throwing bits of it outward. The last image he caught before the collision was Fury – with shadows binding her legs and stretching towards one of the pillars.

He got upon one knee while shaking his head. And just in time to see a long, thin and fiery thing rushing towards him in a wide arc. 'Damn Nephilim!' he cursed inwardly as he leapt high with a grunt, barely being hit by Justice's reach. As before, he rained down fireballs at the Rider, who merely hid behind one of the two remaining pillars. 'Damn! That trash knew I can't heal up under pressure!'

Fury propelled herself up behind her hiding place using her shadows. She knew her earlier tactic will never work against the demon the second time around, proven when the demon flew around the pillar instead of trying to break through it. And she knew that she had to destroy one of his advantages – his flight. With a kick to the pillar, she bound towards him with Justice held somewhat differently – her right palm pressed against the handle's pommel while her left held the grip palm-down in a reversed grip, held high beside her head and with the whip's flame retracted inside. The demon was somewhat confused. Is this another one of her tricks? What part will she be targeting next? His arm? His chest? Or his neck? But no, Fury had other targets in mind.

The flames darted forth from the whip towards the demon, too fast for his liking, too fast to dodge or block. It pierced the base of his left wing through and through, ripping the muscle off as Fury pulled it back. His howl of pain resonated along the cavern walls as he plummeted down, followed by a loud thud.

Fury landed smoothly after him. She knew she had to finish this now, now that the demon's healing factor was still jumbled, needing more time of stillness. With that in mind, she dashed again forward, flicking Justice as she goes. She caught glimpse of something in the air that instant and halted while sidestepping to let it fly by. The unmistakable glint of metal registered in her mind. She threw a glance back and saw the demon panting with outstretched arm, his hand open.

'Damn axe!' she cursed. In a split-second decision, she lashed after the weapon, catching the hilt and pulled. The axe was heavy, but she swung it around her head in ease; she's a half-demon in the first place. She knew that the demon was only trying to buy himself enough time to heal, but it will only take something to break his concentration and stop his healing. She swung the axe one last time and released it flying towards the crouched demon. He held out his hand in an attempt to catch it, only to end with the middle finger being cut cleanly off his hand.

Fury continued on, seeing the demon clasp his hand in pain, as she flicked the whip in preparation. She then lashed forward in a wide arc. But before it reached its target, it came to a stop as it hit an invisible wall before the demon. She swung again and again, but all in vain. The air burned from friction as unrelenting assault met unyielding defense. She gritted her teeth. Somehow, the demon managed to bring up its guard. Even if only barely because of the missing finger.

"You've already lost this battle, Nephilim!" the demon mocked as he laughed behind the barrier.

"Don't get so full of yourself, demon!" she shot back, never backing down from a verbal battle like this.

"I'll love the look on your face when I do this!" with a sucking action with his mouth, nearby souls who hadn't crossed-over got sucked again into him, fuelling the hovering flame above his head, and repeating the healing process once again. He felt his cells being regenerated, but as he looked at his right arm…

"Lost your arm?" Fury inquired mockingly, enjoying the shocked expression on the demon's face. The severed arm remain a stump as if it was severely cauterized. 'This is good', she thought. This is really good.

A flick of her fingers and a rumbling sound echoed from behind her. At the same time, she began pounding with her fists at the invisible shield before her. Another rumbling later, and an uprooted stalactite flew from the edges towards the shield, colliding with it point first; rock colliding with magically-compressed air. She could feel the shield weaken at the contact point, and made her next move. Dashing backward a good distance, she dashed back, building momentum as she brought a fist then punching right at the rock's base with enough force to drive it further forward. But alas, the shield was still unyielding, and it was the rock that began to crumble from the force.

The demon laughed smugly. "As long as my hand is closed, you cannot even hope to break through to me, Nephilim! Ever!"

The rock completely crumbled to bits and a dust cloud formed in its former position, obscuring both their eyesight. She, however, don't need to see her opponent when his silhouette was quite visible before her. And that's all she needed.

From the corner of his eyes, a shadow darted from the dust cloud to his left. Upon instinct, he brought his shield to his left to guard his flank.

"Say what?" Fury spoke as she darted suddenly to the right, having used a decoy to draw his strong point away. Her grip on Justice was like earlier, only that her left hand held it palm-up and was lowered to her side.

"What!?" the demon's next word was lost in his throat as he felt pain on his right flank and chest. He looked down and discovered his chest and flank areas to be peppered by a hundred or so fiery tendrils from, when he followed it to its source, the Rider's whip. And one of them pierced his 'Soul Beacon', ruining it completely. The shield collapsed as his power waned, unable to replenish the energy he spent. He slowly slump down. "How did you…"

With a jerk, Fury pulled out the whip's tendrils off of the demon, retracted the fiery magic back into the weapon handle then slung it to the back of her waist. And yes, it's magic that was powering the whip, which she can use to cut, burn, pierce, clobber or restrain almost anything with it. That's what differentiate it from Death's Harvesters, War's Chaos Eater, and Strife's Mercy and Redemption; it suits her well and she's good with it.

She approached the demon, but careful not to get too close; it may be severely weakened, but she still hadn't dropped her guard as who knows what the demon may pull out of its sleeves. She watched and observed as the demon's body shuddered, apparently due to rage and exhaustion.

"How could you… How could you defeat someone as myself!?" the demon growled as it glared at her.

"I observed you… closely…" Fury said bluntly. "And add to that that I also tricked you. I had to strip away all your advantages over me, and I must admit that you're a tough one, I give you that".

"Why…" the demon growled low. Then broke into a roar, "why did I lose to a lowly Nephilim like you!?" with his remaining strength, he lunged at her, intending to rip her apart with his teeth and claws.

The Rider just sighed. With a quick movement, she crashed both palms together, and the shadows at the demon's flanks responded. A pair of toothed jaws emerged from the shadows and clamped shut around him, leaving no space for his arm to function save for his head. "Need I remind you… I am an agent of the Charred Council and enforcer of the Law. As an enforcer, I am hereby authorized to execute any and all those who tries to or have broken the Law. Be they the sons of Man, Lords of Heaven…" she narrowed her eyes as she met the demon's glare. "Or Princes of Hell… and I am good at my job."

"But how-"

"Because of hubris, you underestimated your opponent - me - thinking I'm only an insect to you. And that's the beginning of your downfall. You were so confident in your abilities that you even failed to differentiate a false body I made... I even thought you'd feel the difference when you had grasped my double, but no, you didn't see through it all. And yet you wondered how a 'lowly' Nephilim like me defeat you..."

A few meters away, the discarded blobs of black liquid started to move, pooling itself into one. It started to give off a chittering sound inaudible to normal hearing as it flowed forward. The Fallen's broken body lay just ahead. But instead of latching itself back, it divided into two, flowing around him then becoming one again at the other side and flowing away. No, it doesn't need a dying host. It needs a powerful one. Its pace quickens as it neared it intended host victim. The chittering grew louder as it closes in...

"You probably wondered why your arm never grew back, despite of that regenerative ability you took pride in. the answer is simple – your body right now is practically a mortal's and not the one you once had."

"What?!"

"For an intelligent Demon prince, you still miscalculated the possibility of you returning to your original body… your essence did returned your power and warped that body into your desired form but still, it still is basically a mortal's. Tsk… such an irony… you call the humans a pathetic and lowly race when you're practically one – a mortal."

The demon bellowed his cusses at this as he struggled to no avail.

Fury continued. "And you mock us Nephilims as being lowly. I give you this… it is true we were born with neither innate powers like demons, nor with supreme intelligence like the angels, but we do have our own strength. The charred Council recognized that strength when we made a deal with them. That strength is the void inside each and every one of us that take in anything to fill it up; we are basically sponges for power. And these powers are either granted to us…" she held out her right arm as she pulled off the fabric that wrapped around it, revealing runes glowing blood-red, branded into her pale skin. And it read EVLOS, meaning 'to come apart' in ancient demon tongue. "…or there for our taking."

The demon's eyes widened in a mixture of emotions raging inside him – surprise, shock, rage. "NO!"

"And we adapt to it rather quickly", Fury continued, ignoring the demon's outrage. Her lips curled in a smirk. "Or, a demonstration should suffice…" she trailed off and raised her right arm ready for a strike. The runes glowed brighter as the destructive power build up, which she then released in a diagonal strike…