Deep within the Elf's Soul, Patry had chains of darkness wrapped around his wrists and ankles and was being pulled down into the abyss, the darkness that had corrupted his Soul. He was surprised that there was so much of it- hadn't Asta gotten rid of it all those years ago? This Patry was the part that was fighting back against all the darkness and hatred trying to consume him. As you could see, he wasn't doing so well. The Soul form grunted and struggled, fighting tooth and nail to break free. He had to stop the hatred's corrupting influence before it was too late- because this time, there was no Asta to save him. He needed to be strong enough to overcome this, for everyone's sake! "Heh, heh, It's really cute that you think you'll be strong enough to overcome me" a mocking voice called from out of the darkness. Strangely enough, it sounded like- his own voice? Footsteps were heard, and Patry looked around, still struggling to free himself, "who are you! Let me go!" the teenager demanded angrily. "Who am I?" the voice asked, before coming into view.
Patry's eyes widened in a mix of horror and confusion, "I'm your inner darkness Patry" the figure said, before it was revealed to be a Dark Elf, one that looked exactly like the 17-year old Patry. "What? what is this? You- you can't be here, I've never been a Dark Elf!" the white-haired boy exclaimed, completely overwhelmed. "Maybe you were never corrupted by that sick bastard, but you still have plenty of hatred for him inside you- where do you think I came from? Everything I am, comes from you" Dark Patry replied. "N-no I don't! I-I, you're the only mass of hatred inside me!" the Light Mage exclaimed, panic briefly overtaking him. The physical manifestation of hate glared furiously at his "light half" "THAT'S ONLY WHAT YOU WANT TO BELIEVE! YOU HATE THAT DEVIL SO MUCH, BUT YOU REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT! YOU REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE ME! YOU DENY ANY SIGN OF DARK EMOTIONS INSIDE YOU, PUSHING THEM AWAY, LETTING THEM BUILD UP UNTIL IT OVERWHELMS YOU! BUT I EXIST! I'M THE PART OF YOU THAT HAS TO DEAL WITH EVERYTHING YOU WON'T!"
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH AGONY AND SUFFERING I'VE HAD TO ENDURE SINCE I FIRST BECAME AWARE! 8 YEARS AGO, I FIRST BECAME AWARE OF THE WORLD, ONLY DUE TO THE INTENSE HATRED THAT YOU FELT FOR ZAGRED ONCE YOU REALISED THAT EVERYONE YOU'D EVER LOVED, EVERYONE I'D EVER LOVED WAS MURDERED BY THE DEVIL WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE DESTROYED FOR GOOD! EVER SINCE THEN, MY ENTIRE EXISTANCE HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT PAIN HATRED, RAGE, GREIF, GUILT- EVERY SECONED HAS BEEN OVERWHELED BY CONSTANT SUFFERING!" then the personification of negative emotions calmed from his rage, but the sick twisted grin on his face never left. "That Devil is the reason I exist. I want my revenge on him. I'll destroy him completely, but before I do, I'll make him suffer like he made me suffer, like he made our people suffer! But to do that, I need a body. Your body. Now, you will give me control of your body so that I can avenge our people. As a Dark Elf, my Demon Light Magic will be able to destroy that monster. Once I have, I won't have a reason to exist anymore. So, what do you say? Will you let me borrow your body in order to get my revenge?"
Patry looked nervous, "But the last time I got consumed by hatred and turned into a Dark Elf, I, or the alternate me went on a murderous rampage. How can I be sure that you won't lose control of yourself and accidentally kill an innocent bystander, or even one of my friends from this time unintentionally? I can't take that chance, I may want Zagred to die, but relying on my hatred and rage for power would make me just as bad as that Devil when he corrupted me! So I can't let you take over my body!" the teenage Elf replied. Dark Patry smirked cruelly, "really? Then I'll just have to take it by force!" the force of hatred cried madly. Suddenly the chains entrapping the Light Mage melted away, and the world around them morphed from darkness to a scene with familiar and unfamiliar figures. But despite that, Patry could easily recognise who they all were. They all had white hair and pointy ears. Elves. They were all Elves. The Light Mage's eyes widened, "this is-" Patry breathed, realisation dawning as terror filled him, "No! please, don't make me watch this! I don't want to watch the massacre!" he begged, shaking his head. "Too bad, if you weren't so weak, maybe you could have protected everyone instead of abandoning them to die!" Dark Patry cried. "But I didn't! I gave my life to protect Yuno! If I could have saved him and lived, I would have! Please, don't do this to me!" the terrified Elf pleaded.
"I agonised over this, why shouldn't you suffer the same thing!" the Dark Elf screamed furiously. A giant Light Magic Spell appeared over the Village, before spears of light rained down, screams saturated the air, so loud that nothing else could be heard. Blood coated the ground, bodies of Elves fell in rapid succession, "STOP IT! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME WATCH THEM DIE!" Patry screamed as he struggled to keep from being overwhelmed, but the pain in his heart grew stronger with every body that fell. Tears streamed uncontrollably down the Elf's face, as he gripped his chest with one hand and his head with the other. The Light Mage tried to fight the agony, but, slowly and surly, Patry felt his Soul begin to fill up with despair. "MAMA! PAPA!" The sound of the voice and the terror within it immediately caused Patry's head to snap towards the sound. What he saw froze him with desperate fear, "YUNO!" the Elf screamed when he saw the half-Elf looking around for his parents with tears in his eyes, frozen with horror at all the death around him.
"NO! NOT YUNO, PLEASE!" Patry screamed, desperately trying to go to the boy, "HE'S MY BABY BROTHER, PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU, DON'T TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME! LET ME PROTECT HIM! I HAVE TO!" the teenage Elf reached for the boy, but his legs refused to move, "PLEASE! NOT HIM! I CAN'T WATCH HIM DIE!" the Light Mage cried. "Well, he did die, didn't he? You weren't there to protect him" The metaphysical personification of hate taunted cruelly. Patry sobbed, trembling. "MAMA!" Yuno screamed at the same time as his Father: "TETTIA!" Licht cried in horror as he saw his Wife cut down right in front of him. "NOOOO! STOP IT PLEASE! I CAN'T TAKE IT!" Patry begged. "BIG BROTHER! PLEASE! YOU PROMISED YOU'D ALWAYS BE HERE TO PROTECT ME!" Yuno begged, crying in fear, the 7-year-old overwhelmed by all the pain and death around him. He was far too young to handle anything like this, body frozen in pure horror. "No! Yuno run! You have to get out of here, I can't watch you die!" Patry screamed. Suddenly, a spear of Light shot right through Yuno's chest, making the 16-year-old choke on his breath. He watched with his eyes filled with horrified tears, this couldn't be real.
"Oh but it is. There's nothing you can do, Yuno died hundreds of years ago. He died, all alone and scared. And now- you get to watch him die as well" the Dark Elf whispered evilly, as Patry clutched his head in his hands, entire body trembling, tears streaming down his face in his uncontrollable sobbing. As Yuno lay face down on the ground, head staring blindly at the spot where Patry stood shaking violently, "big brother," he whispered weakly, "you- promised," Yuno sobbed, "you, promised- that you'd always, b-be there to, p-protect me. But you- lied" the young Half-Elf whimpered before the life left his eyes and he fell still. Patry stared silently at the body of his younger brother. Legs trembling, the Light Mage fell to his hands and knees, gasping with agony, before he screamed in utter despair. He couldn't take it, and the broken boy felt a horrible and unbearable pain spreading from his heart and throughout his entire body. Looking down, Patry's eyes widened as he found his skin turning grey. "No stop! Please, I don't want to! Don't turn me into a monster! I don't want to hurt anyone like my alternate self did!" he begged, as the corruption spread further, "Julius! William! Licht, someone, please, help me!"
"Heh, I always knew you were too weak." Dark Patry chuckled, before turning to look behind himself, "let's see what's happening over here" he said mockingly as the rain of Light Spears finally stopped. Suddenly the two of them were in front of Licht, who was kneeling on the ground and cradling the body of his Wife in his arms. Zagred's Soul hovered in the air next to him, as his formerly Four-Leaf Clover, the Clover of which had turned into a black Five-Leaf Clover. "Oh God, Licht, no" Patry whimpered, corruption still spreading. King Lemiel and Secre arrived in a flash of golden Light Magic, "no, why? We- we, stopped it. This, wasn't s-supposed to happen" he muttered, face showing his absolute horror as well as the amount of emotional agony he was in. Patry watched, unable to look away, corruption slowly spreading up his neck. "I'm sorry. I- couldn't protect them this time either" Licht said softly, looking up at his Brother, "the Devil escaped Lemiel- the other half of his Soul got away, and none of us even thought about it. And now, because of our failure, everything we worked so hard to change, was all for nothing" he explained sorrowfully. Zagred cackled, "you fools. You actually thought you had destroyed me! But you only destroyed half of my Soul. I was biding my time, waiting until I could return to the level of power I had possessed before I had split my Soul in two! Arrogant, pathetic mortals like you could never truly destroy me! And now, you shall pay for your failure. Oh wait, no, you already did!" he mocked, before cackling again.
Lemiel glared furiously at the bastard. "Now, I will finally get a new body and my precious Five-Leaf Grimoire as well!" he cried gleefully, attempting to enter Licht's body, but a bright light pushed him back, "what!?" Zagred cried in shock. "NO! Licht, stop it! don't do this! You can't!" The human King cried in horror, instantly recognising what his brother was doing, as the Magic Stones that Licht had kept on his person for safe keeping since the Devil's first attempt to possess Patry were glowing. He had had a feeling that things weren't as over as everyone, even Bethany had thought. And now, his worst fears had come to light. Patry couldn't speak, he simply continued to stare at the scene in front of him, gasping for breath as his Dark Elf transformation continued to corrupt him. Tears streamed down Licht's face at the amount of agonising pain in his heart, tearing it to pieces inside his chest, "I'm truly sorry Brother, I know I promised you that you would never have to do this, but I can't stop that Devil from possessing me any other way-" he began, before being cut off by a desperate Lemiel, "please! Don't do this Licht! You have to stop now, before it's too late! Please!" the Light Mage begged desperately.
"This is the only thing we can do. Please Lemiel. You're my Best Friend, my brother. I have to do this. Please, I'm begging you-" Licht's voice trembled as his emotions overwhelmed him. Then light exploded from the stones, the three rings of the Forbidden Magic Spell appeared overhead in the sky and explosions rang out. As he watched Licht's Demon Form appear from the smoke, tears streamed down Patry's face for an entirely different reason, "Kill me" he pleaded desperately.
Black Clover
The 17-year-old Elf watched with wide eyes as Demon!Licht flew off towards the Royal City of the Clover Kingdom. He was still trembling, but watching Licht sacrifice himself this time had, instead of breaking his Spirit, had ignited a fierce determination inside him. Patry clenched his teeth, "Licht, Licht just lost everything. His heart was shattered into pieces and he was in agonising pain. But even with all of that, he never stopped fighting, never allowed his heart to be corrupted. He sacrificed himself to protect everyone else. So I-" he grit his teeth, face screwing up in intense concentration, "have to fight as hard as I can too!" Patry growled, struggling with the overwhelming hatred that was trying to consume him, "I- will never, give up! Not as long as I have people that need me!" he cried, managing to force the corruption to slow a bit.
"Heh, that's it? that's the extent of your 'strength'?" Dark Patry mocked, as the teenage Elf struggled to push the hatred back, "you're all alone! Everyone you've ever loved, everyone we've ever loved is dead! Just give up and let me avenge them!" he screamed, frustrated with the other's resistance. Suddenly, between one blink and the next, William appeared in front of the manifestation of dark feelings and went to punch him, but Dark Patry dodged in a streak of black light. The destroyed scene around them melted away until the three of them were back in Patry's mind again, and the Dark Elf smirked, "awe, if it isn't the human trash that nobody wanted. Stay out of the way boy, this is between me and him" he warned. "William, *groan* wh-what are you doing here!? You have to get out!" Patry demanded, the darkness corrupting him further and causing him to groan in both pain and fear, "p-please! He'll kill you!" the teenage Elf begged. "I won't leave you here to suffer Patry. I was so alone when I was younger. I thought I'd never have a proper home, let alone a real family. But then I met you, and everything changed.
We became friends, and even though I was still suffering, I wasn't alone anymore. As time went on, things started to change for the better. We met Julius, and he gave us a home, took care of us, loved us both equally. And you. After everything we went through, you became my most precious person Patry." Here he turned and smiled, looking truly happy, "you became my Big Brother" William explained. Patry sobbed in both joy and pain. He'd just gained another little brother after losing his old one, and now he was about to lose William too, again, not being able to do anything to protect him. "That's why, no matter how powerful he is, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. This time- I'll be the one to protect you!" the human exclaimed. "Heh, well, this is unexpected, but still no less of a good thing. You see if I kill you, it'll push my stubborn other half into complete despair. When that happens, I'll be able to take over his body and complete my revenge. So thanks human, because of you, your 'precious big brother' is doomed!" the Dark Elf cried, attacking both boys, "Demon Light Magic: Ray of Divine Punishment!"
"WILLIAM NOOOOOOOO!" Patry screamed, shutting his eyes as the attack came close enough to destroy both of them completely…
To Be Continued