Chapter 15
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters that appear in PoT. Perhaps, this story is from inspirations, from everywhere and anywhere, above and beyond.
Then, he saw it, an armful load of horns, Leviadon. He was going to conquer the one, thought the little ambitious angel and his power swelled.
His power swelled. Ryoma never knew he had an inert power. But it welled up like a rain filling up a wide denture in the ground, creating new water bodies, bringing forth new life. Ryoma's white wings unfurled out from behind him, preparing for battle. He gathered himself up, nothing as showy as Syusuke or as frightening as Seiichi. His sword materialised into form; Verity, it was called, for the strike slash true. Without a second word, Ryoma flew like a purposeful arrow, heading towards Leviadon.
Ryoma pierced, true as his sword.
Leviadon roared; his arm heavy but deadly swung at Ryoma who flew out of range, Verity still stuck in the demon. The other angels with Ryoma whipped out their weapons to attack Leviadon, leaving Ryoma to observe and wait for an opening.
He looked around him in the horror of a mess. Seiichi and his creatures busily chopped at the demons. To Ryoma, Seiichi looked like he was dancing as all the dark blood from the demon danced around him, his face unblemished by anything; his black robes too dark for anything to stain. The creatures had found teeth, claw and other unnameable body parts of demons to latch on and are causing damages left and right. Syusuke was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, a swirl of blue light erupted from behind stacks of rocks and boulders. Syusuke's form was like a deranged goddess, his brown hair streaked out behind him, his blue wings spanning the widest form and his face. Syusuke had a contorted face. It was full of agony and anger, full of revenge and hatred, beneath it all, pain.
"You! How dare you!" Syusuke rushed forward to attack Leviadon. All the other angels quickly scrambled out of his way as a surge of blue force hit Leviadon on the spot.
Ryoma flew a little higher and gasp. Babies. Leviadon had killed babies. Countless of them. They spanned the whole of the island, in the middle of an old crater. Ryoma assumed Leviadon had hidden the babies in a cave which Syusuke and his angels had found and blasted it apart. Ryoma looked; babies collected from all different parts of the earths. There were different skins and different forms of humans, different sizes but all had the same look. The look of innocence. Ryoma estimated the kill of hundreds and thousands; babies stack on babies like stones and rocks. What was Leviadon trying to call up?
A scream emitted from behind him, Ryoma turned in time to see Syusuke's body flying in his direction. Both landed in a heap on the ground; Leviadon loomed over them. Ryoma had his arms around the wounded Seraph; it came away coated in blood like Ryoma had dipped his hand in a bucketful. Leviadon threw a wet pile of… something onto the blue robes of Syusuke. On closer look, Ryoma thought it had looked like an organ… He looked down in front of Syusuke; a gaping hole was in front of him. That was a piece of his chest.
"Better luck next time, angel. It might be your heart next." Leviadon crackled. He raised his hands both his head and called out in demon tongue, rough and terrible. Ryoma heard a beating of drums. More demons had come.
Syusuke gasped and pressed a hand over his hole. He smiled weakly at Ryoma, "Was careless. Shouldn't have given him an opening." His eyes closed.
"Syu!" Ryoma cried.
Syusuke opened an eye, "Just kidding, so you do care!" Ryoma punched him slightly on the arm. Syusuke smiled, "I'll be fine, just unmovable. Need to heal first. I'm not a fan of seeing myself so nakedly." A glow shimmered in the hole; Ryoma could see thin fibres and whatever else angels are made of starting to knit together.
Ryoma left Syu. Seiichi and his angels looked like they were fighting a losing battle. Each angel had at least a dozen to fight with and even so, angels aren't omnipresent. He heard Seiichi cry out; a loose arrow caught him on the shoulder. Even he was getting tired. The number of demons the Seraph of Death left in his row was numerous but even he had his limits.
Leviadon had returned to the crater of babies and started chanting. The babies started to rise and float around like they had risen and wanted to play. Leviadon seemed to have gathered an army of babies. Ryoma scoffed, not that that was impressing. That's when the grounds started to open and all hell broke loose. Leviadon had brought forth hell on earth through the Millionths Bloods of the Innocence. Ryoma hurled himself at Leviadon.
Ryoma picked up a sword lying on the floor and flew towards Leviadon. He slashed and Leviadon ducked. Ryoma cut at Leviadon but the demon was smarter, older and he escaped all the blows. This time, the demon brandished his whip and fought down Ryoma's sword. The whips lashing at Ryoma, pulling his skin along and tearing it free. The harder Ryoma fought, the more it seemed that Leviadon had the upper hand. Ryoma feigned and managed to catch Leviadon on the arm but even so, the cut was not harming.
"Do try angel, see around you and try harder."
Ryoma sneaked a peek, a mistake but he caught no more than 10 wings. Leviadon took his inattention to blow hellfire out from his mouth. Ryoma caught sight of 5 fire-breathing serpents from within before he was flunked aside and hit a sharply-jaded rock. He hissed; that damn near hurts.
"I'll raise the Old Ones again and bring hell on earth. Then I will rule." Leviadon crackled once again and evil beings rose from the ground.
They were formless, the very formation of evil and damnation. They were hungry and angry; the sky turned red. The very first, Ryoma thought it looked like a slug but he thought maybe he was seeing things from the hit. But it was a really big slug. It oozed hell-breath and brought a tremble to the earth. It screamed and all the angels covered their ears, those unable to do so died instantly. The angels just writhed and screamed, then dissipated. An angel's death.
The slug rose into the air. Its voice boomed, "To other lands I've come to conquered, stuck in this form no longer!" Ryoma closed his eyes; it's over.
"What's this!" The slug was still around when Ryoma opened his eyes. "Leviadon, what spell had you cast! We had a deal!"
Leviadon cowered before the slug-lord, "I don't know what you are talking about… W-What?"
"Looking for this?" Sekehl appeared behind Leviadon, dangling a tiny pendant. Leviadon made a snatch for it.
"Nope! You have to catch me to get it!" Sekehl giggled and started prancing around Leviadon. Leviadon chased the demigod and Sekehl peeled off in laughter, dashing away. The other demigods had also appeared.
The female stared bored, "Sekehl, do spare a thought." She looked around and saw Ryoma, still dazed by the blast, "What in the world are you doing, angel? Quit sitting around! Sekehl had us all digging around for some blasted stone, I had thought all of those white gem were gone. Who knew the bastard had one left!"
"What white gem?"
"The one that allowed a release in the holed up power on this island? Angel, you need to read more."
"Oh."
"Enough!" The slug demon threw a blast at the female demigod.
"Want to dance, devil?" The female demigod had a smile on her face that brought a chill down Ryoma spine. The two parried and exchanged blows, neither one backing down. The other demigods smiled gleefully and launched themselves at the demons. It seemed like the party has just started.
"Who dared to start without Ore-sama?" Ryoma looked up and found that Keigo, Kunimitsu and Genichirou had all arrived. The Seraphs wasted no time in battle. Chivalry had arrived.
"Damn you Sekehl! Enough with the games!" Leviadon struck Sekehl with his hell-fire. The demigod had almost been burnt. Ryoma sighed; Sekehl really knows how to pick his games. Ryoma straightened himself up, it's time for the final battle.
He breathed, letting it all flow into him. What evil can contain him? Ryoma raised his hands above his head and drew in whatever he had into him. Evil cannot run amok. The places that he sworn to protect, the people and earths. All the angels that had been pulled into this mess; it had to be stopped. Ryoma filled up his presence and took in whatever he had and more. He started to glow white. Hot white. Like the hottest fire, the clearest of water, the being of spirit. He prayed really hard. He prayed for all evil to be contained once again. Then he released himself.
"No! Ryoma! Don't sacrifice yourself!" Genichirou's shout came a little too late, Ryoma thought.
Kunimitsu swerved around, cutting a demon's head off before rushing to Ryoma. He collapsed at mid-way; Ryoma had drawn energy from earth, the very element of Kunimitsu. Kunimitsu felt the earth cry and a part of his being wretched from him.
The ground groaned and shook, it shivered and then a vortex of power seemed to draw the creatures back. Even the slug demon had difficulty standing his feet. The female demigod smiled, "You know what, why don't you go home." And she lifted the demon with a flick of her fingers and gave a reddish-pink power ball to push the demon towards the crater. The slug screamed and shouted but it was still swallowed by the ground.
Halfway through the closing, Ryoma's light faltered. There was no more energy to be expended. Genichirou and Keigo quickly rushed to his aid and contributed theirs, contributing to the end of Ryoma. Ryoma's light died.
Keigo spluttered, "What! Why? Where's Ryoma?"
"Your angel is safe." There came a raspy voice. It was empty. It felt empty but it was a demon. Only a demon had such an aura. In fact, his aura was the essence of hell.
"Old ones, so free to come out and play? Never in your dreams again!" The being raised a hand that dragged all of evil back into the hole and the ground closed with a slam.
The Seraphs blinked.
"Brother, gracing us with your presence," Seiichi sneered. He looked battle-worn.
"And you, in rags. How apt."
Seiichi raised his creatures again. The being raised his.
"Sei?" asked Keigo.
"Meet the Lord of the Underworld, the Fallen One."
The being did a little mock curtsey. Once the darkness around him settled, the Seraphs could see that it did hold a pretty face that looked like the older version of Seiichi.