TESTAMENT XVI - THE BATTLES RAGED (PART II)

The Slayer hated interruptions in battle- yet he always found himself stopping to listen to those he cared little about. It was like a very courteous curse.

And so he inexplicably did the same here, standing for a moment as he waited for the pale-white demon to speak, though he kept his shotgun pointed at the Blood Maykr behind him.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh," The demon hissed. "Thaaaaaaaaannnnkkkkkk yyyooooouuuuuu."

The Slayer contemplated the presence before him. The aura of power radiating from the demon was almost overwhelming; Almost akin to that of the Icon of Sin.

"IIIIIIII haaaaaaaavvvvvveeeee bbbbuuuuuutttttt ooooooooonnnnneeeee rrreeeqqquueeeesssstttt…"

The Slayer waited intently to hear what this demon had to say, though he was becoming frustrated with how slowly the pale demon spoke.

"Kill me."

The demon released a huge sigh, as if it took too much effort to say that sentence quickly. The Slayer, meanwhile, was thoroughly perplexed by the demon's utterance. So perplexed, in fact, that he was momentarily interrupted from his thought process of murdering demons.

"Uggghhh." The demon groaned, which sounded like rasping metal on metal. "IIIII thhhooouuuuggghhhhttt yyyoooouuuuu wwwweeeeerrrreeee aaaaaa deeeeeemmmooonnnn sssllllaaaaayyyeeeerrrr. Sssssooooooo slllllaaaaaaayyyy mmmmeeeee."

Suspecting something was afoot, the Slayer quickly hopped backwards, onto the roof that the Blood Maykr was hovering on. The other demon was confused by his actions.

"Whhhhhhhaaaaaaattttt aaaaaaarrrrrreeee yyyooooouuuu-"

CRACK-SCHLICK-BANG!

In one second, the Slayer grabbed the Blood Maykr by its skull, slamming its alien face into the tiled roof they were standing on. Blood spurted out in every direction, but not before the Slayer then impaled the Maykr with the mandibles of his Super Shotgun and pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

The point-blank shot blew the Maykr's body to pieces, launching bloody chunks outwards; Blood splattered against his armor, which didn't bother him in the slightest; he hopped off the roof, walking up to the milky-white demon stewing in his own demonic liquid.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaammmmnnnn bbbbrrrrrooooo, dddiiiiiddd yyyoooouuuu hhaaaaavvvveeee ttttooooo ddddoooo hhhhiiiiiimmmmm llliiiiikkkkeeee tthhhhhaaaatttt?"

| WHY? |

"Whhhhyyyy? Whhhyyyyyyy whhhaaaaaaaatttt? Whhhyyy ddddoooo IIIII wwaaaaaannnntttt ttttoooo bbeeee kkiiilllleedddd?"

The demon sighed painfully slow.

"Mmmmmmuuuuuuusssstttt IIIIIII eeeexxxppplllaaaaaiiiinnnn?"

The silence of the Slayer only served to irritate the demon, who sighed once more.

"Fine, then."

Without any prior warning, he suddenly stood upright from the pool of black acid- his skin continually melted and regenerated, a sight that would have made any normal person vomit profusely. He turned to the Slayer, his black, beady eyes trained on him.

"This takes too much effort, so I will make it short."

He cracked his neck, which caused a giant plume of caustic steam to erupt from his pores, shooting out violently to the right- its force was so powerful that it completely annihilated the landscape it traveled on for miles. The Slayer remained silent and still, waiting for the demon to speak.

In all reality, he himself was not sure why he was allowing demons to speak in the first place. This annoying habit carried on from the other world, where he first met Charlie… and now, he was doing it here. And yet… there was something visceral within him, that compelled him to at least hear this demon out.

Of course, if he even showed a modicum of aggression, he would be slain.

"I am Sloth. One of the Seven Deadly Sins, summoned here by some fucknut that didn't get my permission."

As he continued speaking, he was constantly moving his joints, which continually sent plumes of that same smoke in many directions, tearing up the landscape. It greatly irritated the Slayer, but he took note of the sheer power this demon seemed to wield just by moving.

If the other Sins were like this, as well…

"Once we were summoned, this deity in the form of some tree monster came up to us, offering all of us great rewards and shit for helping him conquer this realm and all those beyond."

He turned his palms upwards, and black beams of concentrated energy erupted from his hands, shooting into the sky.

"I'm not doing this on purpose, I assure you. Anyways, I didn't bother accepting his reward; I just came directly to you."

He sighed, exhaling mustard gas, which spilled out onto the ground and spread along the landscape with unnatural quickness.

"As my name implies, I simply cannot be bothered with fighting in a big war where I will probably die anyways. I'd rather shed this physical body and return to my idle existence in my former realm. And there you have it."

He pointed at the Slayer.

"Now kill me."

SCHLICK!

The Slayer needed no convincing to plant the end of his Doomblade through the demon's head. The demon sighed in relief, casually taking a seat in the caustic black liquid pool once more, seemingly unbothered by the gaping hole in its head.

"Thank you, Slayer. Not all of us demons are out for blood. Sometimes, we just want to passively exist and enjoy our own place in life."

Those words resonated with the Slayer far more than he had expected. His thoughts immediately went to Charlie, Adams, Annie… those 'demons' with such human-like expressions and emotions…

"Oh, I should probably tell you." Sloth continued speaking, his body beginning to melt into the pool of acid. "You almost have all of your real enemies identified. However, there is a far greater threat than any of these demons you are soon to face."

Sloth pointed up towards the sky.

"He comes from the distant cosmos… a destroyer of worlds, killer of men, with no morals, no reasoning, no motives except to exterminate all life in the universe."

His beady eyes met the Slayer's once more, brimming with ominous energy.

"He is a butcher. And he has sensed the chaos in this world; He is on his way as we speak. Prepare for him as well as you can."

Sloth sighed more heavily this time, and the Slayer was starting to notice cracks appearing throughout the demon's body, a bright light emanating from the crevices.

"You may wonder why I am helping you as such. But Slayer…"

For the first time in a very long time, the Slayer was surprised- to see Sloth smiling purely.

"The Sins were borne from human emotions… we love humans as much as you do… even if it is for less righteous reasons. I hope you slay the others and save humanity once more."

That last statement set off alarms in the Slayer's head. How did this demon know of the Slayer's previous world?

"Oh, and you should probably start running. Once I fully crumble, I'm going to detonate with enough force to level this entire state-"

Before Sloth could finish his statement, however, the Slayer immediately ran backwards about 20 meters, much to Sloth's confusion. The air began to sizzle as the explosive energy within him emanated such heat that the ground around him was getting vaporized.

"Why did you stop, Slayer? Wait, why are you running towards me? What are you- WAIT, HOLD ON-"

Without warning, the Slayer dashed towards Sloth with such quickness that he momentarily broke the sound barrier-

CRACK- WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMPF!

Upon getting close enough, the Slayer dropkicked Sloth, angling towards the air-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Sloth screamed as he flew at several hundred miles per hour into the sky; The Slayer watched as his form slowly turned into a dot, then-

Bwooooooooom-

Sloth erupted into a massive explosion in the stratosphere, dispersing the clouds intensely and causing behemothic shockwaves to travel in every direction. After a few moments, the shockwaves hit the surrounding landscape, leveling buildings and terrain alike.

Once it passed, the Slayer took one more look towards the sky, ensuring that there would be no return of that thing. He looked back towards the ground, thinking of how odd that demon was.

How odd, indeed… he hoped the rest of the demons would be this easy to kill.

He was about to take back off to go and find any other demons in the area to exterminate, when he hesitated for a moment. For most of his life after the Argenta, he had worked by himself, with no need to directly coordinate with agencies such as the UAC and ARC. However, now he was working alongside others, who would look to him for leadership and direction.

It was his duty to inform them of what he had learned…

Staving his insatiable desire to slay demons, he turned on his heel and launched off the ground, heading back towards the main base to disseminate information.