God of Nothing

Aleph staggered back, almost flopping backwards in exhaustion. He was favoring his side now, his only remaining weapon hanging from his other hand. He raised the gauntlet once again, pointing it fist first at his adversary. It glowed a dim, non threatening blue.

"Just you? Have I killed everyone else?" A voice asked in mild disappointment. This Oblivion sounded feminine, but its body represented a new horror. She had a massive head, with several limbs sprouting out from below, like an octopus. Instead of tentacles, however, each appendage was that of a different animal. Through his exhaustion, Aleph discerned a lizard's tail, a long spindly leg like a spider, there was even a solitary wing with dirty feathers. He spotted the centipede tail once again, hidden among the random assortment of limbs, poking out its head that, this time, looked like a little girl. He simply sighed, not having the energy to react in any other way. He readjusted his visor before taking an even lower stance.

I was hoping for a weaker one to come out, but I can't afford to take any more chances. I need to finish this now.

As his last resort, he pulled the mana from Iona's visor, filling him with strength for what is hopefully the final clash. Oblivion cocked her massive head, puzzled at the sudden display of power.

"I sense Deceit's power coursing through you. Is she dead?"

Aleph paused, briefly looking back at the city he was supposedly protecting. It was covered in darkness, but through his visor he saw the flickers of magic within. Rayse? He hoped it was enough. That they both had enough.

The battles were almost at an end.

__________________________________

"Ugh! Krrrrkk!"

Rayse was held up by his throat, feebly struggling against Deceit. He rained blows down her arm, trying to batter it away. In his current state, he may as well have been striking a mountain. The smile never left the fiend's face. She giggled playfully, as if enjoying the sight of him.

"Now, now, child. I thought you'd be happy to see me." She floated back a couple of paces, leaving him floating a few feet off the ground. Shadowy hands held him in place, and the resistance he felt from his flailing was gone completely. It constricted him all the same though, and he was stuck in place as he floated after Deceit. She was walking around leisurely, skipping this way and that.

Rayse was transfixed. Rather, he was forced to watch this insane dance, all the while fretting for his friends' lives. Deceit stopped at last, sitting in midair, higher than even his floating self. He strained to look up at her as her eyes narrowed in mirth.

"Well? What do you think?" She asked.

"Wh-what…" He struggled to say, confused but terrified of what she could be asking.

"Oh, forgive me, child. I forget you humans struggle to see through the dark. Allow me to enlighten you." She blew a kiss at him, and then suddenly, all he could see was darkness. "Ahhhh!" Rayse screamed. The shadows rushed into his eyes, viciously entering him. His body twisted in agony, as his own hands clawed at his eyes just to stop the pain. He flopped down to the floor, rolling around in hopes of escaping the terrible pain inside his brain.

After what felt like eternity, Rayse felt something click. Still panting, he opened his eyes and saw the dirt on the ground below. He looked up at Deceit, seeing Kyrios in a clear but strange lens, as if he was looking through cloth. He saw that she had been sitting at the wall this whole time, cross legged and clearly relishing his anguish. She spread her arms wide as soon as their eyes met, as if to welcome him. She picked up something behind her and presented it to him, as if a child showing him something she was proud of.

"This is… No, this isn't happening…"

Atop the wall were a line of bodies, each one as grotesque as the next. To Rayse's crazed mind, he thought he could recognize every single one of them. Deceit dropped the one she was holding right in front of him, and the sickening crack that followed snapped Rayse fully into focus. Before him lay one of his squadmates, the body of Luna. He crawled towards her in despair, all but forcing his mana to come forth. A soft glow all over his hands was all he could manage, but no matter where he shone the light, Luna's features remained the same.

"N-no, this isn't real… Stop this!" He struggled to get up to the demon, but unfortunately, the shadows have returned to restrain him. It didn't stop him from trying, madly reaching out to Deceit, spittle flying as he cursed the demon with every ounce of his being. He mourned the twisted forms of his friends, crying through tears of blood.

"Hush, child. You've slipped through my hands far too many times for me to simply kill you. Thus–" Her smile turned manic, removing any semblance of beauty in her features. "I've killed all your friends, now you shall mourn them–"

Crack.

"One."

Crack.

"At."

Crack.

"A."

Crack.

"Time."

Each word accompanied a different corpse, all falling down in front of him. Each resounding crack echoed in his very soul.

Uwaaaaaa!

For a time, only Rayse's sobbing could be heard. Between his tears and the corpses' crippled forms, he could hardly recognize each. He strained to go towards their fallen forms, forming a dreadful knot in his heart that they were his friends. But alas, the shadows instead brought him up to his captor, the herald that ruined his life.

Deceit's smile was inhuman. Gone were her soft features, replaced by a ghastly mask, like if someone had died, frozen mid laughter. The creature turned to him, its face unmoving, but somehow still able to converse.

"Well? Do you like it? I made it just for you. kakakakakakakaka!"

Through tear filled eyes, watching the demon cackle in pleasure at his misery made something snap within Rayse. He furiously blinked away the tears, silently admonishing himself for losing control. He felt his thoughts washing away, thoughts of his master, friends, the squad, all the things he cared about pushed to the periphery…except one.

Thwip!

At that moment, an object whizzed by Rayse from below, piercing the herald right in the heart. The attack interrupted the spell that had taken hold of him, dropping him unceremoniously back on the ground. 

Rayse pulled himself up, eyeing the demon up on the wall. He fixated on the fell creature, from which he could hear a pained scream. 

"UWAAAAAAAK! WHO DARES!?"

The shadows came alive at her rage, thrashing around just like their master. A swarm of them escaped the wall, destroying everything in its path. Rayse opened his arms wide, welcoming the attack. Yes, he thought, this will do nicely.

The shadows parted as it reached him, pooling harmlessly around his limbs. He stared at it curiously for a second, before inhaling the entire thing. 

"Kaaaaak!"

Rayse almost passed out, but luckily the racking cough had prevented him from doing so. It was more painful than when the smoke entered his eye sockets, but he kept it down long enough to cast a spell.

"Berserk."

He felt the pain wash away as the curse activated. A tiny voice in his head reminded him that it will return threefold later, but he ignored it, focusing solely on Deceit. He looked around him to find anything to attack with, but he froze in place.

One of the balled up corpses had unfurled itself. She 'knelt' on the ground with all her limbs bent in unnatural angles. Her chest  spasmed and convulsed, making Rayse move to reach out to her.

Stop it. There's time for this later. We need to kill Deceit.

His feet somehow took him forward, deliberately walking past her body, when something warm came over his head.

"What's the hurry, kid?" She asked.

Rayse bit his lip, not trusting himself to answer. He didn't know how she survived being balled up like that, or even how she threw that spear, but they both knew she wasn't long for this world. The rational part of his brain said that he should attack now before Deceit recovers, but the hand on his head made it difficult to move, even with Berserk active.

"You're being reckless again. Luna's gonna freak out…"

"Sonia…Please, I have to–" Rayse's whole body began to tremble. The thoughts in his head were becoming increasingly hard to ignore.

"I know. That's why–" 

Squelch! He heard something sickening, and that was all he could stand. He made to turn, embrace his friend for one last time, but the hand on his head had him in a vice grip. He heard a soft clink as something hit his foot, making him look down at whatever it was.

"It's my mana heart. Pretty, huh? Cough, d-do you think you can do it with this?"

Rayse had a lump in his throat as he picked up the jewel. It was a large olive stone, warm, like the woman that had it.

"I-ll try."

"..."

He felt something heavy descend on his back, making him tremble with emotion. He sucked it up, finally turning to lay his friend down properly on the ground before giving Sonia one last look. He forced himself to focus on her smile, blinking away tears he had long thought had dried up. 

"Get some rest, Sonia. I'll be right back."

He turned away at last, looking back up at the demon he vowed to kill. The whimpering noises at the top of the tower had ceased, and instead, a menacing howling of the wind could be heard. The shadows had converged on the wounded Herald, scraping away at the stone past a certain radius.

"Valiant Leap." Rayse's body ballooned, growing in size as he wielded Sonia's magic. He scaled the multistory wall with a single jump, landing squarely in front of the ball of shadow. He held his hand out at it, coldly uttering a spell.

"Return." 

"Kyaaaaaaak!"

More of Deceit's screams accompanied the spear in his hand, giving him a sick pleasure. He could see Deceit through the shadows that surrounded her, twisting and morphing into a suitable form. He kept up his impassive mask as he took a stance, fully prepared to jump into the swirling mass of destruction if he had to.

"ILLUMINATE!"

He was just about to jump when he heard the call, chasing away the shadows, and even the night sky.

He looked up to see the sun, as bright and gleaming as the one he saw on Hios and even closer to boot. A figure dropped down beside him, wearing runic robes and accompanied by a floating mass of cracked orbs.

"Cover me, Rayse. We're ending this now."

Iona had recovered, and she was furious.