Akira

As Deadrin began to speak, I finally realized that there was also blood coming from his leg. He clearly had been wounded during his fight against whatever creatures attacked him. I couldn't really tell what said creatures were due to disfigured and bloody the corpses, or at least what was left of them, were. I felt a slight relief however, when I noticed that Deadrin, being the smart and well-prepared bastard that he was, had already taken a few actions about that problem. He had already made a basic-level curative and placed it on the wound. I then heard what Deadrin told me about culprints behind the attack. His info matched almost perfectly with what Igna had told me before our battle. The only part that I didn't know what about the cultist "I see... so those fuckers are still going after us despite the fact that we destroyed their little mantion while taking down dozens of them in the process huh?" I sighed and shook my head in annoyance while calmly approaching Deadrin and offering him my hand to help him up "And to top it all of they think that killing you will bring their God back? Talk about stupid" I honestly also wanted to say something like 'See? I told you Gods only bring trouble!', but I decided to simply focus on helping Deadrin and getting the mineral we were looking for as soon as possible so we could get the hell out from that cave.

Dragon slayer

Kin Slayer

Soma watched closely and calmly as the very world around began to dissapear before slowly but surely taking a new form. Obviously, Soma wasn't in his ffice anymore. The new location he currently found himself into seemed to be a reconstruction or simulation of the Patriot's Park, and a prtty damn good one at that. Even though, Soma wasn't exactly the kind of person to frequent said park often, he could tell that he hadn't been teleported to the actual Patriot's Park for one simple reason: people. Contrary to the actual park, this one was completely empty, aside from Soma himself that is. Almost like some sort of ghost town. After a few silent moments lokking around the area and visually analyzing it, Soma's attention was taken by sound coming out of his Arm Computer. A screen was displayed in front of him, giving him the option to change the scenario if he so desired, but Soma simply chose to don't change it "Skip" he said. The screen then changed and displayed a message telling Soma that his appearance had changed. Soma took a look at his clothes and noticed that message was correct, he was now wearing black jeans pant with a small chain attached to the back of his hips, a white T-shirt with a light brown symbol of what seemed to be crossed swords, white shoes and a black leather jacket with a hood covering his head. Soma barely had time to process his new clothes, which liked quite a bit by the way, before the sceen changed once again and displayed some stats, very similar to the shooting games Soma uses to play in the rare occasions in which he has some free time for himself. It was displaying a main weapon slot, which was filled with was seemed to be a pair of very cool looking hand cannons, some stats such as fire rate, damage, reload speed, etc; and a area dedicated to a skill tree. After the man had glanced through said screen, it dissapeared right before a enormous treasure chest like object suddenly appeared in front of him. Then, Soma's Arm Computer began to emit a noise. When Soma checked it, he noticed it was call from someone. The weird part was that there was no number or ID displayed on the screen. Being the cautious person that he is, Soma didn't want to answer the call, however, he didn't really know what was going on or how to actually get out of this simulation by himself. Without options, he decided to take the call "Hello?" the voice from whoever was on the other side of the call seemed to be of a young male person. His voice tone was very formal and he presented himself as an AI who was there to help Soma. The AI then asked Soma to beck off a bit so he could break out of the treasure chest. Without taking his eyes from the giant object, Soma did as he was asked and took a few steps backs until he was about two meters aways from said thing. Soon, a diagonal cut was made from the inside of the chest, causing it so dissipate not long after. From there, the AI's form was finally revealed. It looked like some sort of knight, with shiny armor and sword included. Once the 'dust had settled' so the speak, Soma approached the figure with his usual calm expression on his face "If you are here to help me, then how about you begin by explaining why I was called to this place?" he asked in cold tone.

At the very last second before my aggressor could touch me, my instincts led me to roll to the side, avoiding the attack. I then immediatly activated my Soul Eye and dispersed the Wrathful Flames in my left hand, since my Soul Eye would allow me to see in the dark. It didn't give me a perfect night vision, but it was enough. My enemie then began to fire some projectiles made of what seemed to be a white silk. *A spider...?* I thought to myself as I dodged the projectiles. I then manifested The Evil One on my right hand and prepared myself for the next attack. To my surprised however, what happened next was... "Stop!" a mysterious voice commanded from the darkness. The creatures seemed to stop attacking me and I quickly turned my attention to the owner of the voice. It was a woman with long red hair and an average body build. She was wearing very short and provocative clothes. "Idiots, I said to wait for my signal before attacking." She scolded the creatures while creating a few small balls of fire and her and making them float in the cave's chamber we currently found ourselfs into, lighting up the area and revealing the other creatures behind her. They were all humaniod, but considerably bigger than a average person and with a few differences. One had a very thin and small body covered in what seemed to be metalic spikes. Other had the lower half of his body replaced with the one of a scorpion, stinger included, and his hands were also replaced by scorpion's claws. A third one had his entire body transformed in grey rocks. The last one was a woman whose lower hald had been replaced with the one of a spider and the tip of her spider legs were sharp as spears. Her long black hair was covering her breasts and she had eight red eyes instead of two normal human eyes. "Who the hell are all of you?" I asked in a cold voice tone. "You can call me Igna and me and my companions are here to capture you." "Wow... how suble..." I responded in a sarcastic way "I wouldn't do anything stupid in your situation, as you can see, we have transcended our puny humanity and tranformed into powerful monsters. That said, I do have a different proposition for you..." she said in a seductive tone and began to slowly approach me "You see, this doesn't need to be unpleasant. I was thinking that maybe I could... persuade you to come with us without a fight" She was clearly confident in her seductive skills, she approached me even move and slowly traced one of her fingers in my right cheek. I honestly feeling desgusted by her false acting, but I also took it as an opportunity to get some information from her "Oh, really? And why exactly are you so interested in me?" I asked, pretending to be interested in her proposal "Well, I can tell that there is more to you than meets the eye. Plus, your friend's skills as a blacksmith are no short than legendary, from what I've heard as least. With weapons made by him, we could do anything we wanted to. Maybe even take over the kingdom. What do you think dear?" She asked before she seductively placed her hand on my cheeck, waiting for my response. I stood in silence for a few moments, Igna thought I was considering her proposal, but I was simply processing all the info she just gave me. *So they are after Deadrin huh? Then it seems I'll have to break this guys* I dispersed the The Evil One and placed my right hand over Igna's to give her the impression I was about to say yes. She giggled a bit, thinking herself to be victorious. Unfortunately for her however, I wasn't planning on accepting in the first place. To her surprise, I suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled it towards me firmly before conecting a powerfull kick to her gut that sent her flying until she colided with the wall. The impact was strong enough to leave a small hole in the area. "Yeah, sorry to dissapoint you, but I am not the kind of guy who back stabbs his friends" I quickly manifested The Evil One in my right hand once again and got ready for the battle. Out of the blue, I knew that I would have to be careful. Simply firing my chains without thinking could lead to the tips hitting the walls or roof, causing more boulders to fall on my head and possibly cause another collapse. The same goes for most attacks using the Wrathful Flame, since it has a very high destructive potential. "Aaaagh! YOU BASTARD!" Igna shouted at me with clear pain and anger taking over her. "Screw the mission! Just Kill him!" (Alright, the fight is about to begin. Since I am still experimenting with adding songs to my bigger posts, I thought I could do it again. Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ4GQSyMNEM Obviously, hearing the song is optional. Let me know if you liked it. Enjoy!) The other monsters didn't think twich before jumping at me. My priority was to take down the scorpion monster first since his poisonous stinger was the biggest threat at the moment. The spider creature quickly climbed the walls and reached the ceiling. From there, she kept trying to hit me with silk shots. The rock person somehow sank on the solid cavernous floor as if it was made of water, and the scorpion man and the spikey creature simply rushed at me. With my superhuman speed I didn't have much trouble dodging and blocking the spike and claw attacks. My main focus was to keep my distance from the poisonous scorpion sting. Igna didn't stay out of the action for long, though. The balls of fire that were floating in the air where one by one flying in my direction and trying to hit me. Having to deal with so many different attacks at the same time made hard for me focus on coming up with a plan. For now at least, I would have to keep my defenses up and strike when I get an opportunity to do so. However, after a few moments the spider girl was finally able to hit me with one of her shots. The sticky silk got my left foot and stuck it to the ground. Noticing the opportunity, the scorpion man stretched his tail in an attempt to sting me. I dodged his attack by a hair and maneged to cut off half of his tail with my sword, causing him groan loudly in pain and agony as he took a few steps away. Giving me some breathing room. It wouldn't last long, though. Both the spiky creature and the rock one chaged at me at the same time, but from different directions. While the hedgehog jumped to attack from above, the rock man emerged from one of the cave's walls as if it was liquid and launched himself at me with incredible speed. That gave me an idea. Since my movements were still a bit restrained, I wouldn't be able to dodge both. I dispersed my weapon's sheath so I could use both hands on my sword, basically increasing my strike force by two and also increasing my control over how much strengh I would use on my strikes so I could avoid damaging the cave with my attacks. With a single and frm swing from my blade I slashed the hedgohog vertically in half, needless to say, spilling almost all of his blood over me and killing him instantly. The rock monster on the other hand, maneged to punch me in the back, causing me to groan in pain. His strike was powerful enough to get me unstuck from the spider's silk and send me flying for a few about a meter. I rolled on the ground a few times before I maneged to stop myself and get up. "Ok, I'll admit... that one was a bit painful." The stone creature once again dove into the ground, clearly preparing himself to attack again. Once again I got myself some breathing room. My back was hurting a bit due to the attack I had just recieved, but I would have to worry about that later. The scorpion man was once again charging at me, after all, he still had his claws. The spider lady was also shooting her silk at me again. Now that I had less enemies to worry about I could easily dodge and block my enemie's attacks while also conter attacking. I maneged to make a few clean cuts on the scorpion monster's body, causing him to stumble a bit, which gave me an openning to puch him in the face and push him back a few meters. I then grabbed the severed scorpion sting that was still on the ground and threw it at the spider lady. Due to how big she was and how fast the projectile was moving I got a clean hit right in her abdomen. The poison quickly took effect and caused her to lose her strenght, however, on the last second before se fell from the roof she positioned herself right above me so she could fall over me with the tips of her sharp spider legs pointing down. She was clearly planning on killing me with her legs. The other ones, asside from Igna, were charging at me again. The scorpion from the right and the rock monster from the left. It was then that I remembered my dream from before the incident with the Cloaked Harvester. I wasn't sure if it really was related with the rune I acquired at the mansion, but that was as good time as any to test it. I allowed some energy to flow through my right hand, causing a slight grey shine to emanate from it "Tempus-Tarda!" I said with a firm voice while looking at the spider lady falling down. A glowy aura immediately surrounded her and reached a state of almost complete stasis in the air, she was stopped when she was about two meters from the ground. With that done, I quickly focused on my other enemies. I dashed towards the rock monster while also avoiding the scorpion's attack. I dodged the puch that the boulder creature tryed to throw at me and grabbed his face with my right hand. Igna decided to take a more active role in the fight and fired a big fire ball at me. Noticing that, I threw the boulder man at her. He collided with the fire projectile and destroyed it, but it didn't seem to make much effect on him. Igna jumped to the side and maneged to avoid getting hit by the living projectile I threw at her, causing said projectile to hit the wall. However, upon making contact with the hard surface, he immediatly submerged himself in the walls again. I jumped back a few times to get some more distance between me and the others. Thanks to my Soul Eye I was able to track the soul moving within the ground. Once I noticed he was about to emerge again to attack me, I dashed backwards just in the right time to avoid him. I waited until he was completely out and punched him in the stomach with enough strenght to impale him with my right arm, causing to scream loudly in agony. "Predictable" I said in a dissapointing tone as I lifted him up just above my head and placed my free hand on the hole in his body before pulling my arms in opposite directions and ripping the creature in two. Killing him and cousing even more blood to fall on my clothes, but I couldn't think about that now. I was now focused on the scorpion. Igna was too horrified by what she just saw to fight me at the moment. The scorpion was too irracional to do so. Now that I had way less enemies to deal with, I could take on a more offensive approach. I manifested The Evil One's sheath once again and grabbed it with my left hand. I charged at the sorpion and, as he tried to counter-attack me with one of his claws, I used one of my special techniques to strike him "Quick-Draw Style: Slash Flash!" in what seemed to be a single swing from my shord for everyone else but me, I dismembered both of the scorpion man's arms. He screamed loudly in pain and agony, but to my surprise, he was actually able fight through the pain and seemingly calm himself a bit. He still had the look of a warrior in his eyes and seemed determined to keep going. I couldn't believe on what I was seeing "Are you seriously planning on keep fighting me? I mean... I like your determination, but you can't possibly fight anymore. You've been completely..." I then picked up both of his severed arms from the ground "..dis-armed" I said in playful tone while shaking his arms around. My enemy didn't give up however, and rushed at me one last time while shouting at the top of his lungs. I simply sighed in response and charged at him as well. I used one of the sharp scorpion claws I was holding and pierced his skull with it, quickly finishing off the creature. I then turned towards Igna, who was cowering in fear near one of the cave's walls "N-no, s-stay back!" the fear in her voice was clear as I dissipated The Evil One, since it wasn't necessary anymore, and began to slowly but surely approach her. She dispersed the small fire balls there were lighting the chamber we were in and concentrated them in a single and powerful fire barrage, which she simply kept on using against me despite how clearly useless it was.I didn't even bother to get out of the way of her attack, since it wasn't hurting me in the slightest. I eventually reached her and grabbed her by the neck with my right hand, causing her to give into her fear completely and cease her attack. "W-w-what the hell are you?!" she asked in despair "...a true monster" I replied in a cold tone before breaking her neck with my hand and tosing her dead body to the side. "Well, that was fun" I said to myself in a ironic tone before taking a few deep breaths to calm my mind. Eventually, my mind got calm enough again to allow Odium to talk to me *Hey, mind telling me when did you learn that 'Tempus-Tarda' thing?* *Hm? oh, I heard that in a crazy dream I had recently and thought it was worth giving it a shot* It was then that I remembered that the spider lady was still in stasis, she hadn't moved an inch ever since I used my new-found power on her. I then looked at her and began to think on what to do next *So, how are you going to deal with her?* Odium asked *Hmmm... well, I could simply stab her skull with my sword, but I think I could add some... je ne sais quoi, you know?* I replied with a devilish smile on my face, causing Odium to chuckle in response *Well then, surprise me kid* I summoned The Evil One again and jumped towards the floating spider lady. With a few precise swings I chopped off all of her long and sharp spider legs. The severed limbs didn't fall however, there wasn't even blood coming out of them. I then proceeded to position the sharp tips of the legs upwards and right under the spider lady's abdomen. I backed of and began to focus some energy through my right hand again, giving me a slight tingle sensation in my right hand and causing the glow to fade, both from me and from the spider lady, who fell to the ground and got impaled by all of her eight legs, spreading blood everywhere. She screamed loudly due to the insane amout of pain, in fact, it reached such a hight level that she eventually passed out even before dying. I simply watched it all happening until I was sure she was dead. *So, what do you think?* *Heh, ok I'll admit, you got some good talent for modern art*. I then dispersed my sword one last time and kept on exploring the cave looking for Deadrin. I didn't bother much with the mineral now that I knew that there was someone going after my friend. This time however, I wasn't using my Wrathful Flame as torch, instead I was using my Soul Eye, not only because it allowed me to see considerably better in the dark, but also because it allowed me to see the souls of any living creature nearby, even through the wall if it was close enough. If Deadrin's soul was nearby, I would see it. After a few more minutes exploring the cave I was finally able to catch a glimpse of Deadrin's soul, I didn't think twice before rushing towards it. When I reached the area I felt relief upon seeing that my friend was okay. "Deadrin! I finally found-" I began to speak with a relieved tone before noticing the blood and dead bodies on the ground "So you were attacked too huh?"

I was about to begin slashing my way through the pile of rocks when I suddenly heard Deadrin's voice inside my head, causing me to come to a complete stop. Needless to say, I was confused as hell at that moment. Not only did Deadrin's voice simply pop in my mind and began to talk to me, but I also began to feel a very weird sensation. Somenthing that I had only experienced during a few and very selective moments of my life, I felt as if my mind was heavy. As if there there was some sort of mysterious force being applied to it. The only times in my life in which I had felt that sensation was when I was dealing with psychic beings. That only happened once or twice before, but there was no mistaking on that feeling, even though they were much much weaker than the one I was feeling at that moment. At first I didn't trust that voice very much since, for all I knew, it could very well be someone trying to mess with me and lead me to abbandon my friend during a very possible hour of need. However, not only was the voice tone exactly like Deadrin's, but also the way of speaking. The firm and ellaborated words. It was simply too much like him. I felt a brief sensation of relief when the voice that I now believed to Deadrin's said that he was okay. Without many options, I decided to do as 'Deadrin' intructed me to. "Deadrin, I'll go through the opening we saw a few meters back ok?" With that said, I did as I said I would and turned back, heading for the passage. *Are you sure this is a good idea?* Asked Odium *We can't be sure if that voice was really Deadrin or not* *I know, but in any case that voice was right. If I had destroyed those rocks I would have simply caused more to fall down over our heads. Right now, finding an alternative route is our only option* I quickly reached the opening and went though it. There wasn't much to be looked at. It was just like the rest of the cave so far and there were also no signs of the mineral we were looking for. Without any other options, I simply kept on making my way through it. Eventually I reached a very curious area. It was like a very big chamber that seemed to be about 15 meters both in hight and width instead of a tight tunnel like it had been so far. I assumed that area got like that because it had been mined until it reached that point. I continued to walk though it as normal. What I didn't notice, at least at first, were the eyes at the roof of the cave. They were very fixed on me, as predator analysing it's prey. One of the creatures that was stalking me decided to take the iniciative and jump at me, aiming at my back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwY84Fg4NsM (Skip to the 0:40 mark) <==To be continued...==

I couldn't help but to feel some level of relief when I heard Deadrin's voice coming from the other side of the big pile of rocks, sice that meant that he was alive at the very least. That said, his voice was muffled and, combined with the fact that I could still hear some vibrations coming from a few meters behind me, made it almost impossible for me to actually understand what my friend was saying. As far as I knew he could be partially stuck under the rocks or very wounded if not both. I wanted to make sure my friend was alright. "I can't understand what you are telling me. Hang on, I'll try to cut through a few of this rocks and open the way" It was a dumb idea to try and simply destroy more stuff inside the cave after what had just happened and under most circunstances I would be able to reach that conclusion by myself, but at that moment I wasn't thinking straight. The only thing going through my mind was to help Deadrin and ensure he was okay. I took a few steps back and manifested the Evil One on my rigt hand. I positioned myself in preparation to unleash an attack strong enough to destroy a few rocks. I was determined to open a way through them.

I followed Deadrin through the deepts of the dark cave with my left hand lit in Wrathful Flames to serve me as a torch. There were a few really narrow passages that forced the both of us squeeze our way to get passed. It was more annoying than troublesome really. It was also a good thing that I didn't require any special equipment in there, since it made moving around the area much faster and easier for me. Deadrin didn't seem to be having any problems with it as well, which wasn't really surprising for me, since he said that he had explored caves in the past. There were a few cases in which we had encountered a few bats sleeping in the rocky ceeling of the cave. I took it as a good sign. If bat were living there, that means that is unlikely for us to find any dangerous predator inside, like a dragon or a basilisk. We then reached a considerably sized lip. I watched as Deadrin took the iniciative and decended first. After he attached his hook to the ground he began to go down. I stayed near the rook just in case. If it had detached by accident, I would have held it. Thankfully that didn't happen. It was my turn to go down now. I created a small portal over my right hand and fired it at the ground with just enough force to make the tip pierce through the rocky ground. I gave chain a few pulls to ensure it was firm enough. I then began to climb down. Steadly increasing the size of the chain as I descended until I reached the ground. Once I was with my friend once again, I dispersed the chain and we continued. Just as we went pass the dark opening to our right I felt a weird vibration on the ground. I activated my Soul Eye just in case as we proceeded, if there was someone following us, I would see it. The vibration grew louder and the cave itself seemed to shake a bit. I began to look for anything that could be doing that, but before I could think straight about it, the roof began to fall. "Watch out!" I shouted and pushed Deadrin forwards so he wouldn't be chushed and then I dashed backwards to avoid the boulders falling from above. After a few seconds, the dust finally settled and I was able to see that Deadrin and I were now separated by the big pile of rocks. "Deadrin? can you hear me? are you alright?" I asked in a clearly worried tone.

At first, I had some mixed feelings when Deadrin told me that I shouldn't worry about him sice was already used to going for long periods of time without any sleep. I didn't really buy the part where he said that his job as a blacksmith sometimes required him don't sleep for days. It didn't really make much sense for me, but then again, I don't understand jack shit about blacksmiting, so I shrugged it off. I would still keep an eye on him, though. Despite how much I wasn't really buying Deadrin's story, I already knew he was a man of many secrets. What he was telling was probably true to some extent and it was relaxing and reliefing to know that he was doing fine. Plus, I really was tired last night, so I couldn't really complain. Our breakfast soon got ready, and while we were eating it, Deadrin took the opportunity to tell me a little about the cave we were about to go inside. I paid close attention to the details. The fact that the mineral we were looking for was so elusove was a bit worrying. My Soul Eye would allow me to see the soul of any living being within a certain reach, but it would be useless on that refard. I wasn't very worried about the clibing part, I had already explored a few caves in the past (insert lenny face here) and learned how to use my chains to help me do so. Same goes for my Wrathfull Flames, they could be usd as a torch. When my friend said that hopefully we would only had to deal with the bats inside the cave, I couldn't help but to sniker a bit "With our recent luck? I highly doubt that" I replied in a playful tone. I finished my breakfast not long after Deadrin and, as friend said to do so, we rode with our horses to the mine. Upon reaching the place, Deadrin said we should leave the horses inside, since doing otherwise would mean risk having them becoming some creature's lunch. I simply nodded and replied with a calm "Got it". We then dismounted and Deadrin grabbed some equipment from Deagrin's bags and asked me if I was ready. "Heh yeah, I got my equipment right here" I said with a sligh smile while lifting my left hand and lighting it with a bit of Wrathfull Flames, just enough to create a considerable amount of light. "I can use my Hell Chains as climbing equipament. Taking too many things with us down there could be trouble some". I said in my usual calm tone.

I slept like a rock during that night. In fact I didn't even dream, or at very least I quickly forgot about it. The most probable cause was the intense stress and tiredness from a few hours ago. That said, I was still abit surprised when I woke up. The reason? Deadrin telling me that breakfast was already being cooked, which could only mean that he stayed away the entire night while I was asleep. I slowly sat up in my bedroll and rubbed my still closed eyes a little bit as my mind, which was working way slower than usual since I had literally just woke up, processed what my friend had just told me. "Eh? breakfast? is it morning already?" I asked in a some what lazy tone before opening my eyes and having a look around the area. It was impossible to not notice that sun was already up in the sky once again, bringing it's light to our land once more. "Deadrin why didn't you wake me up?" I asked in calm and soft tone. I didn't Deadrin to think that I was mad or scolding him. "Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate you for a few extra hours of sleep, but at the same time I don't want you to feel tired. Especially when we are about to go inside the cave. We don't know what could be in there." Even with so many thoughts passing though my head, I was able to detect the delicious smell of the porridge in the air, which I immediatly assumed to be the breakfast Deadrin had just told me. Still, I was worried for my friend. Rest was absulutelly essential for a warrior like me and him. If got himself injured due to tiredness I would fell really guilty.

I was honestly glad when Deadrin told me to go to bed. I was, as a metter of fact, very tired. After all, I barely had time to sleep before the Harvester was killed and woke me up. Not to mention that I... well, Odium had just killed a small army of angels, which isn't exactly something we had never done before and we certainly have left to do it again if necessary, but still... being tired sucks. Regardless, I was slightly surprised by the fact that Deadrin was able to tell how bad I wanted to get some sleep. "Damn, is it that obvious?" I said chuckling playfully and rubbing the back of my head a bit. "Well, in that case I'll go back to bed." I then turned towards my bed roll once again and took a few steps towards it, however, I decided to stop so I could speak one last thing before going back to my dreams "Oi Deadrin, just so you know, I have no doubt that you could have handled the situation with the angels. The reason why I asked you to step back is because there are very few things that Odium likes to do more than killing angels. So in order to keep him satisfied, I asked you to back off and allowed him to do the killing. Sorry for leaving you out of the action." I then went back to my bedroll, made myself confortable in it and went back to sleep, hoping that I would actually be able to rest this time.

Soma kept on watching the TV as the update was downloaded. Since there wasn't anything really interesting on TV, he decided to simply watch the news. At one point, one of the reporters mentioned a very curious piece of information "We were recently able to confirm that Futurae Tech, the emprise that recently displayed incredible and latent growth potential, is developing new support programs for their already very well established 'Block Wall' program. In a recent interview, Soma Haruki, Futurae Tech's CEO, said that their main goal with this program is to keep the user's personal information away from the hands of hackers and the like. And that he doesn't doubt that Consortium's base security program is efficient, but at times like these, when information is such a prescious and important thing, one can never be too secure. He finished the interview saying that best part about the 'Block Wall' program is that it was made to be completely compatible with the Computer Arm's base configuration. Being easy to install and uninstall according to the user's preference. According to recent research, over 90% of 'Block Wall's' users are satisfied with the program. Consortium has yet to make an official statement about their position and thoughts on the 'Block Wall' program." Soma couldn't help but to feel satisfied. None of that information was exactly new to him, but it was still very gratifying to hear once again that public was liking the program that both himself and the production team worked so hard to design. Soma's attention was taken away from the TV however, when he once again felt his Computer Arm vibrate slightly and make a faint bleep like noise. It was a sign that the update had been downloaded successfully. Soma then proceeded to reboot his Computer Arm so the update could be installed. The rebooting process didn't take more than a couple of seconds and once it was done he scrolled around the programs looking for anything different, but found nothing. He began to wonder what had changed before noticing that he had recieved a new mesage containing a video and a text message that was encrypted and also required a password. Soma decided to go for the video first. The moment the video began playing, Soma was able to tell that it had been made by Consortium. The quality was too high to be made by some troll or hacker. There sure was a lot of information to be taken from the video. The HERO OS program and GIs seemed to be quite complex. Thankfully, the video was very good at explaining what they were. Soma then remembered that the Consortium had made a contract with the government about producing a new defense program a while back. Could this HERO Os be said program? and if so, why would they task Soma of all people to test it? It would have made much more sense to contact a cop or a soldier about it, but Soma was just a CEO with little to none actual combat experience. Once the video was over, Soma then proceeded to check the text message. It asked for a code that the man didn't have. There was a clue written there, though. *'What I value the most' eh?* Soma thought to himself. He knew the real ansewer, but he didn't expect the Consortium to know, so he went with what he thought that the Consortium thought he valued the most: 'money'. It was the wrong ansewer. 'profit', 'fame', 'success', 'popularity'... these were all wrong. Without any other options Soma finally decided to type in 'time'. To his surprise, that actually was the right answer. The fact that the Consortium knew about how much he valued time was a bit concerning, since that wasn't really something he shared with anyone, but he decided to let those thoughts aside for now and read the text. The message itself felt more like a warning than anything else for Soma. Not only was the message a bit ominous, but it also told the man reading it to trust himself, which wasn't exactly something that he had to read very often. Once he was done reading, Soma then closed all the programs in his Computer Arm and the TV before going to bed. He was too tired to think about everything that was happening in such a short time period. He made his way upstairs, took off his business clothes and put on his pajamas. He laid on his bed and soon drifted to sleep. The next day began as usual. He took a shower, brushed his teeth, dressed up and had himself a nice breakfast before going to work once again. When he arrived at the building he was greeted by his employees, to which polietly greeted back, before reaching his office. Once there, he was surprised to find a cardboard box over his desk. Soma, took a moment to analyse the box, looking for anything unusual, but he found nothing. He then took a small pair of scissors from one of his desk's drawers and use it to open the box. Inside he found a strange USB device that had a dark red color. He was a bit unsure on what to do at first, but he then remembered about last night. The HERO Os program and stuff. After a small hesitation moment, Soma finally plugged the USB in his Computer Arm that had a USB port right beside the small blue orb that emmited the holograms. The screen then displayed a loading screen and the progress of the download of the USB contents. Once it was done, a text saying 'Tutorial Game Field' which was something Soma remembered seeing on the video he watched last night. *If I remember correctly, I am supposed to say 'Tutorial Start' now, right?* he tought to himself, and so he did "Tutorial Start" he kept close attention on his Computer Arm to see if anything would happen, but what he wasn't expecting was that the world itself around him would change...

I felt a little bit better when Deadrin said that the only reason why I wouldn't be able to take down the Harvester was because I wasn't able to see it or sense it any way. Which was a unfortunate truth now that I thought about it. Even with my Soul Eye activated I had no idea that the creature was following us. I was actually very worrying to know that said creature was capable of somehow hiding it's very soul. That said, something else got my attention: Gods. My friend was right to assume that wasn't very found of them. As a demon, I was always pictured by them as a mindless monster who would kill anyone in it's path without thinking twice, which made me both angry and sad. "Heh... well, you got me there" I said in a slightly sarcastic tone "I have never met any God in person, obviously, but I despise every single one I know. They take great part in some of the worst moments of my life. One of the reasons why I have to hide my real self so much it's because they lead their followers to believe that me and every single demon out there are nothing but blood thirsty killers. Even if it wasn't by their direct hands and actions, I almost died countless times because of them and their followers." Having to think and talk about that subject made me a bit sad, those were some memories I didn't like very much. "Well... whatever. I guess I'll go ba-" Before I could have finished my sentance however, I was hit by a angelic arrow on my right shoulder. The arrow was clearly angelic because of the enchantment that emitted a soft white glow. Most people would shout at the pain caused by the projectile, but I found myself simply all out of fucks to give about it. So much so that I simply sighed in a clearly annoyed tone before muttering "Goddammit..." I then turned towards the direction form which the arrow came and saw a single angel in the air holding a bow in his hand. The angel also had a blue orb that was about the same size of an apple floating beside him. "Couldn't you guys have waited a few more hours? I am sleepy as hell right now" I said to the celestial being in a grumpy tone "That was the warning shot. If yo-" "A warning shot is supposed to miss the target you fucking asshole!" I interrupted him with angry words and ripped the arrow out of my arm before throwing it to the ground. The angel simply ignored and continued "If you come with me peacefully, I promisse to grant you a painless end" "Yeah, sorry to dissapoint you, but that is not going to happen" The angel then simply took the orb on his free hand and said "Come to me, brothers and sisters" as if on cue, dozens of angels emerged from the woods behind the one holding the blue orb and positioned themselves in a combat formation. There seemed to be about 40 of them in total. Some had spears on their hands, while others had bows. "You might want to reconsider, demon" I simply grinned chuckled in a rather ominous way before speaking again "Oi, Deadrin. You might want to get some cover" I gave my friend a few seconds to get himself a safer distance while I spoke to Odium *Hey Odium, do you want to take care of these guys?* *You know I am always up for some angelic killing* *I thought as much, but I want you to keep one of them alive* *What? but why?* *Just thrust me ok? I have a plan.* *Humpf. Fine, what about the others?* *You can have your way with them* I could almost feel Odium grinning and getting excited *Very well, then say my mantra* Just like last time, a sudden burst of hot air came out of me and a ring of Wrathful Flames formed around my feet, but this time the heat was clearly more intense. I then began to say the mantra, causing my body to be covered by the flames. The angels could only watch in awe as they finally realized just who they had messed with. It was at this moment that they knew... they fucked up. "The gates of hell shall soon open and it's power be unleashed. My enemies will know that their lifes are now finished!" "Death awaits those who ignited the fires of rage. My fury shall only end when there is no more blood to be tasted by my blade!" "With my power I shall break the fools who try to block my path. For I am Odium, the demon who embodies wrath!" The flames soon dispersed revealling once again my possessed form. The black energy was spread all over the right side of my body. The chaotic orange lines were the as well, but this time Odium was irradiating a stronger aura, making clear that he also got stronger since the last time. The demon cracked his fingers which a ominous smile on his face and summoned the Evil One to his hand "Alright little angels who is ready to lose a few wings?" The celestial beings were shaking in their boots and starting to consider running away, but the corageus angel who had the orb with him decided to step forth and do something about it "My brothers and sister in arms, today we face a fearsome foe. He is powerful, but we have the strenght in numbers! With our will and celestial powers combined are sure to-" *BOOOM* unfortunately, the corageus one was interrupted by a ball of Wrathful Flames fired by Odium. The explosion was more than enough to obliterate it's victim along with the relic "You talk too much" Odium said before charging at the angels, laughing like a mad man as he does it. Without options, the angels tried to fight him, but it was useless. Despite the clear numerical advantage, every single attack thrown against Odium was either dodged, parried or deflected. The same couldn't be said for the demon. His attacks were tearing the angels apart. The lucky ones died in a single strike, while the others... well... they felt pain in places that they simply thought to be impossible. Soon, there were only 10 of the 40 attackers left alive.The angelic dead bodies glowed and turned into a white dust before dispersing in the air. The remaining ones tried to fly away, but.... "Hell's Chain: Lockdown!" Odium created countless portals in the air, shooting chains everywhere and entangling the angels in them. He then pulled one of the angels out of the chains and threw him on the ground before placing both of the angel's forearms above each other and impalling with the Evil One. The angelic being screamed in pain and agony as the blade pinned him to the ground. Odium simply chuckled at the sound that his victim was making "Consider yourself in luck you angelic piece of shit. Izanagi has plans for you" The angel finally stopped screaming as the pain reached a more tolerable level "W-what about the other survivors?" he asked with dread in his voice. Odium simply chuckled once again in a ominous way "Survivors?" the demon then manifested another small pair of portals just above his hand with a single and small piece of chains in between said portals. Odium grabbed the small chain segment before speaking again "You are the only one" He then gave the chain a strong and firm pull. Due to the chains' magical propeties, that motion caused the chains in which the other angels were to retract with enough strenght to tear their bodies apart. Leaving nothing but the dismantled bodies on the ground, which soon turned into white dust and dispersed just like the others. The survivor watched in horror as his brothers and sisters were mercilessly killed in front of him. Satisfied, Odium dispersed the chains and gave me back the control. The black energy quickly dissipated from my body. I took a quick look around just in time to see some of the angel's remains dissipating and that Odium had in fact kept his end of the deal. "Huh... that is about what I was expecting. Now then..." I crouched beside the angel who was still pinned to the ground with the Evil One on his arms "Tell me, who is commanding this little... searching operation around this area?" I asked in a calm yet manecing tone "C-c-commander Maximus" "Very well, then here is what is going to happen: I'll let you go so you can tell yur commander to stop bothering me. Otherwise, I'll shove my sword so far deep into that holy ass of him that whoever maneges to pull it out will become the next King Arthur. Undertood?" "Y-y-yes!" "Good" I snapped my fingers and dissipated the Evil One, setting the angel free. He then immediatly took off and went back to his base. I then coverd my mouth a let out a soft yawn "I hate this assholes so fucking much..." I said in a grumpy tone "So... it's still your watch or do you want to switch?" I said to Deadrin in my usual calm tone.

I paid close attention to Deadrin's explanation on what the hell had just happened. He told me that we were being watched by a depicable creature known as Cloaked Harvester, that was likely attracted to us after I had transformed into the Wrathful Blazerker. The very thought of that creature using living people as nothing more than tools to fuel their technology was making me sick. Horrifying monsters like that were one of the reasons why I wanted to become stronger in the first place, so I could take them down. Deadrin may not know, but he actually wounded my warrior's pride a bit when he said that I stood no chance against the Harvester. It would be alright if he had said that my chances were very slim or something along those lines. But telling me that I had no chance whatsoever? that sure had an impact on me. I let that slip though, for the part that cought my attention the most was when Deadrin said that he had... called someone? My mind was once again taken by the amount of questions forming within it, such as 'who?' and 'how?'. I ultimately decided to ask once my friend was done talking, but I would understand if he decided to keep it to himself, I already knew he was a man of many secrets and I respected him enough to don't pry into things that would make him unconfortable. "A... Cloaked Harvester...? Well, that sure explains why you were acting to weird recently..." I said in a calm yet somewhat perplex tone "I am curious, though... if you don't mind me asking, who did you call? if that thing was too powerful for me to handle, then whoever helped you must surely be powerful too."

Soma was in his office looking through some recent data in his computer. The lens from his stylish glasses reflecting the light from the screen. It was a good thing that those lens granted extra protection against light, since Soma had to use his computer pretty much all day long. He kept scrolling through the information on the screen, taking mental notes - and a few physical ones on his notebook - about the most important parts. Increases/decreases on sales, new ideas from employees, the company's public image, progress on current research and developments... it sure was a lot to take in, even though he had been Futurae Tech's CEO for two straight years now, he was still not completely used to that and he knew that he could - and should - improve as much as possible if he wanted to see the company grow. After a few more exhausting moments going through all that info, he pushed himself away from his desk a bit, took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes a bit, before putting the glasses back on and heading to the employees room for a much needed cup of coffee. He made his way though the hallways of his workplace until he had finally reached the white door with a "Employees and authorized personel only" sign on it, he calmly opened it up and got himself inside. Once there, he was casually greeted by a few of his employees who had that same brilliant idea as he had: a well deserved cup of coffee. While many of Soma's co-workers were a bit older than him, they all shared a great respect for the man. Despite his age, Soma was a good leader, not only being able to improve the company's status depite having so much competition around, but also capable of making the work place actually pleasnt to be in, or at least as pleasnt as possible... After greeting his employees back with a polite nod, Soma reached one of the machines and got himself a nice and warm express coffee without caffeine, otherwise he wouldn't be able to sleep well at night. His coffee break would be short lived however, he barely had time to drink half of his cup's content when Jane, his recently hired administrator, approached him with a file on her hand and greeted him with a "Good day, boss". That caused Soma to sigh a bit before replying "Came on Jane... we talked about this already. There is no need for you to call me that." he said in calm tone so she wouldn't get the impression that he is scolding her "But it is just natural for me to call you that, you are the boss after all" I simply shook my head slightly while also chuckling a bit "Just call me Haruki like everybody else does alright?" "Very well... I have a few files that require your attention Mr. Haruki" truth to be told, Soma would still prefer to be simply called Haruki, but he figured that would be the best he would get for now. He took another sip while Jane was speaking before sighing once again "What are those files about?" he asked drinking the remains of his coffee "It's about Futurae Tech's relationship with other technological companies" she replyed handing Soma the file. He was able to do a quick reading of the file's contents before closing it and returning it to Jane "I think the production team is taking the wrong idea there. Instead of trying to create a better version of already well-established products, try to create something new, or maybe even some support programs to what we have already. There is simply no need to waste our time and resources clashing with other companies like that ok? Why swim against the flow when you can just go with it?" Jane's eyes shinned a bit during Soma's little speach there, she felt kinda touched and motivated by it "R-right, I'll report this to the production team right away" she bowed a bit before going away. Soma then returned to his office. After a few more hours Soma was finally able to go home, his house and car were actually quite modest for a man of his status. Once inside, he made himself a quick meal from the leftovers inside the fridge and took a seat on his favorite armchair before turning the TV on and scrolling through the channels looking for something interesting to watch. He then felt a little vibration on his right forearm and also heard a little bipping noise. Soma knew that it was his Arm Computer making that comotion. He pulled his sleeve up to reveal the device. Soma had actually customized his Arm Computer quite a bit. It was a light grey armlet with half of a small blue sphere sticking out. From that blue sphere a light came out that quickly took the form of a holographic version of the normal interface. There was a message from the system, informing about an update called Hero OS. *Huh... that is weird. A system update out of nowhere like this? hmmm the anti-virus didn't show any negative response, so I can only assume it to be real... well, whatever. I just hope it doens't take long to download...* he tought to himself as the update was quickly downloaded and installed. After a quick reboot, the Arm Computer was working normally again, but there didn't seem to be any major changes. Before he could think about it, though, Soma noticed that there was a private message sent to him. Once he opened it, a video began to play and there was also a written message under said video.

After I had layed down on my bedroll and got myself confortable, it didn't take me very long for me to fall asleep. My mind calmly drifted away from the physical world, reaching hights that would make even the astonishing mountains near us envious. My dreams were the only thing that could at times bring me the wonderful sensation of absolute inner peace. Which was something I always tried to enjoy the as much as I possibly could, even though I knew it wasn't real and that I would eventually wake up and most likely forget about everything that I had seen during my dream. Still, trying to control them or predict what was going to happen once it had began was impossible, even for me. In my dream I found myself floating over a grassy field, very similar to where we were some time ago when we found the soulless woman. I could see two figures down bellow. One was a muscly looking monster with pitch black skin and spikes all over it's body. And the other was similar to a wodden mannequin. The monster was absolutely dominating the fight, it didn't matter what the mannequim did, it seemed to have no effect on the monster. After a few brief moments the monster defeated it's opponent by splitting it in two. The creature then looked at me floating in the sky and said "Tempus-Tarda" in a deep and clearly demonic voice. It then fired some sort of projectile in my direction which exploded right in front of me. I jolted out of my bedroll when I heard the sound of the scream. I quickly ran up to Deadrin with the Evil One in hand, already feeling mentaly relieved to know that he was alive at the very least. "Deadrin, what the fuck is going on? Are you alright?" the desperation in my voice was crystal clear and, needless to say, I had way more questions than that going through my head, but those were the most important ones at the moment.

After the boulder that was blocking our path was no longer a problem, we kept on making our way towards the mine. As we made progress we could feel the temperature going down steadly, it didn't seem to bother Deadrin or the horses very much, though. As for me, I simply allowed a slightly bigger fraction of my demonic energy to flow through my body. Since said energy manifests itself as the Wrathful Flame, it was more than enough to keep me confortably heated while also being too little energy to attract the angels. After a while, we made a quick pause so we could have lunch before getting back on track. I was actually suprised by just how many creatures lived on that area. There were small animals, such as rabbits, birds and squirrels. And there were also big and possibly dangerous creatures such as griffins, thankfully none of them seemed to care or mind about us passing through. A few hours later we had finally arrived at the mine, but Deadrin said it was far too dark to go into the mine right now. I could use my Wrathful Flames to light up the cave's insides, but it would risk attracting the angels, so I simply agreed with him and helped to set up the camp. Deadrin then said that he would take the first watch. His voice tone caugh my attention. He wasn't really being aggressive or anything, but it was still a bit unsettling to hear. Especially coming from him. Still, I decided it would be best to simply go along with it. I nodded slightly and began to make my way to my bedroll, stopping midway only to say "Know that if there is something bothering you, I am all ears" once that was said, I walked to my bedroll, got myself confortable in it and driffted to sleep.

Following Deadrin's lead, I calmly mounted on Lucky's back and tilted her reins slightly, causing her to follow Deagrin and his master out of the cave. We were once again making our way towards our destination, but I couldn't help but to notice that Deadrin seemed to be somewhat agitated or anxious. That was really unlike of him and was worried about my friend, at the same time though, I felt like I shouldn't really ask. He is a man of many secrets after all, which is something I really respected, since I also have my fare share of secrets to keep as well. I simply assumed that his current state was due to the fact that we were getting really close to our objective. I knew that the correct reason would probably be different, but it was better to leave it at that. Unless Deadrin actively decides to talk about it, of course. Now long after our departure however, we had to deal with a unexpected obstacle: a giant boulder that was blocking our path. Both Deadrin and I came to a stop after visualizing the enormous rock. Deadrin then asked me if there was anyway I could take care of the problem. Not only was that a perfect opportunity to test just how much stronger I was after the transformation, but I also figured I could at least try show some positive attitude for once, in a attempt to make my friend's uneasiness go away or at least get reduced. "Alright, hold mah beer!" I said in a playful tone while chuckling a little bit. "I got this..." I got down from Lucky's back a placed myself in front of our obstacle, taking a few moments to analyze my options. "Well, it would be much easier to simply use a Wrathful Blast to blow this thing to smithereens, but... " I sighed a little bit and summoned the Evil One to my right hand "Since we are trying to avoid contact with the angels, I should try to keep the use of my demonic powers to a minimum. Which means I'll just have to chop it down" I took a deep breath and assumed my battle pose, my right hand was holding my sword's handle and the other was on the sheath, both my eyes and my mind were focused on my target. It was time for another special technique "Quick-draw style..." With insanely fast moves, I drew my sword and slashed the boulder while also spinning 180 degrees. While most people would think that sliced my target only once, a very skilled and well trained eye would be able to see that in the short time it took me to spin I was actually able to cut the rock countless times, creating a devastating delayed attack. Once my spin had come to a stop, I was holding the serrated blade half way inside it's sheath and slowly sliding it in. "...Slash Flash..." When the sword was finally completely inside the sheath, the boulder was intantly obliterated, leaving on it's place nothing but dust and a few fragments that were way to small to bother us. I then calmly dissipated the Evil One once again and mounted Lucky once again "Well... let's continue, shall we?" my voice tone had a little bit of pride in it, showing off like that wasn't the sort of thing I would usually do, but I simply couldn't resist at that moment. Plus, Deadrin had already seen the worst of me, so I felt confortable enough around him to do that sort of thing.

Deadrin was understandably irritated by the idea of the angels chasing us. And as someone who has been dealing with those holy douchebags for years now, I couldn't blame him. "I agree. We should probably keep your eyes open for any signs of holy magic for a while. Fortunately, I can keep the usage of my demonic powers to a minimum. That should decrease their chances of finding us" I said before getting up and walking over to Lucky. Even though I didn't know how she reacted when I transformed into the Blazerker a few hours ago, I can only assume that she didn't like it very much. I gave her a few gentle pats on the neck. Which she seemed to enjoy a bit. It made me smile a little, I actuaclly getting quite found of that horse, after all the shit we have been through together. However, my mind was once again taken by the weird sensation going through my body. That feeling had been present ever since I woke up and it didn't show any sign of going away. *Odium, you are feeling this too, aren't you? this... sensation is strange...* *Yeah, I know* the demon responded without delay *My theory is that your body was somehow able to absorb a small fraction of the Blazerker's power during the transformation. It might have made you stronger...* I placed a hand on my chin and hummed softly, thing about said possibility. I was cut out however, by my friend asking if I was ready to leave. As much as I wanted to leave, I also tought I was a good idea to make a little test and see if Odium's theory was, in fact, correct. "Pretty much, yes. There is but a small test I wish to make before that. It won't take long, don't worry" I responded in a calm tone before making my way to the cave's entrance. Once I was just a little outside of it, I stretched my right arm and focused my energy. I got slightly surprised when the Evil One appeared at the palm of my hand, usually only Odium would be able to manifest the demonic sword, but it seems that, due to our recent bonding, I was now able to use it on my own. "Huh... interresting..." *It seems you can now use my sword on your own...* I nodded slightly before putting myself in battle position and calmly pulling the serrated blade out of it's sheath. I took a deep breath and swingged the sword playfully in the air. I had used pretty much no energy at all on that move, but it was still strong enough to bend the air around the sharp edge and create a wind blade that was powerful enough to cut the very air and ground it touched, leaving a mark on the ground and making a considerable noise "Well... I didn't mean to do that..." I commented in a calm tone as I made the Evil One dissipate. I then turned back to Deadrin inside the cave and walked pass him. I quickly began to gather my things an place them on Lucky's saddle "It seems I really did get stronger after the transformation..." I said after everything was in place, waiting for Deadrin so we could depart.

I was farely amazed at Deadrin's comment about the Wrathful Blazerker. From my pont of view, it nothing but horrifying creature that had to keep under control at all costs, since it would certainly go out in a rampage if it was let loose, but not even I could deny that the creature's power is indeed impressive and also something I wish I could control even if it was just a little. I couldn't help but to let out a small chuckle in response before taking a seat near the fire and speaking to my friend "Heh... well, I guess that one way to put it. As powerful as it might be I unfortunately have not control whatsoever over the creature. It is very different from Odium. He does a consciousness and his own thoughts, which allow me to talk to him, and I try to keep him... shell we say... satisfied as much as I can. In fact, I like to think of him as a partner instead of a burden." I spoke honestly before smiling playfully "Despite how inconvenient he is sometimes..." *Oh fuck you* I laughed a little bit at Odium's response before continuing "The Wrathful Blazerker on the other hand, is nothing but a mindless and mercyless killing machine, which makes impossible for me even try to negociate or talk to it..." We both stood silent by the fire for a few brief moments. I was wondering if there actually was a way for me to use the Blazerker's powers without loosing my mind like that, but the chances and options to that end were... severely limited to say the very fucking least. I was brought back into really however, when Deadrin told me about the angels that 'visited' us while I was still unconscious. I was thankful for having someone to watch my back when it happened, otherwise I would most likely be dead by now. "Thanks man, you are a life saver." I intentionally repeated the same words Deadrin said to me a few days back at the mantion while giving him a playful smile. It was short lived, though. I soon broke it and sighed a little bit "I am honestly not surprised. Angels are second to none when it comes to tracking down demonic energy and, even though I don't remember much of the fight while the Blazerker was in control, I am sure that a lot of energy was released during it." I simply nodded at Deadrin's advice of being cautious about them. I couldn't agree more. Now that they had a rough idea of my location they would likely begin to search even more at the area "Well, if they decided to go away instead of fighting you, I can only assume that they were low level angels. Which means that they will likely report what they saw to their superiors. The bad news is that they will probably come back to try killing me again and the good news is that angels have a towering sense of pride and duty. In other words, they will mainly resort to direct attacks instead of cheap and dirty tricks. Well, most of them anyway..."

I actually gasped a little bit in surprise when I felt Deadrin's hand touching my shoulder and squeezing it lightly. That wasn't exactly the reaction I was expecting. In fact, I was so incredibly focused on trying to hold by tears back that I didn't even consider for a second how he would react. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself while I heard the words coming out of my friend's mouth. He was... sympathising with me. I was a sort of weird feeling at first, after all, that wasn't something I was really used to. It was one of the reasons why I hate to expose my feelings like that... it makes me feel too vulnerable and a lot of people took advantage of that over the years. Still, in a way I was sort of glad that it happened. It was a relief that I haven't felt in a really long time. Once he stood up and backed off, I used the hand that was covering my eyes to quickly wipe out the tears in my face. Deadrin quickly returned, but this time he had a water skin on his hand, which he offred me and I gladly accepted. A refreshing sip of water sure was welcomed. "I... thank you... Deadrin... really" It was best I was able to say in that situation, that sort of thing had always been something difficult to deal with for me... to say the very least... It was conforting to know that I was able to kill that horrible woman, but what really got my attention was when Deadrin mentioned that Odium had predicted that possible scenario and gave him a Null Rune, which allowed Deadrin to bring me back to normal without having to actually fight me. "Heh, that bastard... I swear he just loves to keep secrets from me..." I responded in a somewhat playful tone "I was planning on telling you about the Wrathful Blazerker eventually but... well, seems like fate decided to pull another trick on me" It surprised me a bit when Deadrin asked about Odium, I didn't really expect him to be worried about the demon, but before I could even think on a response... *Oh please! Tell that weirdo it will be a cold day in hell before he has to worry about me* I mentally rolled my eyes at Odium *Odium, give it a break will you? he just saved my ass... and yours too you know?* *Are you kidding me? I saved him by making that Null Rune remember?* I simply sigh as a sign of surrender and responded to my friends question. "He is fine, don't worry about him" I handed back the water skin to Deadrin and slowly got up. Streching my body a bit to see if there was anything wrong. I was feeling a bit... different after all.

My vision was slowly getting better after I blinked a few times, but my mind was a completely different story. It was still an absolute mess. My memories were mixed like a deck of cards that had been recently shuffled. "Not much..." I responded Deadrin while I was still massaging my head a bit to make the pain go away, or at least reduce it. "Just... give me a second to put my mind in place please..." I began to take deep breaths, slowly calming myself down and allowing my mind to slow down a bit. I was able to remember a few things. The view of the mountains, the moment we met that woman and... that woman... I remembered what she said and what she did. I remembered the uncontrollable rage I felt, but I made sure to not dive too deep into it this time to avoid the possibility of said negative feelings taking over me again. "I remember a bit... that woman... she...* I looked down and moved the hand that was previously massaging my head. It was now covering my face, mainly my eyes, in a attenpt to hide the tears that rolled down my face. I didn't want Deadrin to see them. After all this years as a demon, even I began to think on tears as a sign of weakness, but at moment like this not even I was able to hold them back and I hated myself for it. "she... killed him... my father..." I tried really hard to contain the slight sobs that escaped my voice every now and then, but they were still coming out, even though they were pretty hard to hear "He died because of her... dammit!" I punched the ground with my free hand, but the impact was very weak, it barely made a 'thud' like sound. During those brief moments, I wasn't Izanagi the embodiment of wrath. I was simply a men who had lost his family and everyone precious to him a long time agao, but was still dealing with the painful scars that were yet to heal. *Dammit Izanagi! Demons don't cry. You stop that right now!* I though to myself while trying to pull myself together. I didn't work very well... "I lost control, didn't I? Just like the night I was turned into... this." I puched the ground once again with a little more strenght this time "Goddammit!" My breathing was heavy and despite my best efforts I was still unable to stop my cries.

The angels found themselfs absolutely speechless by Deadrin's words. A human who actually befriended a demon and is disposed to protect it? That was something incredibly rare to find and, in the angel's case, it was a big problem. "Fool! Do you actually have the nerve to stand against us?" one of them said in an angry voice tone. "You humans are even more stupid than I originally though." He pointed his spear at Deadrin in a manecing way "Very well then. I shall take you down myself and put an end to both of yo-" before he finish his speech however, one of his brother-in-arms behind him placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "Brother, stop it. We should leave." The peeved angel simply looked back at his companion with clear confusion "Why? what makes you think it is a good idea to simply leave this two here? extermination of demons is our duty and we just found a perfect opportunity to finish off a powerful one right here." "Because of him." They all focused their attentions on Deadrin once again "I can't really explain, but there is something about that human that makes me feel like we shouldn't fight him" After a second of silence the angel reluctantly recoiled his spear and turned his back to Deadrin and the others within the depts of the cave "Consider yourself lucky human" with that said, the three creatures of light left the area, but they were still planning on reporting what they saw to their supperiors. After a couple of minutes I was finally able to open my eyes a little bit. My vision was blurry and my head was hurting like hell. I slowly sat up and took a look around, quickly noticing that I was on my bedroll and that there wasn't much light in the area, but I also noticed Deadrin nearby, which made me relax a bit. Seeing a friendly face, specially under those circuntances, was always nice. "Ow, my head.... what the hell happened...?" I said while rubbing my temple a little bit in a futile attempt to reduce the pain "Where are we?"