God of Nothing

Pain.

This has been Vaynard’s world for a while now. Suspended in a pool of the strange black water, he was being shocked, drowned and somehow fried for the better part of an hour.

Lucky for him, pain was an old friend.

He had stopped moving thirty minutes ago. He doubted if he could even move in this state, let alone fight. Not without healing his muscles, anyway. Not breathing hurts, but it beats getting this turbid water into his system. Is it even water? He let himself spasm uncontrollably as one being electrocuted would, suddenly curious as to the material he was suspended on. It’s the consistency of oil, yet somehow not so viscous. Electricity flows freely through it too, and is even able to produce it somehow, as evidenced by all the demon kings surrounding him.

He made sure to remember to pick up some samples for Iona to study later when he sensed the electricity finally fading.

The mirrors of Superbia lowered their arms in unison, finally stopping the assault. Vaynard then crashed down to the floor, unmoving, unbreathing, and probably smelling like bacon.

”Father! I have claimed Marduk’s apostle! This world is now free for you to devour!”

Vaynard’s eye swiveled to the demon king. Well, the closest one, anyway, prematurely declaring its victory. Carefully, he slid down an arm towards a pouch on his belt, conspicuously unharmed unlike the rest of his gear. He felt it, feeling a rush of reassurance.

It’s intact. Good. His plan, if he ever had one, was still in play.

“Come! Come to your servant! Let us feast on this world together!”

Vaynard ignored the yapping, figuring that he had time to think. As was the case with his time at the spire, he was completely bottomed out in terms of mana. His reserves could keep him living for a bit, but if there’s ever a time to do something, it is now.

Like he so brazenly declared, he did have a good idea of how to beat this guy. The problem came with how to get out after the fact. He looked again at all the Superbia, whose formerly expressionless faces were now twisted in ecstasy. He studied each one briefly, until he found one different. One such face was looking down on him, their gleeful face twisted into rage.

Chink.

A single jet of water, aimed directly at his heart, creating an almost silent cracking sound. Mist, not blood, poured out of his wound, the final bits of his mana. He opened both eyes now, watching it float away. He looked until he lay there, unseeing, amidst the mad laughter of the Demon King of Pride.

__________________________________

Rayse swayed to the side, once again evading Agony’s massive ball and chain. He let the momentum turn him around, stepping into an expert javelin throw. His target was perpendicular to the chain still stretched taut, but it was steady and intentional, going right into the midsection of the chaotic herald.

“Gyah!” He heard Agony’s reaction before he ever saw him as, when he looked in that direction, the demon was gone.

Rayse felt the tug on the chain, gripping it as it flew towards its master. He braced himself against the heavy iron ball, careful not to let the spikes hinder his movements. The chain twisted mid pull, carrying him along . He expected it, though, gripping the chain even tighter so as to not be thrown off. He eventually 

“Shield bash!” The dragonscale shield flew out of his back, jabbing the pointed end directly at the herald’s jaw. It staggered backwards a few steps, letting go of the weapon it took such pains to retrieve.

“You! You cheat too!” It bellowed, smashing his fist against the ground in a sort of tantrum.

Rayse breathed evenly, sizing up his opponent. His eyes, even with Deceit’s curse, were basically useless in this fight. Agony’s strange movements weren’t powered by magic, but were surprisingly purely physical. Over their encounters, though, he had managed to find a way to detect the fiend. A flash of… something– bloodthirst, perhaps– echoes out from precisely where Agony was, a telltale sign of a coming attack. He was only doing it instinctively at first, but he was getting more and more used to it. What was harder to temper were the emotions boiling from within. Brandon’s presence had calmed him down a lot, but with so much to keep track of, his mind was starting to get unbalanced.

“Hooooh–” He released all the breath in his lungs, and with it, hopefully his nerves, as he lowered his stance in preparation for an offensive.

He charged forward, wordlessly letting the shield trail behind as he jumped right into the demon’s maw. Crossed blades stopped the tip of his spear, but he pushed through it, breaking its guard. And again, the dragonscale shield found its mark. He would have continued the assault, too, if his back didn’t start to run cold.

Rayse jumped forward, escaping just in time as two massive fists crashed down on his position. He stabbed the butt of his spear to the ground as he rolled, empowering it with a spell as he did so.

“Valiant Thrust!” 

Sssssik!

“Arghh!!”

The spear grew in length and girth, stabbing clean through the demon’s body. The force lifted it off the ground, with Rayse driving his spear into the ground for support. He turned around to see something amazing.

“There it is.” He said to himself, confirming his suspicions. Agony appeared, stumbled over beside his spear, but still bleeding from a pretty sizable wound from his abdomen. Rayse expected something like it, yet the sight still kept him rooted in place for a few seconds.

In front of his very eyes, Agony just did something seemingly impossible. Its body just compressed itself,squeezing through one of its limbs, and popped right back out at the end of it. Rayse was seeing the beast in a new light now, with its array of errant limbs and weaponry, and now with this strange movement.

“You!” Agony bellowed, finally managing to shrug off the painful strike. Rayse felt massive pressure from below, and followed his instincts before even questioning it. 

Ssik! A small limb carrying a wrist blade struck out at him from under the ground, creating a decent sized slash across his midsection. Rayse stepped back to dodge the worst of it, but he just knew the amount of pain coming his way would be difficult to ignore. More of Agony’s limbs arrived, from seemingly all directions, targetting every single surface of his body.

Rayse kicked up Unbroken, now back to its regular size, and made a wide sweeping slash all around him. He got most of them, but some still managed to squeeze through.

Ta-tang! He let those hit the shield that was on his back. He continued his sweep, feeling a shadow loom over him. Rayse ducked low, keeping his body as close to the ground as possible.

“Scale burst!”

Dragon scales rose towards the heavens, drilling the hapless Agony as it prepared to strike him down.

“N-not this again!” It wailed as he got pelted by the things, with most of them sticking to his skin. He tried his trick once again, popping out a couple of paces clear of the area.

“Unbroken scale burst!” Rayse ordered, and his spear eagerly obliged. It flew out of his hand, breaking up into chips of dragon scale and shooting out towards Agony. The rest of the scales that shot out to the sky reversed directions and likewise did the same, crushing Agony in a cascade of metal. 

“Nooooo!”

This neverending attack was Rayse’s ace in the hole, finally finding a suitable name for this spell. It was the same one that kept the beast down back at the valley, where he last encountered this abomination.

Agony stayed there, bulking up to a massive degree. It allowed the beast to prevent the worst of the damage, but also kept it immobile. Still, innumerable scratches showed up across its body, making it look even more brutal.

Rayse bought time for himself. Unfortunately, he had far too little mana to keep it up. His stamina drains by the second due to the numerous wounds on his body. His mental strength wanes even faster due to all the wounds he received. Even worse, the succession of battles had depleted his artifacts. To survive, he needs to defeat Agony here and now.

He strode into the rain of flashing steel, walking right up to the herald that caused him much pain. The falling scales didn’t drop where he walked, as if acknowledging their master’s presence. Like that, he walked up to the curled up Agony, who had also brought up its myriad weapons to block the deluge of blades.

Rayse held out his hand, commanding some of the scales to return to him. The discarded ones answered his call, forming a spear as they flew into his hand. And thus, he began his assault. 

“Valiant sweep!” With a mighty swing he broke through its guard. Agony’s various tools scattered, opening up the body for the falling dragon scales.

“RrRrahHHhhHh!” Agony screamed, defiant, swinging everything he’s got towards Rayse.

“Valiant thrust!” Another strike, aimed precisely at the heart of the beast. It stopped Agony in its tracks.

One of its limbs stretched out randomly, but at this point he already knew what to expect. Rayse stepped in as Agony began to disappear, its flesh and bone compressing to travel through his outstretched arm. His target, once again, was the demon’s heart.

Rayse reached out, clutching the gem before it traveled through. With everything he had left, he crushed the gem in his hands, relishing every moment of it. This was the beast that killed his parents, the one that massacred entire squads of soldiers, the one that ravaged his home country and entire continents. To say he kept his cool even in this moment was a lie.

A figure loomed behind him, casting a fearsome shadow. Innumerable weapons raised high, poised to attack him. Agony brought them all down, including its fists, aiming for mutual destruction. Rayse took a deep breath, taking in whatever mana was within the herald’s heart, and passed on the remaining to his weapons. 

“GGGGGGYAAAAAAAT!!!” With a fearsome cry, an avalanche of pain went down on him. Rayse, tasting victory himself, faced the threat with courage. He summoned all the scales in the vicinity, creating layers upon layers of protection. 

Crashhhhh!

Most of them were rendered to dust upon contact, but the rest remained, preventing Agony from striking Rayse. He looked into the beast’s beady eyes through the patches of his steel barrier, searching through them for the fear, pain, and despair he had seen from its victims.

“You love pain, don’t you? Why don’t you drown in it, you bastard! Scale! Burst!”

Bang!

Rayse’s barrier exploded in a shower of sparks, eagerly following his command. The sheer force of the attack caused every graze, every wound, every prick of steel to burn white hot, digging themselves into the demon’s skin and 

“ACKKKKKK–”

Agony’s pathetic death wail was cut off, as dragon scales stuffed its massive mouth with even more scales. A cacophony of steel ensued, as its many, many weapons dropped to the ground unceremoniously. The silence afterwards caught him off guard, the sudden peace brought about at the end of a battle. He knew there were countless other battlefields still needing his presence, though.

That leaves one, he breathed. He settled back to a seating position, catching his breath before he had to go strike down a dragon.