Jin sat in bed eating his cereal and preparing to head out for another day of training.
All of a sudden, the Fallen all around him began to howl in pain and clutch their heads. Jin hopped out of bed and summoned his hellfire swords; the fortress began to shake as well.
Jin jumped from the window and looked around outside, he was sensing a large and terrifying power approaching the fortress.
‘Is this the Devil Emperor, how did he find us?’
The energy was making chills run up his spine. Jin flew into the air and prepared 2 Atomic Energy Balls then aimed them into the direction he felt the energy was coming from
A black portal opened up on the ground below, to his surprise he recognized the Void touched robes of the man walking out.
“Shadow?” Jin flew down and landed next to his friend. “Where the hell have you been?”
Shadow looked at Jin, underneath his mask, Jin could see Shadow’s Void touched skin and how his eyes had been altered.
Jin leaned in close and looked at his friend. “More importantly, what the hell happened to you? You somehow look creepier than before.”
Shadow laughed and responded. “I had a meeting with Death.”
Jin lept back. “You can talk now too?!” This was now the 2nd most unexpected thing to ever happen to him, the first still being the discovery of his son.
Shadow warped behind Jin and placed his hand on his shoulder. “There’s a lot of things I can do now.”
Jin spun around. “Yeah, you should probably check on your Fallen first. They were freaking out.”
Shadow’s eyes went wide. “I wonder if they can talk now!”
Jin recoiled at Shadow’s voice. “No offense, but your voice is creepy as hell.”
Shadow leaned into Jin. “Boo.”
Jin got shivers. “Seriously, you couldn’t have a normal voice and not sound like you just smoked a pack of cigarettes and are trying to keep your voice down in a library.”
Shadow laughed. “That’s pretty accurate, it’s fitting if you consider who gave me this voice.”
“Who?”
“I told you; I had a meeting with Death.”
Jin ran his fingers through his hair. “Like literally? I thought you were being facetious.”
Shadow and Jin walked back towards the fortress and discussed the events that took place while Shadow was gone.
“I was really gone for 4 days?” Shadow asked.
“Yeah, time must move differently in the Realm of Death like in the Devil Realm. I still can’t believe there are beings above the Gods. I wonder if I'll get to meet them some day.” Jin imagined what Death looked like based on Shadow’s description.
Welcome back, Master!” A large variety of voices shouted in unison.
All the Fallen gathered around Shadow. Even the Fallen’s appearances changed and were emitting a stronger power that was double their original energy. All were now pure black with a white outline and their eyes had shifted to a glowing violet.
Shadow greeted his soldier and Jin watched in shock; the day just kept getting weirder.
“Well, I’ll let you rest, and I guess catch up with these guys, I’m going to go train. I’m on the verge of being able to master this atomic magic and create a blade with it.” Jin summoned his wings.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Have fun.” Shadow smiled as he was greeted by his Fallen that all had looks of joy.
Jin flew off to his training ground that had become filled with craters.
He created a blade of Celestial Lightning and sat in meditation as he spent hours slowly imbibing it with atomic energy. Jin discovered that the most compatible element with the atomic energy was this lightning. When he made a blade of pure atomic energy it exploded on impact whenever he struck something with it.
Finally, the blade formed successfully; the atomic energy was coated with the sparks of lightning. He swung it and an arc of white atomic energy shot out, it cut through the ground like butter and expanded until finally dispersing into a large explosion. It took a great amount of energy to create the blade, but once it was formed, he was able to launch the Atomic blasts without draining any more energy and becoming fatigued.
He spent the remainder of the day releasing the blade and forming it again, it was becoming instinct to fuse the atomic and lightning energy. By the end of the day Jin was able to form the blade in a few minutes.
Jin continued to spend the night perfecting this technique and by the morning he was able to form the blade in an instant like the others. He was covered in dirt and ash from the explosions of failed attempts. He wondered if Shadow could have the Fallen fix up one of the showers in their fortress.
Jin flew back to the fortress and saw Shadow sat outside receiving a report from a group of Fallen Elves. Shadow had a look of concern at the news he was being told.
“What’s up?” Jin landed and asked.
“According to my scouts, the Devil Emperor sent off his army of Devil Elves.” Shadow placed his hand underneath his chin, he was perplexed.
“Damn, I guess he found out about the deaths of the Emperors. We should prepare for battle then.” Jin was disappointed that he wouldn’t have the chance to rest but excited that he’d be able to test his new abilities in a real fight.
“No, he sent the Devils North and not anywhere near us.”
“What, how come.” Jin now understood Shadow’s confusion at the news.
“I’m not sure. My Fallen attempted to follow them, but the Devils were marching far past where I told them to observe so they returned.”
Jin shrugged. “Oh well, this will just make it easier when we attack the Devil Emperor’s main base.”
“I agree, but I’m still concerned that there might be an unknown force moving within the country now and it’s gathered the attention of the Devil Emperor.”
“Do you think it’s the Incarnates?” Even the thought of the Incarnates angered Jin.
“It would make sense.” Shadow was thinking the same thing.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky, and they’ll wipe each other out.” Jin laughed.
“I think we should hold off on moving on the Devil Emperor. I will send more scouts to gather information, they should be able to follow the trail of the Elven Army to their destination.”
Jin was growing restless and didn’t like the idea of waiting more, although he did understand Shadow’s hesitation. “I say we still start moving again, what if the Devil Elves succeed in defeating the Incarnates then return back to the Devil Emperor. That will just mean a tougher fight for us.”
“Maybe, but for now I think we should take at least another day to rest. You look like you need it, I had some Fallen work on the water here and they managed to repair a couple showers for us.”
Jin decided one more day of rest wouldn’t kill him. “My hero. Fine, but tomorrow morning we start moving again.”
Shadow wanted to wait for his scouts to return, but that would take anywhere from 3 to 5 days. “Alright, we’ll leave tomorrow.”
“I’m glad we could reach an agreement, oh mighty God of the Void.” Jin mocked Shadow.
Shadow rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Just go shower, you reek.”
Jin laughed. “As you command, your Godliness.” He patted Shadow on the shoulder and went inside.
Shadow summoned War Beasts for the Elves to use and sent them off to gather more information on the Devil Elf army.
Shadow spent the remainder of the day testing the new limits of his Godly abilities and Jin caught up on sleep.
When morning came, the Heroes had the Fallen load up the rations and recalled the Fallen who weren’t needed for the journey. Then he recalled his domain and returned the building back to a torn down hotel.
“Hey Shadow.” Jin walked up to him as Shadow finished checking the rations strapped to a Fallen War Beast.
“What?” He looked at Jin, who had a mischievous grin. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I know that I was the one who was rushing to get out of here, but want to spar really quick?”
Shadow sighed. “Really, first thing in the morning after we finish packing everything up and you want to fight?”
“Don’t tell me your scared, mister friend of the Grim Reaper.” Jin joked with Shadow.
Shadow had actually been wondering how strong the 2 had become in comparison to each other. Last time it was a pretty even match, but now they had both increased their Celestial Power by a lot. Shadow cracked his neck. “Fine, but don’t come crying to me when you lose that eye again.” Shadow summoned his Void scythes; they had increased in size and power since he last used them. Before they were strong, but he preferred his daggers. But now they were full sized scythes that weighed as light as a feather, making them the perfect weapons for an envoy of Death itself.
Jin wasn’t intimidated by Shadow’s new weapons and summoned his own. The Atomic Bladed, a great sword that had no weight and he could wield at nearly the speed of light.
Their weapons were polar opposites in appearance, but both were radiating with power.
The Heroes both had smiles on their faces as they prepared for the fight, they both were thinking the same thing. The winner of this duel was going to be the one to strike down the Devil Emperor.