The day didn’t exactly go as Arsène had planned. The day was going fine honestly, walking to class with Ethan, ‘spending time’ with Mukyu, learning of the Mass Extinction Event, eating lunch at school, then having normal classes till the evening. Everything seemed to be coming along fine. Until that bastard, Yami called. Not only did he send Arsène to face this demon alone, he also didn’t bother giving Arsène time to recover. The fight with Marbas was already exhausting and the fact he couldn’t sleep properly was much more of a pain in the ass. And now, Arsène was in huge trouble.
Arsène grabbed onto the spikes of stone, trying to push himself off them. It hurt, it hurt like hell. It was the singular fact that Arsène was not being cautious and let his guard down that he was attacked and ambushed. He should have been more aware, more cautious. He should have had his guard up, then this wouldn’t have happened.
Arsène vomited blood as he coughed violently, still trying to push himself off the spikes. He then turned to look at the enemy, it was hard to make it out. Since the snow was getting in the way, he had a hard time seeing and figuring out what the enemy looked like.
“Don’t panic, young man.”
The voice spoke, the enemy taking a step forward. Arsène could now slightly make out the enemy’s silhouette. They had an almost human like body, didn’t seem to have hair of any kind. They looked pretty tall but not exactly a titan like Purson or Valefor. Arsène violently coughed again, gripping onto the rock spikes.
“W-Who are you? What do you want..?”
The person or demon chuckled, thinking for a moment as they stood still.
“I want to see the destruction of that city, the city you all cherish so much.”
Arsène looked at the enemy, glaring at them. He felt angry, angry not because he was stabbed this horribly. Angry that these pathetic demons wish to see the destruction of HK-36 and the deaths of the people in it.
“Why..? What did we even do to you..?”
Arsène asked, intending to know why, why do these demons wish to see the death of those in the city. The demon laughs.
“That’s not important. What is important is the fall of that city. With that, we will go for the next task at hand.”
Arsène grunts in pain as he listens to the demon talk. The armor normally blocked out the cold air and temperature, but since the wounds were open now, cold air was almost a burning feeling whenever it brushed against his wounds. It was painful but Arsène endured it. He just turned to look at the demon.
“So what now? Your gonna kill me?”
“Of course not, I still need to know why you have that armor.”
Arsène’s eyes slightly widened, surprised that the demon wasn’t going to kill him yet. But why did it know of the armor Arsène has?
“The armor, how do you know about it?”
Arsène asked, his curiosity piqued. The demon just shakes its head, before stepping forward, now Arsène could somewhat make out the demon. The demon was a man, a man or person made out of pure rock, almost like a statue. Except there were cracks everywhere, like smashed rock pieces pieced together and joined to become a man. The demon spoke, its tone a bit amused.
“Why would I have the need to tell you that? After all, I am the one with the advantage here.”
Arsène flinched, his whole body trembling in pain and cold, hurting all over but mostly his torso and abdomen. The spikes had penetrated through Arsène’s armor and went all the way through the body, exiting through his back. Despite being an armor. His suit wasn’t of a much a defensive one. It was quite tough but not impenetrable.
“But, since you are almost at death’s door. I will tell you this.”
The demon spoke, a grin spreading on its face. It then points at Arsène.
“That armor, is perhaps the strongest asset HK-36 has.”
Arsène looked at the demon, confused.
“The greatest asset? What do you mean? They have the Mech Aegis anyway.”
The demon shook its head, chuckling again.
“Those massive toys are nothing compared to your gift, young one. I am surprised you are actually able to use it properly. It seems you have adapted to using it quite well.”
Arsène coughed, glaring at the demon.
“Of course I could, who the hell do you think I am..?”
The demon smiles wide.
“A pathetic, useless and worthless nobody. That’s what you are.”
The demon said with malice, then continuing.
“It was a simple coincidence you happened to adapt and control the armor. But remember this; That armor is both a gift and a curse.”
Arsène looked down for a moment, wondering. Was this armor really a gift from God? Was it even a gift at all? Time and time, Arsène was thrown into battle because of this fucking armor. Yet he never gained anything, he just getting hurt yet no one really praised him.
“Face it child, you will never be appreciated by those around you. Humans don’t realize something’s importance until its gone, such is their curse.”
The demon wasn’t wrong, most humans don’t realize the true meaning and worth of something until it or they are gone. And no one has truly appreciated Arsène till now.
No… That’s wrong..
Arsène thought to himself. Yes, he was wrong. Kami, Nessa and even maybe Ethan would appreciate Arsène if they knew how hard he has been working. They wouldn’t just throw him away because he was weird. Since, they were his friends. And that’s what friends are for.
“You.. You’re wrong.. My efforts did not go unappreciated.”
Arsène said in between gasps of pain.
“Kami.. My friend, just told me how proud of he was the other day.. And Vanessa.. She was still willing to talk to me and being my friend. My friends just don’t know how much I am working, if they did, they would appreciate me.”
The demon grunted, letting out a sigh.
“That is what you think. In truth, none of what you wish for will happen. Child.”
“No, your wrong. I know they are proud of me. I know they enjoy my company. I know they think of me as a friend.”
The demon just sighed.
“Your just delusional.”
The demon walked closer to Arsène, looking up at him even though he had no eyes.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“And I, Demon Agares, will slay you here.”
“We will see about that.”
In an instant, Arsène gripped onto the spikes of earth and broke them, then leaping away in the air. He then landed on his feet, turning and looking at Agares with rage and irritation. Agares just chuckles in return.
In an insant, Agares points at Arsène. Boulders or balls made of stone rise from the terrain, then they wither away till they become sharp drills. Agares then snaps his fingers, the stone drills shooting at Arsène. Arsène quickly dodged them, side stepping to make sure none of them hit him. In the same minute, Arsène then healed his wounds, focusing on the parts where the stone spikes had impaled him. He quickly gripped his fist as his pulsing energy turned red, matching the rage he was in.
Agares just laughs, this time, kicking the floor as spikes from the earth come rising up, intending to impale Arsène again. But Arsène grunts, leaping into the air and pointing his hands at the spikes. The viper-snake like graples quickly latch onto the spikes, he then pulled himself into the spikes, just nearly dodging them as he parkoured through them. He jumped and swung through the empty areas of the spikes, the spikes had grown tall and were like a forest. Arsène quickly kicked his feet off the spike, breaking it but also shooting himself away. Then he used his hands to then grab onto a spike and swung to the other side. The cape of flames began burning again, shooting out of the back of his shoulders.
In an instant, Arsène punched the spikes, the spikes, for meters forward, broke and flew away like bullets in speed as the shock wave of Arsène’s punch sent them flying away in shards. The demon gasped, surprised and shocked but he then chuckled as he then erected a wall of earth. Arsène, again wasting no time, leaps at the wall and punches it, making it break into millions of pieces.
But before Arsène can react, from behind the broken wall of earth, a spear of stone shoots into Arsène, stabbing right in his eye as he gets thrown back. He screams in pain, the pain was excruciating and really hurt, it was like hell, it was burning. The spear then turns to dust, flying off into the wind. Just as Arsène tries standing up, the hand of stone grabs him from below and ascends.
“Arrogant and overconfident child. You should have thought twice before choosing to fight me.”
Arsène grunts in pain as the hand of stone squeezes Arsène, the pain making him flinch and shake in pain. But then the grunts turn to screeches of intense agony as the fist of stone turn into a ball of spikes, impaling Arsène deep. In contract to Arsène’s screams of agony, Agares just laughs, finding his suffering amusing.
“You came all this way because those little officials of Hk-36 sent you to defeat me. Yet, they don’t realize the fact that your just a child. A child who is inexperienced and stupid, meant to die.”
He then grins.
“Just like the other users of the Armor of Gluttony.”
Arsène shook violently, screaming in pain as the spikes kept retracting and impaling him again. Before soon, Arsène slowly starts losing his consciousness.
Is this the end..? Is this really how I die..? God damn it… If only.. If only I got the chance to talk to Kami, Vanessa, Mukyu, Alya, Kamui, Paz and Ethan.. once last time..
He then drifted off, the body going still, no sign of life. Agares goes silent, shrugging his shoulders as he releases Arsène, the body falling down with a thud. The snow starts covering Arsène’s body as Agares smiles, walking away.
“What a shame.. Here I thought I could torture you a little longer.”
As Agares starts walking away, he halts. Something wasn’t right. Some part of the demon knew something was off. Before the demon can turn around, it is sent flying into the air as parts of it’s stone body break.
“Huh? What the? Why can I see my torso from this angle?”
The demon clicks his tongue, realizing.
“Ah! My head has been knocked off!”
The head and the body fall to the ground with a thub, the body then stands up, momentarily looking around the ground for the head of the demon. Quickly, the demon reattaches its head, looking back. It gasped in surprise as Arsène was standing up, guts daring to come out of his abdomen. But something wasn’t right. Something was different about the aura of this… thing.
Arsène let out a low growl as he then bent down, getting on all fours. Agares takes a battle stance, readying his earth manipulation. In an instant, Arsène shoots towards Agares on all fours, running like a wild animal. In turn, Agares makes spikes of earth penetrated Arsène. But Arsène lets out a roar as he then breaks the spikes and regenerates in instant. Agares, shocked, then summons the drill-like bullets and launches them at Arsène. Arsène in return just tanks them, allowing the drills to pierce him but healing almost immediately.
Agares grunts, then summoning the same wall of earth, trying to shield itself. But the wall of earth breaks, Arsène leaping at Agares, Agares then chuckles as he launches a spear of earth at Arsène. But Arsène in return just bites the spear and eats it.
“..!”
Agares tries to pull another stunt but then Arsène uses the viper-snake grapples to grab Agares’s arms and tear them off. Before Agares can reattach his limbs, Arsène grabs the demons head, then pointing his hand at the demon as the demon shrieks. Before it can even beg, Arsène starts shooting intense and hot flames from the viper snake’s mouths, the demon shrieks in pain, the scream slowly melting away along with his body. Then all that remained was a core. The core of Agares.
Arsène then notices the earth slowly coming towards the core, probably Agares trying to recover. Without waiting a moment, Arsène roars as he opens his mouth and chomps on the core, eating it in one gulp. Then there is a massive explosion as the clouds and storm both disappear, the explosion melting away the mountain as the clouds clear.
The aircraft momentarily enters the area. The soldiers then look down, in the crater, stood a being, a creature, a monster. With tectonic armor and plating all over it, it stood over the molten stone as it let out low growls. It was Arsène.
*