An angel flew through the sky, her eyes piercing that which came into their path like a razor.
As this angel soared above the city underneath her, she witnessed a number of scenes which only continued to fuel her righteous anger.
Scenes of men running out into the street, destroying property, attacking innocent civilians, lighting fires, and screaming at the top of their lungs.
"Hahaha!!!! This is what you get for pissing me off!!!!"
"How do you feel now!?!? Do you regret talking back to me!?!?!"
"I bet you feel stupid now!!!!"
It was a landscape of chaos.
Biting her lip, the angel descended on the scenes one by one.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Appearing behind a man who was holding a child to a wall by his throat, Claire had no sense of sympathy in her voice.
Despite her cold demeanor, the demonic tar which usually overflowed and took over her body was nowhere to be found.
That demonic hand was the only piece of her which remained in it's evil state, constantly reminding her of the darkness within.
Yet despite this, Claire had a tone of disgust and hatred in her voice.
'It seems that there is no need for me to take over here, Claire. Or rather, I have no place doing so.'
A demonic voice whispered into the mind of Claire as she held forward her demonic hand, grabbing the throat of the man and causing him to drop the child.
"Die, inhumane scum. You have been robbed of your self control. The only mercy I can show you is robbing you of your life as well."
[Set Condition: Ash]
The body of the dark brown gerbil man which Claire held dissipated into ashes, which floated to the ground to form a pile.
The child who was being threatened looked up at Claire with fearful eyes, wondering what his fate would be.
"Are you..... the demon that everyone is talking about?"
With a kind smile, Claire held out her hand to the boy.
"Yes. I am."
Reluctant at first, the boy slowly held out his own hand.
"Why did you help me.... if you are a demon?"
Claire pulled the child closed and patted his head.
"A demon does whatever they want. And I felt like helping you."
Putting her hands on the child's shoulders, Claire bent down to look him in the eyes.
"Go inside. There are a lot of bad men around today, and this demon here won't be able to protect you all the time. Stay well hidden, and everything will be fine soon."
The boy nodded.
"Ok, demon...."
Rushing off into his own home, the boy turned around before he left, giving Claire a smile.
"Thank you.... demon."
Claire waved to the boy before taking off once more.
How many scenes like this repeated themselves before Claire made it to the factory?
More than Claire could count.
She extinguished fires.
She stopped people from harming innocent civilians.
She prevented explosions of energy.
Most importantly, in order to do this, she killed.
She killed countless men in the city before arriving at the factory where Vex had set up a base.
Closing her eyes with sadness, Claire came to accept her own actions.
'This is what needs to be done. And I am the only one who can do it.'
She now saw the factory in the distance, and began to fly faster than the speed of sound to reach it in mere seconds.
Landing with a small sonic boom, the dust around her flew away in chaos. In front of the factory were only a couple of men who glared at her with angered expressions.
"Wha-!?"
"It's... it's the demon!!! She's come to this place!!!!"
"She's come to attack Vex!!"
The two rushed back into the building to warn their leader, and Claire made no movement to stop them.
She stepped forward with grace and elegance, not wavering with each step.
She entered the building from the front, not paying heed to the men who were scurrying about.
"Where is the coward who has done this to my people?"
Claire opened the door with a slam to see an orange demon.
He sat in a chair with his legs propped up, displaying his bright green sneakers.
He wore a suit which was striped red and black, and his red hair was spiked up in eccentric fashion.
The demon seemed to be glancing at a golden wristwatch, and around him a number of ratmen were kneeling to him.
On noticing the sudden disturbance, they all stood up and faced the angel who entered without reservation.
"That is her, Lord Vex. She is the one who has taken over this village, and calls herself the Determined."
"Gotcha. Whew. She is one fine woman. I better keep quiet about this. Even if I kill her, if my woman finds out I was spending my afternoon with that babe then I might just lose every chance to make up with her."
Claire ignored the comment and continued walking forward fearlessly.
As she approached, Vex took his own legs off the rest in front of him and leaned forward.
"Coming straight for me? So you're the straightforward type, eh? I'mma have to decline your advances tho. I got another waiting for me."
As Claire approached, the fury in the eyes of the ratmen surrounding Vex became clear and evident. They couldn't stand her existence, and it took everything in their very being to hold themselves back from lashing out then and there.
"You remove fear from those who you control. Through the removal of fear, their wrath becomes blind. If one does not fear consequences, they will not hold themselves back. If one does not fear the destruction of a relationship, then they will destroy it without a second thought. If one does not fear those stronger than them, they will attack without reserve- even when they have no chance of winning."
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
As Claire spoke these very words, a group of the men rushed forward with bloodthirsty eyes, ready to kill the demon in front of them.
"DIE!!!!"
"WE WILL KILL YOU FOR VEX, AND WE WILL AVENGE THE PEOPLE OF THIS CITY!!!!"
"WE WILL STOP YOUR RAMPAGE, DEMON!!!!!!"
Closing her eyes, Claire held out a demonic hand to catch the blades and claws of the men who attacked her.
The blades disappeared into nothingness, and two of the three men fell dead on the spot as soon as they came into contact with the hand.
The third one who had lost his weapon did not show the slightest sign of fear or regret, and continued pressing the attack without so much as looking at his dead comrades.
"DIE, FIEND!!!!"
Catching his own face in her demonic hand, Claire squeezed it, digging her claws into the flesh of the man until blood was drawn.
"I didn't come to play with tools who are no longer human. I came to punish the one who made you into such tools."
[Set condition: Chair]
The man who's face was held in Claire's demonic hand began to shift shape, his own flesh and body being distorted in horrible ways.
His flesh and bones took completely new shapes and the squishing sounds of the transformation filled the ears of all the people around, before the form finally settled on a seat made from flesh and bones.
"How reminiscent of the Capital.", Claire stated. "But this is the real thing."
With grace the angelic figure sat down, folding her arms and crossing her legs, staring into the eyes of the demon before her.
"It is awfully rude of you to not so much as provide a seat for a guest. But that is fine. After all, I've provided my own."
Vex leaned forward with interest as a smile came across his face. He covered his mouth with his demonic hand and tried to cease his own laughter, but could not hold it within himself.
"Heh heh.... hahaha!! You... you're something else, aren't you? I was wondering all this time just who would be insane enough to do all those things, but this is really something. A demon in the form of an angel? And one who wants to lecture me on manners, at that?"
Vex covered his eyes with his hand as he laughed, running his hand through his hair.
"Sorry sorry. I just... didn't expect this. You're the Determined? You're the queen of the antiheroes who has been ordering them around and taking over the world? I expected you to be a demon, but I'll be honest..."
Checking his own watch with a quick glance, Vex noted the time.
4:45.
"You've gone above and beyond my expectations."
"Have you finished speaking yet? I have some things I would like to ask you as well."
"You're pretty impatient, aren't ya?"
"I have an entire Dictatorship to run, and yet a demon comes into my city and rids my people of their humanity. I have a lot of things to do, and yet you've just given me even more work. Let me ask you something. Do people have any value to you? Are they just things to be thrown away? You have destroyed the minds of the people I rule, and forced me to KILL them."
Claire stared deeply into the eyes of Vex with a burning hatred.
"I was going to let you get off easy and offer for you to bow down as my slave, but I've changed my mind. Unless you revert everything you've done here and now, I'm going to kill you."
----
"Pfft!!!! Ahaahaha!!!!"
Vex slapped his knee and could not control his own laughter at the haughty statement of the angel before him.
"I didn't know you were a comedian too!! Enslave me? Kill me? Ah! Maybe that's it. I haven't exactly introduced myself. Well, you already know my name, but I suppose I should give you an official introduction so you know exactly who I am."
Standing up from his seat and pointing his own thumb towards himself, Vex smiled as he spoke.
"Name is Vex. House leader and Host of Wrath. Engaged to be married to a real fine but jealous as all hell woman who doesn't take no for an answer, and finds every little piece to nitpick about. As far as number goes....."
With a light sigh, Vex slicked back his own hair.
"I'm number 6."
"Number 6?"
Claire didn't move from her seat as the demon introduced himself, but instead questioned his words.
"Yep. I don't like to admit it, but I'm number 6 in terms of strength. On one hand, it means that out of the 7 house leaders, there's only one who is weaker than me."
Vex then held out his own hand and with the twirl of his finger, one of the men who was standing by the door blew up like a balloon before releasing a small explosion, taking out the door and the other man standing by him.
"But on the other hand, it means that out of every demon in the entire world, I managed to make it all the way to 6th place. What about yourself, Determined? Can you even hold a candle to me?"
Claire glanced over with an annoyed look as she witnessed the explosion behind her, but quickly looked back to Vex.
"And even if you can..... then so what? There are still 5 others left who are stronger. Haha.... I haven't had a good fight in a while, so I'll be honest."
Vex sat back in his seat while checking his watch once more.
"I've got an appointment with my fiancé in a few hours. So I can't spend a whole lot of time here talking with you like this. I don't think you have what it takes to kill me. Hah.... kill me, eh? Don't use that word so lightly. If you do, then you'll be the one who ends up dying- not me."
"Aren't you the one who is taking death a little too lightly?"
Claire stood up, her angelic wings fluttering as she rose. Adjusting her halo, she bowed with a smile, the streamers of her beautiful gown oscillating as she made such movements.
"I am the Determined, ruler of chaos and manipulator of fate- and future queen of demons. As for my name, you will not get such a thing- for even the ones I consider to be my closest comrades do not know of it."
Standing up tall with her hands on her hips, Claire glared at Vex.
"You have taken away a piece of the minds of these people you control. In doing so, you have forced my hand in their own deaths. Now let me ask you, 'Vex', leader of the house of wrath."
Pointing her finger at the demon, Claire spoke clearly and with power.
"You say that I speak lightly of killing, and you act as if you cannot be killed. Yet you have effectively killed so many around you, for no reason."
Closing her eyes, Claire paused and breathed in, controlling her own emotions.
"Do you know what it feels like to be killed?"
Vex looked up from his watch, straight into the eyes of the angel before him.
'What the hell? Something changed about her.... it's as if..... those eyes.....'
For the first time in his life, Vex felt an emotion which he had robbed from so many others.
It was an emotion which he had only experienced in domestic manner- yet never before had he felt such an emotion in battle.
Fear.
'This is.... the same thing that I felt at that time... when.... when that girl looked at me like I was some sort of monster....'
'Why do I feel fear? Towards this woman? Those eyes..... they are.....'
A shiver went down the spine of Vex as he stared Claire straight in the eyes.
He felt as if he was peering into a pitch black abyss.
As if he was falling through a pit, desperately clinging to his own life to dig himself out.
'They are the eyes of someone who has seen death...'
Vex forced himself to stand up, preparing to fight the woman before him.
"I have an appointment that I need to be at. My woman is waiting for me, and she'll be awful jealous if she found out that I spent so much time with you here."
"Don't worry. You won't live to experience the wrath she holds for you."
----
Vex charged at Claire with a smile on his face, pulling back his demonic hand and thrusting his own claw forward, straight into the heart of the angelic being.
"Haha! You're so slow! Nothing to be afraid of after all!!!", Vex exclaimed.
Closing her eyes, Claire waited for Vex to stab her.
'Why.... why does she look so peaceful when I am about to kill her!?!?'
Vex made this motion in the matter of a tenth of a second, piercing his hand into the angel's heart, and as soon as he did so, the body of the angelic being became a glitched mess.
Reality warped. Everything around Vex disappeared, and his very existence was no longer a continuity.
The timeline had been reset.
"Do you know what it feels like to be killed?"
----
Claire walked around the seated man without a single care in her expression, resting her own arms around his neck and grabbing his chin with her demonic hand.
The demon did not move, for his mind seemed to be overtaken by fear.
Yet it was not his fear which stopped him from moving.
There was some unknown force which prevented his body from reacting.
'What's going on.... normally I would react to such a blatant advance and take up a fighting position, and yet I... I can't move!!! Am I scared? Those eyes.... something was off about them..... am I truly terrified of her!?!? To the point where I can't even move!??! That can't be.... no, wait.... my body.... it.... it's moving again....'
"I have an appointment that I need to be at. My woman is waiting for me, and she'll be awful jealous if she found out that I spent so much time with you here."
Vex stood up as he said these words, speaking as if Claire was standing right in front of him.
Rushing forward with a thrust, confusion continued to fill the mind of the demon as he spoke words which did not match his own thoughts nor perception of reality.
"Haha! You're so slow! Nothing to be afraid of after all!!!", he shouted.
'Who am I talking to? Who is slow!?! There's nobody there!! I'm attacking nobody!!!'
"Too bad. It looks like you won't be stealing the fear from people anymore. After all, fear goes two ways, doesn't it?"
Vex was now frozen in midair, with his hand in the position of an attack after he pierced the air at supersonic speed.
For no reason.
"What.... what did you do?"
"What.... did I do? Haha..... I merely returned to you that which you stole from all the others. Or are you talking about your movements just now?"
Vex turned his head slowly.
His own muscles began to shiver, and he couldn't control his own terror.
He looked back to see the angelic face of that creature.
She had not changed.
She still wore that halo and that kind expression.
Yet for some reason, Vex could see nothing more than a demon.
Stumbling back, Vex fell to the ground in pathetic manner with pleading eyes.
"What did you do to Vex, you monster!?!?!?!"
"HOW DARE YOU HARM HIM!?!?!?! CEASE THIS DESTRUCTION, DEMON!!!!!"
The men around Vex all simultaneously charged at Claire, who snapped her fingers.
As soon as she did so, a chain of explosions occurred.
"Did you think you were the only one who can make people into bombs?"
Claire stepped forward, power in every footstep she took.
Vex weakly crawled backwards, scooting himself into a corner.
"W-wait..... stop.... stop this....."
"Your woman would think you pathetic. Do you even see yourself, Vex of Wrath? You control people's wrath by removing their fear, but it seems that you've missed something."
Claire stepped forward, using her angelic index finger to lift the chin of Vex, who was overcome by terror.
"You failed to understand just how deep my own hatred runs for pieces of shit like you."