Now that I think about it, we’ll probably end up destroying much of the world in our ensuing battle. That is assuming one of us doesn't die instantly or get swarmed by enemy forces. I've always been just a step below my brother in terms of power, but now his power has been wholly changed and I can’t detect it without it being present in the atmosphere. She must’ve guessed the same thing because Agent Porter lessens my burden by taking the surrounding Nephil to a different battlefield. Even before she ported me over there I could feel his power climbing steadily.
With any luck this would be the last time that this thing continues to haunt this world. But I’ve learned early on to make my own luck, it’ll either be enough or it won’t. As I appear before my brother’s body, it’s new inhabitant fires a tendril from its back aimed at my leg. I rush forward past the tendril intent on smoking a fist into its head. Instead my hand is caught by his, which is twisted unnaturally.
No point in backing out now.
He springs to his feet as his other hand comes up to snatch at me. I make no move to dodge, instead I blast him into the ground with a concentrated beam of magic. I suspect he didn't see it coming because well, magic is not a visible energy. I also think that whatever being now inhabits my brother’s body can’t detect magic very well. There was recognition on his face before I struck with magic but it was a very late reaction.
That doesn't mean this’ll be any easier.
I watch as more tendrils shoot out of his back and meld together to form two pairs of deformed angel wings. They form almost too fast for me to see clearly and has flying at me at the same speed. As he crashes into me he begins to squeeze and carry me well into the exosphere. I apply a thin but durable layer of magic to my body. As he spins away from earth, ready to launch me into it, I snake a small magic tether near his neck. When I'm finally released I quickly loop the tether tightly around his neck and we both go shooting towards earth. Before I can touch ground in Beijing, China I shorten the tether while also harshly pulling it towards the ground. He comes whipping into the earth fast enough to cause a sonic boom and create a shockwave. I quickly create a net of magic through the air and earth to halt the force that his impact caused. Only looking around to see if there are Nephil nearby that are going to try to interrupt our deathmatch do I finally notice what I launched him into. It’s an embassy, a US embassy.
I’m sure the humans could forgive some casualties for the sake of survival. It wouldn't be the first time they’ve done it. Suddenly I was blasted through a house half a mile away by a shadowy tendril. Actually it was more like a thick darkness, if that makes any sense.
Another one comes shooting from above, aimed at my head. I side step but it just turns on a dime and impales my left arm. It slowly begins to worm its way around my bones and up the inside of my arm. I ignite my blood and channel it to spread down the tendril. He just whips me about 40 feet into the ground.
He morphs his body to slink into the earth and coil a bunch of tendrils around me. Instead of trying to kill me he tries to siphon something from me, specifically my soul-scape. My brand of magic is nothing too special so wh-...how have I not noticed before now?
Shielded in a dense layer of my own magic is a seed of life magic...magic that only God has ever wielded amongst the angels. He...he gave this to me even as he was being corrupted? How, when, why? I snap from my revelation when I feel It begin to unravel the shell of magic to get to the seed. Instead of just twisting other beings, it would be able to create brand new monstrosities from nothing but magic. I gather my thoughts and strike out at the being. Just as is within my soul, so too can I explore it’s.
Every soul is different but this thing’s soul feels...fake, as if it is an imitation. No one knows how souls come to be, angel or man, but it seems this being is an incomplete one. I extend my mind towards where the soul typically connects to the body, at the point where the spine and brain meet. So engrossed is the thing that it doesn't notice me until I start severing the connection to the body.
"God": “Aaaaaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhh!”
At once we both fly back into our own bodies. I blindly fire a magic missile in his direction. It either missed or he ignored the pain to launch a tendril into my head. While it doesn't punch through my magic cladding, it still sends me flying through houses and...and I'm skidding over water now.
As my vision finally returns to me I find that I'm too far from land to see it. Also I feel some magic about a mile away, viewing magic apparently. Strange but irrelevant. My focus should only be on winning this battle. He comes rocketing toward me so I turn and flee in a direction. I fly past some mostly deserted islands before shooting into the ocean.
He follows like a dog on a leash.
Once we reach about 1, 000 fathoms down I start to mold a ball of water around the imposter. It drastically slows him but doesn't stop him completely. I manipulate the gravity around to pour into the water around him. He uses his own power to resist but I'm still able to hurl the ball down towards a hydrothermal vent. As he entered it the water around begins to boil before exploding due to the pressure I had him contained in. As the bubbles began to clear, a noticed something that gave me some more hope for this world. One of my brothers arms was mangled(still) but now it was blown clear from his body. Though it pains me, I need to destroy my brothers body. I'm so sorry God, you won't be getting a burial but hopefully I can collect your ashes. Maybe when I attacked his Essence I weakened his control on God’s body. I may need to make riskier moves.
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I get charged straight out of the ocean while distracted by the new breakthrough. He immediately gathers some of God’s power and uses it to crush my magic cladding against me. I'm forced to break my barrier to avoid further crushing. I try to flee further but I'm smashed in the back and end up crashing into solid ground. I crashed in Scottland I think. Before I can move he is upon me, restraining me with those dark tendrils. This is going to be a close thing. While I'm immobilized he begins to search for the seed of power again. Knowing it's there now I've set my magic to constantly shift it around my soulscape. I'll need time and to keep this thing distracted with the seed. When I bridge the connection to its soul, I instead focus on the body. Now I know why I am able to destroy my brothers body, his body has always been dead. Its It's been sustaining off of God’s large magic reserves, its completely saturated with it. I start siphoning as much as I can but I can feel the thing getting closer to the seed. An idea strikes me and I send the siphoned mana back into my soulscape. It joins with the shell protecting the seed, reinforcing it constantly. Unfortunately I cant handle all the strain and have to stop moving the shell. It finds it quickly but can't get through the constant empowering of the shell. After an hour of this his body is finally out of magic. I grab a bit off my own and insert it into his body. Actually, I grab a lot and drag it into his body, then I release my will over it. Natural magic is volatile when interacted with and with no more magic to keep the body together…
Boom!
A wave of force rips his body apart and continues for some distance outside of it until a crater forms about a hundred feet outward from us. Some pieces flesh rain down amidst which I feel both an emotional and physical pain. Having lost its host it chooses me as its next victim. The explosion provided it the perfect opportunity to pierce my chest. From there it begins to burrow towards the entry to my soulscape.
I stand near the center of the crater in absolute agony as the entity burrows through my flesh towards my center. I think I can hear people through the haze of pain. Their worried crying and panic remind me of what I've been doing all this for: the people. Not just humanity but angelkind as well. Time to make another sacrifice. The pain makes me yell my next words as loud as I can!
Lucifer: “Guess I won't be getting a burial either!”
I plan to destroy my body along with my magic and God’s, it is the only way I can think to destroy this thing or at least keep creation magic out of its grasp. I start taking as much of my own magic as I can handle and start molding it into a pressurized spring beneath my feet. As I pull from my center I make it easier for the thing to get closer to the seed but it still has to contend with the reinforced shell. Then I notice that my body is developing black pools of darkness so I hurry the process of the spring molding. More people are gathering around the crater and some are even sliding down the gentler slopes. I'll be long gone before any of them get themselves killed approaching.
Launch!
Faster than even my eyes can follow, we are shooting into the atmosphere. Passing layers in the span of seconds, I let myself ponder what I might miss once I'm gone. Correction, once we're gone. I fully intend to take this thing with me as I go. To that end I entwine my soul and the abomination’s.
???: “I am a being of spirit, you cannot possibly hope to contend.”
Lucifer: “I've done a pretty good job so far. And besides, we're almost done with each other.”
???: “You think your puny star can erase my essence? I thought you smarter than that to have lasted as long as you have.”
I let his insults and threats slide as we speed past Mercury. As my soul produced more magic I used it to begin severing the connection between my body and soul. Because it didn't take much to do, I filled my soulscape with the leftover. Magic is supremely volatile when not restrained by a being's will. As we grew closer to the sun I relinquished all control of my magic and immediately felt it sting my soul. Apparently my hitchhiker felt this as well.
???: “What have you done? What is this pain!?”
Lucifer: “I...let my hold over my...magic go. It'll burn...us away!”
???: “Aaaaaaarrrrgrh!” Lucifer: “Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!”
We spend the last of our existences wailing in agony. Magic begins to burn both of our souls, the parts that burn away turning into pure energy. We'll both become fuel for the sun now. It's not too much later that the pain starts to fade along with my soul.
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Meanwhile on Earth, the various angel villages and their human allies mobilize their peoples to hunt down the last of the Nephil. Various news stations scramble to cover the world-shaking events and publish them as truth. Nearly all astronomers were searching the heavens beyond earth for a glimpse of God or Lucifer. What they got instead was a strange sun flare. Then the sun began to change color and brighten. Mass panic ensued as nearly everyone on earth could visibly see the sun changing. A month passed in this agitated fog over humanity before a group of angels showed up in every minor and major community hub. No matter how remote the person, family, village, town, city, state or country, a group of Angel's showed up to deliver a message to humanity. An image of a certain angel appeared before every earthling.
Briniel: “I would like to formally apologize for the death and destruction that has been wrought upon the earth. We had fled our home in the heavens to escape the monster that had corrupted God, but have only made it your problem as well. His brother Lucifer accepted that he was seen as the evil-above-all-others. As long as he could have the chance to save his people and humanity, he was willing to go far and above what any of us would consider. Now he has sacrificed his body and soul to completely erase the corrupting presence.”
At that, someone from a group of college students spoke up.
Brice: “what does that mean?"
Briniel: “The only thing left of Lucifer is his name and our memories of him. Whether you hated him or not he is well and truly gone forever.”
Most of the world was awash in silence. The angels and their allies silently grieved for their fallen while the rest of humanity didn’t know how to react to all that had happened. This silence was shattered by another strange phenomenon, snow. Snow over most of the world, or it looked like snow.
Briniel: “This...this is a shower of magic particles! It’s coming from the sun! The sun is radiating magic!”
At this, many of the angels burst into tears. Many humans began to bawl as well.
The world just became a lot more magical, but at a great and terrible cost.