Chapter 230 - Loss

"Thirty-eighth of GOETIA, Earl of Hell, Count of Death and Destruction, Halphas." 

Introducing himself, the black substance that his pale, malnourished-looking body was coated in seemed to coalesce into a single spot on his chest--etching into his right pectoral the number thirty-eight. Sora intended to part his lips to question this answer given, but he found a vacancy in his throat, soon recognized to be replaced with fear as he finally felt the aura that resided with the entity before him. 

It was different from mana, but still the same at its core. The true difference laid in its thickness and potency; it felt akin to the essence of divine mana--an existence meant to exceed mortal limitations, but the harrowing, corrupted nature of it was the complete antithesis of that very concept. 

Punching himself directly against his own cheekbone, Sora smiled as he drove the suffocating fear out from his throat. 

"Halphas, huh? So this is your true form then? You went from a creepy bastard to a creepy bastard." 

"I suppose it could be called that. I was merely here in spirit before consuming all of the souls in this pitiful town--all except yours. Now, I have fully manifested--there is little merit in you resisting me now." 

Halphas spoke with the same hoarseness to his voice as before, but it was definitely more human-like. Yet, his crimson eyes were just as lifeless as ever, staring blankly as if suffering from a millennia without stimulation. 

"Blah, blah, blah. I'm sick of your cocky bullshit, Half-ass! You're not stepping one foot outside of Lemasdale." 

Moving this time with greater speed than before, Sora's bulky form graced the harrowing, desecrated town grounds as he vanished from spot to spot before swiping his lengthy halberd towards the neck of the manifested demon. 

The blade came to an absolute halt; caught between the fingers of Halphas as his expression remained unmoved, casually turning his gaze to Sora before he lifted his other hand, intertwining his index and middle fingers. 

"Rise, my dark battalions."

Beneath the wailing skies, sable pillars suddenly burst forth from the ground, rupturing the form of the town as the hellish towers rose about just from the subtle command. 

"Huh?! Shit!" 

Witnessing the arrival of the ominous, high-reaching pillars, Sora retreated along with his halberd, jumping back before flinging a fireball directly towards the pale, hollow entity. 

"Helios: Ashen Teller!"

Watching the large, seething fireball quickly approach his position, Halphas raised his hand without any urgency. 

"Didn't I tell you? I bathe within the flames of hell itself."

The sphere of raging flames collided with the demon's pale, human hand, caught like a stray ball as Halphas simply stared at Sora, who fell into disbelief at the fruitlessness of his attack. 

Without any hesitance, Halphas parted his jaw, releasing the fireball into his mouth as he consumed it, letting out a sigh of smoke. 

"No way…"

In his time of shock, he was unable to react as Halphas disappeared from his vision. It was only by virtue of the dreadful chill that ran over his back that he turned around with certainty that the demonic royalty had gone behind him. 

"Lucas!"

It was too late, what he saw before his eyes was a sight most harrowing: Halphas hand protruded itself through the chest of the hazel-haired Outlander, coated in a fresh layer of his crimson essence. Coughing up blood, Lucas could only let out a groan accompanied by spits of crimson. 

The hit was meant for him; Lucas had stepped between the two in the very last moment, tracing his hands along the back of the vermilion -haired man weakly. 

"S-sora…"

His voice came out so weakly, the emerald irises of his glistening with tears, becoming bloodshot from the strain inflicted onto his body. Reaching out towards his comrade with his trembling hand, the effort was seized as Halphas retreated his blood-soaked arm from the chest cavity of the young mage, allowing him to drop down onto the floor, laying in a forming puddle of crimson. 

Despair isn't what took hold of his heart in that moment--seeing the vacant emotion on Halphas' face, he only saw a twisted, smug expression in his bubbling rage. Soon, crimson set into his view as he felt his blood boil like never before. 

There wasn't time to check on his comrade, his family--he knew what had to be done in that moment if there was any chance of reprieve in the night of scarlet. 

"Halphaaaaas!---"

An immediate tremor sent out from the unchained magical energy that unraveled itself from Sora's raw, unhinged rage. 

"Yes...That's what I yearn to see, to experience--the pure, untampered human emotion."

"I'm going to fucking kill you! You hear me!"

Even Halphas, in all of his stoic glory, widened his eyes at the unnatural speed exorbitant by the enraged, vermilion -haired man as he bursted forward. By some miracle of his own, the demon evaded the overheard strike of the halberd, an impact that sent a violent tremor throughout the entirety of the town. 

Looking upon the expression of the armored-man, Halphas bore witness to the pure emotion he desired to see; Sora's pupils had vanished beneath the seething, boiling rage, only the white of his sclera was visible as veins pressed against his skin. 

"...Empyrean Armory: Mode Berserk…"

Hearing these words, Halphas watched curiously as the ivory armory covering the man's body vanished before quickly being replaced by a layer of glowing particles that soon became solid. A new armor coiled itself around his form; a stygian steel, intricate and layered with many grooves scaled itself across his body. 

The gauntlets resembled the claws of a beast, the shoulderpads frailed and spikey like the horns of a great dragon. Even the helmet resembled something more beast than man; though obscure in nature, it seemed to be the maw of an obsidian dragon. Attached to his shoulders came a tattered, black cape that hung down to his high-boots. 

Silently, he allowed his halberd to disappear before replacing it instantly with a new weapon. 

It's happening again. Another comrade dying on my account. I have nothing else to blame except my own incompetence. It's a cruel joke--first Sebastian, now Lucas. 

Into the grip of his stygian steel gauntlets which had been etched to resemble the scales of a dragon, a weapon bore itself into existence. It was nothing like he previously used; a tool of unrefined malice, the very concept of his rage and contempt forced into the form of a weapon. 

All I can do now is kill the scum responsible. That's all I'm good for--destruction. 

Unlike a standard blade, the abyssal hilt was held horizontally between his fingers with two separate blades running parallel to one another connected to this handle. Each of these blades of pristine, blackened steel matched the length of a greatsword, displaying silver designs that ran along the length of their sharpness. As Halphas ran his gaze along the form of this peculiar weapon, he noticed the edges didn't follow a straight, sharp line but were almost a separate entity from the main hulk of the blade, cutting into a plethora of jagged saws.

"Quite the blade you have there."

No response came to Halphas' comment as the man shrouded in sable armor lowered his stance like that of a beast preparing to strike. 

So that's what I'll become--nothing more than a weapon of destruction; destroying whatever enemies come my way. It's the only thing I can do, so that's what I'll give the entirety of my being doing. 

"Take it. As much as you want."

Whispering to himself, his words invoked a reaction from the enigmatic armor that wrapped itself around his form, wincing as a squelch came from beneath the metal plating. From the pain, he dug his gauntlets into the dirt beneath before looking up at the pale figure in front of him.

Just seeing him standing there with that blank expression sent him forward, clearly taking Halphas by surprise as in that singular moment, in the dozens of fractions that inhabited a second, he closed the distance between them. 

Before his fingers laced with sable steel could wrap around the face of the being he hated with his everything, his grasp was evaded. 

"Close."

Halphas' remark of safety was challenged as a fist suddenly appeared just in front of his eyes. There was no avoiding this strike as it collided directly against the bridge of his nose, digging into his face as the knuckles clad in scales of stygian packed the might of deities behind its force. 

Just in the moment of impact that in the space between milliseconds, the Count of Death could feel the force reverberate through both flesh and bone, tearing each fiber of muscle and compromising the marrow of its bones. Through his gist, all of that rage could be felt, condensed into that singular blow. 

As the concept of flowing time resumed to Halphas' brain, he was already sent flying back, crashing through home after home before coming to a stop as his back landed harshly against the wall that once protected the town. 

All my bones were broken, my body was torn apart from the inside. Even my brain was reduced to a liquid. If it wasn't for my regeneration, I would've died from that once punch. How intriguing, Halphas thought. 

Standing himself up with only the usage of his legs, his entire body contorted itself, correcting the bones that protruded from his torn flesh before he was back to normal condition. Shaking his head a few times in an attempt to reduce the blaring ringing, brain matter poured out from his ears. 

"You're strong. I was wrong to think you were a normal human. Tell me, what is your name?" 

As Halphas attempted to converse with the man clad in sable armor, his words were seemingly ignored as Sora continued to march forward like a dark force of nature. 

"I am Halphas, Count of--"

Before the demon could reintroduce himself, his words were cut off by the presence of the man now directly before him, his elbow already jabbed into his nose.