Chapter 232 - This Is Hell

This is it for me. What a hypocrite I am. If I didn't try and force myself to be a hero like the rest of you, maybe...I wouldn't have died in a world that hates me. Still, somehow...I can't help but accept it. This is the way it goes; life, so fleeting. So cruel...why am I having all of these regrets now of all times? How cold I was, but that's the person I was to all of you, so I won't scorn it...That's me, Lucas Schon; the boy too foolish to express himself, but somehow...you all cared for me nonetheless. 

That's...the final sentiment I'll carry with me into the great unknown. 

Saying that at a time like this, how...Shit...Sora thought. 

All he could do was sit there silently, looking down at his beloved friend as he gently placed a kiss on his hand, closing his eyelids for him as he carefully set him down on the ground before turning back around to face the constant rumbling behind him of the obsidian towers. 

"To hell with it all!----"

Yelling out with everything he had in his vocal cords without any regard for their integrity, his booming yell packed with tearful rage echoed through the town as his sable armor instantly returned, veiling his tear-covered, rage-driven expression. 

I've been cursed. Cursed to continue living on, to continue fighting. Damn it all. Damn it all! 

Welcoming the oncoming battle, he watched as creatures began to pour out in droves from the entrances of the enigmatic towers. As he thought, they were all creatures original to the realm of sin itself; most of them holding nightmarish qualities, holding nothing but pure malice. 

"Bring it on then!...It doesn't matter how many of you there are, I'll tear you all apart!" 

Manifested twin blades for each hand, the newly manifested weapons held a unique, pearly-white to their mystical steel. Though they were single-handed swords, the blades extended their reach further than most greatswords. 

I can't even feel the tips of my fingers or my toes; my body's become set ablaze by this eternal rage burning inside me. There's nothing crueler. Nothing at all. 

Watching as the spawn of hell sprinted towards him in a most ferocious mob, he prepared for the slaughter--rearing both blades back, patiently waiting until they reached close enough. The moment the horde of hellish spawn stepped within reach of his blades, they set out in a blinding speed--completely eviscerating the creatures of malice, reducing each and every one that approached into mincemeat. 

Taking the life of such a boy with so much left ahead of him in life, with so many years left to live and smile...I can't think of a greater sin at this moment. There is only one punishment I can give to these rotten-hearted bastards now. 

"Die!--Die!---Die!"

Repeating this one word he drove from the deepest depths of his gut out from his throat and into the ears of all those around him, he continued the merciless slaughter of the legions of demon-spawn. 

From far beyond the piles of bodies waiting to meet his blades, he could hear it--a cackle most grating to his ears, causing his blood to boil fervently with hatred. Beyond the legions, Halphas laughed with his unnatural voice, sending it throughout the entire town as he belittled the very essence of life. 

With a single swipe of his blade, he carved through dozens of hungering spawn, the wind pressure alone eviscerating the masses into a reddened mist in the air. 

The vanguard of the horde from hell was made up of pig-like brutes that stood head and shoulders above the human, their skin taking a grayish complexion as obsidian husks protruded from beneath their snouts. As powerful as they looked, they were nothing but fodder to the endless slashes of the twin blades. 

As an endless downpour of crimson showers fell upon the now damp soil of the desecrated town, the blades themselves never found themselves tainted by the fluids of their resulting sharpness, remaining pristine. 

From within the horde, arrows coated in nefarious, verdant flames launched into the sky, crashing down without any care for the hell-spawn that were near Sora as he defended against the volley; rapidly swinging his blades with utmost agility and dexterity, repelling and shattering the arrows. 

"A natural-born bane of demons, huh? It seems my lower legions are just cannon fodder to your rage." 

As Halphas raised his arm toward the man in the distance, harboring a malicious, dark energy around his hand--his limb was suddenly lobbed from his body. He couldn't even witness what had happened, merely watching as his arm was flung from his body by way of a slash possessing utmost sharpness. 

Somehow in that infinitely small moment, Sora had gone from being amidst the horde of hell-spawn to being directly in front of Halphas' very eyes. 

"...Get him!"

Calling out to his legions who found themselves dumbfounded by the human's speed, Halphas commanded the hordes of demons to turn their hungering gazes back and begin ravenously stampeding towards Sora once more. 

Going for another strike, aiming to part Halphas' head from his shoulders, Sora's blade was once again interrupted by the stygian mirror--following up with another strike with the twin-blade that met the same obstacle. 

Expecting more droves of weak spawn, he was put on high alert as the towers began violently rumbling--more so than ever before. 

There's more coming. 

Attempting to halt this process, he leaped into the air with a violent burst, slashing his blades against one of the obsidian towers, only for not even a scratch of damage to be left on its pristine, immaculate form. From the large doors of the tower, enormous creatures coated in a black-hide poured out, having to squeeze past the exit much too small for their lumbering bodies. 

Dozens of smiling mouths covered their bodies, allowing for just as many tongues to unravel and wiggle in the air like a mass of tendrils protruding from their hide. As they lumbered towards Sora, their massive arms dragged against the ground like comically-proportioned gorillas, their forearms looking more like blunt weapons in the form of boulders. 

"I've decided now; you will be my favored sacrifice. The spirit you possess is magnificent; the emotions, mana, everything. Devouring you will make for a most bountiful feast."

Halphas took the air before perching himself atop one of his manifested towers of black, watching the human from up above. His words were promptly ignored as the man focused his attention on the approaching giants from Hell. 

Fear was the last thing to take any hold of Sora's mind, however, as he was quick to take the initiative; jumping into the air to meet the first of these giant hell-spawn on equal footing, unleashing a devastating slash that caused the air to hiss violently. 

To his surprise, the sharp strike didn't split the creature right down the middle, only realizing itself as a shallow cut on its hide as it let out a bellowing, distorted laugh from its many mouths. Taken aback by the durability of the towering, malevolent creature, he was too late to react to its blinding speed as it managed to send him back down to the ground with a ferocious thrust of its boulder of a fist. 

Damn, fast and strong...I can't catch a break today. 

Standing himself up slowly, he was now surrounded by the same entities, all laughing at them with their twisted, nefarious mouths. 

It was no different in the scarlet skies above; the black, contorted clouds looked down at him now with their belittling, barely-formed faces that echoed out in a broken laughter. 

"So...This is Hell."