Waremasu whispered in relief, “Peace in oblivion . . .”
He gathered his thoughts as his eyes struggled to provide him with a clear image. In a sudden explosion of movement, his seething rage for himself was unleashed on his enemies.
No mortal could have understood the event as every single demon within a fifty-yard radius was simultaneously and instantly crushed into the cold dirt. Their forms were nearly unrecognizable from the intense and unforgiving force exerted upon their bodies.
Waremasu appeared stationary during the event, and the boy thought he saw many Waremasus attacking at once while he also stood still, though Waremasu did indeed move. He used a great deal of his fading strength for the overwhelming spiritual attack.
Waremasu’s legs buckled, and he landed hard on his knees. He looked forward with a distant gaze as he saw a brief pause in the demons’ movements. All the demons hesitated at the edge of the devastated fifty-yard radius, fearing the angel’s power.
After that moment of hesitation, the demons noticed the angel’s weakening state, and they renewed their assault.
The ground shook, but then it stopped as quickly as it had begun. Waremasu looked up just in time to see a huge chunk of stone wall slamming into the ground before him. The wall section lifted off the ground once more, continuing its journey as it revealed the unlucky few crushed by its mass.
Waremasu’s weary gaze shifted to the left, and he saw another bulky wall chunk flying toward his position. He looked back at the surrounding battlefield and lifted himself up onto his feet.
His mind was stolen from the battlefield as it desperately grasped at his senses. His mind was fading, and he felt a quake beneath his feet as the previously observed wall segment made its first distant collision.
He staggered to the side as the strength in his legs wavered and awaited the coming aid. The wall segment made its second collision, and the ground shook more strongly, then it stopped. At the same time the second collision occurred, Waremasu honed his mind and tightened his muscles, even if only to steady himself for a moment.
The skipping wall made a third collision and crushed a score of demons. The wall segment landed not far from Waremasu, and he made his escape from the dire situation and flashed out of sight before the wall segment could lift off the ground once again.
He jumped up onto the wall piece. He stepped twice on the wall segment and then leaped high into the air just before the wall lifted off again and raced onward along its destructive path.
Waremasu extended his wings to their full width and soared over the battlefield. The weary warrior flapped his wings only twice before an overwhelming pain coursed through his right, injured wing.
He pulled in his right wing in reaction to the unbearable pain. His flight path changed as he folded his wing, and he began spinning out of control. The momentum he had gained from the leap carried him through the air in an unplanned direction.
Zauvek stood a fair distance away from Waremasu’s struggling defense. He was one angel standing before a monstrous army. The old angel ceased his long-range bombardment and reassessed the situation, watching as the two tunnelers and three gargantuans neared him.
A prolonged sigh escaped through his dry lips. “A sword would make this much easier.”
Zauvek took a step forward but stopped as he narrowed his eyes and saw something racing toward him. He watched as the object struck the ground, surprised to see wings. Waremasu’s wings.
His ally’s body raced toward him, confusing him and causing him to wonder what had happened. He did not know why Waremasu would land so haphazardly. He watched as his ally’s body continued to slide and roll.
“Oh . . .” Zauvek cursed.
The old angel leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding Waremasu’s bouncing and limp body. He rolled over and looked back, just in time to wince at Waremasu’s plight as he slammed hard into the inner wall’s base.
Zauvek hesitated as he lay still.
Waremasu did not move.
The old angel stood up and slowly moved toward his friend. “Waremasu?”
There was no answer.
“Waremasu?”
There was no response.
“Waremasu!” Zauvek shouted as he realized Waremasu’s wings were broken. A bone was protruding from the still form’s left wing.
No answer met Zauvek’s final shout.
His face wrenched as a mix of unwanted emotions flowed through his mind. His two mighty fists clenched harder than his skin could bear. Blood trickled from the sides of his fists as his nails cut through the palms of his hands. The edges of his protruding jaw line shifted as his teeth ground behind closed lips. His brows furrowed as his irises brightened. His stare was unforgiving as it remained locked on Waremasu’s motionless form.
The boy, who was only twenty feet away, watched in sorrowful shock. The once-great angelic protector stood no longer. Tears rolled down the boy’s cheeks as his hope now faded. The boy covered his sister as fear slipped into his mind.
Zauvek glanced at the sobbing boy. Boiling rage seethed through his veins. He turned his unforgiving gaze back at the battlefield and stepped forward. His wings darkened, and a faint smoke began to emanate from their feathers.
He looked at one of the gargantuans and brought his arms up, gripping the air before him as if he held on to two staves, side by side. Far out before him, the gargantuan stopped and struggled against an unseen force.
He jerked his fists apart, and in unison the gargantuan’s thick horns cracked and began to split from their bases. One more quick motion from Zauvek’s fists was all it took to completely sever the horns from the gargantuan’s head.
He lifted his fists up, then flipped them upside down and dropped them with a vengeful force. The gargantuan’s separated horns pierced the top of its head. The massive spiritual force pummeled the gargantuan’s skull into the ground as the horns slipped deeper into its skull. The behemoth’s life was stolen, and its body collapsed.
The other two gargantuans approached fast.
Zauvek again gripped the air before him, but this time only with his left hand. The second gargantuan wildly rotated around the unmovable force, holding on to its horn, and it flipped on its side. Zauvek rotated his fist and snapped the horn from the second gargantuan’s head.
Without stopping, Zauvek pierced the third gargantuan’s side with the second gargantuan’s broken horn, and the wounded third gargantuan let out a horrendous moan of pain. The second gargantuan stood back up and continued its charge.
The two tunnelers had closed the distance while Zauvek had busied himself with the gargantuans. The first tunneler slashed at Zauvek with its enormous claws. The angel ducked below the raking blades, but he failed to fold his wings in time. The tunneler’s sharp claws ripped into Zauvek’s right wing. Part of it was defeathered and bloodied from the attack. Zauvek ignored the burning pain coursing through his appendage.
A strong grip of rage squeezed the first tunneler’s neck, and Zauvek tightly compressed the demon’s neck as his eyes delved into the tunneler’s soul.
“Why must your kind exist?” Zauvek asked the choking demon. A tear escaped Zauvek’s eye and rolled down his quivering cheek. “Why did I release you?”
The second tunneler leaped at Zauvek, though the angel knew the attack was coming. He would not allow the second tunneler to strike him as easily as the first tunneler. The fallen angel’s second fist collided with and caved in the second tunneler’s chest. The force delivered by Zauvek’s strike measured greater than the strength from ten thousand men. The second tunneler was propelled backward at a great speed and disappeared into the evil horde.
Zauvek looked back at the first choking tunneler as it struggled in his grip and tightened his fist even more.
“You are a fool, Zauvek Syk Serce,” Zauvek said to himself.
Another tear rolled down his cheek.
“You are banished . . . forsaken . . . and now your only friend lies dead.”
Zauvek shook as fear and sadness mixed with his anger.
“A fool you are . . . and now the power you once held eludes your frail form,” Zauvek whispered.
Zauvek proceeded to kill the tunneler with a swift movement of his hand. He slowly released the lifeless form and allowed it to collapse to the ground.
Violent sobs wrenched his form as he hunched over in despair. He dropped to his knees and bellowed to the one he could not see.
“Why do I exist? If You knew this would come to pass . . . if You knew I would turn on Your creations . . . why did you not crush me beneath Your might?” Zauvek raged.
On his knees, he cried as darkness closed in around him. He looked at his right wing as pain coursed through it, and an explosion of frustration slipped into his mind. One of his powerful fists punched the ground in burning ire.
The ground shook in response, and all creatures nearby struggled to keep their footing.
“I shall grind your bones into dust,” Zauvek roared in unquenchable rage as he stood up once again.
His fist descended toward the battlefield before him, and a wide swath of demons were crushed under the power of his extended soul. The vast area further succumbed to the unbearable force, and the stones in the ground violently split and dropped several feet.
“And your souls shall return to their rightful place amid darkness and brimstone,” Zauvek decreed.
His fists plunged twice more toward the battlefield and crushed two more wide swaths of demons.
The second gargantuan roared as it took its last steps and neared the lone angel. The air around Zauvek vibrated so intensely from the gargantuan’s roar that Zauvek could feel his heart vibrating in his chest from the sound waves.
Zauvek lifted his arms in defense, and the single-horned gargantuan slammed into him. Its vicious maw yearned to taste the angel’s flesh.
The angel gripped the gargantuan’s teeth with straight arms and kept its foul saliva at arm’s length. The gargantuan’s momentum pushed Zauvek backward, and his feet slid freely across the ground. He was pushed all the way to the inner wall, where his back slammed into the stone with such force that a spiderweb of cracks radiated across the wall. Stone fragments exploded around Zauvek as he sank back into the stone.
Zauvek groaned in agony and sank into despair as all hope faded from his heart. He glanced down at Waremasu’s body, which lay to his left against the wall. He felt overwhelming sorrow. The air grew still, and Zauvek shifted his gaze from Waremasu’s gnarled form to the two children huddling behind the nearby boxes. As Zauvek looked at those innocent faces, he remembered the sheer gravity of his actions.
Zauvek shifted his gaze one last time to look at his final opponent and knew what Waremasu would want him to do.
“I was the traitor, the one who turned his back. The error of my ways, though not sought, is revealed. Regret befalls me now. Though I am lost, please do not forsake those who do not deserve the torments of these evil ones. If the hour upon this world is too late, then I humbly request a quick and painless death for all those with goodness and innocence in their hearts and souls. Thy judgment be done . . .” Zauvek’s voice ended in a quivering whisper.
The gargantuan heaved forward in an explosion of power. The cracks in the stone lengthened and deepened.
Zauvek’s arms remained unyielding as the gargantuan pushed with all its strength again, and with that final push of unbeatable force, the gargantuan shoved forward and split the stone. The wall buckled as the gargantuan rammed Zauvek clear through the broken stone, and the wall gave way.
Zauvek disappeared into the caving wall, and the gargantuan’s head followed. The massive stone wall above them collapsed and crashed down around the hole, closing it as quickly as it had been opened. The crumbling wall buried the gargantuan’s head beneath its overwhelming mass, and the gargantuan moved no more.
The young boy watched Zauvek fade into billowing dust and rubble. The boy’s eyes were wide, and absolute disbelief flowed into his heart as he uttered what few words his mind could assemble.
“No.” The boy shook his head. “Alone . . . we are alone.” The boy glanced down at his sister.
“How did they die? They cannot die . . .” Tears streamed down the boy’s face as he glanced around in growing despair. The boy began to rock back and forth.
“M-m-m-mommy. Mommy. Mommy,” the boy mumbled through tears.
A demon foot soldier leaped over the boxes and quickly turned to face the grieving child and his cowering sister. The demon reveled in the sight and laughed at the younglings. The boy watched as the demon raised one of its horrid clawed hands.
The sharp claws descended, and the boy screamed at the top of his lungs, “Divine One, save us!”
The boy shut his eyes more tightly than ever before and awaited the fearsome claw strike. A gale swirled around him, and a coarse material abraded his skin. He prepared to scream but felt no pain, and an eerie silence fell around them.
After a moment of hesitation, the boy sheepishly opened one eye to look for the attacking demon’s claws yet what the boy saw was not what he expected.
The attacking demon had vanished and, in its place, lay a partially windswept pile of dust near the boy’s feet.
A moment later, the boy noticed the brightest sunlight he had ever witnessed. The light was now bathing the ground around them in a circle. He peered up with his blue eyes and caught sight of a perfectly shaped, circular hole in the clouds above them. The light appeared to welcome the boy. Everything fell away from him, and he forgot about all the evil he had seen and the horrific events he had witnessed. The boy was transfixed by the light, so brilliant and beautiful.
◆◆◆
“Waremasu!” The Divine One’s commanding voice roared through his mind. “Wake up!”
Waremasu’s eyes obeyed the command and opened. He peered up at the bright light shining through the black clouds and listened through deafening silence.
The divine voice rolled through his mind. “A seed has been planted. The boy believes. I command you to protect the children, prove that I answer his call!”
Time seemed slower to Waremasu now. He blinked and stared at frozen time. The world was silent.
“I am too weak to defend them,” Waremasu whispered.
“Now!” the Divine One’s thunderous voice commanded.
Waremasu’s body obeyed the commandment without conscious effort. His body stood, and he slowly shifted his gaze across the world. The events unfolding around him were revealed. A brilliant light bathed a small area surrounding the children.
Waremasu watched as several demons tried to attack the children, though they failed. Each attacking demon burst into dust as it passed into the holy light’s perimeter.
At the light’s center, the boy and girl stared up and joyfully smiled, transfixed by the holy light and no longer aware of their surroundings.
Waremasu’s sluggish gaze shifted across the battlefield. His gaze landed on the half-buried gargantuan lying near him.
“How will I defeat them?” Waremasu asked.
“Angel, look upon your wings,” the divine voice thundered.
The angel’s eyes shifted to his right wing, then to his left. He saw luminously glowing white wings without injuries. Waremasu’s normal perception of time was then restored. Neither pain nor weakness plagued him now. The demons’ dreadful howls reached Waremasu’s ears once again.
“A mere fraction of your once-great power has been restored; my power flows through you for but a moment in time. Waste it not,” the voice thundered.
The empowered angel looked up at the sky and locked his eyes on a swiftly falling object. The object spun wildly as it descended from Heaven. As it grew closer, Waremasu saw it was his angelic sword.
The angel felt a gleam of joy for the first time since falling from grace as he eyed his precious sword. The sword had been uniquely created for Waremasu by the Divine One, a gift from on high.
At normal size, the gua
rd was twice as wide as a mortal’s sword, in order to allow for two single-edged blades. The blunt edge of each sword butted up against the other in the middle, and the smallest of gaps was left between them. One blade was darker than night. The other was brighter than the brightest sun.
An orb spun rapidly between the two blades, near their base. The orb’s surface appeared as chaotic black-and-white swirls. The orb was free floating and not attached to any part of the two adjacent swords yet hovered between them as if it was held there by something unseen. The orb was a power reservoir.
The angelic sword grew in size as it neared. The twin-bladed sword pierced the ground at a slight angle, not far from the crates. The sword was extraordinary in appearance, standing forty feet tall and six feet wide.
Waremasu was an angel of illusion, mystery, and understanding.
He looked at the doorway before him now and stepped forward, moving toward the massive blade of darkness. It took only a few steps to cross the distance, and, as if the sword was an entrance, Waremasu stepped through the standing blade.
When he stepped into the mysterious sword, Waremasu wore his half-black, half-white cloak. On the other side, he stepped out of the holy light blade, and when he did, he wore formidable golden armor.
His golden armor gleamed in the holy light. The angel was now shielded by armor that had no weakness. No claw, sword, or horn could break its surface. Waremasu had become a walking fortress. Two things were missing: a helmet and a shield, though Waremasu was created never to need them.
After Waremasu had stepped out of the holy light blade and donned his holy armor, the massive sword exploded into billions of separate atoms. The atoms swirled through the air and rejoined in Waremasu’s right hand. The sword’s density greatly increased as it solidified at a much smaller size.
Each blade was four feet in length after reforming, and Waremasu effortlessly held the mighty sword in his right hand as the holy blade’s edge faced the ground.
Waremasu stepped forward and passed into the circle of holy light shining down from the sky. As he moved across the light’s diameter, Waremasu gazed out across the now-hesitant demon multitude. He could still feel the ravenous turmoil within his soul yet, for the first time, the darkness within him was restrained.
The First Seal Page 29