Blood Bath

Toll Of The Infernal was a spell that affected both the body and soul. By directly allowing the subject to experience the torment Zariel had felt in hell. Whatever he had felt would be transferred to the subject. All the times he was killed in a hell loop, the psychological torment that had corrupted his current life would all be shared between those that dared face him.

Watching as the flesh of the draconian fell off his bone, as though it were water, a rotten scent was expelled from Zaf's rear. And yet his howls didn't seem to fade. Rather, it grew so loud that a deafening explosion resounded as Zaf directed his Arcana to his head, exploding it in a desperate act of escape.

"Damn," Zariel muttered softly, lifting Severance, that barely managed to block Lorgron's strike. He grunted, feeling a horrid shockwave ripple through his body and up his arm, but he maintained his ground. Barely taking a step back.

He snapped his eyes to meet the feral gleam in Lorgron's eye. Zariel snorted, and Severance hissed through the air in a masterful wave of strokes. Blow after blow resounded in a vicious dance, pushing Lorgron on the defensive.

"Who are you!" Lorgron cried as Zariel's sword nicked his cheek, shedding blood. " No man, much less child, can cast while using a Hex! What blood magic is this!"

Severance became Lorgron's only response as it hissed like a shrieking demon. Zariel narrowed his eyes and transferred his silvery Arcana into his blade. Blinding light flared like a storm, and before Lorgron could foresee what had happened, Zariel's sword was already in his scabbard.

"Arcane Lord, what a joke. You guys are just feral beasts with no skill." He said, walking away.

Still, as they came, Lorgron looked down as his guts spilled out before he fell into two halves, slit from the groan to the head. He collapsed.

Zariel surveyed the battlefield with poised eyes and lifted his lips in a playful arc toward the last man standing.

The mark of Ishar was withering the lifeblood of the dragons, leaving a nasty taste in the area that turned the draconian face pale, unlike Zariel, who thought it smelt of home.

To him, it was home.

"And then there was one." He playfully said, " I'd heard dragons were prideful. Can I assume that is still true, or will you break and grovel before me like some dog? Will you fall to your knees, rest your head below those of your fallen brethren, and beg?"

Zariel counted the steps towards Gar, trembling like a newborn child, and stepped towards the draconian. His poised eyes narrowed into daggers.

"I've killed so many people. So-so many people. I've lost count, but I still hear their endless wails. I could feel their constant pain rattling through my mind. The first sin… How I regret such a thing. But I'm a little grateful."

Falling to his knees as he felt a killing intent darker than the Night Mother, Tenebrae, Gar dropped his weapon before the beast… the demon standing in front of him. Unable to stop the spasms of fear rattling through his bones. Tears fluttered through his eyes as he prayed.

"Save me! Save me, Lord Tepes! Please… please save me." Pleading to his king, his god, the shadow of death fell over him.

Zariel had arrived.

"Please… don't… I have a family. A wife. A child. A baby girl. A—"

"Then I'll be on the lookout to kill them all," Zariel said with a deafening aloofness as Severance plunged through the draconian, killing him. He snorted as he removed the blade from the back of Gar's head. "Useless filth, I'll be sure to wipe out such useless descendants. If their father was such a coward, it makes no sense to allow such a bloodline to survive."

"You're quite a monster, aren't you." The estranged voice of Ishar remarked within the depths of the Nine Hells. "They say power comes at a price. But it seems that madness you carry is the biggest price one can possess."

Zariel didn't respond.

He shifted his gaze towards the ashen skies, bleeding Arcana as a translucent drake covered in ancient runes within its ghastly figure bellowed, rustling the grass and trees. Zariel stood poised as the two dragons roared in a challenging tone.

'To think the Red Priest could summon a drake. Is it from the Astral Plane? Or from this realm.' Zariel shook his head, amused at his wandering thoughts, and shrouded his Arcana. He vanished like a ghost, leaving behind the corpses of his enemies.

Taking to the ashen skies with a simple levitation spell, the Silver Devil, with icy eyes, stared at the city below covered in wardings and unsheathed Severance from its cage.

"Let the heavens burn; be an enjoyable exhibition." He stoically voiced as a godly intent flared off the surface of his sword, bleeding a gruesome aura that seemed to paint the skies in a scarlet array.

As if a god of slaughter had readied themselves, the skies howled with the song of the dead. Zariel gathered all his Arcana and stared dead at the city below, at the ethereal drake battling the two dragons, to the innocent life hidden beneath the walls of Trinity.

"Be damned to the Nines for all eternity."

Releasing a blazing arc of sword light from the edge of Severance that splintered the skies, crushing every bone and ligament in his arm. A beam of light tore through the ethereal drake and wardings in but a single moment. It melted dozens of buildings, leaving only a dreadful pillar of death. That rippled out with a sword intent, killing those near.

The Red Priest's eyes had gone wide as his face paled. Even Aldrich, who was watching. Witnessing everything that was happening, felt his expression wilt as he stared at Zariel plummeting with a ruby glow upon his arm.

"Ishar." He whispered fearfully. " He called upon a Lord of Hell. Those that deal with the Nine Hells are doomed to the Hells themselves. I've never seen anyone make it out in one piece."

Shaken by this revelation, Aldrich flashed an ugly grimace as he turned his back, vanishing from the dorm.

His target unknown.

However, there was a hungry glint in his eye as he dared not look back to the blood bath caused by the Silver Devil.