Enter the Apocalypse

The sound of Inari's bones shattering under the force of the hammer filled Akuro's ears. He felt rage overcome him as his sight turned red, his aura cloak engulfing his body as he ran at the enemy with no concern for himself, his scythe clanging against the massive figures armor with no effect. Then an unseen force sending Akuro back, sprawled out on the ground.

The figure stood, hammer at its side. Then it spoke, it's voice rough an harsh.

"I am Edo, one of the Archdemons. Against me, your life is forfeit."

Akuro ignored the demon's words, his eyes focused on Inari who sat unconscious in a pile of rubble covered in blood. His vision became static, he was no longer able to tell what was real or not as he saw Hope's face over Inari's, going back and forth between two faces that he couldn't stop seeing.

Then Akuro heard the voice of Mato speak to him in his mind, "Let your rage consume you. Kill them, kill them all, look what they've done to you and those you love. Don't you want to return the favor?"

"Akuro, relax." He felt a hand settle in his shoulder. He looked over to see Darius beside him, his invisibility fading. "Inari is alive, I confirmed it. She'll be fine, so calm down. We can't have you go berserk again."

Akuro looked down at his own hands, clenching them as he began to take in deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself.

"What do you want?" Darius called to Edo.

The demon raised a hand and pointed at Akuro. "The boy."

"Why?"

"As payment for the death of Gallatine, he must die. Blood for blood." Edo spoke.

"Except for the fact that I'm the one who killed him." Darius grinned, holding his dagger in one hand. "So shouldn't I be the one you want?"

"I was ordered to kill all of you. It does not matter either way who it is that dies first."

Darius cursed under his breath. "This is gonna be a pain. We haven't even had a chance to test our new abilities yet..."

"Darius," Akuro spoke, "be careful. He has some kind of barrier around him. I'm not sure exactly, but when I hit him something knocked me back, but he didn't even move."

"Interesting. I'll keep that in mind."

Akuro rose to his feet, his aura shifting as he did so. "Let's kill this bastard."

"Nah. You go to Inari, help her. I'll fight him." Darius said.

"What? You can't take him on alone!"

"Trust me." Darius said, "there is something I wanna test out."

Darius knelt down, his bow drawn as he pulled back the string. Massive amounts of aura began to gather into the string, forming into a silver-green arrow. The ground trembled at Darius's feet and began to crack from the force of the aura.

"Go! Get Inari before she is caught up in my attack!"

Akuro nodded, then jumped as high as he could over Edo, who only stood there, making no move to attack. He landed beside Inari, scooping her into his arms carefully. Most of her bones were broken and her limbs were misshapen. He ran away from the battle for a good distance as Darius had told him to. He set Inari down in the grass carefully.

He needed Makane, but he didn't think that she could appear without Inari calling to her. He cursed under his breath, hoping Darius would be alright.

Darius gathered more and more aura into his bow, though he found it odd the enemy was not making any move to stop him. He grinned, 'Oh well, if he's gonna underestimate me... that's his problem.'

He loosed the arrow, the ground shattering around him as a wave of aura decimated everything in its path, but as it struck Edo, his armor began to illuminate a faint red, the arrow having no effect on him.

Darius's eyes widened as he realized what this demon was doing. The reason it wasn't making any move to dodge his attack was because his armor absorbed and reflected attacks.

Darius smiled. 'Sorry Akuro, I didn't take your words into consideration as much as I should've.'

The same arrow he'd shot before now whistled through the air towards him, leaving him no time to avoid the attack as it struck his heart, leaving a large hole in his body.

Darius fell on his back, as he lay in a pool of his own blood he stared at the sky. Only then did he realize how pretty that scarlet shade was.

•

•

•

Akuro cradled Inari's head in his arms, gently tapping her to wake her up. After a few tries she eventually came to, groaning in pain.

"I know," Akuro said, "I know it hurts but you need to call out Makane to heal yourself, so please hold in there."

Inari grit her teeth as she raised her hand. The fox spirit slowly materialized and turned to her owner.

"It would seem you've got yourself into yet another bind." The fox spoke.

"Just heal her!" Akuro yelled, becoming impatient.

"Alright, don't worry, she'll be fine." Makane responded, one of her tails touching against Inari's body.

"Watch her!" Akuro ordered.

"Well, your just in a mood, aren't you?" Makane spoke.

"I'll be back."

"Akuro.." Inari said as he turned away. He stopped, but didn't look at her. "Please... don't die... don't leave me."

Akuro clenched his fist, but gave no response.

He ran back in the direction of the battle, anxiety growing in him as he grew closer. 'Please be okay, please be okay...' was the only thing going through his mind on repeat.

And then he saw Darius. His body laying on the ground in a pool of crimson, ash alighting down on his body in a thin layer, his eyes faded and skyward.

Akuro shook with rage and turned towards the demon.

"Yes, that's it, that's it! Your friend is little more than a corpse, and that demon is responsible. The gods are responsible. This world is responsible! Kill him, Akuro, destroy him, destroy everything! Kill them all!" Mato's voice roared in his head.

Akuro took a step towards Edo, his aura hissing around his body obscuring his features.

"Nothing you do will help. You will fail just as he did." Edo spoke, facing Akuro.