Conviction – Part 2

Karred was dead?

Bizrazeth thought as the rain began to pour into the burning forest. Alphaeus snivelled slowly, covered by the rain, which was a good thing as Bizrazeth also shed tears in silence. Even in this dire situation, Bizrazeth could not imagine showing weakness to Alphaeus, being the only one he could rely on.

"Don't feel bad about this. Let your senior teach you how it's done," Karred had said.

"Fuck you Karred. We were offered life around the same time, yet you always had to be the one to correct things. You acted like a big brother, so we could rest easy. Now that you have gone, how can I be the big brother now as you never gave me a chance to be one?" Bizrazeth thought.

Blaming Karred was not the right thing to do now. The fatal wound on Bizrazeth's body meant that he was leveraging right now. The amount of power and ability Bizrazeth could muster now was also limited. The chances for both of their survival were undoubtedly low, but for only one of them…

Sorry Alphaeus, but this senior of yours is also a selfish idiot.

"Alphaeus... Forgive me," Bizrazeth said as he held his trembling hand high. The final look from Alphaeus almost stopped Bizrazeth's resolve. The redness in his eyes, the wrinkle in his troubled face, and the deception from both of them were probably enough to make Alphaeus go crazy. "I'm sorry."

"Bizrazeth, not you too..." Alphaeus said.

[Knock and slam!]

Even in Bizrazeth's current state, he managed to swiftly strike Alphaeus cold. By doing so, he forced himself to step on the death door, yet he was somewhat not feeling afraid of it. Why he wondered. Perhaps he had already accepted his fate.

Back at the pothole, Bizrazeth hid Alphaeus' body carefully so no one would notice him at a single glance. With the two of them no longer bound together, he started to run far away from the chasm to ensure that he would be the only one followed by them.

"Continue to live on. For yourself and the two of us. Promise me, Alphaeus. Seek the truth in this distorted fate." Fully aware that he was in no position to say this, Bizrazeth cannot help but said to Alphaeus.

With this battered body, Bizrazeth's mobility decreased almost to a hundredth of his capacity. His blood trickled from the cave, making a trail so that sooner or later, he would be discovered by the pursuers.

To be honest, he could not even feel his own hurting body anymore. It was as if he was a walking corpse waiting for God to send the Angel of Death to guide him.

His breath got heavier as his body weakened. Forced to take a rest, Bizrazeth leaned on the nearest bark for a stinging breather. Every inhale he took felt like a thousand needles stabbing him, and every exhale he did felt like millions of veins ruptured to wring. This detrimental feeling looked like his soul had not given up on him.

In his last moment, Bizrazeth began to wonder and ask himself, was it worth it falsing the hope that they could escape? God is omniscient and omnipotent. If He wanted to, nothing would be impossible for him. The extinction of his one kind of creation, just a single blink, and they were all gone.

Why did He go to such lengths to initiate this war? If He was the one creating their predestiny, why did He allow bloodshed between the Angels and the Demons? Why were they ultimately created in the first place?

[Fling!]

Shit!

Thanks to Bizrazeth's quick reflexes, he rolled himself forward to avoid the oncoming arrow which tasted like bathing his wound in salt. He tried to determine the enemies' position but it seemed like they had hidden from him.

Even though the arrow's initial position should have hinted at their whereabouts, the disruption in the terrain proved otherwise. From his experience, noticing squashed grass or swaying leaves made by sudden movements was not hard to note.

"If you're looking for us, you should look somewhere else, you know."

Fuck!

This time, Bizrazeth barely escaped from having his head decapitated by a sword as there was an Angel already standing next to him on the boulder that he dodged.

How could they already be behind me!?

He quickly manifested his weapon, which was a hand crossbow, loaded by the time it appeared on his wrist. Aiming down the sight toward his attacker, he saw him grin without any fear of being killed by him.

[Zip!]

"Ack!" a vine tied him as the Angel that controlled it appeared before him alongside two more of them. The string immobilized his hand to target them and his feet from touching the ground. The staff one of them was holding must have been the key to the control of the plant's behaviour.

"Stop this game of cat and mouse," the Angel that demanded him had his hand soaked in red which Bizrazeth presumed was Karred's blood. Seeing it himself, even he felt like he was about to throw up. "I let you wander far enough but this is the end."

"Are you sure that he is the last one left from all of them that fled?" the Angel with the bow questioned their leader. He retained himself on the lookout most likely because of Karred's sudden ambush on them.

"Well, I don't sense anyone left apart from him," their leader, who was the one ordering Bizrazeth earlier or the one with a sword, remarked.

Being the closest to being able to inflict damage on him, his skill was indeed horrifying so knocking out Alphaeus indeed was the right choice to make.

"Just ignore the rest, we've gone far enough to seek all of them. A couple of escapists can't even make a scene. So, you," he pointed his finger at Bizrazeth, and all of their murderous gazes pinned on him. "You have this look as if you have accepted your fate, so we'll do the pleasure and make it easy for you."

The Angel tightened the grappling root and held Bizrazeth up so his neck became visible for them to slice. The Angel stationed himself behind Bizrazeth and prepared his sword right at his throat.

As he was about to strike down, Bizrazeth muttered a sentence just a millimetre away before his life became history.

"Before that, do you mind answering this question of mine?" neither of them made a single move. The question might have been out of place and time, but it should not have been enough to stun them. Or the request seemed weird as gaining any info and knowledge before death is meaningless.

"Go on." their leader finally spoke.

"Wait don't you think he's trying to buy some time?"

"With that tattered body? I believe not," whether it was out of pity or amusement, they preferred not to pry in that matter. "Ask away, didn't I say to go on already?"

"To hunt and slaughter us, who gave the command?" Bizrazeth asked, and they went silent.

Was it something confidential?

"God."

Well, Angels do not lie or are made to never lie, so whatever answers they gave must be factual.

Still, for what reason? They, His humble servants, did nothing wrong to offend Him. So...

"Why?"

"Because your leader Lucifer betrayed and fought against Him."

"No, this must've been a mistake! He is God's number one faithful servant! Not a single task or order appointed to him had he failed to accomplish. Having thought of disobeying his creator and even trying to go against Him, surely this can't be real? So..."

[Bam!]

"Oh, shut up!" the bow Angel landed a fist on Bizrazeth's cheeks as he ranted. "We're telling the truth yet you still trying to deny things."

This is wrong! There must've been something twisted there. How come we, the Demons, were unaware of such a heavy matter but received punishment unfairly? Instead of exile, they got overhunted to the brink of complete annihilation. Is God not fair and just?

"Did you hear Him ordering the Demons' genocide?" Again, this question froze their lips. It looked like even the Angels did not understand the true purpose of this massacre.

"We didn't. The message was relayed by Archangel Gabriel."

Great, now this fuckery turned out to be more and more of a mystery.

Bizrazeth had some more questions to ask but he kept silent. Not because he was ready to die but the reason that none of these pieces linked to each other or even made sense.

"Welp, unfortunate Demon, your time is up," you know, if they wanted to make it easy for him, they should have just plucked his soul out without warning him. It is kind of psychotic really, showing empathy to prey you slaughtered heartlessly.

Little did Bizrazeth know, the Angels truly kept their promise. In that little laugh, he noticed that his head reached the ground while knowing that he was supposed to be bound afloat in front of them.

[Thud!]

The dust smeared Bizrazeth's eyes which his hands could no longer reach to wipe. His eyelids could not even react to protect his cornea or close, but the blackness and darkness he perceived compelled him to know that this was the end for him.