Take For Oneself

She remained standing there, her vision becoming blurry and the sensation of nausea rising, which was weird considering the numerous times she had seen and done worse. Compared to what she usually witnessed, the scene in front of her was close to nothing. She was accustomed to killing and accustomed to seeing death around her at all times. She was never scared, never afraid, but something... something was different this time. It might have been because she was only a witness, or it may have been because of how brutally the demon was killed, leaving barely anything remarkable behind. But mainly, there was a single reason why she now reacted the way she did. It was because the scene in front of her did not remind her of the many times she had killed before, but the one time someone close to her had died.

Memories that she vowed to never forget, memories that she never asked for, something she herself wanted to forget, still riddled her mind, and out of all the times to act, in this moment in time, the scene in front of her reminded her of that day, the day where she lost everything close to her. The one thing she cherished, the one thing that kept her mentally sane, disappeared at the sight of a powerful, intelligent monster. She began to laugh, but she didn't know the reason. It was quiet, no one there could hear it except for her. Somehow, it managed to drown out the sound of all the destruction going on around her. She didn't know why she was laughing at all, was she going insane? Was she finally about to snap? Was all the stress that had accumulated over months coming back to haunt her? She had no clue.

She found herself lying on the ground a few seconds later. She didn't know how she ended up there. A small numbness in the back of her head and upper back, but no pain. She moved her hands towards the side of her head, not noticing that they were uncontrollably shaking. Eventually, she grabbed the sides of her head, squeezing her hands and arms together before curling up into a little ball, blending into the ground with mountains of blood and corpses, or at least the few body parts that remained still intact besides her. She could no longer clearly see what was going on around her. She was stuck inside her mind, reliving the scene of her friend dying, over and over and over again. She could no longer control the emotions she was experiencing, nor the facial expressions she made as a result. It was as if her mind was a calm sea, waiting for the sky to become clouded in darkness, casting an ever-ending shadow as the start of a brutal storm.

Velios didn't know what had gotten into him. He never usually understood it himself either, but this time was different. There were reasons behind his actions, like a code he had programmed into his mind, his body acting on the justice he declared to be right. But, it was still like his body was moving on its own. No matter if his mind was calm, at peace, angry, or irritated, his body kept searching for the demons, killing them off, one by one. There was something about it that fascinated him as well. He never understood it until recently. All his life, the things he'd experienced and seen were normal, everyday occurrences for him. It wasn't until he talked about it so casually around Yotsuya, or even the monsters, when he began to understand the sheer difference between his life and everybody else's. Bloodshed, death, those were only a few of the things which were normal for Velios, for as far back as he could remember.

Kill... Kill... Kill them, all of them... What good do they serve? Creatures that seek pleasure and nothing but pleasure, obscuring the minds of weak individuals, slowly killing them in the process and for what? The pleasure? The fun? The salvation? I've never understood how anyone can enjoy such acts... These demons... are proof of what happens when you cross that line. Even if they were once humans in the past... it doesn't matter. Even the humans back there... were nothing else than demons, and I didn't even know about demons. It's quite ironic, isn't it? Our worst enemy is ourselves... haha... yes, this is the best action... The only action... Velios' mind was being clouded by his own never-ending thoughts. He acted like he was contemplating his decision, trying to justify it while in reality, he didn't care about justification. If he had learned anything, it was that no matter how much he trained, no matter how strong he got, both mentally and physically, there are still people that can't be saved.

As soon as his fist made contact with the next demon, her body instantly evaporated from the immense heat generated by just his sheer speed. The killing for each was less than a second. Velios didn't understand it yet. No matter how much he thought about it, he'd always get more confused. He told himself that other people didn't affect him, but that wasn't true, not even close to it. Every single time he was with an individual whom he knew, with whom he shared a connection, he'd become soft. He wouldn't kill so easily, he'd more easily show human emotion and without knowing it, he'd feel more like a complete version of himself. He didn't know that just being around other people kept him in control. It was as if the monsters around him filled a hole in his heart. He didn't know it himself, but those monsters were like a family he never had, and without them around, there was literally nothing to stop him.

Then Velios sensed something. A terrifying aura which was something he hadn't felt before, but it was too late. Velios' body instinctively moved towards the target, seeing as his way of identifying demons was their immense magical power compared to the average human, as well as the fact that their mana is innately different. This one, however, was so, so very different. The creature stood there, in the middle of the street, looking directly into Velios' eyes. The creature wasn't moving. Velios could also tell that it wasn't because it was slow, no, it was waiting for him but it was too late. Velios couldn't move away in time. He was about to realize that the world was much bigger than he thought and the reason why the knights and other players don't act to try and help the people in the underground city.

Velios could feel time considerably slow down as he ran at incredible speeds towards the creature that was just standing there. Due to his incredibly fast mind, he could take in information so quickly that he felt like he was moving in slow motion, making his movements even more precise, but there was something else going on now. It felt much, much slower than usual. But Velios couldn't stop his body from naturally running towards his enemy. He could feel the mana from the creature being considerably restrained and compressed. Then suddenly, before he knew it, he was face to face with the creature, preparing to launch a punch aimed straight at the creature's face. Velios could feel the punch last for several seconds in his mind when in reality, it was so fast the human eye wouldn't be able to see it. But, time was moving much slower than usual. The creature that was looking at him began to move his mouth, speaking. "Quite a complicated technique you got there... Mind if I borrow it?" The creature was smiling devilishly, still looking at Velios. Velios' face immediately turned into an expression of shock as he heard the words of the individual in front of him. "Mana dome: Gates of hell."

An enormous amount of mana suddenly enveloped the two and their surroundings, but something was different. The mana dome wasn't just a large chunk of mana this time but it was its separate space. The ends of the wall dome acted like a wall that separated them from their surroundings. Not only that, but the climate changed. The insides of the domain were hot beyond belief and all of the rubble from the destroyed buildings and such had already been evaporated as soon as the mana dome had been cast. The ground had a darkish-red color and was made from some kind of stone. Lava was seen bursting out from everywhere and Velios could feel the insane heat but also the immense amount of mana that was covering the whole place. "Wow! Your technique really is something! Is this something that you managed to come up with, human...?" The demon's voice was menacing and demeaning, showing no actual respect for Velios as an individual.

The demon then began to laugh, having one of his hands covering his face with the other free. "I must thank you for being so kind as to reveal your technique to me! I recommend learning how to defend your mind as well, since it was so weak... But I guess that will have to wait for your next life..." The demon continued laughing. Velios didn't know what to do. He already tried to move but he couldn't. "I have no need for you anymore... Die." As soon as he heard the words, he started reacting by casting layer upon layer of mana onto his body, but nothing happened. The magic was instantly disrupted and canceled out. Before Velios could even say anything, a wave of powerful magic suddenly hit him. He had no time to dodge and the dense magic would have made it impossible to move even if he had reacted in time.

The attack was launched from seemingly right in front of him. Velios wasn't even able to analyze or even think about what it was that had happened. Velios got immediately evaporated, leaving not even a speck of dust or a drop of blood left. The attack was powerful enough to rip Velios' body to complete shreds and even burn up his insides in the fraction of a second while he was still whole. The attack was caused by a single swing of the demon's arm and the attack was infused with magic greater than Velios'. It was clear that he was clearly outmatched and after that attack, Velios had been completely evaporated. His skin destroyed, his organs destroyed and even his blood evaporated. Seemingly nothing remained of him, if you don't count the few molecules and atoms that Velios' body used to consist of, still in the surrounding air. Will this be the second time Velios has died and if so, could Velios somehow survive this? The answer might actually just be no this time.