A Devil's Torment

Chapter Seven: Divine Onslaught

Azar grew up a lot in a few weeks. Bea, unfortunately, was left to take care of him while Zero focused on the war, and Satanick would always bother Zero, so he hardly ever spoke with Azar. But sometimes Licorice would come over, and he's offer to take Azar and Bea on camping trips, although that became more and more sparse the more Azar spoke of his father, Satanick. Another person added to Azar's life, was Niunm Aenq, a mute but sentient posable art model who was created as a body guard for Azar. Zero had also been working on a weapon for both he, Niunm, and Bea, but it wasn't the time to give them out yet. Today, oddly enough, Zero and Bea had trusted Satanick to take Azar to a park, and for a while, he had been looking in the sand.
".. dad?" Azar mumbled to Satanick, who wasn't too far away.
"Oh? What is it?" Satanick asked.
"Have you ever destroyed a world?" He wondered, looking at his father.
"No, I'd never. Why do you ask?" Satanick was a little confused.
"I've been having this dream about a man destroying our world. Next to him is Orez, and I keep seeing dead bodies." Azar explained, snapping a twig in half. Niunm hugged his arm, trying to comfort him.
"H-Hey buddy, do you want to go back home now?—" Satanick asked. Azar stood up, brushing the sand off his pants and carried Niunm back to the castle, as Satanick followed him. Azar looked at the graveyard, and stopped. Satanick looked over at him.
"Azar? C'mon, let's go. Licorice is visiting today!" He said. Azar didn't move.
"... is Father going to end this war anytime soon..? I want to see him more..." Azar said. Satanick picked up Azar, and kept walking to the castle.

"I'm sure it'll come to an end soon!" The devil answered cheerfully. "Now, do you wanna go see your brother? He can take you somewhere today!" He suggested.
"Okay." Azar mumbled, holding Niunm closer to himself. Satanick rushed into the castle, and found Licorice in his adult form.
"Licorice!! Here! You and Azar should hang out today!" Satanick set Azar next to Licorice.
"Go die, shit pig." Licorice snapped.
"Don't be mean, Lico." Azar mumbled. Satanick grinned and left to go bother Zero more. Licorice looked down at Azar.
"You don't know the things he's done." Licorice turned into a child to better look at Azar. "Anyway, c'mon. Rocket Arcade is open." He took his brother's hand and lead him to the downtown area.

Once in the arcade, Licorice switched back to an adult so he could make actual purchases. Azar set Niunm down and headed to a rhythm game, Licorice following after buying a few tickets. He handed Azar some, and watched as he selected the level and difficulty.
"Azar, you can't play this." Licorice said, after noticing he chose the hardest level on the highest difficulty. "You're too young to beat this."
"Niunm says I can." Azar stated, taking his place and watching the arrows fly across the screen. When it was his turn, somehow he was perfect at it. Licorice blinked in confusion.
"What— How are you so good at this you're not even a year old." Licorice stated.
"Bea and I come here a lot. I practice with her." When Azar won, a bunch of tickets spilled out. He grabbed them and looked around the arcade.
"Can you go look for more? I can't get a stuffed animal with these." Azar said.
"I could buy you one." Licorice responded.
"But then it's a gift from you to me. I need to buy it so Bea gets a gift from me and I'm not just giving up another gift." Azar explained.
"Look, if you're giving it to Bea she's not going to accept it anyway. So just get something for yourself." Licorice stated. Azar nodded a little and walked over to the counter, and just got a few keychains for him, Licorice, Emma, and Edward. He headed out, and Lico changed back into a child. Unfortunately, due to this he took a few alleyways, and the two were cornered by Orezs' angels.

Lico panicked and tried to get at Azar, but was grabbed before he could. He was panicking so much that he didn't think to change into his adult form to over power them. Niunm was grabbed and their arms were snapped. Azar cried out for Satanick or Zero, but an angel grabbed him and looked at his horns.
"Wonder how much I could get for this ivory.. you're worth a lot, you know that, Devil Prince?" They mocked, snapping a part of the horn off. Azar screamed and started weeping, but his tears seemed more like blood.
"Leave him alone! He's done nothing wrong!!" Licorice shouted. He was met with one angel slapping him and covering his mouth.
"Ugh. That's enough, you annoying brat." One snapped at him, while the one who held the broken pieces of Azar's ivory horn, looked at his other. It seemed like it was made from old tree bark, and the angel grabbed it and attempted to crush it in his hand. Azar screamed louder, as a bladed gun decorated with a purple ribbon appeared in his hand. Bat wings seemed to cover him, and when they disappeared Azar was much older. His hair was longer and covered his eyes, and the angels were confused for a moment, before Azar shot the one holding him. He then shot the other two holding Niunm and Licorice. He had two guns and pointed them at the others.
"Go back to Orez and tell her she's a coward." He stated. His voice was much deeper, but it still held that slight boyish hoarseness from when he was a child. The other angels flew away, and Licorice switched to an adult.
"You could change this is entire goddamn time, and you did nothing?" The black haired man asked, slightly angry.
"I.. I don't think so?" Azar's guns disappeared. He looked at Licorice. "I don't know, Lico I... I've never been able to do this.." He said.
"Well at least now you can talk to Bea about your feelings better." Licorice answered.
"... yeah." Azar picked up Niunm's arms/they themselves, and the keychains, and headed back to the castle with Licorice.

Bea wandered around the halls, waiting for Azar to come back. She worried about him often, and she didn't like how Licorice talked to him. However she didn't notice Rachillea sneak up on her. The chef pointed a knife at her throat.
"Now then.. since you have some free time, come with me." Rachillea threatened. Bea swallowed thickly and felt as though she was rooted to the spot. The sound of a gun being loaded suddenly sounded behind Rachillea. The cannibal turned was faced with Azar. However, the two didn't recognize him.
"Ah. Who are you?" Rachillea asked. "Is she your girlfriend?"
"I'm not answering that." Azar replied. "However I have a question for you. Why do you insist on hunting her when there's thousands of angels you could hunt? Don't you prefer angel anyway?" He asked. Bea was shaking a little, and Azar looked at her, worry crossing over his face. "Anyway, just go away." He told Rachillea. "She's not a weak demon, otherwise my father wouldn't have trusted her." He stated.
"Tch." Rachillea left, and Azar looked at Bea.
"Uh.. so I guess I should explain a few things.." He said.
"Sorry.. but I don't know you. Why are you acting like you know me?" She asked.
"Bea.. it's me, Azar. Don't you recognize me?" Azar pushed his hair out of his face. Bea immediately blushed, looking at him in bewilderment.
"I.. but how? You were a child the last time I saw you." Bea stated.
"Yeah, but, I think I can switch between adult and child, like Licorice!" Azar stated happily. He took her hands and smiled.
"I can give you proper stuff now, since I can buy it." Azar explained. "And we can do so much more, because I can be an adult."
"Azar.. I'm not worth spending money on..." Bea took her hands away. "And you don't need me anymore." With that, she left the castle and left Azar to be truly alone.