The Watcher

Chapter 8: Plunderers

We had gone on only twelve bounties so far and it's been the most fun I've ever had in my life. I've joined Superstrike and Strikersupe's brotherhood. My life was blissfully perfect and everything felt rewarding. This bounty we took was different though. We were in over our heads. We took an underground bounty to kill a god associated with the Overgod. This god was called the God of Plunder. We flew into the atmosphere and snuck down out of our ship to the ground. The entire setup of this planet was of that of Ancient Rome. Tracking a god to a massive colosseum, we found that this wasn't going to be easy. Taking on a single mildly powerful God was a struggle for me before. Bankar was immensely powerful but he was no match for me in my shadow dimension. Now with Bankar's power I'm not sure what I'm capable of. Even still, I don't think I'll be able to take the seven gods that are here.
     "We should get another bounty. This is WAY above what I thought it was going to be." whispered Strikersupe.
     "You know we can't back out on a bounty. We'll be ostracized from the underground and then struggle to ever get work again." replied Superstrike.
     "Who the fuck cares! That's seven gods! We haven't even taken on one! It's impossible!" Strikersupe rasped.
     Another god entered and my gut twisted. "We have to leave." I shakily turned towards them. "That god alone could kill us all." It was a giant impish god, the land surveyor god who ruined my life and led to the slaughter of my people. Rage boiled inside of me, I could tell that after consuming Bankar I became darker, but this was crazy. I wanted to kill him. I needed to kill him. He was on the opposite side of the coliseum.
     They both started sneaking out but I stayed. They couldn't be here to see this.
     I teleported to the opposite side and Death appeared next to me. "Leave. I'll talk to you after this-"
     I laughed maniacally. My hand instantly extended the sword out to the Surveyor God's back where his heart was. My finger flicked on the power dampening zone as soon as I shot the blade. The blade exploded through his heart and instantly killed him. Death wouldn't let me die. We can kill them all.
     Death grabbed his shadowy head, "NO!"
     I turned off the power dampening and launched my body into the coliseum. Every fiber of my being sparked soul lighting. It drained all natural light in the coliseum. I unleashed everything I had. The lighting made the planet seem small in comparison. I destroyed the solar system near instantly and brought the gods to their knees. The fabric of space ripped open above us all. A very tall cloaked figure covered in white and gold came out. It had no face, just a light that shone from the inside of his hood. It held a staff with spikes that pointed up at the top. The Overgod. Before I could even process what had happened a darkness shone and I found myself in a shadow dimension. Superstrike was here too. Holy fuck I could've killed them...wait...where's Strikersupe?
"What happened to Strikersupe?"
Superstrike panicked, "We were on the ship and everything went dark. Why didn't you go back to the ship?"
Death appeared behind Superstrike and whispered to him, "he killed your brother," Death grew much taller and placed his hand on Superstrike's head. Death rattled his mind and twisted his head off, turning him to dust.
I yelled as I bolted at him, "FUUUCKKK!" My soul lighting raced torwards him.
Death curved the lightning away from him and unleashed a sudden burst of dark energy that shoved me back. "Soul lightning won't damage me. I can practically control any energy you use. I am lightyears above you." Death slowly walked towards me.
I pulled out my gladius, flicked on the power dampening zone and shot a blade at him. It went right through him like he was made of nothing. Death controlled the shadow dimension and everything in it. He stretched my limbs out and lifted me into the air. I was paralyzed in the air, completely at the will of Death.
My gladius spun out of my hand into his, and he ripped it apart. "Have you forgotten your place?" Death yelled. "Were you going to spend the rest of your live playing around with those worthless chumps?"
"They were my brothers!"
"They were swine!" Death screamed. "Were you ever going to go after Azazel? They were distracting you and holding you back!"
"They made me happy!"
"THEY MADE YOU WEAK! If you stayed with them you'd be condemning the universe to peril."
"You just want me to be your slave!"
Death ripped the fabric of space behind me and sent me flying out of the shadow dimension. I slammed into an armored man and sent him through an asteroid. The entire place was littered with asteroids. The man lashed out torwards me with outstanding speed. They were completely coated in a black metallic material that shone blue in the cracks, besides the obvious black wings coming out of their back. Could it be? They pulled out a sword and deeply cut my stomach as they raced by.
"How'd you know I was here?"
"You are not Azazel! You will die! I screamed. The loving Azazel I used to know and have fun with. The Azazel who I invited over for dinner almost daily because not only were we best friends, but our kids were best friends. That Azazel is dead. And I will get my revenge, for all of us, on this murderer.
I blazed black soul lightning all over him. It went directly into his armor and was channeled. His armor shone brighter. The brightness channeled into his arms and he unleashed the soul lightning back at me. I teleported back and he lashed at me in an instant. Space curled around us as we raged. I was full defense. I couldn't keep it up like this forever.
Azazel shot at me and I stood still. My body turned into loose black fog. He pulled his sword behind his back and swung it across my chest. It scraped along my outside and ripped into my chest. Blood plumed out towards him and I threw a right hook. My knuckles split and bone met his helmet. His head twisted sharply and his helmet was dented. Left hook, my knuckles split open dangerously again against his neck then sunk deep. Blood exploded out of his mouth and he teleported back. I ripped the fabric of space where he teleported through and grabbed onto him. A black portal opened behind him and he was now in my shadow dimension. Soul lightning crashed into him from all sides. His armor channeled it all but it started overheating. Azazel screamed in agony, his skin peeling off of his body. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't let go. Azazel dashed at me but I was still.
His hand should've passed right through me, and it did, but nothing besides Joel was able to harm me during this state. The map of death granted me the ability to become bodiless, an untouchable fog. Yet Azazel's gauntlet tore through my body. He grabbed my spine and dragged me towards him. My blood boiled against his red-hot gauntlet. The dark light channeled into his gauntlet and he unleashed soul lightning onto me. I've never felt so close to death. It felt as if my mind would've broke if I tried to move even an inch. That didn't stop Azazel, who kept beating me.
My mind was sent elsewhere. To a void of my own creation. Then, my life flashed before my eyes. I realized that this was the last place I wanted to be. I wanted to go back to my family. I wanted to go back to where my friends were. When did everything get so cut throat. I want to live peacefully in a cabin along a pond or a lake. I don't want to be here. I had kids you know. I had them. Now I have nothing. She was still pregnant when God slaughtered us. I wish I could've been better. No, I can't die like this. I awoke with new constitution and made a hideous sound.
"RAAAA" I growled a shrieking growl. Azazel's hand fell through the fog that was my body and I pushed his deeper self soaring back. His chest plate bent inwards and more blood poured out of his mouth.
Azazel yelled, "You shouldn't have followed me!"
"You shouldn't have tried to kill me. I will humiliate you then devour you whole."
Azazel's armor shone a blinding dark sapphire and all hell broke loose. The sky erupted into a battlefield. Lightning exploded out of our bodies in all directions as we charged at each other full force. He swung his sword and I was forced to teleport back. He teleported at me and I stood still. Azazel knew I was about to use my shadow indifference yet he still thrusted his sword through me. I lunged close and bit through his armor around his neck. He shrieked and jolted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. We were now both covered in blood. He kept swinging at me but I kept focused. I had to go somewhere else mentally to stay in the state of shadow indifference. Somewhere away from the fight. I could only think briefly, and all my thoughts got outdated by Azazel's ever-evolving position. I needed to strike him down with soul lighting through the hole in his armor at the neck, but my lightning was too unpredictable. I had to take the chance.
I lunged forward and smacked into him, flooding the air with soul lighting. His head whipped back, neck flexed, as he launched backwards.
Azazel seethed in anger, voicing to himself, "I suppose it doesn't matter if I kill you anyway."
I must've closed my eyes and when I opened them I saw thirty Azazels. They appeared as if they'd always been there. They all dashed in closer, and my soul lightning wasn't stopping a godamned thing. I went to my shadow vaporization state. He brought his sword down full-force, and in the instant before, he flashed a holy energy. The sword cleaved down through the side of my neck on my right side to the midsection of my chest. The sword was stuck in my chest.
Azazel was right handed, meaning that he was behind me. All the illusions around him phases awkwardly into each other, making it confusing to see. Azazel beamed a green energy into where the sword was and my flesh started melting away. He pulled the sword out and my consciousness faded.
Azazel's body froze, feeling a dark presence behind him. "Do you wish greatness for the universe?" Death asked. "I know of the future, the only way for all reality to survive is for Baraqiel to win. The universe was destined to fail, but with my help we will all live. Go back home, and do the right thing." Death commanded as he pulled Azazel out of his God-induced trance. He rebirthed Azazel, but removed his ability to speak, for nobody was allowed to know the words spoken. When I woke up it took me a while to think. How was I still alive? How and why did Azazel just leave? I wasn't going to let these confusions slow me down. You can't know what you don't know. I left the shadow dimension and headed towards God's solar system. I was unfathomably far, it would at least take me weeks. I sunk back into a shadow dimension, body still gapping. I need to rest. I am about to go to war with God.