Salvation Where You Least Expect It

My Demons

 I stood in the Colosseum, waiting for the door to open. "Hey, aren't you gonna grab a weapon?" Beatrice asked. I raised my right arm and she shook her head. "You need at least one weapon for this test or you fail automatically." She told me. I sighed and walked to the weapon wall. I grabbed a shield that was in the formation of a white flower with a black center. I weighed it with my human hand, then put it on. "Better?" I asked. Beatrice nodded, but for some reason she looked as white as snow. 

I shrugged and got ready. The door opened and out slithered something. Dark, fast, and not reptilian. I checked off every demon in my mind, from the Angora to the Zel, making sure to note every detail this creature gave me as it slipped in and out from this world to its world. I knew how it traveled. They all disappear into the darkness and strike from there. I placed the shield in front of me, preparing myself for the sudden and violent crash as it threw its weight against me. Yet it never came. We were still circling, this thing hidden in darkness. 

"Come here, come on, fight me..." I kept whispering. It would stop sometimes, almost as if wondering if it should take my advice. Suddenly, a snarl came from the darkness and it leaped at me. The shield crashed into me, the weight of the demon slamming it towards me. I felt the gears in my arm start to whirl and the arm going rigid. Steam poured out of it and it straightened while the demon tried to tear away my shield. The arm went from an arm to a cross, made entirely of iron. 

I heard gasps and felt them staring as the bronze turned to iron. Iron was the demon slaying metal, but it could also kill angels, fey, and many other creatures. Except werewolves. I don't know why that doesn't work against them. Why am I even speaking about this? The demon clawed and beat at the shield, too busy trying to rip it and my arm off to notice the cross. I punched it across the face and it fell off the shield. 

The image of my sister, just a baby, her organs being torn out and devoured, her still beating heart laying next to her skull, crushing her skull and killing her instantly. The way they flung the corpse about and laughed passed through my head. I felt my rage rise. I walked towards the demon and raised my iron cross. It started to glow, first a dull glow and then it was as bright as the sun. "Feel my wrath, you piece of shit!" I snarled. I brought the fist down, crushing its skull just like my little sister's skull was crushed. Brain matter and blood went everywhere, some of it even hitting my face. I wasn't done yet.

The doors swung open again, revealing a Baron. It sniffed and then smelled the demon blood on my face and then charged. I stuck my arm out, the cross becoming a blade. The blade still glowed like the sun, but it was getting hotter. I was beginning to overheat. I stabbed the Baron through the stomach and decapitated him with the shield. His corpse fell to the floor. 

Well, melted to the floor. My arm was so hot that the Baron's corpse had melted to the floor in a puddle of blood. I gasped in pain as my flesh burned. A small price for heavenly power. I started to shake slightly. "Heavy hits, huh?" Said a snake like voice. I turned around and saw nobody. Not until I saw that the doors were open and the demon was out. I glared at the demon. I knew this voice. I knew that striped fedora and that stupid jazz player outfit. I knew him.

"Miss me?" Asked the Lich. "You're fucking insane if you think I missed you. Why are you here?" I snarled. He smirked. "They caught me, interrogated me, and waited for you to mature. I know they knew I gave you that-" he pointed to my metal arm "-and what's really under that metal. You know and they know damn well why you can only use bronze instead of iron and why you can only wield iron for such a short time period." he leered. I lunged, my arm blazing. I aimed at his head, missing. He kneed me in the stomach, grabbed the back of my shirt, and tossed me against a wall. 

I stood up, shakily clutching my stomach. The Lich smiled and snapped his fingers, causing my vision to blur. "Like it? It's a trick I learned from one of Lucy's old friends." said the demon. "You're shitting yourself. As if an arch-demon would talk to a low life demon like you." I spat. The Lich smiled and snapped his fingers, making a pentagram of green flames appear around me. I screamed in pain as the fire burned me, reaching down and looking at my darkest secrets and evilest thoughts. Then the flames disappeared.

I fell to the floor, sweating and panting. "They won't stop me, you know." He said, jeering at my pain. I stood up, my blood boiling. "You should've killed me, you know." I said. "I should kill Alice too. The Cheshire Cat can't protect his little play thing if I get to her." He said. I froze, my brain working when I heard Alice scream. I looked up and saw her in his arms, his hand across her mouth. I looked up at the platform and saw that Dante and Beatrice couldn't get in. 

"Cheap trick, you asshole." I said. He smirked. "You win, she lives. I win, you both die!" he exclaimed with an almost girlish giggle. "You've got a deal." I replied. I charged and he spun Alice towards me. I grabbed her and rolled as he brought a gargantuan fist down on me, missing. He snarled, his blue eyes going red. I set Alice down and gave her the shield. "Use that to hide, protect yourself, or beat the ever living shit outta him okay?" I explained. 

Alice nodded, terror clear in her eyes. I don't know what lead me to do this (well, I do), but I kissed her forehead and then ran to meet the Lich. I swung my arm, which was cooled down enough to use for another attack, at his head. He moved back, thinking he had me in his trap. I brought my fist down on his chest, breaking several ribs and hearing one of his hearts explode. He screamed and fell on his back, breathing hard.

I grabbed his face and raised his head off the ground. "This is for my sister." I brought his head down forcefully on the ground, smearing brain and blood tissue on the floor, his skull making a beautiful cracking sound. I raised his head again. "This is for my mom." I slammed his skull back to the ground, smearing more blood on it. I raised his head again. "This is for me." I brought his skull down again, blood and brain mixing together to make an art piece. I lifted his head a final time, even though he was already dead. "This one is for Alice. My Alice."

 I slammed his skull down to the floor, shattering his skull and leaving nothing but his neck, bleeding non stop. I stood up as Dante and Beatrice unlocked the door. "By God, what happened?!" Asked Dante.