Ascendent (Nephilim #1)

20. I'm not weak!

Miami institute

"Mom, please, I know you're in there. You're not a demon," I said, trying to bring her back. But as the words left my mouth, her eyes went full black, and she gave an evil grin. "Finally, I get to kill the person who allowed me to die. The one who claimed to love me. The one who gave me a sweet little baby boy but did not allow me to raise him. Now he's going to pay," she said as she lifted her dagger up. "Mom, NO!" I scream. She just smiled and brought the dagger down. But before it could reach my dad, a hand grabbed hers and pulled her, shoving her backward, causing her to fly through the air. In front of us stood Michael. "Michael, how nice of you join us. I'm going to enjoy hurting you like I did, Gabriel," she said. She began to charge with her demons, but they were thrown aside by an ear piercing scream. I turned around to see Paige standing in battle gear. "Nice to see you too," She says with a grin. "A banshee, when last," my demon mother says. "I think we should just end this right now. What do you say, Hunter?"She asks me. "I'm not going to fight my mother, I'm going to save her," I reply. "There is no saving me Hunter, either you join me or I destroy you," she says. I can't believe it. The woman who gave birth to me but never raised me thinks she can give ultimatums. I feel the power inside of me responding to my anger, building up. "You should be the last person giving ultimatums "mom". You don't even know the first thing about me, other than my name. You better rid yourself demon or I will," I said, directing the power towards my hand, pointing my finger towards her. She doubles over in pain as black veins appear. I keep the action going until I realise I could actually kill my mother, so I stop.

"Hahaha, you're so weak," she says. I take out my blade and point it at her. "Since you chose not to leave out of your own free will, you force me to make you." She draws her sword and points it towards me, "It's your funeral."  "We'll see about that," I reply. She gives an evil grin and runs towards me. I meet her halfway and our swords clash. We move, blocking each other's hits, until she gets a clean cut across my right triceps.  She swings the sword down again, but I block it, pushing it up and kicking her in the stomach. "You're not a total loss after all," she says. "You're not as weak as everyone makes you out to be," I shoot back, at which she growls and darts towards me. Our swords clash again, and we begin fighting. She swings the sword upwards, throwing me off balance as she twirls and strikes her leg out, causing me to stumble. She then flips over me and brings her foot  down into my chest, causing me to fall. I quickly kicked up and blocked her sword in the nick of time. Again, she manages to get me on the floor, and again, I get up. I'm not going down that easy. I darted towards her, and knee slid, slicing her leg. She screeches and turns towards me just as my foot connects with her face, causing her to twirl in the air and land on her back. "Last chance demon, leave her, or you'll suffer the consequences," I say. "Never," she replies and runs towards me again. This time, I duck under her first and hit her in the stomach with the hilt of my sword. She stumbled back, and I quickly launched my foot out and kicked her in the chest, causing her to fall again. This time, I waste no time, and I bring the sword down, but, as if she was a blur, she has me pinned to the ground. "I gotta say, I'm impressed. I never thought you'd be this good," she said, using her full demon strength to keep me down. "Yeah, well, like I said, you don't know me," I replied as I gripped the back of her head and brought it down, head-butting her, causing her to release her grip. I took the opportunity and brought my leg up, kicking her in the back, causing her to trip over me and fall forward. I use my reflexes and turn around, grab the sword, and point it upwards, making it go right through her chest as she lands on it.

I quickly get up and turn her around. Black veins start appearing, and suddenly, black smoke pours out of her mouth. I quickly put my hand over her wound and focus on it, clotting the blood and closing the wound. I feel the familiar warmth of my healing power flowing through my hands and into my mom. The wound closes itself, and her chest rises and falls steadily, signifying she's still alive. Suddenly, she jumps up, gasping for air and clutching her chest. "Mom!" I exclaim. She turned around, and her eyes instantly started watering. "Oh, my beautiful boy, I'm so so sorry," she says as she pulls me into a hug. "It's fine, mom. I'm just glad I got you back," I say. "Im so sorry I wasn't there," she says. "It wasn't your decision, mom. But I'm glad we can start now," I say. She let's go of me, and we stood up. "Lila,"another voice chimes in, and we look up to see my dad standing in front of my mom. "Mic," she says as she crashes against him. "It's really you," my dad says as he grips her tightly. "Yes. It's really me," she replies.

"Isn't that cute," a deep voice chides in. We all looked up to a see demon before us. He was very muscular, charcoal black, with horns, wearing combat boots, leather pants, and a leather jacket, with a bare chest. "Who are you?" I ask. "I am Balthazar, general in the demon army and the one that possessed your mother," he explained. "I gotta say, you're a much better fighter than I'd expected. But your mother's body can not handle my power, therefore slowing her moves down a bit, therefore slowing me down. But now that I'm out, I won't be so easy to defeat," he said. The demons behind Balthazar started descending upon us. "Who's ready for a little ass whooping?" I ask. "We all are," Paige says, and I smile. "Well then, everyone, let's do this," I say as everyone runs towards the demons. I slice through multiple demons before I come face to face with Balthazar. "Let's see what you're made of," he says. "Gladly," I reply, and we start fighting. I swing my sword towards his head, but he moves only but a few inches away, and the sword goes right past him. He quickly grips the sword and rips it out of my grasp, and throws it away. "Let's fight like men," he says. I smile and launch my fist out, striking him in the nose. "Okay then, I see you want to go full out," he says before throwing his own punch, which I duck under. He then twirls and launches his foot out, kicking me right in the stomach, causing me to fly through the air and land with a thud. "Ow," I say before getting up and resuming my fighting stance. He runs towards me and swings his fist, but I duck under it and roll a few feet away from him. He turns around, but I'm already running towards him. When I reach him, I jump and tramp against his chest and back flip off him, my foot kicking him in the face. He growls and darts towards me, hitting me in the chest, causing me to fly and land a few feet away from him. In an instant he's by my side again, lifting me up and throwing me. I land with a hard thud on the floor, feeling like all the breath has left my body. I fight it and stand up, aching everywhere but never giving up.

He runs towards me, and I run towards him. When we were close enough, I did a side-flip, connecting my foot with his face. I don't stop hitting him with my fists, one in the face and the other in the stomach, then I round house kick him square in the jaw. "Okay, that hurt,"he says, before zooming straight towards me, hitting me in the stomach, then upper-cutting me. I land on the floor, the world spinning around me. Balthazar picks me up by my collar with a huge grin on his face. "You fought bravely, but I'm afraid this is the end of the line for you," he says. I close my eyes and concentrate on my power. I will it to give me energy, and suddenly, I feel alive again. Before Balthazar can plunge the sword through me, I bring his head forward, head-butting him, making him lose his grip. I grabbed a hold of his arms and pushed myself over him, wrapping my arms around his kneck. As I land, I kick the back of his right leg, causing him to fall down on one knee. I summon all the strength I can and twist my arms, snapping his kneck. I feel him go limp and let go of him. "So much for being a general," I say, as I clutch my ribs. Balthazar disintegrates before me, and I fall down, feeling the weakness take over me. Suddenly, Michael is by my side, taking me into his arms. "I did it," I say weakly. "Yes, yes you did," is the last thing I hear before everything goes black.