Infernal Academia

Chapter 64 - Trayer's Righteousness: Part 8 (Outcast Diate, Shame of Damnation)

From the highest rooftop of the Brimstone Institute of Demonics, it looked as though the entire world was coming to an end.  The dry storm was at its worst; a maelstrom of churning red clouds and flashes of violent crimson lightning that struck the land in jagged forks.  Gunshots and war cries echoes from far below where the Sulfur Bloods were doing battle with the BPD, and the footfalls and yells of escaping students were whipped and warped by the searing wind.  The rooftop itself was strangely peaceful, like Cobalt was standing amidst the eye of the storm.  It was little more than a flat expanse of concrete, surrounded by a wire fence that blocked off the sheer drop to the hard earth down below.

And in the middle of the rooftop stood Diate, his back turned to the Incubus.  He was tall, and dressed from head to toe in dark clothing.

He took a deep breath.

"I'm here," Cobalt called through the wind, clenching his fists.

Diate turned his hooded head towards him, his eyes burning red like hot coals.

"That you are.    You Trayers are far too stubborn to die.  You fight and squirm and resist; pests to the end.  Brass was no different," he remarked, his rusty voice grinding against the Incubus' eardrums.

Cobalt swallowed hard.

"So what now?  You kill me and let this all be over with?"

"It's almost cute how you think it'll be that easy.  Would I have spent so long tracking your every movement if I just wanted to kill you?  Had that been the case, you would have been dead before you gave your first lesson."

He turned around to face the Incubus, his coat whipping in the wind.

"As I said before, I wish to take back the dignity that your father stole from me," he hissed, clenching his fists.

"I'm not him," Cobalt replied.

"That you are not.  But you'll do."

Raising his hands, the Devil cracked his knuckles.

"But before the games begin, I say we ought to set the stakes," he sighed.

"Stakes...?"

Cobalt heard footsteps behind him.  Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Karazelle and Whitney emerge from the stairwell, both looking bloodied and bruised.  They bore their weapons and planted themselves between their teacher and Diate.

"You want to get at him, then you're going through us first," the Succubus hissed, readying her whip.

"For once, I agree," the Nymph concurred, holding her spear out threateningly.

Diate's eyes widened bemusedly.

"How cute.  Even after everything, your gaggle of schoolgirls still cling to you like flies on shit," he remarked.

Cobalt heard yet more footsteps from behind him as Quinn and Lottie emerged from the stairwell.  The Golem was holding her Granite Shield out protectively, while the Imp was aiming her Lead Revolver directly at Diate's head.

"Brass commanded the same blind loyalty from his own companions.  I wonder, would they love you so if they knew what you were?" 

A glassy black arrow buried itself in the concrete right at his feet.  Craning his head, he looked up to see Elya flying above, her Obsidian Bow nocked and ready to fire.

"Oh, if only they knew..."

"We can still leave it here, Diate.  There's been enough violence already," Cobalt called, raising both of his hands.