Rogue Adventures - A Tale from Neverbeen Universe

31

The massive blast obliterated everything upon impact and left a hole of nothing in the ground. Thanatos stared at the large hole below, a rift in the very fabric of the universe. This could have been the end of their existence if they had been hit. It was unbelievable that Raphael wielded such power. Then again, it was them who had sealed this power within him in the first place. To see it finally unleashed was a tremendous sight.

They had been very lucky that Rhagkal, Rhaleigh and Phobos could teleport, and so did their doppelgangers. Together the six of them had been enough to get Thanatos, Azrael, Gene and the two Ayumus out of the purview of that attack.

"That was close. I thought we were done for," Gene sighed. To be honest, Thanatos had thought the same. But the danger was not deflected yet; Raphael was still set on destroying this world, and they weren't any closer to stopping him yet.

'Right,' said Raphael, 'let's correct that mistake. Though it doesn't matter if I end your lives now or if you die when I destroy everything.' It was the dark power speaking through him, Thanatos assumed. Raphael conjured another blast of the same size as the last — impossible to evade if you didn't teleport. Thanatos had to trust the Daemons and Phobos to make sure they stayed alive, and they did. But Raphael had anticipated their teleportations and split the blast in the last possible moment into six smaller blasts, which shot into different directions and headed for each of them. They tore more holes into the fabric of the universe.

Yet all credit for their continued existence belonged to the quick reactions of the teleporters. Again the three of them plus their illusions had saved them all. But for how long?

Probably soon they would tire; and they had yet to find a way to counter Raphael. At least Ayumu and the illusion of her were still chanting their spells to render Raphael's shield useless. But this was a waste of magic unless they got close enough to attack.

"Rhaleigh-kun," Thanatos addressed the Daemon who was the reason for his survival so far, "can you teleport me to him so I can try and attack him? We need to prevent him from using another of these dark energy blasts." He noticed Azrael had recovered albeit slowly; hopefully he would engage in attack again soon, too.

Rhaleigh nodded. "I can teleport rapidly and for a while longer, so I can do an alternating hit and run strategy if your colleague can join the fight again," he murmured.

"No worries. I can fight," Azrael assured and lifted his scythe.

"Let's try," Rhagkal joined in. And so began their onslaught as every three seconds one of them teleported towards Raphael, then Thanatos, Azrael and Rhagkal did their alternating slashes and swipes before they teleported back again. Raphael swerved and ducked and some of their attacks hit home, but he didn't seem to care; maybe he didn't even feel the wounds. They were literally slaughtering Raphael now, but Thanatos knew they couldn't even hesitate for one second or he would use it to his advantage. So they continued their strategy in the hope the teleporters could sustain this much strain for a while longer.

Yet they had forgotten one tiny detail: Raphael could also teleport. Suddenly Thanatos's attack missed as Raphael disappeared and reappeared a few paces away.

'Your combo ends here and now, along with everything else,' he grinned ferrally and concentrated his energies for another blast which grew and grew until there was so much dark energy that Thanatos assumed he could extinguish the whole planet with it. They tried their attack strategy again so the blast might dissolve as Raphael lost his concentration, but Raphael just let them while he powered up further. They couldn't possibly stop him.

"Not so fast, Bloody Frailtard!" Phobos suddenly shouted as an influence surrounded Raphael.

'Such weak seals are not going to work on this much power,' Raphael stated, self-assured. And indeed, so much power unleashed could not easily be contained. This time Thanatos really thought it was over.

"They are not meant to seal your power, asshole," Phobos growled however.

Raphael blinked, then tumbled in the air. 'Wha—?' Before Thanatos's unbelieving eyes Raphael coughed blood and could hardly hold himself upright anymore.

"Ha! Can you fucking feel the pain again?!" Phobos exclaimed. "That's the price for that fucking magic; you may feel no pain, but your body can only sustain so much fucking damage!"

Raphael coughed again and spat blood, then collapsed; the energy blast dissipated and Raphael fell unconscious and dropped towards one of the holes of nothingness. Rhagkal however was fast enough to catch him safely. They all returned to where the ground was still intact and Rhagkal lay Raphael's unconscious body down. Thanatos noticed he was bleeding all over, and he he must also have already lost a lot of blood from the previous fight with the shadow devil. Yet the dark energy was still coursing freely through his body, and as he didn't channel it any more it wrecked havoc in Raphael's body and worsened his wounds even more.

"Phobos-dono, Lord Rhagkal, Nakashima-san, if you were so inclined to please seal and heal him again before his body is destroyed and the power breaks free?" Thanatos asked, and the three of them instantly got to work; Phobos and Rhagkal worked on the seals, while Ayumu cast a healing spell. In the meantime the illusion doppelgangers disappeared.

"Will he be alright?" Gene asked worriedly.

Thanatos nodded. At least he hoped so. "But he will be taken into custody." Azrael agreed; he still looked worse for the wear but he had been a great help.

It took quite a few hours until Phobos and Rhagkal managed to seal all of that vile power back inside Raphael, but gradually his appearance returned to normal and Ayumu also healed his otherwise lethal wounds. When they were finally done, all of them returned to the Otherside, Thanatos and Azrael carrying Raphael, who was still out cold. They brought Raphael to the Core of Hell and imprisoned him in a special detainment cell below Lucifer's castle, while Ayumu and Phobos went into the twilight gardens — probably to relax after this life threatening fight, Thanatos assumed.

Thanatos sighed once Raphael was under lock and key. He looked at Azrael. "I bethink we've earned ourselves a cup of most exquisite Firefairy brand coffee."

Azrael smiled tiredly. "That sounds wonderful." Together they returned to Thanatos's office, where the older Reaper brewed them a whole pot of that coffee.

It did the world of good...