Blade(Part 4): Midnight

Chapter 13: Shala

The dark aura of the Swarm faded as they went further down the corridor, but as they approached a large doorway that stretched to both walls of the hallway, a new, even more powerful one, began to present itself. Shala could hardly begin to imagine what kinds of monsters would be more powerful than an entire horde of the Swarm waiting for them. She formed her hook swords in her hands, just in case there was something worse behind the doorway. There was no fear in Dameon or Akanotahkon, but Kai was giving off terror from his mind, and shaking with dread.

"Kai, what's wrong?" Shala asked.

"I know what's in there," Kai shuddered. "Azazel."

"Who's Azazel?" Dameon wondered.

"He's the Master of the Shadows of the Abyss," Kai enlightened. "And he's the most powerful demon that's ever come from the Abyss."

"How powerful are we talking?" asked Akanotahkon.

"More powerful than anything you've faced so far," Kai warned.

"Well, he's between us and the switch," Dameon reminded. "We'll have to face him anyway."

"Then let's face him," Shala urged. She looked to Dameon, meeting his eyes. There was no doubt from him, or fear of either of them dying. Shala had killed plenty of monsters before, but had also been seriously injured as a result of her own carelessness in her early days as a Guardian. If Azazel was as powerful as Kai said he was, she wouldn't make that mistake, and she wouldn't allow Dameon to make that mistake.

"I'm ready when you are," said Dameon.

"Kai, you'll stay back, like we agreed, right?" asked Shala.

"Sure," Kai sighed. Shala could sense a feeling of reluctance from him. He wasn't happy with staying away from a fight while his friends, and his sister, were putting their own lives on the line.

"Come on," said Dameon. The door opened as he and Shala approached it, and they stepped through the doorway, into a large sanctum with an altar with a statue of a man and woman holding each other's hands in the center. The door to the sanctum closed behind them, and then thick, black mist began to seep from the ceiling. It fell to the ground in front of the altar, then rose, forming the shape of a person wearing a suit of heavy, black armor, but with smoke in the place of legs. Bright, glowing eyes with a red color shined from the eye slits of the demon's spiked helmet.

"Let me guess," Shala hissed. "Azazel?"

"Observant, Guardian," the demon mocked. He held his hands out to his sides, and sharp, black spikes suddenly sprouted from his gauntlets. They almost seemed like thorns, which could only give Shala the thought that they were poisonous in one way or another. She didn't want to think about what would happen if any of them even scratched her. Azazel waved both of his arms at her and Dameon, hurling the thorns at them. They both projected wards in front of themselves to deflect them, then Shala warped behind Azazel to swing her hook swords at him. She sank both hooks of her blades into the top of the demon's helmet, but no black blood splashed from Azazel's skull. Suddenly, Shala found herself being thrown into the wall behind her by some kind of dark aura blast that exploded from the demon's entire body. Blood dripped from her mouth as she fell to the ground, and she healed herself as she pulled herself to her feet. Dameon was swinging at Azazel with his ancient sword, who was attacking with nothing more than his spiked gauntlets. Dameon swung from the side, and Azazel parried his swing with his gauntlets as if he was parrying a punch before throwing a punch of his own right at Dameon's chest. Dameon was thrown all the way into the wall of the sanctum, then Shala rushed forward once she was completely healed. She made swings with both of her hook swords, which bounced off of Azazel's armor. As the demon raised his arm to attack, she warped behind him to avoid it, and noticed a crack in his armor that had black blood dripping from it. It must have been some kind of weakness. Before she could attack, though, Azazel threw her across the sanctum with a dark aura blast. Right as she was about to hit the wall, though, she put her legs behind her, hitting the wall with her feet before launching herself forward with an aura blast. She screamed as she raised her hook swords above her head with the stabbing blades forward. Dameon then suddenly knocked him onto his chest with a powerful aura blast, and Shala stabbed both of her aura blades through the crack of his armor. Azazel's chestplate then split in half, and his helmet and spiked gauntlets fell to the ground.

"Is that it?" asked Dameon. "Is he dead?"

"No," Shala answered. They both still sensed Azazel's darkness hanging over the sanctum, but it was growing even more powerful than it was before.

"What's happening?" Dameon gasped. The ground then began to shake as Azazel's aura grew even more powerful, and black smoke began to form through cracks in the ceiling. The smoke began to seep through the walls, as well. Shala could feel her heart pounding against her ribs as the smoke then slowly rose to the ceiling. At the top of a huge shape that formed were a pair of red, glowing eyes. The smoke then cleared, revealing a body that was covered with coarse, black fur that was as tall as the entire room, with a head that had a rack of black antlers, almost that of a buck's, on it.

"His true form," Shala shuddered. "A wendigo." Azazel charged forward, swinging his arms, which had long, black claws at the end of the fingers. Shala raised one of her hook swords to block the attack, but the aura blade shattered at the touch of the demon's claws, and she was knocked to the ground as the claw broke through her aura shield. When she fell, she heard a "splash" as she landed. There was a shallow cut in her abdomen, near where her torso met her legs, and blood was gushing out. She laid a healing hand on the wound while she was still down, but when she removed it, the wound wasn't healed. It was still bleeding, and it was throbbing with pain. The cut must have been deeper than Shala thought it was. She felt her vision fading, and her ears throbbed with the sound of her own heartbeat.

"Dameon!" she screamed. She could hardly see, but she looked up and saw something bright above her, and then she saw Dameon's blonde hair above her. She could see his lips moving as he spoke, but couldn't hear what he was saying. She felt his hand on the wound that Azazel gave her, and saw that it was glowing white instead of gold, like a Guardian's would. The pain from the wound then went away, but there was still something where it was. Something that was thick, and black.

"Venom," Shala groaned. "Dameon, a wendigo's claws are venomous."

"I got it," Dameon promised, with dread in his voice. "Just let me..." He kept his healing hand over her wound, but it would do no good. There was no cure for a wendigo's venom, and would kill a victim within minutes.

"Dameon," she sighed, reaching up to touch his face. He had tears pouring from his eyes as he turned towards her. There was no one else she would rather see in her final moments. She was about to die, but there was Dameon. Every one of her friends had died, but there was Dameon. He took his hand off of her healed wound, and gripped her hand that was on his face as tight as he could. She could barely grip his hand as tight as he was gripping hers, but she still squeezed as she looked into Dameon's eyes one last time. Shala then felt Azazel's darkness fade. She felt everything fade.