Of Angels and Demons: A New Generation

Father

"We'll cover that in a second, Malick. Firstly, your energy is nowhere near as developed as I believed it would be. You rely completely on a gifted power rather than your own, but I can't say I blame you. The power of Ragnarok is quite unrivaled, even if you are only using a thousandth of the power dormant within you." The man says as he looks carefully at my right hand. "Are you my father?" I say, my heart pounding. "Obviously, but it is odd you didn't inherit any of your mothers' physical features. Or any of her raw power for that manner." He says, inspecting my face and body. I feel a torrent of emotions. Anger, sadness, happiness, and others all whirling in my head. "Why were you never there? Why did you leave my life until this moment? Is Necrum my real last name?" I ask, my mind stumbling over all the questions I have. "Well, your last name by birth is Haraku. My name is Zen Haraku. And I didn't want to raise you on violence and death. I wanted you to lead a normal life, something I barely got to experience myself." He says as I stare at him. "You haven't seen enough to understand the blood and bones my life is built upon. Just know I didn't want you to follow in my steps. Sadly, since you are my son, you are also drawn to violence. I've been watching you, there have been so many chances to resolve things peacefully, but you fling yourself into conflict. Whether you know it or not, we are pretty similar. I was the same way when I was your age." He says as I stare at him. "I know this may be a lot to take in, but you'll understand better in time." He says with a smile as he starts walking towards a door. He waves for me to follow, so I walk behind him. "What is my mother's name?" I ask as he coughs slightly, almost ignoring the question. "Did you know, of all the living creatures. Of all the species that exist on this plane of existence. Only a handful have the ability of perfect evolution. Each generation is twice the strength of their parents when they hit their peak. Demons and Angels are among the handful of beings that possess perfect evolution." Zen says as I continue to follow him. He leads me outside, the dark red landscape stretching outwards, then scraping the very sky with mountains taller than any on earth. "Where am I exactly?" I ask as he looks at me. "Right, I forgot to mention I'm the ruler of hell. It's pretty boring here most of the time. But it's almost time for my friend to send his avatar to fight me. He's only here for a few minutes every week." Zen says as a form appears about thirty feet from us. A man with a white cloak and long white hair stares to us. "This is how I know if I'm growing stronger." Zen says as he vanishes, along with the white-haired man. Less than a second later the very universe around the castle seemingly explodes. I fall back onto my butt as I watch flashes of explosions everywhere. I sit on the ground, having no way to keep up with the events unfolding in front of me. After several minutes Zen reappears in front of me. He's bloody and beat up. The white-haired man appears in front of us, floating above the nothingness in front of me. His clothes are ripped and he has a single scratch on his cheek. "Damnit. I'm fighting the Kai from 18 years ago and I still can't even beat him. I can only imagine how strong he is now." Zen mumbles as the man with white hair seemingly dart his eyes to me. "Alright, maybe the next time I'll win." Zen says as his armor mends itself and Hell reappears around us. The man turns to ash and blows away. "What was that?" I ask as Zen looks to me. "That's the avatar of my best friend. He's training right now to be strong enough to save everyone. To be able to protect everything he holds dear. Kai Narukami." Zen says as I see a burning passion in his eyes. "It feels like you consider him more of a rival than a friend." I say as Zen laughs. "Who says it can't be both?" He asks as I sigh and stand up. "But I will admit your strength is mind-boggling. I think you could take on the generals even." I say as Zen laughs. "I could take on all of the DAHC and most of the DAA by myself. Your mother could definitely take them all on with her hands tied behind her back." He says with a slight grin. "How strong is my mother?" I ask as Zen scratches the back of his head. "She's a lot stronger than I am, no question about it." He says as I stare at him. "How much stronger can I become?" I ask as Zen looks over his shoulder to me. "Twice the strength of me and your mother. Along with the power in your right hand right now, I'd say you'd be about 100 times stronger than both of us together. Just a guess though." He says as I stare at my right hand. "But fighting with one arm would still be a pain. We need to get you a temporary arm since your energy pathways are damaged. We'll need to go see Athena. She'll be able to make you a new arm." Zen says as I stare at him. "Make me a new arm?" I ask as he laughs. "Don't worry, you'll understand a lot better when you meet her and she explains it." Zen says as I nod. "Alright, so let's go get me an arm then. Where is this lady?" I ask as he laughs nervously. "Well, funny thing really, I don't actually remember which universe she was in. But I can keep opening portals until we reach her. Maybe even train a little on the way." He says as I stare at him for a moment then sigh. "Alright, well let's get going." I say as he smiles.