Tears of Hell fell unceasingly from the skies.
Shrieks of fear rang out from the demons.
Screams begging for mercy fell on deaf ears.
The sky of hell that had never changed, the single constant that reminded the demons of their place.
Had become their deaths.
Drip.
A drop fell.
Dark as sludge, thick as mortar.
The drops of rain were as fleeting as the lives of the many demons.
Drip.
A drop fell.
Fickle as a flower. Frail as glass.
The demons of hell were as ephemeral as rain.
Drip.
The drops fell.
Drip.
A life ended.
Drip.
The immortal demons died.
Drip.
Balam's kingdom screamed.
Drip.
Existence was removed. Everything that grazed the rain met its end.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
And then the screams stopped.
Drip.
The rain slowed down.
.
.
.
Drip...
End too,
Met its end.
***
The dark skies of hell dissipated as the red slowly peered back through.
Oblivion.
All around the demon king was oblivion.
Holes spread through his legs and arms as he lay limp on the ground. His one horn had been pierced through by the rain that spelled the end, yet, his life remained.
A chuckle escaped the demon.
With the loss of his horns, the demon could feel half the power of his authority leaving him.
His immortal life still remained.
That being of the end couldn't end him. Or did he choose not to? He didn't know.
As fate would have it, he had fallen right underneath that being.
Slowly, the 'end' lowered from the skies.
The black of his hair was nigh but gone, and the black veins that had spread through his body disappeared.
"Name..." Balam croaked. "What is your name?"
Slowly, the being turned toward him. Balam could see those hazy eyes. The pulsating veins seemed to announce his pain.
Balam was sure, neither of them could fight anymore.
The wretched fate that brought an end to his kingdom, could not bring an end to his battle.
The being lowered his gaze. Words like a sigh escaped his lips.
"Eugene Hall..."
"Balam... Sicirue Balam..."
The being nodded.
It seemed as if just a gust of wind would topple him over, yet there was no wind to stand in the way of his being.
The last of the black slowly disappeared from his hair.
His red eyes were like the skies of hell.
"I'll remember your name," Eugene said.
Another chuckle escaped Balam.
Had it not been for whatever he did at the end, Balam would have never lost. Not him. Not to him.
"I won't die yet..."
The being nodded again. His moves seemed feeble, yet an unbearable strength remained in his hazy eyes that stopped Balam from even hoping to make a move.
"I'll come back and kill you later..."
"Kahah!" The demon king spat out a blob of blood.
Maybe if his army was around. His legions could have defeated this being. Perhaps, there would have been a chance.
It was a chance the demon wouldn't let go.
The destruction of the kingdom would spur them back.
"There are many... stronger yet," Balam said.
No matter how much he spoke, those red eyes continued to enamor him.
He wanted this being, but he was too far out of his reach.
"There are many whose strength you can't imagine... I, am just a weak Demon King of the ends. You fail to kill even me, yet you make an enemy of hell."
"They can come."
Balam stopped.
"Whoever it is. They can come. No one is stronger than the strongest..."
With that, the being lifted his feet.
He took a step ahead.
Balam remained, his eyes closed.
The sound of fleeting footsteps entered his ears.
"Where did I make a mistake?"
The demon king who could correct them all learned the sorrow of making an irreversible error for the first time.
"Nowhere."
It wasn't a sorrow that the being would let him revel in.
"You just shouldn't have done anything while I was alive."
The sounds of the footsteps disappeared.
The being left.
***
"Is this it?" The lady spoke to a little fairy floating behind her as she looked down at the enormous magic circle shining at them.
Her veil fluttered slightly. The sight of the magic circle was extremely familiar to the one she had seen in the hidden room of the Imperial Palace.
A gate to move to Earth.
It was a two-way door.
"It is," the fairy announced. Unlike before, her calm demeanor had completely fallen off and the fairy seemed nervous. She had sensed her partner doing the one thing he never should have. She already knew of the reckless methods and tricks he had come up with over the last two years, but this was the worst of them all.
It would have been impossible for her to float around had it not been for the lady's mana that she was constantly sapping out.
"So, I do fill it with blood, right?"
"Right, right."
"QUA! QUAA!"
The last of the octopus demons in her hand was stabbed through and its blood spilled all over the magic circle, dying it with a shade of black.
"Now, you just go to the center and open the door, got it?" the fairy said, taking a final glance at the rows of corpses.
With great precision, after freeing the Chains of Adamas for Eugene, the lady had gathered all the remaining demons still fluttering around in the demon king's broken castle. She pulled them out of the debris and dragged them along all the way to the magic circle just to kill them personally as fuel for the spell.
The sky turning black had sent the fairy into a frenzy, and even the lady was shocked.
But she held great faith in her knight.
"Fuck, is he alright?" Titania expressed, unable to focus. For the first time since he had been taken to hell, she felt worried about her partner. She knew his capabilities enough to be certain that the demon king named Balam couldn't so much as keep his imprisoned for a life time.
She knew he could escape, no matter what it takes.
Her partner had that kind of ability, it was certain.
Yet, now that he just had to buy time, he stupidly went all out and decided to fight with the demon king.
"Don't worry," the lady said. She pulled out a knife and moved toward the center of the magic circle.
Slowly, she took in a deep breath.
She had heard the details from the fairy.
But she knew that her knight wouldn't go back on his words. They still had a promise to keep.
On top of fighting, he also absolutely couldn't lose consciousness.
The lady prepared for the ritual to infuse her blood in the magic circle as the fairy bit her thumbnails.
Unable to calm down, the fairy moved over to the head of the lady and pulled her hair while smacking her.
"Ow! Ow! What, why!?"
"You wench! When I helped you, how dare you propose to him? HAH!? I totally forgot about hitting you but now this is a good way to calm down!"
Thwacks rang out.
"Take that! Take that!"
"P-propose!? What in the world are you talking about?"
"What was it then? He'll be my wife! What do you mean he'll be your wife?"
The lady's face flushed red as she lost her bearings.
"That, wasn't a proposal..."
"What was it then? Take that!"
"Was it a proposal...?"
The lady was slowly being manipulated into believing it was. A truly unfortunate circumstance.
She then shook her head wildly, causing the fairy to fall off. The fairy slipped off her head and floated in the air, still biting her thumb.
"It was something I said in the heat of the moment. As you said, I still don't have to learn a lot about him."
The lady nodded.
There wasn't anything to be hastened. She didn't know how she felt toward him yet, but she was certain she didn't want him to become anyone else's wife.
She wouldn't be able to stand to see him as the wife of anyone but herself.
Right, that was certain.
As for everything else, she could just learn it—
—A rock tumbled.
The lady turned to her side.
A boy with white hair and hazy red eyes suddenly appeared over the pile of debris looking down at the magic circle.
"Eugene!"
"Knight!!"
The boy tumbled forward, and the lady swooped ahead.
He fell straight into her arms as his head leaned against her shoulders. Slowly, the lady held him in her arms and hugged him tightly.
The stench of blood filled her nose as her eyes fell on the numerous wounds on his body. Her heart started thumping, as if calling her out on her carefree attitude from before.
"Knight! Knight!"
He didn't say a word.
It would be fine even if he fell asleep.
She felt the gentle touch of his hands on her back. Blood seeped through her dress and touched her back, but she didn't care. She only tightened her embrace that held her knight up.
"I won..." he said.
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