The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 355: Blood and Snow - Pride

Chapter 355: Blood and Snow - Pride

Kainur’s attack sent Kordia and Kir flying apart.

Kir recovered, lashing out with Kangetsu and firing a trio of rounds that caught the Duke of Pride in the arm. He tried to flap to bring himself closer but his broken wing only returned a bolt of pain that caused him to stumble.

Kainur laughed to see Kir injured so. "The unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and the courage never to submit or yield..." He reached through the hasty shield Kir cast and grabbed him by the throat. "Thou lacks in all these and more, cursed thing."

A chuckle escaped Kir’s lips. "Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven."

"Ah, though knowest the Bard. Had ye been born of our kind alone... I might have killed thy father and spared you."

"You still won’t get to kill him," Kir choked out. "Because I’m going to kill him... long after you’re gone."

Kainur laughed. "Perhaps I should recant one thing... thou hast courage. Foolish metatron!"

With a surge of muscle he slammed Kir into the ground.

Calling his sword to his hand, he readied the final blow.

But before the sword could lower, a sudden blast of silvery-green mana took him in the side, rolling him for the moment it took for him to start blocking with his sword. What was left of the spell dissipated against his shroud of night-black.

"Ah the young..."

A wet, sliding sound interrupted him as Amarena returned, stabbing him from behind with both of her blades.

He stepped away from them, and Amarena’s swords slid out of his back leaving no wound behind.

"Wrath-Daughter... I sense thy mother’s power about you. Twas a shame she died so fruitlessly."

Amarena’s response was to roar and slash through his neck, which did nothing as his body began to reform the moment they finished passing through.

A moment after that happened, Kordia struck, her silvery spell beams putting holes through him that likewise healed the moment the spells ended.

"Insolent gnats!"

The moment Kainur spoke, he lashed out with his blade and magic, catching Amarena’s blades and forcing Kordia to shield herself as a surge of night-black surrounded her, forming into a hand that began to crush her defenses.

At the same time, another hand coiled around Amarena’s ankle. Kir finally saw the limbs were projected out from Kainur’s feet, running along the ground like living oil.

Amarena blurred, trying to escape, but was thoroughly caught as the dark, amorphous limb crawled up her body, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her away from Kainur’s reach.

"I am beset on all sides by brave fools..."

Kordia’s shield shattered, and she was wrapped in darkness as well.

"Such meager mana... exhausted by thine attempts to steal my prize. But no matter... I shall feast nonetheless."

"Feast on this!" Kir shouted, unleashing a second Nova Blast upon Kainur.

This time he kept the spell going for as long as he could, cracking apart the atoms in every speck of air that flowed before his hands.

Even when the mountains behind Kainur burst as the widening beam melted into them. Even when the skin of his hand became a charred, he held the spell.

It was only when the dark limbs holding Amarena and Kordia broke, dropping his lovers to the ground, that he ceased the working of magic and limped forward, only to be seized by an invisible force and dragged before the forming face of Kainur.

Like before, the beads of darkness began to gather, but this time Kir knew what to watch for.

"Pitiful metatron... Thou canst know the depths of suffering I shall give to thee."

Swinging his whole body, Kir caught the crystal at the core of Kainur’s power with his teeth. The shimmering, clear crystal that tempted the hunger within that he could not understand.

"What?! No!"

Biting down, Kir felt the shattering of Kainur’s very soul inside his mouth as he gave in to the hunger, his body jerking and twisting to catch the shards as Kainur’s body still tried to reform itself.

A manic, slavering tone escaped Kir as he clawed into Kainur’s growing chest, ripping aside the flesh, breaking the ribs. Hunting every shard he could like a beast with its maw inside of its prey.

The pain in his broken arm was nothing compared to the rush he felt. The call of pure, unadulterated power, which made the taste of Kainur’s blood into sweet ambrosia that warmed his soul...

The world ceased to exist for a time, until at last Kiryu’s voice began to seep into Kir’s crazed need to hunt down every last shard...

"... Goddammit! Answer me! Kir!"

"Kiryu?" Kir rasped, feeling suddenly the sickly thickness of blood in his mouth. The fragments of raw flesh that had once belong to a person... "What happened?"

"Holy fuck, kid. I thought I was going to die listening to two idiots quoting Milton..." Kiryu sighed. "As for what you did..."

Kiryu didn’t need to answer. In that moment, Kir knew. Revulsion filled him.

Turning aside, he puked, disgorging as much of Kainur’s flesh as his body would allow. There was surprisingly little of it, and no shard of what had once been his soulstone left Kir’s body, for their power was already inside him. The blue glow that existed behind his flesh filled him from navel to neck, backlighting the swirling ripple pattern of his tattoos from within.

His broken arm had been made whole. His wing as well, and both of his wings blazed at the edges with fiery light.

At some point, he’d straddled Kainur’s waist, and he pushed himself to a stand as he looked with horror at what he had done.

Without his form of power, Kainur had been short for a demon. The corpse left behind had a sagely, fatherly look about him.

But more concerning than that was Kordia, standing, holding herself with a look of horror on her face. Beside her was Encke, looking exhausted, and kneeling beside Encke was a battered and exhausted demon Kir didn’t recognize.

And behind the circle that surrounded him, the battlefield was covered with kneeling demons.

"Kordia I..."

Without a word, she turned away and ran through the crowd of kneeling demons, fleeing for the city.

"Wait!" As Kir stepped forward to go after her, he stumbled, and Amarena appeared at his side to catch him.

"Let her go. She is too soft for what you had to do..."

"What did... what did I do?" Kir asked.

The unfamiliar demoness answered before Amarena, "You have killed my father. Thus, you are now the Sin of Pride." She stood. "I am Char... once named Char Satanos. How would you command your nation, Duke Kir Satanos?"

"No... Don’t... Don’t call me that. I’m just Kir..."

"Duke Kir..."

It was too much. Too fast. And the worst part of it was that Kir felt good. Powerful. Stronger than he’d ever been...

"It is the Law of the Strong," Amarena said. "The only law that matters amongst demons..."

Even under different words, Kir recognize what she meant. He had become the leader of a kraterocracy. And if he accepted that power... that responsibility...

"Char... yes?"

"Yes, my Duke."

"Withdraw... everyone. Keep them away from the city." He looked over at Halie, who was still unconscious on the ground, her form demonic. "Keep her safe, and bring every true soulstone to me..."

"My lord... without the sources, our people will suffer to remain here. We’ll be vulnerable," Char said.

"This battle is over. This feud between your father and the Valrians is over. You will accept this vulnerability for a time... while I figure out how there can be peace..."

Kir closed his eyes, feeling the intoxicating sense of his own power within. He focused. On tucking his wings into his storage. Letting the power go...

A moment later, he shrank to his normal form, feeling his own body like a thin skin stretched across a ball of blazing ice...

Trying to change that feeling, he turned and walked, following Kordia’s footsteps, towards the burning city.

*

And far from the battle, a lone figure stood, watching the distant figures amidst the blood and snow.

Next to her, another figure arose. One made of shadows and strips of cloth, its feet in a box.

"It happened like you said, Endmother. Swiftly he came and struck down Pride... consumed his power..."

"You have it with you? You know your task?" the shadow asked.

"Yes, Endmother. I have carved my role into my heart, and will die for it if needed."

"Your role is not to die, my child... When it is done, go to Norneau. Vasche will know to expect you. Be with your love, before the world burns."

The figure of cloth and shadow reached out, touching her on the shoulder. "Do not weep for what you will unleash. Their deaths belong to me. Their blood is on my hands. Your sin will be my sin... His sin will be my sin."

"The metatron’s sin?" the woman asked. "But you said he is our savior... that he would come to us pure in his power..."

"I don’t speak of the metatron. The sins I speak of... are Kiryu Nasumi’s."