Chapter 233 - Potent Death

"...I can't believe you actually did it. You truly are a different breed, aren't you? All twenty-six legions--gone, just like that."

Commenting from above his obsidian tower, Halphas looked down at the bloodbath that took hold of the surface of the town. There the man in sable armor stood, standing atop the endless bodies of creatures from Hell itself. 

Panting heavily, he could barely see past his blurry gaze, feeling his muscles ache and scream for him to stop moving; the sensation of endless knives digging into each nerve almost made him comply with the desires of his body. 

"All that's left...is you…"

"That's right, human. You're so close now. The final stretch."

Removing himself from his elevated position, Halphas dropped back down onto the ground, still holding his subtle, yet confident expression as his crimson irises seemed overjoyed at the scenery before him. 

"Though...It is a real waste of all the good material laid out for me."

Putting his hand on his chin, Halphas' sly gaze turned to the fallen, inanimate bodies of the husks. Even if he knew the demonic count was planning something, Sora remained still, keeping his trembling hands on the pommel of the singular greatsword he used to pierce the bodies beneath him. 

If he's planning on talking...I'd better take advantage of it and recover whatever stamina I can, he thought. 

Raising a single digit to the air, Halphas' will brought the scattered bodies of the lifeless husks slowly into the air in a reverse downpour of corpses. 

Without any delay, the seemingly hundreds of husk bodies suddenly began to merge into one another, coalescing into a single spot as their flesh meshed together, being reshaped and melded into something else entirely by will of the demon. 

"Oh...A splendid, diabolical thought has just risen into my mind."

Smiling from ear-to-ear, Halphas wicked expression drew concern from the man who watched the rotten corpses continue to gather under the gaze of the laughing nebula above. 

It began to shape itself wretchedly; violently shaking and trembling before the combined flesh of the hundred-fold husks etched itself into a singular, gargantuan entity. Its head took on a peculiar form; hollow through the center and holding a single, glowing radiance of purple as its ocular device. 

"Husks are in a way a magecraft born from Hell itself; so with that in mind...I believe they can be used as proper vessels to summon this! Revere it, fear it--face the Watcher of The Pit!" 

Landing on its two, towering feet, the amalgamated creation landed with a tremor that sent itself through the entirety of the town. 

"Enough of these games."

"What was that? I can't hear you if you mutter under your breath."

"I said enough!"

Launching himself into the air, propelled by sheer rage pumping through his veins, the proclaimed Watcher of The Pit was eviscerated by the blade that had tasted the blood of many hells-spawn that night. Even Halphas was left agape as he watched his creation be reduced to a storm of mincemeat, raining down on the ground below as Sora landed back down as well. 

"...I guess I'll have to do it myself then."

Halphas' hoarse voice became dreadfully serious as he honed his eyes on the man approaching him slowly, unfolding his arms from his chest as he seemed to finally acknowledge the threat of the single human. 

"Come then, human. I'll show you the difference between you and I; the stark contrast of one bathed in the unholy and one recognized by neither." 

"Stop talking." 

Dissolving his held blade into nothingness, the weapon of choice that replaced their existence were two, massive gauntlets that neatly wrapped themselves around his arms. Each gauntlet bore resemblance to the head of a sable behemoth, bulky and heavy in nature. 

A departure from the standard sharp instruments he used; blunt weapons that coiled arms, dripping with overwhelming malice. 

"You're not the only one with a plethora of weapons at your disposal. I happen to be quite the connoisseur myself."

With a snap of his fingers, Halphas brought forth from the standing, silent towers two separate weapons that came to him by his calling, flying directly into his grip. 

In his left he gripped a tool of stygian steel that resembled the unholy combination of a bow and blade; a lengthy weapon with a long, curved form. Sealed between the fingers of his right hand, a double-ended blade ending in three claw-like ends bore the length of a greatsword.

"I can't say I'm much of a fighter, but I am a perfectionist. Come, human. If you consider yourself a hero, then you should know I am the greatest evil in this world."

Pointing one end of the dual-ended sword toward the human in stygian armor, Halphas issued his challenge with his usual sternness returning to his expression. 

"…I'm not a hero."

"Hmm?"

Raising an eyebrow, the demon pretended not to hear what was muttered behind the draconic helm belonging to Sora.

"I really can't give two shits about this world. But…My comrades, my friends…my family. That's all I have here."

"If you're so angered by me killing that weak runt, show me the iridescent shade of your anger."

Running his tongue along his lips, Halphas couldn't seem to care in the slightest for the bubbling frustration beneath the armor he watched. 

"I was going to kill you anyways, but you went ahead and made it personal."

He couldn't even feel the weight of the dense gauntlets hanging from his forearms down; all of the boiling emotions that etched themselves into his veins set his mind into one track. 

Before he knew it, he was face-to-face once more with the red-eyes demon.

Alone beneath the crimson skies, the two began their combat once more. 

The slam of his cestus was guarded by Halphas's circular blade, still bearing down on the world below as the dirt cracked and split beneath the feet of the demon. 

"Good! Good! This is what I'd strive for from my destined rival in this world, the one man to stand against me before my conquest begins!"

Flinging Sora back with a push of his blade, Halphas followed up with a lightning-fast sprint forward, carving up the nearby cottages without a single care as he moved. 

"Why won't you shut the hell up?!"

Just barely making it in time to stop the incoming strike with his own heavy behemoth-headed cestus, Sora poured the words from his mouth angrily as the voice of the demonic man came to his ears like nails on a chalkboard. 

From the maw of the behemoth-shaped gauntlets, the blade used by Halphas became trapped. Attempting to retrieve his blade, he struggled to move it not a single inch. 

"What in the..?!"

This is one of the special abilities of my Behemoth Hammers: "Bite-Lock", anything that finds itself between the open ends of the cestus will be trapped within it until I say so, Sora thought. 

Taking advantage of the bowl-cut humanoid's confusion, he threw his other, bulky cestus towards his skull--failing to split it open as once again, the sable mirrors blocked his path. 

A slight smile came over Halphas' lips as he watched the attack against him fail, slowly raising two fingers before uttering something with utmost malice. 

"Ars Azrael."