The Catalyst Core (An Original Novella)

[rinji79]

The Catalyst Core Part 4
The Underlying

The dismantling was done. An entire square mile had been cleared out from the city, and all of the debris was cleared out, leaving nothing but a plain of sand. Adam stood on the building nearest to it, and his grin was wider than ever. It was almost time, and he knew it. He knew that soon his father’s fortress would arise and bring about a wave that would conquer this realm and every single soul in it.

He turned to the large black-metal humanoid beside the house. It pushed its loosened sensor back into its socket and popped a welder out of its middle finger on its left hand. Where did this machine come from in the first place? Adam had often wondered this question, but did not dwell on it, for it was not important. His newest friend was asleep. After five whole days of being awake, Detro had finally gone into a very dark, and dirty corner of an unheated furnace and slept while bunched up in a very tight space. Adam had to laugh when he saw him do this, but he left him to his will.

After seeing what happened to the first man that tried to go against him, none of the men made any moves against the tyrant’s son. Their work was done now, and they got as far away from Adam as they could without making any sudden attempts of escape. They were petrified at the idea of escape, though they desired it more than anything.

“What an absolutely perfect morning, don’t you agree?” Adam said as he stood up from the roof, knowing that the machine would not answer him. “Everything is in place now, however, there is a piece missing, isn’t there? What has my father planned for his entrance in this realm? It was quite magnificent, his entrance into the Negaverse. He brought upon a slug, a giant slug that ravaged all of the countries of a single planet. One that belched horribly melting acid from its maw, and left behind a slime with a stench that could easily suffocate any living creature. The fools fought it as hard as they possibly could, and finally brought its life to a halt. However, my father’s fortress was inside of its belly. It opened then, and the bloody throne was there for all to see. Only then did the REAL fun begin!” Adam let out a good laugh. “I wonder what kind of a creature he will bring to this realm?” There was silence then. The bandits sat a hundred yards away from him, in the shade of a nearby tavern, eating their beans and drinking what was left of the beer.

Then Adam felt it once again. Just like when he first entered this plane, he felt a pressure in his brow, and there it was again, but it was not disheartening. On the contrary, it pleased him more than anything, because it was the presence of true power. He felt the presence that could rival even his own, and it was a glorious feeling. However, then he saw something fly by him that he did not expect. It was a black cowboy hat. It flew upon the wind, lazily swaying from side to side above all of the buildings. Adam followed it with his eyes as it spiraled around in the air, and landed upon the sand in the middle of an empty pathway between the remaining buildings in Deinoforaum.

He jumped down off of his building, and walked toward it, not entirely knowing what to think. Then there was a large blast that went through one of the distant buildings behind the one that stood before him. Then the next one, coming closer toward him, boards and glass flying as a force demolished them, then finally through the building before him. He held up his own shield and allowed the force to pass through it like rain on a roof. It was a terrible power, but Adam stood firm against it, and his grin only widened, showing his perfect, white teeth.

As the pieces of the building rested, and the dust cleared from the holes, his grin began to dissipate, for there stood a Mauforaum. Words could not express Adam’s disappointment. Though he looked quite different from the ones he had met, he was getting quite tired of seeing them all together.

“Another one? Why is this world so full of scum like you? Why can’t I find a decent piece for my trophy collection? I’m getting tired of seeing your kind rise against me, then break into pieces at the flick of my wrist!” Adam shouted as he saw the Mauforaum take something out of his jacket pocket and then put it between his lips.

Reve lit the smoke and then put away his lighter. Then took a nice long puff, holding it in his lungs as he looked at Adam from the hole he created in the building.

“Funny…” Reve spoke in an accent that surprised Adam. “I’s thinkin’ the same thing.”

Adam furrowed his brow, and then felt a twitch of anger as the strange-looking creature began to walk casually toward him. He looked over at his death machine, and nodded him toward Reve.

The robot wasted no time in getting to his feet, his broken eye socket now with a crude, dull gray in its repair job, but at least the sensor worked now. It began to take gigantic steps toward the gunman who stood there, not even seeming to notice the gargantuan creature barreling through the side of a house as it got within ten yards of him. It unraveled its ball-and-chain from its hand, and brought it down at Reve. The Mauforaum finally bent down in an instant, lifting up both of his hands, catching the chain, and even lifting the robot itself with his mind. Reve did one simple punch in midair, and sent the bot flying into the distance. The death machine flew clear across town, missing the very edge of a building and hitting the black sand with an enormous clatter, kicking up dust that could be seen for an entire mile.

Reve blew smoke as he turned back to Adam, his sandy blonde hair swaying with the oncoming gust of wind and dust.

Anger boiled and brimmed inside the tyrant’s son as he saw him sit there and continue to smoke, provoking him to do something else. He had no idea what to think of this new face, other than his hair being blonde, to Adam he looked just the same as the rest of that pitiful race. Then he saw it; as the Mauforaum brought his hand up to his smoke, he saw the seal on the back of his hand. Instantly he understood and this brought a grin to Adam’s face.

“So… you are the carrier. You are Demon-Eye Reve.” Before Adam could emit a string of laughter, Reve’s eye twitched, and in an instant he felt a horrible pressure collide with his entire body. This pressure was not unlike a hammer as it rammed him straight back, not even giving him enough time to set up his own defense against it. He flew, his nose was broken and his entire body writhed in pain as he crashed through a door, and hit the floor hard.

“Oh, pard’n my rudeness, n’such. But I don’t take kindly to that name.” Reve said, stubbing his smoke onto a nearby loose board of a demolished house.

The anger was over-flowing now, as Adam rose from the floor. His body shivered, he could not control it. He closed his arms and then shot them out at either side of him, destroying the entire house around him and shooting its pieces all around him. All of the debris that would have hit Reve was stopped in midair, and then dropped to the ground as the Mauforaum looked at it.

Adam’s teeth ground in his mouth, and he unleashed a horrible scream of furious rage. He would take no more time with this insolent fool. He would crush him with his bare hands, and set an example for anyone else who dared to cross his path.

Those who slaved for Adam looked toward the oncoming battle with awe and amazement. The thought of escape crossed their mind, but then they saw the absolute fury that came from their tormentor and they found themselves engrossed in this new warrior that stood in his path. He was far unlike the Aerdian, with whom they secretly dug a grave with a nameless stone. They watched, and found themselves kindling a new flame of hope.

[rinji79]

The Catalyst Core Part 4.2
The Underlying

The Death Machine lied on his back shortly after his ascending from the middle of the city. He got up from his small crater and restarted his main program, loading up his memory files, and reconfiguring his location. As he came up with the schematics of the area, he saw where his master and the new life form stood. He wasted no time in starting to run toward the two, but then his sensors picked up a new heat source; two of them actually, but then another one was picked up on his radar, coming at him fast. He turned just in time to get a glimpse of a large flaming wagon hurdling at him from the sky. He had no time to lift his arms to block it, and it collided with him, smashing him into a house.

The Death Machine collapsed the house around him, and then sat up, his sensors closing in on the heat source. It held out its hand and fired its ball-and-chain straight through the house that the source was located.

Krol managed to dodge the ball and chain to the side, and then clamp his claw onto the chain, both of his thumbs gripping onto it with an iron-tight hold. As the Death Machine retracted the chain, Krol went with it, coming directly at the large black-metal giant. As he released his grasp on the chain, he caused a stream of fire to travel directly at it. Unable to react in any way, other than continuing the retraction, the machine was engulfed in a huge, raging ball of flame.

The Ratoul’an howled with abandon, but was taken by surprise as the Machine stepped straight out of the ball as the fire dissipated. Just by the steam emitting from it, he knew that it was red-hot, but it did not seem to be phased or slowed in the least. Instead it charged straight for Krol, and he saw no way around it. He quickly used his pyrokinesis to extinguish the heat, and when the Death Machine collided with him, he held strong, only sliding back on his hind claws a few inches. However, the giant machine calculated his strength already, it merely protruded its arm plates, making them pop out and smack the Ratoul’an in the chest.

Krol did a hard roll back and hit his head on a house, cursing. The Death Machine held up his newly opened arms, revealing a collection of round, spiked blades underneath the arm plate. He made both of the blades spin, and then pick up speed. Krol got to his feet as their rotation became impossible to follow because of how fast they were going. Without a moment to lose, he smashed his hand into the threshold of the house, and using his immense strength he ripped the door completely off as the machine let the first blade fly. He put the door up just in time to catch the first blade on the wooden door, it penetrated the middle of it halfway, coming only inches from Krol’s snout.

“Damn.” Krol breathed, and then instantly lit the door aflame, and shot it straight at him, twirling it as fast as he could. As the machine targeted the flying firewood, Krol shoved his right hand into his pocket, and pulled out his silver knuckles. The next spinning blade destroyed the door in midair, but the Ratoul’an went around it. Just before the machine could ready another spiraling blade, the silver knuckles plowed into the machine’s chest, sending it a few steps back. Krol lunged his knuckles up under the arm that held the next sharp disc, causing the arm to misfire and slice off the arm plate completely. Shards and sparks went everywhere as large pieces of metal flew from the arm. But the Ratoul’an did not relent, he punched his knuckles into the chest once again.

This time, the chest plate gave way, already having been weakened by the giant cat beast it had battled the day before. There it was, the inner workings were exposed and there was its core, a shining metal piece that lit red from the inside. Going to emergency security mode, the machine’s upper body completely did a three-sixty turn and swung its arm into Krol’s maw, sending him on a hard roll to the side. The Ratoul’an spit blood, but got to his feet as he stopped rolling.

The machine emitted a siren, a very loud one that made Krol cringe. Then it emitted steam from its arms and legs, small pieces of metal popping out of its joints. Once the small modifications were complete, it began to charge straight for the quadruped. It moved with surprising speed now, but Krol stayed right where he was, he shook the dizziness from his head and hunched over in pain. Just as the machine was in range, it swung its ball-and-chain out from its hand and brought it straight down.

“Ahir-def!” Krol insulted the machine in his native tongue, and concentrated his eyes on one single place in the chain, burning it and causing it to snap in two. Then Krol launched his hind and fore claws straight off the ground with a blast of fire. The Ratoul’an flew a short distance, going straight over the machine’s head, and catching the chain in midair. As he landed behind the metal giant, he gave it one second to turn around, then he used the momentum of the chain to swing the ball, and smash it directly into its chest.

The machine’s core was shattered, and it convulsed, unable to get any power.

“WARNING: MODEL 890-DESTROYER UNIT POWER SOURCE DAMAGED, EMERGENCY AUXILERY CORE ACTIVATED!”

“Ah, poopie.” Krol dipped his head down, beginning to absolutely hate this machine.

“WARNING: AUXILERY CORE DAMAGED, BEG-“ It was interrupted by a huge burst of flame from the black beast. He blew fire into it as hard as he possibly could, and then he concentrated his efforts, making the wave of flame turn into a small stream of pure heat. “WARNING: OVERrrrrRRRRrrrrrr” The machine’s siren was halted, and it finally gave way, falling onto its back as it overheated a terrible amount.

The flame died down, and the pile of useless black metal stayed there, smoldering hot with an orange tinge. Krol lurched over some, and panted. His power was pretty low, and the hits he took were not pansy shots either. As he turned around, he heard a small beeping sound. He turned back to the machine, and he heard the beeping sound getting faster. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he backed away from it. Then the beep turned into one continuous tone, and the metal pile combusted. The explosion was expected, so Krol focused what little energy he had left, and halted the flames from coming toward him. The flames bent around him, and he was able to hold it for the bulk of the explosion. However, the impact was far too much for him to handle and he was pushed back, crashing into the front of a building and shattering the wooden frame as he hit it.

No matter how he fought it, darkness crept into his sight and the only thing he could see was the tavern. That tavern that he remembered so well. That was the place they met. It was very soon after he graduation from the academy. The world was beginning to worsen at that point, and there were many Ratoul’an in the land that were winding up dead from mysterious causes. His plans were very simple that day, he would just have a shot, maybe even a beer to go along with it, then he would go ahead home to a family that treated him like an outsider.

None of his family shared his powers. All of them had great telekinetic abilities and telepathy that could over-come him in the blink of an eye. He could emit fire, and was scolded hard if he were to ever use it on one of his brothers or sisters. All of that went away when he was there that day. Right whenever he opened that tavern door, there he was, sitting at the bar, fiddling with his stack of silver coins, trying to figure out what he was going to order. Mauforaums were seldom seen in this area, especially ones with two six-shooter pistols and a black cowboy hat.

Krol almost found his appearance amusing. He walked in, his knuckles popping on the hard, wood floor. The old, grayish brown Ratoul’an bartender was growing impatient with Reve’s order, so he turned to Krol.

“A shot and a beer, please.” Krol said and the barkeep nodded.

“Same for me.” Reve said, sliding two silvers across the bar, paying for his and Krol’s drink.

“You don’t need to do that.” Krol looked at Reve a little closer as he sat in the stool next to him.

“Oh, I know I don’t. But I gotta thank ye for givin’ me the idea. A shot an’a beer sounds good.” Reve turned his head to Krol, and the Ratoul’an saw them, those two deep violet eyes. Once he saw them, he couldn’t take his eyes off of them, they were so strange and surrealistic that they almost didn’t look real.

“Somethin’ caught your eye, friend?” Reve said as he downed his first shot. The Mauforaum cringed at the strength of it, and then drank a few swallows of his beer. “Hot damn! You boys can’t cook snakes worth a poopie, but y’whiskey’s tougher than nails.”

This drew laughter from Krol, and he downed his shot, and drank his beer as well.

“That accent,” Krol said, still laughing. “It isn’t a Mauforuam accent, is it?” Krol drank another few swallows of beer.

“Nope, that it ain’t.” Reve downed more of his beer. “Wasn’t raised by’em.” He sighed, then looked back over at Krol.

“What brings you away from Deinoforaum, if you don’t mind my asking.”

Reve paused, then turned over to him with a slight look of annoyance. “Hell no, I don’ mind you askin’, but I didn’ come from no Deinoforaum. Like I said, I’s not raised by Mauforaums, I’s raised by humans.” This brought a surprised look from Krol, he almost asked if he got his blond hair from his human side, but he did not want to sound rude. “They’s nomads, they moved ‘round from the deserts, to the plains, and all around country-sides. Since y’asked so nicely what brings me ‘round these parts, I’ll tell you I think this world’s goin’ to all one thousand hells at the same time.”

This statement almost surprised Krol, but in truth it didn’t. He, too, could feel something was terribly wrong with this world. Anytime he tried to bring it up to his siblings, they laughed at him, or tried to change the subject. It was not their place in the world to think of such things. The only thing that mattered to their people was their people, not the world’s.

Reve downed another shot and cringed harder, shaking his head and knocking the shot glass against the bar. He let out a shout of vigor and gave back the shot glass for the tender to reload.

“Damn, I oughtta come by these parts more often. The hooch here’s top notch.” Reve belched, accidentally aiming for Krol, who shook his head.

Before Reve could apologize, the Ratoul’an worked up one himself, and gave a very long, guttural belch at Reve. The Mauforaum gave exasperation and waved his hand in his face. This drew a great laughter from both of them, and they ordered another round, taking to a table.

Though some of their conversations were joking, and full of humor, they began to discuss the horrible events that were taking place in Ketarhr: The blackening of the sand, the unneeded violence from many of the cities, and the disappearances of people, namely the children.

If anyone asked him then, he couldn’t tell them why he followed Reve. Maybe it had something to do with his unsupportive family, or maybe it was because Reve was the most astute Mauforaum he had ever known. One thing he did know was that he didn’t regret it for one day after that. Even when the creatures became meaner and uglier as they went on, he decided to walk along side him.

They found a friend and a comrade in each other, and when everything in this entire world was going to hell, that is exactly what they needed.

[rinji79]

The Catalyst Core Part 4.3
The Underlying

Her eyes reflected the stars as they showed through the tears that arose. She was seven years old, her wings were not yet ready to carry her on the winds but they were close. The night sky did not keep her from seeing the bloody figure that stood before her. His blades wielded on all of his body as his lifeless orbs gazed at her unblinking. Six Inroluse sisters lay at his feet, dead and sliced to bloody shambles. She stood, shaking with her sister’s blade held out in front of her. She could do nothing for them, she could only watch as he wiped their blood clean from the metal points that were strapped to his limbs.

Detro did not kill children, so he turned and walked away; but she was still there. Lain stood there in that grassy knoll. In her mind she stood there for ages. She pushed herself every single day, swinging her sword until her arms had no feeling. She killed her body more and more, only to have it reborn and stronger than she ever was. All for that single moment, she killed her body further and further.

All for that single moment. As Detro arose to the roof to see what was causing all of the ruckus, her stern jade eyes gazed at him from the rooftop next to him. The wind blew through them, and that is when Detro felt her presence. He turned his head toward her, seeing her in that lovely red Inroluse robe, the sword already in her hand and held behind her back in a passive stance.

“Detro… Bastard son of Danara.” Lain spoke to him with words that he had killed for. “Your fight is with me!” She flipped her sword around in her hand and swiped it through the air. Her hand motioned him toward her with two fingers. “Come!”

Detro poised himself, the wind caressing his blades, making a metal slicing sound over the tiny, sharpened tips. In the blink of an eye, he thrust his legs from the edge of the structure and sliced directly for her neck. However, as the wind blew toward her, she spread her wing span and was pushed far back from the oncoming blade. Just as he lunged for her once again, she spun and caught both his arm weapons with her one sword. Before he could swing his leg blade at her, she twirled, swiping her elbow directly into his face. He was knocked backward, sliding on his back to the edge of the wooden rooftop.

Her legs moved with grace and speed as she sliced it low. Just as it was about to gash his under chin, he looked straight up, it shaving off a sliver of ebon skin. He kipped up and flipped through the air, catching his knee blade on her shoulder, drawing blood. Without any mind paid to her wounded shoulder, she swung her entire body around as he came down. Her Inroluse sword slashed his back hard, so hard, in fact, that it even cut through the metal guard blade that covered the line down his back.

He growled in anger, and quickly turned around in a fighting stance, but she was gone. There was a slight flapping sound in the air, and as he realized what she had done, it was too late, she jabbed the point of her blade straight through his back, so that it stuck out from his gut.

“Bastard, meet Death, he is happy to see you.” She whispered in his ear, then grabbed the rag on his face and tore it off. His eyes had no lids because he never wanted to blink. His mouth had no tongue because he did not want to make a sound, and his face showed no emotion because he did not want to show weakness. All of that went away as her blade twisted in his chest, tearing veins from his heart and carving his ribcage into pieces. She finally pulled her sword from his back. Before his body could hit the ground, she sliced three times, and then sheathed her sword. She turned and walked away as he fell to pieces. His limbs and head fell from the roof top, and she looked on.

“There… it’s your turn, Reve.” Lain saw the fire ignite from one of the few remaining buildings in their region of the city. She did not interfere, she stood, and waited.


----

Their powers battled between them, the pressure that pushed together collided with equal strength, so that neither of them could attack using their telekinesis. Adam and Reve faced each other down in the middle of the building debris. Adam scowled at him, daring him to make the next move.

Reve took that dare, and in the blink of an eye, both of his pistols were drawn. Three shots from both guns were fired, and Adam rolled to the side, his hands pushing off of the ground as they struck the pieces of wood that lay all over the battlefield. Without a moment to lose, he cast three nails straight at Reve with his mind. The Mauforaum did not blink his violet eyes as he fired down all three nails out of midair with his Eagle Wing .45. Both of them strafed to the side.

As Adam ran down the alleyway beside a house, Reve ran down the other side. Every single window that made Adam appear, Reve fired his pistol through them. Glass flew through both sides of the house, and one shard caught Adam in the brow, and drew blood.

“Bastard!” Adam shouted, he flexed every lobe in his brain, and thrust the entire house into Reve on the other side. Without a moment to lose, Reve spread his wing span, and used the force from his mind to dart straight into the air as the house crashed into the debris beside it. The Mauforaum wasted no time as he reloaded one of his guns. However, a two-by-four came up like a bullet from the air. Before Reve could dodge it, it lunged into his under-chest, and knocked him out of the air.

Reve’s back hit a structure hard on the roof. He cringed, his eyes closed, but just as he opened them, there Adam was, flying up through the air above him, his mind holding him far up. Adam fell straight down at Reve, blasting his mind for the Mauforaum before he could come up with a good defense. The wooden surface gave way as the enormous pressure struck it and Reve hit the floor inside hard.

Adam landed on the edge of the hole he made in the ceiling, and Reve was waiting for him, firing off four shots in the blink of an eye. He managed to veer three off course with his mind, but the last one lunged into his side.

“Damn you!” Adam screamed, as he pressurized the wound and drew out the bullet with his power.

“Too late, asshole.” Reve clenched his fist, and the bookshelf behind him shot straight up, hard-backs flying out of it as it bashes through the hole, knocking Adam off of the roof. The human landed on the top of another structure. Reve flew to the edge of his roof and looked down at the one Adam landed on. Before Adam could get back to his feet, Reve enhanced his vision inside of the structure, and aimed directly for a crate marked “dynamite.” One bullet was all it took, the entire building blew sky high. Reve expanded his wings, flapping back along with the combustion, then stood as he saw Adam was not able to avoid the blast. The Mauforaum holstered both of his guns, but before he fully turned, he saw something that made him do a double-take. His eyes widened, and his mouth gawked as the burned, deformed figure emerged from the flames.

He had no face anymore. Half of it was burned to the tendons and the reticular dermis. He was beyond rage now, the only reason he survived was from his powers bending the flames away from him when he needed to the most. His lower body was left unharmed but half of his upper torso and his entire jaw was nothing but muscle tissue, the only reason it did not bleed was because the flames cauterized it. His hair was no longer blond, but a mass of black and filthy strands that fell out from the slightest move he made.

“Do not worry about me, you piece of poopie, once I have killed you, I will wear your flesh instead.” Adam said, as Reve could see the tendons and muscle harden before his eyes as the human-like creature cringed, and allowed the demon spirit engulf him further.

[rinji79]

The Catalyst Core Part 4.4
The Underlying

Adam’s burned eye glared at Reve. The black veins that pulsed through it were quite visible, and matched the blackened tendons that covered most of his face. All of his muscle tissue pulsed with a new energy, and hardened to the point of armor, even stronger than his skin. His hair fell out with every movement, catching a breeze and then floating away, tumbling on the black sand.

Reve could see that Adam meant every word that he said, but for some reason he was not worried. The two of them faced each other down, measuring each other out once again. Adam clenched his deformed fist, all of the visible muscles tensing up as the power flowed and began to rip through the air around him.

The Mauforaum quickly punched the air, his telekinesis blasting straight through the distance between them, it struck Adam hard. However, it did little more than push his heels back a few inches, and he showed no pain from the attack. Reve’s eye twitched, not entirely sure what to think of this new form that Adam took.

“You pitiful mortal, did you sincerely think you could win against the son of the ruler of this entire universe?” Adam lifted his blackened hand, a red blaze of power emitting from it and bashing Reve straight in the chest, bashing him through the structure he was in before, and knocking him through the wall on the other side. He felt a large splinter jab into his side, drawing blood, and he was almost instantly out of breath.

To his surprise, Adam’s grip did not relinquish. The demonic human pulled him straight back, knocking his head against the edge of the hole he had made, and bashing his shoulder through the next one, ripping the skin hard and returning Reve before Adam. Just as Reve was about to go into the human, he pulled his gun from its holster and shot three bullets in an instant. One hit the black side of Adam’s face, and bounced off, the other grazed his ear, and the last one struck his collar bone, causing him to drop the Mauforaum.

“Imbecile!” Adam lashed his demonic hand across the air, slicing a hard rip against Reve’s chest, drawing much blood and knocking him skidding across the sand. The Mauforaum coughed up saliva mixed with blood, then spit the remainder from his mouth as he slowly got up. His muscles ached, and his mind was beginning to tire from all of the power he exerted. To his dismay, the human only seemed to grow in power.

“Yes… This is the last of it, you pitiful creature. You have done well with all things considered, but now you know that it was all for naught. Though I cannot stand the sight of you, I have grown to like you.” Adam clenched his fist and the Mauforaum felt a horrible clawed hand engulf his body and squeeze with unbearable pressure. “Now… I will give you this one and only chance. Join me, Demon-Eye Reve, let Noxious serve my lord and master as we conquer this world. For all shall plummet into death as he sends his creature that brings destruction to this universe.”

This caused Reve to laugh. His laughter was hard, and his eyes mocking Adam as he looked at him. “You still don’ get it, do ya? You’re the creature, Adam.”

Adam’s eyes flared open, and he glared at Reve. His anger subsided for a moment, and he looked to the left, his mind turning in thought.

“Noxious tol’ me all about ya. He gave me some good information, it seems. ‘Cause he said if all seemed hopeless, and you couldn’t be stopped by force alone, he told me that I could say just three little words. Ones that wouldn’ make sense t’me but ye’d get the picture.”

Adam’s eyes shot to Reve, and before he could do anything, they were spoken.

“New York City…” The Mauforaum said, and he was instantly dropped to the ground. Reve merely watched, and instantly began to reload his pistols while the demonic human began to convulse, and his mind went erratic and uncontrollable.

Adam’s mind blared, for a moment he could hear nothing but a piercing high pitched howl that drilled into his mind and killed his thoughts. Then the images came back. There was an airliner, but before that there was a taxi. Who was that man that got into the taxi? He wore a trench coat. As the man got into the car he motioned for Adam to come in with him.

“NO!” Adam shouted as his mind pulsed painfully, “NO IT CAN’T BEEEEE!”

‘Come on in, son! We’re going to be late for the plane!’ The man said to him. His father! It couldn’t be! His father was the most powerful demon lord in existence, but that wasn’t right!

“NOOOO!” His mind let out a huge combustion that blasted the ground all around him, along with the Mauforaum who shot his pistol at the exact same moment, but it veered off too far to the side and missed Adam’s head. Reve slid to the pile of rubble that was once a structure and lied there, his muscles were shot, and his mind was exhausted. He could barely move without a current of pain shooting through him, hard.

“YOOOOUUUU BASTAAAAARD!” Adam shrieked into the air as the pulse of power blasted off the black shell around part of his body, blood spurted out of the cracks in his exposed inner flesh. His hair was gone, taken out by the blasts, and his body began to crack in its flesh, blood gushing out of each fissure. More openings began to expose themselves, but soon he gained partial control.

Adam concentrated, knowing that this was the end for him. He was not the son of Kriel Sin, he was a pawn, a monster that was given power for one single purpose. He looked to the burning pile of rubble that destroyed his flesh, and he reached up toward the sky, calling for it to come to his hand. The fire began to flow through the air and gather above the broken demon’s head.

Reve could barely keep his eyes open to see all of this occurring. When he was finally able to focus them, the mass of fire above Adam’s head had grown to the size of a huge horse pasture. It burned like Redec itself, and it was almost complete.

The Mauforaum had to put everything into his one arm so that he could aim it just right. His eye strained hard, and turned red as he allowed the one inside of him to be his sight. He had only one chance, and when he saw that his gun was just in the right position, he fired once. In the next instant, he fired off two more.

The first bullet struck home, streaming across the distance between them and passing straight through Adam’s exposed wrist. The human looked up at the hole in his arm, and glared in horror as another one struck directly beside it, his hand was only hanging on by a thin sliver of flesh now, and it could do nothing to hold the large ball of flame anymore.

“NOOOOOOOOOO—“ Adam shrieked as the ball of flame fell to the side. It struck him on the head first, and engulfed his entire body. His figure became pieces in an instant, and the flames waved over the area around him, turning the sands into shards of glass as he melted into them.

Reve’s arm dropped to the ground, and he closed his eyes. As he did this, he heard a deep, horrific laughter from the one that dwelled inside of him. As this laughter occurred, he felt strength inside of him once again. His muscles pulsed with energy, and twitched as they came back to life. His wound still bled, but the pain was somehow invigorating. He rose to his feet then, and looked at the flames that were now dying down. He couldn’t help but notice that Adam died in the very center of the land he had cleared. He shrugged this knowledge off and walked toward the place to confirm the bastard child’s death.

There he was, only half of his face remained, even the visible portion of his skull was blown half-way to hell, as it should be. But then he flinched as he saw the broken head move and gurgle some. Adam’s only remaining eye opened, glaring at the Mauforaum gunman and it sneered.

“How’s the ground taste, you son of a bitch?” Reve lifted his gun once more, and blasted a shot straight into his eye. The head shot back, and it seemed to convulse, then what remained of its throat began to work, he could even see part of the trachea and the esophagus moving. As its very last movement, the demon’s tongue stuck out, and Reve could see something on the very tip of it, covered in blue and green goop.

As Reve bent over and retrieved it, he heard a voice that brought him great comfort.

“Reve!” Krol shouted, trotting faster toward him. Reve slid the object into his jacket pocket and turned to Krol with a smile on his face. “Reve, what happened? He said, then turned to see the human’s partial head begin to emit steam, along with what remained of the rest of his body. He stepped back along with Reve as the body began to sink down into the black sands, leaving a hole.

“Looks like our friend really was a seed…” Reve said, picking his second-to-last smoke from his pocket and lit it as he put it to his lips. Krol looked at him as he dragged a good puff of smoke from it. “An’ I just planted’em.”