God of Hell - Chapter 39 - Demon of Hell (Patreon)

Mercury had tasted victory, and he’d tasted defeat, he doubted there was any Demon, save perhaps the Three Faced Monarch, who’d lived even half as long as he had and hadn’t worn the scent of either at various stages of their lives.

And yet, he didn’t believe that any victory, no matter how grand, how great or how spectacular, could even begin to compare to that which he felt now.

Which was why he savoured it, eyes ahead on the Light Breather, the Demon Ender, as he knelt down hopelessly. A curious thing, he was just a boy. Brown hair, brown eyes and slightly tan skin, Mercury had been expecting a titan amongst humans with a build to dwarf even the largest of Demons, and yet it seemed fitting that he was what he was.

Bruised, battered, beaten and humiliated, the Light Breather would watch his ally die and then die pathetically himself.

Except something was wrong.

Behind the Light Breather, a spear soared through the air, black as a void and covered in runes. 

Was it an attack?

No.

Some sort of defence then?

No.

Then what was it?

No!

Mercury halted his blade and dashed for the Light Breather.

No, no, no, no, no!

He had to end him now, he wouldn’t let them win, he wouldn’t lose this, not when he was so close, not when he could taste victory in the air.

It would be him, Mercury, Messenger of Death who would bring an end to the existential threat against his people while it was still in its infancy.

He dashed forwards, raw Might propelling his legs, moving faster than any other he’d seen, moving faster than any could hope to contend with. He thrust his blade at the boy’s neck, eager to end him, but the spear had already caught the Light Breather by the collar of his tunic.

It had lifted him off of his feet when Mercury’s blade connected. 

A graze, not a stab.

The boy was in the air a moment later, hanging limp by the length of the spear before disappearing into the violet clouds.

No…

No.

“No, no, no, no, no!” 

He’d lost the Light Breather, he was so, so close and yet he’d lost him, lost him again, doomed his people again, risked everything, and why? To gloat, to savour, to prove a point to something as fleeting as a human.

Mercury roared, he kicked, he spat and punched. His wounds ached where that demented urine fetishist’s explosion had racked him, his muscles screamed with the energy of a battle unfinished. He vented both.

But when he was done, he paused and heard a gurgling noise behind him.

His eyes fell on the girl and from his misery, birthed hope.

Nero jolted awake in agony.

Where was he?

In a room, the Death Rattle’s hideout.

He was on the floor, covered in runed bandages and surrounded by people.

Jion, Erlo, Klaus, but no Selvas.

“Where is she?” He asked and pushed himself up to his feet only to be forced back down by Klaus. He tried to resist but found himself too weak to fight. “Where is she?” He repeated.

Their eyes were apologetic and it was Jion who spoke. “I could only save you, Light Breather.”

“Why the hell did you?!” He snapped at her and felt a stab of guilt as the woman flinched back.

“Nero...” Ember called out softly, form dull as a dying light.

“Fuck.” He buried his face in his palm. “Fuck!”

He thought back to his memories, she wasn’t dead, no, Mercury had stopped right before to prevent him from escaping. She isn’t dead, she isn’t dead, she isn’t dead.

He found himself calming, rationality taking place in his mind. “We have to save her.” He told them, but looked up to see eyes that shied away from his. They were coated with pity and fear. They were going to let her die, they were going to let Selvas die. “Nero’s veins boiled with rage. “You have to be fucking kidding me!” He roared.

“Nero, I’m sorry, but that Demon isn’t something we can take, at least not here, not in this city.” Klaus told him, voice stern. “Erlo already used up most of his supply on this raid, and without that we can barely even hurt the thing. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t try to go at him either.”

“Fuck you I’m not.” Nero growled.

“It’s a trap.” Klaus warned.

“Do I look like I care?!” He snapped.

“Well you should.” He hissed. “Because you have a town to protect if I remember correctly, that’s why you’re here isn’t it, that’s why your friend was here too wasn’t it? Well neither of you will be protecting that town if you die here, but if you leave now, you might at least get there during the battle.”

Nero found himself at a loss for words, his hands were shaking, trembling now with impotent rage. His eyes flicked to the other side of the room where Erik sat, staring emptily into a bowl of glowing liquid.

Haven’t enough people died by my hand today?I can’t let Selvas join that list.

He remembered the last person he abandoned to Mercury, he would never forget her screams.

“Please… She’s all alone.” He begged. “All alone with him.” But the Death Rattle Crew had no ear for him.

“I shall ask one more time…” Mercury sighed. “Where is the Light Breather?” He said. Mercury was pacing about his living room now, it served as a makeshift questioning chamber given its size, however the opulent decor lacked the preferred doom and gloom that would have clouded his suspect’s psyche.

“Do you really think I’m going to tell you?” The woman spat. She was suspended by her hands to a chain attached to the ceiling, feet kept just barely an inch from touching the ground. Bruised, beaten, battered and covered in runed rags to prevent from dying, this one still kept a ferocious fire in those soulless eyes. 

Mercury had met many humans in his time, tortured thousands. She was one of the rare ones. One in every few hundred, perhaps less, shared her curious abnormality. That mental iciness, the almost reptillian removal of body and mind. Mercury looked into her eyes for a moment, then looked away. The sight of something so close to a kindred spirit in one he sought to destroy was…Uncomfortable.

A proper Damned you would have made, a proper one indeed.

“No, I suspect you’ll be defiant till the moment you die.” He told her honestly. “But as my plan requires quite a lot of waiting I have very little choice other than to entertain myself in other ways.” He grumbled.

“You-” Her words were cut off by screams as Mercury buried the pommel of his rapier just beneath her ribs. The girl had refused to answer his question, and just what kind of investigator would he be if he didn’t give her an incentive not to do that again?

“Sorry to interrupt.” Mercury lied. “Carry on.” She didn’t, so he did. “Why do you fight so much?” Mercury sighed. “A lost cause is not lost the moment you deem it so, a battle is not won when your enemy drops their blades, contests are not decided by the hearts and minds of the contenders but by the side that logic and the natural laws have deemed victorious.”

“Fuck you.” She hissed.

Mercury felt a spark of temper rise within him. “No, no, not fuck me, fuck you, you incredibly stubborn cockroaches, you think it inspiring to die roaring instead of whimpering, you think it grand to die with cheers instead of cries? No, no it is not, it is futility, the result is all the same, it is always the same.” Mercury growled, shaking his head. “And here I stand, on the genesis of the great clash between Demon and Man, a contest which can only go one way, and I have decided to save bloodshed on both sides by ending it now before a single soul is sent to its final slumber and yet…. You defy me.”

“If…” The girl began. “If the clash can only go one way… Then why are you so scared of him?” She flashed a bloody grin at him and he didn’t kill her right then and there for her indignation. “You speak about protecting the peace, reducing bloodshed…” She laughed and he could tell that the very act caused her pain. “No… you’re just terrified that the cockroaches might get a taste for Demon blood.”

Mercury felt his face twist into a scowl. “And why shouldn’t I be?” He hissed. “Even now, do you not stage a revolt for the wellbeing of your own kind? If you are allowed to protect your kind then why am I not?”

The girl tilted her head forwards and Mercury leaned in. She whispered, words soft yet as sharp as daggers. “The difference is… To make the world a better place, my kind doesn’t need to be eradicated like filthy fucking vermin”

Mercury took a step back and let his eyes settle on the woman. With a smile, he spoke. “You’re trying to get me to kill you so he won’t have a reason to come here.” Mercury grinned. “So, so, crafty.”

The look on her face told him all he needed to know about his deduction. 

“Now tell me, where is the Light Breather…” He asked, she didn’t answer, and Mercury readied his pommel.

“I’m sorry.” Nero said, but Erik wasn’t listening, the big man just downed another mug of something strong and wiped it off of his chin.

“No need to apologize, it was a job, we took it on and we knew what it was all about.” Erik grunted , eyes cast down to the table.

“Still.. I…” He began, but didn’t know what to say. Erik wasn’t going to help with any words either, far too busy filling his mouth with yet another round. Nero got to his feet and headed for the door.

“He was a good man!” Erik called out. Nero turned to meet the man’s red eyes, ones that fought back tears with the ferocity of a dying man. “He was good… And they took him from me…” He muttered. “They always win, Nero… Don’t let them this time… Please don’t let them.”

Nero nodded and stepped out the door. The bustling city awaited him and he walked for what felt like an eternity. Aimless for the most part, with very little certainty in where he was going.

There was Stradale and then there was Dolore, two places where he had unfinished business and he couldn’t possibly be in both at once.

Nero was starting to think this was what it meant to be the Light Breather; constantly stuck, constantly being forced to choose between the lesser of two evils, because in a world like this there was no good, at least none for him. 

Fair enough then, it’s not like I deserve anything better.

He still had to pick one though.

He stopped when he came across familiar faces. The Crimson who’d been torturing an old woman. He still wore the dark bruises Nero had given him, although some of the damage had been healed now, thanks to rags most likely.

He had a Gray friend behind him, perhaps to watch his back as he likely didn’t want to risk being jumped ever again. At least his companion knew how to keep his goddamn helm on.

Today they were turning over stalls and kicking in doors.

“Where’s the Death Rattle!” The unhelmed bastard roared into the face of a poor man and when the man was far too struck with fright to speak, he was backhanded for his ‘transgressions’.

They wouldn’t find them, they had no hope of finding them, Nero knew, the Death Rattle knew and perhaps the Crimsons knew as well. That wouldn’t change anything though, these people would still suffer, and the simple truth of the matter was that this wouldn’t be happening if Nero hadn’t broken Klaus out of the Seal.

He couldn’t pretend that he hadn’t had some idea of the outcome of his actions, that freeing a man from the most secured holding station in the region would be seen as a slap in the face to the Demon responsible for presiding over it. He knew what an embarrassed Demon was like, he knew what they could do and yet he still made the decision to choose Stradale over Dolore.

Somewhere along the line when all his actions had centered around the prospect of saving a town, he’d convinced himself that he was doing something good. Or was he just doing what made him feel good?

He didn’t know, he couldn’t know, all he knew was that it was just all so confusing.

The Crimson drove his blade through a man that did no wrong and demanded that the crowd bring them the Death Rattle Crew.A man that would still be alive were it not for Nero.

It was then that Nero made his decision, and he knew that it was one that would haunt him for the rest of his life.