Dancing In The Void

Uriel clasped her hands together in prayer, channeling her power and letting the light of her swords intensify around her.

"I do not fear you, Serpent." She said, staring down her opponent, floating tall against the billowing cold. She flicked her wrist forward, opening her bandaged hand and forcing her golden blades to start dancing elegantly around her body. They were empowered by her will and her unwavering defiance, and they cut the very wind away as they waltzed in the air. Her wings beat with great force, rhythmically following the beat of her heart. "I've endured too much to be afraid any longer."

Following her example, Kaidan readied himself, spinning his weapon's chain around his chest and keeping the morningstar in his hand. "Probably not the greatest idea to ignite the chain over a lake of ice, huh?"

"I thought you said only warm emotions of love and compassion can melt this lake?" Uriel whispered to her demonic companion, giving him a quick side-eye.

"Fire, ice… Do you really want to take that chance?" Kaidan snapped back.

"You're asking me? I can fly, idiot!"

Kaidan let out a quiet exhale. "Huh. Well, fuck it then, it'll keep me warm in this fucking cold." He added as he set the chain aflame.

"Are you two done?" Aramia asked with a completely bored tone in her voice.

"Silence you!" Uriel shouted. "Keep your vile tongue hidden behind your… stitching."

"Hmpf… You claim not to be afraid, Little Bird, but your hands are trembling… and not from the cold."

Uriel peered into the mist, discerning Aramia's shape as she talked. She was right, the horrifying sight of the serpent's stitched facial features sent a dreadful chill down the angel's spine. The way her voice kept singing while her lips were locked still was unnatural, wrong. But this fear did not grip her, not like other times before. This fear only fueled her anger, fueled her desire to defeat this enemy.

It doesn't matter, Uriel. She thought, trying to embolden herself. This is nothing more than a horrifying creature of the night, nothing you haven't faced before. Overcome her! You are stronger!

"Oh the way you're glaring is so s-" The snake began to taunt once again, but Uriel flashed forward, her blade stabbing the serpent through the center of her chest as if through silk. The sheer force of Uriel flying at such speeds through the air caused a noise like thunder to radiate out over the lake, clearing the thick mist for but a moment. The ice seemed to scream out in kind, deep cracking and wailing noises echoing from below the surface. Uriel had a faint smile on her lips, however, it was one that faded in an instant when she noticed that not even the slightest hint of blood dripped from Aramia's wound.

"GET BACK!" Kaidan managed to shout in time, just as Aramia's body burst into a cloud of ethereal purple haze. Thanks to him, Uriel managed to fly back in time, avoiding the poisonous cloud.

"W-what the hell!" She said, coughing.

"God damn angel-girl, you really haven't done any homework before coming here?" Kaidan pestered her. "We're fighting a fucking Master of Illusions, don't trust your eyes or ears…" A moment of pause lingered between them as they each scoured between the graveyard statues, searching for the true Aramia. Kaidan then added: "Also damn, stabbed her right between the tits, huh? That's cold."

Uriel blew him off initially, but she then muttered under her breath with only a mild hint of spite: "They're too damn big anyway…"

"Haaaaaahhahahha!" Aramia's hideous laughter rang out everywhere and nowhere, like an ear-piercing screech carried by white wind. "Is that a hint of jealousy in your voice, Uriel? Do you even know what such womanly charms are good for? Probably not given your own… lacking charms…"

"Pthah!" Kaidan caught his laughter in his mouth, prompting Uriel to give him a mean look.

"Quiet you! I don't give a shit about what you have to say!" The angel shouted back at her.

"My, my, if you wanted to know so badly you could have asked!" Aramia said as she slithered around one of the farther statues once again. She coiled herself up on it, lounging on her back and grabbing her chest without a care. "They're for sex of course! My dear lord Asmodeus purposely created me in the form you see before me, from head to tip of my tail…!"

"C-created? Not born…? What in the name of all that is holy…?" Uriel asked out loud. "A monster like him?"

"Oh yes… I was not… born… I was made… sculpted from my previous barren form into the gorgeous serpentine woman before you. You dare call him a monster…" Aramia leaned forward, her voice becoming more irate. "Shameful. My lord and master knows love beyond the comprehension of any of you! I can only hope that my love can one day reach his heights!" Her voice peaked as she finished her statement. Immediately, her body began shivering violently as she hugged her shoulders, her head dangling from side to side as she moaned to herself.

"S-she's absolutely lost it." Uriel said. "Such intense madness…"

"Lost it...?" Aramia suddenly snapped forward. Her snake-like movements as she slithered gracefully between the statues of the graveyard gave her voice a strange, phantom-like quality. It was as if the frozen statues themselves were the ones talking. "You call me mad, Uriel… but your heart is filled with the same obsessive love as mine. The same yearning, the same craving for you sweet, booshy, boochy, baby Constantine." Aramia taunted. "The same obsessive nature drives you, it drives you towards him, while it drives him away from you and into Nikolai's arms… oh the sweet tragedy of it all! How pathetic and weak you truly are! Chasing a love that will never be requited, oh it has me so… aroused…"

Uriel seemed just about ready to explode with rage, but a quick hand on her lower leg from Kaidan shook and startled her to look away from the snake. "Don't listen to her bullshit angel-girl! This is a trap, she's trying to get you to fall right into it… keep her talking though… There might be an opening? Just don't fall for anything she says!"

"Y-you're right Kaidan…" Uriel took a deep breath, calming herself and turning back to Aramia. "It's strange that Asmodeus created something like you… the few times I… interacted with him he did not strike me as the type." She yelled out.

Aramia responded only with her terrifying, ear-piercing laughter. "Haha! You thought our dear Lord Asmodeus had no libido or something? Hahaha, he's carnal desire personified dear, his tastes are lascivious and vast. He cares not for human desires like you, the so-called angel that you are, cling to. He craves experiences beyond mortal imaginations! Pain and pleasure beyond just physical."

"I think I'm going to be sick…" Kaidan mumbled.

"Me too…" Uriel responded in kind, her face scrunched and bewildered.

"Oh… are you confused?" Aramia cooed. "If my vocabulary is too distinguished for you allow me to explain: He fucks like an animal. Believe my words, I have tasted his… exquisite desires many many times… And oh am I not the only one! There are many others like me… In fact, Uriel, I distinctly remember him raw fucking the rancid corpse of your whore mother, haha! Many, many times! Oh the unholy things he's done to her… hahahahaha!"

"Oh fuck." Kaidan managed to mutter with pure dejection in his voice, knowing full well there was no chance in hell he would be able to prevent what happened next.

"What did you just say?" Uriel asked plainly. Her voice was empty of any meaning or emotion, her face, a blank canvas of nothingness.

"Oh you don't know? Yes… Lord Asmodeus has your mother's corpse locked up deep in the pits of Dudael. Such an exquisite specimen too. Last I checked though, not much left after all he's done to her… The divine power that still lingered thousands of years after death… well, its worn thin." Aramia said. "Kind of like you, just the shadow of someone better, all traces of divine grace long gone absent."

That was the final straw. The last insult she could endure. Sense and reason abandoned all thought. Uriel's eyes shot open with furious billowing flames of divinity as her body exploded forward, through the statues and cold mist, intent on shredding Aramia to pieces with her blades. Rage blinded her, rage of a caliber she never felt before. Even the dozens of blades seemed to match her feelings, their golden sheen tainted red with fury. The serpent expected her attack, but Uriel endured the trap head-on. Ghostly clones of Aramia jumped from the statues once she got close, striking at her with the pincer-like metallic weapon at the end of their tails. Uriel's swords protected her, and now, the battle was underway.

This time however, the angel's battledance was no longer graceful and elegant, a reluctant display over her mastery of the divine flaming sword. No, this dance was one of hatred. A dance of brutal, relentless attacks. Uncaring of the damage that Uriel caused, she only sought only the serpent's death. Her blades cleaved through the statues and the fake illusions, seeking the real one all the while. But Aramia herself, and her dozens of illusions did not lay down and accept death. Her skill with the weapon on her tail was matched only by the agility with which she moved, slithered, and avoided Uriel. She knew the environment, this was her domain, and Uriel walked dead into its center. The initial inertia of her furious charge was beginning to wear off. With each serpent she slayed, two more sprouted from the shadows like the hydras of old. Even for her, even with the dozens of golden sunblades she controlled, the serpent's attacks were quickly becoming overwhelming.

"Hahaha!" All the Aramias screeched in unison, their many voices echoing as one, piercing Uriel's mind and making her brain pulse with pain. "Is that all you had in you? Like I said, you are no divine being. You're just a pathetic fake playing as an angel!" As she said that, one of the Aramias thwacked Uriel from an angle she did not see, causing her to fall against the cold frozen surface of Cocytus. Uriel recovered from the blow as she fell, but she immediately noticed how just touching the ice with her hands immediately began to melt it.

Ghhhrk, d-damn it. I have superiority in the air, but I cannot attack her effectively without coming close to the ground! Uriel tried quickly sorting her strategy, the hatred that blinded her earlier still vibrant within her, but beaten calm for now.

Just as Uriel spread her dark black wings to take flight once more, she was trapped. Her legs were encased in the ice… no the ice grew hands that grabbed her by the ankles and boot. The gripping fingers dug painfully in her leg, and in the metallic folds of her prosthetic leg, keeping her locked in place. Uriel did not have even a moment to try and cut herself free, as three fake Aramias struck towards her, like vipers striking their helpless prey. Uriel braced herself waiting for her blood to be spilled, but a powerful whirlwind of flame and metal intervened between her and the attackers, preventing her demise. Kaidan spun his weapon like a hurricane and he himself was its eye. The fake Aramias faded into cursed mist as his morningstar crushed their frail forms, and the flames made sure to burn any lingering poison before either of them could be infected by it.

"You okay?" Kaidan asked Uriel once the vicinity was clear.

"Ghhh, took you a while, b-but thanks. That's probably the twelfth time you saved me tonight?" Uriel said, looking up at him and then back down at her trapped legs.

"You'll make it up to me I'm sure." Kaidan smiled, flicking his morningstar down at her legs and crushing the ice, while being careful not to harm her. The hands shattered into crystalline chunks, but the force of his blow caused small, unnoticeable, scar-like cracks to form in the ice at that spot. "Now then, ready to kill this snakebitch?" He said with a smirk as he turned and assumed a fighting stance.

Uriel took flight, floating beside Kaidan. "Any ideas how to find the real her?"

"I can buy you some time and you can do that fancy soul-searching move of yours? The one you used on me?"

"I tried doing that earlier, remember…? This damn cursed lake, the souls trapped in it are… haunting, terrifying… my ability is nullified here…"

"Well shit, guess our best chance is to destroy everything we can until we run into the real her…"

"Good thing we're both quite suited for that style of combat, hmmhmm!" Uriel chuckled as she resummoned her blades around her. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Kaidan echoed her voice as both charged forward into the fangs of the serpent.

Chaos erupted in the graveyard of statues. A maelstrom of flames and golden light striking against the dark red magics of dozens of snakes flickered and pirouetted across the surface of the lake. It was accompanied by the orchestral sounds of blades and chains crashing against ice and silver, rattling loud enough to wake the damned. Uriel's attacks were more precise and refined now, striking wherever Aramia seemed weakest, while Kaidan had large, sweeping blows that destroyed huge amounts of frozen statues and illusions and whose flames rapidly burned away the poison mist they all left in their wake.

Aramia's sultry, taunting demeanor had faded away, but this by no means meant she was close to defeat. She had brought both foes to her as she intended, and now she just had to outlast their onslaught while weaving the threads of their demise. Her pincer tail deflected all the swords and chains that came her way with monstrous deftness and agility and whenever she or a clone had an opening, they would conjure crimson energy bolts to fling at her opponents. These bolts were not only deadly if they hit, but even if they missed they exploded in clouds of poisonous mist, same as her illusions. Slowly but surely, her attacks were beginning to whittle down her opponent's defenses, slowly stripping them of areas of safety. But even with her advances, the battle was hardly over. Whenever she thought she had an opening against Uriel, Kaidan would be there with his sharp eyes to prevent her from capitulating on it. Similarly, when Kaidan slipped up and got overwhelmed, Uriel was close by to bail him out. Despite the fact that they'd only met earlier that day, their partnership in combat was a fearsome one.

Something is wrong… Uriel felt for a brief moment as she parried the silver tail of another serpent, before she dashed through it with her blade, cleaving her head cleanly off. She dashed away from the mist and then struck down another and another. This feels… different… something is changing… The ill thought plagued Uriel, and she could not shake it. Her pure white eyes scoured the battlefield, searching for what was causing that feeling. As the fiery chain whipped before her, she realized that they had been pushed back to the point where the ice had frozen her legs earlier, the place that had been weakened by her love, and Kaidan's flaming weapon. Her eyes went wide as she understood what was happening: The real one is not here!

The ice before her shattered faster than she could react, and the viper shot like a bolt of lightning from the dark waters below. The force of her leap reached high into the air, catching Uriel dead on despite her flight. As she and Aramia tumbled back down onto the ground painfully, she found herself coiled by the serpent's lengthy tail. She was utterly trapped, unable to move a muscle or even breathe as her chest was being compressed by pure muscle and diamond-like black scales, her already wounded and cracked ribs breaking even further.

"Ehahahahheahhahhahahahahaehahaehaaaaaaah!" Aramia's maniacal laughter echoed in her mind as her human section rose above Uriel, towering down upon her. Her claw-like hands grabbed her by the chin, pulling her closer to her vile, stitched face. Uriel tried pulling herself back, but her eyes were forced open.

"Ghhaaa… you two have been quite the loathsome pain in my side." Aramia spoke to her. Her hands moved away from her face, moving to the two fang-like needles that ended her stitching on her mouth. While she continued talking, Aramia began pulling those needles, slowly unstitching her mouth and cheeks, and soon, her eyes. "You know… In a way, I quite regret bringing you too to my lovely garden. I… like Lord Asmodeus… am a collector. Not quite as varied as He, but this was where I brought those that I killed, and preserved…"

"W-what… the hell…" Uriel exclaimed with horror as she watched Aramia's face pull apart bit by bit, slowly folding back up and beginning to form into a grotesque crown above her head alongside the two spiked horns she already had.

"Oh but he will be so pleased… so pleased with the new centerpiece. You will make an exquisite fountainhead from which I will restore and improve my great garden of ice. Now then, Little Bird, little Uriel, gaze into my eye. Gaze into the eye of the Silence of Obsession! GAZE INTO THE EYE OF THE GORGON, AND BECOME ICE!" Aramia screamed.

Uriel's eyes were wide open, but in the moment before Aramia's monstrous visage transformed completely, before her face unfurled and became a tiara upon her head, before the massive, bulging red eyeball hidden within was fully open, pain engulfed her senses. Kaidan's morningstar passed between their faces, purposefully aimed so that his chain scathed Uriel's eyes, closing them shut. She screamed, gasping in agonizing pain as her eyes and eyelids were scalded by red hot metal. Though she was not aware yet, that pain was the only reason she was still alive.

"HYAAAAAH!" Kaidan's battle scream echoed out in tandem with her screaming as she writhed in pain. He intervened, and caused the serpent to let go of her. Unable to see anything, she was careful to listen to what was occurring, hoping she could be of any use. The sounds of Kaidan whipping his chain around himself and her, keeping Aramia away from either of them, radiated all around her.

"Kh-Kaidan!" Uriel shouted, slowly trying to open her eyes to join the fray once more. Her eyeballs did not seem damaged, but her eyelids were burnt quite badly.

"YOU BETTER NOT BE OPENING YOUR EYES BITCH!" She heard Kaidan shout at her. "I BURNED YOU FOR A REASON!"

"I-I'm sorry! I… I got caught…!" She pleaded.

"JUST STAY BA-GHUUKK!" Was the last thing she heard him say. It was as if the air had suddenly been drained from him. She realized what that meant moments later when she heard the sound of blood dripping against the ice.

"Not so skillful without your eyes, hmm Kaidan?" She heard Aramia say.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Uriel wanted to scream, wanted to unleash her powers and fight, but she was completely and utterly frozen in fear. Her breathing was dozens of short, quickened breaths every second. She reached her arm out, as if to call upon the one that saved her. Instead, she was met by the sound of Aramia flinging Kaidan's body off the tip of her tail. His body landed quite a distance away with a loud, dull, thud.

"I'll make sure he's dead later… Now then… where were we?" She heard the terrifying sound of Aramia's voice, slowly approaching her.

But Uriel also heard something else. She felt a wetness on her hands, and she looked down, instinctively following the noise she was hearing. The ice was rapidly cracking underneath her. She let out but a quick gasp as the surface of the lake shattered underneath her, and sheer cold enveloped her. Darkness closed in. This was a dark beyond just her inability to see, this was a nightmarish force, pressing down on her from every direction. A darkness filled with cursed, wailing souls, their countless, endless hands grabbing her, clawing, pulling, gripping. They seemed to tear into her flesh along with the dreadful cold. The light she still saw through her eyelids quickly faded, and Uriel felt her soul joining the chorus of the damned as her final breath wore down to nothing.

"Goodbye, Little Bird!" She heard Aramia's voice sing out, the muffled noise being the last words she heard before the cold claimed her. The last thing Uriel felt as the blinding abyss swallowed her, was fear.

"There is triumph in sorrow, if it grows from great purpose." Cain's deep voice echoed in the cavernous gallery, followed by the deafening clashes of their weapons.

Constantine's eyes burned with razor-sharp focus. Every movement they made precisely followed the twin octagram stars that Cain constantly, belligerently attacked him with. The stars sliced towards him, lingering in the air after he deflected them with his spear, before they returned back to the demon's blackened hands, pulled by unseen threads of demonic power. Cain lunged forward once more with two quick thrusts of each hand, and Constantine once again was forced on the backfoot. He was being kept only on the defensive, there was no opening to be had, no fault in the demon's attacks. Cain rushed forward, his hair and leather straps billowing behind him from the force of his relentless assault.

SHINK, SHINK!

"Its… guhh… difficult to answer your philosophical musings while you're trying to cut my fucking head clean off, you fucker!" Constantine managed to croak after the last two attacks, a small nick on his fingers dripping red with blood, proof he was barely able to deflect in time.

"You carry a great purpose in your heart." Cain continued speaking, as if the two were not locked in brutal combat. His body moved as if it already knew what would come, as if he had choreographed a complex dance a hundred thousand times over and now it was nothing but pure instinct. Every counterattack by Constantine was prevented before it happened, every feint or bluff, called, every moment of progress followed by forceful regression. Whenever Constantine managed to fling the stars away, for the brief moment before they returned, Cain would duck in close, weaving iron fists into his chest and face, knowing exactly where he was most vulnerable, and how long those fractions of a second lasted. "A selfish, indulgent purpose! But that matters not. It was never the nobility of purpose that was capable of razing mountains to dust, but the raw, fiery determination of men, unwavering, unfearing." Cain slowed, for a brief moment, catching his stars before he rushed once more. "Where is your fire, Specter? Where is your unwavering courage? 'Hero' that you claim to be?"

D-Damn it, there's no chance! Constantine's thoughts raced as he blocked and fought against the demon. I've no opening! Not a single thread to fight on! He knows everything I'll do before I even do it!

"Giving up already? Is that all you have? Do not bore me! Fight, fight me, Spectre! Let the fire consume you from within, cleansing your feeble mind and body anew."

Ghh, damn it, he's right… I have to… I have to try! He cannot be infallible, he cannot be! Endure Constantine, endure and he will slip!

Constantine threw his dagger towards the demon, but he simply flicked his head aside, and let it pass beside him. Constantine tried teleporting towards it, but something was wrong. His soul split from his body, but Cain did not slow down to a still moment in time, nor did the world disappear around him like it did before. The demon's head snapped towards him, and he fired his weapons. Constantine was forced to block them with his arms, both of them stabbing into his ethereal flesh. He fell to the ground, his body snapping to his position.

"W-what the hell…?"

Cain stamped his foot, sending a pulse through their arena. "You're locked in my domain now. You think I would let you easily use your greatest power?" He said ominously, flicking his star towards the dagger, and bringing both back to his hand. "A soul unbound, dangerous, even for one such as myself. Unbound from the rules and physics of the material plane…" He said, inspecting the weapon for a moment before tossing it towards his enemy. Constantine caught it, massaged his wounds for a moment, and stood back up once more.

Interesting… I'm locked in his domain… but I can still separate my body and soul… He thought, before he activated the pommel on his dagger and switched it into a spear.

"You know how this fight will end… right?" Constantine asked, seizing the moment of pause to recover.

"Absolutely."

"Then why even go through the motions? Why not skip to the end?"

"Hmph." Cain sighed with heavy disappointment on his face. "Still trying to find the easy, painless way out aren't you Constantine? What will you have learned if you skip the journey? What pain would you fear to feel again if you never experienced it in the first place? What scars would remind you of what you've been through if they'd never been etched on your flesh in the first place? You think the destination alone is enough? Foolish. We both know how this ends, with your death. You came to the same conclusion hours ago, did you not? Then, why so eager to let the precious final moments of your life waste away so much sooner?"

Constantine tightened the grip around his lance. "Damn it… are you trying to embolden me to fight you, or to lay down and just die like a dog? You speak in senseless riddles, what meaning am I supposed to grasp from the garbage you're saying?"

"I told you, you alone have the chance to unshackle yourself from this fate. You must fight, you must overcome. You are blind, and I want your eyes to open! I want you to fight despite knowing the finality of your approaching demise. I am bound to fate, but you are not! This is your test, Constantine Sancthos."

"A test… an impossible, meaningless test without answers, damn it!"

"The answer lies in the unquestionable fact that I know everything that will happen." Cain said, looking up at Constantine. His dark eyes changed, shifted. Lights began to flicker and spark within them, and soon the darkness became a swirling canvas of purple and blues. Nebulae and galaxies danced within his eyes, trapped in an infinite dance of the cosmos. "Every. Thing. I have seen every instant and moment, every drop of sweat and blood, every beating of your heart and mine, every reckless attack and defensive maneuver that will or might play out during this battle, thousands upon thousands of thousand times over. My attacks are flawless. I strike precisely where I mean to. Not a hair's width from the mark that I intend. The only reason you still live is that fate has dictated no prior attack of mine is the fatal blow. Defeating me is your answer. Defeating me is the only evidence that your destiny is beyond the hand of fate."

He looked up at the demon, staring defiantly into his kaleidoscopic eyes for a moment. A silver shadow crept over Constantine's gaze as the sight of the demon's eyes alongside his echoing words seared themselves within his thoughts, as if touched by a brand of pure starfire. I… can't even begin to… comprehend such a terrifying power, such a view into fate itself. Its… worse than a curse. He sighed, letting himself recollect for the briefest of moments as he closed his eyelids. Almost complete silence lay over them, were it not for the thin whistling noise that Cain's weapons made as they spun, floating above his palms. This is it Constantine, if you were holding back even the slightest amount, now's the time to let go of all the stops. Everything you've ever learned, everything Katherine and Insect have taught you, all that training, all those fights, all those scars on your body, show their meaning! Show that everything you've been through has been a hell you've endured for the sake of hope! Show that they brought you here and now so you can make your stand. If you need to do the impossible, then DO IT! Your friends need you, so what are you waiting for? The time is now! Open your eyes, open your eyes now and kill this fucker where he stands!

And open them he did. At that moment, It was as if the wrath, fear and doubt that Constantine was ensnared by earlier had morphed, transformed itself into pure tranquility. He lunged towards Cain with his spear ready, his muscles tensed to their maximum, adrenaline and purpose flowing through his veins. He was fast, but of course, the demon knew that. Their weapons clashed once more, but both expected as much. Constantine didn't relent. He struck the demon with his spear, over and over, dashing and moving all around him trying each and every angle of attack he could imagine. He spun it in his hands, around his body and limbs, all as he leapt and slid around Cain. But every thrust was blocked, every slice deflected, every moment where it seemed like maybe, just maybe the demon had faltered, soon revealed to be only a facade.

"GRHHHG!" Constantine grunted as the demon pushed him back, flinging his stars towards him. He quickly slung both away, and during his recovery dash, flipped his spear back into his dagger. He leapt forward, stabbing the demon from above, but his dagger only carved itself into the ground. A dizzying knee smashed Constantine in the head, making him tumble, but he quickly pushed himself off the ground, shaking the blurry vision away. He attacked the demon with his dagger, weaving punches, kicks, and even headbutts between his fruitless stabs and slices.

Cain was no slouch however, even without his stars. Clearly well-versed and experienced in hand-to-hand combat, he matched Constantine's attacks with his palms and fists, perfectly avoiding the brunt of his entire blistering flurry. Cain capitulated by thrusting Constantine's dagger out of his hand, flinging it up into the air. Without a moment of hesitation, Constantine unleashed his soul, forcing Cain to deal with his separated, lifeless body, while he leapt into the air towards his dagger. His ethereal form reached the dagger within seconds, fueled by his willpower, it seemed to move faster than before.

Constantine wrapped his fingers around his weapon, and felt himself becoming corporeal once more, his previous body now fading into mist in front of the demon. Still floating in the air, he transformed the dagger into a spear once again, and flung it down towards Cain. The holy lance pierced through the air like a bolt of divine crimson lightning, red-hot energy spiraling from the edge of its blade and trailing over it like a comet. It crashed down in front of the demon, carving into and shattering the black stone that Cain conjured, and in the moment of contact, those same scarlet powers exploded outward, screaming with deafening thunder.

"Hrhhhhgh!" He heard the demon grunt in pain as he defended himself from the blast.

Constantine continued, not satisfied until he knew for certain that his attack had landed. He teleported to his blade once more, ripping it from the earth as chunks of rock flew into the air. Dust and debris obstructed his vision, but he fearlessly charged forward, where Cain stood previously, intent on making sure the demon was dead. But instead, a whirlwind of razor stars flew out from the darkness, pushing him back. Constantine deflected and avoided as many as he could, but a couple found their mark, one slicing through his side and the other stabbing into his shoulder.

It was as if he did not feel them, as if some terrifying force possessed him and spurred him forward. His eyes, bloodshot with rage and decisive conviction, were fixed on Cain's shadow. He rushed headfirst towards him, his hair fluttering in the wind as he avoided the stars that returned from behind him on instinct alone. He swiped his spear once again, and Cain stopped it with one hand, grabbing Constantine's other hand as he immediately reached for a quick sucker-punch. The two were now locked against each other, their muscles bulging and trembling with force. Constantine grit his teeth nearly to the point of shattering, and his eyes were full of furious hateful grimacing. Cain, on the contrary, seemed calm and in control, his eyes looking down upon him with an indiscernible expression.

"Hmph…" Cain lightly chuckled. "Your hair, your blood-red eyes, filled with hate, your coat, reminds me of a foe I encountered a long time ago. A graceful hunter of old… I see you've finally awoken, but your sight is still not open, not fully."

"Don't… ghhhr… worry Cain… my eyes will be fully open by the time I cut out your still-beating heart from your chest!" Constantine taunted with a smirk, as he broke their locked poise and unleashed a new barrage of spear stabs and thrusts.

Cain responded in kind, initially bending his body unnaturally to avoid them before he jumped back and began flinging dozens of octagram stars towards his opponent. They seemed to multiply, one becoming two becoming many, and yet Constantine endured, his concentration unwavering as he avoided and averted most of them. The few that found their way past his weapon did not cut deep into his flesh, yet they drew blood nonetheless.

A dozen small wounds became a hundred, and though small, they were beginning to noticeably weaken Constantine. He couldn't just endure anymore, he had to force an attack, and thus, he lunged forward once again. Through the chaos, he managed to find a single moment of grace. A moment that instilled him with hope, and the strength to keep pushing onward. His spear just barely grazed Cain's cheek, a drop of red flowing against the black paint on his skin. Constantine froze, which gave Cain ample time to deliver a powerful kick directly into his chest. It sent him stumbling back, gasping for breath, but he did not fall.

"Hmph." Cain murmured, coming back to position and inspecting the blood on his fingers. "I forgot what pain actually felt like. I've only seen this moment happen, feeling it is… mildly different." He locked eyes as Constantine recovered from his setback, much worse for wear. "Got too excited, have you?"

"I thought you said your attacks are flawless…" Constantine groaned as he adjusted himself.

"Fate itself is flawless, I am merely following the written path. If fate dictates I am to suffer wounds, then wounds I shall suffer." Cain said, as he changed his stance. He spread his legs slightly and crossed his arms and once more, Cain began drawing a demonic shape in the air. Constantine rushed to stop him, but as if they were waiting, a wall of circling stars formed between them, stopping him dead in his path.

"G-god damn it!" Constantine shouted.

"Beware those with white locks… touched by death, they bestow her onto others…" Cain said to himself.

"What was that…?"

"Words of advice… an old… friend gave to me after I met that graceful hunter." Cain answered, placing a strange inflection on the word 'friend'. "It seems he was not wrong. Death clings to you like the unbreakable webs of a thousand spiders. But still not enough…" The demon sighed, his fingers finishing the shape in the air. It was a heptagram star. "Our battle is not over, not yet. If you are to bring true death, then you yourself must be pushed beyond its brink."

Constantine tried to carve himself an opening within the wall of spinning stars, but the more he attacked with his spear the more bladed shapes appeared, multiplying to block his path. He could only watch as Cain stabbed the shape into his chest, immediately howling out in grotesque pain. The heptagram embedded itself into his chest, remaining drawn over his skin besides the silver key. All the while, Cain grit his teeth, letting wave after wave of pulsing scarlet forces wash over his body with the mark on his chest as the epicenter. Each wave engorged his muscles more and more, causing them to split his flesh and skin all over his arms and torso as they bulged. His black and white paint was now striated with thin red lines of blood. That blood that did not even get the chance to drip from his wounds, as Cain dashed forward with blinding speed, shattering the stone beneath his boot.

Constantine barely got the chance to move his spear up to defend himself, but the sheer force that Cain struck him with was like that of a runaway train. Constantine did not even realize his body flew back, tumbling repeatedly against the cold ground. He could only feel pain, and the absence of air in his lungs. He gasped, choked, eyes wide as he tried to get a full breath, but air simply refused to enter his body. He didn't even realize when Cain was on top of him once again, pummeling fist after fist in his face and chest. He fruitlessly tried covering himself up with his hands and weapon, but Cain's fists were like cinder blocks being smashed against him.

Blunt, bitter pain flooded every sense, washing over him entirely and making his head spin dizzily. A moment of clarity shot through his mind and he tried crawling and rushing away from Cain's relentless attacks, but he did not manage more than a few meters at best. The demon yanked him by the ankle, pulling him back and pummeling him with his iron boot. When he felt satisfied, Cain grabbed him and smashed his back against the nearby wall, creating a crumbling dent in it.

"Shuuuu." The demon exhaled, his breath like black steam erupting from a furnace.

Every ounce of strength or willpower was drained from Constantine, his body and head hanging limp as blood poured from his nose, mouth, eyes, and the dozens of other wounds all over him. The demon pulled him up by the collar of his coat, his limbs trailing behind him, not even able to hold onto his weapon anymore.

"Is this it…? All your hope had to offer?" Cain asked. "Pathetic." He added, letting his body drop back to the floor as he turned away.

Constantine's mind was empty of thought. Empty of feeling or emotion, of any sentiment besides agonizing pain radiating throughout every single nerve in his body. Was this everything he had worked for? Just a pitiful, excruciating death so close to the edge of victory? Was this demon doing nothing but toying with him? Questions that went unanswered in his mind. The aching torment of failure stung worse than that physical suffering. His eyes were wide open, but he could only see red. The crimson of his blood covering them, and the crimson shine of his dagger against the darkness.

No… no… no… A singular clear thought formed in his mind. A vision of refusal, built from fear and anguish. A dark terrifying vision, beyond pain, beyond obsession, beyond the edge of despair. A vision granted only to the most dreadful, tortured souls, on the verge of absolute collapse. A vision of vile, twisted nightmares given power. The blinding pale eyes he saw in the depths of his mind looked back at him once more, their diseased, rotting hands opening themselves to him as an offering. Constantine looked at it, confused, puzzled. But then came a slight tingling sensation, a sensation that grew into an itch inside his skull. The itch grew stronger and stronger, like a thousand spiders bursting inside his brain, eating him from the inside. He screamed. He screamed every morsel of air out from his lungs, but no sound was heard. He begged for it to stop, he begged for it to end, for mercy, for salvation, but no one came.

There's… no hope in the darkness… is there? Only… death… Unable to resist any longer, Constantine accepted. He reached for the power that was offered to him, touching the decaying hand. Power surged through his soul, unnatural life flowing through his veins once more. But this was not his body, his body remained motionless on the floor. No, this was just his soul, unbound, unleashed from its cage through the unhallowed powers of death. Constantine picked up his dagger with slow, methodical movements, before opening his own pale eyes.

"You… pitiful fool…" Cain's voice cried out as he witnessed Constantine's grotesque transformation. His voice was overflowing with sheer sorrow and disappointment. The sight of what was occurring seemed to shake even this previously stoic, uncaring demon. A deep aching of failure managed to carve itself in his blackened soul.

But Constantine did not hear a word, nor did he care to. He could not. His senses were all utterly engulfed by pain as his soul tried to take a physical form separated from his body. He was scattered, agitated, rushing all over seeking something. A thread. A lurking irritation.

I need… to cut it… I need… to cut it all away…! His maddened thoughts rang out. I need to cut… the last remnants that still linger… the thread that still keeps me bound… cut the chain of lies…

Without hesitation, he grabbed his holy knife, stained by his blood, and stabbed his own flesh at the back of the neck. His knife carved itself upward cutting away his flesh and scalp, revealing the all important bloody skull hidden within. Constantine's twisted, malformed form continued stabbing and butchering his body, blood and errant flesh spurting all over his face and clothes, until he held his own skull in his scarlet-soaked hands. His damned, pale eyes stared into his empty eye sockets. He flipped it around, and slowly pressed it inside his head, his ethereal flesh swallowing his true skull.

The moment it was fully enveloped, the blood that Constantine's soul was covered in, that dripped from every wound and pore on his body, that stained his white coat fully red, all ignited with dreadful black flames. The silver fire-wisps did not burn or harm his body, instead they flowed over him, radiating upwards. They draped over his face, covering all but his pale eyes like a dark veil. The manner in which his eyes shone outward like damned lanterns, combined with the black fire's beak-like pattern, created a pale mask in the shape of an owl's face.

But that was not the end. The flames flickered and trailed upwards, but instead of dissipating, they coalesced in the air above his back. Shards became fragments which became scraps which soon began creating a pair of horrific, branch-like tendrils from his back. Wings, unholy wings of death, that grew and took a cursed form. Their feathers slowly grew unnaturally in unison, blooming like corpse flowers into decaying, skinless hands. All the while he sprouted his wings, Constantine laughed. It was a horrific, maniacal, distorted laugh. An agonizing laughter, filled with nothing but heartbreak and bitter fear. The laugh of someone who was beyond any semblance of reason or thought.

When the laughter ended, the eyes in the palms of his wings opened wide, twitching maddeningly without sense, and causing the dim lights that lit the arena to fade. Cain's eyes went wide. This was his domain. His power was absolute here. Yet now, the light of his power abandoned him. He was overwhelmed, and in its absence, Cain could only see the wide, nightmarish grin of the shadow. For the briefest of moments, for an infinitesimally small instant in time, the demon felt fear.