15 April,
I closed my eyes like a scared child, clenching the fabric of my shirt tightly. There was a smell of burned flesh. It continued to linger for some time, realising that the burning fist had stopped, I opened my eyes. Everything in the world seemed to have halted, it was like time itself had stopped.
My breathing felt heavy, and I released my shirt as I tried to register what was happening.
"Oh, quite the pitiful child we have here...."
A deep voice with a mocking tone was heard throughout the place. I felt shivers running down my spine and sweat dripping from my forehead at the demonic voice.
"Why have you summoned me? Kid...."
'I want you to save me'
I spoke out my thoughts without pondering about them, but it was the true reason I had summoned him to begin with.
"Help you? Why would I help you? What do you offer for my assistance?"
'Just as I thought a demon would be troublesome to deal with, but I needed his help. What do I have to offer him to begin with? I had lost everything that was of worth. The house my father has left for me is now burning down in front of my eyes, there was no wealth I had that could satiate the hunger of a demon.'
'I have nothing to offer'
'Lying to a demon definitely won't be a good idea'
"Oh I don't think so, you have something worthy to offer...your soul and your body. Offer them to me, and I, the Duke of hell, Astrorath, vow to serve you till death. You have to hurry I will resume time any second now, be quick, child of man"
'Uh....it's as I expected. He wants me to offer him my body and soul, but now that I think about it, it's not like I have anything else of importance that I can offer to a demon. Not to mention I don't have a reason to live to begin with, I lost it with my dad, but if I gained the assistance of a demon, maybe there's a chance I could bring him back.....yes, it's definitely worth a try.'
'I agree to your terms and conditions'
'I didn't know what terms and conditions he had but it's not like I had the time to ask'
"Very well then....I grant you the power of my shadow magic"
I felt a searing pain in my shoulder, but I ignored it as time stopped. Astorath got broken, and the flaming fist came flying to my face. I rolled towards my right direction to grab the knife I had dropped earlier after getting my ass kicked by Ethan.
'Now what should I do?'
"Imagine your blood running through that knife"
I heard the voice of Astaroth and did what he said. Purple circuit type of pattern ran through my arms and infected the structure of the knife turning it pitch black with purple circuit running through it.
Ethan raised his left hand to attack, but I slashed instinctively. It was cut off from his elbow, but there wasn't any blood or any sign of pain on Ethan's face; it was as if the space between his elbow and arm was cut through that single slash.
"W-WHAT THE HELL!?"
Ethan was surprised; I couldn't say I wasn't surprised either. My body felt lighter and stronger.
"I hope you're ready to dance, Ethan"
My body felt even better than its original state I felt better and stronger. My muscles were tensed up and the broken bones felt healed. My heart was racing at the anticipation of this battle. I felt like a video game character having a tutorial boss fight.
Ethan then took a step back and glared at me for a second.
'Even if I have magic right now it doesn't guarantee I will win, he seems more experienced than me in terms of magic and combat'
As I stopped thinking I charged at Ethan with the enhanced knife, he dodged the slash and struck me with his flaming right hand on my face. I tried to dodge, but failed. Unlike the previous time, I didn't move an inch and struck right back at him in his throat with my palm, causing him to step back a little.
I jumped from the place I was standing as he attacked with a blade he crafted out of his burning hand. My jump went a little unexpectedly as my head broke through the ceiling of both the ground and the 1st floor of my house. Now I was standing on the roof, patting my head, which was a little sore.
'tch. All of this is new to me, I don't know the limits of my power or how to cont-'
Before I could finish my thoughts, I glanced at the street in front of my house, which was painted all red. The sidewalk was covered with bodies that had burn marks on them.
My eyes were wide as I felt a lump in my throat, I gulped that feeling of nervousness and took a deep breath as I could see the charging Ethan..... no, the murderer through the hole in the roof.
I blocked his fist with my elbow and glared at him as I gritted my teeth.
"Why....Why did you attack me? Why did you kill so many people, Ethan?"
"Nothing personal, just felt cute today so I decided to erase some worms like you"
He said with a creepy smile. I knew he was ragebaiting me, and needless to say, it was working. I slashed towards his torso and managed to get a shallow cut on his stomach.
He was still smiling as he kicked me in the face, causing me to crash into the roof of my neighbour's.
I groaned in pain as I stood up and analysed my surroundings. It was Becky's room, the daughter of my neighbour. He had probably killed her. How sad. She was pretty cute.
My dumb thoughts were interrupted as the murderer in question charged at me with a speed that made a sonic boom in the background.
I dodged his punch and slashed at his neck causing a small cut. I wanted to avoid this, but it seemed like I had no choice but to kill him. The same hand that had played volleyball with, the same hands that had annoyed him, the same hands that had taken care of him shall now take his life.
I heard the sound of water dripping on the floor as I looked up at the night sky as the rain had started.
I charged at him with my knife in a stabbing position as I tried to stab him in his chest, but he evaded the strike by moving his torso to the right and striking me in my back.
'I could use some help Astaroth.'
"I have already given you the power you needed, the rest is for you to figure out kid"
I could hear him laughing at my pitiful situation as I coughed up blood from the strike. He was right, he had given me the power I asked for, the rest is for me to figure out its use.
I jumped back as I barely avoided his strike.
'Wait, if he can reinforce his arms with magic, can't I do that too?'
I focused on my left hand, imagining those purple circuits running through it. My left arm turned pitch black as I opened my eyes and purple circuits ran through that pitch black darkness.
He charged towards me with his only remaining arm. I struck at his arm with my own magically reinforced left arm, cracks appeared through it, and then... it was shattered, revealing his human arm. He was powerless now; maybe he would listen to me now.
"Hey kid, do you know he was the one who killed your dad"
Astaroth spoke to me in a mocking voice. Usually I wouldn't have believed in him but I remembered a flashback of the teenager stabbing my dad in the throat...it was him....his clothes and physical features matched he description of the killer.
"Ethan.....did you kill my father?"
I clenched my fist and gripped the knife tightly. My body was burning up with rage as my heart started beating faster, but I was trying to control it.
"Oh so that useless brain of yours finally started work-"
Before he could finish his sentence, I grabbed him by the neck and threw him into the blood-painted street below. I jumped on his body causing him to spill blood on my shoes.
Then, without asking, I punched him in his face, I punched, punched, punched....I kept punching him repeatedly for who knows how many times, he was begging and crying for me to stop, but I didn't. I punched him until my hand didn't start hurting.
Pant....pant...
I breathed heavily as I stood up from his body to look at the marvellous display I had created. His beaten-up face looks like slime now, with brain and eyes spilling out of his skull like liquid. The one who was my best friend...I had killed him with my very own hands.
I looked down at his body, tears started dripping down my cheeks as I realised what I had done in an outburst...I wasn't like that, no matter what anyone said I never had this much of an outburst. At first, I was in denial and shock that I had killed my best friend, but then after a few seconds, I was laughing like a man who had lost his sanity.
'YES! YES! I FINALLY AVENGED ALL THE PEOPLE THIS MURDERER HAD KILLED'
"Quite the show you put up there kid"
Astaroth spoke to me. I stopped laughing.
"This kid has a name, you know, it's Julian....Julian Raymond."