Dxd: A demon Among Devils

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WHY DO YOU RUN, LITTLE DEVIL?

Wherever it walked, the earth sundered and split, and from those yawing chasms phosphoric vents erupted, poisoning the air with choking ash.

WHERE ARE YOUR BOLD WORDS AND GRAND DECLARATIONS NOW?

Somehow the Archdemon was keeping up, despite the speed of its opponents, breaking the ground in great distance-eating strides. Every step was a miniature earthquake in itself.

SAY THEM TO ME SO THAT I MAY CONTINUE TO BE AMUSED.

Pillars of fire it hurled towards the retreating figures, far thicker and wider than any he could ever conjure, forcing them to swerve and dodge.

TELL THEM TO ME SO THAT I MAY LAUGH AS I HUNT YOU.

Like a shepherd guiding sheep it herded them, toyed with them, keeping them hemmed in with blasts of flame, cornering them in places where escape seemed impossible and then letting them go at the last moment so that the chase could continue anew.

They were visibly flagging now, Riser and his last piece, tiring from the relentless pursuit. They darted into the crumbling ruins that had been an outcrop of buildings, hoping that the Archdemon would not see them. It was a testament to just how desperate they were.

Belial stopped as it reached the area where it had seen them disappear. The smoldering coals it had for eyes raked each potential hiding place like searchlights.

HIDING ARE WE? AT LAST YOU EMBRACE YOUR RIGHTFUL PLACE AS INSECTS. INSECTS THAT NEVERTHELESS, MUST BE CRUSHED.

It spread its arms wide contemptuously, revealing the twisted fissures that ran down its chest.

COME NOW. DON'T BE SHY.

Those fissures flared with angry fire as the Archdemon suddenly stomped down with all its might.

STEP INTO THE LIGHT.

Every building was blasted from its foundations. Lifted by columns of searing heat. Transfixed in midair by geysers of spewing fire. They stayed there for a bare second, the pillars of flame impaling them like spears, and then they vanished, consumed by Belial's fury, turned to drifting motes of ash.

Their disappearance revealed the two figures that had been huddling behind them for shelter, figures that took to the air as soon as their cover vanished. The Archdemon tracked them with its eyes, mocking laughter heaving from its blackened jaws as it once more began to follow.

WHERE WOULD YOU COWER WHERE I WOULD NOT FIND YOU?

It kept pace easily. Like some great carnivorous beast running its prey to ground, it continued the pursuit, ruthless, inexorable.

WHERE WOULD YOU FLEE WHERE I WOULD NOT CHASE YOU?

It was inevitable now. They were tiring, and the Archdemon was not. Belial was gaining on them with each step it took and they were lagging behind, the silhouette of their tormentor growing larger with every passing moment. There came a time where even their superior speed would not save them.

The monstrous leer that cracked over the demon's face told him that such a time was now.

WHERE WOULD YOU HIDE WHERE MY FLAMES WOULD NOT REACH YOU?

In its blackened hand a whip of pure fire hissed into existence. The Archdemon swung it in an arc above its head, the lash of spitting heat searing through the air in a vaguely serpentine fashion. The resounding crack that followed split the air like a knife.

Riser's Bishop let out a loud cry as the tendril wrapped around her leg, entwining around her calf, burning the clothing there, dissolving it and eating into the flesh beneath.

"Ravel!" he heard the devil shout.

And then she disappeared, his last piece, torn from his reaching grasp as Belial wrenched the whip away and her alongside it. She crashed to the ground an impressive distance away, much like his Queen had did, and then disappeared as the Rating Game registered her demise.

The whip vanished. The leer remained.

NOT ANYMORE.

For the first time since it materialized into existence, Riser stared at the demon not in fear but in anger. Rage lit up on his aristocratic face, and where there was once terror, defiance took its place.

"Monster…" at first it was a whisper and then it gained in strength, growing in volume until it became a shout, "Monster!"

A simple definition, and yet not an incorrect one. He watched as the defiance finally turned into wrath.

"Burn!"

The fire he had seen him use against Rias appeared, blasting from Riser's palms in a blazing conflagration. White-hot, it lanced out in a beam of incredible heat, powered by the devil's anger, fed by his rage, lit by his wrath.

Belial walked through it like it was nothing.

The Archdemon chuckled as flames not its own writhed around it, striding into them and basking in their searing touch. Riser shouted something incomprehensible in response and widened the beam, increasing its volume, trying to cover the massive size of his opponent in all its entirety with his fire. He was still shouting when the enormous, blackened hand shot from the raging inferno and snatched him out of midair in a blur of motion.

It smashed him into the ground, the palm crushing him into the dirt, the fingers digging in around him like the bars of a prison, preventing the devil from escaping. Riser made a choking sound as the monstrous skull leaned in until it hovered only an arm's reach away above him.

THEY SAY THAT THE TEARS OF A PHOENIX HEALS ALL WOUNDS.

Belial heaved a wretched, demented laugh into its prey's horrified face.

BY THE TIME I AM DONE WITH YOU, IT WILL HAVE NO MORE TEARS LEFT TO SHED.

Author's Notes: That took a while, didn't it? Sorry about that. I've just gotten promoted at work, and with that promotion came a lot more responsibilities, which unfortunately slowed down the rate at which I write. On the plus side, the chapters are longer now. The last one was around ten thousand and this one is coming up to eleven. That's probably what's going to happen in the future. Longer times to update, but also longer chapters.

This chapter should speak relatively for itself. Some things are explained, some things continue to be vague, and some things remain open to interpretation. Honestly I had a lot of things I wanted to mention in this section, but I'm just too damn tired. It's 2:00 A.M. as I'm writing this and I need to get some sleep before I do something stupid like accidentally deleting this entire chapter. I'll definitely talk a little about the plot and answer some of the more prevalent questions next time.

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