I pointed my spear tip at the devil. He didn’t even look down at the spear but kept his eyes on me. He moved his arm behind his back making me tighten my grip on my weapon.

Without turning around, the devil poked one finger into the void and pulled down creating a wavering rip. His arm stretched downward as he opened the portal at just the right height for him to fit through.

Slowly, the devil floated backward and through the portal, the last piece of him to vanish being his pointed red chin. I had no other choice. I had to follow him, even though that’s exactly what he wanted.

It took a second for me to figure out how to move in this world, but within a few seconds, I was able to float forward with the use of my mind. The flapping lips of the portal splashed a wind that wasn’t there over my face. It tickled my cheeks as I entered it.

This wasn’t like the other portals I’d been through. This one was instant. A piece of debris rammed into my shin as I landed on the ground. Standing up, I discovered where the devil had brought me. My home. The abandoned church.

I twisted my body around, feeling goosebumps prickle across my arms as I imagined him being right behind me. But there was no one. I scanned the entire church but could make out no signs of life. No devil. No Gauss.

I was about to make my way for the exit when my eyes fell upon this world’s version of the portal book, the one that would take us back to the Stillness Chamber. This gave me an idea.

I grabbed a tattered piece of paper from the ruins of the altar. I pricked my finger and used the blood to write two words onto it.

He’s coming

I opened the book cautiously and sent the note through the portal, being careful not to be sucked in myself. I then slipped the book underneath my chin and behind my silver chest piece. It was an uncomfortable fit, but it fit nonetheless.

The first thing I noticed walking outside wasn’t the devil but the massive portal he was in the process of creating. I caught him peeling a corner of the rift he’d formed and walked with it to make it a larger entrance. My brain snapped at to what he was doing, and my legs began running before I even had to tell them too.

The devil was too preoccupied with his portal as I put all my strength into the jab that could save all mankind and all its various races. I felt the spear sink into his surprisingly thin skin until it hit something hard and stopped.

As the dust settled, I was clinging onto a vibrating spear haft and the devil remained still.

“You honestly believe a weapon created in this world can slay a god such as myself?”

“You’re no god,” I spat. “You’re nothing but a child with power.”

“Hmm, that hurt more than it should have.”

The devil turned and I pulled my spear out before he took it with him. As he turned around I noticed that he’d morphed one his arms into a double-edged sword, and, with blinding speed, he brought it down on my demonic arm. I had no time to react and so I watched as my black arm fell from my shoulder. It smacked into the ground like a pile of dead meat, leaving the spear in just my human hand. It wasn’t the pain that worried me, but that of my demon form leaving me as it tried to repair itself.

The devil took a step forward, both of his eyes twitching into the opposite directions. They moved up and down as the devil lost more of his human characteristics and took on more of… well, I didn’t know what. The yellow bubbly saliva dripping out of his mouth told me he was done talking. He moved his hand outward and snapped his fingers.

I could hear loud buzzing noises, like the flapping of millions of thin wings, coming from behind him. The sound grew louder and louder until hordes of demons flew through the portal like bees escaping a falling hive. In the midst of these flying demons came the humanoid like demons. They carried crossbows, swords, spears, nets, maces, and more! They were black and looked like charred humans and smelled like them too. Behind the humanoids were the giants. Each of their steps shook the ground beneath my feet. Behind them, they dragged gigantic clubs with nails stuck in them.

The demons took different streets and dispersed themselves. The flow of them seemed to be unending. From where my body was standing I could see the devil observing his work with a smile on his face. He nodded his head which he turned to look at his work.

If I was going to enact my plan the time was now.

I slashed horizontally at his throat while taking a step forward, but the devil morphed both of his arms into spears of his own and blocked my attack without even looking. I threw everything I had at him, but these too were also deflected but I wouldn’t give up! If my plan was to work I had to get closer to him but it looked to be impossible! He was too fast! And I… well, I only had one arm! My movement speed was cut in half and my attempt at hurting this monster was embarrassing at the least. The devil blocked all my attacks without the slightest effort.

I’d been on the offensive for a while and so the sudden strike of the devil took me off guard. He hit the shaft of my spear so hard that it flew from my one hand. It clanged to the ground and rolled too far a distance for me to make without the devil getting to me first. Like it mattered anyway, a spear was almost useless with one just one hand.

I looked up into the eyes of my father, my plan having failed and my life about to end.

“Bow to me…” said the devil, his voice not like before. No, now it was wet and ragged, “and I will spare you.”

My eyes dropped to the feet of the devil as I accepted my fate. I shook my head. “Never.”

I awaited one of his spears through my heart. I waited for the swishing noise of his final strike but all I could hear was the constant buzzing and stomping of demons making their way into Auracle.

Suddenly, a battle cry broke through the noise and the devil’s body slammed into my face. I fell backward hard, my head smacking against stone debris from the church as the devil’s heavy body landed on mine.

Kneeling on the back of the devil was Gauss, his face covered in dirt that had stuck to his sweat. He was yelling something at me, but I just couldn’t make out the words as my brain was all fuzzy. It was as though everything was moving in slow motion.

Again, through the grace of the Almighty rather than through the help of my brain, my hand wrenched itself out from the weight of the devil and pulled out the book from my chest plate. Gauss’ eyes widened to the size of large grapes. He was again yelling something at me.

I opened the book and popped the devil on the side of the head with it and, in a moment, it was over.

The book closed itself and fell onto my chest as did Gauss’ body. I could feel air push through my nose but at least the fuzziness was melting away as the demonic blood healed me.

Slowly, Gauss’ words became audible.

“I-I-I cannot believe it!” he yelled, his voice a rougher accent than usual. “You did it! You’ve saved Auracle!”

Gauss jumped up to his feet and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. He gave me a big hug which hurt my bruised chest. He threw off one of his gloves and used the side of his thumb to wipe dirt from the corner of my eyes, a big smile on his face.

“You did it, Ira… You did it. The devil is…” Gauss’ mouth dropped open, “but what of Deborah? She’s still in the Stillness-,”

Gauss’ words stopped with a choke, a red bloody spear sticking through his chest plate and penetrating mine. I could feel the tip of the devil’s spear scratch my skin.

I looked up from the red spear and at Gauss’ face. His eyes were dead and so was he. Blood dripped from the corners of his circular mouth and onto my boots.

“Nooo!” I screamed, my hands clasping to the man’s face. I shook it, but all this did was sprinkle blood onto that of my own face. I shook my head in disbelief just as the devil flung Gauss off to the side with incredible speed.

“Ira, Ira, Ira, I thought better of you,” said the guttural sloppy voice. “I can create portals, don’t you remember?”

I punched the devil with my human hand and felt some of the bones of my knuckles break on impact. I pulled back and struck again, this time with half the strength.

The devil’s head didn’t even budge.

He lifted up the same bloody spear of a hand and put the tip of it to my head. I tried to punch at him again but my body obeyed the pain and would not lift my arm to do so.

“You,” said the devil, “were an utter waste of my time.” The very small mouth at the bottom of the devil’s upside triangle face curved up into a smile. “Goodbye, son.”

I didn’t close my eyes. Not this time. I was not the man I was back when I was still a preacher at the church. No, I had changed. I was no longer a coward. I was no longer a stranger to pain. I would not run from my destiny any longer. If I was to die today, then let it be. I would soon be with my true father, the Almighty… and I would not shut my eyes to this.

I couldn’t help but tense my body yet again for the finishing blow. I could feel myself shaking with fear as I faced my death. I couldn’t help from looking down at the devil’s mouth… one that was slowly losing its smile.

Something was wrong.

The devil tripped forward on wobbly legs. I tried to back up but couldn’t escape a nasty scratch on my forehead.

“What the-,” escaped my mouth as I looked down at a blackened fist, one that looked exactly like mine, protruding from the monster’s chest cavity.

The devil’s tiny mouth opened as much as it could as it looked down. In the grip of the demonic hand was a beating black heart, one with red veins which were still beating life source that poured onto the ground.

The devil looked back up at me, and, with one final breath, he snapped out a, “Fuck you.”

At just this moment, the hand crushed the heart and the devil disintegrated into black dust that floated off into the wind as did the large portal, which cut a few demons in half as they tried to exit.

Behind this beautiful demonic mist was no other than Deborah. She was glistening with sweat, her white training shirt stuck to her pale skin. Her eyes were on me and mine on hers as she took a step towards me.

Then, she too fell on top of me.

***

We laid there for a while, our chests pushing against one another as we breathed in heavily. Her sweaty face was pressed against mine as were the sides of our lips. This brought me back to the words of the devil. If all things with souls only craved bliss in this limited life of ours then I had found mine.

After a while, I could feel that my demonic hand had come back to me and I used it to grasp the hand of hers, which was also in a demonic form. It felt like I was grabbing onto a cold rough stone.

I used my other hand to lift her head from mine and kissed her gently. Ten seconds later and she was aggressively kissing back.

And so, I took back what I thought of earlier. This was my bliss.

But when my thoughts fell back to reality. One with my mentor Gauss dead. One with a city filled with demons who I could still hear terrorizing it. Part of me wanted to say that I’d done enough for this world, but I knew that wasn’t true.

“There’s still more work to be done,” I said, laying myself up and Deborah taking a seat next to me.

She nodded. “And it’s going to be that much harder with Gauss gone.”

I saw a tear escape the corner of her eye and I wiped it away. “We can cry when Auracle is free. Gauss would want it that way.”

She sniffed and wiped her opposite eye. She laid her head on my shoulder. We at least deserved five more minutes of rest. Just… five more minutes.

And as we stared off down the street, a building began to collapse. Something about it, although terrible, was still beautiful. And, again, I grabbed hold of Deborah’s demonic hand as we watched our city come crashing down.

-The End-