War of Existence : - The Beginning of Saga

Here be The Demons

 Chaos had engulfed the entire place. It started by a dead Guard at the entrance followed by a group of armed militants swarming the entire ruins, killing everyone they could get. The Guards and a few brave workers retaliated with their own fire arms and mining tools but the sheer number of the enemies was overwhelming. It would be only a matter time when they would be knee deep in enemies and the fact that there was only one way out was making matters even worst.

Lucifer didn’t like having to kill mortals but he knew he had to do something. Taking a rifle off a dead Guard, he took cover behind an alter and shot down enemies while Luna dragged people to safety.

“What is happening?” Luna asked or rather screamed as a bullet zoomed past her ear, making her duck behind Lucifer.

“I don’t know.” the said man growled. He was confused to why the mortals had suddenly attacked the ruin right under a major city. He had heard that bandits would occasionally raid mining ruins far from major cities so attacking one so close to a city seemed idiotic. Lucifer noticed his quarry was thinning out fast, he couldn’t even see the old Vorken Kod.

“WHERE THE HELL IS THE REINFORCEMENTS!” yelled a Guard shooting down more of these militants before a bullet pierced his helmet and caved into his skull. But the mortal had a point, no help was coming which made Lucifer worry.

‘Could they be after the key?’, was Lucifer’s thoughts. It was just too good to be a coincident. They found the key and now they were being attacked. But even if they were after the key, what use could the mortals have for an immortal artefact which they couldn’t even use

‘Unless….’ , Lucifer couldn’t voice his thoughts as loud thundering footsteps echoed throughout the ruins. Whoever or whatever was coming was very heavy. This made everyone stop in their tracks and stare at the entrance of the ruins. Out from the shadows came figure which froze Lucifer.

“Demon*…” he muttered.

There it stood, good Seven and half feet tall, adorned in purple and black armour finished with a wicked helmet with ram like horns stood the demon. Five smaller figures followed and the one which seemed the smallest was a masked female in light version of demonic armour.

Now he knew why the mortals attacked. Unlike other Immortals, Demons had no calms with working alongside Mortals, thus it was clear that the militants were with the Demons. Lucifer cursed, “How did they reach here so fast?”

A whimper from behind him made him stop in his tracks. He saw is friend; his fire haired cheerful companion had fear in her silver eyes, “Luci, What’s going on?” she said weakly. It sent a wave of guilt down Lucifer for forgetting about her. She had sensed the demon’s aura and felt her instinctual fear taking hold.  Her kind was terrified of Demons because of their brutal history and facing them out numbered must be very agitating for her. Lucifer came up to her and placed his hand on her head making her look up. With eyes fierce with determination, he declared, “Don’t worry, I will not let them hurt you, you have my word.”

His word held sincerity and determination which calmed Luna a bit and she responded with a nod. But questions will have to left unanswered for a while though as the Demons seemed in no mood of being merciful, the way they destroyed the remaining mortal resistance was a dead giveaway. So now Lucifer had no choice but to use his abilities to get out alive, and now since weight of Luna’s life rested of his shoulders so he had to be extra careful. He turned towards Luna and said very seriously- “Kid if we want to get out of here then you’ll have to trust me.”

Luna looked in Lucifer’s stern eyes and gulped, not liking where this was going but nodded anyways.

“Okay, here’s what we’ll do, I will distract the demons. While I’m at it, I want you to get out of here by using your powers.”

Her eyes widened in horror-“W-What? You can’t do that. I won’t leave you!”

“Luna this isn’t a game, do as I say…”

“And I’m playing either, I’m not leaving!”

“For once, Kid, stop acting like a child!”

“And you stop acting like a jerk!” yelled Luna, shocking with her outburst Lucifer “I’m no kid… I can fight, I can help! So don’t act like a tough guy because we are a Team.” She said with passion. Her fear replaced with determination and commitment. It really astonished Lucifer. He knew how risky this was, But also knew that Luna meant every word she said. He knew Luna; he knew she was very stubborn and that there was no changing her mind.  Yet he didn’t want to risk it. Not here. These Demons weren’t like the common mortals they would normally play around with. No, they meant business. He couldn’t lose the one being who was his only friend.

“Luna…” he said softly making her hard gaze falter for he rarely called her by her name. And the way how softly he said it made her worried, “Please trust me, it’s very dangerous I can do this, I have to do this…”

She looked in his crystal eyes filled with plea and finally sighed. She went over him and flicked his nose lightly, “No you don’t… we are friends, we are family..Anything that messes with you messes with us…as for danger…” Her lips parted in a grin, “We will kick them in the ass…Together.”

Lucifer remained speechless for a while and let out a deep sigh, followed by a chuckle, “You’ll never listen will you? Fine…” Lucifer went towards a huge cart filled with azure stones and picked the whole damned cart up to his shoulder “We will do it your way.”

Luna grinned widened even more and flames appeared around her arms.

                                                                                            ---X---

The Demons had cleared the area without much problem, all thanks to mortal minions they had hired to get the job done without the demons having to work too hard. They had crushed the mortal resistance and now were about carry on to their real mission, securing the Key fragment. But what they didn’t foresee was a cart sailing through the air and landing on top of the biggest demon making him fall over. A heap of Azure crystals tumbled out of the cart making the demons confused and the Vorkens pale. The crystals quickly lost its glow and turned dim red, before detonating like a bomb.

The explosion covered the area in thick cloud of dust and smoke, which even tough didn’t hurt the immortal demons but did disoriented the mortal forces and the demons could even hear several gun shots claiming the lives of their mortal comrades.  

The smoked cleared and the culprit was revealed, none other than Lucifer himself. He dived to cover as the minions started barraging him with lead bullets. He took a while to analyze the situation.

“Okay, majority of force are mortals, demon count five, inactive for the time being….Got to clear the lackeys first…KID!”

On his command, another red haired girl emerged from cover, her arms covered with orange flames,

She gave an eager nod before hauling a huge fire ball at the militants……which exploded on contact. Shaking the whole ruins. Lucifer’s eyes nearly popped out of his sockets.

He yelled-“ YOU WANT THE WHOLE CEILING ON OUR HEADS!”

She responded with an “opps..” and a sweet smile.

The nature of the fire was not unknown to the demons as they could literally smell the maya leaking off the burning cinders of the fire. They yelled-“ Brutum*!”

The word sounded foreign yet familiar to Luna making her wonder, which is a very bad thing during a battle and so, she was left out in the open unguarded. The minions had tried to take advantage of this but Lucifer shoved her out of harm’s way. Once in cover Lucifer hissed at Luna, “The Hell just happened back there?”

Luna wasn’t sure how to respond cause Lucifer looked pissed “I-I’m sorry..”

“You can’t just zone out in a fight and be SORRY! What if something happened to you?”,  Lucifer scolded more out of concern than anger as he peeked out and evaluated the situation.

“The word Brutum…what does it mean?”

This caused Lucifer to stop a while, he forgot that Luna wasn’t totally aware of her heritage aside of her powers to conjure Maya Fire. He sighed “We will talk…after the fight...”

Lucifer peeked out of cover but ducked again when the minions opened fire. They were advancing and would surround them at this rate. He turned towards Luna, “We need a cover…Big one,”

She gave him a determined smile and nodded.

                                                                                            ---X---

The demons were quite amused at the resistance the ‘Brutum’ and the unknown man was showing, they even letting them entertain the thought that they had a fighting chance. Their minions were advancing to pin them down, or so was the plan because the remaining resistance had some other ideas. The blond man jumped out of cover, shocking them and opened fire, forcing the minions to take cover. It was all the time Luna needed to cast her spell.

Fire dripped off her arms as she waved her hands into a series of poses before yelling-“Flaming Phoenix Hurricane!” which causes Lucifer to nearly face palm at her strange habit of yelling out her attacks. It seemed stupid to Lucifer but the effect was instant, Luna had conjured a fire tornado as soon as she yelled the attack, covering the area with fire, smoke and dust, all the cover he needed.

He rushed in and took out all the remaining minions who were stunned or disoriented by the attack and it didn’t take long before he had cleared them all out. As for the Demons, they were getting impatient. They should’ve known that mortals wouldn’t be a match against an immortal Brutum and the unknown blond wasn’t a pushover either. So they decided to intervene.

Lucifer had just punched the last minion to oblivion and was about to carry out next part of his plan. But suddenly, all his instincts screamed to him to get out of the way, confusing him. But he was not fast enough to react to the incoming attack veiled by the very smoke that gave him cover a few moments ago. The huge demon had cleared the distance between himself and Lucifer in blink of an eye, something impossible for a thing which stood over seven feet and half, giving him a crushing punch and sent him soaring through the air towards Luna. The punch was so powerful that it let out a shockwave at contact which cleared the smoke masking the area. Luna tried to catch the figure flying towards her but ended up on her rear as Lucifer crashed right on top her, sending them skidding to the other end of the temple chamber.

‘I’m getting sloppy..’ was his last thought as Lucifer got up and helped Luna who had became a moaning mass of pain. He looked back at the demon and saw he was  getting ready for another assault as his huge gauntlets were now dripping with unhealthy amount of purple demonic maya, making Lucifer curse- “s**t…a Brawler*..”

“A what?” asked Luna groggily trying to ease the ringing she felt in her head.

“A Brawler….Big, mean, and have a very annoying tendency to beat the s**t out of enemies with their attacks enhanced with their excess Maya …” explained Lucifer but Luna gave him a clueless look, Lucifer sighed –“I’ll explain later…”

The brawler was actually astonished that the man was still standing after taking an attack from an Immortal, much less a Brawler head on. And he was even more weary when the blond man stood his ground and spoke “We know why you’re here…..You come for the key fragment…Take it, but let us pass…We want no part in it.” So the man said. The Brawlers comrades looked at him awaiting orders. The Brawler growler, who ever this man was, even if he didn’t want a part of it had already got into the mess the moment he knew about the key and so the order was clear. Anyone who knew of the key was to be destroyed.

Lucifer hoped that he could get out of here in peace because he didn’t want to put Luna in danger. But he could read the demon’s body language as clear as day. He gritted his teeth and growled –“Kid, get ready. We’re fighting our way out.”

The red head gave a snicker with an ‘I told you so’ making the blonde’s eyes twitch in annoyance. The brawler turned to his man on his left and nodded. The demon drew his foldable blade and a shield, with a nod he charged.

Lucifer shoved Luna out of his way and opened fire at the charging demon foot soldier. The bullets were deflected harmlessly by his shield as the demon tried to stab him but Lucifer avoided it and held the demon by his wrist. What shocked the demon out of his mind was whem Lucifer then suddenly lifted the demon without any effort and threw him away like a ragged doll. This enraged the other two demons as they let out a battle cry and charged at him, both wielding dual swords.

When on to him, Lucifer had to avoid yet another series of slashes, stabs, thrusts and strikes. This was harder than he anticipated because Lucifer had not fought for years and he was out of shape. The two demons weren’t bad either, their actions and attacks were at full sync, every thrusts, every s***h were well timed and executed. They were like a well oiled machine. They were like…..well trained drill. And the thing about drill was that it had a pattern. And it there is a pattern…. They were predictable.

“Amateurs….” He mumbled before taking a hold of both of the demon’s sword arms and flipping them over. The demons were too shocked to react and so Lucifer threw them away into the wall leaving cracks. But he did learned one thing. These demons were younglings, hardly over two or three centuries.

“Behind you!” was all Lucifer heard before Luna hurled a fire ball at his direction. He instinctively ducked and nearly missed the female demon diving to safety as the fire ball landed on the spot Lucifer previously was. He noticed the female demon’s light armour and the curved sabre she wielded and concluded.

 “A Shadow blade*?”

“A what now?”

“ Shadow blade, fast and jumpy, light and sneaky…..but sucks in head on combat..And did you just throw a fire ball AT MY HEAD!” yelled Lucifer, blocking an incoming attack from the shield wielding Demon Warrior*.

“Now is not the time!” countered Luna, trying to sound as serious as possible before shooting fire balls at the other two dual wielding demons trying to flank Lucifer. “This isn’t over...” he hissed and Luna replied with a quick raspberry.

The Demons were getting annoyed by the constant bickering of the two and attacked once again. This time, the shielded demon attacked head on while the other two Duel wielders tried to flank him. Lucifer was more than match for the shielded one and the two other demons were more busy avoiding fire balls than attacking Lucifer. The demons seemed to have learned the Luna was a major nuisance and attempted to neutralize her but Lucifer would have none of it, he held a demon trying to by pass him and get to Luna by his neck and punched him so hard in the gut that it actually shattered his cuirass and made him double over in pain.

Luna was so focused on keeping the demons from flanking Lucifer that she missed the Shadow blade sneaking up on her. The demoness was about to strike Luna but was shocked when her hand was stopped by someone who held her wrist. Turns out it was Lucifer and he looked angry, scaring the demoness. The girl couldn’t get her hands out of Lucifer’s grip tried to free herself by kicking his ribs. Lucifer had to let go of her hand to catch the incoming leg to dampen the force. Seems he had underestimated the small framed demoness because her kick actually hurt. The girl was strong for someone barely reaching his chin, even by demon standards.

Seeing that her plan failed , the girl then twisted her body and swinged her other leg into a kick, aiming at his head. It would have hurt a lot had not Lucifer leaned back to avoid it but had to let go of the girl to do that.

“You okay?” asked Luna coming up to him. He nodded in response and looked back at the female demon. She backed away and had her swords clutched very tight in her hands, seemingly shaking. Her eyes held fear and confusion as she backed away, ’ Another young blood.’ Lucifer shook his head and growled-“Go, get out of here, Girl…”

Suddenly he crossed his arms to block an incoming punch who’s force effectively sent him flying towards the wall again but he angled himself right in mid air and landed on his feet, skidding on the floor –“I’m getting sloppy…” he mumbled and looked at his attacker. It was the Brawler himself and it made Lucifer cautious. Luna came up to his side and readied her fire powers.

The demons were about to advance but the Brawler ordered them, “Stay out of this…” halting their advance causing Lucifer to raise his brow.

Without a warning, the brawler charged making Luna panic and hurled balls of flames at him but the brawler pressed his advance unfazed by the attacks. His rifle now useless and discarded on the floor, Lucifer braced himself. The brawler started by a crushing downwards blow but was more than shocked to see that Lucifer not only withstood the attack, but kept the brawler’s hands at bay. Lucifer gritted his teeth and held on tighter, “Kid!” he growled. The fire wielder didn’t have to be told twice. She conjured a stream of fire and shot at the brawler’s most vulnerable areas, his head. Tough the helmet prevented any serious damage, but the heat was certainly felt because, the brawler backed off. Seeing his chance, Lucifer moved closer to the Demon and performed an upper cut which knocked the brawler down on his ass, even breaking his helmet making the other demon’s eyes nearly pop out of their skull in disbelief.

“UNBELIVABLE!”

“IMPOSSIBLE!” their reactions were priceless.

Lucifer looked at the remaining demons. They saw his gaze and backed off in fear. The blond grumbled “This didn’t have to end like this…” making the demons gulp in nervousness. Then he noticed something odd. ‘Where is the Shadow blade…’ before he could voice his thoughts, something shifted behind him

“Grrr….The void take you…” a gruff and deep voice said from behind. It was the brawler and made Lucifer worried because his punch should have knocked the demon out cold. His eyes then saw the reason why the brawler was up and about. It was the Shadow blade, who was behind the Brawler, passing him some sort of energy which hauntingly resembled healing spell making Lucifer’s eyes widen in shock ‘A Shadow Blade who is a healer too? Just who is this girl?’

The Brawler, now fully healed and refreshed, charged with a roar. He swatted Lucifer into the wall, creating a huge hole and making Luna cry out in worry “LUCI!”

The demon growled and stalked towards Luna. She gave him a glare and attacked. “You’ll pay for hurting my friend!” she rolled out of an attack and another sweep attack intended for her head. Getting up, Luna aimed her fire at the demon’s face but before she could do anything, the Brawler closed in fast and held her by neck. Holding tightly, he started chocking her. In a desperate attempt to live, Luna projected a stream of flames from her palms, aiming at the demon’s face. It worked as the brawler let her go but Luna was still winded and fell on the floor from exhaustion.

The demon turned his blood red gaze at the red haired girl and growled-“Your kind has always been a pain in the ass since the beginning…Now die, Brutum!” the cruel words were unanswered as the demon lifted his arms to deliver the final blow. She thought this was the end. After all they had been through; this was how she would die, by the hands of this cruel demon. Luna closed her eyes, not brave enough see her end, yet one thought crossed her mind. Her only friend, her only family-“Luci…”

The demon brought his fists down, the impact sending shockwaves which blew yet another cloud of dust in the air. All seemed over but Luna felt no pain, just a shimmer of golden light above her making her confused, yet feel safe as well. She looked up and what she saw left her in awe. The demons were confused to see golden light through the dust cloud and when the cloud settled down, the sight before them sent a chill down their back.

It was Lucifer, but the thing on his back was what made the sight more awe inspiring. There, sprouting out of his back was a wing. A Golden ethereal wing had sprouted of his back and it was holding the Brawler’s Maya covered arms which could have destroyed buildings. Only one word escaped the demons.

“An Angel*……….”

The word sent various reactions. The lesser demons were scared. The Brawler seemed angrier than ever and Luna was awed. Lucifer ignored them all and pushed the large demon away with a mighty thrust from his wing and jumped away with Luna safely in his arms.

 The Brawler growled, “Angel scum.”

Luna had no world to say, just stared at the golden wing sprouting out of Lucifer’s back. Beautiful and golden, but she then noticed one thing, Lucifer only had one wing and it looked tattered. The panicked voice of the lesser demons brought her out of her trench.

They yelled-“AN ANGEL!”

“s**t, WHAT DO WE DO?”

“Are there more?”

“N-no, we- we aren’t ready for this, not against an angel…” only the female was the one who stood quiet, perhaps she too noticed Lucifer’s unique wing condition.

Lucifer cursed, he didn’t want to use his wing in front of the demons, now all the idea of peaceful retreat had been thrown out of the window. But it was worth it, Luna was safe so he was glad but now the fight would be even uglier and he couldn’t have Luna getting in between. He looked at his friend he now held in his arms and spoke softly , “Luna, It’s not safe now…..Please, trust me. I’ll find you…” with that, he touched her forehead and a strange symbol occurred on Luna’s forehead. She felt a wave of heat coursing throughout her body.

It was foreign yet familiar, like a long lost friend she never knew yet knew all the same. The heat grew, as if fire had consumed her entire body yet she felt no pain, rather relieved. She felt like her inner self was finally free, and soon, in place of the red haired girl was a red and orange bird with fiery wings and tails, a Phoenix*.

Luna was confused, she asked-“Luci?”

But he just gave her a smile, which never graced his features since they met, “I’ll find you, I promise...” were his last words before he dashed towards the entrance of the ruins and threw her towards the main gateway. She had never flown like this; this new body was alien to her. Yet her instincts took over and she angled herself and started flapping her wings. It came naturally to her and soon she was airborne. She turned to get back to her friend but halted. Lucifer punched a pillar supporting the entrance with so much force that it shattered. Instantly the ceiling gave away and fell down, trapping Luna outside, in other words, she was safe now but Lucifer was trapped with the demons.

The Brawler laughed at the stupidity the newly revealed angel and mocked, “Never thought that an angel would have a heart to save a Brutum…but no matter, you were foolish enough to trap yourself in here and now…Even your God wouldn’t be able to save you!”

Lucifer chucked dryly at the demon’s taunt and replied, “God has no protection to spare for the Fallen*….Nor do I need it, especially from brats like you.”

Seems Lucifer’s taunts were more effective than he presumed because the demon seemed pissed,  “Screw you, Angel scum!” the brawler roared and  charged, his fist pulled back to land a devastating Maya enhanced punch.

This time, Lucifer didn’t wait; instead he took the fight to the Brawler himself. Sidestepping the attack, Lucifer punched the face. Lucifer again dodged a sloppy attack and countered with another punch in the gut, then raised his wing to block an incoming hammer fist. When it collided, you could clearly see shockwaves brought by the power used behind the attack. The Brawler smirked at this but it faded when Lucifer emerged unfazed and backhanded the large foe away.

“How is this possible, that attack should have shattered his maya along with his wing!” yelled the shield carrying demon in disbelief.

“What is this guy!” stammered the other in fear.

They were confused; the angel before them was in alliance with a brutum, something unheard of. And the fact that he tried to make peace was not normal but they were absolutely sure that angel’s wings were not some sort of shield.

“It can’t be…” muttered the female demon ominously, speaking for the first time. Causing her comrades to look at her –“Angelic wings are white…his are tattered yet golden….That isn’t possible….unless…”

“Unless what?” asked the others with upmost attention.

The girl gulped and replied-“Unless…..he was amongst the warriors who fought in the First war…a High breed*…” this sent chills down every demon. High breeds were the first angels the god had created. They were stronger, faster and far more powerful than the normal white winged angels. They were sure that their kind was wiped out in the first war along with their own demonic version on elite warriors but then, here was this fallen angel, who had a golden wing. A warrior who fought in the most deadly war in existence and survived, it both amazed and well as terrified them.

And the stories about the high breed’s prowess was no lie, the Blond angel was literally smacking their strongest warrior like a child.

“We have to help him!” yelled the shielded one and charged, seeing that Lucifer had pinned the Brawler into the ground and was beating him mercilessly. The other two were reluctant yet followed the demon. Their comrade was in danger and their honour demanded that they fight, even if it seemed useless. As for the female, she stood back as she watched the four males trying to beat the Fallen by sheer number and brute force. But she could clearly see that the favour was in the angel’s side. The demon’s moves were brash and uncontrolled, not because of lack of training but by frustration. The angel was more than a matched against their uncoordinated attacks. He was dancing around every attack and countering like a professional kick boxer, dealing with them, taking them apart one by one. They couldn’t win like this. Head on combat was something she couldn’t do well, but in the cover of shadows, she had a chance.

‘I must finish this fast…’ Lucifer leaned his head to his side, avoiding a s***h and punched the demon that did it away. His wing rose to block another attack from the brawler before Lucifer punched the large demon in the gut, making him spit out blood. The Battle was his but suddenly, his senses flared, warning him of incoming danger. He turned around just in meek time to see that the shadow blade had almost sneaked up on him. It actually impressed him because not many could have sneaked up on him. He lashed out and held the girl by her neck at arm’s length, anger took hold once again and he growled, “You’re seriously pissing me off.” What he didn’t anticipate was a small dart that got embedded in his neck.

 Lucifer threw the demoness away and plucked the dart out of his neck and paled. It was a special dart made by the immortals for the immortals. How the girl shot it at him was a mystery but he could feel the effects. For the dart to work on immortals, it thoroughly decreases one’s Maya and consumes the very power that would render an immortal conscious. Tough the effects would be temporary; Lucifer knew he screwed up big.

As for the female, she was shocked, the dart should’ve knocked out an immortal within seconds, yet the angel seem only winded. She panicked when his gaze turned to her and it held a very-very angry look. With a roar, the angel charged at her. Fortunately Brawler and the others tried to hold him back for awhile. Distracting him for a moment and a moment was all she needed. She threw more darts at the angel.

Lucifer tried to fight the drowsiness with all his being but when more darts came piercing his body and he knew he lost. It took over more five darts to fully down him on his knees, his maya was weakening and his consciousness was slipping away. He saw the female readying another dart just in case and the angry yet victorious smirk on the brawler. The large demon raised his fist, and the only thought which crossed Lucifer was of his friend ‘I’m sorry Luna…’

The fist came down and his world went black………………………………………………..