Make The Angel Scream and the Devil Cry! (Part 2)

"Make the Devil cry!"

The two figures, with both of their swords drawn, circled each other. Very swiftly the beetle wings on each of their backs began to rattle, and at the same time each of them looked back at their wings and said: "I hate bugs."
"I hate bugs."

Both of them were slightly stunned by them speaking at the same time, and then smirked at each other. Naturally, Deniel made the very first move against Diabolos. Raising his sword up he slashed down at his dad, with his father blocking the move relatively easy. Diabolos followed up the parry with a strike from below, to which Deniel deflected and went in for a jab. Diabolos very easily avoided Deniel's attack by twisting his body to the side, with Deniel's blade passing right by him. Bringing his blade back, Diabolos saw an opening, and went in for yet another cut. However Deniel was much more agile than Diabolos had anticipated. Deniel leaped right over Diabolos's head, before swiftly going in for a horizontal strike. To Deniel's satisfaction, the blow landed, cutting Diabolos's flesh once more. At first satisfied with the hit, Deniel very quickly regretted his decision, as he heard Diabolos not grunt, groan, or sound angry, but instead laugh. "Hahahah! Good one!" Diabolos turned to Deniel, but did not strike him. Deniel was dumbstruck with fear once again, but instead of assaulting him, Diabolos held his arms wide open.

"Attack me, Deniel. With all of your strength. And I will show you the true difference in our power!" Surprised by the sudden cockiness expressed by Diabolos, Deniel saw this as his chance to perhaps do the most damage as he possibly could to Diabolos that could help win the fight. Clenching on Armageddon's hilt as hard as he could, Deniel brought the sword up into the air, exclaiming: "Fine! Your mistake, Dad! Eat this!" With every ounce of strength Deniel could muster from his body, he cut through Diabolos's shoulder, all the way down to his waist, in the most devastating attack possible. Likewise when Deniel's blade cut through his skin, flesh, and muscles, his strike slowed down. But once he finished it, blood poured out of Diabolos's body, but all the Black Devil could do...was laugh once more. "Hahahah! Watch....HOW IT'S DONE!" Diabolos gave a slash so swift that Deniel couldn't even keep up with it. It was also the exact same way Deniel cut Diabolos, from the shoulder all the way down to the waist. But this one from Diabolos...was unlike anything he felt before. Not only did Deniel spill more blood, the cut was also deeper, and he felt an immeasurable amount of pain. Widening his eyes, Deniel let out a cry. A cry of pain, a pain that he had never felt in his entire life.

Diabolos watched as his son screamed in pain, and briefly swung his sword to wipe the blood off of it. Even while Deniel screamed, he spoke to him as if he were listening. "And there you have it, Deniel. You'll never be able to defeat me like that. The difference between us is immeasurable. No matter how much power you can gain, you'll never be able to stand up to me." Turning his feeling of despair and sadness along with pain into anger, Deniel let out a cry of war, and then began to relentlessly slash at Diabolos. He first gave him a stab to the stomach, and then a horizontal followed by a vertical slash. The Black Devil merely stood there, taking all three, before he stopped the fourth. "You still don't get it..." he quietly said to Deniel. His bare hand stopped Armageddon, and even with both hands on his sword and all of his strength, Deniel's couldn't budge Diabolos's hand. "You are not going to win this, Deniel. Not in a million years."

Diabolos used his free hand to give Deniel a sucker punch to his stomach, making the Nephalem gag and cease pouring his strength into his sword. Diabolos took this opportunity to perform one of Deniel's signature roundhouse kicks, straight into his jaw. "I don't care!" Said Deniel as he grabbed on to Diabolos's boot that was just about to collide with his jaw. "I'll win! I have to!" Diabolos became annoyed with Deniel's unnecessary heroism and need for victory. But he still had plenty of ways to show the Nephalem victor was impossible. "Very well! Bring on your fists, son! I will show you what true skill and strength are!" Deniel let go of Diabolos's boot, letting him drop it to the ground, and sheathed Armageddon on his back. Each one raised his fists. Deniel was the first one to attack, with a simple punch to Diabolos's face. But instead of blocking, dodging, or counter attacking, Diabolos did the same exact motion, colliding his knuckles with Deniel's. The younger of the two then brought his knee towards Diabolos's stomach, only to have it stopped by Diabolos's knee as well. Deniel brought his knee and his fist back swiftly, performing a round house kick to Diabolos just as his father did before, kicking his leg high up.

Deniel felt his foot collide with something, but it was not Diabolos's jaw. It was his father's foot. Deniel swiftly jumped back in hopes of not getting counter attacked, only to see Diabolos do the same. "What!?" Deniel charged back it with both of his fists at the same time, only to see Diabolos do the exact same thing. Deniel's surprised face looked straight at Diabolos's, with a cocky smirk. "I know how you fight!" Deniel and Diabolos shoved each other away, with Deniel drawing his sword. Diabolos did the same, and as Deniel came at him with a series of slashes, Diabolos blocked them by performing the exact same slashes at the same time...colliding at a perfect point. Even with Deniel's jab, Diabolos's sword blocked it on the very tip. "Even swordplay! I can mimic your every move!"

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"Make the Devil Cry!"

Deniel retracted his sword, and Diabolos did the same. "That's impossible! How!?" For once, Diabolos did not laugh at Deniel. He only sighed, as if he were disappointed in the boy. "You have much to learn, Deniel. How old are you?" A little bit stunned by the question, Deniel thought about it for a second or two, before answering him. "Nineteen." Diabolos sighed once again, and shook his head. "And there you go. Not even in another hundred years will you best me, Deniel. I've lived far much longer than you have. I've lost count to how old I am, and how many generations of Nephalem Arianna and I have gone through. I've faced my children so many times that I've ascended to a level in which no Nephalem could ever best me unless he has trained for thousands of years. But of course...you're all too reckless to know that." Diabolos scowled at Deniel, and then swung Ragnarok in a circular motion in one of his hands, before pointing it at his son. "Normally I would give my children quick and painless deaths for amusing me...but you killed Arianna. You deserve to suffer! Now come on!" Diabolos went in for another attack against Deniel, with Deniel narrowly blocking his blow. He went in for a second one, with the same result. After the two blocks, Deniel took advantage of the opening, and gave a swift cut to Diabolos once again.

But just like every other time he tried attacking him, Diabolos only laughed at what was supposed to be pain. He swiftly grabbed Deniel by the arm, and then began to swing and toss him around like a rag doll. He smashed Deniel on the ground one side, and then flung him over to the other, repeating this action several times, each time Deniel feeling an immense amount of pain with the force Diabolos put into each swing. After only around five swings or so, Diabolos flung Deniel into the wall of one of his arenas, staggering the Nephalem. Deniel knew what was coming up next, so he prepared himself to block. And just as he expected, Diabolos closed the gap between the two and already got an attack in. If it weren't for Deniel's instincts and knowledge of Diabolos so far, the attack would have connected, and left Deniel grievously wounded. Jumping away from Diabolos and the wall, Deniel found himself at the opposite end of the arena, with Diabolos not following him. Deniel decided that he should try another spell with Diabolos, so he opened his mouth wide, and took a deep breath in. "Shout..." As Deniel breathed out, a Magic Circle appeared in front of his mouth, causing his breath that he launched out to become a huge beam of destructive Unholy Energy.

"Of the Devil!" The exact same move. Diabolos did the exact same spell Deniel had, conjuring up an even greater amount of Unholy Energy into his mouth before spewing it out. There was no doubt that Diabolos's shout was much stronger than Deniel's, easily overpowering his in a matter of seconds. And not giving his son the chance to evade him once again, Diabolos closed the gap between the two, and cut his son another time.

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"Make the Devil cry!"

I can't win... Those were the first thoughts that entered Deniel's mind just as Diabolos's blade cut through him, creating an X shape when it crossed with the first. Deniel attempted to fall back, but knew it would be futile. He escaped Diabolos by going to another side of the arena, dropped down to one knee, and clenched his fist. Diabolos swung his blade to wipe the blood off and made no attempt to go after him. Deniel clenched his chest, and panted like a dog. Nidhogg! What do I do? I can't win! Deniel pleaded to his sword for help, as he was the only one he could go to. He saw no chance of winning, yet he asked if there was. Think, Deniel! What do you lack that he has? Ludicrous. And useless. After all they had been through, was this the end? Deniel found Nidhogg's advice utterly useless, and thought this was his hand. In response to his sword, Deniel yelled to him in his mind: EVERYTHING! HE HAS EVERYTHING! ...Everything. Deniel noticed that he was clenching on to his chest. The spot where the horrendous scar created by Vergil was. Why would Vergil do such a thing for him? It served no usefulness in his life ever. But Vergil was able to predict when Deniel was 'ready' to take on his mother and father. ...That was it! Deniel found the one and only way he could win this fight.

As Diabolos's heavy footsteps approached him, with his sword drawn, Deniel got up from his knee and had Armageddon ready. He could feel the strength between him and his Take Over just one thread away from being snapped, which meant he had to do this without getting hit. "You're finished, Deniel!" Diabolos said as he raised his sword, and swung it. Deniel slid directly under Diabolos, giving off a quick strike at the armor around his chest. Diabolos, of course, felt no pain as his armor protected him, and when Deniel got to the other side, he swung again. Deniel ducked under it, and gave another swing at Diabolos's armor, while also cutting a little bit at his stomach area. Diabolos kept on attacking, only to have Deniel dodge it every time and go for his armor. What was he up to? His dodging was getting very annoying and irritating to Diabolos, so he increased the force and speed in which he tried attacking his son. Eventually Deniel's attacks were enough: Diabolos's armor around his chest area fell down to the ground, shattered in pieces.

"What are you up to, Deniel!?" Diabolos insisted, demanded for his son to explain what he was doing. Deniel sheathed Armageddon, and held up his fists for his father. "Come and find out, Dad!" Diabolos sheathed Ragnarok, and clenched both of his fists, accepting Deniel's challenge. "Very well, then!" They went in for each other, Diabolos mimicking Deniel's attacks once more. Deniel needed to make sure Diabolos was doing it, so he started off by doing several punches, all of them colliding with Diabolos's exact moves, and then he gave off one last kick. Their heels collided with each other, and then they both jumped back. And that's when Deniel went in for it. He got down low, and dashed for Diabolos. The two of them got very close to each other, and Diabolos saw Deniel's hand going for his chest. So...he's going to try that? A bold move. But futile. I'm faster, and stronger! Just as Diabolos expected, as Deniel went for his heart, Diabolos's hand already pierced straight through Deniel's chest and found...nothing. "What!?" Just as Diabolos's arm finished going all the way through Deniel's chest, searching for his heart, Deniel pierced his arm straight through Diabolos's skin, going through the wound he created earlier. He got past Diabolos's scales, muscles, sternum, and gripped his heart with all of his strength. Deniel's hand also went straight through his dad's spine, piercing it and having his hand come out of the backside of Diabolos, with his heart clenched into his hand. And without hesitation....Deniel crushed it.

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"Make the Devil cry!"

The very moment Deniel pierced through Diabolos's chest, grabbed his heart and ripped it from the vessels that held it in place, and crushed it under his grip, Deniel could not believe his ears. He heard Diabolos give out a groan of pain. For the first time, he did not laugh. It started out as a groan, before quickly erupting into a yell, a very manly scream, even. Meanwhile, Deniel made no sound. For when Diabolos's hand went into his heart, he found nothing. Quickly taking his hand out of Diabolos's wide open chest, Diabolos's hand slipped out of his, and he fell down to his knees. Due to the amount of damage that his Take Over suffered, Deniel's Black Devil Take Over deactivated by covering his body with Unholy Energy, and then vanishing. He was in his normal clothes once more, although they were very tattered and worn out, with wide cuts open in his shirt and blood dripping out. Deniel's scarred chest was revealed, with a hole inside of it. For the first time: being heartless became useful. Not just Deniel, but Diabolos returned to his human appearance once more, with the crimson coat, boots, black and dirty blonde hair, and normal red eyes. His armor was gone. Diabolos panted in pain as he slowly went from his knees, all the way to his back, gripping his chest in pain. "You...HOW!?" Deniel stared down at his own open chest, and placed his hand over it. "Vergil..." was all he said. Diabolos's eyes widened, seemingly recognizing the name.

He then gave a quick laugh before it was interrupted by another gag of pain, blood coming out of his mouth as he did. "So...he decided to screw me over like this. Do you know how Vergil really is?" Deniel gave a silent shake of his head. Diabolos crawled a little closer to Deniel, and placed his firm grip around Deniel's scrawny leg. "He's your brother! Dumbass!" Deniel stared down at Diabolos in alarm, "My brother, but I--" Diabolos quickly interrupted Deniel with a smirk on his face; even in his last moments he still wanted to make Deniel suffer for what he did to Arianna. "Killed him!? Like anything else? I should have guessed. Hah! Because that's your nature as a Nephalem. To kill, kill, and kill! You'll never be anything more than a killing machine, and a worthless littl--" Deniel got down on his knees in front of his father, and slapped him as hard as he could. "Shut up, Dad!" Deniel could feel anger swell up inside of him, but it swiftly turned into sadness and despair. Tears filled up Deniel's eyes in moments, and were dropping to the ground. "You're a selfish, ignorant old bastard! You assume that all I want is power! You give me up at birth, even! Why!? Just because my brothers and sisters wanted to? Have you and mom ever thought that perhaps it was best that you two died?! Or maybe if you didn't make me suffer so early...I could have loved you guys."

Diabolos groaned and sighed to himself, still clenching on to his chest. "Jeez, of all the types you had to be, you had to be a cry-baby. Worthless little bastard..." Deniel slapped Diabolos again, like a little kid hating his father for the first time. Although his smack did no avail, it did get Diabolos's attention. "That's exactly what I'm talking about! Why can't you just accept me as your son!? Anything! Can nothing I do satisfy you? Why does it always have to be 'power this', 'fight that', and 'kill these'!? Why!? Even in your last breath, why can't you just give me all I've ever wanted...a father! A father to be proud of me!" Deniel could say no more. Tears poured out of his eyes, and he closed them both shut. He grabbed on to Diabolos's torso, as if to call to him for help, and clenched it. Diabolos, in the meantime, felt a strange connection to Deniel. Something he had for a brief moment before...when he was born. Coughing up his last breath, Diabolos knew exactly what he was feeling. Humanity. Feelings. And fatherly love. In his last breath, he proclaimed to Deniel: "Hey, Cry-Baby!" Deniel opened his teared eyes at his father. Diabolos took the hand off of his chest, and gave Deniel a quick thumbs-up. A smile entered his face, as he closed both of his eyes. "You've grown strong! I'm proud of you!" Deniel saw tears coming out of Diabolos's eyes. Two of them. One for each eye. And with that...his breath ceased. He stopped clinging on to life, leaving behind a lifeless corpse in Deniel's arms.

"Thank you, Dad..."

Notes

"I made the Devil Cry!"

Deniel had done it. In the last moments of Arianna the White Angel, she screamed in pain from her defeat. And in Diabolos's last words, he cried. Not necessarily in the way someone would imagine, but he had done it. He accomplished the impossible. And as he sat there, cradling the corpse of his father into his arms, he almost completely forgot about the surrounding demons. It wasn't until he heard the murmur and whisper to each other about what to do did he remember them. He looked up in alarm, letting go of Diabolos's corpse. This wasn't good. With their master dead, the Seven Sin Lieutenants could do as they pleased, and Deniel was far too weak to take on even a single one of them. But instead of being attacked, Pride stood up from his throne, along with the rest of them. They all went over to the edge of the balcony that their thrones were on, with Pride speaking: "Nephalem! Brother! What is your name?!" Deniel looked at them, drying up his tears as fast as he could. He scowled, and wiped them from his eyes, before letting his voice echo through the arena: "My name is Deniel Decayuss Thorman! The son of Diabolos the Black Devil, and Arianna the White Angel!" Pride lifted his arms swiftly after Deniel finished: "All hail Deniel! HAIL DENIEL!" No...that wasn't what he wanted. Deniel didn't want them to worship him or turn to him for leadership. He was hoping to intimidate them, or them to let him go. But quickly after Pride, the Seven Sin Lieutenants did the same, raising their right arms and telling the demons to hail Deniel.

The demons in the audience swiftly followed their lead, and soon there was a roar of: "Hail Deniel!" barraging the Nephalem. He quickly shook his head, and tried his absolute hardest to remain tough and cold Very soon the hailing died down, and Pride spoke once more: "Deniel! With Diabolos dead, you are our new leader! You are the Black Devil now! We are yours to command!" Command them!? That was insane! He stared down at Diabolos's corpse, as if he asking him what to do. Deniel thought quickly..."You shall wait!" His voice was louder than before, and he made it sound as commanding and intimidating as possible. "Wait until I return! I have unfinished business in the rest of Earthland! Pride, you are in charge until I return!" That seemed to satisfy the demons enough. They all cheered, roared, and howled at Deniel. The Seven Sin Lieutenants nodded at each other. But before anything else could happen, Deniel held Diabolos's corpse in his hands, and pulled out the lacrima Vergil had giving him. "Let's go home, dad." With a squeeze, Deniel broke the Lacrima forever, but teleported Diabolos and himself back to Vergil's shrine.

Everything was the way Deniel had left it. Arianna's corpse was still inside of her coffin, with plenty of room for Diabolos's body. But in Deniel's condition, and with Diabolos's corpse bloodied, he still had plenty of work to do. So he got to it. The very first thing Deniel did was fix himself up. He rested, washed himself of his battle fatigue and filth, and put on a fresh pair of clothes. Then he began to prepare Diabolos for burial. Using some of Vergil's left over lacrima, he managed to patch up Diabolos's wound, and fix up his clothes. He noticed that the armor Diabolos wore in the arena was gone...but he did not know how. He looked better in his crimson cloak, anyway.

Notes

"I made my mother scream, and my dad cry..."

It was hard to believe that it was all over. Deniel was only nineteen years old, but according to Diabolos they were thousands of years old. So old they lost count. Arianna's frozen Nephalem in her throne room, and the arena Diabolos had Deniel in apparently had the skulls of Nephalem in them. Not even Deniel could remember exactly how many there were. And each of them seemed to be around 19-30 years old, which meant that just three of them was over a hundred years. That's how long it took for a Nephalem to stop them. Not just that, but barely stop them. Were it not for Vergil, Deniel would have simply been another dead Nephalem beneath Diabolos's feet. Perhaps the last one. Taking Diabolos out along Arianna was probably doing him a favor. Because if Deniel was the one that died, Diabolos would spend the rest of his days. Alone. And perhaps turn to killing innocent humans for sport. And he had avenged all of his brothers and sisters that fell before him.

All of that...but why did it feel so wrong? Why? After all that had happened, after feeling so right, why did it feel like Deniel did the wrong thing now that they were dead. As Deniel gently placed Diabolos's corpse along Arianna's, he looked at the two. They spent so much time together, and now he wanted them to spend their times in a grave for eternity. It was the least he could do. He took their hands, and clenched them around each other. Then, he closed their coffin, before shoveling all of the dirt back on top. This took him several hours. He had begun his journey at dawn a day go and after all of the time that had passed...it was now sunset the next day. A journey that was so short, yet so life-changing. He traversed two different environments, Iceberg and Sin. He was so concerned about the current matter, that he completely erased Diabolos's--now his--army from his memory. Once Deniel had finished the grave, there was one last touch that he had to do. He headed back inside of the shrine, and brought out the tombstones. Vergil must have had a lot of faith that Deniel was capable of defeating the two of them. He died for Deniel, he risked his life for Deniel, he did everything for Deniel....his little brother. He was so confident in his capabilities, that the tombstones that Deniel carried were a cross and an anti-cross, with the names "Arianna the White Angel" and "Diabolos the Black Devil" on them. Arianna's name on the cross, and Diabolos's on the anti-cross.

Deniel slammed down both tombstones, Arianna's to the right, and Diabolos's on the left. They were both right next to each other, with each tombstone on the same side in which its corpse was buried. Deniel stared down at the completed grave...and wept. He dropped down to his knees, with his tears going into the soil of Arianna and Diabolos's grave. "Why...?" He asked himself as he clenched his fists. "Why didn't it come to this? I never wanted to kill either of you for power. If I had known earlier I..." He clenched his fists harder, and even punched one of them into the ground and tears poured into their graves. "I never wanted this...I truly never did. I just wanted a mother to love me. And a father to be proud of me. Why could you guys not realize this earlier? And now you're both gone, forever."

As Deniel drowned himself in self-pity, two small orbs came out of Diabolos and Arianna's corpses. One of them was sky-blue, while the other was crimson red. Each of these orbs came out of the coffin, out of the dirt and into the open world. Deniel did not notice them, as his eyes were shut tight and flowing with tears. The orbs made their way to Deniel, going inside of his body. And as they did, Deniel heard two voice...very familiar ones.

"We'll always be with you, Deniel."

"Now and forever."

"As mother..."

"And father."



END

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