The White Angel: Slayer of Demons

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

A world far from that of reality. A place of more Magic than what's contained within Earthland, and a place where imagination runs at its wildest. Where thoughts could distort themselves into reality before swiftly shifting themselves back into thoughts once more. Imagination was quite possibly the only limit in the vessel of a world, and this world was none other than the mind, body, and soul shared by the True Nephalem, Deniel Decayuss Thormun, and the Nephalem Dragon Nidhogg. When the sword was first attained by the Nephalem, the world that existed between them was hollow, filled with darkness and emptiness, save for the location in which Nidhogg had rested. Even then, that location appeared to be only a small island in a sea of darkness; a white piece of solid matter that the dragon could rest upon, but nothing more. It was quite a sad world once upon a time, however, the world had bolstered itself to life once the power of the Nephalem Dragon been restored.

Chaos. Pure, utter, absolute Chaos. Though a term that is oftentimes associated with a negative connotation, Chaos in the hands of the Nephalem can represent the natural boundaries between good and evil. Just as their race dictates. Creation is born of chaos; everything exists all at once, and within the larger life forms lives smaller life forms, within the smaller life forms function nonliving life forms, and within those nonliving life forms, they are created by even smaller processes. And it goes down, and down, and down the endless spiral, a true example of chaos. At the same time, Destruction is one of the most easily associated meanings of chaos, as the chaos of creation spurs down into even more disorder until there is absolutely nothing left. The Nephalem are a race that are catalyst to both ends of the spectrum for chaos: creation and destruction.

Within the new world of Nidhogg, brought to Chaos by the new addition of his former powers, the possible becomes impossible, and the impossible becomes possible. A never ending cycle. To put simply: the world that exists with the bond of Nidhogg and Deniel is boundless, with no limits to which what can be created and what can be destroyed. Thus, the two have constantly used it as a training grounds to exercise both of their powers: the power of the Nephalem dragon, and the power of the Nephalem. Any simulation can be conjured into existence, and completely annihilated in the blink of an eye. Though in the case of today, Nidhogg and Deniel were not initiating themselves in a training course or some type of test of Deniel's abilities. In fact, the Nephalem was forced into the world against his will, and not according to the will of Nidhogg. It was during a time when both of them were busy snoozing themselves away at night, inside a room Deniel had rented himself just for one night before he ventured on with his vagabond journeys.

The Nephalem had awakened, though his physical body in the realm of reality was still asleep. He found himself to be in a dark world, almost as if it were some kind of apocalypse, except there was nothing that the apocalypse had ruined. There appeared to be no plants, no trees, and no water in sight for miles. Though at the same time, he was not within a desert environment. The terrain was indeed rocky, but there wasn't sand; all around him was some kind of mysterious rock of a purple shade, and within the sky the moon shone brightly, almost as if it was the world's sun. Though the strange thing was, gathered around the moon were storm clouds, but no rain. All they gave off was thunder and lightning, and the lightning itself flared a dark purple color every time it struck. All around Deniel's location were mountains made of jagged, solid stone, treacherous terrain, fissures, and pits. Whatever lived in this world would struggle to survive. That, or whatever lived in this world had died.

"Where exactly am I...?" he inquired, almost pleading for an answer to anything that could tell him. His voice echoed across the hallowed lands, to the point where he could hear his own question seconds after he had even asked it. There was no answer at first, until Deniel heard a familiar voice behind him. "You know where you are." The sound seemed to have come from behind Deniel, and he turned abruptly with his heels. From behind a nearby jagged piece of terrain came a copy of himself, except the colors of it were mostly reversed; his skin was still the same milky pale color, but his clothes were of a white and light grey tint, and his eyes appeared to be that of the sky's to the world of Earthland. "Nidhogg's world... another creation of it, anyways. Who are you?" The one before him laughed. Although he held Deniel's face, his voice was not the same, though it was very familiar to him. It sounded just a little more monotonous than Deniel, but it was also just a bit deeper at the same time. He recognized that voice when he spoke again: "You know who I am." The words almost came out of Deniel's mouth the second he finished speaking.


The white one of himself nodded, putting both of his hands in his pockets. "Precisely. Do you know why I brought you here, Deniel?"

"I'm guessing you're about to tell me."

"Ahhh. That wit never fails you, does it? No matter. You have misused my power."

"I've what!?" Before Deniel could make any rash or bold decision, the White Angel held his hand up in front of him, "Let me explain. While it is true you have become the True Nephalem, and have access to become the True White Angel... you are not utilizing my powers correctly. I'm not saying what you are doing is unjust, immoral, or anything of the sorts. You are merely doing it wrong." Deniel still wasn't necessarily happy about hearing all of it. What exactly could he be doing wrong? And if so, how could he fix it? Well, the White Angel seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. The White Angel's metallic and synthetic wings sprouted out of its back, as the dark blue orbs donned themselves upon their respective locations on his body, very shortly the armor manifested itself in its appropriate locations. "Allow me enlighten you, Deniel. Don my form, and I will show you." Not about to argue with a manifestation of his own powers, Deniel nodded and extended his limbs. "White Angel!" From the sky, a bolt of blue lightning struck the body of the Nephalem, and after the instant flash of light, he was left standing there, clad in the entire suit of armor for the White Angel.

Both figures drew their twin blades, Vita and Mors, ready for each other. Both of the White Angel's vanished from their locations, and met in the center of each other with both of their blades clashing. Deniel pushed out the right blade of the Angel, coming in with an attack from just beneath, only to have it parried by the White Angel. He blocked an attack sent by his Angel just from above, and spun his body in a circular motion to both get his blade out of a stuck position, but also swing his blade along with it. Just as it seemed he would hit his Angelic foe, the suit of armor suddenly vanished from thin air, and came directly from above. Nephalem Blink. Deniel was capable of using that ability as well, and he did to narrowly avoid the attack coming straight for him. He counter attacked by sending his blade straight for the angel's neck, only to have him blink again. And once more, Deniel was forced to blink away from the attack as to avoid being hit. Now both of them were at a 2 out of 3, but Deniel was confident in the fact that the other angel would use his third blink first.

Both of them blinked once more, and when Deniel came in with both blades crashing down, he expected to see it impale his opponent to the ground, and show him that he was fully capable of holding his own. Though unfortunately, there was one more blink from the other Angel. Assuming it to be from Take Over Energy, Deniel decided to use some of his as well to swiftly blink himself away once more. Only the second that he got out of his blink, he felt a blade impale him swiftly in his backside, penetrating into his armor. He didn't let it get very far into his skin, on the other hand, for he used his Nephalem Dash to make an escape from the stab, but instead, he found that he had dashed straight into the sword of the White Angel. Some how, some way, the other angel had blinked yet another time, and the blood of Deniel was dripping from an open wound in his armor on to the decimated ground. The lenses of the helmet for Deniel were wide in surprise and astonishment, while the White Angel across from him had no changed expression.

The White Angel dug his blade out of Deniel swiftly, and brought the other one from beneath down up in an upwards vertical slash. Deniel wasn't just going to take all of the hits that easily so he parried the next two incoming blows, and gave a very swift strike at the other White Angel in a fashion that had both of the blades cross at the center from a horizontal and vertical position. Once more the angel somehow blink. Initially Deniel thought it was some kind of trick, and he knew there wasn't enough Take Over energy present within the White Angel to refresh its Cool Down, yet miraculously he had used it once more. Appearing behind Deniel once more, rather than hitting him with his blade, he launched Deniel airborne towards the sky. Expecting himself to recover Deniel found that some kind of image composed of Holy Energy perform a series of several strikes--three of them--that the White Angel had done earlier. Except these ones actually hit. And the instant they finished, Deniel was once again forced down to the ground as the White Angel impaled both blades at his shoulder locations, forcing him to descend with him right on top. Once the two of them had hit the ground, the White Angel swiftly jumped off of his body, with Deniel happy that the enormous weight was no longer on him.

Though just in one instant later, two blades came crashing down right on him again, another image of the White Angel mimicking his exact same motion. "Rise." Listening to the White Angel, assuming the fight was over, Deniel carried himself right back to his feet, with blood leaking out of his body and armor in several locations. "Do you understand now, Deniel?" The angel before him inquired. Though Deniel did not entirely get it, he did have a hunch inside of him that was just burning with suspicion. "Nephalem Blink... somehow you've been able to use it an infinite amount of times." The White Angel nodded, satisfied that his vessel of power was able to guess it. "And... whatever those copies of you were. I can't do that."

"Precisely. But you can, Deniel. Now that you've been exposed to it, you can. The Black Devil is the easiest Take Over to comprehend, though it is the strongest. Thus, somehow, I've gained some of his powers and abilities, but they are of no use to me. When you next use me, try and remember this today. And remember that you strike and kill before the enemy has the chance to notice. Make sure your eyes are true and your blade is swift. I'll be seeing you soon."

Notes: 2007/24,400

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

After the White Angel's words of wisdom, Deniel found himself very swiftly slipping out of the world he had been dragged in to. A blinding light seemed to appear right before his gaze, interrupting this sight of the White Angel and the world it resided within. After a brief moment of the light, Deniel started to see everything in the world just as it appeared before it the light had blinded him once more, this time for a much longer duration. And one last time after he felt normal once more and blinded, Deniel had realized that he was only awakening from a dream. His eyes shot right open, and the blinding light was only discovered to just be the sun's rays shining in through the window he had left only slightly open. Now that he was already up and awake, there really wasn't any point in attempting to sleep once more. He scooted himself right off of his bed, placing both of his feet on the ground while he sat on the edge. He placed both of his palms right against his face, and gave it one long stroke to try and wake himself up more, and get his whole nervous system alive. "What a strange dream..." he commented to himself before bringing himself to a standing point on his feet.

The first thing he did was go straight for the bathroom, thoroughly washing his face and gazing at himself in the mirror, fixing any part of his hair that he deemed necessary with his fingers. Shortly afterwards, he approached his bed once more, where he slipped on his shirt that had been hanging off near the edge, slipping it on over his body to cover up. And just beneath his shirt on the floor were his black combat boots, so whilst he slipped his shirt on over his head, he stepped in to them and then tied them up afterwards. "Nidhogg," he called out softly for his companion. He didn't know where the dragon was just yet, but got his answer soon enough upon discovering that it was still somewhere in the room. The small serpent shaped creature crawled out from under his bed, and swiftly hopped up and on to his master's shoulder. "One of them spoke to me." Deniel said briefly, and Nidhogg knew that he was talking about one of the Take Overs. "Which one was it...?" the dragon inquired of him. "The White Angel. Strangely enough it said I'd been using its powers wrong... and then it showed me something that I had never seen before."

"Interesting. And do you believe it?"

"It defeated me way too easily... how could I not?"

"Hm. Is that all?"

Deniel stood up from where he was sitting on the bed, and approached his window. He drew the curtains slightly and gave a glance down at Talonia briefly, nodding. "Yeah. Though I'm not sure how to--" Interrupting his train of thoughts, Deniel heard the familiar buzzing and blinking sound. Quickly Deniel made his way over to the coat hanger beside his bed, reaching inside of the pocket to his jacket to pull out a lacrima orb. Pressing his thumb against it, an image of one of the Council's Representative, like always, appeared right before him. "What's the issue this time?" Deniel was rarely the one that spoke first, as well as he was also very rare for him to be so eager about it. The representative was not stirred either way. "We have a serious problem, Mister Thormun. The Raging Volcano--demons are spewing fourth from it. Get there and eliminate them all as soon as possible!" Deniel was a little bit surprised at how 'urgent' this seemed to be. So much so barely any details was provided... and why him of all people. "Woaaah, slow down there. How come you don't just contact some eager 'devil slayer' or whatever they're called..."

"You and I both know you're more suited for the job than pretentious slayers. Now get out there and get it done!" After the demand, Deniel was left alone in silence, contemplating whether he should just fly right out the window or just go downstairs and have a good time. It didn't take him long to find the answer, and the person that assigned him the job would probably not be happy with it. Slipping his boots right on himself and grabbing his coat, Deniel trudged downstairs to the bar, and immediately found his own place with a few of his friends in Talonia that resided there often. "Heeeey! It's Deniel!" One of them called out upon seeing them, and the rest of them raised their mugs and cheered on while one of them said, "Sit with us, Deniel! Have a drink!" Deniel wasn't about to turn down the invitation they gave him to drink, so he sat right in the middle of all of them, and ordered himself a mug. There were five of them in total, Deniel included. And he was the youngest of them all. The rest were middle aged men, perhaps having wives at home or some kind of lover. They didn't spend all of their time there, but when they had downtime, they met.

Deniel was first introduced when he was sitting there all by himself, sulking in a corner, and they invited him over. They asked for what his name was, and although he as reluctant at first, he unveiled to them that he was the God of Ishval one. Rather than acting like he was some kind of superior being, or even a freak, they welcomed that as who he was, and toasted him to a happy life and a well-being. And from then on, Deniel got along with them just fine. They didn't treat him like some kind of God or superior being, they just treated him like a friend. And once in a while, that's what he needed. When his drink arrived, Deniel raised it up with them, and chugged down a good portion to it. "So, Deniel, tell us a story! What have ya' got this time!?"

"Yeah! Tell us 'bout some big mean monster ya slayed!" Fortunately for them, Deniel did have something to share with them, and he knew exactly how to tell it. He took another bit of his drink before he began, "Well... how about I tell you about the first dragon I slayed a few weeks ago?" One of them nearly choked on his drink upon hearing that Deniel slayed a dragon, and the one next to him patted his back to get his breath back in order. "A dragon, huh!? Do tell!" Before continuing with his tale, Deniel finished off his drink, and beckoned for a refill. "Well... the Royal Castle at the northern end of Fiore was invaded by two dragons. A white one, and a golden one--" "A golden dragon!? Haha! That's a good--" One of them smacked him on the shoulder and told him to be quiet so that Deniel may continue. At that moment, Deniel's drink came back with a refill, but he didn't quite sip it yet. "These two dragons chose the Royal Castle as their nest. Completely leveled the city and its castle, leaving only a few survivors. Those survivors did everything they could to try and wage a guerrilla war against the dragons in the city. Thing is, it wasn't going too well."

Notes:

3,246/24,400

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"When I arrived, things were in pretty bad shape." Deniel took another drink down from his mug, and imagined what the place had looked like when he arrived, all over again. The place looked like a disaster, with many of the buildings crumpled down, the entrance of it sealed by rubble, fire coating many of the buildings, and ice coating the other. No doubt what had attacked it was a powerful foe and enemy, and Deniel could tell that right away. After remembering what the place had looked like, he then moved on to the next part in his story. "The center of the castle was the only place where humans were still at, fighting until the bitter end. Most of them were so frightened that my presence made them all jumpy." The first guard Deniel ran into... he remembered that as well. The man wouldn't stop shaking, he stuttered in his speech, and his skin was pale. His eyes always looked around himself, as if he were expecting some kind of thing to attack him out of no where. "I was taken to meet their three leaders. Real assholes they were." After being silent for the last few moments, listening intently, the group burst out laughing when Deniel asserted the three leaders to be 'assholles'. "What's up with em', yeah!? They give ya' a hard time?" Deniel took another sip of his drink, and a smile started to spread across his face.

"That's an understatement. These guys were bitter as hell." When they first met Deniel, they mistook him for just a regular person; in spite of his title as a God of Ishval, they had no idea of the extent to his powers. They underestimated him up until the bitter end, believing him to be no stronger than their average soldier. "After a good five minutes of whining that I'm all they have, they sent me on a dispatch mission, something they hadn't accomplished yet. The task was to clear out the armory of dragons so that they may get access to weapons."

"And lemme' guess: they thought you couldn't do it?" Deniel nodded, and took in another chug of his drink, finishing it and ordering another one. "Right you are! They wouldn't shut up about how I was going to die." Though it had made Deniel quite upset at the time that it happened, thinking back on it now had actually put a smile on his face, and made him laugh. "Needless to say they weren't impressed with what I did... in spite of taking on a whole room of adolescent dragons all on my own." The table of men laughed once more, one of them patting his hand on Deniel's back. "Adolescent dragons!? C'mon! That can't be all Deniel, ya' can do better than that." Deniel closed his eyes with a smirk spread across his features and took in another bit of his drink, nodding. "I'm not done. After I recovered the cannons for them, they were ready to take on the dragons. And let me tell you, those cannons were strong enough to either completely annihilate or knock an adolescent dragon out of the sky. Powerful stuff. And then..."

He took a very long pause, leaning in on the table. The ones who were in the process of taking another drink finished it quickly, and they all leaned in with him. "The two main dragons attack. One of ice, and one of golden fire. Enormous creatures, I tell you!" Once again the table was filled with laughter and joy. Deniel hadn't told anything particularly funny, but they were just having fun is all, and the thought of enormous dragons put joy in his companions with their imagination, and Deniel with his experience. "So what happened, lad? Did ya' get em'!"

"'Course he got em'. Else he wouldn't be sittin' here discussin' it with us."

"Shut yer' traps and let 'im finish."

Pardoning the interrupting, Deniel waved his hand and continued his story, with his drink at his mouth. "Well, the ice one attacked first, Jormungand. I didn't take care of him, though. I let my partner Nidhogg do the trick." Surprisingly enough, the table knew who Nidhogg was. Deniel told them who he was, that he was a Nephalem... everything. So, sharing who his best friend was had been only natural. They only knew Nidhogg as a tiny dragon, though, and had never seen or heard of him becoming a big one. So they all burst into laughter once more. "Nidhogg, huh!? How'd the little bugger manage to do that?" Before Deniel could answer it himself, the voice of Nidhogg came directly from his shoulder to answer it for him. "I haven't, and am not always, little, y'know." They all seemed to be overjoyed to see him with bright smiles across their face. "Hey look, it's Nidhogg! How are ya'?!" Deniel had slowly brought up his drink towards Nidhogg's mouth, where the dragon took a very small amount of it in given his tiny body.

"Not bad. Not bad at all."

"Alright, so Nidhogg fought another dragon in a bigger form. What of the other one?"

"Well, the other dragon was much, much bigger than the first. And it was made of golden scales with enormous beady red eyes. And it commanded fire without even moving himself, it came all just through his mind. He could summon waves of fire, pillars of fire, meteors of fire... and all of it was a golden color."

"Golden flames!?"

"Golden scales!?"

"Hahahahah! That's a good one!"

"Wuz' next? Golden teeth? He drop a buncha' gold when he died?"

Shoving all of their jokes aside, Deniel continued with his tale. "No, but it was quite the challenge. I dodged, I dashed, I blink, I was everywhere and its onslaught didn't stop! Were it not for my mobility, I would have died in just a few seconds! I didn't see any openings. When I went to one place, there was already an attack waiting for me so that I had to go to another." What Deniel was describing hadn't been an exaggeration. He remembered it all too well, how once he reached a location, already the water under him was glowing with a golden color, signalling to him that an attack of fire was coming his way, which forced him to move to another position just in the nick of time. "If ya had no openings, how did ya' do it?" That was an excellent question, and the answer to it had actually been quite simple.

"Well, I figured that if I just took one of his attacks, I'd be able to stop the rest. So, I took a hit so that I could land all of my most powerful spells on him one after the other. Fortunately, it worked... and the dragon perished just like that." Once more laughter filled the room again.

Notes:

4,400/24,400

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"Good story, Deniel! Must have been quite the site to see! Little you taking on an enormous golden dragon!" They laughed one last time, and with Deniel done with the story, he laughed with them, and then raised his mug right up to clink in with the rest of them. "Cheers, you guys!" He was met with a unified 'Cheers!' and they all put the bottoms up of their mugs and drank. Interrupting Deniel, however, was a familiar beeping noise and Magical connection. The Lacrima he kept in his pocket was going off once more. He put his drink down while the rest of them were still going at it, and clicked it with his thumb. The projection of the representative from the Council came fourth, and he looked to see where Deniel was... and what he was doing. It was quite apparent that he wasn't satisfied the least bit. "Mr. Thormun... may I ask what in the world you are doing!?" The loudness had interrupted the other guys from drinking, and the whole table had their eyes on Deniel. "Well, I'm--"

"Drinking and having fun!? Mr. Thormun, I believe we dispatched you on an urgent mission!"

"I know that, but what's the hurry?"

"The hurry, Mr. Thormun is that those demons are spewing fourth and getting ready to attack. Get out there and take care of it, or you will be stripped of your title!"

The image faded as Deniel was left there hanging, with his table of comrades around him. "Well, he doesn't sound too happy. What are you gonna' do, Deniel?" With a sigh, Deniel placed the Lacrima right back into his coat pocket, and stood up. "Gonna' get this job done. Been a pleasure drinking with you guys again... I'll be back later." Deniel approached the door, opened it up, and took a deep breath of the outdoor air. In an instant, there was a flash of blue light, followed by a stream that shot straight up towards the sky, and then went off into the distance resembling a shooting star. Deniel had initiated the White Angel Take Over form for himself, and was off to the Raging Volcano wasting little to not time at all. One thing that was different this time around, though, was that the twin swords Vita and Mors were not on his hips, but rather both on his back in an X shape. "You're in much more of a hurry than before, Deniel."

Not only was he in a hurry, but the body of the White Angel was also ignited and streaming Holy Energy across the sky. To onlookers down below, it would seem like some kind of blue fire traveling across the atmosphere. "They want to threaten my position, huh?" The White Angel said, a frown spread across his features underneath his helmet. "Very well, then. I'll destroy each and last one of those demons! I'll slay them faster and better than any pretentious "Demon Slayer" ever could!" With the White Angel's speed being the fastest it could go with Deniel's emotions, he reached the Raging Volcano from Talonia in a matter of minutes. The inferno of Holy Energy crashed down straight from the sky onto the volcano, witnessing the scene that was laid before him.

The volcano itself was erupting, spewing ash into the sky, and lava onto the ground surrounding him. On the volcano's slope, and basking in the lava, demons awoke from the rivers and orbs of lava and fire that littered the sky and ground. Hounds composed of lava and obsidian came straight from the rivers, and the ash and volcanic destruction in the sky merged itself to form enormous colossal creatures that appeared to be humanoid, but also absolute monstrosities. At the White Angel's feet was solid obsidian from hardened lava, and just behind him was an entire wasteland created by the volcano, with pools of lava that the rivers spewing from the mountain dumped themselves into. There had been no sight of that many demons, though there were still a few that came into being from the volcano's eruption. A little bit disappointed that he had rushed all the way over here, Deniel figured there was still no harm in beginning his purge.

A few hounds had awoken from the lava just nearby, and took notice to him immediately. The White Angel held out his palm and edged the creatures to come for him. One hound pounced right for the angel, with his palm reaching just behind him to draw and secure one of his katanas. He drew the white blade from its scabbard and cut it in a clean horizontal cut for the hound, slicing it in half with the blade's sharp edge. There was no blood from the hound, rather just lava on the blade itself--but while in Deniel's grip, it was invincible. So there had been no suffered damage. He swung the blade in place to let all of the lava splash off of it, and awaited the attack of the other two hounds. One of them blasted a breath of fire straight for Deniel's direction, and that gave him quite the idea. He avoided the attack by twirling his body around the bolt of fire, the flames going straight through the Holy Energy at his wings, and then grabbed on to the hound. He pointed its mouth right at the other one, and squeezed down on it to fire at its ally, before smashing the two of them together to defeat the both of them.

Just as he finished defeating the three Hellhounds he met into contact with, a Cherufe caught sight of him, and was over towards him in a matter of seconds. The volcanic colossal beast towered over the hulking White Angel, bringing its might down on to the creature that was much smaller than it was. The White Angel was not dumb enough to merely sit idle, and be attacked. He blinked from his location on the back of the hand to the enormous creature, and with Holy Energy at the bottom of his soles, he was able to walk on the surface without losing his balance, or being subdued by gravity to fall. The White Angel traversed the Cherufe's molten foreskin of rocks, sliding underneath one of its hands that attempted to crush him on top of its skin, and jumping over a swipe that came for him. The White Angel sprinted up the shoulder area before leaping into the sky, unveiling both of its blades Vita and Mors at the same time. He brought the two blades down onto the beast's head with his landing, hoping to gain much more effectiveness with the strike.

The blades Vita and Mors sunk into its rock-hard initial layer, but there was no apparent damage. Deniel was forced to seemingly abandon his two swords by jumping away from them and its head to avoid critical damage to himself. When the White Angel was in the air once more, he used a spell known as Return to teleport the two blades stuck inside of the beast's head into his hands once more. As they came into contact with him, two orbs of Holy Energy formed on the tips of the blades, with the White Angel pointing them right at the beast. Twin orbs launched right at it, and the impact of both of them each generated a large explosion that engulfed the entire area in an ominous sky blue glow, and defeated the creature with the combined power of the two meteors. The White Angel quickly descended during the explosion, and landed perfectly safe on both of his greaves before standing up onto his feet once more. He sheathed the twin blades right back where they belonged, and was met with a few foe.

Notes:

5,705/24,400

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

From the location of the volcano, Deniel heard the sound of an ear-penetrating hiss. His head darted towards the source, with his eardrums slightly in pain from the sound of it, but also unable to do anything given the fact that his ears were already covered underneath his helmet. From the volcano, a fairly large serpent creature emerged right from the molten lava, and seemed to be gliding right along it as it came down from the volcano. Accompanied by her seemed to be normal humans, and several Hell hounds that Deniel had managed to defeat earlier. What was strange about the humans was that just like her, they were able to freely move across the lava without having any harm come towards them. She seemed to be about eight feet tall in total, much taller than the regular humans, but nothing enormous like Deniel had faced before; but he knew more than anyone that size does not conclude the strength of a being. And above all else, her arms were quite numerous, though she lacked legs and possessed the body of a serpent.

"State your name, angel!" The White Angel stood up proud and tall, and started to walk forward: "Deniel! My name is Deniel Thormun!" The demoness seemed to recognize the name, a little puzzled upon hearing it, but quickly grew a sinister look upon her face. "The Nephalem? Diabolos's last spawn?" Although a little bit taken back by her recognizing him, the White Angel still spoke loud and proudly. "You know who I am?"

"We all do; both in heaven and hell. We are well aware of your existence as a Nephalem, and your power, but we are not afraid. This wretched world you've been born into limits you to a mere pathetic being. Even as a Nephalem, you pose no threat."

"Is that so? Well, I'm certain I pose a threat to you and your forces."

"Perhaps, but that is no matter. You may kill us, Nephalem. You may kill all of us here, but I am not afraid of death... not like you are."

"Death and pain do not frighten me!"

"Perhaps pain does not. You are used to it, but death? You are terrified of it, more so than anyone else. We demons and angels do not fear death like you Nephalem do."

"I told you, I'm not afraid of death!"

"Then prove it, Nephalem. Die right now like the miserable creature you are!"

Four Hellhounds enclosed on the White Angel's position, and surrounded him on different angles. Each of them shot out their orbs of fire straight from their mouths. The White Angel did not take the hit, but instead blinked out of harm's way. Immediately after blinking, he performed it once more, going to one Hellhound to split its body in half right down the middle, and then another by decapitating it. And the last two were finished off with two additional blinks, and sword strikes in their vital areas to finish them off. The display was very swift, and he brought a quick death onto the Hellhounds, but he had merely proved the demoness's point in doing so. "You are afraid of death more than anything. You may not like to admit it... but that is why you fight."

"You fight as well! What makes you so different than me!?" It was obvious what she was saying had been getting into the mind of Deniel, manipulating him to fall straight into her traps of wit. And while he was distracted by her, he failed to notice the cultists surrounding him. They all tapped their Magics together, and formed an enormous pillar of magma right under him, covering an area too large for him to blink out of. The White Angel was forced to take the hit, with the molten magma doing a little bit of extra damage to his interior skin from the armor heated up onto him. When the magma had faded, he was still standing with his armor in tact, but there were some burn marks located throughout. The White Angel held both of his blade hilts right against each other, and charged Holy Energy on to both of them. While he fought the Cultists, the demoness crept into his mind once more with her words.

"I fight for my Lord. Angels fight for their God. Humans fight for their families and friends. Animals fight to evolve, but you? A Nephalem? You fight for yourself. For YOUR survival." The White Angel frantically swung his blades in six different directions, each of them aimed at the Cultists. Six crescent strikes composed of Holy Energy flew out from his blades, in the exact same direction that he gave out the six separate cuts. He did not intend for all of them to hit... one or two would have been just perfect for him. The cultists, not dumb enough to merely just stand still, all dodged in their own way, and with fortune on Deniel's side, he managed to hit two of them in the end. He finished the two of them off relatively quick by blinking straight to their location, not with Nephalem Blink, but because they had been infected with Purification... he was able to do it with another force of attraction.

Once he blinked to the location of each of them, they were defeated relatively easily with just a few swings of his blades, Vita and Mors. "And not just for survival... but power. You continue on with your own selfish desire for power; power that serves no benefit to anyone but yourself. You use that power to fight for yourself to gain more power. An endless cycle that annihilates anything that stands in your way of that ultimate goal."

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me!"

"Oh I know plenty! About you, your father, and your mother! And dear Diabolos had much to hide... he toyed and researched with power beyond his comprehension in hopes of understanding it. Out of fear, he created you Nephalem so he could gain your power and become invincible. Such arrogance..."

Notes: 6,724/24,400