The Apprentice (Deniel;15K words)

Job Description:

"Wow....." That was all Deniel could say. "Wow". For he was breathless and wordless. The environment the wacky gem transported him to was two parts: Light and darkness. Or......at least that's what normal people would say. Deniel was a person that could sense that this was more than light and darkness, it was holy and unholy, cleansed and corrupt, good and evil, justice and injustice.

To his left was a land filled with light, a holy, radiant light that seemed to call to him. This light didn't come from the sun, since there was none in this world, but from the land itself. The grass, the trees, the mountains, all of it seemed to emit a holy light to signify that it was a sanctified land itself. And that's where the land came in. It was a grassland with a nice air breeze, a fresh scent, a sky that was clear of all signs of natural disasters, with mountains in the distance. Great, mighty mountains that did not seem threatening, but promising. Promising that this was the perfect land. A river flowed from one of the mountains down into the plains, a river with water that sparkled with the radiant light that the land gave off. It was holy water. The water was crystal-clear, pure water that anyone could drink, no pollution or corruption. This land was perfect it was......heaven. And yet, even within heaven, Deniel could sense a dark presence, although it didn't show itself....

And then, to his right, seemed to be Hell itself. The night was black and the sky was dark from acid rain clouds, clouds that carried the worst of disasters and pollution within them, disease, even. These clouds were not grey, they were black, as black as the night that was right behind them. These clouds also gave off lightning, but not any kind of normal lightning......red lightning. Red lightning that glowed with unholy energy, red lightning that its color symbolized pure evil. This would cause complete, and utter darkness to cover the land, but its hellish landscape gave off the light it needed........the red light. The landscape was black, obsidian rock. It was nothing but rigged mountains that would case dangerous slopes everywhere someone would step, spikes everywhere, and the ground itself was so rigid a person would never dare to walk barefoot. These mountains were not just mountains, but volcanoes. Some of them erupted into the sky tons and tons of black, volcanic ash, polluting it further. All while lava spewed out of its top and into this unholy land. Other ones didn't give out ash, but just pure lava, lava that went into the sky like a prominence on a sun, and then on to the ground to desecrate the land further. Even though Deniel was the only one here, he could hear screams; agonizing screams, the sounds of men, women, and children suffering; eternal torment for them all. Between these screams and cries of pain, Deniel could hear malicious laughter, sadistic laughter, laughter that was enjoying the company of these screams.

He looked upon the light of land once again, finding it more comforting, but when he could once again sense the darkness of heaven, he looked back at hell. That place utterly disgusted him. He was standing between both of the lands, only a line divided the two, and it was somehow going from one place to another. Deniel stood across that line, with his right foot inside the hellish land's obsidian, and his left foot upon the soft grass of heaven."What......is this place!?" From out of no where, Deniel heard the voice. The voice of an old man, but it was not weak and frilly like other other people; it was mighty, and full of life. "This is you. Deniel." Deniel turned around to see his mentor.....Old Man. Old Man was standing on the line just like Deniel was.

Old Man was old, but his body's condition seemed young. Instead of having a crooked or bent back, it was straight up with no problems. Instead of having wrinkly, dead skin, he had muscles of a twenty-year-old. His body looked somewhat young, but his face is what said otherwise. His hair was grey, with a long beard that covered up his entire mouth area and chin, and went down to his neck. The rest of his face seemed to be the only part of his body that had the wrinkles, giving him the appearance of an old man with a twenty-year old's body. His eyes were usually closed, but he was not half-blind. He could see into someone's mind, in their spirit, in their soul. Not literally, but he probably had better sight than even Deniel.

"Old Man......just what exactly are you doing here?" Old man approached Deniel, with his hands folded behind his back. Although he was old, he was still taller than Deniel, standing at six foot five. "You brought me here," He said to Deniel, his beard and mustache making movements with every word, "To train you, and to show you what you've become, and what you will become." Deniel looked at Old Man, in confusion, and then looked at his surroundings, "What I will.....become?" He couldn't believe this. So much destruction on his right....so much death, it seemed like the end of all things. And on his left, indeed, it was beautiful.....but there was no one. No life sharing it, maybe that was the hidden darkness he sensed. "What do you mean Old Man, do you mean that I'll become.......this!?" Old Man was now in front of Deniel, staring down at him with his eyes. Old Man's eyes were usually closed, but he opened them too look down at his student. His eyes were grey, just like his hair. "Yes, Deniel. This is what you are right now, but this land to your right will become more destructive and Hellish the more you grow. And this land to your left, although full of purity, will NEVER see anyone in it. Heaven is a privilege that no one will get."

Deniel stared from each land. He couldn't imagine the land to the right, Hell, getting worse, and he didn't know what kind of corruption awaited the one on the left. He stared at Old Man, silent. "Putting this aside, it is time for your training, Deniel." Deniel was about to ask exactly what Old Man meant, but in an instant, the two were teleported into the Hellish land inside one of the volcanoes.

Within this volcano, the two were standing on a platform right above lava. This platform was very unstable, and was only held up by four chains that went up to the volcano's crater on the top, being held by statues. The statues looked like......demons; demons that looked like they were tugging on the chains, for they had it over their shoulders and were facing away from the volcano. These statues looked like they were about the size of a house, and they were all made of obsidian with molten cracks in them. The platform they were on was also made of obsidian, with a glowing red pentagram taking up all of its space. "Where......is this? How could this exist?!" From across the small arena, Old Man Spoke up. "Because YOU exist, Deniel!" Deniel looked straight at Old Man, who had his shirt off and was revealing his muscular body. Old Man had his eyes completely open, and he looked full of rage and fury, as if disgusted by this surrounding. "You brought us here, Deniel! You are the spawn of the Black Devil! You have more evil within you than you think, and this world is a manifestation of the evil that waits within you!"

"That's not true!" Deniel protested, his mind panicking, "I-I-I'm not.....evil! I'm not! I'm not an evil person! I haven't done anything wrong! I'm not a demon!" Old Man was not happy from Deniel's answer. "Oh really? Look at yourself." Deniel hesitated, but eventually looked down at himself, and he couldn't believe what he saw. His body was black scales, just like his Take Over that he was used to.....but it was complete! Both of his hands were black scales instead of one, both had razor-sharp claws. Not only was his torso covered in the scales and its chest protection belt, but he saw that his legs were, too. From his waist down to his knees were the black scales, and from his knees down to his feet were black boots that had yellow spiked skulls on its kneecaps. Deniel felt something on his back, and he turned around to see a pair of giant.....insect-like wings. The Wings of the Black Devil. He didn't want to see his own face in this condition....he touched his head and felt.......hair. That didn't make sense, he was supposed to be a devil, why did he have hair? Old Man gave him the answer. "Because it's incomplete, Deniel," he said as if he knew exactly what Deniel was thinking, "This world may have granted you that much power, but it wont complete the form. You'll have to fight like that, if you can."

That made sense......complete sense! Not really. Deniel didn't know what was going on, and he started to wish he never touched that stupid gem. If this was his future, he didn't want to see it so early. "You weren't expecting to beat me without it, did you?" Now Deniel was even more confused......beat him? Defeat him? Once again, Old Man seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. "If you wanna' get out of here, prove yourself worthy of controlling your future! The power that awaits in your future! Defeat me with that power, and you can finally leave! Here I come....." Deniel was still wrapping his head around this, but he didn't have time to think.

Instantly, Old Man appeared from his spot to in front of Deniel with his fist ready, and his face angry. Deniel could have easily reacted to the punch, and that was something he didn't get.....normally he would have never seen this, but in this world, he was able to see it and had plenty of time to react. Instead of reacting, he started to wonder why he was able to. Old Man's fist collided with Deniel's face, which sent him flying at unimaginable speeds straight into the side of the volcano, crashing into the rock. Deniel let himself stay there, coughing up a bit of blood and from the dirt that surrounded him. "Come on, Deniel! Let's see what you've got!" Deniel dug himself out of the wall and used his fly-like wings to hold himself in the air. They immediately began to flap at rapid speeds, holding up the weight of his body, and he thought of them as magnificent. "Fine then! Here I come, you old geezer!"

Deniel went straight for Old Man, and he was much faster than he remembered. He expected to be there fast, but not instant-fast. He was right in front of Old Man before he knew it, and almost didn't know what to do. Then, an idea came to his mind. "Devil's Reign!" .........Nothing happened. Deniel tried again. "Devil's Reign!" Deniel tried it over and over again, trying to concentrate his magical energy and his spell, but nothing happened over and over again. Old Man couldn't help but chuckle, and then grabbed the struggling Deniel by the neck and lifted him up to eye-level. Deniel struggled in Old Man's grip, grabbing on to his arm that was holding up and dangling his legs. "Listen, kid," Old Man said, not letting go. "You can't use magic here. That's the price for the full body. You're gonna' have to beat me by using what that body is good at!" Old Man let go of Deniel and let his fist loose at Deniel's stomach, sending him flying sky-high out of the volcano's crater.

While up in the air, Deniel used this time to think about what Old Man was talking about. He was too busy thinking to feel the immense pain he had on himself. "What this body is good at? I've never thought about that......other than the fact that it had magic. What is the Black Devil good at?" Deniel searched his new body to try and find the answer, to try and find the hidden strength within it......strength. If he couldn't beat Old Man with magic, maybe brute force would work! That's it! Brute force! On Deniel's trip down back to the crater, he turned himself upright once again and let himself crash down right back into the area.

The arena shook violently from such a harsh impact, and Deniel was amazed that the chains could keep holding with his strength. The volcano was looking a little more unstable, as the lava rose up a bit and started to boil. Old Man was waiting for Deniel with his arms crossed. "Heh. Now are you rea-" Old Man was interrupted by Deniel being ready, more than ready. Deniel was already flying, and he grabbed Old Man by the head when he flew to him, dragging him along with him. Deniel smashed Old Man straight into the wall of the volcano, but wasn't don there. He grabbed the side of Old Man's face and started to drag him across the diameter of the volcano's inner circle, grinding him against the hard rock non-stop. Deniel completed half of the circle before Old Man kicked Deniel in his stomach, knocking him away, but Deniel had been using his wings the whole time to keep himself up, so he didn't go very far. Old Man jumped off of the wall of the volcano and back on to the arena floor. There wasn't a single mark on him. "Not bad, kid. But it's going to take a lot more than that to keep me down!"

All Deniel did was smirk at Old Man, still flying above him and saying: "I know." Deniel dove straight for Old Man in his flight, and started a hand-to-hand combat rally with him. This consisted of each person trying to hit the other one with either a punch or a kick, but every hit seemed to have been blocked and dodge, neither person harmed the other. Deniel sent a fist to the face and Old Man deflected it, trying to knee Deniel in the stomach, but Deniel hopped to the side and tried karate kicking Old Man's face, but Old Man grabbed Deniel's foot and tried swinging him around. Deniel made the swinging come to a a stop by digging his claws in the arena floor, and then trying to kick Old Man way, but Old Man just jumped away. The both regained their balance and ran back to each other, starting off another punching spree.

Both let loose a fury of punches, but their fighting styles were so similar, that all that happened was their knuckles crashed together instead of hitting each other. Shortly after the punches failed, the two grabbed on to each others' hands and attempted to push the other one off of the arena. Deniel suddenly came up with a way of hitting Old Man finally. He raised his head and then smashed it down against Old Man's forehead. First, there was silence, and then blood trickled between the two faces, and Deniel began to wonder whose it was. Was it his or Old Man's. The two realized that they weren't going to knock each other off, and at the same time, they both chose to jumped away from each other. Old Man suddenly began to laugh. "Hahahahah! That's the spirit Deniel, you're starting to get it! But you're no where near being able to beat me like that! Come on, try to tap into your true potential!"

Deniel had no idea what he was talking about. He thought this was his true potential, what he was really capable of, but there must be more to this than he thought. He was going to have to try and tap into it while fighting Old Man. The climactic battle continued on. Both of them charged at each other and met with more hand-to-hand combat. Old Man was able to get the first hit on Deniel, the first one that Deniel didn't block, but Deniel countered that with his next attack. Old Man tried sending a devastating blow to Deniel, but Deniel rolled out of the way, behind Old Man, and kicked his neck all in an instant. Old Man staggered forward, amazed that Deniel was actually able to hit him without going at full strength.

The two never realized it, but as they fought, the unstable arena held up by the chains started to shake and even tilt over, but they were so focused on the battle, they didn't even know the shift of gravity and change, and they were automatically adjusted with each tilt. Deniel managed to kick Old Man so hard in the stomach, it actually sent Old Man flying back to the edge of the arena, where he nearly fell off. Deniel was going to dive in for Old Man's safety, but Old Man told him not to. "Don't worry about me, Deniel! Keep the fight going! No soft spots!" Deniel could see Old Man struggling to pull himself up from the ledge, and the arena was starting to tilt with the amount of pressure he was putting on it. Deniel couldn't just sit back and with, he needed a way to get Old Man up while keeping the fight going. An idea popped into his head. He jumped up and then smashed down as hard as he could on the arena, causing it to make a sudden tip in Deniel's direction. This sudden tip sent Old Man flying in the air, and Deniel ran for the center of the arena to balance it out before it tipped too far over.

Deniel looked up to see Old Man coming down, and to show Old Man that he just wanted to keep the fight going, Deniel punched him square in the jaw when he came down in front of him. Now, it was back to the battle. So far Deniel had three blows against Old Man, and Old Man had three against Deniel. They were even. That evenness kept going and going, never stopping. Neither person gained the advantage over the other, even though Deniel looked like the supernatural being and Old Man looked like an Old Man with a fit body. Finally, nearly twenty-four hours had passed, and both were exhausted.

"We're going to stop here, Deniel. It's already been a day in the other world, so why not give it a rest for now?" Deniel stopped his guard and stood up, staring down Old Man. "And what do you suggest we do? Look at where we are, Old Man! We're in the middle of a damn volcano!" Old Man smiled at Deniel with his teeth, starting to approach him. "This is your world, Deniel! You choose where we're at!"

Deniel considered what Old Man was saying, and he closed his eyes......concentrating. Concentrating hard. When he opened them, he was suddenly inside the temple that Old Man was usually in. The temple was wooden with a Buddhist Japanese style to it. The building was slightly elevated off of the ground and a tiled roof that slanted down in the way most Japanese structures do. The temple was only one floor with three rooms, although each room was quite large for one person living inside of this place. The temple was brown with the main entrance being a sliding door that Old Man always kept open during the daytime to let the sunlight come in. The first of the three rooms was the entrance, which looked like a long hallway, with a carpeted floor and a fireplace at the very end of it. In the center of the place was a dining table and cushions for sitting on. Off to the side in the middle of this grand hallway, there was two rooms: one for Deniel and one for Old Man. They both had no style that differentiated them, the only thing they did was have Deniel sleep on the left, and Old Man on the right. Each room contained a small table with a cushion for sitting on, a bed on the floor, and a window for gazing out in. The outside of the temple had a staircase that lead to the main entrance, and a staircase that lead all the way from the temple grounds to the bottom of the mountain Old Man lived on. There was a large shrine once a person got to the top of the staircase that lead up to the temple, and a stone path that lead from the spot they would most likely be standing at to the temple. Surrounding the stone path was fresh grass that looked like it was tended to all the time; fresh and green. That was the place Deniel transported them to. The place that he lived in when he moved with Old Man to Fiore.

There they were sitting in the main hall on the dining table cushions, sitting in front of each other. Between them was food for them to eat and replenish their energy. Surprisingly, Deniel had actually felt very hungry and tired, despite the short time he spent in there. Deniel looked up at Old Man, who was relaxing and eating. Deniel looked down at himself and suddenly realized that he was back to normal. He held his hand in front of his face to see the palish skin, and he couldn't have been more happy to see it.

Deniel and Old Man's two person feast began. The two ate like gluttons, but in a humorous way. They sometimes said things between their large bits of food, or even talked with their mouths full. "Hey Old Man, how long do I gotta' do this?" Deniel asked between eating a whole bowl of rice and then pieces of meat. "A week." Old Man answered him, almost too busy to even look at Deniel. "Do these feasts count as days?" "Mhm." "Awesome."

When the two were done feasting, they both laid back on their backs, tapping their full bellies. "Ahhhh....that was refreshing." Deniel's hunger was gone, but his exhaustion was still there. He needed to rest and to sleep. Old Man stood up while Deniel was still laying on the ground. "Deniel." Old Man said, and Deniel responded by getting up and looking at his mentor. "What is it, Old Man?" Deniel asked. Old Man sighed and crossed his arms. "Can you tell me a bit about the adventures you've been having while you've been gone? What kind of stuff have you done since I last saw you? Have you made any friends?" The first two questions was no problem, but the last question is what got Deniel. It was going to be a little awkward to tell Old Man that Deniel made absolutely no friends during his time alone, and that all he did was go on job after job after job, trying to hone his skills.

Old Man could almost sense Deniel's troubled thoughts, and reassured him. "You can tell me everything, Deniel I wont judge." Deniel sighed and looked Old Man in the eye. "Alright. Well....I haven't made any friends, Old Man. None at all. In fact the only person in my guild that I've talked to is my Guild master, Zeno." Old Man gave a concerned look at Deniel, but didn't say anything. "So far all I've done is job after job after job. I took my C rank exam and passed it, and that's the way I met Zeno. And after this, I think I might take up the B rank exam. And then the A rank. And perhaps one day......I'll get to the S rank." Old Man wasn't too concerned about Deniel's ranks and ranking up, all he was interested in knowing is if Deniel is still alone. "Tell me, why haven't you interacted with people?" Deniel considered Old Man's question. He didn't quite know himself, actually, but came up with an answer on the spot. And he felt as if that was the actual answer. "Because I don't wanna' come across as weak to any of them. I'm not talking to them until I'm an A rank. I don't wanna' say "I'm a B rank!"....no, I can't take pride in that. I want to be one of the best." Old Man stared at Deniel, making a small "Hmmmmm" sound. Then, he stood up and edged Deniel to do it, too. Deniel stood up as well and both were on their feet once again. "Like I said, Deniel, I wont judge you. If you feel that way, then go ahead. I think that making friends eventually is better than making them never. Now, get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll talk about your jobs when we're done." Deniel nodded and the two headed in opposite directions to their rooms, where each laid down in their respective beds and slept.

Deniel had a bit of a hard time falling sleep at first, for he was still troubled by the days event's. Plus, he was wondering if this was still inside the gem, or if this was reality. All of these would most likely be answered tomorrow.



Deniel slightly opened his eyes, and then widened them, suddenly waking up. He was no longer in his bed, he was on the ground between the two worlds of Hell and the empty Heaven. He quickly stood up and looked around, behind him, Old Man stood ready. "Sleep well?" Old Man asked Deniel, causing him to turn around. "I-Is this my dream or......are we back to training?" Old Man laughed at Deniel's confusion. "This isn't a dream, Deniel. We're back to training. Today, you're gonna' start where we left off." Deniel didn't know how long Old Man was waiting for him, but he wasn't going to ask. In a way, he was anxious to become the Black Devil once again, to feel all of that power rushing through his body. "I'm ready to become it again, Old Man." Old Man laughed at Deniel, as if Deniel were joking, "You're not gonna' become the Black Devil today, Deniel." Deniel was about to ask what Old Man meant, but his question was shortly answered when they were once again in a different arena.

This time, they were in the empty Heaven, atop one of the mountains. This mountain had a completely flat top with the arena staged on its peak, just as big as the one from Hell. Like the one from Hell, this one had something engraved in its arena, but unlike Hell, it was a cross. This arena was made out of the same stone of the mountain, as if the top of the mighty mountain was cut off so it would be completely flat. Deniel looked down at himself, and unsurprisingly, he found what Old Man meant. He wasn't the Black Devil in his part, he had become the angel part of him. He was actually curious to see what he'd look like, seeing as so far all he had was wings and eyes. He did have the wings and eyes of the White Angel, but his body was covered in some kind of......white fur. At least most of it, anyway. The white fur covered most of his body, all the way down to his knees, all of his back, but left some open spots. On his arms, from the elbows down were scales, but they were purple unlike the Black Devil form. These spots also appeared from his chest to his abdominal, and from his knees down to his feet. Additionally, he looked behind himself to see a small purple tail, swaying at his command. Each of these purple spots on his body also had molten cracks in it, but these cracks were blue instead of orange or red. On his kneecaps were golden colored spikes, and this color also went down a few inches on his front leg, and his toes were quite unique, too. His toes were like some kind of beast, having two in the front and three in the back, and they looked like claws, too. Perfect for latching on to the ground. He had no idea that an angel would look like this. Like the Black Devil form, the only thing that remained unchanged was his head, but he still had the sky-blue eyes he usually had.

"Amazing......" He looked over to Old Man to see him patiently waiting for Deniel get get out of his awe for himself. "Indeed. The son of the White Angel is quite unique, I must admit. Just like before, Deniel, no magic. Use what that body is good at." Deniel nodded at Old Man, understanding what he meant this time. This time, no secrets were kept from him......or at least that's what he thought. The two got in their battle stances, and Deniel made the first move. He moved faster than he could have ever expected, even faster than the Black Devil form, but he wasn't going to be in awe for himself any longer. He sent his fist to Old Man once he arrived at his location, expecting Old Man to at least gag or stagger back just like he did with the Black Devil.

........Nothing. Nothing happened. Old Man didn't say or do anything. All he did was laugh at Deniel and grab on to his arm. "You call that a punch? Please, your tickling yesterday worked a lot more." Old Man flung Deniel with ease, and Deniel was falling off of the mountaintop already, but he used his white wings for good use, flapping them and catching flight quickly. He flew back up to the mountaintop, and his flight speed was much faster than his Black Devil form, a lot faster than he even expected. Deniel reached the mountain top and descended down to it again. Old Man was waiting with his arms crossed. Deniel still didn't understand it.....why did his attack have no effect? He didn't feel that much weaker compared to yesterday, in fact, he moved even faster.

While Deniel was thinking, Old Man was already making a move. The next thing Deniel knew, Old Man was in front of him, fist raised. Old Man sent his fist down to Deniel's face, but without even thinking of success, Deniel vanished from his spot and appeared behind Old Man. Reacting out of sheer instinct, Deniel kicked Old Man's back as hard as he could with his clawed feet. His attack sent Old Man tumbling down the mountain, giving Deniel some room to think. He looked down at his hands and raised up one of his feet. How the hell did he do that? As his Black Devil form, he would have simply blocked, but in this form, he had the urge to dodge it. Not only did he have the urge to, he DID do it, he dodged the attack that was just about to hit. He evaded Old Man's attack and then pulled off a quick sneak attack, all by instinct, he didn't plan it this way. He clenched his clawed fist, trying to think.

Meanwhile, at the mountain, Old Man recovered himself and quickly began to run straight up the mountain at fast speeds, leaving a huge dust trail behind him as he shouted: "DEEEEEENIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEL!" Deniel stopped his thinking and looked back up, seeing Old Man jumping up from the side of the arena, holding out his fist. In just a few seconds, he came crashing down at Deniel's location, leaving a harsh impact crater within the arena, and a cloud of dust. Deniel once again dodged the attack by vanishing and appearing at a different area, but what really happened is he ran there as fast as he could.

Deniel was panting, a bit from fear from wondering what would happen if that attack actually hit him. Old Man dug his fist out of the ground and went for Deniel again, dashing to him and trying to land a blow to his stomach with his knee. Deniel was still trying to wrap his head around his own speed, that he was caught off guard, and was once again sent flying. This time, instead of off of the mountain, he went high in the air. Old Man leaped, following Deniel in the sky. Deniel was still thinking, thinking as fast as he could. He was weaker, but he was faster.....faster....maybe that was the key. Maybe instead of trying to get through Old Man's defenses with brute force, maybe he should sneak around it using his speed! It was worth a shot, and that was the only thing Deniel could think of by now.

He recovered himself in the air, and looked down to see Old Man going straight up to him for another attack. "Big mistake!" Deniel shouted, flapping his wings and gaining control over himself in the air. Old Man didn't stop, he just kept coming for Deniel. With blinding speed, Deniel dove straight for Old Man's side and landed an easy blow to his ribs, and then he appeared behind Old Man, giving a kick to his back. This caused Old Man to stagger, giving up his blow. But Deniel was no where close to finishing. Deniel went in front of Old Man and punched his stomach to send him up, and then he went behind Deniel before he reached his location in the sky, and kicked him to send him down. He went back to his stomach area and punched him there, and then to his side, punching him there, his other side with another blow, his back, his front, his side, his side, his side, his back, his back, his front, his back, his front. Deniel repeated this on Old Man, blow after blow. He sent about a dozen of them in just several seconds. This speed was unimaginable, Deniel had no idea he could move this fast, or anyone could move this fast. After several dozen blows to Old Man, which ended in seconds, Deniel finally gave one last blow. Deniel placed his clawed foot on Old Man's stomach and then let his flight go, causing both of them to descent at the rate of gravity. They were down in about four seconds, which added up to a huge velocity, making another crater in the arena. Deniel jumped off of Old Man, who was still in shock and kept himself in the air by his wings.

Old Man finally recovered himself in a few seconds, slowly getting up. He had a few bruises on his body where Deniel hit him, but the biggest one was in his stomach, where the final blow was dealt. "The sky is my place, Old Man! Mine! You do NOT challenge me there! Or face justice!" Deniel had no idea what he just said and why.....some kind of....instinct took control over him, as if he were offended that Old Man challenged Deniel in the sky, and that he showed Old Man what would happen. Old Man was just as confused as Deniel. What's this stupid kid talking about, he's never talked to me that way! Nor should he. I'm his mentor, he talks to me in respect and nothing else! Old Man was now on his feet, and he slammed on foot down on the mountain's peak. "I tell you over and over again, Deniel." Old Man held his legs a bit apart, like a sumo wrestler and placed one of his palms on the ground, staring at it. "DO! NOT! GET! COCKY! AGAINST! ME!"

Deniel stared down at Old Man, raising an eyebrow. He never heard Old Man sound so angry, or even that stance before. What was about to happen? Old Man finally looked up at Deniel, with a face that showed one thing: he was angry. Old Man went straight for Deniel in the skies once again, and this time, Deniel did not dodge the fist. Old Man's speed seemed to be just as fast as Deniel, and he didn't have any time to dodge it. The blow to his face hurt, and it hurt like Hell. As his Black Devil form, it wouldn't hurt as much, but with this form, when everything was put straight into speed, it hurt even more. Deniel would have been sent flying, but Old Man grabbed him once his punch landed to prevent Deniel from going anywhere.

Old Man punched Deniel's face two more times, leaving it heavily bruised and bloody, but before he could land a third one, Deniel caught his fist in his clawed hand. Old Man's strength surpassed Deniel by far, but as long as Deniel could just buy a few seconds, that was good enough for him. Deniel, with his massive speed, kneed Old Man's stomach over and over again while holding back his fist. After two knees, Old Man tried using his other fist, but Deniel caught that one as well. The knees weren't doing anything at first, but after about six of them, they started to hurt Old Man and have a positive affect for Deniel, decreasing the fighting force against Deniel. The kneeing didn't stop, and after several more knees, Deniel's speed slowly started to pick up, as if it were revving him up like an engine. Old Man knew he had no choice but to retreat, but Deniel's hands wouldn't let him go. Deniel dug his claws inside Old Man's fist for extra restraint, and the kneeing didn't stop.

The more Deniel kneed, the more it hurt Old Man. His blows had no effect first, but then the effect started to get worse and worse and worse. What made things worse was Deniel's claws dug inside his hands to make sure he wouldn't go. Old Man had enough of this. Just as Deniel did yesterday, Old Man raised his head and crashed it down against Deniel's for a headbutt. That's when the kneeing completely stopped, and Deniel finally released his grip from Old Man. Deniel fell without moving, heading straight for the arena. Now, Old Man was a bit concerned for his health. "Deniel! God damn it!" Old Man rushed to Deniel, catching him before he fell. He held Deniel in his arms and switched their positions so Old Man would land flat on his back, and Deniel would be on top of him, safer.

Old Man set Deniel down as he stood up, staring down at him. Deniel was motionless, with his eyes closed, but was still breathing. Old Man clenched his own stomach, a bit dazed from how much Deniel kneed him and how much it hurt. "Damn it. I hope I didn't go too far........I should control my temper." Old Man looked at his surroundings, wondering what to do. "This might reschedule everything. Deniel might have a lot less time than he expected."



What seemed like only minutes later, Deniel awoke on his bed inside Old Man's temple. He stood up and looked around, confused. "Was it....all a dream?" Deniel felt his forehead where Old Man hit him.....and he felt gauze bandages, as well as pain. It hurt to touch the spot. "So you're awake." Old Man was at the entrance of the room, and Deniel looked at him. "Old Man.....what the Hell happened?" Old Man sighed and sat down in front of Deniel in a meditation style. "I hit you too hard, Deniel. Especially for your angel form. I'm trying to train you, not beat you. But you exceeded my expectations and made me go too hard on you. And now, you've missed out all but one of your days of training, Deniel. In other words, tomorrow is the last day until you go back to your world." "Hold on a second! You mean to tell me that I've been out that long!?" Old Man nodded at Deniel, who stared down at his hands. "Old Man I.....I didn't mean to it's just....." "Don't stress it, Deniel. In fact, I think this works best. You learned too much in one day, and that would make it so the last couple of days wouldn't teach you anything. Tomorrow, you learn of the last of your forms." Deniel knew exactly what Old Man was talking about. So far, it was the Black Devil, the White Angel, and now he knew what the last one would be......"The Nephalem." He whispered and Old Man nodded. "Precisely."

Deniel stared down, silent. He wondered what that would be like. His demonic form had so much strength and power into it, power that seemed like it could take on anything. Then, his angel form didn't have that power, but it had speed that Old Man couldn't even match. He wondered what his Nephalem form would be like......and what he would look like. As a demon, he definitely did look like one. He looked like a monster, and that was something he was not proud of. As an angel, he didn't know what one would look like, but something told him that, that wasn't how they looked like.

Old Man broke this depressing silence with a bit of a happy tone. "In the meantime, Deniel," he said, holding out his hand for Deniel to take, "Let's eat!" Deniel took Old Man's hand and stood up. The two walked out into the main room, and a feast that was just as big as the one from the second day was there. Deniel's joy overflowed him, and he didn't want to think about anything else now but eating. The two sat down in front of each other and ate just like they did on the other day, and this time, they didn't bother talking at all. Deniel stuffed tons of food inside his mouth. Being asleep for so many days left him really hungry, and he didn't think he would ever see this much food again. "Hey Deniel," Old Man finally said, speaking with his mouth full. "What?" Deniel asked, with his mouth full, too. "You can tell me all of your stories today, about the jobs that you've visited so far." "Okay." Deniel responded, stuffing himself with even more food.

Unlike the second day, when these two were done, there was absolutely nothing left. Both of them scraped their plates and bowels clean. Right after they finished, Old Man was interested in learning of what happened to Deniel right away. "So, tell me what happened in your first job." Deniel cleared his throat and began. "Well, it's been a while so give me a minute to remember.....I think it was called "Spy Criminal Watch". Basically, I was trying to prove that some guy was guilty of taking other people's money, because the client always had his money stolen whenever he walked by him. And I can understand why. The guy I was chasing had quick fingers, really quick fingers. He could steal money and get away without people even noticing." Old Man listened to Deniel, scratching his beard occasionally and nodding. "So, didja' get him?" Deniel nodded with pride. "Yeah. Caught em' red-handed and turned em' in. First mission was complete." "Sounds interesting. Now, what of your second one?" Deniel closed his eyes, thinking. He did a total of six jobs, but he couldn't remember which one was second, third, and so on. So, he just told them in order of whichever one he remembered first.

"Well, the second one was called "Haunted", and some guy's house wanted haunted, obviously. He was living in a small apartment building, and I wish I showed up to do that job sooner. The dude was paranoid, and I mean PARANOID!" Old Man raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What do you mean by that?" Deniel continued on with his story. "I mean that he couldn't stop.....moving. He was very shaky and jittery, and he always spoke out of fear, thinking that something was out to get him. He had serious bags under his eyes to show that he hadn't gotten any sleep in a long time, and whenever I brought up the ghosts, he would always scream in misery. It was weird." Old Man scratched his beard and nodded. "I guess living with ghosts could do that to a guy. Go on, were they really ghosts? Did you catch them or something?" "Yeah. When I went to his haunted house, I found out that these stupid ghosts were his family, and that he was grieving their deaths, but they just wanted him to move on. Still, he mistook them to be haunting him and that's where his paranoia came from." Old Man stayed silent for a while, before eventually laughing and slapping his thigh, which made Deniel laugh a bit, too. "Talk about misunderstandings. Alright, what about the third job?"

Deniel thought for a bit, and the next job that came to his mind was one that had some actual danger in it. "I think this one was called 'The Rarest Flower'. Anyway, this was the first one that had some actual danger to it, because I went into this place called, Deniel took a deep breath to build up suspense, "The Spoooooooky Foooooooorest!" Both Old Man and Deniel laughed afterwards at its name, and Deniel went on with his explanation. "So in this Spooooooooky Foooooooooorest," both chuckled again, tempted to laugh more, but Old Man let Deniel continue with his story, "I had to find some kind of flower that I eventually found within a cave. I don't know what was so special about it, but I don't ask many questions. I just take the job and go. In this job, I ran into a group of goblins and killed them all before finding the flower. I found it, turned it in, the end." "Hmmmmm. Sounds very basic. I have to ask, though....killed them?" Deniel feared Old Man would question his methods, and he didn't know what to say....how could he justify death. "It's fine, Deniel. I don't mind you killing people. After all, your fa-I mean.....you're part demon. Continue."

Deniel didn't know what Old Man was about to say before he cut himself off......what was it? And why in the world did Old Man let it go so casually? No one else ever seemed to, so it was unlikely. But Old Man was his mentor and possibly the savior of his life, so he wasn't going to question him for not questioning Deniel. "Alright.....so....the next one was ummmmm.....oh yeah! 'Breaking and Exiting!' So a group of idiots decided to ummm.....take some stuff, I can't remember what, and were trying to make their way off with it. Luckily for me, they were idiots and left a trail. So I followed them there, and killed them all." Deniel wasn't too shy about saying that he killed things anymore, because Old Man reassured him that he wasn't there to question his motives. "And.....the next one?"

OOC: The previous one was apparently too long, so I'll hit the word count in one more post.


"The next one.....let's see here....ummmmm.....oh yeah! This one was a bit of a break compared to the last two, which involved me fighting and killing. Some guy knew some celebrity who was in Magnolia, and he wanted me to deliver a letter to her, knowing that she might not read it if he sent it with other fan letters. So anyway, this one was a lot trickier, because I knew I couldn't kill anyone here. These guys were guarding her for a good reason, and they were official people, not goblins or thieves. If I made a scene here, I could have gotten arrested." "So.....what did you do, then?" "I sneaked inside......and...let me think.....oh yeah! A guard was about to catch me, but I knocked him out by chopping a certain spot in his neck. Just like you taught me."Old Man smiled at Deniel, pleased at the fact that Deniel had actually listened to some of his lectures and lessons instead of falling asleep all the time. "Good, Deniel, very good. You ARE listening to me." Deniel scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Well....sometimes. Just whenever I feel like it. Anyway, after I knocked out this guard, I finally found the person that I was meant to deliver the letter to." Deniel didn't mention the part that it was actually her dressing room, and she was in the middle of putting her clothes on. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about something like that to Old Man. "So, she called the guards to have me taken out, but before that happened, I gave the letter to her, and once the guard showed up, she acted as if nothing happened. A bit of a perfect disguise, I'd say. So, in the end, I did the mission and got thrown out without causing much of a scene. It was a success."

This time, Old Man didn't have to comment or ask Deniel to go on to the second one, Deniel started right away. "And then......I only had one more D rank mission to go. It was quite simple, really. A girl accidentally dropped her ring inside the river....and.....I can't remember if it was for a wedding ring or fashion, but whatever. I dove in the river, found the ring, left. Done. After that, it was time for the exam. Where I faced my guildmaster, Zeno." Old Man was somewhat surprised about his exam. Although both Old Man and Deniel weren't from Fiore, Old Man wasn't ignorant on the land, he was much more knowledgeable about its system, government, guilds, mages, power, and everything else than Deniel was. "A guild master facing a D rank mage? One-sided! He went easy on you, I assume?" "Hardly. He didn't use magic, but he did toss me around like a rag doll. The whole point of the exam was to make sure I wasn't going to be thrown out of the arena, which was surrounded with fire. All he did was stay in the same spot and toss me around every time I tried to hit him." Old Man understood why Deniel tried to go for Zeno during the match. If Deniel, too, stood still, it would be Zeno who would go for him, and that would have made it much worse. At the same time, maybe standing still would have failed him right away. "And as you can see from my current rank, I passed. Next up I'll be taking the B rank exam."

"Interesting. So that's what it was like for you doing D rank jobs? Well then, tell me about the C rank ones. Are they a lot harder? Longer? More enjoyable?" Deniel never bothered to give that much thought. As a C rank mage, they seemed to be equivalent in difficulty to D rank jobs, but a lot longer. At the same time, he thought that they didn't seem too much more difficult all because of the fact that he had grown stronger, strong enough to pull off the jobs. As a D rank mage, he knew he couldn't have pulled any of them off. He knew the answer. "They were a lot longer, yes. As for being hard, yes and no." Old Man raised an eyebrow, a little confused about Deniel's answer, but he let him explain. "As a D rank mage, they would have been impossible for me to do without help. As a C rank mage, they're like doing D rank jobs. They're completely possible to do, even alone." Old Man smiled, satisfied with Deniel's answer. His answer showed that Deniel grew in strength, but he wasn't being arrogant about it, he was simply saying that he grew stronger, making what was impossible for him possible. It was a satisfying answer.

"Good answer, Deniel. Now....what kind of jobs did you do as a C rank mage? What was your first one?" The C rank jobs were much easier to explain, much, much easier. All because they were more recent, and Deniel remembered them all vividly. "Well, the first one was called "Guard My House". This one is very self-explanatory, but this job got really damn bloody. I arrived at the house and waited for the group of thieves I was supposed to protect it from to show up, but they never did. I even fell asleep for about an hour or two, and still nothing. And that's when I heard a noise coming from inside. I realized that the thieves were already inside. Once I got there, I killed the two that were already inside and made sure to put the house back to where it was to make it seem like no one got inside. Once I got outside, I thought the job was over, but I was wrong. A group of about.....three or four I think it was.....yeah, maybe three. Anyway, a group of three thieves came to me, and they were much stronger than the guys inside. Stronger or not stronger, I still killed them all, and once I did, that's when the owner of the property finally came home, and the job was done." Deniel finished there, although there was a bit more to tell. Like the fact that the client didn't like Deniel's methods of killing them all, but he paid Deniel for doing the job, nonetheless. After all, the job never said not to kill any of them.

Luckily for Deniel, Old Man didn't question anything else. He just asked him for the next job. "Well, I'm not sure if this one is in order, too.....buuuuuuut......it was called "Maiden Snatcher". And it's one I will never forget. EVER!" Deniel's last word seemed to be out of anger, and Old Man knew Deniel wasn't the type of person to get angry. He was anxious to listen to this. "Basically the sister of the client was kidnapped by these creatures called Vulcans. You see, they- "I know what they are, Deniel. I've studied this land." "Oh. Okay, then. Well, anyway, there was more than just one woman kidnapped by these things. In fact, there were three. So after killing each of these Vulcans, I rescued all of these chicks who showed little to no gratitude towards me. And then it got worse when I found the client's daughter-I mean sister. Once I rescued her, she was kind of scared and intimidated by me, and when we got back to the client's place, she whispered in his ear that he should have gotten someone more "Handsome" to rescue her and that I'm "Creepy" and "Scary." Well I CAN'T HELP THE WAY I LOOK! I JUST-" Deniel sounded extremely frustrated with this. Those lines might have well scarred him, because he was never going to forget him. He helped her and that was her way of showing gratitude. "Deniel!" Old Man called out, getting Deniel's attention. "Calm yourself, Deniel. Not everyone is the same. There are some who might consider you more friendly than others, and there are some that might discriminate against you." Deniel grumbled under his breath his past memories: "Like home......"

They were in a bit of silence, remembering the people of their hometown. How they all called him out and discriminated him for what he was, and how the kids always made fun of Old Man. But Deniel didn't want to keep this silence going, he broke it with more of his jobs. "And then after that, I think came my best job ever. It was challenging! It was fun! It felt like I was doing something right! It was amazing!" Deniel's enthusiasm wasn't fake, and it actually cheered Old Man up a bit. Old Man couldn't wait to hear this one. "Basically, some guy and girl were having a wedding, but they were afraid that the bride's ex boyfriend was gonna' crash it, so I decided to take the job of protectin' the place. I was tempted to not do it, all because I had to dress in some kind of fancy suit. Man did I look terrible in that thing! As a result, I ended up wearing my normal clothes under it, because I knew I couldn't kick some guy's ass while dressed like that! I lured out a few of his goons from the sanctuary killed them, and when I got back, I had the biggest stand-off of my life......so far." "Hmmmm?"

"Fifteen against one. Three guys coming straight for me, twelve shooting elemental projectiles at me. It was a fight for my life. If I stopped moving for a second, then I was finished. The three guys coming straight at me were easy, but the trick was getting the guys who were shooting stuff at me. I used Nidhogg's air pressure to make sure that I would finish them off at once. I attacked them over and over and over again, while dodging over and over and over again. Once I was sure each person had enough hits on them, I sheathed Nidhogg, and I defeated them all at once." Old Man smiled, pleased with Deniel's story so far. It seemed as if Deniel was really getting stronger, and that he was really learning. As his mentor, he couldn't be more proud. But Deniel wasn't done. "I knew I still had the ex boyfriend to deal with, but luckily for me, the groom's sister was a healer, so she healed me up to full condition, and all that was left was to do the ceremony. Right before they were about to wed, the ex boyfriend finally showed up with a few of his goons to stop the wedding. The groom set up a battle between me and him. If I won, the ex boyfriend was to leave. If he won, the wedding would be off. And then it began, the second best battle of my life so far." Old Man raised an eyebrow, wondering what could have topped it. "Go on."

"This guy was strong. Really strong. He could take blows, he could dish them out, he could block, he could counter, he could send me flying. He could do all sorts of things. If I weren't for me being a Nephalem, and Nidhogg, I don't think I would have won that fight. After nearly defeating me, I somehow found the strength to pull it all back in one final attack, the attack that ended it all. It was a climactic battle, but it resulted in my victory." Deniel held out his hand, and Old Man took the signal to high-five him. Both of them smiled and laughed. "But Deniel.....if that's second place, what is the first?" Deniel laughed, almost as if mocking Old Man's clueless attitude. "That's easy. My fight with you, Old Man. I've never felt this strong before, and now I see why I'm this strong. It's so I have an actual chance of defeating you. The gem knew I wouldn't be able to do it as my current state, so it gave me the power to do so." Old Man nodded in agreement. "Precisely, Deniel. Now then, what about your next job?"

Deniel realized that he was getting a little bit off track. "Oh yeah! Well....ummm......yes, yes, I remember! This one was a lot more....adventurous than the other ones. It was filled with a lot more nature. It was called "Find My Lion Cub", and it was self-explanatory, but I had no idea what it had in store for me. It seemed like a very basic job and idea to me, but little did I know, it was going to be beautiful. It took place in Serene Cliff, which was heavily populated by nature, and seemingly nothing more. I felt like I was corrupting the place just by standing there, it was beautiful. But of course.....there had to be something to get into my way. I was suddenly attacked by a swarm of.....beetles.....and they hurt. Really, really hurt. But with my Devil's Reign spell, I was able to finish them off instantly, because they were so damn close. After that, I didn't have much time to rest before a bunch of.....meat-eating birds attacked me. One of them did manage to dig its claws in my shoulder, and that hurt like Hell, too. After defeating two of them, the third flew back into its cave, but it wasn't done there. I once again had another fight on my hands. It was a Great White Moose.....and it was really great. I got hit by it once, and I knew if I got hit by it just one or two more times, I'd be done for. This thing charged me straight into a tree, and it had massive leg strength. The only thing I could ever do was jump to the side. That is, until I found a way to defeat it without killing it. Instead of killing it or beating the Hell out of it, I tamed it." "Tamed....it? Tamed a Great White Moose?" "Yeah. I jumped on its back and held it by the antlers, showing that I wasn't going to give up. Eventually, it gave up trying to resist and let me take control. It asked it if it knew about the lion cub, and it lead me straight to where it and the rest of its herd was. And there was the lion cub, scared in a corner. The pack of moose didn't harm it, but it never let any of them get too close. After giving it its master's name, the lion cub trusted me, and I rode the moose back to the cliff. It was there where I confronted the stupid bird that ran off from before, and like the other two, I killed it. Once that happened, the moose took me back to the lion cub's owner, and that's where the job ended."

"Interesting, Deniel. Very interesting. You really have come a long way and have done plenty of nice things for the people of Fiore. I am proud to be your mentor. But alas, this will come to an end tomorrow. It's time for you to get your sleep, Deniel. Tomorrow, we finish what we started five days ago." The two stood up, bowed to each other, and then headed to their respective rooms where each one slept for tomorrow.



Once again, Deniel awoke on the line between his Heaven and his own Hell, but he wasn't as stunned this time. This time, he knew what was happening. He stood up and turned around, and sure enough, Old Man was standing there, waiting for Deniel. The last fight was about to commence. Neither one of them had to say a word, for all of Deniel's confusion was laid to rest. Deniel couldn't wait to become the Black Devil once again and feel the power.......but he wasn't going to become it. Deniel was once again taken by surprise, when the world they were warped to was nothing but darkness. Just complete blackness with white mist flowing here and there. Deniel was once again confused. Old Man laughed at Deniel. "You're not going to become the angel or the devil today, Deniel. Today, you defeat me as yourself. We went to Hell, then Heaven, and now......WE ARE IN PURGATORY!" There was no ceiling, there was no floor. Deniel couldn't tell if he was floating, flying, levitating, or standing. He couldn't tell which way was up, which way was down, nothing. It was just infinite darkness. Purgatory was a place as such. Neither Heaven, Hell, or the world of the living.

Something that also caught his attention was "becoming himself"......did that mean. Deniel looked down at himself, to see that for once, nothing was changed. Nothing except his wings and eyes. Deniel possessed his different colored Nephalem Eyes, as well as his black feathered Nephalem Wings. Nothing else about him was changed......except for the fact that he felt an incredible amount of power inside of him; power that he never even felt before, even as the Black Devil or the White Angel. He felt unstoppable. It was time that he took on his mentor, Old Man, and defeated him once and for all. "Get ready you stupid old geezer! I'm coming at you with everything I've got!" Deniel got ready by placing his feet apart, bending his knees, and clenching both of his fists while holding both hands out to make sure they weren't on his waist. Old Man matched Deniel's stance exactly, because Deniel picked it up from Old Man. "Good! I wouldn't have it any other way! You stupid brat!"

Both of them charged at each other, fist raised in the exact same way, but Deniel landed the blow far before Old Man did. Currently, he was faster, stronger, and he even felt a bit smarter. Deniel landed a blow to Old Man's face, but didn't stop there. He kneed Old Man's stomach and then grabbed his arm, flinging him over his shoulder. Old Man recovered himself while he was flying, by turning to face Deniel and sliding on his feet. Right when he turned around, though, Deniel was already flying straight for him, where he hit Old Man's face once again, and kneed his stomach several times, sending him flying up in the air. Deniel was being merciless here, he wasn't giving Old Man any room to do anything. He was going to finish this as fast as possible.

Once Old Man was in the air, Deniel flew after him and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around so he could land four punches right in his stomach, and then kick him away. Old Man surprisingly recovered once again, but what was more surprising was that he stood at the same elevation Deniel did, as if there was solid ground there. Deniel tried what Old Man did, and discovered that he could plant his feet anywhere, he didn't need to fly all the time. But flying was a lot faster than running or jumping, so he would keep it. Deniel turned his attention back to Old Man, who was already in front of him. Old Man nailed Deniel straight in the jaw, and then performed a roundhouse kick in Deniel's face. With his foot still near Deniel's face, Old Man smashed his heel down against the back of Deniel's face, which lowered Deniel's height, and then he raised both of his fists together and smashed down at Deniel's back.

Like Deniel, Old Man wasn't going to give him any room. He then planted his foot on Deniel's back to push him against the non-existent floor, making it so Deniel's couldn't get up. Normally, this would have meant Deniel was pinned, but in this world, that didn't mean anything. Deniel used the fact that there was no floor to his advantage, and let himself drop away from Old Man's position. He fell from his spot, leaving Old Man standing alone, and took flight. He flew back up to Old Man's spot as fast as he could and landed another blow to his jaw.

Old Man headbutted Deniel just as hard as he did yesterday, and was proud to see that Deniel took the blow, but still stood. All that was left was a bruise on his face. Deniel punched Old Man's stomach with his other hand, and kneed Old Man's face. Neither opponent seemed to be blocking the other. Unlike the Black Devil day, they were moving so fast, that they couldn't see each others' moves. This was going to be a test to see who could survive the longest, and who was the most durable.

Both of them jumped away from each other to gain some ground and some room to breathe. Deniel had two bruises on his face, but nothing else. Old Man, on the other hand, had several on his face, two on his stomach, and even had a few drops of blood coming out of his mouth. So far, Deniel was winning with ease. An extreme amount of ease. He didn't know if he was too strong, or if Old Man was holding back. No matter what, he wasn't going to lose this. He needed to finish Old Man off and get back to reality. There was a B ranked exam with his name on it, and he wasn't going to pass it up.

Old Man was breathing heavily, completely worn out. He didn't know what the hell Deniel was doing, why he was winning so easily. He thought this was going to be an even match, but the Nephalem form was much too powerful. At this rate, Deniel wasn't going to learn anything. He needed to switch it up a bit. All that was going to happen was Deniel was going to beat the Hell out of him and walk away nearly unharmed. Old Man decided to take Deniel back a bit. He snapped his fingers, and the arena was suddenly changed.

They were back in the volcano that they fought in the first day. The obsidian arena with a pentagram engraved deep into the stone. The four chains holding up the unstable arena floor, and the moten lava beneath the place. Deniel was back into his Black Devil form, with his scaled skin and armor on his knees, chest, and shoulders. To Old Man's surprise, this form was complete. Instead of his normal head, Deniel was given the Head of the Black Devil. His skin was grey, and didn't have scales on it, but his eyes were red. Not just with red irises, they were pure red. The white part and the pupil were red, everything in his eyes were red. In addition, he had the Crown of the Black Devil upon his head. This crown covered all of his head except his face, and even connected to the armor on his chest, which covered up all of his neck. The crown had two devil horns sticking out of the side, which were tipped with red at the end. In the center of the crown, on Deniel's forehead, was a red jewel, that almost looked like another eye, embedded within the crown. Deniel didn't seem to notice the change. All he knew was that he looked like the Black Devil, and that he wasn't going to stop here.

While his head was changed, though......thoughts crawled into Deniel's head. Evil thoughts, sadistic thoughts, even. Thoughts of ripping Old Man to pieces, of tearing him apart, of making him suffer, throwing him in the lava, torturing him! Deniel smiled a wicked grin, showing off the fanged teeth that came with this form. Old Man was slightly intimdated by his appearance. This wasn't suppposed to happen. Deniel was supposed to be himself, just with the power! Now, it didn't even look like him anymore. Old Man went straight for Deniel, but while he was charging, he found himself caught in the stomach by something. Deniel had charged back, and sent his fist into Old Man's stomach. Old Man was sent clashing into the walls of the volcano, and once the dust cleared, Deniel was already in front of him, still wickedly grinning. He grabbed Old Man by the neck and threw him back down to the arena. Before Old Man even got up, Deniel was already there, and he grabbed him by the neck again. Deniel punched Old Man in the face several times before throwing him across the arena, letting him slide on the ground.

Old Man was taking this all without wanting to. Every time Deniel made a move, he wanted to hit Deniel back or counter it, but Deniel was too fast, too strong. More blood poured out of Old Man's face, and the arena began to tip in his direction. Old Man looked up to see Deniel walking straight for him. Old Man quickly tried to get away, having no time to walk away, he tried to crawl away, but then felt the tight grip of Deniel's clawed hands on his ankles, and found himself dangling upside down with Deniel holding on to him by one hand on his ankle. "Deniel! Stop this! Please! D-Don't you remember me!? I'm your mentor! The Old Man, remember!?"

Deniel only responded with: "Shut up." Still holding Old Man by the ankle, Deniel slammed him on the ground over his shoulder, and then slammed him on the other side. Right, left, right, left, right, left. Deniel was throwing Old Man around like a rag doll while holding on to him, smashing him on the ground and letting him feel the harsh impact, and then doing it again. Eventually, Deniel got bored of throwing Old Man around, and threw him straight for the lava.

Old Man barely had his senses, his vision was blurry, blood was pouring out of his mouth, and he could have sworn that a rib or three was broken......and perhaps his spine was cracked. Old Man struggled to snap his fingers, but when he did, they were atop the mountain once again. He figured if he fought Deniel when he had less strength, then he would be able to recover himself. And maybe Deniel's angel side was much more controllable than his demon one. Old Man turned around, expecting to see Deniel partially as an angel, but still with his head. He was completely wrong.

Deniel stood there with his legs close together, his right one placed in front of his left, and his wings spread out mightily. His head was not his own, but it belonged to his angel side. What was his hair was now covered with the white fur, and his face had the purple scales on them, with a pair of his blue glowing eyes. There were two horn-like figures coming out of his head off to the side, and curving at one part to point out to the side. On his face were resemblances to facial hair, with yellow hair making a beard and sideburns. Finally, made out of bone, was an arch that looked like the entrance to something, but was cut off at one point to separate it into two pieces. Old Man thought Deniel looked like a monster once again. "Now......you face justice!"

Deniel sounded full of himself. Much more full of himself than his Devil form. in his Devil form, Deniel usually stayed silent, but when he spoke to Old Man, his tone was harsh. As an angel, it wasn't gentle, it, too was harsh, but in a way that seemed like it was the right thing to do. "Deniel....please....listen to me....you have to....." Deniel interrupted Old Man by instantly appearing over him, with his shadow cast over Old Man on the ground. Deniel kicked Old Man back up to his feet. "Get up, stop talking, and fight like a warrior! I understand your fear! You face the end! You face me! Now, it's time to die!"

Old Man was on his feet, panting. The attack didn't hurt him at all, and he was glad. Maybe his angel form would give him the chance to recover so he can come up with a way to stand a chance against Deniel once he went back to the Nephalem form. "Fine! Get ready, angel. You have no id-" Deniel interrupted Old Man by landing a blow to his stomach, but his strength wasn't enough to send Old Man flying. It made him flinch, and Old Man finally took his chance to fight back ever since he switched the environments. Old Man tried punching Deniel's face, but Deniel moved his head to the side and sent a quick roundhouse kick to Old Man's face, fazing him some more. Old Man tried hitting Deniel again, but Deniel dodged it again. Old Man tried over and over and over again, but Deniel was much too fast for him. Old Man couldn't touch Deniel, and Deniel hit Old Man several times between each hit.

Eventually, Deniel landed a blow that sent Old Man staggering back, clenching on to his stomach. Old Man coughed out some more blood, and could barely keep himself standing. Deniel was once again walking over to Old Man, and he grabbed Old Man by his grey hair. "DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Deniel shouted, kneeing Old Man and throwing him away. Old Man slowly got up while Deniel made his way over to him again. Deniel was about to hit Old Man, but for the first time, Old Man caught up with his speed and caught Deniel's fist. Old Man was panting and in an immense amount of pain. His training for Deniel was backfiring on him. This world was growing out of control, and so was Deniel. He was being defeated too easily, and Deniel was drunk off of his own power.

Old Man grabbed Deniel by the neck with his other hand, and lifted him off of the ground to prevent Deniel from doing anything. Deniel grabbed on to Old Man's arm with his hands, but Old Man didn't let go. Old Man brought Deniel in, close to his face, and Old Man moved his head back and headbutted Deniel as hard as he could. If this worked last time, it should have worked this time. The headbutt, shattered the arch on Deniel's head, and Old Man let go. Deniel staggered back, letting out a loud, painful cry. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!"

It may have hurt him, but Old Man's plain failed. Deniel was now unstoppable. If that headbutt didn't work, nothing was going to. Old Man was falling into despair, while Deniel's face bled the blood of an angel. He held on to his head tightly, and looked down at his hands stained in his own blood. "YOU DARE!? YOU DARE TO TOUCH AN ANGEL IN SUCH A WAY! YOU DARE HIT ME AS YOU DID! YOU DARE DEFY ME! YOU DARE MAKE ME BLEED! YOU......" Deniel looked at Old Man, with his anger rising. "YOU SHALL BE JUDGED FOR YOUR ACTS! FOR YOUR SINS! PREPARE TO DIE!"

Old Man tried to snap his fingers again, so he could try one last time to bring Deniel back to Purgatory, and to bring him back to his senses. Before he could, Deniel appeared in front of Old Man and roundhouse kicked him in the jaw, sending him flying in the air. Deniel followed Old Man to the sky.

The sky, in response to Deniel's anger, began to darken, just like the hellish landscape that bordered it. The water no longer shined, the sky darkened to complete darkness, and lightning in the sky.

Old Man was launched into the grey clouds, and Deniel shortly caught up with him. Deniel proceeded to do the attack that he pulled off on Old Man before while he was in his angel form, but this time, it was going to be much more ruthless and merciless. For an angel, Deniel showed no mercy to those he considered wicked. Deniel held out his claws instead of punching or kicking Old Man, and he proceeded to slash mercilessly at him. Deniel dashed from Old Man's side, holding out his clawed hand and letting it cut through Old Man's skin, and once he appeared on the other side, went in another direction. When Deniel was in one place, he was in another, cutting at Old Man's helpless body as he pleased. Above, below, to the side, to the other side, the right, the left, above, below, below, right, left, above, below, right, left. This merciless attack never seemed to end.

Old Man, while he was being beat by his student, remembered the day Deniel met him.


It was many years ago, nearly ten. Old Man was a solitary old guy that lived in his own temple, similar to the one he now has in Fiore, atop a small mountain in Deniel's hometown. Old Man and Deniel were born in the country of Bellum, far outside of Fiore. Deniel was a very angry kid, being ridiculed ever since the day he was born. And one day, Deniel visited Old Man atop the temple. Deniel was in rags, and he was extremely scrawny, too. He looked as if he wasn't fed at all. His entire body was in bruises, and his eyes looked lifeless. While Old Man was meditating in front of his temple, Deniel could be seen at the corner of his eye, making his way towards him. Old Man opened his eye at Deniel, interrupting his meditation, and stared down at the broken child. "Child. Who exactly are you? And why do you look the way you look?" Back then, Deniel was hostile. Very hostile back then, and full of anger. "That's none of your business, stupid old man! You probably wanna' make fun of me, too! Right!? Go on! Do your worst! Call me a Nephalem! Call me the son of the Black Devil! Call my mother a b****, call her wicked! Do whatever you want! I....." Deniel stared down, with tears welling up in his eyes, "I can take it....." In reality, he couldn't. Deniel was starving, beat up, and his will was broken just because his parents were notorious and wicked people, but he always denied it.

Old Man could sense his denial, and all of his anguish, too. "Follow me inside, child. I'll feed you." Deniel stared up at Old Man, with tears still in his eyes. He couldn't believe what he just heard. Old Man stood up and walked to the entrance of his temple. "Well, are you coming, or are you not?" For the first time since he was born, Deniel smiled happily and ran after Old Man inside the temple. There, Old Man fed Deniel, and tended his wounds. "Tell me, child. What is your name?" "I......I don't have a name. I don't know my mother and father, but everyone seems to know them, but not in a good way. They say my mother was a wench, a whore, a b****, a witch, and wicked for an angel. And then, they called my father a bloodthirsty savage, a bringer of death, a ruthless killer, a merciless fiend, and a demon.......and they cal me a Nephalem. I don't know what that means. But.....I deny it! I deny all of it! I know my mother and father are good people! They have to be! I deny everything they say!" Old Man stared at Deniel with his grey eyes. "You're full of denial, eh? Well, then today, you shall be known as Deniel! Deniel Thorman!" Deniel stared up at Old Man, and was happy for the name. From then on, Old Man became a parental figure to Deniel. Old Man raised Deniel and trained him. Both no longer lived a solitary life, for they had each other.

And now, here Old Man was, being torn apart by his student. Old Man's bruises could no longer be seen, for now he had many bloody scratches and marks on him. Deniel, finally satisfied prepared one last attack. He flew above Old Man and held up both of his fists together, and smashed down at Old Man as hard as he could, sending him flying down. Old Man hit the ground in to time, going at a massive speed and velocity. When he did, he could feel his life slipping away.......not like this. He couldn't do it like this. He panted and let blood pour out of his mouth. From behind him, Deniel slowly descended with one foot in front of the other just like before. The dark clouds faded away, letting the light shine upon the world once again. The light was directly behind Deniel, giving him a brilliant entrance, fitting for an angel. "Your judgment is almost over, old fool. One more blow should do it."

Old Man hated to admit it, but Deniel was right. Absolutely right. Deniel approached Old Man, getting ready for the final blow. With almost the last bit of his strength, Old Man snapped his fingers.

The two were now back in Purgatory, where Deniel was finally himself. Nothing changed, and he didn't seem to remember anything. But suddenly, right in front of him, was his mentor, all bloodied up and on the verge of death. "Old Man!" Deniel shouted, running straight for him and holding him on his lap. "Say something!" Old Man narrowly opened his eyes, struggling to keep them open. "You're back to your senses.....Deniel.....AHAAAAAGH!" Old Man coughed up several drops of blood. "I....I don't understand....what happened!?" Old Man placed his hand on his own chest. "I'll tell you something, kid.....you're a monster.....well....you'll become one. This gem has shown me your future, and it's a harsh one. What awaits you, Deniel......power. Immense.....power. AHAAAAGH!" Old Man coughed once again. "My time is short, Deniel. End it. Please."

"B-But isn't this all fake!? I mean...this isn't this just inside the gem? You're not really going to die.....are you!?" Deniel stared down at Old Man. He thought this was all fake, and that was something that prevented him from breaking into tears. "It is......but I'm not alive, Deniel. I'm dead. I've been dead ever since you left. An old man dies of old age, you know?" Old Man tried to laugh, but ended up coughing instead. "You're.....you're dead!? Since when did you die!?" "A few days after you left, Deniel. This is the last bit of me left. I needed to train you one last time....now....your fate is your own. Please, Deniel....don't grieve over me. Move on, become stronger, stronger.....no....BECOME THE STRONGEST!" Old Man tried to shout as loud as he can, and his body paid the price for it with more harsh coughs, and his eyes were watering from the immense amount of pain.

Deniel didn't know what happened, but he somehow knew this was all his fault. He did this to Old Man, his mentor. He died, and all he was doing was killing him again. Old Man was breathing heavily, trying as best as he could to cling on to his last bit of life. Deniel's eyes watered. He didn't know what to say, except something he was wondering all along. "Old Man.....what's your real name?" Deniel remembered that as long as he knew him, all he ever called Old Man was.....Old Man. He wanted to know his mentor's name before he was lost forever.

Old Man almost laughed at Deniel, as he finally got to say his own name to him. Old Man placed his hand on Deniel's cheek, wiping away a tear from Deniel's eye. "A-A-A.......My name is.....Vergilius. But you can.....call me Vergil. Don't cry......Deniel. Remember, it's your father that needs to shed the tears." Deniel had no idea what Old Man was talking about with his last line. His father? Deniel knew nothing about his father or his mother. Before Deniel could ask anything, like what Old Man was talking about, he was suddenly gone. Deniel was left alone there.....in Purgatory. His own Purgatory. Deniel almost blended in with the blackness of this world. There was no above, there was no below. All of the tears that Deniel shed all dropped, but never landed. They would be forever falling. Deniel felt helpless, he felt alone. Old Man granted him company when he needed it the most. .......Old Man-no, not Old Man, Vergilius granted Deniel. Nothing would ever replace him.



And then, a light entered the Purgatory, and Deniel was finally outside of his own world. Deniel was back to his normal self, and he was standing atop the sky tower. He was in the same position as he was when he held Old Man's dying corpse. He was on his knees, looking as if he were holding something that was dying. Deniel's tears completely stopped, and he clenched his fists. "Thank you......Vergilius. For everything." Deniel finally stood up from his knees, staring at the land of Fiore. He looked to his North, his South, his East, and his West. He looked in all directions. This day would be another life-marking day for the rest of his life. The day he was born, the day he met Vergilius, and now......the day Vergilius died. Deniel would make sure that anything noble or remember able  by the world he ever died, anything at all.....would be in his name Vergil would be a name everyone would know. The name of the man who trained Deniel Decayuss Thorman, and set out his path towards power.

He looked back one last time at the gem of time, and surprisingly....he spoke to it. "Thank you. For letting me have one last chance.....to fight Vergil." Although Deniel had killed Vergil, he wasn't going to stop growing stronger. Even though the power took away Deniel's last moments with Vergil, it was this power that Deniel was going to need. He didn't know why he needed it, but he knew that a powerful enemy awaited him in the future.

.......Far off from the sky tower, stood a man. This man was atop a mountain the faced the Sky Tower. A man that Deniel was almost the spitting image of. He shared the same body, and almost the same face, except his was older, with freshly trimmed facial hair, and his hair went all the way down to his waist. He wore an attire similar to Deniel, but his coat was long-sleeved, and much more thick. In addition, he had armor on underneath his clothing to give him a bulkier figure. This man was known as the Black Devil, Diabolos. "So.....Vergil is finally dead. And my son is now on his own. Amusing. Ariana will want to hear this."