The Broken Halo

Avaros reached the ruined battlefield first.

Two ridged horns swept back above his silver hair. Broad black wings spread behind fitted armour, their edges outlined by the emerald light covering the sky.

He stopped above the remains of a mountain and raised one hand.

The other two halted with him.

A Superior Demon King of the Kingdom of Darkness, Avaros had destroyed mountains himself and the broken landscape did not explain why his expression had changed.

The space above it did.

A sheet of falling stone vanished halfway to the ground. A moment later, the missing fragments reappeared several metres aside, crushed into dust.

”Do not descend there,” he said.

Nereth drew his wings closer. He was another Two-Horned Demon serving the Kingdom of Darkness, but his Minor Cataclysm Heart stood two grades beneath Avaros’s. Short black hair framed a narrow face, and a long sword rested against his hip.

To their right, Eshar extended a hand.

The Infernal Demon’s dark-red skin contrasted with the black armour covering his towering body. Dull orange light shone between its plates. Unlike his winged companions, the Prime Demon King of the Infernal Kingdom floated without anything moving behind him.

A thread of his power reached toward an iron-grey spark.

Both disappeared.

Eshar withdrew his hand.

”That was a remnant power.”

”Everything here is a remnant,” Nereth said.

”Then look at how much force remains in it.”

Avaros followed the thin traces crossing the empty air. Some belonged to weapons. Others curved around the hills or disappeared into folds of space that had not settled.

Whoever had fought here had repeatedly torn through the area’s attempts to stabilise.

The three raised their eyes.

The God of War stood beneath the broken clouds, an iron-grey spear drawn behind his left shoulder. Crimson light ran along its shaft, and the air before its point remained unnaturally clear.

Opposite him, an enormous serpent silhouette circled above a silver-haired figure.

Both were watching the newcomers.

Neither looked pleased.

”The markings,” Nereth murmured.

”I can see them,” Avaros replied.

The God of War. There was no mistaking those eyes or the crossed spears upon the borrowed chest.

The other figure was a different matter.

Avaros examined the black horns, the scales, and the blood staining the exposed torso. He sensed a Supreme Abyssal Heart.

A Demon Lord.

Then the stranger’s blue-green eyes met his.

Something deep within Avaros’s blood recoiled.

No. That was not quite right.

It wanted to lower itself.

His wings stiffened before he suppressed the response. Beside him, Nereth drew a sharp breath. Eshar’s fingers curled slowly.

They had felt it too.

”Who are you?” Avaros asked.

The stranger did not answer.

The immense coils above him shifted, exposing rows of scales lit from beneath with emerald.

Nereth’s eyes narrowed.

”He asked your name.”

Lord Enigma looked between the three Demon Kings.

”Fuck off.”

For a moment, none of them moved.

”Before you regret coming here,” he added.

Nereth’s hand closed around his sword.

”What did you say?”

Enigma’s expression remained cold.

Avaros raised an arm before Nereth could advance, though his own gaze had hardened.

”You stand within lands protected by the Kingdom of Darkness. You will explain who you are and what happened here.”

The stranger’s bloodline unsettled him, but that did not mean he would accept orders from a Demon Lord.

Especially not before two other kings.

Eshar studied the scales again.

”Whatever your lineage, you would be wise to choose your words more carefully.”

Enigma’s fingers tightened.

Across from him, the God of War gave a short, irritated laugh.

”So your king did not come.”

Avaros turned.

”He sent two weaklings who call themselves kings instead.”

Nereth’s demonic energy stirred violently. Eshar’s eyes darkened as the god glanced at him.

”And the Infernal Kingdom contributed another.”

”You destroyed our army,” Avaros said. ”Did you expect nobody to answer?”

”I expected better company.”

The spear continued humming.

”Fuck off,” the god said. ”Both of us were enjoying ourselves before you arrived.”

Eshar stared at him.

A god dismissing them was offensive enough. Hearing the same dismissal from the demon opposite him made the insult considerably worse.

”You seem to have forgotten where you are,” the Infernal Demon said.

The god’s mouth curved.

”Have I?”

”The realm suppresses you. Your chosen’s body limits you. We are not the Demon Lords you killed.”

Nereth drew his sword.

”We are Demon Kings.”

The declaration brought a measure of steadiness back into his voice. Their Hearts had passed the boundary that separated them from ordinary demons. Each possessed power comparable to a Demi-God.

The being inside the human might be a god.

The human containing him was not.

The wounds, the missing forearm, and the ruined armour were proof that the vessel could be damaged.

Avaros spread his wings.

”We did not come here carelessly. Three Demon Kings can contain a fight with a borrowed body, especially one you still intend to preserve.”

He glanced toward Enigma.

”And whatever this one has done, his Heart remains below ours.”

Enigma’s eyes became colder.

The god lowered his chin slightly. For several breaths, neither answered.

Avaros took the silence for consideration.

”The rift is still open,” he told the god. ”Return to Earth.”

The spear left the god’s hand.

At the same instant, Enigma brought both arms down.

Neither had looked at the other.

Neither gave another warning.

A crimson line crossed the space before Avaros.

For a fraction of a second, he could not see the spear inside it. Only the straight path stripped clear of dust and the pressure expanding around it.

Spear That Pierces the Horizon.

It was aimed at his chest, but the force accompanying it covered all three kings.

Above and below them, space opened.

Black jaws emerged from the tears, their fangs burning emerald beneath the enormous shadow of Serpent’s Eclipse.

Maw Beyond the Sky.

The bloodline manifestation poured its strength into the jaws. The power Enigma had been gathering for the god now enclosed the three newcomers instead.

The spear approached from the front.

The mouth closed from above and below.

”YOU BASTARDS!” Nereth roared.

Avaros threw both hands forward.

Darkness condensed into an immense barrier before them. He layered it again, then again, abandoning the restraint with which he had approached.

His expression changed as he felt the approaching spear.

’This is coming from that body?’

The barrier was not even under attack yet. The pressure ahead of the point was already forcing its outer layers inward.

Eshar raised his arms. Rings of black-red fire surrounded them, joining into a second defence inside the first.

He had intended to burn apart the incoming weapon.

Now he poured everything into keeping his protection solid.

The jaws above them had begun squeezing the space between their fangs. His flames bowed inward.

Nereth’s free hand jerked toward his chest.

”Do not begin a Manifestation!” Avaros snapped. ”There is no time!”

Nereth abandoned the motion. He raised his sword with both hands instead, spreading its power into a curved shield beneath their feet.

Three Demon Kings stood inside layers of darkness, fire, and steel-grey light.

None had enough breath left for another insult.

Avaros could no longer reconcile the stranger’s rank with the terrible presence behind those jaws. Whatever that creature was, the words Demon Lord had told him almost nothing.

And the god’s spear...

”MORE!” he shouted.

Their Hearts thundered together.

The iron-grey point reached the outer barrier as the immense black jaws snapped shut around all three.