Chapter 30 - Do human souls taste good?

Image for this chapter is the vibe.

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Note:

- This is Raziel speaking (in Nero's head)

- "This is Nero talking to Raziel in his head"

POV: Nerovsky

I descended slowly as the MegCorp building came into view and carefully scanned for the piece of shit. It was the middle of the day so thankfully, there weren't many people going in or going out of the building, so very little witnesses. I want to retire. I regret every decision I ever made. This is why god said not to be greedy. Greed gives you bad luck. The MegCorp building gives you bad luck as well. After a couple of rounds around the building, I finally spotted the dude and made my way. Diving down right above him, I called forth more power (A/N I should probably mention this. Whenever Nero uses more of his power, his left eye turns red. I can't be bothered mentioning this every single time. His right eye also can turn red but we'll get to that eventually) and as soon as he noticed me from above, I wrapped around my magic around his torso and flew up to the clouds again, with his body in tow.

"OI WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! WHO ARE YOU?"

My faces morphed into exasperation. "Are you serious right now? Did you come to my building to pick a fight with someone without knowing what they look like? I could've just played ignorant then." (Well no. I couldn't)

The retard looked confused before it quickly dawned on him and his face shifted to anger. "IT'S YOU! PUT ME DOWN! I WANT A FAIR FIGHT! THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

I rolled my eyes at his words while looking at Aiden's text. "I'm not fighting you here. We're going somewhere else where we can fight peacefully. With no bystanders to unintentionally include."

"I want witnesses. We need an audience or else we're going back."

A groaned out of frustration. "Oh for fuck sake the place is still in the CBD. There will be people around. Whether they watch or not is not my problem."

There was nothing but the sound of wind rushing past us before there was a compliant "Okay" from underneath me. It took about 3 more minutes (mainly because I got lost) to reach the address Aiden sent, which was an abandoned basketball/netball court. Well, there was about 4 of these courts, all next to each other which ultimately made up a very large space. Definitely large enough for a fight. The only issue I had was the fact that it was surrounded by skyscrapers, left, right and centre.

I finally brought us back down to earth and as soon as Mr. Ex-champion's foot touched the ground, he jumped away from me. I rolled my eyes at his dramatic antics and cracked my bones in preparation for his upcoming demise. I took a look around my environment and see a couple of sleeping bags and plastic bags at the edges of the court. Luckily, there wasn't anyone here but the items may be destroyed in the process. I'll just get Aiden to replace them afterwards with better shit and a couple of cash. I don't mean to destroy their place like this.

I looked back at the other man to see him stretching and warming up. Oh wait. I keep calling him the man. I have no fucking clue who he is or what his power is. I kind of forgot lmao. "Uh dude. What's your name? Also, what's your Oddity? Kind of forgot." I gave him an apologetic look because I felt bad for forgetting someone who'd been training years to destroy my ass.

His face turned red and he ground out, "My. Name. is. Jax the Third (there was two more of him? Sounds like a nightmare). My power is the whip. I can turn any part of my body into a whip or anything I touch can be turned into a whip. I can use any type of whips as well. Poisonous whip. Spikey whip. BDSM whip. You name it, I have it!" He began laughing out loud in proudness.

I looked at him dumbfoundedly. Is he an idiot? He just helped the enemy. Actually don't answer the first question. It's rhetorical. "Look. Can we just get this over with? I kind of need to go back to work. Wait no I don't. I took the day off. Well, I still wanna finish this up quickly."

"WAIT! You never told me what your Oddity is! I never figured it out during our first fight."

"You never asked."

"Oh. What's your power?"

I just gave him a snobbish smile. "Don't wanna tell ya."

"WHAT?! I told you mine!"

A shrug was my retaliation. "Never forced ya to."

A growl came out of Jax and without a warning he sent a lash my way. It was too fast and I couldn't avoid it so it hit my abdomen, sending me flying into the building behind me. I coughed out all the air in my lungs as I was imprinted into the bricks. God, that fucking hurt. How long has it been since I actually got hit? I need to seriously stop underestimating people.

I got myself off the wall and looked back at my indentation, which caused me to frown. Ok, so this fucker is clearly not gonna give a damn about his surroundings. So I gotta deal with that while fighting him at the same time. Jax was just standing there waiting for my next move (how nice of him) so I used this opportunity to fly up and move closer to him. I have an idea that might just work but it's gonna drain the shit out of me... well if I'm only using this much power. Looks like I gotta say hi to the devil (literally) after 2 years. But before that... "Oi Jax!"

The man looked startled. "W-What?"

"Sorry for underestimating you." With that being said, I chanted out, "πενήντα τοις εκατό μαγεία του δαίμονα, απελευθέρωση! (fifty percent magic of the demon, release!)" The darkness enveloped the right side of my body (torso to head) and my right eye matched my left eye. I endured the slight pain of the left horn growing just above my ears, hell's fire enveloping the horn. The transformation was done and I was greeted by an old friend of mine.

"Well hello there, host slash food"

I rolled my eyes and replied anyway because I was not disrespectful. "Hello to you too, Raziel."

"How long has it been since I've been out of solidarity?"

"2 years. Well technically, like a week. I know you forced yourself out of your cage that day."

"You were going about to drive yourself insane to the point of death, kid. I refuse to lose a host in such a pathetic way."

"Well, I'm glad to know that you think that my mental instability is pathetic."

"Tch that's not what I meant. Wait why am I trying to explain myself? You're just food to me."

"I'm not feeding my soul to you."

"I don't want your soul. You're a human. Therefore, food. Anyway, why was I called out? Do we have a strong one to fight?"

All of a sudden, another lash came out of nowhere but my heightened senses detected it from a mile away and I flew to the side. Oh right. I'm in a duel right now. Jax said something but I ignoreed it to answer Raziel's question.

"Not a strong opponent necessary. Stronger than the recently encountered for sure but they were trash. I need to borrow a lot more of your power because what I'm going to do is about to do is going to drain the shit out of me."

"Aw. That sounds boring. I don't want to help anymore. I bet whatever you're trying to do is for the good for the people."

"I don't care about your opinion and you can't stop me from using it. We have a contract remember? Because you actually like me and don't want to eat me? And because of that reason, you're going to let me do good for the people."

"Whatever. They're all just food anyway. Food that makes me and therefore, you stronger."

"Yes, yes they are the reason why I am so OP right now. I should thank your previous, evil hosts for feeding you so many humans. But you already know I'm not going to feed you anymore souls so shut it."

"I- why I'll never! How dare you talk to me like this? I'll have you know I, Raziel Lucifer, was once the ruler of hell and-"

"Ok, I'm now gonna fight the other dude and ignore you now."

"Hey!"

I finally put my full attention on my opponent and he was livid, confused and I swear I saw fear in his eyes. "Did you say something earlier? I kind of zoned out."

He broke out of his trance and stammered out, "I-I said w-w-what are y-you?"

"Oh. I'm a human with an Oddity. I thought that was quite obvious."

"I- Yes but that's not a normal power! You have an evil aura coming out and devious intent is basically suffocating the courts right now."

"Yeah look. I could explain why and everything but that's going to take too long and frankly, I don't really want to. Let us just get on with this stupid duel of yours. Plus, I thought you wanted me to take you seriously?"

"IT'S NOT STUPID!"

"Sure. ΔΥΝΑΜΙΚΟΣ ΠΕΔΙΟ: CUBED." The magic surged out of me as I pointed my palm outwards. A black force field formed around the courts, slightly translucent to let in the light but dark enough so no one could see through it.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Making sure you don't do any more external damage. You know how annoying that is? Like how do you plan to explain that to the authorities?"

"Seriously, that's what you're wasting my power on? I've been called out of my slumber for this?"

"Raziel shut the fuck up."

"I'm putting up an advertisement for a new host."

"You love me. Now LET ME FIGHT!"

"Hmph. That's a bit of a stretch." An irritated groan left me.

"LIES! THIS IS A TRAP OF YOURS!" Jax sent out a hard whip against the newly formed wall, only for it to bounce back and nearly hit him back instead.

"It's not a lie. I don't want to do this either you know. Maintaining it sucks the power out of me. Whoops, I said too much."

"AHA. A WEAKNESS!" he ran up and used his whip to propel himself into the air, up to my level. He shouted out (while flying up), "Poison wrap!" and both his arms became whips. He then rapidly began spinning, mimicking a Beyblade... that had poisonous whips as blades. As he flew closer to me, I coated both my hands in Raziel's magic and stood there with my hands out. As the closest knout was about to hit me, I grabbed on to it and immediately, I flipped and dove back down again. Whip/arm in hand, I smash his entire body onto the concrete floor, creating huge cracks and a massive crater with Jax's body occupying it. I jumped back 10 metres and waited for his next move.

He wasn't not moving for a solid minute and I wondered whether I was too harsh on him. Fear not though, because he jumped back up again and brought out two whips, in his hands this time (not made out of his arms). Distracted from my previous thought, I didn't realise that he had managed to wrap those whips around my calves. Oh shit.

He threw his arms up, dragging me up from my feet and causing me to fly into the air, right towards my barrier. Oh fuck. I didn't make the forcefield favour me in any way. Meaning if I crash into it... I managed to grab on to the wrapped whips mid-air and quickly exclaimed, "Hell's fire!"

The black fire started up where my hands were in contact and quickly run down the rope to where Jax was controlling it. When the fire was about a metre away from his hands, he rapidly dropped it and just as quickly, I stopped myself from crashing into the force field, opting to float in the air instead. The whips at that point have burnt away so I was free from any kinky devices.

"Wow... you've become trash. Even an amateur would've avoided those."

"Oh come on! Cut me some slack! It's been a damn while. I'm just rusty."

"No host slash food of mine should ever become rusty. My respect for you is decreasing by the minute."

"Then I'm glad I don't live to meet your stupid expectations."

"THEY ARE NOT STUPID! WHAT IS WITH THIS DISRESPECT? BACK IN THE DAY, I USED TO BE FEARED AND THE HOSTS WOULD CATER TO ME! NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND."

"Now you just sound old."

Raziel basically shrilled at the statement. "I'M NOT FUCKING OLD YOU BRAT! I'M ONLY 75101 YEARS OLD! I'm in my prime time!"

"Yeah ok, cool."

"I swear to hell's ruler I'm going to make sure you get first-class seats in the Devil's pit."

Out of nowhere, there was a booming, "Toughen!" and Jax was jumping from the ground towards me, with a stick looking thing in his hand. A spikey stick looking thing. Did he harden his whip?... wait that sounds wrong.

"Το σπαθί του διαβόλου: destroyer. (The devil's sword: destroyer.)" A large and heavy sword, coated with jet black magic, materialised in my hand and I clashed it with Jax's weapon. Nothing happened for a second before I put my own weight on the sword to overpower him. It seemed to be working, except when it didn't. Because he pulled a surprise attack on me and manages to stab a hole through my right shoulder with a hidden hardened whip.

"Ouch. That must've hurt."

A cry of "fuck!" escaped me and he managed to get the upper hand in our sword clashing. He pushed me down so we were falling to the ground again and in mid-air, was about to stab me again but I was able to utilise his lowered defences. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, I slashed my sword across his torso, in a diagonal fashion. Now you get be Zoro. Aren't you glad?

My back finally crashed onto the ground and swiftly rolled away so the man on top of me... doesn't crash on top of me. I also somehow managed to make that sound dirty. What is with me today? Jax cried out in pain for a long time and I would feel bad but he stabbed a hole in my shoulder first, which hurts like a bitch, so my growing sympathy was quickly diminished.

You'd think he'd stop by now but nope. Think again. He stood back up again, charging at me with a... charged whip (A/N I am great at words. Clearly.) which was quickly counteracted by my sword. As I was counteracting, I called forth more magic in my shoulder to begin healing it up.

"He's not going to give up anytime soon, is he?"

We jumped back and charged at each other again, clashing once more.

"I highly doubt it. Why? Are you in a rush?"

He managed to zap me but it felt like nothing compared to Aiden's zap, so I shrugged it off and created a shallow cut on his arms.

"I don't have any commitments after this but the longer we stay here, the more likelihood of the authorities catching me and I got at Aiden today for that exact reason. It will make me look like a hypocrite."

He jumped back again and I quickly yelled, "Fireball! Hell's fire edition."

"So the fact that you getting caught for your actions as the vigilante doesn't bother you. It's the fact that you're going to seem like an idiot in front of your best friend."

He got caught in it. He cried in pain and I quickly doused the fire by taking it back (you can't actually douse hell's fire). I thought he'd give up there but he managed to stay standing and called forth another fucking whip. Kinky motherfucker.

"Well no. That is important too. But the latter has more serious consequences in my eyes. Aiden's lectures and goading is hell on earth."

"Well, I guess that is fair enough. Look, if you want to get this over with, just use το μίσος στο σκοτάδι, καταναλώνεις το μυαλό σου. The guy seems to be revenge-driven so he definitely has hatred consuming his mind."

"I mean... I guess I could but that's going to deplete my energy and I called for you to NOT let that happen. I also feel bad using that on him. He doesn't deserve it. He's just revenge-driven."

"Well, no one fucking told you to use hell's fire. Twice. AND you just had to get stabbed by a basic spell. I have to go fucking heal you instead of helping you fight. If you used the hatred spell first, you'd have plenty of energy left over but of course, your righteous ass would avoid it."

"I HAD NO OTHER OPTION! I THOUGHT IT WOULD MAKE HIM STOP THE SECOND TIME. AND I WAS THINKING WHEN I GOT STABBED!"

"Well, it's either that or you spending time to beat up the guy and risking getting caught. You already have curious citizens trying to look in through your window."

"Ugh, fucking fine."

After the third consecutive missed lash, I put away my sword and flew back up again. I gave him a pitiful look before I pointed finger at him and quietly muttered, "το μίσος στο σκοτάδι, καταναλώνεις το μυαλό σου. (hatred in the dark, you consume your mind.)" Jax was crouching, preparing himself to jump before he stilled completely. It took him an impressive 5 seconds before he clutched at his brown hair and screamed out in pain. I made sure the mindfuckery hurt him into unconsciousness and nothing more.

"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! I DON'T WANT TO SEE IT ANYMORE! I DON'T WANT TO RELIVE MY REGRETS!"

A sad look passed my face. "Only if you stop trying to fight me and let me go in peace." He's reacting pretty badly... worse than usual.

Raziel monotonously commented, "The only people who react like this usually have done pretty bad things in their lifetime. Murder level bad." That explanation produced a now serious and confused frown on my face. It may seem... this man isn't as innocent he seems.

He cried out again and began banging his head against the concrete. Jax breathed heavily. "I'll... I'll never... stop. I will... destroy... you. I didn't... murder... all those... those people... for nothing. I will... make their deaths... worth it... by killing... you."

All I saw was red. Red due to outrage. I growled out, "Did you just say you murdered people for this? To train yourself."

Jax's looks said it all and I felt myself losing to rage. I'm going to kill him. He's dead now. People have died because of me. Why me? I subconsciously increased the intensity of the spell, causing the other man to finally lose unconsciousness. But I don't stop. I can't stop. I will not stop.