The Red Hand

Chapter 475 – The Demon Blade, Enūma.

"L-Lady Reflia, are you still able to see this..." Evindal said, his voice shaking as he righted himself behind a rock. He'd been blown away during the clash between Halifax and Labrys and was lucky to be alive due to his close proximity to the battling Siblings.

"I can, the connection has degraded though, due to the heavy use of Mana in the area." Reflia spoke to Evindal via a 'video feed' in a similar vein to the one she'd used to talk to Gale, though this one was much more unstable due to the excess mana in the air acting as interference. "A battle of this magnitude threatens to destabilize the entire region, and it could be even worse if the two use their full potential." She said as her audio popped and crackled. “Fools.”

"I had no idea Halifax was this powerful." Evindal said as he watched the two blink in and out of existence, flashing around the sky as little more than blurs between clashes. He was quite strong for a mortal and even stacked up well against some Demi-Gods, but this battle was far beyond his meager abilities. "As the blade that slew Vikes, I knew that she was strong, but to think..." He paused as he looked around the area. Trees were either toppled over or vaporized, and countless miles of terrain were upended and crushed due to the sheer power being used by both warriors. "And Labrys... Despite understanding his nature... I believe... I believe I underestimated him greatly. I have no doubt in my mind that any attempt at capture would've been little more than a suicide mission."

{And here I thought I might be able to do it on my own.} (Evindal)

"The Demon Axe is powerful, but I'd presumed the millennia of starvation would've kept him weak for some time." Reflia sighed, realizing that Labrys had used his time far more effectively than she'd expected. "It would seem we were too slow, and Labrys has regained his original strength via devouring countless souls. The amount of dead men left in his wake must be staggering."

"I sincerely doubt that we're going to be able to capture him, Lady Reflia. Should I withdraw and regroup?" Evindal figured that giving up would be the most prudent course of action given the circumstances. "I think it may be wise to speed up our search for the outstanding Reactors since this clash will undoubtedly draw the other Gods' attention. Even if you lack the Axe, they should still-"

"No, stay." Reflia cut him off. "This battle will likely end in one or both becoming exhausted. If possible, I'd like you to capture either of them. Without one or the other my clash with Gale will become a hopeless battle."

"You want me to what?!?" Evindal exclaimed as he pointed to the insane battle happening in the distance. “How do you expect me to capture a being that can do that?!?”

"That was what I sent you out for originally, and you proudly boasted of your strength. Capturing a weakened weapon should be easy since they'll be brought to their knees by this battle." Reflia rolled her eyes. "Just wait until the right moment. I believe we can turn this unexpected situation into the perfect opportunity if we play our cards right. My plan to destroy the Heavens with the Reactors requires my possession of either Labrys or Halifax to finish the job. Just setting them off is not guaranteed to take out the other Gods, and Gale will certainly stand in my way once he catches wind of my treachery. Their power will be mandatory if I am to deal with him."

_____________________________________________________________________________

*BOOM* *BANG* *CRASH* *WOOSH*

With Halifax switching to her first form, the battle between her and Labrys escalated ever further. Their speed, which had already been at levels far too fast for most people to see, increased even further, and each time the two's weapons met, reality itself seemed to quake under the strain of their immense power. Few battles in Enorian history had seen such a ferocious clash of titans, and for good reason.

"Are you happy now?!?" Halifax roared as she slammed Labrys and sent him flying into the ground with a thud. "Here's the Enūma you kept asking for! Is this what you wanted, Brother?" She asked sarcastically, her grip on sanity slipping with each passing moment. "I suppose as your Big Sister, I should spoil you every once in a while! Oh well, I guess I can play with you a bit! Just know that I'm quite excitable and I've been known to get carried away!" She cackled before launching herself forward and meeting Labrys with her blade, Halifax's eyes shaking due to her mental instability.

*BOOM* *BANG*

{Calling this form even a fraction of her original self would be an exaggeration, but this energy is unmistakable. Enūma still exists deep within her, despite the Gods' best efforts to sunder it away. Yet, after seeing this I am certain that my Sister is truly lost. I was hoping that by drawing out whatever remained of her original power, Enūma could be forced to the surface and perhaps even restored. However, looking at the being in front of me... Enūma the Demon Blade... My Sister... There is practically nothing left beyond a thin miasma that represents what she once was. The Gods may not have been able to purge Enūma essence from her soul completely, but what little remains... I'm sorry, Father... I couldn't save my Sister... She is gone...} (Labrys)

"Nothing about this situation has made me happy. Nothing." Labrys answered coldly as his eyes met Halifax's. "I've failed you, Sister. I've failed you, but I will at least atone by ending the tortured existence the Gods twisted you into." He said as he flipped his Axe after pushing her away, swinging it upwards and creating an series of earthen spikes to erupt from the ground below which forced the flying Halifax to retreat to avoid it. "I'd been holding out hope that you would join me, that we could fulfill our Father's goal together..." He said as he twirled his Axe in his hand, both ends crackling with lighting and black fire. "But it would seem that fate has dealt our family yet another cruel hand."

"Our family? I don't know about that, but my life has been fucked since the very beginning!" Halifax roared in anger as she flashed forward to place Labrys back in melee range, her blade slamming into Labyrs, who shuddered under the impact but held firm under the sheer weight of her assault. "I gave it my all! I fought again and again and again!" The Divine Blade yelled as she continued to pound her counterpart with ferocious power, pinning him in place with a combo that ended in an extremely heavy final blow that caused cracks to form in Labrys armor. "And what do I have to show for it?!?"

*BOOM*

"FUCKING NOTHING!" Halifax screamed as her energy exploded outward as she pushed harder into Labrys, who slid backwards as he was overpowered. "I killed the fucking Demon Lord. I slew countless Demons that wanted to overrun the world. I FOUGHT EVERY ENEMY THAT THE GODS POINTED ME AT!” Halifax roared as her power began to shatter bits and pieces of Labrys armor. “Over and over again, I answered the call to battle! Over and over again, I fought! WITHOUT QUESTION!" She screamed as the two kicked off the ground, warping around the battlefield at an even more ridiculous speed, reality itself seeming to groan under the sheer pressure being exerted by the Siblings. "I gave thousands of years of loyal service to the Gods! I did their bidding like the naive idiot that I was!" She growled loudly as she did a small spin kick, planting her boot firmly on the side of Labrys' head, shattering the cracked part of his mask and sending him flying into the ground. "And what did that get me?!? What did all that hard work and dedication get me?!? They repaid everything I did, everything I gave, everything I sacrificed with scorn! They made me a MONSTER!"

*WOOSH* *SLICE* *SLICE* *SLICE*

"Even my own so-called Mother abandoned me!" Halifax grit her teeth in anger, her eyes burning with hatred as four thousand years of anger burst forth as she cut down several hundred magic blasts cast by the wounded Labrys. “She sold me out to save her own skin! In the end I was never anything more than a sacrificial pawn to be discarded when it was convenient!” She said before charging up a large amount of power into her blade and slamming down a swift overhead strike that sent a wave of power toward the downed Labrys, who was engulfed in a massive explosion that outshone even the Sun.

*BOOM*

Using Enūma caused a powerful upwelling of emotions that drew from the very core of Halifax's being while also drawing out an incredible amount of power. However, the trade-off was that it made the Divine Blade's emotions unstable and chaotic, which was a large part of why Elariel never wanted Halifax to use it. It was feared that a feedback loop could occur where she became angered, which made her more unstable, which in turn unleashed more negative emotions, and so on until she devolved into a mindless being of nothing but primal rage. This had partially happened in the aftermath of the Dark Elf purge, though in that case, Elariel and the other Gods were not aware of the Enūma form until a few decades later. It was theorized that the incredible emotional trauma from that time 'unlocked' or 'created' the Enūma as some kind of reaction to the shred of the Demon Blade that still existed within Halifax's soul. Regardless of why or what the first form was, it was undeniably dangerous for Halifax to use it, a fact on clear display now as her rage from millennia of mistreatment and resentment boiled over and threw her into a frenzy.

But Halifax didn't care about all that right now. Confronted with the painful truth about her origin and pitted against an ancient foe who she'd sworn to destroy, Halifax's mental state had already begun to deteriorate from the moment hostilities began. Her decision to unleash Enūma to try and defeat Labrys quickly did nothing but put her on a path to self-destruction as her own hatred overwhelmed her rationality and pushed her into the abyss.

"After everything I gave them... After everything I did for them..." Halifax paused her assault as tears began to flow from her eyes. "They abandoned me... She abandoned me... Do you have any idea how that feels? No, of course you don't. You were created with a singular purpose, and your creator kept you by his side until the end... But me? My own Mother cast me aside so easily...." She laughed derisively as she continued to cry. "I was a hindrance, and instead of saving her own child from such pain... She abandoned me..." She said before flashing forward even quicker, catching Labrys off guard as he'd only just stood up. Appearing in front of him in an instant, Halifax slowly extended her arm and formed a ball of black and white energy that she pressed against his chest. "I guess it all makes sense now."

*WOOSH*

Not giving Labrys a chance to react, Halifax channeled the gathered energy in her hand into a teardrop-shaped blast that streaked forward and engulfed the Demon Axe in a white hot blast that vaporized all nearby plant life for miles as the beam continued until its trajectory took it straight off the planet until it vanished into the void above.

"She never loved me. The Gods... They hated me from the start." Halifax said as the dust began to clear, revealing a severely wounded, yet still alive, Labrys whose helmet had completely disintegrated, revealing the bloodied face of Muichiro underneath. The former Heroes' eyes had turned completely black, and dark veins pulsed under his skin like a grotesque spider web, though the Hero was still recognizable despite the significant damage.

"I... I really am Enūma, aren't I?" Halifax said as she lowered her hand and blade to her sides, as tears continued to flow. "I'm Vikes' original blade. A weapon created to destroy this world... A tool stolen away and turned against its creator... No wonder they hate me... They never wanted me... Not them, not anyone..." She said as she turned away from the wounded and bleeding Labrys who seemed unable to retaliate at all. "That's the truth, isn't it? I don't matter to anyone... I never have... And I never will... I really am nothing but a tool... A tool to be used up and discarded..." She said as her Enūma form broke and she returned her normal state. "If that's all I am... Then I wish I'd never been born!" Halifax yelled before taking off at high speed, running away from the battle, which shocked Labrys, who couldn't believe that she wasn't going to finish him off given that he could barely move.

"Enūma... Sister..." Labrys spoke quietly as he coughed blood while watching his Sister's back grow smaller as she fled toward the distant treeline. "I'm so sorry..." Unexpectedly, the Demon Axe found himself overcome with a range of emotions, some of which he didn't fully understand. He was never meant to feel empathy, compassion, and other similar feelings, but in that moment, he found himself wanting to do something anything for his tortured Sister. He wanted to take on her pain and punish those who made her cry, a strange mix of feelings that only served to confuse him further. "I swear I'll find a way to make the Gods suffer for what they've done to our family." He said before slowly standing up and turning to face away from the direction that Halifax had gone, intending to flee in the opposite direction. "Our battle ended at just the right moment too... Since now... SHE is coming..." The Demon Axe said as he mustered his remaining strength to flee as fast as he could, sensing the rapid approach of Akagi as she tore across the sky.

*WOOSH* *BOOM*

"What the fuck?!?" Akagi stopped dead above the ruined battlefield, a sonic boom ripping across the sky a moment later. She'd gone as fast as she could once everything had been explained to her, though due to the instability of Enoris the Demon Lord couldn't go as fast as she'd wanted. "Dammit! Where are they?!?" She as she scanned the surrounding area, uncharacteristically panicking as she extended her senses outward to find Halifax and Labrys. "There!" Akagi said as he caught a glimpse of Halifax as she fled into the distant treeline, sensing SEVERE mental distress and emotional turmoil within the Divine Blade.

To the Demon Lord, it looked like her friend's soul was on the verge of shattering, something she'd never seen before and she knew that such an event would mark a point of no return. "And Labrys?!?" Akagi exclaimed as she scanned even further out, finding the faint energy signature of the Demon Axe in the distance. He'd moved even faster than Halifax and was already over a dozen miles away since he'd moved with purpose. Unfortunately for Akagi his energy signature grew weaker and weaker with each passing second and would soon vanish completely, though Akagi knew that if she moved at maximum speed, nothing was stopping her from catching up to the Axe right now, thus securing what she needed to end this war. It was a simple matter in theory, however, the Demon found herself hesitating.

Akagi had an idea of what had to drove Halifax to the brink of madness and was concerned that if nothing was done to resolve that issue quickly, the Divine Blade might collapse, turning into to little more than a lifeless husk devoid of all personality and emotions. Halifax was not hiding her energy signature and thus could be easily found later, but Akagi found herself frozen in place as she debated what to do, partially paralyzed by the choice in front of her. Chasing Labrys would secure a surefire method of defeating the Gods as he could grant her access to the Heavens once Imp combined him with her dimensional portal technology or if he gave the info up willingly and allowed Akagi to use him; but that would mean abandoning Halifax to her fate. This meant that decision had to be made. Would the Demon give up the immediate opportunity to obtain Labrys and bring her war with the Gods to a close? Or would she give chase to Halifax and attempt to save her friend from total collapse? For an instant Akagi considered splitting herself and two and sending one body to each target, something she'd been experimenting with for some time and had success with, but that solution was filled with problems. While Akagi could indeed split herself it left her weakened. If she actually created proper bodies for her power and consciousness to inhabit that meant literally dividing herself. If a God intervened in this key moment she'd be caught out and vulnerable, something she was not a fan of. On the other hand she could easily create something that was little more than an illusion like she'd done at the estate when she'd first experimented with the ability. The secondary body wouldn't reduce her power but that meant it would be completely ineffective in combat since it would have none of her power. Halifax's structural deterioration likely required direct intervention with Akagi's power to preserve her soul, and thus she needed her power to prevent a collapse before it was too late. However, sending her full power to Halifax meant that the body sent to Labrys would be too weak to capture him since even in his wounded state Akagi could tell that he was still more than capable of resisting.

This meant that for the first time since she'd became a Demon Lord Akagi couldn't simply do everything that she wanted, and that a choice no a sacrifice had to be made. Left with a binary choice to either abandon her friend or risk her mission, the answer should've been easy. Chasing Labrys down and ending the Gods now would've been the logical thing to do, it would've been the intelligent thing to do, it would've been the pragmatic thing to do. All it would require is the Demon Lord to abandon a single individual to whatever fate had in store for them. After all, Halifax was someone she'd only met relatively recently, and while Akagi enjoyed spending time with the Divine Blade and viewed her as a friend, the Demon's nature meant that had no qualms with cutting someone loose if they got in the way.

However, not all decisions are based on logic, reason, and pragmatism, even for a Demon Lord.

"HALIFAX!" Akagi yelled as she chased after her friend. Her mind screaming at her to turn around and chase Labrys instead, but Akagi quickly shut it up. It was a decision made based on emotion and feeling rather than the Demon Lord's usual cold logic. For no matter how much she wanted to bring the war with the Gods to a close, the Demon found the notion of abandoning a friend in crisis utterly revolting. Halifax was a friend with whom she shared much in common. The two both knew the pain of loss, abandonment, and loneliness. They bonded over their trauma and, inspite all of Akagi's flaws, the Divine Blade had accepted her as a friend. And, despite how she may act or what she might sometimes say, Akagi was dedicated to those she considered her friends.