Paradise on Earth part 2 (I)

"That shape... Asriel, is that you?"

"..."

"Can't b.."

"..."

"That insole..t has bonded with that winge.. dem..n"

"What's wrong with you Asriel? Please answer me..."

"I must get it ov..r with...you for go..d"

"Asriel!"

We hear Maria's worried voice.

The doubts in our mind clear up, it is time to stop being a destroyer and become a protector.

Her feelings bring us back to reality, the desire to protect her is what will give us the control to do so.

Dimitri approaches and tries to hit us, we manage to see and stop his blow.

"Wh..t!?"

"...no. It's us who will finish you off"

With a single punch we send him away.

"Asriel... are you all right?"

"Maria, don't worry. We can fight"

We took a moment to analyze our new form.

The union of the two caused our consciousnesses to unify, resulting in a black armor as hard as the scales of a dragon of darkness, which covered our entire body. A pair of jet black wings on the back, a sort of dragon-shaped helmet on the head, a long tail with a sharp tip at the end of the spine, a fierce claw on our right hand, on the left the familiar black-tinted glove emits a light blue light, that's the only thing that shows that a certain level of "humanity" is maintained within this appearance.

"That voice, is Kurogane with you?"

"We are neither one nor the other. A new being, a product of the fusion of the 2 essences"

"...I think I understand. You're still in there, that reassures me a little"

"That's right. More importantly, this guy has to be defeated"

We begin to advance towards the source of this evil.

"Away...y..u dem..n"

Raising a hand he seems to expel a few of these ghosts in this direction. In one swift leap we close the distance and with our claw we manage to eliminate them effortlessly.

"This is nothing to us. Prepare to die"

"Damn ..ou"

He comes and kicks us. The impact bothers, though we manage to withstand it. We bury our sharp nails in his shoulder, a mist begins to emanate.

"Souls in sorrow?"

The source of their power escapes their owner now that they have the opportunity. In an oversight it hits us in the face and knocks us back. Blood runs from the wound, but we don't care. As long as his life comes to an end, we can resist anything.

"Come back here and finish it off"

Those ghosts surrounded us and tried to attack us from behind, but a spear prevented them.

"Leave these to my Asriel! I'll cover the rear!"

"Maria, we thank you"

With her taking care of those trifles we focused on what was really important.

We raise our wings and head towards the enemy.

With the right claw in front we try to scratch his head, he stops the advance by raising an arm.

"You won't defeat me!"

He is quite strong, he manages to stop us without batting an eyelash. Despite that, the nails buried in his skin let some souls escape. It's as if instead of blood he had them circulating inside.

If we continue like this and drain all the souls trapped inside him, it should be enough to kill him.

"That's what you think"

We turn around and with our tail we hit it, this is enough to make it lose its balance. We continue advancing and with our left fist we hit it in the stomach.

"Ughh..."

It was accurate, although not effective. This part is the anchor that keeps our sanity and reminds us of the humanity that exists within, and at the same time the weakest thing we possess.

Dimitri grabbed us with both hands and lifted with ease, whipping our being against the floor repeating the process a couple of times as if we weighed nothing.

"Asriel!"

"We're fine, don't come any closer!"

We stretched our wings to avoid contact with the ground, turning to the side and getting it to let go of us. In the air we rose a little to land with our feet on him.

He avoids a direct hit, yet the sharp limbs manage to tear his flesh freeing more of those innocents souls.

Maria approaches to deal with them returning them to their cloud form.

"No... my power is fading"

His speech is returning to normal, that must be a side effect.

"Even if you beg for forgiveness, all that awaits you is death. You better be prepared"

"It's your fault, if you both hadn't come everything would have gone perfectly!"

Furious he comes towards us. With his fists he is able to harm us despite the hard armor that covers our skin, without it we would be finished. However, he is losing his sanity and his movements are more predictable.

We have no trouble dodging to the side and burying our claws in its chest. A torrent of smoke is expelled outward, this time it doesn't look like the ghosts are coming back to attack us.

He must have no strength left to try.

"Ghhh... you little..."

We didn't waste a second more and with our tail we pierced its legs to stop it from moving, it fell to the ground.

Perhaps we should cut off his arms as well, just to prevent him from conjuring something else again.

"Asriel, that's enough"

A hand touched us from behind. We turned around to confirm.

"What are you saying? We have to kill him"

"I know, but..."

"We don't understand. We have to finish him off, make him suffer for all he's done, only then we'll be calm"

"This is not the Asriel I know! He would regret taking a human life, he would never take pleasure in it!"

"..."

"Lately you only talk about killing, that bloodlust is not like you. Please remember how you really are"

Her words made us think.

Maybe she's right. This... power, has made us forget the essence.

We looked at our left hand.

The glove that used to be cyan colored is dyed completely black, it is the only thing that shows that there is still a human underneath this armor.