~89~ Hell Spires

Embers drifted across the sky, Karna's body completely erased leaving only the ominous light of Hecate and her puppets to illuminate the desert.

Sallius clenched her jaw. They didn't have a way to win this, not that she could think of. At this rate, they'd lose.

Gallatine hunched forward, sword held at the side.

"Get ready.." came Hecate's voice in a playful tone, "HERE I COME!"

Gallatine bolted through the air, leaving a crater in his wake as he flew towards Sallius. She raised a wall of ice, but it was instantly destroyed by Gallatine as he seemed to phase through it. She flipped through the air, jumping over the sword as Gallatine swung for her, but she was t able to evade as his fist crashed into her gut from above, crashing her into the earth sending tremors through the ground and crushing her ribs and lungs. Blood flew from her mouth and she couldn't breath. As Gallatine raised his sword, Razzaiel flew through the air, a wave of flames blasting into Gallatine, who didn't even flinch, flicking his hand through the air and crashing his knuckles into Razzaiel's face, launching her into a pillar that shattered apart on impact.

Sallius got to her feet as fast as she could, but Gallatine quickly turned back to her, his talons wrapping about her throat as he raised her off her feet. She attempted to freeze his body, but the ice only shattered as soon as it formed, destroyed by Gallatine's power. Then she realized he'd coated himself in his own aura so that no attacks could affect him.

"You are so weak. You are really Archdemons?" Hecate cackled. "How amusing! You are so pathetic, I can't believe you were actually feared at one point in time, Sisters of Bitter Scorn, what a joke. How disappointing."

'Damnit..' Sallius thought to herself, 'what am I supposed to do..? I can't shatter her soul.. I can't destroy her body.. how do I beat her when I can't even defeat Gallatine..'

Just as Sallius was about to give up, Razzaiel appeared above Gallatine, a cloak of flames covering her body as though she were a burning flower. A massive shield of flames and a sword twice her body lengths were held in each hand while two serpents of fire coiled around her body. She flew down on Gallatine like a meteor, crashing into him and pinning him to the ground.

"Have you forgot, dear sister, that we don't need to use aura?" Razzaiel spoke as flames began to engulf Gallatine's body.

Sallius's eyes widened. That was true, both she and her sister held the unique ability to create their respective elements without using aura directly in it. Instead, they had to use the power of the souls they collected over the years. This would result in, after combat, their power dropping exponentially, their chains disappearing in energy equal to the amount they use.

Sallius rose to her feet, shards of ice and specks of frost gliding through the air around her. A layer of ice began to grow over her, shoulder plates covered her shoulders and on her arms formed gauntlets with long, razor claws of ice. From her back grew two serpents of chaotically churning frost and a cloak of shifting ice flowed from her back. Her hair became frosted over and thin layers of ice grew over her body, her cheeks and sling became shiny and glimmered with specks of frost. She became a brilliant demon of beautiful death.

She held out her talons towards Gallatine, who was still pinned to the earth. Some of her chain links suddenly turned to ice and cracked, at the same moment massive spears of solid ice jutted up from the earth across the entire battlefield, skewering Gallatine and the all of the souls.

"How..?" Hecate roared in frustration, "HOW CAN YOU USE YOUR POWERS?!"

"Does it matter?" Razzaiel asked, her tone filled with venomous hatred, and then the sky became scarlet as the ice spikes began to glow a fiery red.. then they all exploded, sending blast waves of flames in all directions as spikes of ice flew through the air. The spikes that had skewered Gallatine exploded while still in his body, so the blast completely shred his body into a million pieces.

Sallius's chains began to turn to ice and shatter apart one by one, three in total. Razzaiel simply melted away. Sallius grit her teeth, already feeling the drawbacks of expending her soul energy.

Gallatine's body began to rebuild itself in a red haze of aura that solidified into his physical form.

"I must say I'm impressed.. but you can't even do anything against me at all." Hecate spoke, "this body is immortal, and there is no soul to shatter. You have no way to defeat me."

Razzaiel landed beside Sallius. Then they began to speak in unison, their faces expressionless.

"Are you so sure?" They spoke.

"What..?" Gallatine stepped back as the sisters approached, Hecate's voice faltering.

"Are you sure we cannot defeat you?" Sallius asked.

"Because I think we know just how to." Razzaiel hissed.

As the sisters came closer to Gallatine, the land would scorch over and then freeze in a layer of frost. The four serpents of ice and flame coiled about each other as if doing a majestic dance.

"You..you can't! Don't bluff! Lying isn't fair! You are cheating!!" Hecate roared. Then Gallatine dropped to his knees, placing his claws against the ground as he planted his blade into the earth. Then massive splits formed in the earth, red light illuminating the battlefield.

Sallius and Razzaiel stopped, their eyes widening as they realized what ability Hecate was about to use. It was Gallatine's strongest attack..

"Shit!" Razzaiel cursed, resulting in Hecate letting out an amused laugh.

"You really thought you had me? How could you forget your old friend's signature attack? How rude of you!" She laughed, "what was it he would say when casting this..? Oh yes, you shall now meet hell's wrath.."

The earth began to tremble and jut upwards in odd locations, red cracks splitting across the earth.

"Hell Spires!!" Hecate roared, and then massive towers of black stone shot from the ground, red luminescent markings casting a hellish glow over the battlefield.

"Damnit!! How could we let this happen…" Sallius cursed, "this isn't good.."

The moon high in the sky suddenly turned a blood red shade, as did the stars, while the black sky turned even darker.

Gallatine's body began to change at that moment, the chains dropping from his figure to the ground, all of the soul energy in them absorbed directly into his body causing spikes to jut up from his back and limbs while his horns grew larger. His wings flowed with red energy and then transformed into another set of arms.

And then came the pressure change. Sallius's ears began to bleed as she felt her power ebb out of her. She crumbled to her knees as her bones were crushed beneath the insane pressure that Gallatine gave off. Her sister had a similar reaction, blood pouring from their ears and eyes. Her ears rang so loud it made her head scream. Their powers instantly faded out as they crumbled beneath Gallatine's power.

When Gallatine had his Hell Spires, Sallius knew, he was almost unbeatable. For every enemy Gallatine has ever killed, he adds their power to his, their soul, their aura, all of it is stored inside him. But he doesn't use it regularly, he only ever uses his own power.. unless he summons his Hell Spires. Every tower was the total power of an enemy he'd killed, and when they materialized, all of that power goes to him, all at once.

These spires were the reason Gallatine was one of the few Archdemons able to challenge Azazel's power. The only reason he was voted leader of the Archdemons was because without his Hell Spires he was weaker than Tetsuno and Zealous. But when he did use them, he was by far the strongest Archdemon.

His power increases so much that it causes even the other Archdemons, even gods, to crumble beneath his pressure. It cancels out their powers and breaks their bodies. It truly is the ultimate ability.

Sallius's mind was racing, what could they do? There was no way they could win now.. they only had a chance before, but with the Hell Spires active, they couldn't even move. Her head was pounding and her ears screamed. She could on see the red as blood blotted out her vision.

She and her sister were going to die. She came to realize this at that moment, as she saw only red, as she could only hear the consistent ring of her ears, as her body was crushed beneath Gallatine's pressure, she realized she was going to die.

"This is amazing!!" Hecate cheered victoriously, "I knew this fucker was strong, but to be on this level!! This is truly astonishing!! With this I am the strongest being in the universe!! No one can challenge me!! Not even Azazel himself!!"

Sallius then heard Razzaiel laugh. She forced her eyes open wide, blinking the blood out of them and turned to face her sister, her head only able to move a slight increment. Her sister was laughing. Why? They were about to die.. so why was she laughing?

"What's so funny?" Hecate growled. "Why are you laughing? I should be the only one laughing!!"

"You… honestly think.." Razzaiel managed to choke out, blood dribbling from her mouth, "that you could.. beat Azazel..? What.. a joke.."

"What?! Are you denying my power?!" Hecate roared.

"But.. it's just that.." Razzaiel spoke, "that power.. doesn't belong to you.."

Hecate was silent for a moment. Then she spoke in a cold tone, "I'm bored of you. I'm done playing with you. You can die now."

Then a beam of red light shot from Gallatine's talons and skewered straight through Razzaiel's head. And then her body dropped, limp. Sallius watched for a long moment in horror, expecting her sister to move, she was immortal after all… but when Razzaiel didn't even do much as twitch, her heart froze over.

And then she let out a scream of horror and agony, a scream that echoed through the entire desert. A scream of sorrow and despair.. a scream of hopelessness.. a scream of rage.

And the only sound to accompany this scream of pure despair was the haunting laugh of the goddess of death.