The Calm

Inari hid best she could in the bushes, fearing that it might've seen her. An intense aura hung in the air, choking her and making it hard to breath, but the aura was not human. It was something purely evil. She concealed her own aura as much as she could, praying it would not sense her.

She peered through the bush, barely able to see the being that the aura was coming from. It stood at over nine feet tall and had long limbs and was covered head to toe in chains. Metal stakes were nailed into its body at seemingly random places and a deep, blood red aura swirled around it. Two large, tattered bat-like wings extended from its back and long talons protruded from each finger.

It's face was covered by a metal mask nailed to its head and you could see its luminescent red eyes through four thin slits in the metal. Two large, curling horns protruded from its head like ram horns and a long tail that came to a whip thin end swung low to the ground.

Inari could only assume it was one thing; a demon. For some reason, it's aura reminded her of Akuro. 'This... isn't good..' she thought to herself as the demon hissed, clenching and unclenching it's talons. 'Why is this thing here?' She wondered, 'Is it hunting us Deities? Maybe that's what it's after...'

Then the demon spoke in a raspy, bone chilling voice, "He has awoken..."

This statement not only frightened Inari, but it perplexed her. Who was the demon referring to, and what did it want with them?

"The Dreadful Lord has returned, soon, soon this world will fall into chaos and we shall be one step closer to slaying the gods!" The demon hissed, then spread its wings wide before forcing them down, a powerful burst of air being pushed from them as the demon launched into the sky.

Inari, even though the demon was gone, didn't dare move, out of fear that it may come back. She just lay there in the bushes with her thoughts going wild. 'Dreadful Lord? Slaying the gods? Who is the Dreadful Lord...?' Then something struck her. She thought it was odd that the demon's aura was so familiar to her.

'Akuro...'

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Akuro and Darius had decided to walk through the city after Akuro had agreed to his terms. While they walked Darius went further into detail about his powers, explaining more how they work.

"To start," he said, "I can manipulate my aura to cloak me and cover my body and reflect my surroundings in such a way that makes me invisible to the naked eye. Along with this, I can also see even the faintest amount of spiritual energy. Let me ask you, do you know how aura materialization works?"

"Aura materialization? Can't say I do, never even heard of it."

"It would seem Raijin neglected to tell you some things. Not surprising, I'm guessing he also lied to you a lot to slow down your growth. No matter, spiritual materialization is when you increase the amount of aura you give off by a large degree. When aura gathers together in mass, it becomes visible and often has a color based off of one of three things; elemental aptitude, emotions, or spirit type."

"For example, your elemental aptitude is darkness, so your aura appears black. You already know how to materialize your spiritual energy, you do it whenever you fight actually, that shadow cloak you have is a perfect example. Do you know why your appearance changes when you release your pressure?"

"I'm guessing it has to do with how much aura I give off." Akuro guessed.

"Precisely, when you give off enough aura it will naturally cling to your body and when your body is exposed to a certain amount of it, the aura will change your physical form as well as materialize around you. For some it may appear as an armor, or in your case, those horns and that cloak. Not to mention you seem to manipulate your aura with your arms."

"I do, but one question, why do you want to know my power? If you ask me, it already seems like you know it."

"Well our powers are kinda like a class in a video game, each one has a passive. I know your attacks, but not your passives. Get it?"

"Yeah, makes more sense than most things you've said I guess. But what does this have to do with your powers?" Akuro asked, bumping shoulders with a stranger who did not seem to care whether or not they were in anyone's way.

"Watch it!" The stranger yelled.

"Fuck off." Akuro replied bluntly, not even turning to look at the stranger.

Darius laughed, "You really got no chill, do you?"

"What? I got chill. Go screw yourself, you're the annoying one." Akuro retorted.

"Yeah sure. What was your question again?"

"What does this spiritual materialization have to do with your powers?"

"Well let me ask you this, can you see the aura of any of these weaklings?" Darius asked.

Akuro looked around at the flooded city, trying to see any form of aura emitting from any of them. "No, I can't."

"Of course not, their spiritual energies are so small that they couldn't materialize it if they wanted to, but I have the ability to see their auras, their colors, their aptitude's, their personalities, all of it. For example the guy you just told to fuck off was in a rush because he was scared of something."

"So your ability lets you see spiritual energies, no matter how minuscule, meaning you can also see someone's aura no matter how hard they try to conceal it." Akuro observed.

"Exactly. It's actually quite useful. It's how I found you, actually. Did you know your aura appears as a dark mist in a four meter radius around you? Even when you are concealing it?" Darius pointed out.

"What? Seriously?"

Darius nodded, "yeah, and it multiplies when you aren't concealing it. When you fought with Onoma before I was still deep in the city, not even near the park, but when it happened all I could see was a black mist in the sky as far as the eye could see. That's how I know you're strong." Darius went serious. "But there was a bit of red mixed in with it. Meaning Onoma is just as strong. You should be wary of him."

Akuro bowed his head in thought. 'He's not wrong, if I weren't immortal I would've died before.' Akuro touched his chest where Onoma had pierced him. 'What does he want? What is he really after? I don't understand, there's no way he's just fighting me because I'm strong. There's gotta be a deeper reason.'

"And then there's one more ability that comes with my powers." Darius held the dagger in his left hand then, "This is the only part of my power that allows me to go into combat. If I envelop an object in my aura," a faint green glow that was hardly visible in the daylight emitted from the dagger, and then the knife suddenly vanished, reappearing in Darius's right hand. "I can transfer it to any location with in my aura's range."

Akuro's eyes narrowed. 'If he wanted to, he could've killed me easily just by having that dagger teleport into my throat. Maybe I can trust him. At the same time, his powers normally wouldn't be much of a threat to me, but with that knife, he becomes quite dangerous. I should still watch my back, he does have the powers of Loki after all, if he told the truth that is. I still question that..'

Darius returned the misshapen dagger into his coat pocket. "Your turn now. I've shown you my cards, now what're yours.?"

Akuro sighed. "Oi, well, how to explain it. Well, I guess to put it simply, I'm Death."

A perplexed expression crossed Darius's face. "Death? Like... necromancy? You can raise the dead? Or..? Cuz if I'm being honest I haven't seen any Hollywood zombies yet."

"No, idiot, I mean I wished to become Death itself."

"Wait..." Darius stopped walking, his eyes wide. Akuro stopped and looked back at him. "You mean... like the Grim Reaper? Death? The omnipotent being?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Except I'm not omnipotent. Gods' rules." Akuro said simply, hands in his pockets as if he were bored.

"Well, you never know. You are immortal, which wasn't supposed to happen, so maybe you are Omnipotent too?" Darius theorized. "Damn! Why didn't I think of that? Anyways, what amazing powers come with death?"

"Well, let's see... my physical abilities, such as my strength and speed, have been increased by a very large degree, but from what I've seen so far I'm pretty sure that just comes with being a Deity. Along with that, I have control over the souls of the living and the dead, meaning I can absorb and manipulate external auras." Akuro didn't want to tell Darius the minute details. He'd just keep it simple.

Darius's eyes grew wider than what Akuro thought was possible and his mouth dropped. "That explains your Eclipse attack, you use yourself as a kind of tornado or magnet and pull in all external auras then condense them to a point before it explodes from the pressure. It's like a black hole, it endlessly swallows things until it's weight becomes too much and it bursts. That's amazingly strong. Does that also mean you can absorb your opponent's attacks as well?"

"Usually, yes. Let me ask you something, do you know what Onoma's powers are?" Akuro asked. He wasn't too happy with Darius being able to figure that much out. He wanted to keep the "absorbing attacks" part to himself. 'He's too damn smart for his own good.'

"Mm, I don't know much, I've only learned he can manipulate time but that's it. Why?"

"Well... when I fought him I came to that same conclusion, but when he used his aura to attack me, I absorbed it at a rapid rate but it was like his spiritual energy was endless, he never ran out. I have a theory as to why I just don't know if it is possible."

Akuro was no longer concerned about hiding the detail of being able to absorb aura. Darius had already figured it out. Not that it was a threat anyhow, Darius was dangerous, but as he said before, Akuro was stronger. Plus, even if he hid it, he had a feeling Darius would figure it out anyway.

"Well, what is it?"

"Well, when I hit him with one of my attacks he seemed to reverse his wounds, erasing them completely."

"Like he reversed time on himself... and so you think he can use the same technique to replenish his aura over and over again?"

Akuro nodded. "Yeah, and if that's the case he could end up being a much bigger problem than I first thought."

"I'd have to agree. When it comes to a fight of endurance, he'd win every time. I think you are the only one who could possibly fight him, since you'd be like a battery and he'd be the charger, neither of you would run out of aura and would just be fighting forever."

"I never thought of that, actually. But you aren't wrong. Maybe Inari has a power that could combat him?"

"I'll be honest I have no clue what her powers are, all I know is she has an extremely high amount of spiritual energy, but I have no clue why." Darius admitted.

"What about that one crazy chick? Adeline? Do you know what her power is?" Akuro asked.

"I haven't seen her in action but I can make a pretty accurate guess. Her aura is multi colored, so my theory is that she wished for the power to control all the elements." Darius said.

"Funny. I thought about wishing for that myself. But the only issue with it is that it doesn't make her immortal." Akuro smiled. "She won't be a problem."

Darius shrugged. "Maybe not for you. I still can't believe you're literal death. Now I know for certain I wouldn't stand a chance in a fight against you."

"You implying you were thinking about it before you knew my power?"

"Maybe." Darius smiled, "just kidding. Again, I'm pretty weak, my only ace in the hole is this dagger. Maybe if we work together you could distract Onoma and I hit him with the dagger?"

"It could work, I just have to be sure I can trust you first."

"Still? Seriously? Man you got trust issues."

Just then there was a loud *SNAP* that resounded through the air, making Akuro's ears ring.

"The hell?" He looked up in the direction of the sound that now echoed through the city, and then he saw a cloud high in the sky part open as a streak of red light rushed down toward them.

"What is that?" Akuro looked to Darius, who was pale.

"Run!" He yelled.

"What? Wh-"

The red spear of light then crashed through one of the buildings leaving a gaping whole in it as it then began to crumble to the streets below, rubble crushing those unlucky enough to be below it. The red light crashed into the earth, a shockwave of pressure shooting out from it, shattering every window in the city street. Akuro held up his hands to cover himself as glass shards fell on him like hail.

As this happened, the towering building that had been struck collided with the ground, causing the earth to tremble as ash was thrown into the air and all that could be heard were the screams of the injured and the fearful.

Akuro stared on as a figure rose from the place the red light had landed, a blood red aura covering its body. A nine foot tall demon stood there, it's crimson eyes locked on Akuro.

And then a hiss came from the demon, a voice that made Akuro shiver and feel like cold talons were clawing down his back.

"Why... do you have his aura...?"