Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 132: Interlude: A’Bel

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 132: Interlude: A’Bel

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Commissioned by Shaderic

Wordcount: 2500

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Pitiful.

Weak.

Impotent.

I took to the battlefield and found no warriors, no champions, and no glorious souls to challenge me.

High above, Hachiman stood almighty. His arcane warships were a terror beyond the reach of the of the enemy. Once upon a time, a strong arm and a stout spear were enough to slay a monster. But today, for the Empire, their weapons were insufficient and could not pierce the hide of the monster that they themselves created.

“Demon! Run for your lives!” A piddling man of lowly nobility cried out cried out to his retinue. Against the Harpies and Wyverns, he established himself a goodly officer and marshalled those who would listen to his side. I had hoped that he would be a good foe, clad in enchanted armor and arms forged from Kindred flesh and bone, but when he looked upon me… his world crumbled apart. Fear replaced everything and he fell before even baring steel. “De-

I swung my blade at him and his retinue, before they turned their backs on me and turned to cowards, and with my flame surging from my blade I turned them into ash.

Their souls were insufficient and unwanted, so I cast them aside.

Perhaps, Henri’s Necropolis will take their measly souls and reforge them into something capable of honest labor.

But I did not want them.

With their destruction, I moved forward into what remained of the Empire’s flanking force.

Horses burned and desperately clung to life still attached to destroyed wagons. Cooks, stablehands, and others of the logistics train were scattered upon the ground. The dirt road they traveled upon was a mix of ash, blood, shit, piss, and burning flesh. I searched for those who clung to life, and those who could not perish, and were wracked with pain, and granted them reprieve by ripping them from their bodies.

Their souls were of no interest of to me either, but they were of better quality than those who broke rank and fled.

But, there were those who were even worse than those who broke ranks and fled.

Those condemned by the Empire to half-lives.

“Hrgh.” A gurgling noise reached my ears and I turned in its direction. The Empire shock troops forged from their own lobotomized citizenry. They were stored away in wagons and deployed by officers. Souls trapped in bodies, controlled by magic, and bereft of any sensation. Nothing more than puppets on intricate strings that didn’t feel pity, pain, and remorse. Ten of them gathered around their broken transport and without their officer, they only knew a single command: kill Kindred. “Hrgh!”

Their grunts and moans of battle reminded me of the squealing of wild, feral hogs.

As much as I would enjoy hearing a woman squealing like a pig at Hachiman’s mercy, the noises that came from the shock troopers merely disgusted me.

And, so, with a swing of my sword I cleaved through their skulls and ended their lives, before continuing to walk through the burning convoy.

Hachiman sent me here to confront any champions that the Empire sent forth, those who could harm his soldiers, and those who could reinforce the enemy gathering to cut him off from the rest of the Kindred. He knew of the Empire’s champions and saints, loathed them for they did nothing to help him, and sent his people to death instead of taking up their swords. This was an act of vengeance and an act of war in tandem.

But only if the foes he sought were present.

And, as I walked through the burning, defiled, and bloodied battlefield he created… I felt disappointed.

Until… a familiar sensation arose within me.

It was a familiar, instinctual pain that all Demons felt when faced with our opposition. Whereas we targeted mortal desires, our foes feasted upon their zealotry and supplication. While we Demons offered deals to sup upon the glory seized by our contractors, who risked their souls for their own ends against our hunger, our foes entranced the weak masses, broke their minds, and remade them in their image as agents upon the world.

The Empire’s Church was here and I felt my heart speed up in excitement as their champions came forth from the ash and smoke. Five came forth, clad in silvery plate trimmed with gold, and with the heraldry of eagles dripping across their armor. At the edges of my vision, I saw the outlines of Angels before me, as they inhabited the bodies of their broken supplicants. The souls of the mortals they took over were faint, piddling things bereft of desire and feeling.

As always, the Church’s champions were Angels inhabiting the bodies of their most zealous and single-minded servants.

“Demon, this realm is forbidden to your kind.” They walked in the blood, filth, and mud, but in their wake was left flowers, grass, and soil. As always, they sought to remove everything that they found imperfect, and did not accept the failings of others. Their armored boots crushed the bodies of the lobotomized shock troops with every step. Mortals were creatures to be ground into supplication and devotion. The ones who could truly surrender their bodies for Angels were cherished and worshipped by the lesser mortals who could only offer their blood, sweat, and tears. “Return to Hell, or we shall destroy you completely and utterly.”

The five came forth and summoned their weapons. Divine creations composed of light formed in their hands at the cost of their vessels lives. Radiant light flowed from the gaps in their armor, as flesh became pure magic, and their mortal frames were expended without care. The souls of their mortal vessels cared not within the depths of their own bodies, because they were promised paradise everlasting for their complete subservience to the will of those who deemed themselves greater.

I laughed in relief before the five who gathered.

Because I had creatures to kill that I absolutely detested.

I launched myself upon the creatures, grasped the foremost amongst them by the helm, and crushed it with all my might. The sound of metal tearing resounded through the air, cutting through the screams of the dying, and the scent of flesh blood replaced that of which was already spilled.

But the destruction of the Angel’s mortal vessel was not what I sought.

No, I took hold of the creature itself.

Ephemeral, practically transparent, and barely present in the mortal realm, I held the Angel inhabiting the body by its skull… and it screamed.

“Kill it! Kill it! Kill it now!” It repeated the same words against and again, as my armor’s claws tore into it. It struggled futilely in my grip and brought its limbs against my armor. It threw punches and kicks at me with all the force it could muster, its limbs coming undone and divine blood spilling onto the battlefield, but it found no purchase. “KILL HER!”

She screamed for help and her companions attacked me.

The other four struck against me. The compositions of light and power that they used as weapons impacted strongly against my armor. I felt the weight behind their blows in my bones and my flesh stung, as they fueled themselves more and more with the bodies that were surrendered to them. However, in the end, they were mere Angels… and I was no mere Demon.

So, as they found no purchase on my defenses, I took hold of the captured Angel’s skull with both hands.

“Foolish, little Angel. I am no mere Demon.” I whispered to the foolish, little creature enamored with perfection. I loathed Angels and all their kin completely and utterly. They sought out the weak, the infirm, and those bereft of purpose to give them hope, succor, and might in exchange for their complete servitude and paradise after death. A paradise that never changed, a paradise lacking in drive, and a paradise lacking in anything they deemed wrong. “My name is A’Bel and today I am your destruction.”

My name meant nothing to them, but I didn’t care.

My power, my contract, and my presence in this realm were all enough for me. My contractor looked upon an entire empire and wished to see it scoured from the earth, and thereafter build upon its ruins something that will erase it from history forever. Through his means and methods, he granted me power beyond reckoning and bound me into his service with oaths and spells long thought lost. And, despite those spells and oaths, I could feel his attention on me, never trusting me, and looking for any sign of traitorous thoughts as he peered into my heart and mind with unceasing vigilance… ready to kill me the moment that I betrayed him.

These Angels, their kin, and their masters were fools who sought to control and subjugate when true glory can only be found in the wake of true greatness.

They took their supplicants and remade them in their image to further expand into the mortal realm.

I took my contract and became a tool which will reshape all of reality.

Thus, to me, they were nothing but opponents that I could joyfully crush.

I let the divine corpse fall into the despoiled ground and turned upon the four remaining Angels.

As I set upon them, as I made them experience terror before the end of their immortal lives, I felt a chill go down my spine as a command from Hachiman reached me.

I want one alive… and incapable of fighting back. Ever.

His words almost made me quiver in ecstasy.

I felt his pure hatred for the creatures I fought and it enticed me.

So, though I did not wish to draw my blades against them, I did at my beloved contractor’s behest.

An Angel chained, bound, and to be broken by my master.

I thought that the sensation of their divine blood on my hands would be fulfilling and that the scent of their ichor spilling from their bodies was sweet… but the thoughts of Hachiman caused me to gasp and flush with need.

The terrible battle, the poor foes, and the lack of true opponents mattered not anymore.

My beloved contractor was going to break an Angel and I was going to be beside him for.

Every.

Single.

Moment.

A joyful laugh left my lips as I clashed against the four, as they desperately understood my strength and tried to leave with screams upon their lips, but their efforts were to no avail.

Hachiman’s order filled me with power, and besides that, I wanted to fulfill it.

Their fates were decided at that very moment.

…

There was a hush on the ship as I returned.

The blood of Angels dripped off my armor as I descended on my wings with my captive in hand.

Most of the crew stared at the sight, but I only cared for a singular gaze.

Hachiman’s narrowed gaze upon me, the sensation of irritation that crawled through his mind and the sheer hate he felt for my captive, was all the thanks that I required.

“You’re getting bad blood on my ship, A’Bel. Stop it.” He grunted and before I could think, my body was moving. I conjured up flames that took me centuries to master to simply rid the deck of his ship of Angel’s blood, while he looked down upon me beside the ship’s helm. His wife draped herself upon him, luxuriating in his presence, and flushed with the knowledge that she was wed to someone truly mighty. “I thought I told you to make sure that thing can’t ever fight again?”

I looked upon my captive.

I had ripped the Angel’s avatar out from its metal armor and bound it to the mortal flesh that it inhabited. The mortal body was covered in blood and mud, as well as chains, both spiritual and physical forged by my power and might. I’d bound its arms and legs, covered its eyes, and gagged its mouth, while suppressing its pathetic power with an inkling of my own.

But, my contractor was unsatisfied, and I felt a thrill in my heart as I realized why… and begged him with everything I had to say the order aloud, even though I realized it. A grimace formed on his lips for a moment and his irritation at me heightened, as he became aware of my desperate NEED to hear the words.

I shuddered as he stepped forward and struck the railing in front of him with gloved fists.

“Take off its arms, A’Bel! Cut the tendons on the back of its legs! It’s only worth to me is what it has in its head… and maybe as a fucking permanent battery for my ship, after I have its tongue ripped out!”

Hachiman’s rage and voice flooded over me like the greatest of ambrosias. I felt his hatred towards the Church as they refused to heal his troops, refused to feed his soldiers, and didn’t bury his warriors with the honor that they earned with their very lives.

His memories surged with the Church providing aid to the Empire’s true soldiers, acting as powerful warriors on the field, and protecting them against magic. Even if they did not offer such support in combat, if they only fed, healed, and buried his soldiers, he would not feel this hatred.

But they did not give him even that… and so his righteous fury enraptured me completely and utterly.

The Angel I held captive panicked at his words. It shook and squirmed in its chains, drawing blood from its vessel, as it desperately tried to return to its paradise.

Yes, the creature that I detested so much wasn’t simply going to be interrogated, its fate was to be permanently used as nothing more than a source of power.

Hachiman had no intention of making it fall, no intention of bending it to his will, and no desire to touch it.

Joy, gratitude, and satisfaction coursed through my entire body, a gasp of ecstasy left my lips, and… I noticed was already raising my blade to do as Hachiman commanded with perfect precision.

I did not know why he thought I would ever betray him.

Why would I leave him when he was so absolutely perfect for a Demon such as I?