“You saved me…” I said, truly smiling, honestly smiling, a real smile for the first time since purgatory.

She leaned forward slowly and swiftly before whispering quietly into my ear.

“You are strong.” I felt her warm smile as she faded away and my eyes flung open. I jumped up and back in absolute shock, it felt like an electric current shot through my body.

* * *

After a second or so I came to my senses and ferociously darted glances in all directions of the room. Jace and Zepar lay unconscious on the floor.

“J-Jace…” I muttered as I shook him but to no avail.

“I need to defeat the user then…”

I turned around to see a door behind me, I hesitatingly reached out my hand to open it.

-Click-

It opened.

I swung open the door to reveal the balcony that we were standing on moments ago.

“So, this door was a trap.” I muttered to myself.

The enemy’s ability must be to create a dream like world that will slowly eat away at you.

That world was hell’s mental manifestation…

Never mind that. If this wasn’t the door then it must be the other one. As long as the user of this horrifying ability dies in excruciating discomfort then those two will wake up.

Turning to face that door. Honestly, I felt anger overwhelm me. For putting me in such an agonizing situation. Whoever was on the other side of that door was dying. A horrible, equally agonizing long and slow treacherous death at my grimy hands. They were going to pay.

My eyes dulled as I unsheathed my sword and walked up to the other door, charging up a plasma blast with my magicka, preparing to fire it straight at the locked door in front of me as my unrelenting rage poured over me like condensed water endlessly flushing into a hole in a ship.

. . .

With my sword in one hand and my other pointing face up at the locked door, I fired my plasma blast straight into it as the door was obliterated into pieces.

I stomped forward with dead eyes, staring into the dark cloud that enveloped the air following my attack.

I stepped through the cloud, ready to commit murder, before I halted in my tracks…

“Richard?”

* * *

“Diablo, do you know how our ‘abilities’ form?” Said Anzu as he continued to push Diablo past the point of furious.

“Don’t you find it strange how abilities are seemingly random, they aren’t passed down genetically, they aren’t something you’re born with and they don’t manifest through training.” Said Anzu.

Diablo stopped.

“What are you trying to say?” He asked.

Anzu’s face stretched with a malevolent grin. “What if, someone, or perhaps something, decides if you manifest an ability.”

Diablo stared at him with an unimpressed glare.

“I mean think about it. We call them ‘Abilities’ but they always come with a catch. They’re more of a…”

He paused for a second.

“Curse?”

…

“You…” Muttered Diablo.

“YOU REALLY DON’T THINK I KNOW THIS SHIT YOU BASTARD!?” Roared Diablo as he turned to Anzu and charged up an energy blast before firing it at Anzu who spread his wings and flung himself into the air, taking flight before noticing another energy blast that had been fired at him.

“Trying to be slick, huh Diablo?” He said as he swooped around the blast, dodging it effortlessly.

But then, not even half a second later, another was catapulted in his direction; then another and another and another and another and another! As Anzu quickly found himself becoming overwhelmed.

Anzu’s eyes widened as Diablo rapidly unleashed several dozen unimaginably powerful energy blasts off into the sky at Anzu.

“What the fuck is this.” Muttered Anzu in a panic as he struggled to dodge the now hundreds of energy blasts being flung at him.

* * *

“What on earth is that.” Said one of the guards keeping watch at the entrance of the forest.

Each of them watched on in horror as hundreds of thousands of plasma energy blasts lit up the sky in an array of flashing light that shone and glittered elegantly like a cluster of galaxies before bursting into explosions that covered the sky in a pallet of colours.

“D- Diablo said to watch the exit… Just watch the exit, right?” Stuttered one of the guards.

“Uh… yeah…” Replied another as they all stared on, starstruck at the unimaginable sight of thousands of plasma blasts lighting up the sky like a firework show.

* * *

Diablo continued to unleash the blasts from his hand and the air around him. Diablo’s Magicka output had been trained to an unimaginable level as he was able to control his Magicka output from multiple different points at once. As well as the air around him. 5 Orbs appeared in an arch behind Diablo as they relentlessly fired plasma blasts into the air at Anzu while Diablo held out his hand firing multiple energy blasts at once from his hand, specifically four small energy blasts that he fed Magicka as they fired away from his hand allowing them to become more powerful.

This technique allowed Diablo to control his Magicka 3 meters away from his body. This meant he could fire a small weak energy blast then feed it energy as long as it was within range to make it larger in size and more powerful.

“What the fuck is this casting speed, does he seriously need no cool down for this?” Anzu exclaimed to himself in absolute disarray before finally being struck by one of Diablo’s blasts which exploded upon impact.

Dazed, Anzu was unable to dodge as hundreds of Diablo’s energy blasts collided straight into him, forcing him out of the sky as he begun tumbling to the ground; doing his best to protect himself with his vulture like demonic wings.

Diablo dashed forward as he noticed Anzu’s decent.

As Anzu neared the ground Diablo sheathed his sword and put both his hands out in front of him with his palms facing forward so that his hands formed a triangle. Diablo focused all his Magicka output in that triangle as he prepared to unleash his one of his most powerful ranged attacks.

As Anzu collided straight into the ground, Diablo unleashed a densely compacted energy beam straight into Anzu, it shot across the ground at lightning speed as it disintegrated the grass and soil with only the power emanating from it. Until finally it impacted Anzu, in which it unleashed a catastrophic amount of force, upsetting the ground as everything beneath Diablo crumbled from the force of it. The clouds in the sky parted in a circular formation as Diablo protected himself with a dense Magicka field surrounding his body.

The immensely powerful explosion left the air hot and dry as well as a massive crater where it made contact with Anzu. Steam resonated across the ground due to the heat.

-Sigh-

“I let my anger get the better of me.” Muttered Diablo assessing the annihilated terrain in front of him.

Diablo looked down at his hands which were severely burnt, his skin had been completely deteriorated as a result of using hundreds of energy blasts and the high-density plasma ray.

“Even if Anzu survived that he should be too wounded to fight again, despite his healing abilities. And he has nowhere to run too since the exit is being guarded. If I had to guess he would have ran to the mansion for help.” Muttered Diablo as he began making his way across the scorched ground towards the mansion.

“Although, part of me hopes he is still alive… I have quite a few questions for him.”

* * *