~ True Despair? (Part 2) ~

Ethan caught Jef’s right arm that was holding the knife, with his left hand. While holding Jef’s arm, He quickly kicked the oncoming Nicole on her chest to get her thrown away, then quickly changed step to kick Lez’s guts when she was running towards him, which made her fall to the wet ground groaning in pain. Ethan then broke Jef’s right arm, dropping the knife he held as he screamed in pain.

“Hmph! Amateurs.” Ethan said as he threw Jef upward in mid-air, then kicked him really hard as he descended. Jef was thrown away by the impact and went rolling onto the ground while groaning.

Ethan watched the couple run away for a moment, then he spread his wings and flew to chase after them. He landed in front of the terrified couple as they stopped running.

“Where do you think you are going?” Ethan said to the couple.

Ethan grabbed their necks as they were about to run back towards their daughter.

“No! Mom! Dad! Ethan, you bastard! Let them go!” Lez shouted, crawling on the ground while watching Ethan walking slowly towards her choking her parents.

“I told you, my princess, to bring your mother earlier,” Ethan said while crouching as he looked straight into Lez’s eyes.

“I was going to kill only one from your parents, and I will let you choose who it was supposed to be. But then you followed none of my orders, so now, you shall witness both of them die in front of you.” Ethan sinisterly said as he laughed.

“No! Please, Ethan, don’t, I beg of you. Please don’t do it! I will do anything you want me to do. Just leave my parents alone.” Lez begged at Ethan.

“Really? You’ll give me anything I want. That’s great!” Ethan maniacally laughed as Lez cried.

“But on the second thought… Nah! I want to have the Key. Then I will have you next. And that means goodbye to your parents.” Ethan laughed and turned his hands into blades as he was about to stab both Lez’s parents but suddenly,

Vroom! A revving motorbike approaches at great speed.

Drake slowed down 'time' as he jumped over his running bike and ran fast towards Ethan as he kicked him behind, upward, saving both Lez’s parents in the process. As Ethan was in mid-air, Drake grabbed his foot and slammed him on the ground, then punched him multiple times in the face faster than his normal speed, even without the boost from Lez.

Drake’s slo-mo faded as time passed by, but his speed punches at Ethan continues. Ethan received all of Drake’s assault without any miss as the ground sunk on each Drake’s punches.

“Brother!” Beelzebub shouted as he noticed Ethan’s brutal defeat from Drake’s hands. He threw the leftover foot of Heather, aiming at Drake.

Drake noticed the incoming danger and quickly evaded it, and one after another picked his companions on the ground and transported them below the maple tree. He started picking Lez first, then her parents, next was Nicole, then Jef, and did it in just seconds. The group leaned on the maple tree to rest and shade from the heavy rain.

“What was that?” Drake asked as he stood face back in front of the group, watching Beelzebub helping Ethan.

“Drake! I am glad you came. Are you alright now?” Lez asked Drake.

“I should be the one asking you that Lez. Are you okay?” Drake said as he turned his head to look at his girlfriend straight into her eyes.

“I’m fine! But Ethan broke Jef’s arm.” Lez informed.

“Yeah, I kind of noticed that earlier as I carried him here. Can you handle that while I distract our enemies?” Drake told them.

“Do not worry about me, sir. Worry about those two. We should find a way to defeat them.” Jef replied.

“Yeah, I guess that’s the best course of a plan as for now. But you haven’t answered my question yet. Who is that big fat one?” Drake asked again while pointing his finger at Beelzebub.

“They called each other brother, Drake, so I think the other one is a demon also,” Lez replied.

“Another pain in the ass. What was its ability?” Drake followed to query.

“We don’t know yet, sir. But it ate Heather earlier and threw her remains at you.” Nicole replied.

“What? That’s what’s left of Heather? Then that guy must be gluttony. I wish I could have more information about his guy. But I guess I’m going to find out because here they come. I’ll handle this. Take care of yourselves.” Drake said as he sped himself up and dashed to punch Ethan, but Ethan knew Drake would target him first, so he flew up in the sky to avoid Drake’s assault.

“Coward! Fight me like a man, you pussy!” Drake teased Ethan to come down and fight him on the ground, but Ethan just laughed at him.

On the other hand, Beelzebub ran charging towards Drake like a boar, but Drake easily evaded him as he was undoubtedly slow for the fight.

“Good to know, this fatso is so slow. But I have to be more careful with him. I don’t know what this guy’s ability is yet. So I must keep my distance between him.” Drake told himself as he looked between Beelzebub and Ethan back and forth.

“Come on! Let me have a taste of you.” Beelzebub shouted as he charged at Drake again.

“Here comes slowpoke again,” Drake uttered as he moves to avoid Beelzebub’s attack at average speed but suddenly.

Slash!

Drake got slashed on his cheek instead as he quickly avoided Ethan’s slashing dive assault.

“Hmmm…. Your good boy. I was aiming at your throat at that time. You’re really quick, huh?” Ethan teased Drake as he flew away from him.

“Is that your play, pussy? Attacking me while avoiding this slowpoke brother of yours from the ground? That’s a lousy tactic from a coward like you, Ghost Blade.” Drake teased even more Ethan to drive him mad and have a toe-to-toe match with him.

“Geez, I’ll get you next time, boy.” Ethan just laughed while hovering in the air.

“Who are you calling slowpoke?” Beelzebub angrily said. “Graaaahhhh!!!” he shouted as he charged towards Drake again.

“I had enough of you,” Drake said as he sped himself up and repeatedly punched Beelzebub all over his body. But every punch Drake released feels like beating on jelly, and every punch’s impact got absorbed by Beelzebub’s fats all over his body as he laughed at Drake mockingly.

“Hahaha! That tickles.” Beelzebub stood laughing, taking no damage from Drake.

“What the? He just took all my punches, but he is not feeling any pain.” Drake was shocked by what he witnessed.

“You are dozing again!” Ethan whispered at Drake as he dove slash at Drake.

Drake evaded a little too late as he suffered a deep cut on his arm as groaned in pain while crouching.

“God damn it! I’ve got to focus on my fight, or else this will be my end.” Drake told himself. “Huh!” Drake noticed Beelzebub was charging at him again, but he evaded while watching Ethan as he turned his back at Beelzebub this time.

Ethan just hovered in the sky watching him at that moment, menacingly smiled at him.

“What’s his plan?” Drake asked himself inside his mind.

“Gotcha!” Beelzebub shouted behind Drake as he exploded himself like a bomb.

“Gwaahhh!!!” Drake screamed in too much agony as he tried to avoid the explosion, but he was a little too late to avoid it all and received half the explosion damage from Beelzebub instead. Beelzebub’s pieces were scattered all over the area.

Drake went rolling on the ground as he stopped; blood came out from his mouth as he coughed. He took a large amount of damage as he got 3rd degree burns all over his back. His view became blurry as he breathed heavily.

“Drake!” Lez stood up to call her boyfriend, but Ethan came in front of them instead.

“Lez?” Drake moved his eyes to look towards Lez as he watched them from afar.

“Your boyfriend is done. I don’t think he can survive that blast, and he’ll be dead sooner or later for sure.” Ethan said as he laughed.

“No! Get away from us, you asshole. Drake!” Lez shouted as she ran towards Drake but quickly grabbed by Ethan and punched hard on her gut as she began to collapse.

Lez fell to the ground as Ethan threw her. Her vision turned a bit dim as she struggled to get up but couldn’t. She crawled towards her parents instead.

“You bastard!” Nicole and Jef stood up to fight Ethan, but Nicole got stabbed on the right side of her guts with Ethan’s black knife and was thrown far away into the streets. Jef got kicked in the face when he stood up and bumped his head on the tree, and lost consciousness.

Ethan grabbed Lez’s parents behind their neck and presented them in front of her.

On the other hand, Beelzebub’s scattered pieces slowly moved towards the edge of the cliff where his head was located.

“Ethan, stop! Don’t you dare?!” Lez cried as she crawled and tried to reach her parents.

“Show me despair.” Ethan teased Lez with his demonic face as he laughed in front of her.

Lightning flash! Thunder! Heavy rainfall continued.

Ethan turned both of his hands into blades as he arched his arms, preparing to stab both Lez’s parents in front of her.

Lez kept on reaching her parent’s hands as her parents raised theirs to hold her hand.

“Now show me your true despair!” Ethan shouted when the couple reached their daughter’s hand and held it for a while as his blades thrust through their chests straight to their hearts. Blood splattered onto Lez’s face as she watched her parents struck by Ethan’s sharp blades and fall onto the ground.

She froze for a long moment, just like Drake when he watched his friends die in front of him. Her hands held still in mid-air like it was still holding her parents' hands before. Her eyes are both blank while tears slowly flow on both sides. Her eyes slowly moved to look on the ground and found her parents’ bodies lying in the blood-stained ground. She then realized they were gone.

Her body began to move as she grabbed both of her parents and hugged them as she cried herself away.

“Lez, I’m sorry, in the end, I couldn’t even save your parents, and I couldn’t save them all.” Drake sobbed and gritted his teeth in anger and sorrow. His wounds began to regenerate faster than anyone could expect.

“Hahahahaha! That’s it, cry! Despair! Show me your true despair!” Ethan loudly laughed as he watched Lez in deep despair.

In just a few seconds, everyone can feel the intense aura gathering from Lez’s exact location. Lez stopped crying as flames appeared all over her body while her clothes slowly disintegrated and turned into ashes.

“Goodbye, mom. Goodbye, dad.” Lez calmly said as her parents' bodies instantly turned into ashes as she screamed on top of her lungs as flames ablaze all over her body.

She starts to float in mid-air as tattoos of black and red flames are visible all over her body. Lez stared at Ethan, full of anger and hate.

Even the drops of heavy rain that touched Lez’s flame directly turned into vapor.

“Wait! That is not true despair. That’s true guardians flame.” Leviathan said in fear as he spread his wings and prepared to flee, but Lez quickly chased him and tore his wings as she slammed him onto the ground.

“Stop!” Ethan tried to stab Lez with his icy blade of hand, but it quickly melted and got vaporized as he screamed in agony.

“As I told you before, burn into hell, demon!” Lez torched Ethan with the great heat of the flame as Ethan’s body slowly began to turn into dust.

“Ethan! I’m sorry. But for me to survive this, I must consume your soul.” Leviathan made a conversation inside Ethan’s mind as they got toast by Lez’s flame.

“What? What do you mean? You can’t do this to me. We have a deal.” Ethan explained to Leviathan.

“I must survive puny human even if it will not transform me into a true demon. At least I can become complete and survive this blasphemy.” Leviathan implied as he consumed Ethan’s soul.

“No!!!” Ethan's soul screamed as it got devoured by Leviathan.

Lightning Flash! Thunder! As the storm continued, but slowly the rain diminished.

Ethan’s actual body got incinerated by Lez’s flames. Still, the complete demon Leviathan with the appearance of a bluish aqueous dragon-like winged demon with two dragon horns on the sides emerges as it withstood the flames Lez has released.

“Die, you demon!” Lez said as she continued to torch Leviathan while floating.

“Foolish guardian. Flame is not my weakness, and you’re the one who’s going to die.” Leviathan gathered all the water the rain had to bring and blasted it all towards Lez.

Most of Lez’s flame got extinguished except the fire inside her barrier as the Key barrier activated.

“What?” Leviathan wondered how the barrier got activated.

He never realized that the black knife Ethan was holding got incinerated and melted together with Ethan's actual body.

“Lez!” Drake called the attention of Lez as he almost fully recovered from his injuries and prepared to attack.

“Drake!” Lez replied, looking at Drake as he dashed and vanished from her sight.

Drake tried to punch the demon, but his punch was absolutely pointless as he was beating water.

Lez tried to burn Leviathan again, but her flames couldn’t vaporize its water anymore. Lez suddenly felt weak as she used up most of her energy, burning Ethan earlier as she fell from mid-air.

“Lez?!?” Drake called as he noticed Lez falling from the sky and quickly sped himself up to save her.

Leviathan blasted water onto Drake, trying to save Lez, but couldn’t hit him with his speed. Drake grabbed and carried Lez away from the demon.

Lez’s flame has totally vanished from the moment Drake grabbed and carried her to safety.

“Are you okay?” Drake asked.

Lightning Flash! Thunder. The rain started to halt, but the cloud was still dark, and lightning still flashed.

All the red and dark tattoos that covered her entire body were suddenly gone. She is now fully naked in front of Drake.

Drake gave his torn black jacket, which was the result due to the explosion earlier.

“Here! Just cover yourself with it!” Drake said to her as he looked back to watch Leviathan approaching them.

He has no weapon against him at all. All he can think and hope for is Leviathan to get struck by lightning, but that is absurd. He looked for another way to defeat Leviathan as suddenly,

“Sir Drake!” Nicole called him as she threw the prototype stun gun upwards towards him.

“Can you boost me up?” Drake asked Lez as her girlfriend quickly kissed him and suddenly vanished in front of her.

Drake sped up and caught the weapon. He moved in any direction around Leviathan to keep himself from thinking while Leviathan bursts him with water.

“All I need now is some lightning rod.” Lightning stroke multiple times as Drake watched and waited for a flash of nearby lightning to come.

Drake fired his weapon as Leviathan got stunned for a moment.

Thirty seconds later, the long waited lightning came as Drake quickly slowed down 'time' as everything looked in a halt. Drake moved at the same speed equal to lightning as he saw the lightning frame by frame moving towards the tree. He ran towards Leviathan and used him as his vault to jump over and throw the weapon towards the lightning and became his lightning rod.

With 300,000,000 volts at 30,000 amps got doubled due to Leviathan's weakness. Leviathan instantly blasted into smithereens.

Drake dropped down and laid flat on the ground, watching the dark, gloomy skies as he took his rest and softly laughed. Finally, they defeated Leviathan, as the demon sigil of envy fell onto the ground.

“Drake! Look!” Lez called Drake as she picked the sigil of envy.

Drake looked at the sigil Lez was holding. He laughed for a moment and smiled as he stared at his girlfriend’s face. It may be a sorrowful night for her parents' passing, but their sacrifice was naught for nothing. He told himself that night to keep it as a promise. No matter what, he will do all his best to keep their daughter safe.

“That was an incredible job, sir,” Nicole said as he panted while limping, holding her sides while walking towards them.

“What just happened?” Jef asked as he finally regained his consciousness.

Lightning flash! Thunder! The rain had already stopped, but the lightning and thunder continued.

Two cars stopped at a distance as Allen, with more men, approached the area.

“Jesus! Here you go, ma’am, cover yourself with this.” Allen said as he gave his jacket to Lez.

“Thank you, Allen.” Lez commended as the other guards helped Nicole and Jef in their situation.

Drake just stayed on the ground having a good rest.

But suddenly,

“It’s not over yet, humans!” Beelzebub completed his regeneration as he prepared to charge and blow himself again.

Lightning flash! Thunder!

“Damn you!” Drake shockingly looked where the voice came from and saw Beelzebub.

~ (BGM) Demons by Imagine Dragons cover by Jada Facer ~

He used every bit of strength left to make himself stand up. He used every bit of energy left to slow down time once again. He could feel that he was at his limit, but he must persevere to save everyone near. He sped himself up for a brief moment and ran towards Beelzebub while watching at Lez’s face. For him, it was his goodbye as he stared for the last time at the lovely face of Lez. All of Drake's activated ability vanished as he jumped and grabbed Beelzebub, pushing him over the cliff as they both fell.

“Drake!!!” Lez’s call of his name was the last thing Drake heard before his vision went dim.

Lightning Flash! Thunder!

Lightning strike chased Drake as his eyes turned white as Beelzebub exploded in mid-air.

Lez quickly moved towards the cliff to see their fall but saw nothing but green trees underneath the high cliff.

“Drake!!!” she shouted on top of her lungs as she cried.

…..

“Aaarrgghh… Where am I? He looked at the whole unrecognizable place.

“Mommy! The man is awake!” the little girl shouted as she ran across the room.

“Oh, hi! Hello there! How do you feel?” the woman asked.

“Is he really awake?” a man arrived asking.

“Where am I?” he asked.

“Oh, you are inside our home. We found you last night on the street on our way from vacation. We thought you were injured, but you aren’t. That is why we couldn’t bring you to any hospital. That’s why we brought you directly here to our home. You don’t have any IDs nor anything in your pockets to identify who you are. Maybe you could tell us something about yourself, so we could help you and give you a ride home.” The woman said as she smiled.

“Yeah, or maybe give us the address where you live.” The man added.

He had a long stare at them before he got himself up to sit on the bed.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember my name. I can’t remember who I am or where I’m from. I don’t know anything about me. I can’t remember anything!” He looked at their eyes as he answered their questions.

They looked at each other for a moment before they looked back at him. They looked so worried as they watched the man stand up and look out the window. It was a lovely sunny day as the sunlight began to shine the whole room. The man went out of the balcony to watch the surrounding area. The trees are still wet, and it’s clear that it rained last night. The man deeply wondered and thought about his past, but he couldn’t remember anything. He looked back at the couple holding their hands together as they watched him in a sad expression.

The man looked at the calendar behind them. 2039.

“What date is today?” the man asked the couple.

The couple both watched the calendar as the man looked at it, and the wife replied.

“Sunday, September 18, 2039.” She said straight at him.

The man looked back at the surroundings and began to ask himself.

“Where am I? Who am I?”

END OF THE BOOK