On Black Wings I Rise, On Black Wings I Fall

On Black Wings I Rise, On Black Wings I Fall
Chapter 8
Just Punishment

Do you know what it’s like to face Death straight in the face, only to take his freaking job? Do you have any idea what it feels like to have absolute power? To have the ability to deal just judgement at the blink of your tiny little pupils?

It’s frightening. It’s maddening. To have the power of a god is something that people long for, but it’s a curse in of itself. It’s a curse that I live with every day of my life. Power corrupts, and when one wields absolute power, that power corrupts absolutely.

If I could relinquish it, I would carry the act out in milliseconds. But I have been given my power for a reason. The purpose? Yet another question to be written on my list.

έχθρα

I continued my journey through the battlefield, choosing instead to seek out my opponent instead of cowering in fear and fleeing the scene of bloodshed whenever the sounding of steel slashing leather hit my eardrums. The mist had returned, lightly hovering over the soil I walked on.

I lifted my eyes to the sky. Gray clouds littered the great blue yonder. A storm was close approaching. Fitting for a final confrontation. A single drop of rain hit my maw, dampening the fur on my face.

I turned my head back to the path I walked, continuing in my trek.

The rodents and avians still present in this morgue rustled in the bushes and treetops around me. My ears twitched at every mannerism, constantly staying aware of my surroundings, lest I meet an untimely demise. Nothing had crossed my path at this point.

The paranoia and growing insanity that had stayed with me during this series of hellish events had finally dispersed. Adamant state of mind had taken the place of never-ending worry and irritatingly constant methods and movements of surveillance.

A twig cracked five feet from where I currently stood. My head slowly turned to the source of the noise.

There, leaning against a lone tree, knife already drawn, stood the one man- no, monster, that had never ceased in his hunt to end my life and attempt escape to continue his unpunishable deeds.

At least, he thought they were unpunishable.

I had told myself that, from now on, considering my horrific acts of ultra-violence, I would be just to those that I had been assigned to as executioner. But this man reeked of death. The blood of his countless array of victims dripped from the edge of his blade, staining every step he took in the sins of his actions.

“Well, well, well.” The Baraq began. “Look who made it out of the frying pan!” the feline strode over to my side, twirling his dagger between his digits. “I must say, I didn’t expect you to last this long.”

I remained stalwart, letting the oily substance of his tone roll of my body like air or water.

“I mean, after all, that little blade, oh what was his name... Oh! I remember! Sanity’s Pestilence; if he hadn’t infected you, you would’ve been nothing less than a snack to those Diamond Dogs!”

My resolve was being beaten like a drum at this point. I had made it much farther than that without that stupid sword getting in the way!

“But still, I guess Fate favors the bold after all!” He leaned in closer, wanting to whisper something into my ear. “Or the weak.”

I lashed out my spear in rage against his remark. How dare he?! He was calling me weak?! And yet he hid in the shadows like a coward, employing the darkest magic to carry out his pathetic dirty work!

The black edge of Dusk struck a steel wall. The flat of the dagger my opponent held in his grasp intercepted the edge of my staff, sparks flying upon impact. The Baraq parried Dusk, continuing with a downward strike, holding his knife in back-hand combat style.

I caught the knife within the split in Dusk’s shape, twisting the blade out of the Baraq’s grasp and slinging off into some random direction. The sweet sound of a dull thunk hit my ears.

“Excellent work, Blackwing.” my assailant remarked, clapping his paws together in some kind of congratulatory gesture. I smiled inward with my ever-growing combat skills.

“However” he continued. “Simply because you’ve disarmed me does not mean that I have been beaten. Constant vigilance and all that!”

Out of my sight, the dagger that had become embedded in the bark of whatever tree it threw it into, had begun twitching on its own (might wanna call Pinkie Pie on this one). The steel blade removed itself from the tree and began to spiral towards me, fully intent on splitting my spine in two.

In a rash course of action, I leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding the sharp edge of the barreling knife and landing back on the ground in a gust of wind.The dagger remained motionless, floating in the air just three feet in front of me.
Before my eyes, the steel of the blade began to split once- no, twice- NO, thrice! Wait! Was this dagger replicating itself? HAX! I call hax on this shit!

“It’s not what you call ‘hax’, my dear, ignorant victim. It’s merely experience.”

I was dumbstruck at this guy’s remark. Was he reading

“Your mind? Yes. Yes I was.”

WHAT THE FUCK?!! Does he know that’s an

“Invasion of one’s personal space? Yes, and I don’t care.”

I was GOING to give another remark, in what would undoubtedly be absolutely pathetic, but I had what was knife twelve knives pointed at my skull!

The daggers charged my cranium in an attempt to end this fight as quickly as possible. In response, I twirled my blade, deflecting them with a sudden burst of wind as I dashed to retrieve the before they could create another attack formation.

The first knife I could reach barely slipped out of my grasp, not wasting any time in engaging me in another stream of combat.

The paper-thing edge of the blade whirled itself around my body, constantly attempting to land a single blow as I narrowly blocked and avoided swing after swing. The dagger nicked my upper arm, blood already beginning to leak from the wound.

I took hold of the laceration to halt the bleeding as my leg whipped around the propel the knife in the direction of the murderer’s skull.

As if made of air, the dagger phased through his cranium and dissipating into nothing. The warrior controlling the daggers flashed a cocky smirk, .basking in his experience and self-perceived superiority

Well, this could prove to be quit troublesome.

The rest of the daggers rose from the ground, poised to strike again. In a hasty panic, my mind began to flash idea after idea, trying to come up with some maneuver that could incapacitate the other ten daggers.

Then, a stupid - a stupid, but quite possibly ingenious idea - popped into my head.

Faster than Rainbow Dash during Cider Season, I darted over to the Baraq, sliding right under his legs and leaping back to my feet behind.

As expected, the daggers followed directly in suit, following the course that I had laid out with my movements. With sweat dripping from his forehead, the murderer lashed out his arm to catch the first knife that came into contact with his paw, letting the others pass through his body and dissipate into thin air.

If only that knife had gone just three more inches forward. I hate having to call this miserable pill of scum a ”man”, and that dagger certainly would’ve solved that problem.

With the other eleven steel slabs of death out of the way, I charged for my victim, wind already circling my free arm should the need arise. I swung Dusk, arcing downward for his skull. He dodged the blackened blade, parrying with an uppercut as I countered with a swift kick to his temple.

With such a blow to what some considered was a fatal area, you’d think that he’d fall unconscious as I easily finished him off cruelly like the sick bastard I am, right?

WROOOOOONG!

The Baraq stumbled westward, clutching his temple as he let his free arm support him with a free-standing arbor. The soft collisions of raindrops as the fell from the heavens trickled down my ears, dampening my fur as the storm finally that had been looming over the stadium finally began.

A clap of thunder rang out in the skies above. The chuckling of a certain opponent of mine soon followed, sending chills down my spine and stopping my blood cold in it’s currents. Have you ever felt so cold in your life? It like Death is constantly watching over you, and paranoia creeps into your system as you eternally wonder when you finally succumb to your eminent doom.

But you don’t. Death never comes. It’s just a never-ending wait for the shock that will never jolt through your systems.

The Baraq leaning on against the tree turned his head to lock his eyes with mine. The green demonic glow of his eyes burned with a new intensity. I thought that my fur was going to spontaneously combust right then and there.

The paw that was grasping the side of his skull dropped down to his side. The paw clutching the dagger twirled the weapon thrice before it returned to its backhand state.

“LET THE PARTY BEGIN!” exclaimed the warrior as he threw his arms into the air.

Lightning struck with this sudden proclamation, and within a single blink of an eye, my assailant had vanished.

My eyes darted around, surveying my surroundings in a constant pattern.

Up. Down. Left. Right. Behind. I told myself as I looked for any sort of sign of where Mr. Cloak and Dagger (pun intended) had BAMFED off to. A whistling hit my eardrums, ringing out in such a frequency that it forced my to my knees in utter agony!

My paws clutched my cat-ears in pain as the accursed sound continued to scream like nails on a chalkboard. In wait limited power I had in this state of unrelenting torture, I lifted my head upward to find Mr. BAMF plummeting at a thousand miles a minute, aiming right for my freaking skull.

Talk about wanting a dome-fist.

In haste, my wings exploded from their folded form and flapped with a powerful gust. I collided with a tree five feet behind me as the earth under my rear exploded in a compilation of boulders, dirt, shrapnel and insects. Dusk was sent flying off to who knows where, sinking into an unseen tree as the dull thunk hit my eardrums.

Out of nowhere, the Baraq that had caused mass destruction in a matter of seconds, with results that would make Sakura green with envy, flashed in front of me in a haze of visibility.

I didn’t have any time to react to the onslaught he was about to deliver. A stone-hard rear paw came into contact with my jaw, sending my skyward as limb after limb snapped off the tree as I rammed into each piece of wood.

With another flash of his body disappearing, the Baraq soon reappeared above me, slamming his fist back into my skull and sending my back down the ladder. In mid-fall, I felt my body suddenly stop with the air in my lungs receding in massive quantities.

The knee of my assailant had dug itself into my chest, cracking the dermis of the tree I was pinned against before it slung me off into another random direction.

I was flying through the treetops of the forest, unable regain control of my body as I spoke two words that, I hoped, would help me in this situation.

“Accio Dusk!” I bellowed before the sharp knife of the dagger I despised cleaved my arm once more.

Never considering to let the steel of his blade end in its mad mutilation spree, I was helpless but to watch as the Baraq continued to cut my skin and fur to ribbons, wound after wound dripping with the fresh crimson life juices of my body.

My arm was taken into grasp, claws digging into my skin as I was slung back down to... whatever this planet is, colliding with another tree. The body of the giant snapped from the trunk, tumbling over in a heap as I lay witness to my assailant as he charged for me. His dagger was poised for execution, a sickening sadistic smile spread across his maw.

I looked to my left to find Dusk coming to my aid, barreling through the air and screeching as it severed the airwaves around it. Thank you, Harry Potter!

Both my blade and the murder continued to grow closer and closer to my location, both gaining speed with every passing second. The airwaves were mutilated by both bodies, screeching at such a frequency to where the air grew silent. The crowds above us were on the edge of their seats, eagerly and impatiently awaiting the outcome of the battle between the final two combatants.

Thunder clapped once more as I felt Dusk sling into my grasp. I quickly twirled the blade to a pointed position, hoping to skewer my executioner and cut his attempt short.

However, his reflexes proved to be the better, and he flashed away in another haze before reappearing again, his dagger sinking into my gut as I was caught off guard.

Damn it! This entire series of torturous events had been my motivation to escape from this fucking hellholle! And now I was going to die like a pathetic dog you see on the side of a asphalt highway?!

“Pathetic.” My attacker spat. His maw contorted into a scowl at my weakness and helplessness. “I expected more from a man that defeated a pack of Diamond Dogs, six highly trained warriors, and a towering behemoth of walking steel.” He snickered again, plucking his blade from the wound in my body. “Well, I guess that this how the story ends. Hope the dark doesn’t scare you.”

The Baraq began to walk from where I lay as I bled from the wounds on my body. My teeth cracked under the pressure I put on them as scowled in disgust at my next victim.

“I’ll give you something to fear.”

έχθρα

The inferno of the unrelenting force from those who would unleash ungodly fury began to burn around Abyss, swirling in black fire. The winged warrior rose to his feet, spreading his wings in preparation for his final assault. The darkness of the Executioner drowned the hazel glimmer in his pupils. Death flowed outward from the edge of Remnant of Dusk.

The onyx wings of Abyss grew darker than Oblivion, shining in a strobe as a scar of pure white flashed across the ashen skies above.

The black fires around Abyss flared with an ever-growing intensity, burning the ground around the fires as the warrior who had so foolishly turned his back returned his gaze back to his victim.

“Oh, son of a bi-”

The storm of onyx swarmed the Baraq’s body, burning his fur and breaching his flesh. The cries of pure agony filled the air as lightning struck again and again, filling the stadium with darkness and light, one after the other.

Abyss began to slowly stride towards the Baraq, letting his whips of fire volley the rag doll into the air, ripping his soul into pieces with every second the flames touched his skin. The fires slammed the victim into the earth before flinging him back into the storm-filled skies above, continuing to rip and tear at his body with unrelenting power. The screams and cries of mercy from the unfortunate convict continually went unanswered.

The helpless being fell back the stadium, right into the clutches of Abyss as he began to choke what remaining air remained in the lungs of the Baraq. His fur let off minuscule trails of smoke, his fur smoldering from the fires that had since died down.

“What?” The Baraq asked. His voice trembled with fatigue and fear. “What are you?”

“I am the demon from the abyss, and you have been staring into it for long enough.” Spoke Abyss.

The maws of the two warriors slowly unlatched, their gazes locking with each other as the ritual began. Youth and sustenance began to drain from the feline in Abyss’ clutches, his fur growing gray and the feathers of his wings slowly falling to the earth.

His skin became wrinkled and saggy, dried with age as the life continued to be drained from his very being.

At last, every ounce of energy, youth and life was absorbed from the criminal, and the bodies of Abyss and the Baraq fell to the floor, one in death, and one in absolute victory.

The crowds remained silent as the king stroked his chin in curiosity, staying in deep thought about the feline caught in his gaze.

Alright!! That’s the end of the Arena arc! What adventures await Abyss now that he has survived his sentence? What threats will reveal themselves as the journey continues? Find out in the next chapter of On Black Wings I Rise, And On Black Wings I Fall.

Wow. I did NOT expect that chapter to be quite this long. To be honest, I was expecting 1000 words minimum. But THREE THOUSAND WORDS?! Hot damn, I am good! But seriously though, the real motivation to my writing goes to you viewers. You’re the people that keep this story alive, so do share your opinion! Tell me what you think could be better, what could be changed, anything! I want to make you guys happy. That, and I want this story to become somewhat popular. Well, we’ve got a huge plotline coming up, so until next time

STAY AWAY FROM THE NIGHTLOCK

P.S: I’m going to be working on the second chapter of my upcoming new fic, so try and be patient for the next chapter.

P.P.S: Do you guys like the new title?