That up there is Abbygail and Sera on there!!! I painted that thing!

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
- 2 Peter 3:10

13

Alooc growled as he reached the top of a hill, pulling his shoulders back as his nostrils flared, smelling the intoxicating scent of smoke, blood, burnt flesh, and dying souls. He grunted as he took in the chaotic battlefield.

Man. The Kingdom of Man was whipping Hell's ass at the moment. And it wasn't even a lot of them; he had only counted a group of thirty individuals that were literally ripping through the group of Demons that had surged out from underground when one of them had only uttered to Alooc that they were outside, waiting almost patiently for them to join them so they could fight. He had been going to see Fury and what else had been locked away when the drooling, skittishly shaking Demon had approached him, brandishing the news with a nervous gitterness that had caused Alooc to scowl at him in disgust. It had been extremely unpleasant watching the other Demon withered almost in pleasure by keeping this secret from Alooc. Granted, it had caused Alooc to smack him halfway across the room -he had gotten annoyed- and he was starting to find himself growing more and more frustrated as time passed.

And most of his frustration was coming from one person in this... group of people that had decided that they were going to attack him.

He snarled as he watched the carnage before him, taking note of the ones in the group that appeared to be the more powerful. They mostly stayed together, the group, and lured in the stupider Demons to take them on together. But it was obvious to see who was doing the most work. One had a gun; it echoed across the battle with every pull of the trigger, thundering around the screams and dismembering almost unnaturally loud. Another slashed away at the Demons with two swords, creating almost a dance as they easily sliced through them. And, unsurprisingly noticeable, was one with blue fire. Each one played a large mark on the battlefield, killing everything, leaving nothing behind. They were obviously in charge -no one else was taking the responsibility.

Deciding that he would join in the action, he began the descent down the hill. Fighting seemed like the only thing that would keep him from being too bored; he had lost sight of Fury's purple hair long ago and instead had taken to watching the battle with a critical eye due to the failure around him, mentally noting on how the Demon in command fought and how powerfully that the Kingdom of Man had returned after the End War. But he was just so bored. He needed something to do. And, besides, he couldn't just sit around when his new minor Demons were being slaughtered. Wasn't he the one who was supposed to do that?

The Demons that were rushing into battle deliberately changed their course so he could move through them with ease. Figuring that he would warn the humans in advance -just to be nice- he stomped almost all the way there, making as much noise as possible as he roared to have the other Demons get out of his way so he could reach his target quicker. His eyes had long ago locked upon that target and he had almost burst into rage when they met his gaze, motioning to him in a come-hither motion before giving him a large, shit-eating grin and literally burning the Demon in front of them to ashes.

It was a female. If Alooc knew anything, he knew the difference between the two sexes of Man. She was small, though; nothing on her was particularly large, more medium everything, and she hardly reached the neck of the man that was near her, shooting anything that came close as he kept a hand on his saber. Her hair was the color of straw, plain, thin, but with just enough length to brush against her shoulders as she moved around the battlefield with her short ponytail. Every time she met his gaze, he found himself hating the color of the sky more and more. Blue. Who the hell liked the color blue after meeting this woman's eyes? She was dressed in a blue outfit that looked similar to what Alooc had associated riding outfits for the daughters of Eve; a baby blue, form-fitting jacket hugged her, she had on a pair of black leggings, and her boots reached her knees in height. What he found the most annoying was the way that she looked at him. As if she knew something that he didn't. Her face would glow with a large grin, even as she literally burned bodies without so much as a blink, and almost dare him silently to approach her.

If it was the last thing that he ever did, he was going to kill her, preferably by ripping that grin off her face.

When he was at least twenty feet away, she spun in his direction, throwing an arm out. A blue fireball, brilliantly colored in different shades, flew at him. He let that one hit him, just to see how strong the attack was. He found immediately that it was a mistake. The entire area that had been hit began to burn; the stench of burnt fur and flesh attacked his nose and he turned his head away from the woman for a second to recover as he stumbled just a tad. His chest, where he had been struck, was already working to heal the savage burns as he began to face her again.

Another fireball just about hit him; the only reason why it didn't was because he had half ducked as he had spun back around to face her, flinging his head up so he could see her. He saw the scowl on her face as he pushed off the ground with his legs to throw his weight at her and clear the gap between them. Clearly, he wasn't going to be able to fight her at a distance. He was going to have to get close and personal.

Halfway through the air he shifted, transforming into a large grizzly bear. As he roared, stretching his paws out wide and knowing that she didn't have enough time to respond, he was very shocked to find her slipping away from his grasp all too soon. It was quick. How, he didn't know. No human moved that quickly. One moment she was there, shock tracing her face as she watched him hurtle toward her, and the next she was smirking, disappearing in a blink of an eye to the side with a single jump. Alooc repeated the thought as he landed, turning as quickly as he could as his chunky form could allow, and turned to find her swiftly moving her hands in random circular motions.

His eyes widened as, with a few more lightning quick motions of her hands, two perfectly shaped scythes appeared. Granted, they were on fire; her fire that she could apparently shot out of her hands could form more than just fireballs of stunning blue color. They were just shorter than her and the Demon Lord growled, shifting back into his Demon form to tower over her.

"Hey, hey, hey! Wanna dance?" she said, twirling both of the scythes as she beamed, stray strands of blonde hair falling into her face.

"Our versions of dancing are two very different things." Aloof stamped down a foot, throwing back his head as he once more transformed his form. He only shrunk but so much; the woman's eyes widened as Alooc slammed down the large, decorated broadsword that had just appeared in his hand, forcing her to leap out of the way. His skin turned to the color of charcoal and he shook his head forcibly side to side, allowing strands of matted dreadlocks to shake themselves free from the thick, golden colored armor that he now wore. As he straightened, still easily several feet taller than the Daughter of Eve, he gave her an impish grin, making sure to reveal his pointed canines. He knew without having to see a reflection of himself that his eyes were unnatural silver color, glowing thanks to the new blood that now flowed through his veins. "Now, tell me if your impression of Nephilim is the same of mine."

He lunged at her then, lifting his broadsword high and preparing the diamond shield in his hand.

There was a catch to Alooc's transformations. The Demon Lord always seemed to notice them the most when they weren't important; unless he asked for a specific person or animal, he would transform into whatever he had asked for as the thing that he had seen first. This Nephilim, the son of an Angel and Demon, was Zoroa, a First Born Nephilim. Death and Absalom had not been the only ones, oh no. Zoroa was taller, thicker, more powerful than what Death could have possibly ever wished to be before he was a Horseman. It had been fortunate then that Alooc had been the one to kill Zoroa; Alooc had accidentally crossed paths with the Nephilim, as cliché as it sounds, at a bar, where things had resulted with Alooc standing over a bloodied body, still pissed at the thing that had managed to slice his entire right arm off. But Zoroa had been strong, crafty. Alooc could already feel the heat that was beginning to flow through him, racing through his thick arms and begging for a release. Like Death as a necromancer, Zoroa could bend fire to an extent -when they had been fighting, Zoroa had blasted him briefly with a faceful of flames. This woman and her fire would have no effect on Alooc as Zoroa. And that was exactly why Alooc had became Zoroa, besides from just being that awesome.

The woman immediately lifted up both of her flaming scythes to protect herself. Which was stupid. Her eyes flickered up to his in surprise when he slammed his broadsword into her scythes, blue flames flying as the three weapons created a loud clash. The impact shook through the woman; a yell escaped her and Alooc smirked in victory, taking a step toward the woman and pressing his weight down. Down they went toward the ground, the woman shifting herself and bracing her arms as her face twisted into concentration, causing her bottom lip to pull back, revealing straight white teeth.

"What are you to do now, puny human?" Alooc sneered, enjoying the deep, rumbling voice that Zoroa had owned. "You are defeated!"

"Am I now?"

Alooc paused slightly, lifting an eyebrow in confusion. What could this little woman possibly have hidden up her sleeve? He watched, amused, as she tossed her head back, slinging back a stray strand of her blonde bangs and locked her sky blue gaze back upon his, her cheeky smile causing her cheeks to highlight her pale, smudged skin. Annoyed at her confidence, Alooc dropped his left arm, the one with the shield, and began to make a sweeping motion at the woman. The shield alone was bigger than her; just a small strike would probably crumple her, destroying every bone in her small, lithe body. At this point, Alooc wouldn't mind picking her bones apart one by one and snapping them individually as she was alive, just to watch her die slowly and painfully. He was amazed by how she had been able to deflect his attack with the broadsword, but there was no way that she could with him crushing her as his shield came in from the side. He had expected to crush her with one powerful swing.

Caw!

The noise caused Alooc to lift his head just in time to catch a heap of brown feathers right before it slammed into his face.

Sputtering in surprise, the Demon Lord stumbled back and swatted at the bird that had just attacked him. Stinging pain grew across his cheek; when the bird pulled away, just narrowly missing Alooc's shield as he swung out at the bird, blood stained its claws as it took in large, hurried flaps with its blue-tipped wings to escape from his grasp. The bird's eyes, a blue that looked very familiar, met Alooc's and, to the Demon Lord's surprise, its beak curled into a smile.

A roar of anger burst from Alooc's chest and he made a dive at the bird that couldn't have been bigger than a small dog. The bird shrieked, wings flapping furiously and throwing brown and blue feathers all over the place, and Alooc was swinging his broadsword at the creature when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He was shocked to find pain splinter up through his body so strong that it caused his back to arch, the bird forgotten, as he landed awkwardly on the ground with only one leg. Apparently those scythes were more than just fire. The shield was an extreme help to keeping his balance and he looked up in time to find the other half of his leg, cut cleanly just above the knee, landing nearby. Snarling, his head whipped around to see the woman leaning toward him on the ground as if chastising a small child.

"Who's defeated now?" she asked, blue eyes sparkling as she reached out, fingers brushing the trim goatee around his mouth. Her fingers were so light and insanely warm against his skin. As quickly as she had touched him, her hand was gone. "Might be careful about who you pick on, big guy."

Alooc pulled away from her, nose scrunched up in disgust, and brought the hilt of his broadsword across the side of her head with as much strength as he could in his position. Her head snapped away from him, the momentum of his attack swinging the rest of her body away from him. As her body landed, crumpled with red blood flowing from her new wound, the bird plummeted from the sky, landing beside her with a few panicked caws. Alooc ignored them both -no human could possibly survive that. Zoroa's healing factor as a First Born was already kicking in and Alooc stood hesitantly, a new leg already growing with swirls of dark gray -the ash. By the time that the leg had regenerated, completed by the golden armor of Zoroa, Alooc was already turning toward the rest of the remaining humans that were fighting with the other Demons.

"Hey! I'm not done with you!" exclaimed a familiar voice and Alooc glanced over his shoulder, snarling as he watched the woman standing painfully, one hand clutching at the head wound that he had rewarded her with. The bird that had attacked him was sitting on her shoulder as he eyed him almost evilly.

"I am finished with you," Alooc replied, raising his broadsword to point at her. "If I have to cut you to pieces just to kill you, then I will."

"Try it, ya bastard." He watched as she jerked both arms out, now completely healthy despite the blood that still decorated the side of her head, and the bird that had been resting on her shoulder flew off as her arms flashed up into blue flames.

"Gladly."

He attacked first, swinging the broadsword down at her feet. She leapt up, impossibly high for someone that he was assuming to be a human, and a blinding pain blasted across his face as her chucked blue fire at him, the momentum of the blast hurting him more than the actual flame. Shit. She's so not human. Anger caused his vision to turn fuzzy, his actions becoming slower. But he hit her. It was just his forearm that actually hit, but he must have hit her hard enough to actually knock her unconscious; everything about her appeared to be limp until the bird swooped down once more, eyes a glowing blue color. As he turned around he managed to catch blue energy that flowed between the two of them, just a hint that was only noticeable if the someone was not a human and could see such a thing. So, she wasn't human. He stumped over to her as she scrambled to her feet, panic in her blue eyes as she stared at his approaching form, arms shaking. He knew her secret.

Kill the bird, you kill her.

Slamming down his shield to warn off any others, Alooc took the last few steps to reach the woman. She yelped as he roared at her. Finally. He was going to kill her. It felt so damn good to watch her cringe in fright, her panic like a drug to his heightened senses. Placing his sword on his back, Alooc punched the ground beside the woman, causing her to cry out as she fell into the crater he had just created. Her fist shot out, hitting him across his cheek. It hardly hurt; she apparently needed recovery time after being healed.

But then something happened. For some reason, when he looked up and met the woman's blue eyes... something just happened. The fear, the panic, the pain. For once out of his entire life as a Demon, he felt something stir in his chest. A question. Why was he doing this? Why was he a Demon Lord? Why was he even here at this moment, crushing everything, growling and snarling? That look in that woman's eyes, of pure panic, of pure fear, it made him question his entire life.

He looked at her, suddenly, in a different way. His pause gave her enough time to push herself further away from him, unshed tears sparkling in her eyes as she slid in the mud, only falling further until her feet were literally on his right shoulder. Suddenly, he was looking at a small blonde girl, fear in her eyes. A girl who had just watched her father died.

A girl that he knew from his past.

As realization dawned on him, Alooc leaned away from the woman, transforming at the same time. From a Nephilim he became a Demon Lord once more, eyes wide and fangs sticking out from the side of his mouth as he thought. The woman, still trying to catch her breath, didn't move as Alooc studied her face, now remembering the same features that he had seen only once before. The straw colored hair. Those sky blue eyes that made him so angry for no reason whatsoever. The way her blue eyes sparkled when she cried. The way she bit her bottom lip to try and keep her emotions at bay.

"Carina! Hold on!"

A gunshot rang out and Alooc felt pain zap through his shoulder. He reared back, throwing his head back and roaring as he turned to meet the new threat that was already beginning to come toward him. It was an older man; his face was wrinkled and his hair, which fell in thin, greasy waves, was a mixture of gray and white. He was wearing a blue and red uniform with colorful badges plastered on the side of his chest that reflected light distractedly. Though an old man, he was surprisingly lean, sporting a lean, swimmers body. In one hand was the pistol, aimed perfectly at Alooc's head, and the other had a saber, decorated at the hilt and bloody from killing. There was a different look on his face that supported a theory that the man wasn't human, just like how the woman wasn't either. Then again, if the fact that the man was flying through the air after some powerful leap had anything to do with things and literally had a stream of smoke following in his wake, then that old man was definitely not human.

Carina, the woman, rolled away before Alooc knew what was happening as his focus locked upon the man hurtling through space to him. Alooc opened his arms to welcome the man, who was giving his own battle cry. The pistol fired several more times, striking Alooc  throughout his chest and abdomen, and Alooc leapt up to meet the old man halfway through the air. They collided; Alooc failed to get a grip on the man before they were falling apart, the Demon Lord now sporting sword wounds throughout his chest and stomach along with the bullet wounds. As the Demon Lord landed, the old man doing the same gracefully in a crouch beside Carina, Alooc straightened, allowing the wounds to heal as he growled.

"Are you alright?" the old man asked Carina as he helped her stand, one brown eye focused upon Alooc as the Demon Lord growled.

"I've seen better days, Tama, thanks for asking," Carina grumbled as she rose to her feet.

Alooc roared, starting to run toward the pair. They both shared a glance; Tama's gray brow lifting as Carina gave him a wide smile, brushing back a strand of hair, turning to face Alooc at the same time. Tama, the supposed old man's name, gestured and the two darted off in two separate directions. Alooc choose to race after Carina, seeing that she was currently weaponless and still disoriented from what had happened earlier. She ran through the crowd of battling Demons and humans, pushing through most of them or blasting the heads off Demons that stood in her way. Alooc simply smashed through them, throwing anything in his path away.

Eventually he caught her, sweeping her into his grasp and brought her up, half wondering what he was going to do with her. He didn't get the chance; she looked at him once, gave him a fleeting smile, and burst into bright blue flames almost instantly after she closed her eyes. Her hair was the lightest part and, when she opened her eyes, dark blue flames appeared, her smile even on fire. Alooc dropped her in surprise, not having expected that, and turned his head just in time to see Tama once again in the air, saber raised and slicing through the air quickly.

And then, after one quick head slice later, Alooc died.

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone's happy with everything in this chapter and their Christmas!

(Hopefully Carina and Tama were badass enough! ;) )