The Masterless Battlefield
The Ownerless Battlefield was filled with raucous hymns and a sickening stench. Even when I drew breath, the sacred metallic odor hit me before the smell of blood. The ground beneath my feet was nothing but pools of blood and ash. I was the only demon left alive on this field.
"Advance."
Raphael spoke. At that single word, the heavenly legion plummeted toward me all at once.
BOOM────!!!
Pillars of light slammed down one after another where I'd stood. Black mounds, stone piles, and blood pools erupted like bursting boils. The earth cratered in all directions. Then the wind swept through.
SHHHH─────!
Remnants of the walls pulverized into dust and flew up. Blades of wind, falling beams of light, arrows, and spears sliced through the space. They were herding me into the center, leaving no escape.
"Fuck... you're really committed to killing me, huh."
A curse slipped out, mixed with a bit of a laugh. There was truly nowhere to dodge. So I didn't.
Black energy rose from my body.
The remains of dead demons, shredded horns, snapped bones, charred wings. Fragments of angels long dried out. Everything else I'd devoured. In an instant, it all clumped together in black, wrapping around me. Armor forged from shattered pieces. Black Plate—it absorbed anything that struck it through Gluttony, amplified my swings. Armor compressed from the authority of Gluttony.
──BAM!
The first spear pierced the armor. My shoulder blew off with it, body twisting back. Vision shook. The severed black fragments seeped back into me. Fresh, tougher black layers grew over the exploded flesh and shattered bone.
────BOOM!!!
A blast of light shredded the chest plate. Breath cut off, then scraps from Gluttony replaced lungs and ribs.
"......Urk."
Demon, angel—everything I'd eaten was spent. All I could do now was endure, taking hits with minimal waste.
Raphael peered down from above.
"Most demons of hell have already been annihilated."
"Only you, Bell, remain."
I spat blood.
"If you're gonna finish it, hit harder."
Raphael tilted his head lightly.
"Very well."
As the words ended, he drew up light.
"Hear this, all living angels."
In that moment, every remaining angel on the field—low, mid, high—had a light sigil etched at their feet.
"Follow only my light. Reject all falsehood. Cast aside fear, hesitation, doubt. Plunge toward the Demon of Gluttony alone."
Blanket command cast over the entire legion.
Light bound their eyes, ears, and minds.
"Now no one," Raphael said, "will be swayed by deception."
As those words finished—
──Kuh.
A thin laugh leaked from somewhere on the battlefield.
──Is that what you think? Really?
A tone neither from heaven nor hell. A soft, twisted male voice.
──How nice that would be, if it were true.
The air warped. The hymns veered ever so slightly off-key. Command phrases overlapped, echoing syllable by syllable.
'Toward the Demon of Gluttony alone—'
'Reject falsehood—'
'Only the light—'
Meaning arrived a beat late. Spear trajectories shifted by inches. Light sigils shattered at overlap points.
Raphael's eyes narrowed.
"......Satan."
He named it. Between heaven and earth, in a spot belonging to neither, came Satan's low, chilling laugh.
Just a little interference, because I felt like it. Satan's voice.
Correcting lies with lies, twisting commands a touch—simple enough.
Raphael reached out instantly.
"All units, resync. Block external interference. Ignore everything but my—"
Even that command twisted before finishing.
──Actively accept external interference... or not.
Satan chuckled.
Heh, sorry. Habit.
Authorities clashed. The downpour of commands from the sky trembled in midair. Lines of light unraveled, reconnected—creating a half-beat, half-step gap.
A true, fleeting gap. For me, it was enough.
I kicked off.
Black armor clung tight to my entire body.
No more corpses to devour. This armor was everything on this battlefield today.
Abilities consumed via Gluttony, compressed into a single point instead of scattered.
REGENERATION
ACCELERATION
CURSE
PLAGUE
CORRUPTION
POISON
Even Raphael's Wind authority.
All packed into my fists and toes.
"Sky first."
I bent my knees. The ground exploded.
──────────BAM!!!
I rocketed upward. Into the heart of the legion where sigils misaligned and commands twisted.
First, a punch straight into a high angel's face.
──BAM!
Head and armor burst together.
Scattering fragments seeped straight into my armor.
Next. Grabbed an angel aiming a spear, ripped off its arm at the shoulder. Stomped its gut.
──BAM!
Torso folded, slammed downward. Devoured the debris before it hit.
"Front line—reform—!"
Raphael's order arrived late. I'd already crushed the third, fourth, fifth's chests and throats.
Before light barriers activated, curse, plague, corruption, poison blended and seeped in first. A sword lodged in my armor, melted black on contact.
I gripped the blackened shard, slit its owner's throat in return.
Blood-mixed light sprayed. Devoured before it touched ground.
A momentary slaughter. But this time, I was the one dishing it out.
The heavenly legion stupidly awaited orders. Raphael issued new ones at once.
"Maintain distance! Volley fire! Keep away from him—"
Satan's low, chilling laugh flowed again.
──Distance calc, a bit off.
Angels' positions shifted a step each. Their firing ranges overlapped by half a foot.
I saw the overlap.
"Here."
Twisted into the intersection. Spears thrusting from both sides missed me, pierced each other's armor. Screams overlapped.
Sssup───!
I inhaled deeply in the gap. Dying energies flooded me in that instant. All loaded into my fist.
Straight punch.
─────────BOOM!!!
A whole line vaporized. Dense formation pierced. I slid through the breach.
Back kick. Spun, heel-smashed an angel above's jaw. Head and wings shattered, slamming two beside.
Devoured the collapsing three at once.
Delayed orders, twisted coordinates. Raphael's legion mimicked discipline a half-beat off. My fists and feet filled every lapse.
Shatter. Crush. Devour.
The command was for 'living angels,' but most of the living were vanishing.
Raphael overlooked the field and shouted.
"Cease! Each on your—"
Before his words ended, I plunged into the final ranks. Swung once at the swarm of low angels armed in light.
Black wave surged up.
Despair, rage, remnants of burnt light within.
Angels grazed dissolved armor with a sizzle, charring black.
Screams. I dove in, ripping only heads and hearts.
Spear impaled my shoulder—I seized it, yanked the owner close, knee-smashed its face. Sank teeth into the nape before it fell.
I felt the last angel lose its light.
──A hush fell.
Hymns stopped. Wingbeats ceased. All presences but Raphael's vanished from the field.
Raphael floated alone. Six wings overlapping rang six holy tones at once. Healing wrapped wind, protection and repair surged. Six pristine wings. Form still cloaked in blinding light.
Beneath him, I stood. Black armor. Grotesque gear clumped from countless deaths and light remnants.
Satan's presence had already faded. 'Made the gap. The rest is yours.' Roughly that meaning.
Raphael spoke.
"......Your entire army, dead."
"All of them, by your hand."
"Ate 'em."
I said.
"Your legion, mine too. Devoured every corpse."
For an instant, emotion seemed to drain from Raphael's face.
"Bell."
"Yeah."
"I will end you."
"Sounds good."
I clenched my fist hard. Muscles tightened pleasurably beneath the armor.
"No audience now. No interruptions."
Dazzling sky, blood-soaked earth. Between radiant light and hollow dark. Only two remained.
Heaven's song silenced, hell's screams gone. This place was now an empty lot, no king's banner planted.
Raphael still claimed heaven's messenger. I'd become the monster that chewed and swallowed everything here once over.
When one fell, this battlefield's name would be set.
"It's a masterless battlefield, Raphael."
I grinned.
"Let's decide who owns it."