Only Two Remain in the Sanctuary of Hunger
Only two remained in the Sanctuary of Hunger. Over there, two layers of wind, three layers of light. Inside the five-layered barrier no one could pierce, Raphael stared at me with an impassive face. I cinched the black armor tighter. The armor forged from the dead clung to me like flesh. A sensation as familiar as my own limbs.
"Ready?"
I grinned. Raphael smiled back.
"Then, shall we give it everything we've got."
In an instant, a city-sized sanctuary bloomed. Rings of light descended in layers, sealing the battlefield. Chants echoed from somewhere, paving the sanctuary's floor. A single space, severed from the outside world.
"The Authority of Support means the world itself lends me its power directly," came Raphael's voice.
"Just you and me. Let's fight fair."
I felt myself weaken, while Raphael's power swelled.
The winds converged into intangible blades. Thousands of them twisted together, slashing diagonally toward me in a single stroke.
Shrieeeeeek──────────!!!
I compressed my Authority inward, condensing it to a single point, and met it with my fist.
─────Boom!
Gluttony shredded the blades, sending ripples across the barrier's surface. But all five layers absorbed the shock. Instantly, the blades coiled around my joints. My left elbow buckled under the wind's pressure, sliced a thousand times. Black blood sprayed out.
I bit into the wind. A strand of its essence snapped, and a fishy divine power seeped into me. Raphael's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Then, a half-beat before my movement, he chuckled.
"You'll step forward with your right foot next, twist your waist—straight punch."
My body moved exactly as he said. Not because I couldn't stop. He'd already read me.
Thud─!
Light bulged round before my fist, blunting my strike.
"The battlefield flows with shadows of the future."
A merciful whisper scraped my ear.
"A war of attrition favors you. The more you fight, the more you devour, the stronger you get."
He closed his eyes, then opened them. Within his gaze, tens of thousands of lines flickered on and off.
"..."
Raphael had his answer. And that answer was his own defeat.
"I can't win a war of attrition."
"So—let's end it in one go."
Raphael bowed his head. He clasped his hands.
"Lord, keep this battlefield pure. Stop his hunger—right now."
Chills ran down my spine. The heavens rumbled silently. Above his palms descended an
Transparent glass. The liquid inside whiter than light.
My instincts screamed first. Everything I'd devoured so far—blood, flesh, bone, demons, angels, abilities, Authorities. None of it could touch that white. The devouring side, the tearing side, the swallowing side recoiled for the first time, grinding its teeth.
The lid opened. A stench hit like death itself.
One drop. The white liquid flowed down Raphael's wings, through his bones, to his fingertips, blade tips, breath's end. The light faded to ash-gray, falling utterly silent. Raphael smiled with profound gentleness.
"Bell, I'll end you completely."
The wind blade slashed straight once.
Screee─!
I could have dodged, but I didn't. A line crossed my chest. The black armor split like tofu, flesh peeling away.
I pressed my mouth to the wound—no taste. Gluttony wouldn't activate on the gash. A brief silence. In that instant, my Gluttony lost its hunger. Not from fullness or disgust. Numbness. The diagonal slash across my chest—even I couldn't devour it.
"This nullifies your 'Authority' for a while. No need to struggle anymore."
"Shut up."
Got it. Judgment made in a flash. Compress the Authority, don't spread it. Shrink it smaller than a finger joint.
I hammered out a black nail. Twisting my body in a split second, I targeted the barrier's weak spot and hurled it. It pierced without a sound. The black nail lodged precisely in the seam of Raphael's armor.
Crack─!
The armor's joint cracked faintly, the Gluttony-forged black nail spreading like a fissure. Raphael's smile dropped a tone.
"Hm... this'll take a bit to erase."
He swallowed a short sigh. Then tilted the jar again. Its entire contents seeped into his wings, bones, heart, every Authority. The winds gathered into a single line. Support and healing shaped it into a blade. Restoration fixed that blade's 'state.' The sanctuary floor vibrated. The air lost its scent.
"Let's finish it."
The line of light passed first, the world lagging a beat behind.
──────────Splurt!!!
By the time I noticed, I'd been slashed. An attack that severed the 'step' I needed to gather my power against him—the connection itself. My ankle's grounding lightened. My waist's twist spun empty. My shoulder's weight never reached my arm. The flow broke before it could. One more clean hit, and I'd lose. My body knew first.
I devoured the ground first. Chewing and resealing the connection from toe to earth. Over the severed timing, I redrew the links with Authority. Ground─foot─calf─knee─thigh─hip. Power from the solid earth. My waist twisted back to life, carrying force to my shoulder. Clavicle─upper arm─forearm─fist. Simultaneously, I compressed my entire body inward. Bones, muscles, organs, every fiber contracting, squeezing. Black armor from outside, Gluttony from within—double compression. I planted my foot on the 'ground' hardened by Gluttony beneath. One step. The ground's rebound traveled up my leg and hip, spine to natural shoulder and arm line—everything converged to one point. All my inner Gluttony spiraled, drilling in with a straight punch. Raphael's strike closed in, my fist rose.
Silence───────────────
Straight Punch.
───────────────KABOOOOOM!!!!!
The world rang out hugely. The light barriers forming the sanctuary tore in layers, wind flows twisting. The fasting power laid by the ointment shattered to pieces. Beside Raphael's ribcage, the black nail I'd embedded exploded outward, seeping deep into the light armor's seams. Remnants of healing Authority brushed my knuckles. Gluttony returned to normal. But the slash across my chest remained an undevourable void, my body torn and shuddering from the recoil of that blow.
Raphael staggered half a turn in place. His right wings looked ready to fall, his body trying to heal and restore only to be devoured half a beat at a time by the black nail's Gluttony. His smile flickered briefly. His voice stayed gentle to the end.
"......Not this time. Next time, more completely."
He sacrificed his remaining right wings to open a path of light. I extended Gluttony toward his ankle, flank, shoulder—three spots. Sizzle─────! Two strikes vanished under his Authority, the last he twisted away from, sending it upward. The path of light folded, Raphael's form vanishing above. Leaving one black nail by my chest. One more step, and I could have grabbed him. My foot lurched forward, but the void in my chest tore from within. Near my heart, the ointment still whispered like a prayer. Starve. Don't eat. Prayer and command toward my hunger, embedded together. Instead of pursuing, I chose not to break.
The explosion's echoes faded slowly. Raphael's sanctuary sank like cracked rock, fissures intact. Torn wind currents leaked away, countless light pillars fallen to hell scattering like dust. I buckled one knee, then stood. Recoil settled through my bones from my fist. The edges of my vision rippled black.
Slowly, I began gnawing the ointment's residue in the wound. First it slipped, then grated like metal, and on the third bite, a thin layer crumbled. Taste returned over the hunger. The chest void filled bit by bit with black flesh. The battlefield's scents crept back. Blood, metal, burning meat, and a faint lingering reek of ointment. The smell didn't stay in this battlefield. Beyond the shattered walls, streets still steaming with blood and ash. Farther still, where hell blurred into what wasn't hell. Eyes couldn't make it out, but hunger groped first. Far off, sky's end. The faint light path Raphael had opened was folding shut completely. I spat blood, wiped my mouth. Black dust flowed with my breath.
"Slipped away."
The black armor hardened further, my insides growing noisier. I crushed the sanctuary's shattered shell underfoot as I walked. Blood pools, ash, broken spears. Spots where neither angel nor demon left proper form. Somewhere on the battlefield, I was still scenting something. Smells hunger hadn't reached yet. Things not yet eaten. From beneath the crumbled walls, two faint living scents mingled, soaked in blood but not fully extinguished. Breaths. Hunger groped there instinctively, then withdrew. More fitting to watch how long they endured in this hell than swallow them now. I exhaled quietly. A hell with things still holding out somewhere appealed more than utter emptiness. Down there, survivors. Enough. I glanced once more at the empty sky. Raphael. Ointment and the heavens. Where the light path had vanished completely, only hunger slowly took direction. The war was over, but my stomach growled louder than ever.