Demon Rising

Chapter 11: The Rings of Assention

Chapter 11: The Rings of Assention



"So do you think Eris will be mad about the whole trying to kill her thing?", Vaugn asked conversationally as Jinkara lept lightly from roof top to roof top, on his way to the large mountain over looking Tokyo on which the Tokyo Airport sat atop.

The sun was starting to slowly setting in the horizon, casting Jinkara’s leaping shadow on the rooves of the houses, as the sky glowed a gentle golden yellow.

"Doesn’t matter to me. Maybe she’ll put up more of a fight this time if she is mad.", Jinkara replied as he flew over five rooves after a particularly powerful jump.

"Just be more careful with my body this time alright?", Vaugn said as Jinkara approached the freeway that would take them around the city and right to the road that would lead them up the side of the mountain.

"I can becareful, or I can kill Eris. Seems a rather simple decision really.", Jinkara replied with a smile as he took one last massive leap and flew over several houses and emerged high in the air over the freeway.

As Jinkara flew over the freeway, Vaugn could take in the relaxing scene around him. The white stone pavement was gently glowing gold. The ocean, which the freeway ran beside, was also glowing orange, the surface broken by the occasional flash as a wave broke,the smell of salt strong in the air. The city of Tokyo, like it usually did at sundown, was shining, reflecting the evening sky like a giant mirror. It was hard to believe that soon all this peaceful tranquility would soon be broken.

Looking down at the freeway below him, Jinkara spotted a large box truck heading in the direction they were going. Fixxing it with an eagle like stare, he started to fall gracefully out of the air feet first, and moments later landed lightly on the back of the truck, barely shaking it. Jinkara slowly straightened up, and crossed his arms infront of him, gazing at the city infront of him.

"Well last time you tried to kill Eris, I wound up stiff as a statue for three days. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy going through that again." Vaugn said pointedly as the truck sped towards the mountain road, the sun setting behind Jinkara, casting a long shadow on the truck.

Jinkara laughed but didn’t answer as the truck gently hummed closer and closer to their destination.



***



"So you guys think that this Eris demon will try and destroy this airplane and everyone aboard?", Asuke asked, looking around at her friends in the dining room.

"I don’t know. But Vaugn and Jinkara certainly think so. So for all we know, Eris could be planning to.", Nikkai replied as he sipped his tea while watching the news broadcast from the airport.

The friends were sitting in the dining room, eating dessert and drinking their tea, watching their local news channel about the arrival of the 300 person committee. They figured that since Vaugn and Jinkara were the only ones who knew about the demon that had escaped and was now on the loose in Tokyo, that they might just see the demon for themselves on TV.

"I do hope he is careful though. The last thing we need is Vaugn to come back to us in a bloody mess again.", Kihari said, as she took a bite of her sugar cookie.

"I’m sure they’ll be fine. I don’t think Vaugn will take having his body being beaten like that again to lightly.", Shentin said looking from one friend to another as they nodded in agreeance.

"Well all we can do is just wait and see what happens. And hope no one gets killed or hurt.", Imari said seriously, "Well, you know…except the demon.", Imari added unnessecarily, as she and the others turned back to the TV, Asuke turning the volume up to hear better.



***



"Now, tell me again why we can’t take the road up to the top of the mountain?", Jinkara asked in a very annoyed voice as he climbed the steep slope of the rocky mountain side, his claws leaving deep holes and long gouge marks in the hard stone face,causing many stones to break away and tumble down the side of the cliff, reminding Jinkara and Vaugn just how tall the mountain was.

"Because chances are the roads are all shut down for security. With people this important they wouldn’t want anyone getting anywhere near the committee.", Vaugn replied casually, as Jinkara reached the first small plateau that the road ran along, and slowly poking his head over the edge of the road,checking that no one was around. Jinkara quickly climbed up completely on the road, dashed across and after sinking his claws firmly in the stone wall, began climbing the the next mountain face before anyone came and spotted him.

"Or anything in this case, Vaugn.", Jinkara replied with a growl, as he continued to climb the mountain face.

A gentle glow was just visible at the top of the mountain and the murmur of hundreds of people just audible from where they were.

After climbing as quickly as they could, Jinkara poked his head over the next plateau and again checking to make sure everything was safe. The only person visible was a policeman at the far end, but he was over looking the city. Quickly scrambling to the road, Jinkara leapt into the air, and firmly sinking his claws into the mountain face, continued to climb, the policeman unaware of what had just passed behind him.

"How much further is it Vaugn? I’m starting to get bored with all this climbing.", Jinkara asked his voice full of annoyance at all the climbing.

"It shouldn’t be to far now, the voices are getting louder.", Vaugn replied casually and indeed, the voices were getting louder.

After climbing for a few more moments, Jinkara cautiously stuck his head over the edge and took in the site before him.

Lined all around the edge of the road, standing with the backs to a large railing about waiste high were reporters and camera men. Jinkara looked through a forest of legs, and from what he saw there were bright lights illuminating the whole area. In the back ground, rising high above the forest of humans, was a dark mountain peak that looked as if it would be the perfect place to lay in wait for Eris.

"Jin, can you get us around the mountain to that peak on the other side without being seen?", Vaugn asked Jinkara as Jinkara looked over the edge at the peak that Vaugn was refering to.

"No problem.", Jinkara replied, and sliding back down the mountain face slightly, leaving long gouge marks in the hard stone, started to crawl along the mountain face sidways like a gecko crawling along a wall.

After 10 minutes of crawling around the mountain, Jinkara was climbing the final feet of the mountain peak.

"Good job Jin.", Vaugn said as Jinkara emerged on the top of the mountain and walking over to the edge, gazed down at the scene beneath them.

They were looking down at the staired car park that Vaugn saw when he first arrived in Tokyo. All over were news vans, many fo them with large poles with cables running around them sticking high in the air, bright lights shining at the very top, illuminating the whole area. Everywhere Vaugn and Jinkara looked, they saw news reporters and cameramen broadcasting to their TV audiences.

Looking past that, the two soon-to-be combatants saw the glass covered airport terminal,runways, the control tower and the airplanes parked behind the airport. The airport was gently glowing, giving off a very gentle white light that illuminated the night air above it. The control tower was gently glowing in the darkness, and Vaugn could just make out people working inside it. The airplanes were parked at the docking terminals, their windows dark, their engines silent. The runways were gently lit by the strip lights running beside them, some of which were green, some of which were red.

"So now we wait.", Jinkara said, and looking down at his wrist, tried to tell what time it was from the watch Shentin and lent Vaugn, "Vaugn, this thing your friend Shentin gave you, what time does it say?", he asked confusedly.

"It says 8:30 Jin. Another half hour before the airplane is due to arrive.", Vaugn said casually, as Jinkara sat down on a patch of cool grass near the edge and looked out over the edge of the peak, down at the busy scene below them.

"So how many people are watching this back at their houses?", Jinkara asked casually, gazing down over the sea of reporters.

"Probably millions. I can see about 4 or 5 TV stations from the U.S, so I’d say quite a few.", Vaugn replied.

"Spreading fear and terror around the world. It sounds like something Culra would want to do.", Jinkara said with a slight growl of anger.

The two of them sat in silence for a few moments before Vaugn asked something he had always been wondering about.

"Hey Jin, I was wondering something.", Vaugn asked conversationally.

"So was I. I was wondering when you’d stop calling me ‘Jin’.", Jinkara said slightly annoyed, yet with a very tiny smile as Vaugn laughed.

"I was actually wondering how you use the walls of the house to talk?", Vaugn asked casually, thinking of all the different times he had Jinkara talk openly as Jinkara took a deep breath of the cool night air.

"Demons do it by doing what they call Soul Seeping. That’s when they use abit of their soul and seep into their surroundings and use it sort of like a temporary body. We can only use it for communicating however, not for surviving like I’m using your soul and body to do now.", Jinkara replied casually.

"I see. Also, can you explain why I can sence demons sometimes?", Vaugn asked Jinkara again, keeping their conversation friendly.

"Actually Vaugn, you’re not the one sencing the demons. I am.", Jinkara replied simply.

"Oh? Is that so?", Vaugn replied sceptically.

"Yes. We demons call that particular sence our Echo Sence. It only works outside of Hell, where a demonic aura is stronger however. As Hell is full of evil, anger, and misery, the demons aura fades into the background. But outside of Hell, where evil and hatred are mere whisps, the demon’s aura is pushed to the foreground, and other demons can pick up on it.", Jinkara replied, looking out over the airport, "Now answer me something Vaugn.", Jinkara added, staring at the control tower now.

"Okay…shoot.", Vaugn replied slowly.

"Why is a 300 person committee coming here to talk about stopping a war? I’ve seen how you humans act. It looks like the only thing you’ve actually mastered is killing one another.", Jinkara asked in a very curious tone.

There was silence between Vaugn and Jinkara, before Vaugn laughed out loud.

"True enough Jin. It does seem like the only thing we humans have mastered is killing.", Vaugn replied, still chuckling, "But you see Jin, many humans have moved beyond the desire to kill one another, and would rather see everyone getting along peacefully. The committee wants to end this war before more innocent people are killed.", Vaugn finished, as Jinkara looked down at the wrist watch.

"What time is it now Vaugn?", Jinkara asked Vaugn, again trying to tell what time it was.

"8:53.", Vaugn said simply, "You better get ready.", he finished, as Jinkara smiled and stood up.

"I thought this time would never come.", Jinkara purred happily, and he started to squint into the darkness and scanning the dark horizon, flexxing his razor sharp claws.

After a minute of searching, the sound of distant engines could be heard getting closer and closer.

"That would be the jet Jin.", Vaugn said seriously.

"Alright Eris. Time to play, you son of a bitch!", Jinkara breathed, more to himself then anything.

Down in the parking lot, Vaugn and Jinkara heard all the talking had died away as the news reporters listened intently to the approaching engines, and then began to talk excitedly to their TV audiences, announcing the arrival of the committee.

Jinkara and Vaugn waited up on the peak with baited breath as the airplane approached. They hadn’t seen anything that looked like a demon, but then again, it was dark so they might not see it until it was to late.

There they stood, stalk still, listening for any sign that Eris was getting closer, but yet nothing coming to them.

***



High above, Eris was shadowing the black and white jumbo jet, her wings beating gently and mutely as she flew silently above it.

The windows glowed merrily in the dark sky, and the engines hummed gently. The occasional red flash would shine from the roof, being the only sign of life from the dead looking airplane.

Eris looked down and saw the airplane was slowly getting smaller and smaller, meaning it was making it’s final approach.

Eris smiled to herself as she started to slowly rise away from the airplane, wanting a bit of distant before her final attack, "If this doesn’t get Jinkara to show is pathetic self, nothing will.", she cooed to herself, as she pinned her wings at her side, and started to rocketed towards to the airplane, her claws out infront of her.

She was 100 feet from her the airplane now, her claws ready to strike, the passengers of the airplane unaware that their lives were about to be suddenly extinquished.

"Who would have thought it would be this easy to slaughter so many humans!", Eris said with a laugh as her claws were inches from the skin of the plane.



***



"She should be showing anytime now.", Vaugn said out loud from the dark silence all around Jinkara, as the two of them waited for Eris to show, watching the and listening as the large jumbo jet got closer and closer to the airport.

Just as he had finished however, Vaugn’s vision created an echo image infront of his and Jinkara’s eyes before the silence was horribly and terrifyingly shattered.

High above them, a immence flash of light illuminated the whole scene below it, the grass shining green in the light, the cold stone glowing a deep grey.

Looking up, Vaugn and Jinkara saw a massive fireball exploding furiously in the air, followed by three more giant explosions, the last one being the biggest and most vicous. Pieces of something were shooting from the explosion, falling down to earth, burning the whole way down like meteors falling to the ground. After a second of watching the fire ball expanding in the sky, the massive blast reached earth, almost deafening, echoing off the ground and mountain and rattling the windows of the vehicles and airport terminal alike.

Vaugn and Jinkara watched as the pieces fell burning to earth and disappearing behind the airport terminal, when they heard screams of terror from the ground below. Looking down, the two combatants saw Eris quickly swooping low over the news reporters, knocking down all the light stands and tossing the vehicles aside like toys, before raising high into the air and flying back over the run ways.

"Let’s go Jin!", Vaugn said furiously, his anger rising up inside and mixxing with Jinkara’s.

"It’s about time!", Jinkara snarled as he bent low, and with a massive push of his legs, went flying from the mountain peak, flew high over the parking lot and the airport terminal, heading right towards the air tower, his eyes fixxed on Eris who was gently flying on spot high above the run ways.

Landing on the top of the tower, Jinkara silently ran to the opposite edge and reaching for his left arm, tore away the sleeve and bandages covering Vaugn’s arm, causing it to bleed profusely again, before leaping back into the air when he reached the edge of the tower.

"I’ll need to borrow this cut Vaugn.", Jinkara told Vaugn inside his mind, and he rans his clawed fingers through his gash, drenching his fingers in his black blood.

"Where are you Jinkara! Show yourself you pathetic bastard!", Eris called out as she continued to fly on spot above the runways, only her left side visible as Jinkara flew towards her.

"I’m right here you son of a bitch!", Jinkara roared as he flicked his hand swiftly at Eris, has if backhanding someone, flicking specs of blood at her.

But it wasn’t blood that had been flicked, but rather, it appeared to be what looked like spears of solid blood, each about two feet long, glowing deep crimson red in the low light and speeding towards Eris with a slight whistling sound.

Eris, looking for where Jinkara spoke, looked quickly to her left in enough time to see the spears of blood flying towards her, Jinkara right behind them.

Eris rolled out of the way as the spears of blood and Jinkara flew past her. The spears continued to fly high into the sky and explode high over the airport, bathing the terminal and runways in a deep crimson glow. Jinkara meanwhile arked past Eris as the spears exploded in midair, and started to fall back down to earth, Eris staring around wildly

Rolling onto his back as he fell, he quickly ran his fingers through his gash and flicking his hand again, shooting more spears at Eris, who barely rolled out of the way, having finally found Jinkara as the spears were speeding towards her.

The spears again exploded in the air, again bathing the airport in deep red light. Jinkara meanwhile flipped over to his feet and, moments later,crash landed on the ground on all fours,blowing out a huge crator all around him,and pushed off powerfully aiming for Eris, his eyes fixxed firmly on her neck.

Looking around again, Eris spotted Jinkara as he was flying towards her as if shot out of a cannon, his claws ready to rip her to pieces.

"I finally found you!", Eris screeched as Jinkara drew closer and closer, his eyes blazing with rage.

"I was never hiding coward!", Jinkara roared as he slashed vicously at Eris’s neck when he was close enough.

Just like the two demons’ first encounter, Eris flew to her side as Jinkara slashed vicously at her neck, but not before Jinkara grazed her feathers. Flying past Eris, Jinkara fell gracefully down from the air, and landed ontop of the control tower. Turning to face Eris, Jinkara crossed his arms and smiled at her.

Looking down at the tower, Eris’s pupils contracted, and her eyes started to blaze with fury, "So you’ve came to fight! Then I won’t bother to keep you waiting!", she shouted at Jinkara, who stood on spot, not moving, as Eris flew around on spot to face Jinkara properly.

"That’s right Eris,I’ve come to fight.", Jinkara replied calmly, but his face contorting with rage in the blink of an eye, "And I’ve come to finish what I started!", Jinkara roared, running his fingers quickly through the freshly opened cut, and flicking his hand quickly at Eris, shot several more spears of blood from his finger tips that pelted towards Eris.

Eris rolled to her sides as the spears whooshed past, exploding again far behind her, and she fixxed Jinkara with a piercing stare.

"Getting desperate Jinkara? No matter, I’ll end your desperation quickly!", Eris screeched at Jinkara, and with a sudden, powerful flap of her wings, shot towards Jinkara like a missle, her eyes fixxed on Jinkara.

Jinkara stood on the edge of the gently glowing tower, and watched as Eris sped towards him.

"Prepare for death Jinkara!", Eris screeched as she opened her beak wide, preparing to swallow Jinkara with on bite.

Jinkara merely smiled, bent low and lept lightly into the air. Rising quickly and gently in to the air, Jinkara heard a massive crashing sound and looking down, saw Eris collide head first with the top of the tower, the top exploding in a ball of dust, glass and stone being blown away from it. Eris shot out the other side of the tower, blinded and choking on dust and flying high into the air, roaring with fury.

Jinkara fell gracefully out of the sky and into the cloud of dust, touching down on the floor of the destroyed air tower. Looking up through the dust cloud, Eris was just visible through the cloud.

"Now what are you going to do?", Vaugn asked Jinkara in a slightly impressed voice as the two of them watched Eris shaking her head violently, trying to clear her eyes and throat of dust.

"You’ll see Vaugn.", Jinkara snarled, smiling broadly and running his fingers through Vaugn’s open wound.

With the concentration of a golfer, Jinkara took aim, and with a powerful slash of his hand, shot out several more spears of blood, that screeched towards Eris.

Eris was busy shaking her head, trying to clear the dust from her eyes and didn’t notice that spears heading towards her.

Jinkara and Vaugn watched as the spears got closer and closer, until they peppered the side of Eris’s body, and after a moment of glowing through the darkness and dust, exploded with all the power of a gas tanker exploding, a deep red light illuminating everything around Jinkara. Eris screamed in pain and when the explosion had disipated, Jinkara and Vaugn saw that she was falling to earth.

The shockwave the explosion had generated reached Jinkara quickly, and blew the dust cloud away, and with the new clearity it offered, Jinkara looked down in enough time tro see Eris collide with the ground, the ground shaking violently, a large crator blasting out around Eris.

"Now for some fun.", Jinkara snarled, as he bent low, and jumped high into the air, his arms out stretched like wings, his claws ready to strike.

Jinkara arked high into the air and gracefully started to fall quickly to earth, pointing himself head first like a skydiver. Pulling one of his clawed hands back, he was ready to deliver the death blow.

Vaugn saw through his own eyes that Eris had been split open along the side of her body the spears had hit, blood pouring from her wound, her head rolled to one side

Closer and closer they got, Jinkara’s excitement rising. He was staring at Eris’s soul shard longingly, wanting to shatter it with one strike. His mouth was pulled back in a large smile, his fangs bared.

"Prepare for death!", Jinkara roared, as he thrust his clawed hand in front of him as he plumetted down towards Eris, ready to shatter Eris’s soul shard.

But as Jinkara was inches from his goal, the air was knocked out of him as he suddenly stopped in midair, and felt a sudden crushing pain around his waiste.

Looking down, he saw that Eris had caught him with one of her taloned feet, and was now slowly crushing his body. Pain was shooting through Jinkara’s body as it felt like every bone was being ground into dust.

Eris’s head slowly rolled over and faced Jinkara, her eyes alive with excitement, her breathing fast. It looked as if she was smiling, but Jinkara and Vaugn were unsure if you could call it that.

"Yes, prepare for death Jinkara!", Eris screeched and with a sudden flap of her mighty wings, lifted her body off the ground and slowly flew high into the dark sky, all the while squeezing the life out of Jinkara.

"Do something Jin!", Vaugn said angrily, as he was forced to stand pat and watch as his body was destroyed.

"I am Vaugn!", Jinkara snarled back and unable to reach Eris’s soul shard now turned his attention to the more pressing matter at hand: The large clawed foot that was crushing him.

Vicously, he started to slash at every inch he could reach with his razor sharp claws, but to no avail. Each slash merely scratched the surface of her talons, as if they were made of metal. Eris took no notice, and continued to fly high into the sky, until gracefully, she pulled her wings in against her body. Slowly, she began to lose speed. Eventually, coming to a complete stop in midair and hovering for a moment, her head fell down to the earth and she started to rocket back down to earth, aiming for the damaged tower, Jinkara slashing at her claws the entire time.

"It’s useless Jinkara! Only the purest weapons can break my demonic grip!", Eris screeched, as she rocketed towards the tower.

When she was close enough, Eris thrust her feet out infront of her, Jinkara’s head banging around from the suddeness. A moment later, Jinkara felt his body collide with the tower wall and felt as his body was forcefully slammed through the other side. The was wind knocked completely out of Jinkara and his vision blurred as the taste of blood slowly filled his fanged mouth.

Flying out the other side, Eris reared backwards and flew upwards. Moments later, she flew out her wings, and Eris stopped and started to hover in midair, her immence wings beating gently, her immence body rising and falling with each flap of her wings. Slowly, Eris braught the taloned foot holding Jinkara up in front of her and stared at the figure of Jinkara continuing to slash at her claws.

"And to think…this demon, the so called ‘most powerful demon ever’ managed to defeat Dogma!", Eris goaded Jinkara as she started to squeeze Jinkara’s body even harder, drops of blood flying from his mouth as his breath was forced out of him, "Culra was furious that you managed to survive the battle. But not now. Not this time! This is the face of death Jinkara!", Eris roared as she tightened her grip to an unbareable level, and with a massive flap of her wings, started to rise again into the sky.

"You bastard!", Jinkara snarled painfully through a mouth full of blood as Eris flew high into the air, and slowly pointing back down to the ground, rocketed back towards earth.

Eris flung her clawed feet holding Jinkara out infront of her as she sped towards earth, clearly wanting to crush Jinkara with a single strike. Jinkara twisted around the best he could and saw the ground rocketing up towards him.

"This is the end Jinkara! Culra will be pleased!", Eris shouted when they were 60 feet above the earth.

"Don’t count on it!", Jinkara roared, and quickly brushing his bleeding arm with his clawed hand, slashed his hand vicously through the air, shooting several blood spears from his finger tips which quickly sunk themselves deep into Eris’s neck.

In the moment before the explosion, Jinkara and Vaugn saw Eris’s eyes widen with shock. Moments later, Eris and Jinkara were enveloped by the dark red explosion, the roar absolutely defeaning.

Jinkara felt Eris’s grip loosen and suddenly found himself flying through the air. Eris’s grip finally had broken, and all it took was something as small as a giant explosion to do so.

Looking around as he sailed through the air, he saw Eris flying away, blood gushing from the fresh wound opened in her neck. Looking down, Jinkara saw he was 20 feet above the ground, falling quickly to earth.

Rolling over to his feet and sticking them out infront of himself, Jinkara landed lightly on the concrete runway and stumbled slightly. Being in the explosion had disorienteted him slightly.

Turning around and looking behind, Jinkara saw nothing except the nearly destroyed air traffic tower, parked airplanes along the airport, and the gently glowing airport terminal, aswell as some still burning pieces of wreckage.

"Where’d she go?", Vaugn asked Jinkara as they looked for Eris, but unable to find her anywhere near the airport.

"I have no idea.", Jinkara growled back, and for the first time he was confused, as he continued to turn on spot trying to find Eris.

Seconds later, a terrible crashing sound filled the air from behind Jinkara. Looking quickly behind him, Jinkara saw the massive flaming wreckage of one of the parked jumbo jets hurling towards them as if it had been thrown by some sort of giant shot-putter, fuel pouring from the body and leaving buring trails on the tarmack, the body gouging huge marks in the pavment.

"What the hell!", Jinkara roared as he lept high into the air and watched the flaming plane shoot under him and roar along the runway. Looking behind him, Jinkara saw the airplane slam into the terminal behind him and several parked airplanes that exploded instantly behind him and sent massive fire balls high into the air and lighting the whole airport. The shockwave of the explosion blew the windows of the terminal away as easy as if they were made of smoke.

Landing on the ground and looking infront of him, Jinkara saw another flaming airplane hurling towards. Jinkara took a massive leap to his side, landing in the giant grassy field between 2 of the runways, and heard from behind him as the airplane exploded. Listening to the airplane screech and slide down the runway, the plane eventually collided with the pile of airplanes already burning next to the terminal. Looking to the area where the airplane came from, Jinkara saw Eris sitting on another airplane, her claws firmly grasping it’s skin ,her neck and side pouring black demon blood everywhere, her wings folded at her side.

"So there you are! Trying to hide from me?", Jinkara roared, bring his clawed hands infront of him, ready to fight.

"Yes, here I am. Culra was right when he gave all of us the Rings of Assention. Our powers would rise to amazing levels. I have never felt so powerful!", Eris replied excitedly, clearly happy at the destruction she had casued,

"What did you say!", Jinkara roared, clearly thinking he heard Eris wrong.

"Yes. Culra gave all of the Feral Forty, minus Dogma, one of the forty Rings of Assention. He didn’t give one to Dogma because he thought Dogma would be able to kill you easily. But when you killed Dogma, Culra knew you were just as strong as ever, so he gave us all a Ring of Assention. To amplify our power and hide our demonic aura.", Eris replied coldly, unfolding her wings, "And now you will witness the power of the Rings before you are sent screaming to heaven!", she screeched, and with a massive flap of her wings, suddenly shot out a barage of feathers. Each feather was the length of Vaugn’s arm, each speeding towards Jinkara, each vicously sharp, clearly wanting to impale him.

"Hold on Vaugn!", Jinkara roared as he lept backwards and backflipped several times away from the feathers that were shooting into the ground and burrying themselves halfway in the ground, forming a neat row of razor sharp feaths that ended at Jinkara’s feet.

"So you learned a new trick! Makes no difference to me because you’re still as weak as ever!", Jinkara roared, as he bent low and sprinted at top speed between the row of feather spears and straight towards Eris.

"And here’s another demonstration of the rings true power!", Eris called out coldly, as with three massive flaps of her wings, she lifted the massive airplane high into the air and throwing her feet out infront of her, tossed the massive silver jet right at Jinkara.

"Pathetic!", Jinkara called out as he continued to run, not caring about the jet on a collision course with him.

The planed collided with the ground, bursting into flames instantly and bouncing off the ground into the air. Jinkara sprinted under the flaming airplane just as it roared over him, the wind rushing around it blowing Vaugn’s hair, the flames singeing it slightly.

Jinkara continued to sprint towards Eris who had picked up yet another airplane and thrown it at Jinkara. Just as the airplane was getting closer and closer, Jinkara running flat out towards it, the sound of cutting metal filled the air and moments later,the airplane was suddenly cut in three pieces. Jinkara stared for a second and realised that Eris had shot out more of her razor sharp feathers and used the airplane to hide it.

Jinkara quickly skidded to a hault and lept away from the feathers backwards as the feathers shot into the ground. Jinkara landed on the ground and looked up in enough time to see the 3 massive pieces of the plane crash into the ground feet from him and exploded instantly. Thinking quickly, Jinkara bent low and lept with all his might into the air as the three massive pieces of the plane roared under him, skidding and sliding down the runway.

Landing on the ground, Jinkara merely had enough time to witness yet another airplane hurle towards him as it was again cut into three pieces by Eris’s razor sharp feathers. This time, all Jinkara could do was jump back, as when he landed, the first piece of wreckage was a mere ten fet from him.

"This is going to hurt Vaugn! Hold on!", Jinkara shouted as he crossed his arms and ducked his head behind them, sinking his clawed toes into the ground.

Moments later the airplane crashed into Jinkara, the flames enveloping him instantly. All Jinkara heard was the sound of twisting and tearing metal combined with the sound of metal being dragged along the ground, and the roar of the flames around him. The heat was unbareable. It felt as if Jinkara’s very bones were melting.

Jinkara kept his head covered as he felt the immence heat around him and as he felt his claws start to be dragged back with the plane.

High above the ground, Eris flew on spot, her wings beating gently, smiling to herself. She was staring at the spot where the airplane ran over Jinkara, clearly pleased that it had incinerated his body. Smoke and flames were still rising and burning vicously on the ground as she watched the flaming wreckage of the airplane slide the length of the runaway and watched as one of the pieces collided with the base of the air tower, destroying what was left of it and bringing it crashing to the earth.

"Culra will be pleased. Jinkara is dead, and mortals around the world witnessed the power of the Feral Forty.", Eris laughed, her voice echoing around her.

"Is that so traitor?", a voice full of anger and hate called out from the flames, as seconds later,several more blood spears shot towards Eris like bullets.

Eris again rolled out of the way of the spears and gazed where the spears had been shot from, paying no attention to them as they exploded in midair.

"What? No!", Eris breathed as the flames and smoke suddenly cleared to reveal Jinkara standing in the center of the smoldering patch of earth, his feet resting at the end of several long claw marks slashed into the ground, staring furiously up at Eris.

"You may have learned a new trick, but I’m still the most powerful demon ever.", Jinkara roared, but suddenly, he swayed on spot.

Eris watched as he fell to all fours,his head hanging,his shoulders rising quickly, as if struggling to breathe. Eris could hear the slightest of snarls as she watched the fallen demon gasping for breath. This was the moment Eris had been waiting for.

"Oh really? It looks like the mighty Jinkara has been felled by one of his former followers. As you are no longer able to fight, I’ll end your pathetic exsistence right now.", Eris screamed, as with several flaps of her wings, she turned her body and started to speed towards Jinkara like an arrow.

Faster and faster she beat her wings, gaining more and more speed, her eyes fixxed firmly on the weakend form of Jinkara.

Eris descended until she was feet above the ground, Jinkara’s body getting closer and closer. She licked the edges of the jagged beak, and like an owl getting ready to strike, stuck her wings out all the way, and reared backwards, her claws infront of ready to sink into Jinkara.

"Say hello to Dogma for me when I kill you!", She screeched, only 50 feet from Jinkara.

"Tell him yourself!", a voice roared, and suddenly, a glowing white flash came flashing out of nowhere flying inches above the ground and arking upwards like a saw blade

Eris was unable to dodge it, and could only watch helplessly as the blade arked upwards and moments later,cut through her leg like a saw blade and cut into her body, slicing out the back of her and continued to rise quickly away from the ground.

Eris screamed in pain, and her consentration broken, fell out of the sky, slammed into the ground and tumbled violently on the ground, head over feet,over and over, black blood being thrown everywhere and raining down on the ground.

Over and over she tumbled, the sound of bones being broken filling the air. The ground shook violently with each impact of her massive body.

Eris continued to tumble head over heels a great distance, finally stopping 200 feet from Jinkara, laying on her side. She layed on the ground, her breathing fast and angry, spit flying from her mouth, her eyes blazing with anger. Slowly and painfully she got to her feet-make that foot-blood pouring from her freshly severed leg, and balancing on her one foot looked at the kneeling figure before her, rage coursing through her.

As she watched, the figured slowly stood up and stuck up it’s right arm just as the glowing white object that moments before had severed Eris’s leg came spinning back, and spun perfectly into the hand of the figure, stopping instantly.

Eris saw that the hand that had caught the blade was no longer clawed. Her eyes widened as she took in the blade the hand was holding.

It was a large, slightly cuved, broad bladed sword that was gently glowing in the dark. The no longer clawed hand had caught the blade by the handle when it had returned to it as if it were nothing.

Eris’s breath seemed to be caught in her throat as she gazed at the sword.

"No…it can’t be!", Eris breathed, finally finding her voice, "That can’t be…Purity.", she finished, her voice nothing more then a whisper, yet carrying across the enitre airport to the standing figure.

"Oh…but it is.", the figure spoke, lowering the sword to it’s side and turning slowly to face Eris through the darkness, "Jinkara is taking a break right now, so I decided to have some fun.", Vaugn said, shouldering his sword and looking coldly at Eris.

"So, the vessel finally shows it’s face.", Eris spoke out loudly, staring at Vaugn as if he was a pile of pond scum.

"That’s right. I have. I got bored just watching, so I decided to have some fun.", Vaugn said casually, but suddenly unshouldering his blade. Vaugn pulled his arm back as far as he could, and braught the sword cutting through the air as if swinging a baseball bat one handed.

Vaugn let go of the handle of Purity and when he did, it seemed as if the sword had a mind of it’s own. Instantly the blade spun into a circular white blur, humming slightly as it roared through the air, kicking up a large cloud of dust behind it.

The blade spun through the air, aiming for Eris who stood transfixxed at the blade spinning towards her aiming for her chest. She seemed unable to move for some reason. The blade spun closer and closer, ready to slice her in half. As the blade got closer and closer, it seemed to pick up speed, as if wanting to hit the demon with every thing it had, humming even louder and louder.

Finally, when the blade was feet from Eris, motion returned to Eris who managed to hop to her side as the blade roared by, but not before the blade cut through her her side and out the back of her body, blood pouring from her body.

Eris screamed in pain as the blade cut from her body and arked high into the sky, the sound of blood splashing to the ground filled the air. The blade, now only a bright white flash rising into the air, continued to ark high into the air before it slowly lost speed, and started to roar back down to earth like a boomerrang returning to it’s thrower.

Again, the blade roared down from the sky, aiming for Eris who watched as the blade came roaring towards her, again aiming for her chest. Again, Eris hopped to her side quickly, but not before the blade cut into her back and sliced out her front, more blood splashing to the pavement.The blade ripped out of Eris’s body and spun Eris back around. The blade whizzed back to Vaugn, who again stuck his right arm up and stood still as the blade handle spun gently back into his hand.

Eris stood stalk still as the her blood poured from her body, a large lake of blood forming around her, before she fell to her knee, panting and snarling in pain.

"You bastard!", Eris snarled looking at Vaugn, who merely shouldered his blade and looked at the fallen form of Eris.

"What’s the matter Eris? You look weak. Don’t tell me you’re giving up! If that’s the case, I may just have to finish this. I’m bored with looking at you!", Vaugn said calmly, taunting the fallen form of Eris.

"You? Finish me?"Eris laughed, panting and staring at Vaugn, "But if you’re bored, I might aswell make this exciting!", Eris screeched, her face contorting with rage, and with quick flap her wings, rose high into the air, and shot at Vaugn like a missle, dust being kicked up off the ground from the speed of her attack.

Vaugn, his blade still shouldered, watched as Eris rocketed towards him. He watched her flap her massive wings, watched as the dust was kicked up in a storm behind her. He watched calmly as her eyes glowed red with fury before finally rearing upwards, exposing her chest to Vaugn. Vaugn watched as she flung her last clawed foot out infront of her and pointed her claws, ready to impale Vaugn with a single thrust.

"This is it mortal! Death welcomes you!", Eris screeched fanactically as she was inches from striking Vaugn.

Before Eris claws had time to sink through Vaugn’s flesh however, Vaugn struck.

Just as it was when fighting Dogma, it was as if Vaugn was seeing it in slow motion.

Eris’s claws were inches from Vaugn flesh. Vaugn could smell the blood on her feathers, the blood on her breath, and the rush of air infront of her. With a sudden burst of speed however, Vaugn pushed himself to his right, Eris’s claws grazing his arm,his blade still shouldered. Grasping the handle of his sword with both hands, he summoned all his strength and with a mighty burst of speed, brought the sword slashing over his head and down through the air like a guillotine. Vaugn was unsure if the plan was going to work, until he felt his blade slicing through flesh and bone, the sound of flesh being torn and bone being shattered renting the air. Finally, Vaugn felt the sword slice through thin air before sinking deep into the ground, and felt Eris speed by. Blood sprayed Vaugn and the rush of air from the attacking demon blasted into Vaugn, causing him to stagger slightly.

"Jin, take over!", Vaugn shouted as he pulled the sword from the ground and re-sheethed his sword. With the familiar whoosing sensation, Jinkara took over once more.

Jinkara turned and saw the figure of Eris crash to earth, bleeding profusely from her severed wing, which continued to fly through the air for a second of two before crashing lightly to the ground, which layed twitching on the cold ground a little distant infront of Jinkara. Jinkara watched as Eris slammed head first into the ground and tumbled end over end, more blood spraying everywhere, more bones being broken.

Jinkara started to run dow the runway at top speed towards Eris, watching her as she continued to bounce and tumble off the ground. Jinkara bent low as he ran, and without taking anytime to admire the now downed figure of Eris, he lept into the air and sailed high over the runway, watching as for a second time tonight, Eris crashed along the runway, flipping head over feet for a short distance.

Jinkara started to fall at top speed, his arms pulled back, his claws ready to strike as he hurled feet first at Eris, looking as if he wanted to stomp her very skull into the cold stone ground. He watched as Eris finally stopped rolling and tumbling, and layed on her back, caughing up black blood, her head rolled to her side, her body twitching.

"That bastard! I’ll rip him apart!", Eris’s snarled, her voice echoing off the terminal wall a hundred feet away, her head still rolled to one side.

"Don’t count on it! Now Vaugn!", a voice high above Eris roared.

Looking up, she had just enough time to take in what would soon be her final moments.

At first, what Eris saw was a half demon, half human falling towards her, it’s claws pulled back, it’s fangs bared, it’s eyes blazing red with fury.

Then, as quickly as a light being turned on, it changed to that of a human, with shoulder length blonde hair flying behind it, ash-blue eyes glowing with anger, and arms that were reaching behind it, unsheething a glowing white sword, falling towards her at break neck speed feet first, blooding flying from a huge gash in one of his arms.

As Eris watched, Vaugn grasped the sword with both hands and brought it high over his back.

A second later, Vaugn’s feet crashed to earth, stradiling her neck, the massive blade swinging down.

It was all over within a heart beat. The blade slashed down through the air, and with all the forceVaugn could muster, slashed cleanly through Eris’s beak, cutting it in half. The blade continued to slash down through Eris’s head and into her forehead, shattering the soul shard instantly, and cutting out the back of her head, slashing deep into the ground beneath her, cracking and exploding around her head. Eris’s head deformed from the force of the blow as blood shot from her eyes, the sound of her skull shattering filling the air and echoing off the airport terminal.

There Vaugn stood, bent over, standing above the now slain demon Eris. There he stood, his hands firmly grasping the handle of his sword gently glowing still firmly planted in the skull of Eris, blood forming a huge pool around her, his breathing fast, yet calm.

Finally, Vaugn straightened up, and slowly pulled the blade from Eris’s head with a horrible squelching sound. Looking down at the mutilated head of Eris, Vaugn reached behind him and resheethed his sword, his arm left arm throbbing slightly as it bled.

Vaugn unstradled Eris’s neck, and slowly backed away from the now lifeless corpse. Though Vaugn knew she was dead, he still didn’t turn his back on the body. As Vaugn looked on at the motionless body of the now slain demon, the body started to slowly smoulder and burn away at the edges. Smiling to himself, Vaugn let out a sigh of relief.

Vaugn and Jinkara watched the body sizzle and burn away in silence for a moment or two, not speaking, reveling in the defeat of Eris.

"You did good Vaugn. I do have to admit that your plan worked well.", Jinkara said from around Vaugn as the body continued to burn away, getting smaller and smaller.

"Thanks Jin. And I do have to admit you did a real good job fighting her yourself.", Vaugn replied with a smile, "So that’s 2 demons down, 38 more to go huh?", he finished, crossing his arms and continuing to watch the demon’s body burn away, just as the blood that was covering the airport-and Vaugn- started to smoke and burn away aswell.

"38 more traitors to annilate for turning their back on me.", Jinkara growled with pleasure.

Finally, Eris’s body had completely burned away. For a moment, all was dark and peaceful when suddenly a bright, blinding white light erupted from the spot where her body was laying. The light was bright enough to illuminate the entire scene of carnage and destruction all around him.

Pieces of metal littered the airfield, many strewn around the pavement, others sticking out of the grass between the runways. Huge crators and gouge marks dotted the airfields. The pavement was shattered and cracked, pieces of stone torn away and scattered everywhere on the airfield. The windows of the terminal were shattered and blown away, the frames empty, the artistic roof now just bare, wave shaped girders. In one corner of the airport, several planes were burning freely in a large pile of twisted metal, thick black smoke rising gently to the dark sky. The tower had been completely destroyed, being completely blown away by one of the large piece of airplane that had hit it, only the slightest hole in the ground the only sign that it was ever truly there.

The light died away after a moment or two only to be replaced by a gentle glowing that seemed to be floating in mid air above where Eris’s chest had been moments before. The glow was like the one Purity gave off, and after his eyes had readjusted, Vaugn squinted at the glowing light, only to see it was a ring that seemed to be made of pure light floating in midair.

"Jin…what are we looking at?", Vaugn asked confusedly, staring at the ring glowing and hovering above the ground.

"That Vaugn, is what Eris was talking about. That is one of the Rings of Assention.", Jinkara replied in a slightly awed voice, as Vaugn continued to stare at it a little hesitently, "Go and grab it for me Vaugn.", he added, sencing Vaugn’s hesitents.

"Is it safe? I mean, if a demon wants it, what makes you think it’ll be safe for a human?", Vaugn asked pointedly, not taking his eyes off of the ring.

"It is safe, trust me Vaugn.", Jinkara replied casually.

Vaugn took several deep, calming breaths. Finally deciding that everything was safe, took a slow step towards the gently hovering ring.

As soon as Vaugn’s foot touched the ground however, an immence pain shot through his body, from his feet to his head. It was as if every muscle had been set on fire, and every nerve ending slowly torn in half. Vaugn’s body was suddenly paralyzed with pain as his muscles locked up.

Vaugn stumbled, swayed and fell hard, flat on his face, laying spread eagle on the pavement, barely moving.

His body was sorer and stiffer then the first time Jinkara had faught Eris. Before, Vaugn was atleast able to walk home, but now, he wasn’t even able to take a single step without every step feeling like pure torture.

Taking several deep breaths, his face still resting on the ground, Vaugn finally raised his face off the pavement and rested his chin on the ground, looking along the ground, the hovering white ring at the top of his vision.

"Jin…we need to have a talk when we get home.", Vaugn said crossly, as his muscled throbbed horribly.

"What about?", Jinkara asked in an offhand voice as Vaugn try to stand but stopping from the pain that shot through his body.

"I told you to becareful with my body, and look at what’s happened! I can barely move, my body is in worse pain then before, and to top it all off,my arm is bleeding worse then before!", Vaugn said angrily, as they listened to the distant sound of sirens from the airport fire crews scream to life and start to roar towards them.

"So what’s the big problem?We killed Eris didn’t we?", Jinkara asked innocently.

Vaugn layed on the ground, furious that Jinkara had almost destroyed his body for the second time in the same week. But then again, they did destroy Eris, and that really what was important right now.

"Okay. Fine. What ever. Just take over, get the ring that you want so badly, and get me home alright?", Vaugn said crossly, his voice full of a commanding tone.

Jinkara, not waiting a single second longer once again took over Vaugn’s body. Pushing himself up to a standing position, Jinkara stared at the ring, his eyes full of excitement. After staring at the ring for several moments, he slowly walked towards the ring, his joy just below bursting.

Jinkara walked within half an arms reach and stared at the ring. Finally, taking several deep calming breaths and not wanting to draw it out any longer, Jinkara stretched out his arm and closed his clawed hand around the floating ring.

There Jinkara stood, his hand outstretched infront of him, his eyes staring at his closed hand. After several seconds of standing there, his expression turned from one of joy, to slight confusion.

"Okay, so we’re still alive and the world hasn’t been destroyed. You were right Jin.", Vaugn said in a mildly relieved voice from all around Jinkara, watching as Jinkara pulled his hand back, turned it over, opened it and looked at the gently glowing ring in the palm of his clawed hand.

"Told you so Vaugn.", Jinkara replied with a definite note of amusement, yet still looking at the ring with slight confusion.

From behind Jinkara,bright red and blue lights started to flash past his body and the sound of a siren wailing was getting closer and closer.

Looking behind him, Jinkara saw several fire trucks, police cars and ambulances rushing towards the burning pile of mangaled airplanes.

"Hey Jin, get me home. I don’t want to spend anymore time here then I have to.", Vaugn told Jinkara, his voice once again full of a commanding tone.

"Whatever it will take to make you happy Vaugn and to stop your complaining. We killed Eris and got a very desirable prize and that’s all that matters.", Jinkara said in an offhand voice staring once more at the ring before sliding it into the pocket of Vaugn’s pants, "Well, time to go home Vaugn, and just for you, I’ll take the easy way home.", Jinkara finished with a smile.

Jinkara bent low and lept high into the air. He jumped high into the air, and flew over the terminal. Jinkara looked down as he flew over the terminal and saw the news crews in the parking lot scrambling to get back on the air,trying to report on what had happened, many of the vans laying on their side, or on their rooves.

This was the last thing Jinkara and Vaugn saw before they flew over the parking lot and down the side of the mountain.



***



"Damn Vaugn, you look worse then last time. We’re gonna have to start charging you if you keep this up!", Shentin said exaspeately as he bandaged Vaugn’s fingers.

Vaugn, for the second time in the same week could be found resting in the path tub, blood pouring down his arm, his body sore and stiff, his friends bandaging him up like at the hospital. Vaugn was in slightly higher spirits then the first time this had happened, mainly because he had just killed a demon who had killed 300 innocent people with one strike.

"You know Vaugn, I thought you and Jinkara were going to be more careful with your body this time.", Asuke said crossly as she bandaged Vaugn’s arm again.

"So did I, but things have a habit of happening that ruin your perfectly thought out plans.", Vaugn groaned, as he shifted in the bath tub to sit more comfortably.

"Like a demon almost crushing you ,you mean?", Kihari asked, observing the bruises on Vaugn’s stomach and waiste.

"You could say that.", Vaugn said with a half shrug, but stopping from the pain that shot through his body.

"So Vaugn, tell us what happened out there. All we saw on TV was the plane exploding, then the feed from the airport seemed to die.", Nikkai said as he and Shentin sat down on the edge of the bath tub, their feet dangling inside the tub.

"Since you guys did such a good job tending to me, I guess I can tell you.", Vaugn said, groaning as he slid up in the tub, and, looking around at his friends, began to tell them exactly what had happened.

He told his friends everything that had happened at the airport. He told his friends about how Jinkara used Vaugn’s own blood to form these spears that he used against Eris. Vaugn told them about how he had used the spears to down Eris, causing her serious harm, and tried to kill her as she layed bleeding on the ground. He told them about how Eris caught Jinkara in her taloned feet and slammed Jinkara through the Air Traffic Tower. Told them about how she wanted to crush him under her feet, but Jinkara used the blood spears to rip open her neck and break free. He told his friends about how Eris managed to use her feathers like bullets and shoot them at Jinkara, and when that failed, started to toss airplanes at Jinkara. Vaugn told them about how Jinkara was caught up in an explosion of one of the large airplanes, but managed to survive. He told them about how he managed to use Purity like a boomerang and cut off one of Eris’s feet. Finally, he told them about how he cut off one of Eris’s wings, and used Jinkara’s power to throw himself into the air, only to come crashing back down to earth, splitting Eris’s skull in half. And after Eris’s body disappeared, he told them about the ring that appeared.

"Wow…that’s better then an action movie!", Nikkai said in an awestruck voice, his eyes wide with amazement.

"Yep. I watched most of it and it was just like an action movie.", Vaugn agreed, nodding his head once or twice, but stopping again because of how sore he was.

"So, you said Jinkara used your blood to create these kind of ‘Blood Spears’ and used them against Eris?", Kihari asked in an amazed voice, staring down at Vaugn in the bath tub.

"Yep. He did. That was rather impressive, although at this rate, my arm will never heal.", Vaugn said, rubbing his left arm through the bandage.

"How’d he do that?", Shentin asked, look rather puzzled as he looked at Vaugn.

"I dunno.", Vaugn replied with a small shrug, "How did you do that Jin?", Vaugn asked out loud with a groan.

"It’s just a trick demons have. Nothing to special about it.", Jinkara replied casually, "When we’re facing an opponent unarmed, we can use our own blood to form blood spears. It’s sort of like a first attack or last ditch effort for survival.", Jinkara finished as Vaugn gave a ‘that’s-true’ knod of his head.

"And you mentioned something about a ring?", Asuke asked, looking at Vaugn in a puzzled way.

"Yeah. Eris said Culra gave all of his followers…take it easy Jin.", Vaugn started, but stopping when he felt Jinkara’s anger rise quickly inside of him, "But anyway. Culra gave the Forty these rings called the Rings of Assention, that appearntly raise their power. I dunno, I don’t really know that much about it. But I do know that this,", Vaugn said, reaching stiffly into his pocket and pulling out the gently glowing white light ring and showing his friends, "is one of the Rings. Again, What it does and what it’s for though, I have no clue.", Vaugn finished, staring down at the ring and shrugging and looking up at his friends.

"Maybe I can help you with that Vaugn.", a voice spoke out from around the friends as if the walls were speaking. It was a voice that wasn’t cold, but instead,oddly warm and calm.

"Jin, is that you?", Vaugn asked out loud, as his friends looked at him slightly puzzled.

"No Vaugn. It’s not me. It’s far from me.", Jinkara snarled, and the room instantly went cold from Jinkara’s anger.

"Have you forgotten me already Vaugn?", the voice spoke out again, but this time from behind Vaugn as Asuke and Imari yelled out in shock.

Reaching behind him, Vaugn lept to his feet, pulling out Purity as he did so, and turned to face who was behind him, his sword held firmly infront of him with both hands, ready to strike. But what Vaugn saw caught him completely by surprise.

Standing by the door was a tall thin man, with pale white skin and white-blonde hair that seemed to glow. He was wearing acient looking armour, maybe Roman or Greek, that had gold and silver veins running through it. Behind him was what appeared to be a high collard cape, but was in actuality a pair of folded, tattered wings. Lucifor had appeared in Vaugn’s bathroom.

Vaugn stared, taken back heavily by the sudden appearance of Lucifor in his bathroom. Vaugn was still holding his blade infront of him, but his face showing every sign of surprise. Vaugn stared into the grey eyes of Lucifor, who inturn stared back, smiling, into the ash-blue eyes of Vaugn.

Vaugn’s friends had all retreated to the opposite wall, their faces wearing expressions of surprise and of fear, their breathing fast and their backs flat against the wall.

Finally getting over his shock, Vaugn lowered his blade and spoke in a would be calm voice.

"Oh, it’s just you Lucifor.", Vaugn said, his voice still full of surprise, as he lowered his sword completely and let it hang limply beside him.

"Yes, it is just me Vaugn.", Lucifor replied calmly, smiling at Vaugn, "We’re you going to strike me Vaugn?", he added with an impressive look at Purity that was hanging beside Vaugn.

"Well, you can never be to careful. Especially after tonight.", Vaugn said shrugging and reaching behind him, re-sheething his sword, "So what brings you to my bathroom?", he asked, sitting down on the side of the tub his friends were on, staring up at Lucifor.

"I came to talk with you.", Lucifor said smiling, sitting down on the edge of the tub and looking from Vaugn to his friends,"Hello, Imari, Asuke, Shentin, Nikkai and Kihari.", he added with a knod and smile to each of Vaugn’s friends.

"He…he knows our names?", Asuke asked faintly from the wall behind Vaugn.

"Of course he does. He’s the devil after all. You guys don’t have to be scared. He’s not here to fight.", Vaugn replied, looking behind him to his friends.

"Okay…okay.", Nikkai said, faintly aswell, but edging around the tub and sitting next to Vaugn, though still gazing at Lucifor as if he would attack them at any second, the rest of the friends following suit soon afterwards.

"So you said you wanted to talk with us?", Vaugn asked Lucifor casually, crossing his arms with a slight grimace of pain.

"And what makes you think we want to talk?", a voice suddenly called out, one full of hate and anger.

"Settle Jinkara. I haven’t come to fight. I have come to talk with you and Vaugn about what you discovered tonight.", Lucifor replied calmly, speaking to the very room itself.

"You mean the Rings of Assention?", Jinkara asked coldly, yet Vaugn could detect a slight hint of curiosity in his voice.

"Yes, the rings. Nothing more, nothing less.", Lucifor replied, knodding slowly.

Vaugn felt Jinkara contemplating the situation intently before he spoke again.

"Fine. We’ll listen. But be quick about it.", Jinkara snarled in responce to Lucifor.

"Now Vaugn, you were wondering what the Rings of Assention were, if I’m not mistaken?", Lucifor asked casually, acting as if he hadn’t heard Jinkara

"Yeah, I was wondering that.", Vaugn replied slowly, staring up into the face of Lucifor and wondering just how much of their conversation Lucifor had heard.

"Well, the Rings of Assention are rings of great power.", Lucifor replied simply.

"Great power how?", Vaugn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe I should start from the beginning?", Lucifor said in an offhand voice, "Yes. Well it began 600 years ago. Back then, in the time known as the ‘Dark Ages’, man was much simpler then they were now. Simple lives, simple beliefs. They turned to religon to explain everything. They thought God was the ultimate good, and I was the ultimate evil. During this time however, Hell was going through a second war. You see, the churches had everyone scared of Hell and demons. So much so, the demons that resided in Hell were able to feed off of the human’s fear and grow stronger because of it. Consequently, many of the demons were able to break their chains that bound them to Hell. A feet that the average demon would not have been able to accomplish had it not been for excess amounts of fear. During this time, many demons escaped Hell and ramapaged across the planet, killing human after human. They would have destroyed mankind had it not been for the angels and I. Toegther, we forged forty rings known as the Rings of Assention. These rings were infused with purity taken straight from the angels, and Demon Forges turned it into a ring that could be worn. These rings were given to 40 people, scattered across the planet. Their job was very similar to what your job is now Vaugn: to slay the demons who had escaped. These rings were able to infuse the humans who wore them with unimaginable power of good. They were able to slay 100 demons with a single arrow, or with a single slash of a sword.", Lucifor said, before taking a deep breath and continuing, "On and on this continued. For 400 years the rings were passed down through family after family, and the desendants, would inturn, be responsible for keeping mankind safe. During this time, science had taken over, and people were scared less and less of Hell, and with it, the demons powers fade just enough so that they could be captured and contained safely in Hell. Never to plague humanity again. With the demons safely imprisoned in Hell, I journied across the planet and collected the Rings of Assention, and took them back to Hell with me. I saved them should we ever need to use them again. We safely locked them away in Hell, but something happened that was unforeseen.", Lucifor said with a shiver, before continuing, "What we hadn’t expected was that when taken to Hell, the rings started to purify everything around them. Had it gone unstopped, Hell would have been destroyed had we not stopped their purification. If Hell was destroyed, the demons would walk freely amongst the earth. Needless to say, mankind would have been obliterated.", Lucifor said, his voice very serious now.

"How’d you stop the purifcation?", Vaugn asked, listen raptly to Lucifor, his friends doing the same, their mouths hanging open in amazement.

"We bathed the rings in blood that was taken from slain humans. The blood managed to stop the purifying affects of the rings, but at a cost. The rings were now tainted with the anger the humans felt when their lives were extinquished. The rings could still be used by humans, and angels, but now that the Rings were tainted, demons could use them aswell. When the demons learned of this, they tried to take the rings by force, but the forces of Heaven were able to stop any attack by the demons of Hell, and keep the rings safe.", Lucifor replied seriously, a look of regret on his face, "However, when the Feral Forty escaped, they managed to destroy the angels protecting the rings, and took the rings for themselves. We were unsure if they’d beable to use them outside of Hell, but as we saw tonight, the rings amplified Eris’s power. We now know that the Feral Forty can use the rings outside of Hell, and that they are using the Rings to increase their power.", Lucifor ended seriously.

After listening to Lucifor’s story, Vaugn was at a loss of word slightly. Recovering the best he could, he spoke.

"Okay…so? I killed Eris and she was using one. I’ll just kill each one in turn and take their rings aswell.", Vaugn said, shrugging his shoulders.

"If only it were that simple Vaugn. For you see, Culra sent Eris because she was the next weakest after Dogma, who had no ring. Compared to the others, her powers are inferior in every way. It may have increased her power 10 fold, but she was still the weakling of the group.", Lucifor replied quietly.

Vaugn stared, unbelieveing of what he had heard, his mouth moving silently.

Eris had been the weakling of the group? It increased her power 10 fold and she was still the weakest? Vaugn couldn’t believe. It had to be false.

"You’re…you’re joking, right?", Vaugn asked, shock written all over his face.

"I wish I was Vaugn. But it’s true. The rest of the Feral Forty will be even more powerful then Eris. The power the rings have infused them with is unimaginable. But that is why I am here Vaugn.", Lucifor said, fixxing Vaugn with a solid stare, "I’m here to tell you that killing the Feral Forty is no longer good enough. We need you to collect all the rings for me, so we may protect them from the surviving Forty.", Lucifor finished, his voice cold with seriousness.

"Why?", Vaugn asked simply.

"If the Feral Forty get their hands on the remaining rings, their power will rise to levels imcomprehensible. They would beable to destory one million men with a single pass of their hands. If they get anymore of the rings…mankind with be doomed, and we would be unable to stop it.", Lucifor replied seriously, "Culra already has two rings. He uses his own and the one Dogma would have had, and he is already 100 times stronger then ever before. If he and the rest of his followers get anymore…then there will be nothing we can do.", Lucifor finished, looking at Vaugn, his eyes full of worry and dispair.

Vaugn stared back into Lucifors cold grey eyes.

So these rings raise a demons power? No sweat, thought Vaugn. With Jinkara on his side and Purity in his hand, he could take anything that Hell could throw at him.

"How?", Vaugn asked suddenly out of the blue.

"How what, Vaugn?", Lucifor asked, a little confused.

"How does it increase a demons power?", Vaugn elaborated, looking seriously into Lucifor’s face.

Lucifor contemplated for a second before answering, "When the rings purifying nature was sealed away by the blood they were bathed in, it allowd the rings true power to rise. The rings true power isn’t to purify, but is instead to amplify.", Lucifor began, looking kindly at Vaugn laying down in the bath tub, "The rings, in reality, amplify the truest desire of the beholders heart. In the case of the humans I gave the rings to, they wanted to protect and help humankind. The Feral Forty on the other hand, want to destroy humankind and Jinkara. So the rings amplify their powers so they are able to accomplish this task. It is amplifying their powers to unseen levels. The rings, saddly enough, are also letting the Forty evolve.", Lucifor finished with a shudder.

"What did you say Lucifor?", Jinkara asked quickly, a note in his voice clearly wondering if what he had heard was correct.

"Your former followers are evolving Jinkara, due to the power of the rings they possess.", Lucifor replied seriously.

There was silence in the room in which Vaugn and his friends stared at Lucifor, and Lucifor stared back.

"Evolving how?", Jinkara asked, his voice very serious.

"It seems the rings are so powerful, that despite granting the deepest desire of the barers, the rings are changing the very bodies of the Feral themselves, aswell as raising their powers.", Lucifor replied, "Before, the Feral Forty were just demons with the bodies of the animals. That is what I told Vaugn the first time I met him. But now, the power of the rings is,for lack of a better term, overloading the Feral Forty. The rings, apart from raising the Forty to unseen levels of power, the rings are bestowing them with new, more terrifying, more destructive powers. The rings, for one reason or another, have bestowed the role of Egyptian God upon several of the Forty, while others are now able to manipulate time and space, aswell as human’s themselves. They are stronger now then they have ever been. A new war has begun Vaugn. I hope you can handle it.", Lucifor finished, staring down at Vaugn, his full of sadness.

All around Vaugn, his friends were staring at Vaugn, who was staring down at the bath tub, deep in thought. So the Feral Forty had gone from mere animals to Gods. And demons who can control humans, and time? The demons had truly evolved into much more powerful foes. All along, Vaugn thought he would be fighting simple animals, but now it seems however that his uphill battle just got that much more difficult.

Thinking of what he had just discovered, he looked back up into Lucifor’s face. There he stared into his grey eyes before finally speaking.

"Don’t worry Lucifor. Me and Jin can handle this. I’m pretty sure it won’t matter how powerful the Feral Forty are. Jinkara will still want to tear them to shreds with his bare hands.", Vaugn said confidently, crossing his arms and smiling slightly at Lucifor, "Isn’t that right Jin?", Vaugn added to the room as a whole.

"That’s right.", Jinkara snarled, "To me, it doesn’t matter how powerful they have become. They’ll still die the deaths befitting traitors.", he finished, his anger causing the room to shake slightly.

"I knew you’d two say that. And I’m glad you did. You two have given the forces of Heaven and Hell hope. I needn’t tell you what will happen if you fail. Well, I must be going now.", Lucifor said, standing up and bowing slightly to each of the friends.

"Wait, before you go, I have a question, maybe more.", Vaugn said suddenly, holding up a hand to stop Lucifor.

"Okay Vaugn. I’ll attempt to answer it, or them, the best I can.", Lucifor replied, placing his hands behind his back, smiling and waiting at attention.

"Why is it that the rings mask the demons aura. I mean, Jinkara and I couldn’t sence the demon at all?", Vaugn asked, thinking as to why he only ever senced Eris once.

"Ah yes. Well you see, the rings are still pure enough, that when a demon use it, the evil aura that the demon emits, and the pure aura that the ring emits cancel one another out, making it perfectly invisible to the demon echo.", Lucifor replied

"How does it do that?", Vaugn asked, his eyebrow raised.

"As you know, when a demon is out side of Hell and planted on earth, their aura is detectable because there is far less misery present to mask what the demon emits. But with the rings, that particular sence is rendered pratically useless as the rings to have a great deal of purity and cancels the demonic aura. You’ll detect a demon only when the demon is giving off a particularly strong demonic aura. This usually only happens when the demon is about to kill.", Lucifor replied casually.

"I see…one more question.", Vaugn said thoughtfully, nodding to himself, but quickly looking up at Lucifor, his face alive with curiosity.

"Aslong as it is one, then ask away.", Lucifor replied, smiling and bowing slightly

"I was wondering how I got Purity when I was fighting Dogma. And why does it appear when ever a demon is near by?", Vaugn asked, and he felt Jinkara’s curiosity rise inside of him slightly aswell.

Lucifor smiled braodly, "Why, I gave it to you Vaugn. For you see, Purity is infact my sword. I had it forged so that I may use it to destroy any demon who dares stand against me. When I saw that you were in trouble, I decided you need some help, so I sent you Purity to help you.", Lucifor replied simply, "And it only appears when you have a desire to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. Like tonight, and when you faught Dogma. You wanted to kill Eris for killing those innocent people aboard the plane, and you wanted to punish Dogma for what he caused the dogs of the city to commit against the humans. And tonight, when I appeared behind you, you wanted to protect your friends from what ever had appeared.", Lucifor finished, smiling at Vaugn’s slightly austonished look.

"So it’s there when I need it? Cool.", Vaugn said thoughtfully, nodding slightly

"One more question Lucifor.", a voice said out loud from the room all around them.

"Ask away Jinkara. I dare say you and me should get along as best we can", Lucifor replied calmly.

"Like that would ever happen.", Jinkara snarled at Lucifor, "But why is it when I grabbed the ring tonight, after killing Eris, my power didn’t grow like it should have.", Jinkara growled, the room shaking slightly from his anger.

"It was rather simple actually. The rings only increase the power of demons who hold the thought of increasing their power dearly in their heart. The Forty have increased their power because they dearest desire is to destroy you and mankind.", Lucifor began thoughtfully, "However, since you were merely in control of Vaugn’s body, it didn’t increase your power at all. Why? Because at the time, the dearest the thought to Vaugn was wanting to get home and get to bed.", Lucifor finished, as the room began to suddenly chill, a sign of Jinkara’s increasing anger.

"So what do we do with this ring then? If it’s worthless to me! What point is there in us keeping it?", Jinkara snarled, clearly refering to the ring in Vaugn’s pocket.

"The point of you keeping it Jinkara, is so that the Feral Forty have to kill you two first before they can take it. And if what Vaugn tells me is true, that will be much easier said then done.", Lucifor said with a curdious nod to Vaugn who was sitting in the bath tub, "Well. Good bye Vaugn and Jinkara, it was good chatting with you again. We shall meet again.", Lucifor finished, and with that, there was a bright white flash, and Lucifor disappeared completely.

There was silence in the room, the friends merely staring at the point where Lucifor had vanished.

"So Vaugn…do you think you can handle the next 38 demons?", Jinkara asked from all around him, his voice calmer then before, but still with a note of anger.

The friends all looked at Vaugn, as he contemplated the question, his eyes clouded over with deep thought before he spoke.

"Honestly… I think I can handle them no problem. Given what Culra is like, we should be done with these demons in no time.", Vaugn replied and he felt Jinkara’s pleasure rise up slowly inside of him, replacing the anger gradually.

"I knew you’d say that Vaugn.", Jinkara said from all around them, as all of Vaugns friends smiled slightly.

"Well guys. After tonight, I need a good long sleep. So,", Vaugn began, heaving himself up to his feet with a loud groan,and looking around at his friends."I’ll be going to bed. Tommorow is going to be worse then Monday, so I better rest up now.", he finished, stumbling out of the bath, limped through the laundry room and down the hall to his room the best he could.

"So. Do you guys think Vaugn can handle the remaining demons?", Asuke asked, looking around at her friends.

Her friends sat and thought for a second, their faces all with looks of deep thought.

"Honestly…I’d have to say that it doesn’t matter how powerful the demons are. Vaugn and Jinkara will find away to destroy them somehow, and I think that’s all that really matters.", Nikkai replied thoughtfully.

And with that, the friends looked at eachother, smiled and knodded.

Together, they got up, left the laundry room and went down stairs to head home for the night and rest up for the next day. The friends were almost positive that they would have to carry Vaugn to school the very next morning.