Thanatos looked up in horror at what he was witnessing, sitting before him in a puddle of blood, there lied Arakah, the man who was a moment ago just stealing the souls of everyone present in the lecture hall, he was dead, and what killed him was hard to believe. Thanatos looked at the beast as the shadow like tentacle vanished into thin air as the figure walked out of the shadow, speaking to no one in particular, a bit of scorn in their voice, the voice was a woman's voice. “Such a sad existence to live, thinking you can play the role of a god and expect to truly bring back one you lost. One so easily swayed by emotions, thinking I would revive his pathetic dead wife, all it took was claiming I was her and he jumped when I said jump. Pathetic, disgusting to a point. And you, almost ruining my return. Such insolence will only be met with death, at the hand of your new ruler.” She glared at Thanatos, leaving the shadows as the light of the lecture hall slowly illuminated her nightmarish face, she was nothing close to human, nor mortal. Her face was a weird reddish-orange, demonic in look, she had horns, and at first glance it looked like she had a type of dress on, long, black, the arms long and covering up to her palms, and the dress went farther than her feet, the front never getting caught, but the back did trail, and as she spoke, Thanatos noticed there was no mouth moving, she was wearing a pitch black veil over his mouth. She had a hate filled look towards the man as she raised her hand and a small ball of purple slowly formed. “Burn in the depths of hell where all who oppose their queen go. I am Nelvona, The demon god of this world. All who oppose me shall face death, or fates worse.” She growled and her hand swung, the ball of purple leaving her hands and making a quit path towards Thanatos, the dragon gasping as he quickly leapt to the side and ducked behind a chair, the ball hitting it instead, and before Thanatos’s very eyes, the chair burst into a purple flame, disintegrating within seconds, a look of horror on his face. If it burned down the chair that fast, there was no saying how it’d handle him, he grabbed his sword and ran, shaking the fear and smirking. He had a challenge finally.


        He quickly kicked in a door that lead out of the lecture hall, another ball of purple hitting the wall next to him, his tail swishing to the side quickly just from the sudden impact, looking now, there was a hole in the wall, Thanatos ran past it, Nelvona seeing him running from the hole as she made slow steps down off the stage, graceful, nearly beautiful, she had a dignified look and feel to here, despite her horrific and nightmarish appearance as a demon. She made her way towards the door, each step followed by a small spark of fire, which her trailing dress quickly put out, her own steps could set the world on fire if she wanted. There was no limit to what her powers could do, or so Thanatos was thinking. Thanatos rushed down the hall, having an idea as he heard screams from down the hall, some cut short. “She’s responsible for everyone losing their souls it seems, it wasn’t that man. Interesting. If I could just lure her into a more open field, I could have a chance to take her down.” Thanatos said as he was quickly turning corners, noticing Nelvona was keeping a decent distance but pursued him, was she really that confident in herself? Thanatos was surprised to say the least. Thanatos skid himself to a halt for a moment as he noticed one of the doors had Arakah’s name writing on it, with the title “Man of Blood and Shadow, Headmaster” written underneath, a thought occurring as he turned noticing Nelvona walking down the hall, finally catching up as she charged another attack in her palm. “Are you done running you insolent creature? I have not the time for this nonsense, and you are just making life much more difficult. Why don’t you behave like a good little servant and let yourself be cast away like you so deserve.” She sneered, throwing the ball towards him, but noticed Thanatos had a smirk on his face.


        “I don’t think so, you wicked bitch.” Thanatos said and with enough force, kicked the ground with his left foot and swung it to up and to the right, his body following suit as he flipped out of the way, the ball of energy striking the door, it burned down immediately, Nelvona watching him as he ran again. She growled in anger and followed him once more, Thanatos chuckling to himself as he had a plan, as he ran a mad dash through the halls, making a quick circle back to the room. He kept an ear out to make sure Nelvona never turned around, and Thanatos began to wonder if she was following him because she was confident or if she was following a specific thing, like maybe she was blind and his scent or something was tipping her off? Thanatos shook it off as he didn’t have the time to care about such a matter as he quickly made his way into Arakah’s office, looking around the shelves and desk. “There has to be something here, there is no way he just did a ritual and didn’t write down anything pertaining to it.” He said as he ransacked the room in search of anything useful. Thanatos suddenly grunted as his quick searching caused a small journal to fall off a high place, smacking down against his head and he quickly fell to his knee thinking he was under attack. He drew his sword and swung around, noticing no one was behind him as he grunted and shook his head, on edge as he listened for Nelvona. He knelt down and grabbed the journal, noticing it had Arakah’s name embroidered onto the spine, his claw gently trailing down it, as the spine was made of a soft cloth, but the sides of the book were sturdy and a proper material for a book. It was an odd choice for sure, but he wasn’t about to question it as he held it and dashed out of the room, Nelvona walking up as he ran, now making his way to the courtyard, running past various students and faculty screaming in terror as they ran in different directions and tried escaping, the academy was in mass panic. “Damn, this wicked demon sure is persistent, hopefully I can easily dispatch her in the courtyard.” He panted a bit as all this running was tiring him out, but he chuckled still as it was somehow amusing to him, this was not how he intended for this to go.


        Soon he reached what he figured was the courtyard as he looked up, the sky a slight orange in look, it was almost nightfall, the sun was setting and he had to make this quick. “Heh, sorry old man, doesn’t look like I am making it back today, I just might not have enough time. Either way we had a deal, and I plan to honor it. Now come at me you demon! I will end you just like you so deserve!” Thanatos called out as Nelvona made her way out into the courtyard, a cage of magic falling around them, Nelvona’s eyes glowing as it was clearly her doing. “You wish for death so readily, you are a foolish man, not one I expected. You are a hindrance on my plan, and yet you try to threaten me. You are the one who will suffer for eternity, and I will make it so.” She said simply, as she gently moved her hand and it was reached out in front of her, her gaze never changing, it was still dignified and powerful in looks, as her eyes kept their glow as if to keep the cage up. She silently chanted something small, and right before Thanatos’s eyes, a blade appeared in her hands. Thanatos looked at it, noticing it was gold in color, while the handle and wrapping around that was pitch black, it was almost regal to a degree. It was oddly shaped however, and Thanatos could tell just by looking it was serrated, despite the angle he was looking at it from. She lightly swung it a bit to catch a feel for how it worked. “It has been far too long my dear blade, you will soon feel the thrill of battle once more, and feel the blood and the agony of those you cut down. We will reclaim our rightful place as the queen of this world, and we still start with this bastard dragon, one who thinks they can oppose and degrade me. I am Nelvona, the rightful queen of this world, and you are nothing more than a husk of worthless feelings and thoughts. To think one like you could ever oppose me, its asinine, and I will be sure to put you in your place. Now, accept your fate and kneel while I make sure you make this a long, painful death.” She said, her tone cold, almost enough to throw off his composure, but he instead smirked as he drew his sword, throwing the sheath away from the, it slid between the cages bars and was out of reach. Thanatos didn’t plan to surrender.


        Without a word, Thanatos charged as Nelvona, and swung his sword with ease, he was an expert in this field and he was going to prove it to this self proclaimed queen. Without hesitation or restraint, Nelvona swung her blade without hesitation, the blade making a precise collision with Thanatos’s own sword, as if calculated and planned. She quickly used her other hands and punched it against his gut, making the dragon grunt as he skid back a little, his feet digging into the ground, but it didn’t stop him from moving back from the force, a shock looming on him for a brief moment as he looked and noticed the ground beneath his feet gave way a bit and there was a streak of dirt and pulled grass, showing she had used enough force to physically throw him back. “Damn.” he grumbled to himself as she slowly approached and swung quickly. Her movements were slow but her swings were rapid, it was throwing Thanatos off because it wasn’t a skill thing, it was all a mind game Nelvona was playing, but he did keep at it to the best of his ability as he blocked each swing. Thanatos watched her movements carefully as he tried planning a method of attack that would work in his favor, his claws and sword following her every swing. His training was thankfully paying off as he made sure to not get himself hit, because if her magic and the sword shared a property, he didn’t feel like being fried dragon. Thanatos had a last minute plan as he quickly opened his jaw and, without hesitation, fired a ball of flames out at her, as he quickly backed up as a swing fell, missing since she was blinded. She growled in anger and swiped her hand across her face, and in one movement, the flame was out, her veil falling to the ground, but the look on her face proved that it was more of a bother rather than actually damaging, her full face now in view, her face was shaped oddly, which made sense due to what she was, but her mouth was what caught Thanatos’s attention, as she had fangs, her two bottom one stuck out of her jaw and overlaid themselves over her upper lip. In anger she began to speak. “Damn you, you insolent little shit. How dare you defy me even now. Do you not realize how worthless your efforts are? Just submit and die, and I might reconsider making your death a painless one. You insufferable pile of shit!” She shouted, but her mouth never moved. Thanatos realized what he was hearing was a voice in his head, of sorts. She was using a telepathic power to communicate, due to the odd shape of her mouth, she noticed the look on his face, a smirk somewhat forming the best it could. “So, you finally realize? I can’t communicate verbally with the likes of you, you mere mortals are to incompetent to understand the language of the demon queen. Sad, really, but no matter, I spent centuries sealed away learning how to communicate such a feeble language just to make sure my presence was known, and people could understand just who they were dealing with.” She said as Thanatos processed that, before noticing her sword raise once more. “Now DIE you insufferable pile of shit!” She shouted and swung down.


        Thanatos shut his eyes in a panic, realizing he was too distracted that he left himself open, as he tried stepping back, but he anticipated a strike to the chest. But instead of an impact, his ears rang as he heard a gunfire, a panic set in as he opened and looked around, seeing a bullet hole in Nelvona’s hand as the sword spun through the air and landed across their makeshift arena. Thanatos looked around, his vision shaky and blurry for a moment as he looked around, up on the roof he saw a hooded figure, and blinked a couple times, the figure vanishing as if Thanatos had imagined it. He looked as her heard voices, and the sound of armor clashing as knights filled the courtyard, lead by Maxwell. “Halt demon! Put your hands down and keep yourself still or we will open fire!” Maxwell ordered, Thanatos watching in surprise as he noticed Nelvona’s hand seal itself as if she was never shot. “About time your majesty. I don’t think I would’ve survived much longer.” He joked seeing Maxwell, the husky surprised to see Thanatos as he spoke. “I thought you left Elderitch Thanatos.” He said in a commanding tone as Thanatos chuckled and stood, the cage disappearing as Nelvona turned and started to walk away. “You may have escaped this time, Thanatos, but mark my words.” She spoke as the sound of gunfire and spells being cast filled the air as the knights were ordered to release fire on Nelvona, but everything phased through her as if she was nothing more than an illusion as she sneered at the orange dragon, anger in her eyes. “The next time we meet, I will cut you down, remove that insufferable head of yours and mount it on my throne, for all to see what happens when they oppose me. Your day is coming.” She said and before their very eyes, she vanished into thin air, a small puff of black smoke seen flying into the air and slowly leaving, the knights ordered to stop firing.


        Thanatos looked up as the smoke vanished in the air, and behind it on the roof was once again the figure, the one he thought he saw when his vision was messing up. He blinked a bit and rubbed his eyes, and looked once more, and he was gone. Thanatos was a bit offset by this but he didn’t say anything as he turned as Maxwell approached, a hand extended. “As much as my father would demand I lock you up for interfering with something like this, I am going to disobey orders because you held your own and kept that demon in place long enough for my team to get here, and evacuate any survivors. I knew it was smart to only bring my mages and gunners, because there was no way we were breaking that cage. What happened here Thanatos?” Maxwell asked, as he knew he could somewhat trust Thanatos for now, since he had made constant visits to the castle before. Thanatos sighed for a second making sure the journal stayed out of sight knowing if Maxwell saw it he would want it for evidence. “Arakah, the Man of Blood and shadow. He performed some ritual to awaken that demon, and he made the lecture room into his personal ritual sigil, he was using invited guests as the sacrifices to awaken this Nelvona person. I would say question him, but you won’t get much out of a dead human. She killed him as soon as she reawoken, it was a miracle I even survived. I wonder why though.” He said, his mind trailing realizing he might have been partially at fault, as every time someone died, a soul was absorbed into the gem Arakah had, but his amulet that was gifted to him also lit itself up as if reacting to what was going on. Thanatos began thinking as Maxwell thanked him for it and told his troops to patrol the school and get any information they could, Thanatos taking a turn and walking towards the exit, in which Maxwell called out. “Where are you heading now? Shouldn’t you rest?” He asked as Thanatos chuckled softly, glancing back at Maxwell, his smile was friendly, but his eyes were showing a different feeling.


        “Sorry your majesty, I just have a task I need to finish, I will make a visit to the castle again once I am done though to tell you whatever I can. Don’t worry about me.” Thanatos said and grabbed his swords sheath and slid the blade into it carefully, flinging it over his shoulder and tying it around him, leaving without words to anyone else, his mind racing too much to hold a proper conversation after all of that, his mind mostly focused on that figure he kept seeing. When out of town, he quickly removed his amulet and examined it, noticing it was still only in its pitch black state. With it in his hands and not around his neck, he felt an odd feeling, as if it was reacting to something. “It feels stronger than before. I have a really bad feeling about what this could mean. Did it absorb parts of the souls that Nelvona was taking as sacrifice? Am i why this happened? Damnit old man, what is your village trying to do to people? Am I why Arakah died? Shit.” was all he could finally mutter as he put the amulet back on, as he started walking. From the distance, a hooded figure stood, staring at Thanatos, as if watching him, all that was visible was his mouth, a smile across it, but not a friendly smile, it was one of malicious intent and rage, it was twisted.