Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Skin a sheet of auburn scales. The wolfish beast stood well over twenty-meter tall, radiating a godly aura. It turned toward the sky as if to bare its fangs at the gods above. The wolf howled, stirring the grass and the canopies of trees. A rustle of leaves wrestled through the heavens, swallowing our vision in a sea of red and gold.

I stared at Jin, watching as he scaled a large Godwood Tree, positioning himself on a branch; he stared at the wolf. His eyes were not focused on the head, heart, or gut like I’d suspect he’d target for a quick kill, but rather on its hind leg.

I smiled. The reason one goes for the hind leg is due to the high vitality of a monster. Not to mention that most monsters’ major organs are always protected by magic. So rather than waste time, we aim to slow down the target by stealing its mobility.

“You ever took him hunting?” I asked Zariel.

“No, but then again, Lucifer tends to abscond with my son, so who knows?” My brother carelessly said.

Jesus. This guy is more laid-back than me.

‘Father..” Jin whispered. “Can you aim for the neck, uncle? The right hind leg lets cripple its mobility.”

I glanced at Zariel and flashed through the woods without sound, positioning myself in the opposite direction of Little Jin. By the time I had nocked my bow, Jins had sent me a Soul Wisper.

“Fire!”

Letting go of the arrow molded from the darkness, a piercing ray of dark light whipped through the sound barrier, shattering the concept of light, blasting off the hind leg of the monster in a single arrow, while Jin’s arrow exploded to the left.

A torn wailed thunder only to go silent when Zariels arrow pierced through the beast’s neck. The wolf went silent. Falling over with a thud dead.

“We did it, Dada!!!!” Jin squealed, leaping down from the tree top with a grin. He soared toward the towering wolf, whose single claw was bigger than the young boy, and grinned. He snapped his glistering eye to Zariel. “Did Jin do good!”

“Out of a hundred?” Zariel smiled, “Well—”

‘If you don’t tell the boy he got a hundred, your nuts shall feel this king’s wrath!’ I soul whispered to my brother, glaring in his direction. “No homo… that sounded a bit sus.

“One Hundred points! Good job, son!” Zariel said, changing up real quick. He stepped towards his son, patting his head.

“You on cook duty too! It’s been a while since little bro cooked me something.” I cheerfully said, peeking up towards the skies. In a few hours, twilight will strike. 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝒍．𝙘𝒐𝙢

…

Listening to Little Jin’s soft snores alongside the crackle of firewood, I stared up at the endless sea of stars cascading over the violet-black skies of Iluthath.

“You look jealous,” Zariel said, his son resting over his lap.

I turned to him. ” Maybe…” I said, unsure why he felt so protective of his child. I was sure I didn’t have maternal instincts, and I was sure he was like me. “I think I’m going to be a cold-blooded Father, is all. Lilith has been bedridden for the past couple of years. She’ll be popping those brats out soon.”

“You’ll do fine.” He said, startling me for a bit. “Parenting is really just being there. Not to mention the Angels and Fallen love Jin, so they help out now and again.”

“You let your child run around with the Fallen?”

“A few. Same with the Angels.”

I chuckled, somehow both disturbed and fascinated by jin playing with the legions in hell.

“Which brings me to another topic.” Zariel began again, narrowing his icy silver eyes. ” Why haven’t you become a Chaos Lord or Paragon? After the battle for the Chaos Dew, you met every requirement. An entire two-chaos cycle has passed since then. What’s the wait?”

“I’m at a crossroads,” I muttered, returning my gaze toward the stars. “Ishar gave me a Holocube to study blood laws, and I’ve all but mastered what she had to offer me. But the more I learned, the more I felt myself being pushed into another direction.”

“Push, you say.”

“Might be the Abyssal Attunement but Chaos Lord and Paragon… I feel a new path is opening up for me.” I told him. “I can’t beat you in combat. Nor spells. That might be an eternal fact. But when it comes to distorting the laws of heaven. No one comes close to me, or at least I’ve never met one who can.”

“You underestimate the Weave.’ Zariel said, and a chuckle escaped his lips. He brushed his son’s plumped cheeks and slid some hair from his face. “I know of the path you speak of… because I was the one who created and abandoned it.”

My brow twitched. “Just how much of a monster are you? Seriously.”

“Said the man who lives his life based on hax.”

“Don’t underestimate the Weave.” I mockingly said. ” bitch didn’t you just say that? You got the biggest hack!”

“You got the Path of Abyssal Night. What the fuck are you complaining about?” He said, lifting his middle finger towards me. A bloody grin of scorn on his face.

“Yeah. Yeah. Just explain what this damn path is about?” I rolled my eyes to say. Tired of his bullshit… You know what? I am jealous. Fuck this guy.

“You fight with your body, right? Most of your techniques are based on—” He paused as his eyes suddenly flared to life. He stared at me for a bit, frowning. “… You are… so fucking lucky?”

“Excuse me?”

“Again!”

“Bro, I can’t see the future like you. Use your words and explain….”

Zariel shook his head. “You’ll find out soon… No wonder Moloch showed up. Anyway. You fight with your body; I tend to fight with my soul and Qi. Those two are my biggest assets.”

“Then the other path you created is—”

“Yes. it revolves around the body.” Zariel said. “Believe it or not… my body is only a couple of levels ahead of you. Physical shit is not my forte. The mind and technique are.”

“But being a Paragon requires perfection. Chaos Lord requires it in all categories.”

“And they are… It’s just my body talent is literally at level one,” Zariel said, scratching his cheek with a bit of a flush expression. “For me, it’s insanely hard to upgrade my body… I am a soul race, after all. So I can ignore some requirements for the most part. You, on the other hand, can pick up where I laid the groundwork.”