Kyo, Brianna, and Uriel all nodded; they knew exactly what all of this meant. But they were too deeply involved in this conspiracy to pull out now.
"Hey guys, good luck." Kyo said, waving the other three Angels. "If we find out anything, you'll know."
-----------------------
"Fia?! What're you-?!" Zander began to say when suddenly, Fia disappeared from sight, and appeared next to Aryus' side, her bow drawn back, and aiming directly for Remorse's head.
"Zander, don't get in the way!" Fia said, giving an uncharacteristic glare at the gray haired man. Zander stepped backwards slowly, shocked by her piercing glare, but said nothing. He took a glance at Remorse, and waited for his reaction.
"Hm, I didn't expect this. But you two still won't be enough to stop me. Don't get your hopes up." Remorse said, smiling arrogantly underneath his helmet. Before Fia could get a chance to let loose her arrow, the Demon Overlord suddenly appeared in front of her, his two blades raised above his head to strike down with. Fia's eyes widened, and she immediately prepared to move when suddenly, there was a black blur, and Aryus was now in front of her, his two hands pinning Remorse's blades against his own body, tearing through his clothing and opening several shallow cuts on his abdomen. Aryus quickly turned his head, and shot a glance directly at Fia; she understood exactly what he intended for her to do. In the blink of an eye, Fia quickly draw back her bow, and fired an arrow of light directly at Remorse's face. Aryus quickly pulled away from the Demon Overlord, and was temporarily blinded by a spark of light. After the dust had settled, Remorse was slowly regaining his balance, reaching up for his helmet. He placed his hand on the crack that appeared in his helmet, and suddenly, the entire helmet collapsed into pieces, his face being revealed. He glared at the two with his red eyes, and clenched his fist; the atmosphere in the room suddenly began to heat up, and Aryus, Fia, and even Zander was finding it more difficult to draw a breath.
"You-!" Remorse shouted, his cool composure now gone. He immediately extended his palm at the two, and flames began to swirl around his body, spiraling into the air and causing sparks to slowly rain down, illuminating the darkness of the fortress. In one quick movement, he appeared behind Aryus and Fia. Aryus didn't even have time to turn completely before he felt Remorse's armored hand connect with his stomach, causing his already shallow wound to tear open. The force of the punch sent Aryus flying backwards, his wounded back colliding with the stone wall. Aryus tried to scream in agony, but he found that it was impossible with no air in his lungs. He slowly slid down the wall, leaving a trail of blood, and weakly glanced at Fia as she began to back away from the towering armored Demon.
"I originally planned to kill you, but death would be too simple..." Remorse said coldly, slowly advancing toward Fia with each step, the heat from Remorse's aura causing sweat to pour down Fia's entire body. "But I think it'd be more fitting to take your soul, and burn for all eternity..."
In the distance, Zander watched on, his eyes wide with shock.
This...no...I didn't want it to be like this...I didn't know... Zander thought, his mind racing. He glanced at Aryus, and noticed that the Demon was now on his feet, panting heavily, but still resolved to fight. This appalled him even more.
What the-? Why? Why are you still going to get up when you know you'll just get knocked back down? Zander thought anxiously, watching as Aryus slowly stepped forward clumsily, his eyes fierce despite his intense fatigue. In the corner of his eye, he saw Fia's eyes widen as she saw Aryus slowly making his way toward her. Above her, Remorse raised his two blades, ready to slice down on Fia. She caught another glimpse or Aryus, this time directly behind Remorse now, his body bent into a sprinting position.
"Aryus! No!!!" Fia screamed as Remorse swung down his blades. There was a sickening sound, and suddenly, Fia felt a damp warmth all over her clothes. Slowly opening her eyes more, she saw Aryus' back, still bleeding, but there was something else. In front of Aryus, impaled by his bladed gauntlet, and by Remorse's two blades, was Zander, his gun pressed tightly against Remorse's forehead.
"Zand-?!" Remorse began to say, until there was a sudden bang, and Remorse was forced backwards by the impact of the gun, forcing him to grab his face in pain. Yet somehow, he was still alive.
Zander weakly turned his head and glanced over his shoulder at Aryus, smiling weakly. He reached downward, found Aryus' gauntlet, and pulled himself in deeper, causing more blood to spill out of his body, and onto the ground.
"You idiot! What are you doing?!" Aryus shouted as he tried to pull Zander off of his gauntlet. Fia was speechless, and held her hands to her mouth, stunned by the sight.
"Ungh...she...chose you after..all..." Zander said, coughing out blood with each word he spoke. He shut his eyes tightly as he gasped and tried to make another effort to speak. "You need to...absorb my soul with that gauntlet. Then you two can...get out of this alive...I'm already going to die...at least you two can escape..."
"Zander..." Fia tried to say before tears began to flow out of her eyes. She tried to say more, but ended up dry heaving every time she looked at the bleeding, gray haired human.
"But..." Aryus said, the malice now out of his eyes. He only looked shocked now. Zander turned his head again, this time to glance at Aryus from his other shoulder now, blood now flowing from his mouth.
"Please..."
Aryus gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, but he began murmuring something under his breath, his gauntlet suddenly glowing a deep, crimson light. Zander's body began to show a red tint to it as the blood began to spill out of his body faster, but this time, flooding into the red orb that had just revealed itself in Aryus' gauntlet. Within seconds, Zander's body went limp, and his body turned to dust, leaving nothing behind but ashes, and a single silver necklace that landed on the ground, bouncing once before becoming completely still.