●DEATH●
Death went berserk. "I will kill you Karma!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs, shaking the whole chamber.
Karma seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in, and fear - genuine fear - crept into his eyes. Death tried summoning his scythe, only to be slapped in the face by the fact that he was still neutralized. Karma seemed to realize the same thing, for he smirked and said, "Is that so? Kill me how? With what powers?"
While glaring at Karma, Death saw Destiny talking to Karma in frantic tones and Life passed out on the ground next to him, her right hand still in his left. Fortunately, her breathing was even, and she seemed at rest rather than dead. Had it not been for the tense atmosphere of the chamber, Death might have been able to convince himself that he was back home, with Life asleep on a couch in the common room.
The argument between Destiny and Karma intensified, and Karma raised a hand to slap Destiny when he collapsed onto one knee, panting heavily. Destiny gasped and held out a hand to help Karma, but he swatted it away. After he was steady on his feet, he glared at Death and his court. "Which one of you rats neutralized me?"
So he's been neutralized. Well done, Mercy! Death thought, and when he looked at Mercy, she made eye contact with him and smiled with fatigue. Death gave her a thumbs up before she closed her eyes again, tears staining her cheeks.
Meanwhile, Destiny had run over to Death's cage, but when she tried to walk through the bars, she couldn't. Death swore, as did Destiny. She was solidifying by the minute, and it wouldn't be long until she was fully alive. Grabbing the bars of Death's cage, Destiny asked, "What do you want me to do? How can I help?"
"You see the ring on Karma's left hand?" When Destiny nodded, Death continued. "That was the ring Karma used to neutralize me. Break it to give me my powers back. I'll handle it from there."
Destiny nodded again as she started running towards Karma again when Death called out, "Destiny, wait! There's one more thing I should mention."
Looking over her shoulder, she asked, "What?"
"As soon as you break the ring, you will go back to wherever you were to begin with. In other words, you will die again."
"I figured, but I don't mind it that much - I don't want to be resurrected if it means all of you have to suffer," she said with a small smile. "Well, I'll go take care of that ring."
Death nodded and said, "Good luck. And Destiny, I'm sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for everything."
Destiny smiled again as she pounced on top of Karma. He flailed his free arm around, trying to hit Destiny, but she was much swifter than him and quickly overpowered him. "Stay down," she growled, something Death had never heard her do.
A faint ring of ocean blue surrounded Destiny, and she reached over to Karma's ring, then snapped it with ease. "Potens," she said confidently, and it was then that Death felt his power surge within him, the hole in his soul filled once more. He hooted in pure happiness and pumped a fist in the air. The air around him hummed with energy and his aura glowed black. Death summoned his scythe, and sliced through the bars of his cage like scissors through paper. He looked at Karma just in time to see Destiny fading away. Her laugh, which sounded like wind chimes on a bright summer day, rang around the chamber.
"Always do what's right," were her final words before she went to her resting place, vanishing in a cloud of blue sparks with a pop.
Karma was too busy watching Death to watch his loved one fade from existence forever, his eyes wide with fear. "Now now, Death, I'm sure we can work this out like civilized people. You're my buddy, my pal. Remember the fun times we had?" Karma said nervously, all arrogance from earlier dissipated.
"It's a bit too late for a civil chat, I'm afraid, buddy," Death said, continuing his advance, scythe glinting menacingly in the dim light of the chamber. He lifted his scythe to strike Karma when Mercy groaned and fell down. Karma breathed deeply as his powers swept back into him.
"Getting your powers back after a neutralization is the best, isn't it?" Karma's smugness came back in full force. He slowly pushed himself up and summoned his twin hunting daggers. "Bring it on, King of Death," he challenged. "Come fight for your Queen."
Death grabbed the staff of his scythe and spit it in two. He crouched into a defensive position, a sickle in each hand. A sinister smile formed on his face, and when he spoke, his voice was confident and somewhat cold, and the voice of the Death King rumbled out. "You have one last chance to back down, Karma. I will not hesitate."
Karma scoffed. "Never. What do I have to lose?"
Death sprung towards Karma, and swung his sickles at him. Karma lifted his daggers in defense, and the clang of metal rang clearly and loudly in the chamber. Grinning, Karma dashed towards Death's leg, his movement a blur. Death anticipated this, however, and blocked Karma's attack efficiently. Karma darted here and there like a snake, lunging out and back, focusing more on speed over strength, giving Death his fair share of shallow cuts made to tire him out.
The two moved impossibly fast - to the onlookers it merely looked like a streak of black and grey intertwined with each other. Clangs after clangs of metal rang out from all over the room as Karma and Death jumped to and fro, parrying and blocking, stabbing and striking. They seemed evenly matched - neither was gaining the upper hand for what seemed like a while. It was true that Death was strong and powerful, but Karma made up for it with his extra experience and Death's adjustment to his powers after being neutralized.
The intense battle paused for a moment when Death jumped to one side of the chamber and Karma jumped to the other. Both of them were breathing heavily and sported new cuts. Death met Karma's eyes and grinned while he put his two sickles together to form his scythe.
"Time to up my game," he purred menacingly as he leapt towards Karma again, eyes glowing black. Karma's own eyes were glowing a dull, silver fox grey as he sidestepped effortlessly. Death spun around to face Karma just as easily, and with just as much grace. The two grinned at each other like wolves as they sprinted towards the other, swinging their weapons. Death aimed a strike low in hopes to get Karma unbalanced, but Karma laughed at the advantage Death had unwittingly given Karma.
Lifting his daggers, Karma slashed at Death's face, and it was Death's quick reflexes that saved him. The daggers nicked his cheek, and Death felt his warm blood trickle down his face, the ruby colored liquid dripping to the floor. Growling, Death increased the speed of his attacks, but Karma increased the tempo of his own to match Death's speed perfectly. Their footwork was complicated, yet their footing was never lost, their swordsmanship immaculate. They twirled and danced around each other, blocking here, parrying there. Neither could inflict any sort of major damage to the other that would turn the tides of their fight.
There was another slight pause as the two gods jumped to opposite sides of the room. Karma bared his teeth. "Getting tired, Death?" he taunted, and Death scoffed in response.
"Tired? Of course not, old man. I thought we were just warming up," Death replied as he raised an arm. Shadows immediately encircled his arm, and little tendrils of darkness lurked beneath his robe, cats ready to pounce, monsters waking from their slumber.
"Ah, the Shadow King finally has decided to show his face. I was getting worried that you'd gone soft on me, Death," Karma crooned as Death sprinted towards him. Karma calmly lifted his daggers into a defensive position, only to have them knocked out of his hands by shadows that were all-too familiar. Shock crossed his face as his eyes widened in surprise, but before he could recover, Death struck him, sending Karma flying across the room. Karma was thrown into the wall by the force of being struck by Death's scythe alone, and bits of concrete crumbled to the ground around him as he sank to the floor. Groaning, Karma shakily pushed himself back up to a standing position. He clutched his arm and met Death's icy gaze. Karma's face paled as realization dawned on him - his fate was solely in Death's hands now. Karma futilely looked around for a potential ally, but found none - he was purely surrounded by enemies, by people who did not care what Death did with him next.
Death continued to walk towards Karma, his shadows swirling around his robe and scythe and coming down in plumes of ungodly smoke. Karma tensed up and contemplated trying to teleport away, but Death's voice froze him in place. "Stand down, Karma. You've lost," he said calmly, as though he were having a casual conversation with a friend.
Narrowing his eyes, Karma shifted his weight onto his left leg so he could spring to the right, but before he could complete the maneuver, a blade of darkness pierced the stone mere inches away from him. "When I told you to stand down, I expected you to stand down, Karma," Death stated, his tone flat and emotionless. "Or should I call you Aequius?"
Karma's face blanched when he heard Death utter his true name. "Y-you remember?" he croaked, backing up against the wall in fear.
Death ignored Karma's question and carried on with what he wanted to say. "I have ordered you to stand down, Aequius," Death said, his voice commanding but soft, and Karma found himself being forced to kneel. "You will never tread on my lands, nor Life's lands. You will never lay a hand on Life or any of my court members, and you will never try to resurrect anyone ever again. Using your true name, I bind you, Aequius, to these terms for eternity." The air around the two seemed to hum for a moment as the last words left Death's mouth. "Be gone," Death said evenly, his face blank and expressionless.
Karma, relieved that Death had spared his life, stood up and sprinted from the room. As soon as Karma left the chamber, Death slouched a little, and any iciness melted away, any trace of his godly figure and commanding aura gone. His shadows dissipated along with his scythe, and he hobbled over to Life, who was still unconscious on the floor, her chest rising and falling steadily.
"Life," Death muttered as he gently held her, smoothing the folds of her dress. Life stirred a little, then slowly opened her eyes.
"Death?" she murmured, as if half-asleep. "Death!" she exclaimed once seeing his face fully, bolting upright as she woke up completely.
"Life," Death croaked with a dry tongue as his eyes spilled with tears. There I go again, Death thought to himself. Crying for the second time in millennia over a girl.
"What happened?" Life asked, wiping the tears away with a brush of her thumb. "And where did you get all those cuts? Where's Karma? Is he... gone?"
"I'll tell you the full story some other time, but in a nutshell, Mercy neutralized Karma, letting Destiny overpower him, break the ring, give me my powers back; Mercy then passed out, and I fought with Karma. I made sure he'll never bother us again and let him go free," Death replied, pulling Life close and hugging her tight, determined to never let go of her again.
"Let's go home," she whispered into his robe, and Death nodded.
"Anything and everything for you, my queen," he breathed against her ear, and Life began to cry, sobs racking her chest in a wave of emotion that hit her so quickly, she couldn't rein them in once they were freed.
"Never leave me like that again. Not when it's your life at stake. I- I don't know what I'd do without you," she pleaded, and Death only hugged her tighter.
"I never will," he reassured, and someone cleared their throat loudly.
"Ahem, hate to interrupt your lovey-dovey conversation, but can you get us out of here? My leg is falling asleep as is my patience," Truth jabbed, and Death rolled his eyes as Life chuckled, wiping away her tears.
"Well, thanks for asking, you'll be the last one out," Death said with a smirk, and Truth groaned.
"Aw, come on!" she pleaded.
"Nope," Death retorted as he slashed the bars of the cages around all his other court members except for Truth.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Truth asked with her hands on her hips.
"I'm waiting for the magic word," Death prodded, and Truth sighed.
"Fine. Please. But that's the last time I'm going to save your ass," she spat, and Death laughed as he swung his scythe and broke Truth free.
"Let's get going, shall we?" he asked the rest of the court, and everyone cheered, eager to be rid of Karma and his realm.
Life shyly crept up next to Death and whispered, "May I teleport back with you?"
Death smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling, and whispered back, "Of course."
As he wrapped his arms around Life, warmth spread throughout his body, cleansing him of the pain and suffering of the past few weeks. Life was back in his arms, something he had never foreseen, and as she, too, wrapped her arms around Death, Death smiled, for he pledged to never let go of his future, of the life that they had foreseen together.
Honestly I love Truth as a character, I think I subconsciously created her character to similarly resemble me, with her sarcastic wit. Not to mention we both have black hair :D
Thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed please leave a like!