Chapter 13: Leon the Slayer | Final

"You are not fit for this, kid."
It was morning in the busy streets of Khulast. Since Leon got fired from the military he had to sleep the night under no roof, at the mercy of the harsh cold weather. He started searching for a job but somehow he always ended up doing something wrong. A young man who worked in the fields from the countryside was not accustomed to the way of living here, and thus he had no idea how things worked. It was natural that he would have a lot of trouble finding work.

Leon just got rejected from his 3rd attempt at applying for a job here in the capital. He had not eaten dinner or breakfast, and hunger was starting to get the best of him. When he walked past a bakery a worrying thought run through his mind.
What if I just transformed and took a bunch of stuff from here? No one would stop me.
He was slowly starting to lose his humanity. Can you blame him though? He's been through a lot the past couple of weeks.

As time went by Leon gave up on the prospects of finding work and just wasted time sitting on the side of the pavement, in a small alleyway. He didn't just feel upset, he felt completely lost. He was in a foreign city filled with incomprehensible to him people. No food and no shelter.

***

After walking the city streets for hours, he found a somewhat nicer alleyway for him to sleep in. It was early night. He had nothing better to do so he decided to just sleep and hope for a miracle the next day.
The alleyway floor was harsh, wet, and freezing, and the stars on the sky were nowhere to be seen. People were walking by, all minding their own business, paying no attention to the poor soul in misery that was lying on the rough ground.
No one payed attention to him, until suddenly;
"Hey guys, check this out."
"What do you want?"
"Oh, it's a bum!"
A couple of kids a few years younger than him were getting closer. They had devious looks on their faces and Leon was starting to feel anxious. He didn't know how things worked here, but he knew they weren't thinking of his best interest.
"Hey, loser! Just give us all your money and we'll leave you alone, deal?"
"I.. Don't have anything."
"Okay, I see how it is."
One of the kids rushed behind him and took hold of him while the other two started punching him in the face and other sensitive areas.
This cruel act continued on for a dozen or so seconds, until;
"Oww!" What is that?"
One of them tried to punch him but his fist hurt horribly. It was bleeding too.
Leon's body slowly turned black. A pair of wings, a tail, and horns started growing out of him.
"It's a fucking daemon! Ru-"
Crack
Leon grabbed the face of the kid who was holding him and smashed it into the brutal ground.
It exploded into a terrible blast of blood and gore.
"Uhhrrr..." A frightening growl filled the empty silence of the alleyway.
While the other two kids were running, Leon opened his mouth and blasted them with hellfire.
One of them died, almost instantly, while the other one survived but tripped and fell down. In an instant after that, his head got pierced by the blade of a giant greatsword.
Leon had chased him out of the alleyway and he was now in the middle of the streets.
"Stop right there!"
In a stroke of terrible luck, a patrolling police car stopped to the left of Leon. When he heard the officer's voice and looked around him for a bit, he started getting back to his senses.
While the policeman was approaching him slowly, with handcuffs in hand, Leon flew away.

***

 Leon fled from the police and took shelter on a roof of a very tall building, still in his daemon form.
As he was gazing up at the starless night sky, it was now when he realized he had nothing.
No food
No shelter
No money
No hometown
No family

Everything had been taken away from him by those dammed monsters, in a gruesome blazing inferno.
Mom, dad, I'm coming.

***

Noon of the next day.

Bullets were being exchanged with fireballs, and screams of agony could be heard from both sides. 
Larkan Warmages had pushed back Empire forces back to the ruined town of Barvada.
The soldiers of the Empire couldn't advance because of the constant artillery bombardment, and they were constantly losing ground.
Daemons couldn't get through because the Warmages had set up anti air spells in advance this time.
"Forward!"
Multiple mages were keeping a great barrier maintained in the front and they were slowly advancing.
Until, all of a sudden;
A streak of red light flashed through the battlefield and made its way to the frontlines of the Warmages in an instant.
5 Barrier keeper mages were beheaded by a swing of a greatsword.
Leon's mind was filled with bloodlust.
I'll kill as many as I can. I have nothing to lose.
The anti air spells were not safe to use at such a close distance. Now the mages had to figure out something new to deal with the bloodthirsty devil that had penetrated their frontlines.
Leon slayed mage after mage in fractions of a second.

"Is that..?" Mikhael was watching from high up in the sky along with more daemon scouts.
A surge of pure strength and savagery suddenly took over his entire body. Just watching that daemon charging in without any fear and slaughtering countless mages by himself was enthralling. He, and all the other daemons that were hovering in the area just had to go in and help him. It was almost a repeat of their previous fight together. They didn't care about the danger of this maneuver. The spirit of Leon was radiantly inspiring, in a macabre way. To these daemons in the sky, he was like a dark star to them. This sense could not be described.
And so they went in to help their kin.

As countless daemons started flooding the Warmage battalions, a thundering voice sounded and overpowered the sound of gunfire and death.
"Enough!"
The once beautiful blue sky above them started turning into a disgusting shade of purple. Bolts of pure arcane energy started raining down upon the daemons, managing to execute many of them. The bolts were moving as fast as lightning and they were homing in on only the daemons. Dodging them was extremely difficult.
Many daemons were trying all sorts of maneuvers with their dark gargoyle-like wings to evade them but it proved almost impossible.
Those who managed to avoid them were faced with the wrath of the rest of the Warmages in the battlefield, as well as stray shots from allied soldiers who happened to hit daemons by accident.
Leon was the only one who managed to evade and slay mages at the same time. He didn't look like the other daemons anymore. He was fully transformed. There was no going back from this.
His eyes became sharp, narrow, and glowing red. His horns were as sharp as his greatsword and they were twice the size of his head, inspiring fear into his enemies, who managed to see his form for only a second before they were sliced in half.
Something terrible had to happen for a daemon to enter this form, and once they did, they could no longer turn back into a human.

Amidst the massacre, Leon noticed a figure levitating in the sky, with his hands glowing and pointing at the ground.
He is the one...
That was most likely the cause of this deadly cataclysm.
When Leon got close to him he could barely make out any features. The mysterious figure was probably a really high ranking mage. He wore purple robes with shiny gold lining, and an extravagant golden helmet with many decorations, which covered their entire head.
Leon swang at him with his greatsword, but a purple barrier blocked his strike and knocked him back with substancial force. The high ranking mage then launched a barrage of homing fireballs at Leon. They hit their target, engulfing Leon in smoke and flames, but he soon emerged from the smoke cloud that had been created and flew towards the mage, thrusting his sword this time with even greater strength. It penetrated the barrier, but;
The mage's form dissolved into purple light. Next thing Leon knew, an icicle had impaled his chest area from behind. The mage had teleported behind Leon and launched a sharp frozen projectile.

Leon started falling out of the sky and his vision was becoming blurry, but in an instant, it turned red.
His wings stiffened up again and he started flying at incredible speeds, making circles around the mage while blasting him with his fire breath, which was now blue instead of the normal yellow and orange.
The moment he noticed his hellish flames penetrate the mage's barrier he went in for a slash with his blade, but he hit nothing.
I'm not falling for the same trick twice!
He instantly looked behind him, blocking with his sword, but there was nothing.
immediately after that, he noticed his enemy in the corner of his peripheral vision, several meters away, charging up an spell. He was moving his hands rapidly, in a peculiar manner, and a bright purple light formed in front of him.
This is my chance.
Leon went in for the kill, but

"~~!"

The mage fired his spell, and a piercing beam of light went through Leon's head.
His demonic form was dropping into the ground, like a fallen angel.

For a short moment, nothing.
Then;

"Get up and face me." A celestial voice called out to him.
Leon regained his consciousness. He was amidst a field of stars, almost as if he was the sun, observing the universe around him.
He got up, only to witness a bewildering form in front of him.
It was a cluster of weird but symmetrical geometrical shapes. They looked like they were made of obsidian, and they were spinning around a glowing orb that served as their core.

"Is.. is this heaven..?"
"No."
"The-"
"Leon Thaleus. You have murdered hundreds of people. All of them human, just like you. All of them had a family, just like the one you had. All of them just wanted to get through their lives. And yet you couldn't help but take that away from them. Take away hundreds of fathers from their children, their families mourning. All in the name of your rage, which you disguised as revenge. You may be harbouring the form of a monster inside of you. But truly you are just a human. A weak human who couldn't get a hold of his emotions, and refused to do anything to help anyone, even yourself."
Leon was speechless. He just stared at the celestial being while it was tearing him apart with its words.

"I am obliged to give you a choice. Either you can be judged at this very moment and be sent to either the Aether or the Hypocosmos, or you can start a life in a different world, and do enough good in that world to outweigh the sins of your previous life. If you can manage the latter, you will be automatically sent to the Aether when you die in your new life."
"..." Leon was half in disbelief, half thinking about his decision. His expression was blank. His soul had left his body, he felt like an empty vessel.
"Hurry up and make a choice. They are waiting for you."
"I want to start a new life."
"Good. I must warn you though; do not dare to use your monstrous form in this new world. You must live like any other human there."
"Alright."
"I wish you the best of luck."

Leon's vision started faded and his consciousness left him once again.

Then;

"Ughh..." 
"Where is this..?"
He was inside a broken down, abandoned building made of wood. The inside was incredibly dirty, the furniture was all ravaged, there were mad drawings all over the place.
Gunshots and terrifying screeches were heard. His heart started racing.
Somehow Leon managed to muster up enough courage to get up and open the door, exiting the building.
What he saw outside was a truly bizarre scene. A human figure in brown rugs, scrap metal armor, and a gas mask covering its face, was shooting at a group of giant insects with an old looking rifle.
He started feeling the extreme heat. He tried walking on the sand to get closer to the figure but it was difficult, and the sand was burning hot.
"Hey! Were are we? Are you a human?"
The figure was done slaying the insects and they were surprised by the person shouting at them. They aimed their rifle at Leon.
"I'm not a threat! I'm friendly!"
The figure got closer to him, and eventually pulled down its weapon.
"Where are you from?" The figure spoke in a monotone, machine-like voice.
"I..." Better not to tell them the truth... they'll think I'm insane...
"I don't remember."
"Alright. Come with me if you don't have anywhere to live."