Passage 9

                Rayfe had been sitting for a few minutes before he saw an approaching speck. It was his newfound adversary. He arose, ready to greet Takeshi. Takeshi touched down a few feet in front of him.
                “It was you. The whole time. Playing me,” said Takeshi bringing out his scythe, “You’ve destroyed all I’ve…”
                “Oh boo-hoo. You’re pathetic. You have no idea what you would have done for all of us here. Your betrayal to humankind. That was the key.”
                “What…”
                “Through your betrayal, you would have proven God wrong. In turn, we could have finally taken the human realm. The apocalypse on your kind would have finally come!”
                “I don’t understand! Why me?!”
                “Ah. Takeshi. The boy Rath loved.”
                “Rath?”
                “A god like me. Well, stronger. Smarter. Or at least he was. You were his pet project. I just finally took action where he failed.”
                “And he had the same plan?”
                “Somewhat,” said Rayfe with a smirk, “Only he would have been more cruel. See I, want to kill you all. He wants a number of you to live. To serve.”
                Takeshi backed off for a moment. Then, as something made sense in his mind, he was prepared for this fight,
                “Rath definitely is smarter than you. There’s a reason not to kill all humans.”
                “Oh?”
                “Without us, you have no purpose. No life force.”
                Hatred began to radiate from Rayfe.
                “You pathetic sack. It makes no difference seeing how you didn’t change. So your death will come swiftly by my kind!”
                Rayfe created his scythe, holding it towards the sky. A wave of energy shot up. A few moments later, tons of specks started appearing in the distance from every direction. Gods were coming.
                These gods approached and halted around Rayfe and Takeshi.
                “Why have you called those of us near to this place,” one asked.
                “This human has crossed into our territory. He claims to be more powerful than any of us. Claims they are superior.”
                Outrage could be felt from every god there. Then Takeshi spoke,
                “I never said that! But if you keep me from killing this one,” he said pointing the end of his scythe at Rayfe, “Then I will strike you down.”
                Rayfe smirked. He knew no matter what Takeshi said, that the gods he called will interfere.
                “I say death by obliteration. “
                Rayfe then flew back joining the surrounding circle. Takeshi took a defensive stance. All the gods seemed to be in agreement with Rayfe. They created their instruments of death, ready to kill.
                Takeshi started to feel fear, but it couldn’t compare to the hate in him. He intended to keep his promise in killing Rayfe.
                Before he had time to act, all the gods pointed their scythes at him. Energy shot out of all of them at the same time. It was an attack on all sides, an attack he didn’t know how to defend. This was obliteration.
                Takeshi closed his eyes believing it was the end, but then a voice came, one he hadn’t heard in a while,
                “Takeshi…”
                He was enclosed in a black space. The voice came again and he turned to its direction. A tiny hole of light was visible.
                “Yumi?”
                “Takeshi, this darkness surrounds you. But it is not who you are. This light. This is you. But you don’t embrace it.”
                “How can I?”
                “Let me go. Let the hate go.”
                Takeshi couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to.
                “I can’t…” he muttered.
                Her voice increased in volume,
                “You must! Be righteous. Be yourself.”
                Takeshi said no more, trusting in her. He reached out and touched the light, and like an infectious spore, it spread through him in an instant. His eyes opened back to the battleground as the light engulfed him.
                An energy bubble formed around him. Takeshi felt very different, very powerful. The gods’ attack had reached him, but did not penetrate the energy around him. Instead they redirected at their sender.
                Rayfe watched in horror as those around him were obliterated. He himself had not sent an attack towards Takeshi. Now, he was the only one left.
                “What…? What type of power is this? This is what I intended to release?”
                Takeshi was definitely different, in mind and body. His wings were no longer black and bat-like. Now they were grayish white angel wings. Also, his eyes changed. They turned from yellow to maroon. Even his scythe had changed. It was golden with a silver and red blade.
                Rayfe began laughing.
                “What’s so funny,” asked Takeshi sternly.
                “God…” said Rayfe changing from a laugh, to a scared whine, “He outsmarted me again. Led me to believe I was creating a demon. But really he was sending an angel.”
                “I don’t understand.”
                “You don’t understand a lot. You are Loki. The angel of death. Rath saw something in you from the beginning that I had not. Now I know what. He wanted to wait on everything. I was a fool to disobey.”
                Rayfe then turned to run away. Takeshi would not allow it. As Rayfe turned, Takeshi was already in front of him.
                “You will die here,” said Takeshi taking an offensive stance.
                “A duel?”
                “Yes. It’s only fair.”
                “You should know, even if you kill me, Rath is out there. He has hundreds of years on him. Age here also converts to power. Even what you’ve become can’t stand a chance.”
                “I’ll get to that on my own.”
                Rayfe created his scythe, making the duel official. In that second, Takeshi darted forward, slicing Rayfe in half vertically. He was dead. His energy dissipated.
                “I have no need for energy like yours.”
                Takeshi began his search for Rath in the realm of death. He learned from a god that had no interests in the recent events that Rath had gone to the human realm, so he returned there as well.