"Lilith… this is my final order. Take everything…" The bloodied form of the boy said as he looked at his companion.
She shaked her head, eyes wide with horror. "No, no, no, no."
Walking over to her and crouching before her, he placed his hand on her cheek and rested his forehead against hers.
His grey eyes stared at her red ones.
"I love you Lilith… I'm sorry, no that's not right…" Pulling back his head, arm still on her cheek as tears starts to stream her face, Theo looked at her with a forlorn smile.
"…Thank you."
"No, no, I don't want this, please, please, not like this." The familia red hue surrounded Lilith as she wept trying to reach out for Theo's only remaining arm.
Shortly after, she transformed into a beautiful longsword, blade as red as her skin color which signifies her demonic heritage with a black hilt representing her black hair. In the middle of the blade were golden elaborate runes in a vertical line.
As Theo gripped the sword tightly on his hand, a violent explosion of mana shook the pocket dimension and destroyed his surroundings for miles, a manifestation of the raw power currently dwelling inside of him.
He looked at the blade, Lilith, the ruler of the demon race, his contracted weapon, his partner, his lover and his wife.
"Lilith please. I want to protect everyone. Please help me."
The sword seemed to thrum after a beat but the usual present upbeat feeling was replaced by a melancholy of emotions.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Theo said with ragged breaths as he looked to the sky.
Hovering in the darkened sky was a humanoid entity bearing a sinister appearance, an imitation of man with a skin color of midnight black and neck long white hair. He was monstrously tall with a pair of bat like wings protruding from his back. Apart from a mouth stuck in a perpetual creepy grin with bared teeth, there was no other features on his face, no nose, no eyes, no brows, as if everything was scraped off. Instead of feet, he had hooves and on the surface of his arms were dozens of eyeballs that seemed to be looking in every direction with a pure black sword held on his right hand.
This being, this malevolent entity was called Aramidas, the everlasting sorrow.
An outsider of this dimension.
A being believed to feed on grief.
Aramidas raison d'être can be summed up in three words: Misery loves company.
He is responsible for the downfall of countless dimensions and this one is just one amongst many.
An illogical and irrational being that defies every conventional reasoning.
In the tapestry of his eternal life, the time spent in this world might as well be a blink.
But in few worlds, there are people like Theo who rise up to fight against Aramidas, people who wield their weapons for various reasons, revenge, noblesse oblige, love, selflessness and sometimes even selfishness.
They all perished. Would it be the same for him?
"The time of reckoning has come…" Theo's voice gains an ethereal tone as he starts to take slow steps forwards, his sword pulsing in his one hand as his left stump started to regenerate with a golden-red fire energy.
"Let the path of judgement lay its verdict."
Theo disappeared from the spot, appearing before Aramidas swinging his cherished partner as their weapons clashed against each other, Aramidas grin never changing and a look of relentless determination on Theo's face.
The resulting shockwave of the clash rendered the earth for miles, if Theo had not lured Aramidas into a pocket dimension, the ongoing battle would have caused the destruction of several countries.
"As I stand firm, unyielding and unbroken."
Theo gained the upper hand as he sent Aramidas crashing into the ground destroying the earth with his descent.
"Let the path of harmony anchor my being until my demise."
Theo's once black hair turned yellow as his eyes gained a golden hue, he flew down, faster than light with his sword poised to strike only for Aramidas to counter him, sword slicing through light and sound pushing Theo back a great distance.
Theo grit his teeth as he easily righted himself in the air then shot back at Aramidas in an instant, their blades clashing thousands of times in less than a second.
Theo was an immortal human who had studied the blade and sorcery for thousands of years on end and that is precisely why he could tell that he was lacking in skills compared to Aramidas.
Aramidas moved like a machine, anticipating and countering every strike with pinpoint precision that left Theo amazed.
And even though Aramidas swordsmanship was beautiful, Theo couldn't appreciate it because it lacked any intent and emotion.
Aramidas blade felt heavy yet hollow.
"Even though I am a being with flaws, my hands seek not ruination but to nurture and protect."
A wave of telekinetic forced pushed Aramidas far away from Theo, creating a ridiculously deep crater in its wake.
"Let the path of love be my guiding light."
As those words left Theo's mouth, the golden runes in the middle of the sword started to spill out, covering every part of the blade as it started to glow as bright as a star with the hilt turning white.
Beside him, a spectral of Lilith appeared, her form had changed greatly, pale white skin, long curly white hair, her left eye had a golden color while her right one was red. She had a horn protruding from the left side of her head and floating above the right side was a glowing golden semi circle, a half halo.
She floated behind Theo and wrapped her arms around his neck as a golden hue enveloped him, filling him with even more power than before.
It seemed like just like he had made up his mind, Lilith has made up hers as well.
"My name is Theo and I dedicate everything that I am."
He held the sword with both hands, memories flashing through his mind.
Memories of friends, people he would consider family, people who he had lost, memories of his twin daughters, Eden and Eve and finally, memories of millennials spent with Lilith.
Theo smiled.
Looking down at the crater before him, he could see Aramidas shooting straight for him with no resistance whatsoever.
He took a breath and let it out then spoke in a soft voice as he swung his blade down.
"Final Path: Ain Sof Aur."
And in that moment, the pocket dimension destroyed as light enveloped the whole world.
•••
Final path: Ain Sof Aur. The culmination of all of Theo's existence, a strike that manipulates reality according to Theo's wishes in exchange for all that he is.
A truly extraordinary ability.
When the light died out, on the area where the entrance to the pocket dimension had been created in was a field of flowers, the sun was shining warmly in the sky. It felt as if the world had been created anew.
It was a beautiful scenery that would become a monumental location in the future and the only one who was standing in that place was Aramidas, his sword no longer in his hands.
Aramidas had somehow survived Theo's wishes of erasing him from all of existence, something that should not be possible.
Theo's Final Path was an ability that defied every logic and reason to grant even the impossible but yet it was not enough to end the entity known as Aramidas.
Aramidas spoke for the first time since he appeared in the world, an incomprehensible language. Even though he had a perpetual grin on his face, his voice held a depth of emotional turmoil.
On the arms of Aramidas where he has dozens of eyes, tears starts to gather on each of them.
Aramidas who was responsible for the destruction of countless worlds, an incarnation of ruthlessness and chaos seemed the most vulnerable at this moment.
He starts to walk slowly on his hooves, every tear drop on the ground withering away the flower it touches.
A portal appeared before him, leading to another dimension then he stepped through it.
The one whose existence defies every and any concept.
A being of old with unimaginable power and knowledge.
He who no one knows of his origins.
An entity who continues to seek death but never finds it.
Aramidas, the everlasting sorrow.