Sweet Release

And so, for a second time in recent memory, Chrono felt the stirrings of another being within him. The terror he felt at Rain's awakening, however, was nothing compared to now. He knew who this was, and what it would entail; this was the real Chrono. Serini Chrono, a young man who'd made the mistake of coming in contact with Celesk, the demon that had been masquerading as him and was now experiencing mortal fear for the first time.

It had been a joyous thing when he freed himself from Rain's weapon. The remnants of Wing City and the remaining feeling of peace had lowered the man's guard, and that had been enough for Celesk to break free, fleeing as quickly as he could. That had barely been a week ago.

Now, however, he was in a state of complete and utter terror. All around him, the forest seemed to grow quiet in anticipation. Not even the birds sang at this hour. The world grew still as the soul of the beast known as Chrono was ripped in two.

It was quite akin to the last time it had undergone this transformation. A sphere of absolute blackness appeared a few paces before the beast, and as it did, it felt a cold emptiness set into itself, as though it were nothing more than a hollow shell. Its powers were considerably weakened and its reflexes slower, and it was horrified at what was waiting on the other side of the sphere.

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He breathed like a man who'd been underwater for a long time; minutes, hours, days, years. He was astounded to find himself alive again, breathing fresh air through the mouth of a body that had not commited horrible atrocities. He stared around, his eyes taking it all in as though anew. The rich greens and deep browns of the forest, the infinite, white-flecked black of the sky. It was a miracle to experience the world through his own senses, and not those of another being.

It was at this last thought that his eyes fell forward, away from the beauty around him. The black sphere had vanished, and before him stood Celesk, the demon who'd taken and abused both his soul and his abilities for so very long. It took a moment for it to sink in entirely: this week, pathetic being that stared at him in horror, it had been his captor, his tormentor. It had taken these things and used them to kill innumerable people... even his own.

His vision went red.

The beast, likely having seen the wild look in Chrono's eyes, began to run. It made it as far as a cliff-face overlooking a lake before Chrono's temporary paralysis had broken and he moved, his motions quick as lightning. Celesk managed to turn and view his attacker before a powerful hand clasped the beast's own face, lifting it bodily and dragging it over the edge of the bluff. The water did not immediately meet the bottom of the cliff, but gave way to a small, rock-lined beach, and it was this that Serini hurtled his tormentor onto from a solid hundred meters in the sky. Yet even as the beast fell, the man behind him seemed to accelerate, timing his movements so as to land on the beast just as it hit the ground. The result was a sickening crack that sounded across the lake.

Yet he was not done. Not giving the animal time to pause or catch its breath, he lifted it once more, its slimy, disgusting purple skin giving way to his fingers, and slammed it into the cliff face. Releasing him, he cocked back his left arm and drilled it into the creature's ribs as hard as he could. Not stopping to asess damage, he struck again and again. Blows covered the beast with an absurd rapidity. Bones were pulverized, muscles liquefied, his mind stupefied. It simply could not comprehend how Chrono had grown so strong through years and years of imprisonment.

To finish it off, to end this torment once and for all, Chrono held back, allowing the beast to slump to the ground, he drew up his left foot, taking one final, disgusted look into Celesk's face.

"Speak with dead." The first words to flow from Chrono's mouth, smooth and warm despite the rage he was displaying, were the last the beast ever heard as one powerful, boot-clad foot descended on its head.