"Malum..."
Tears continued to spill from her eyes, each drop a silent testament to the heartbreak she felt. Her chest tightened, every breath a struggle as if her very soul was being torn apart. She looked up, her eyes meeting his, filled with a sorrow so profound it almost felt tangible. The strength it took to hold back the flood of tears mirrored the despair in her heart. She knew he would never truly grasp how much he meant to her. As she stood there, the physical ache in her chest mirrored the depth of her emotional pain.
Then he saw it, from her fear, her sorrow, to her fury—an exquisite transition of her emotions. Ene snatched away her arm forcefully as she took her thumped steps away from him. Brows burrowed deep with intensity, which catches his breath. It was exhilarating, much to his fast-beating heart, overriding his initial turmoil.
"Ack!"
Ene grunted, gripping her heart as she felt immense pain, struggling to catch her breath with shaky hands. Her flinching caught Ezrael's attention, and its head shifted in her direction while Malum's haunting grin returned. Her dazed stare could still make out his remorselessness across his exalted face. Ene gritted her teeth as the pain intensified, looking down at her shaking hands. The black marking was tormenting her as it felt like her flesh being ripped apart inside.
She's awakened.
He finally realized that 'he' was her Pandora's Box; he is her calamity. It is apparent to him that calamity doesn't need to be merely physical pain; perhaps her body remembers each of her deaths. That's why whenever she dies at the hand of his calamities, she accepts her fate as readily. But now, it changes everything. This was the piece he had been missing the whole time: her suffering of attachment.
"W-What... did you do... to me?"
A ragged voice heard directing her question to him. Ene's was trembling as she tried to keep her slumped body in place and mind focused so as not to lose consciousness. Malum yet, still leering maliciously, a sinister gleam danced in his eyes, finding that answering her might break her even more.
"I've been killing you these past years, not that you remember them. I've erased them the moment I rebuilt your body and soul in exchange for the corruption seeds. Those markings on your body? Those are the corruption seeds materializing."
His tone casual, in the mention of being killed repeatedly by him, fumed her, as instantly her jaw tightened. She surged toward him as she grabbed his collar harshly and throttled him by one hand, digging her nails into his pale skin. Malum felt the brutal grapple of her small hand around his neck, tightening.
"You!"
Her eyes blazing with pure hatred, yet she only met with his aloof, twisted smirk. It was clear; only he was enjoying the moment; her anguish was but a delight to him.
"You, demon."
Ene's words hardened, her teeth gnashing to the point her jaw tremors, as he didn't flinch in the slightest.
"Well, thank you for the compliment."
Malum leaned in closer, much to her, as her grip on his neck loosened, her anger flickering; a moment of vulnerability as he brushed his thumb to her jaw, meeting her gaze with intensity, his words conspiratorially low, his broad, brilliant smile making her heart skip a beat.
Despite all, her heart still raced for him, whether from lingering affection or pure hatred; it felt distasteful, especially when he clearly enjoyed himself to others' demise, how revolting.
Disgusted, she smacked away his hand as she stumbled backward, trying to distance herself from him.
In a flash, a blade of light parried before her eyes as Malum's abyssal blade clashed with Ezrael's. He glared at the angel as he swung away Ezrael's blade of light. Yet the angel didn't flinch in the slightest whilst Malum stood before her. Much to her bewilderment, he was protecting her from the Angel of Death.
"Move, Karita. That one is long overdue. I won't let you create havoc on Earth with another vessel. I'll take that soul now."
Ezrael stanced, its blade firm to his side. The feather-clad angel stood menacingly—in its white feathers cloak and blade of light, intimidating while at the same time as elegant. Ene's gaze rose to the Angel of Death, and a realization overcame her.
If what Ezrael said is true, then... I'm already dead, long ago. But Malum kept both killing and reviving me... for destruction — seeds of corruption...
Clenched fist and white-knuckled, she was determined. If she were to bear destruction because of his doings, she would not accept it. The moment her resolution firmed, the marking was acting up again as she felt she was going to pass out from the excruciating pain, as the roots travelled across her body, seen to her hands and jaw now. That pain, she wants to end it all.
Her dazed gaze was directed at Ezrael as a knowing passed between them. As the Angel of Death knew her well, the records of her life, although tampered with by Malum, she was indeed a righteous soul, which meant Malum was tormenting her with those markings of the Seed of Corruption.
Ezrael had seen it before: what happened to Malum's past righteous vessels. As an Angel of Death, it greeted the lost souls as it did the other souls. Yet...
That girl... as it did to the others. She will not return to Him.
A weak nod from her, hidden from Malum's blind spot. Ezrael feigned lunging toward him, who had his concentration fully on that Angel of Death. To their surprise, Malum instantly turned around, meeting her gaze by a split second before his hand pressed to her face. He was smiling.
Ene's eyes widened before feeling her whole body bubbling deep, within increasing pressures, before bursting brutally as the warm blood splattered on the entire sidewalk. Pieces of flesh, clothing, and her hair were scattered around. Even one of her eyeballs was seen rolling to the side.
It made Ezrael stop in its tracks, as the sight was too surreal to comprehend. Ezrael tossed its blade of light to the side and vanished, as it shifted to the revulsing tableau. Momentary silence passed the Angel of Death.
"You thought I wouldn't expect you to pull off the same stunt with my past vessel, didn't you? You, and her; she was going to sacrifice herself, didn't she?"
Ezrael muted, still. Malum displays a triumphant outlook, as Ezrael's silence is but a confirmation of his victory this time, much to his liking. Ezrael turns, today's defeat is but a setback, it will take what it came for, as an Angel of Death, it always did.
"Don't be so cocky. I will take her, sooner or later. You may have won today, but know that we will stop you."
Ezrael's words of warning met only with Malum's aloof scoffs. The feathered cloak disassembled, as it swirls in a gyre-like manner once again, then scattered far.
Malum's scrutiny of that angel's departure then turns back to assess the pooling blood on the floor. A sigh escaped his lips, weariness overlapping his stern features momentarily.
"Now I need to repair this again."
***
In an instant, her eyes widened as she came back to life once again. Gasping for air as she jolted from her bed, sitting upright, her heart felt like it was going to explode; well, it did explode.
Ene's head made a swift veer to her side, where that devilish being yet hovers above her, close by the side bed. Malum was peering at her, probing her reactions, before she hurtled unsteadily toward him, punching him in the face as he staggered slightly backward, yet unbothered; even a chuckle came from him, clearly enough: amused—a valid meltdown.
"You bastard! You killed me!"
She grabbed his collar tight, her teeth gritting as she fumed, eyes flashing dangerously, cold and unforgiving.
"Haha, we already established that, didn't we?"
His elated expression was not at all a normal thing to her, not to the Malum she had known for her whole life, a side of him that she had never known. It only added more fuel to her wrath before she froze at her realization. Her grip loosens from his collar, meeting his all smiles.
"You... killed me...? I remember it. Didn't you say you erased them whenever I die?"
Her question piques him, and he playfully taps her cheeks; his touch lingers, feeling the warmth of hers against his cold skin.
"That's because I let it intact. For now, let's try a new way. Letting you remember every single suffering you'll experience, so you'll break more, corrupt more."
Malum lifted the girl's chin with his finger to meet his intrigued gaze, lingering as their eyes met. Those abyssal-like pupils reflected the shakiness in hers. Her heartbeat was much more evident in the closeness and the attentive behaviour of his, new to her, distinct from his usual stern and indifferent demeanor. That charming smile widens as he whispers devilishly.
"Suffer more, will you?"