His face was twisted and ugly, his eyes bulging, and his teeth bared. His skin was slipping, further revealing indescribable darkness.

"Now that face looks right," the Imaginal teased.

"YOOOUUU!" he roared. He understood it now. She had covered the boy's escape with her annoyingly basic attacks. His pride couldn't allow it. "You annoyed me--that's why--"

"Excuses, excuses," she roared back as she placed her hands together, and the blue flames on her body grew vibrant once more.

Before either of the two could make a move, the rumbling in the atmosphere hit its peak, and a huge mass came out from the rusty clouds behind the boy's back.

He stopped what he was doing and turned to face the mass. Once more, the Imaginal down below snickered. "That's how I knew you weren't from these parts," she whispered.

"This is," he stammered as he launched his black serpents at the mass.

"You're way too noisy. Everyone knows the Sky Titans hate noise."

The Sky Titan, a gigantic flying whale with hundreds of yellow eyes covering its body, opened its mouth, sucking in the black flame serpents. The boy, too, was being sucked in despite his best efforts to flap his wings against the beast. He looked over his shoulders at the Imaginal. "You! You would take me for a fool?!"

"Yup," the Imaginal whispered.

The Sky Titan dived for the boy and swallowed him whole as he roared. It turned upward as soon as it did and began returning to the upper atmosphere.

The Imaginal breathed a sigh of relief as her legs finally started shaking. She fell to the ground and panted, her flames growing dimmer.

"I've got to find the kid..." she whispered to herself.

A boom, followed by the sound of fire crackling, chilled her soul and made her feel like her heart had stopped.

"Gwahahahahaha!"

She looked up to see the maniacal boy above the sky whale, a good portion of the sky blotted out by black flames. Black fire spilled out from the whale's back as it slowly fell, singing a miserable and pained song. The boy, enriched by the titan's pain, looked at the Imaginal.

"You think I'd be taken down by a basic whale? An environmental hazard? Just because it could sneak up on me?" The boy hugged himself as the flames behind him bubbled and ruptured, showing black, oily hands reaching out. "I'm a being on a whole different level than you! You Imaginals! You're just cooped chickens, and we're the clever foxes here to fill our bellies!"

He stopped and became neutral again. He quickly grabbed his skin and pinched the layers back together.

"Actually, I shouldn't get so worked up with you, ya'know?" The boy smiled and, with a snap, sucked up all the menacing darkness he had released. "I'll show you something else... Something interesting... Something only I can do."

The Imaginal re-strengthened her flames, as she prepared to fight once more.

"You haven't really moved from your spot, have you?" the boy asked.

The Imaginal was perplexed as to how that could be important.

"How... Slothful of you."

He snapped his fingers, and the split-second afterward, the ground below the Imaginal's feet cracked, and heat radiated. She was too slow to react; molten rock surged out with an explosive force behind it. It hit her, and the Imaginal flew backward amidst molten rock, screaming as the lava sizzled her skin, peeled away layers upon layers and melded stone into her flesh. Her scream drowned out the splattering of lava as she was burnt black.

There was nothing below her feet now. She was falling into the ravine that had impeded her before the battle's start.

"One should never let a Neo-Demon witness their sin." He winked at her like he was on a film. "It's bad luck, you know?" He raised his hand, and a snake-head formed in the space above it. "Let me show you this snake now. It's a pretty cool generic tech we have."

He launched it at her, and it flew down in an instant. It opened its mouth, mere feet from the falling Imaginal. She barely opened a crispy eyelid in time to see it.

"No!"

The scream was followed by a bright light which repelled the snake back.

"The child!" the demonic boy yelled.

That child, the one the woman had given her all to protecting, had flown in on his white-as-snow and feathery wings and gently taken hold of the woman. He, a blond and blue-eyed youth with perfect skin, fired many balls of light at the Neo-Demon, who hastily dodged.

"Dammit!" the Neo-Demon yelled. He was too distracted by that dangerous light to watch what occurred below. To add to his trouble, the Sky Titan had one last laugh as it slammed its tail into the Neo-Demon's body.

Meanwhile, molten lava had landed on the angelic boy's wings as he grabbed his friend.

"Leave me!" the Imaginal cried, her tear ducts too scorched to produce any water and her voice almost as gravely as her body.

"No!" the young boy screamed. He brought her closer to his body, letting her hot body burn him. "I'm not leaving you!" he screamed as trails of smoke rushed out from his skin.

"Please," the Imaginal cried.

The boy did not let go of her. The two fell into the ravine below the molten rain springing out from the cliff above them...

..

.

Somewhere in the depths of the ravine, the delirious and burnt Imaginal managed to crack open an eye.

Light. That was the first thing she thought. It was coming from her left. She let her head fall to that side, her crispy skin audibly cracking as she did.

"I won't let you die," whimpered the little boy she had tried to protect.

With the last of her consciousness, she noted how burned the boy was. That pure skin--because of her, it was dirtied black and red.

I'm sorry, she tried to whisper.

The boy had tears in his eyes, ones that shimmered against the light he produced.

"I promise I'll save you," the little boy--that kind boy--said...

..

.