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Raven brought the cigarette to his lips again, breathing in the smoke and savoring the way it stung in his lungs. Over and over again he had been told this habit would kill him, but it wasn't like he gave a shit.
It wasn't like he could die that easily. He was shadow corrupted, for evilness' sake. He could electrocute someone to death just by touching them, why would a few cigarettes kill him? The Chaos Lord?
He looked out onto the city of Splatsville from the balcony on the Chaos Tower. The city looked so small…its citizens even smaller.
They were nothing but ants to the Almighty Chaos Lord. Nothing but pawns to place in death games for his entertainment, to bend to his command.
"Hey Ravey~"
Raven turned around, and a smug smile formed on his face. There he was—Aloha. The local pretty boy of the Shadows of Chaos, the only one Raven found even somewhat worthy to be in his presence.
Keyword: somewhat. There was nobody who could truly match Raven's godlike authority. Aloha was more of a priest than a god like him, but close enough.
"Nice of you to join me, Allie," Raven said, fishing the box of cigarettes from his pocket and tossing it to Aloha. The pink Inkling caught it, but gave Raven a slightly concerned smile.
"You know I don't smoke."
"And you know that I don't care."
Aloha blinked. "So…you want me to—"
"Whatever. Your fucking choice."
Aloha handed the box of cigarettes back to Raven. "That's really bad for you, love."
Raven chuckled. "You tell me that every day."
"Doesn't make it any less true~"
Raven rolled his eyes before taking another drag of the cigarette. "You're insufferable."
"Thank you~" Aloha leaned an elbow on the balcony, placing his head in his hand as he gazed at Raven with those beautiful eyes. Raven found himself staring into them for a moment too long—and he couldn't help but to press a kiss on Aloha's lips.
"Hey!" Aloha exclaimed as Raven pulled away. "Don't kiss me with your cigarette mouth—"
"I'm the Chaos Lord," Raven said, smirking. "I can do whatever the hell I want."
With that, Raven leaned in closer to kiss Aloha for longer. He could feel Aloha resisting for a fraction of a second, and Raven found that almost funny.
What nerve Aloha had, resisting the godlike Chaos Lord.
Aloha's lips felt so sweet on Raven's—he couldn't help it but to pull the pink Inkling closer. Eventually Aloha seemed to realize that resistance was futile. Seconds later, they were straight up making out right there on the balcony.
This sweet moment didn't last long, however. Because then Raven heard footsteps behind him, followed by a gasp.
"Al-Aloha—"
Raven swiftly pulled away from Aloha, nearly shoving him to the ground. The owner of the voice turned out to be none other than Emperor.
"I…you…" Emperor stammered, staring at Raven with a mixture of confusion, shock, and fear.
And yet, not as much fear as Raven would've liked.
He could feel the satisfying sting of his eyes glowing. Electricity rushed through his veins, and seconds later, Emperor was on the ground—Raven had shot that electricity into his chest.
"Don't you tell a soul about this," Raven said.
Instead of keeping his mouth shut and obeying, however, Emperor scowled up at Raven.
"Quite unprofessional of a Chaos Lord to do that, huh?"
Raven frowned. "Excuse me?"
"I'm going to tell all the Shadows of Chaos about this," Emperor spat. "Starting with Vint—"
Emperor didn't get to finish his sentence before Raven stepped forward and pressed a foot onto his chest. A smirk reappeared on Raven's face as he listened to Emperor's struggle to breathe.
"You sure about that?" Raven said.
Despite Emperor's struggle, he still gave Raven a defiant scowl. The nerve of this man.
Then, somehow, Emperor managed to push Raven's foot off of his chest, scrambling to his feet. Before Raven could strike Emperor with electricity again, he punched the Chaos Lord in the face.
Emperor's punch, surprisingly, had been intense. Raven brought a hand up to his nose to find that a steady stream of blood came from it. His eyes widened in surprise—then he looked at Emperor to see a triumphant smirk on the man's face.
How dare he defy the Chaos Lord?
Now he deserved nothing but death.
Without another moment's hesitation, Raven raced forward and grabbed Emperor by the throat. He allowed electricity to flow from his hands to Emperor's neck, and a manic smile appeared on Raven's face as Emperor attempted to scream in pain.
But Raven wasn't done. He threw Emperor onto the ground, noticing how a small pool of blood began to form under his head. Then Raven reached out towards Emperor and let more electricity gather just above his palm.
And Raven savored the sound of Emperor's choking as he was lifted up into the air.
This was a new ability Raven had discovered recently, moving things about with electricity and the power of his own mind. Army called it electrotelekinesis—a difficult word for Raven to pronounce, but that didn't matter.
He could use some more practice with this new ability, and Emperor was the perfect test dummy.
"Now," Raven said, smile wider than before, his eyes glowing intensely. He briefly glanced over at Aloha to see a look of fear on the Inkling's face, but he didn't let that distract him. "Are you going to defy me again?"
Emperor was still struggling to breathe, and Raven found it surprising that he was actually able to answer the rhetorical question.
"Fuck…fuck you, Goggles."
Raven's smile was quickly replaced with a deep, deep frown—he knew what he had to do now.
"Brave choice to say that, Emperor," Raven said. He took a step towards his victim, and as he stretched his hand out, Emperor floated towards the edge of the balcony. "I thought you had learned your lesson by now."
"A king is nothing compared to a god."
Emperor was hovering past the edge of the balcony now, his feet dangling over open air.
"P-please—"
"Thought I'd never hear you beg for mercy."
Raven didn't hesitate another second before letting go of Emperor, letting the former king fall to his death. That smirk reappeared on the Chaos Lord's face as he listened to Emperor's scream, getting fainter and fainter as he fell down several stories.
In mere seconds, there was silence again, only the sound of the wind accompanying Raven as he lit another cigarette. He leaned on the balcony and looked down upon Splatsville again—he wondered if he looked hard enough, he could see Emperor's corpse below—
"Raven, what the fuck?!"
Raven quickly turned around to see Aloha staring at him in shock and fear. This made him sigh and roll his eyes in minor annoyance.
"What? He was disrespecting me."
"Y-you…you didn't have to kill him!!"
"Why are you surprised? I've killed before—"
"Not by throwing people off of balconies!!"
Raven scowled at Aloha as he took another drag of his cigarette. He didn't say anything.
"Answer me, Raven!!" Aloha exclaimed, shock turning into anger.
"Do you want to be next?" Raven said.
Aloha sighed, clenching his fists as he averted his eyes. "N-no, Chaos Lord."
Raven smiled. "Good."
"That, uh, bloody nose must be uncomfortable."
"Yeah, it is," Raven said. Through his killing of Emperor, he had almost forgotten that he had been punched. "How about we go inside and you clean this up this for me?"
"Of course, Ravey." Aloha's voice was shaky, and yet he took Raven's hand as the two of them walked inside.
Raven had a feeling he would regret this later. But right now, it didn't matter to him one bit.
There were consequences for disrespecting a god, after all.