“Try me!” Orobos shot back as he raked his opponent’s chest with his massive claws. Astaroth bellowed in pain as his armored skin flew in all directions. All of the pain coursed through my body, threatening to drive me insane.
Then, Astaroth started laughing like crazy. His hands grabbed the other monsters’ arms and dug deep into its flesh. He pulled with all his might, ripping off strips of meat and skin, releasing more ooze that spilled all over his claws.
“Orobos! Don’t you dare die on me!” Cassandra called out. She’d come too close for comfort, and all I could hope for was that one of them would swat her out of the air and kill the bitch.
“Get lost, you mortal!” Orobos bellowed and spat the black ichor at her. She narrowly evaded and rounded on the prince of hell. She raised her palm up and targeted his head. A thick beam of black energy struck his skin. It didn’t go through, but she didn’t give up. Astaroth used the distraction and brought his leg up, kicking out. Orobos’ left arm gave way and snapped at the elbow. It came free in a shower of gore and ooze.
A familiar sensation crawled up my spine. I looked around and found myself paralyzed with shock. Lilith had come up to Cassandra and floated barely ten feet behind her. She had her whip in one hand, and a familiar looking sword in the other. I frowned, as I couldn’t quite place the sword.
"Thunder blast!"
Lilith screamed the order as she thrust the sword into Cassandra’s back. The tip exited through the front of her chest and released lightning that locked the black magician in place. With a flick of her right hand, she snapped the whip around her and squeezed. The serrated edges dug deep into her skin and drew blood.
“Lilith? Run! You’re not strong enough to take her on!” I cried, genuinely afraid she’d be killed. We had no idea about the extent of Cassandra’s power, after all.
“Don’t worry, my king. I’ll show you who I really am today!”
“Vile spawn of hell! Die at my hands!”
Cassandra twisted unnaturally and grabbed hold of Lilith’s neck. A black cloud enveloped her hand and spread along Lilith’s upper body. I could feel her start breathing heavily and losing power. Another thunderbolt shot through Cassandra, but it didn’t do much more than annoy her.
“Please, save her,” I begged Astaroth, but he was in no position to do so. Orobos’ horns struck his upper torso and rammed him clean through. A new wave of pain and shock hit me like a war hammer.
“No, Lilith! Esca--” Her lifeless body fell from Cassandra’s grasp as Orobos pushed Astaroth over and rammed both claws through his chest.
31
Mathi caught Lilith in mid-air and dashed off, his head turned slightly toward me. I barely recognized him, as he’d grown at least twice as large, changed color, and turned a few shades darker. His hands were far larger as well and looked sharp. Just what had happened to him in the last few minutes? Then I noticed the blood all around his mouth.
The moment they were out of view, things changed. Cassandra cast some kind of spell on Orobos, which seemed to reinvigorate him. I knew, then and there, that it was over. But at least Lilith would be okay, right? She was safe, and if Alpha had managed to get Katya to safety, she’d live another day as well.
I sighed and tried to will away the pain. To let it all just go. But no, someone had to do something stupid and ruin my attempt. An enormous ball of energy slammed right against Orobos’ head, caving it in as if he'd been struck by a hammer of the gods. The monster reared up and stepped back. It withdrew its claws from Astaroth’s chest and lifted them up to try and defend itself.
“What’s going on?” the monster growled, its voice causing a shockwave. Astaroth seized the opportunity and kicked out, catching the prince in the knees. They cracked from the power behind his blows and gave out after a few seconds of the horrible sound of bone scraping against bone. He toppled to his side, shattering what trees had been left beneath him.
I had finally gotten a chance to glimpse the attacker when Astaroth got up. Huddled in a crevice, Katya looked up at me. No, at the creature. I cursed and thrashed around in my mind, but there was nothing I could do for her. Astaroth wasn’t acknowledging me, and I was in a sort of space from which I couldn’t escape.
Cassandra flew up into the air again, no doubt searching for the assailant. I prayed to the divine that she didn’t find Katya, or she’d rip the young woman to pieces. I looked back at her again, only to find myself smirking. She was holding up a piece of glass, or part of a small mirror, I couldn’t quite tell what it was. I observed the situation closely. Katya pointed her palm toward the sky and within seconds, I felt another ball of energy forming above us.
“Oh, yes! Take that witch down!” I cheered, both mental hands held high. Cassandra felt it as well and turned a shade pinker.
“Where the hell did you learn to use Divine Darkness? I’ve been studying for decades and haven’t even succeeded once!”
Katya remained silent. She knew that she’d be dead if they found her. One other thing struck me as odd. The army was retreating at full speed. I grinned like a madman, even though this was far from over.
A wolf howl pierced the battlefield as Alpha appeared right underneath Cassandra. His giant maw snapped shut around her ankle, pulling her down with him. They crashed against the rocky surface with an audible thud, many bones ending up broken. Alpha cried out as well, but it couldn’t be helped, not now.
Cassandra got up to her side and placed both hands on Al. Black light streaked in all directions as she raged. Mathi appeared from nowhere and grabbed hold of her arms, just as two beams of dark energy left her palms. The right struck a mountain and went right through, while the left one shot up into the air.
She slammed her head back and caught him on the nose, but he didn’t even budge.
“Yes! Take her out!” I cheered again. She was strong and dangerous, but if she couldn’t use her hands, the dark beams wouldn’t be an issue.
The energy ball above us started descending. It had grown to half the size of Orobos’ head. The prince was trying to get back up after he’d fallen on his side moments before, but he was struggling.
"Die!" Katya yelled her lovely voice all I could hear. My dearest Katya, so strong. No wonder the master wanted her out of town, but how had she learned to control this power so quickly?
The mass of energy descended slowly toward Orobos, but from what I could tell, we might end up being caught in the blast as well.
“Hey, big guy, move it! Get out of here!”
Again, the words flew straight back at me as if they’d hit a wall. I growled and cursed and ripped at my non-existent hair, but it didn’t change anything. I was trapped. Whatever happened, it was out of my hands now. At least I could choose what to look at as I died.
Lilith appeared from an opening in the earth and walked up to Cassandra. I saw she was making sure not to get anywhere near Cassandra’s palms. She uncoiled her whip and slashed at the dark magician. It dug deep into her flesh and drew blood once more.
“So that’s what you’re up to, my sly little fox,” I whispered to myself, as I saw her regenerating. What’s more, the power she radiated grew more and more the longer she drained her enemy. Cassandra’s aura changed from a dark red and black to a light grey color. Was she really done?
An explosion drew my attention as Orobos’ head disintegrated from the released energy. Gigantic chunks of meat, skin, and bone peppered the area. Alpha, being ever the carnivore, stopped pretending that he was wounded and walked up to a piece of demonic meat. It was an understatement to say that he dug in, as he shred the meat with a fervor.
Not twenty feet from him, the process of draining Cassandra was still ongoing. Conflicting emotions welled up deep inside me. It was unlike any of the feelings I’d had for my women, no, it was both hatred and regret. If only they hadn’t done such a cruel thing to me, all of our lives could-- no, would have been different.
Astaroth approached the blown up prince of hell and bent down,
rummaging through his chest. With a yank, he pulled out the demonic prince’s heart and held it close to him.
“Didn’t think we could win, eh? Too bad I can't pay you back a hundredfold, but the same fate awaits all those in hell. You have my word, Orobos, old friend,” Astaroth said. I had no idea if the rest had heard him, but I didn’t care. What was going to happen to Cassandra?
A massive blast of energy slammed into Astaroth as a man appeared above us, clad in black pants, a white button-down shirt, and hat. That face. I’d seen it in the Kravnian officer’s memories. But why would he be here as well?
“You can change back already. Tis' a disgrace to see you in your natural form, Astaroth,” he said. His palm was pointed at him, or rather, me, and it terrified me. My mother had been strong, but he was in a league of his own.
“Took you… long enough,” Cassandra croaked. With a flick of his wrist, Lilith and Mathi were sent flying into a pile of rocks and rubble. My queen cried out, but Mathi stayed quiet, though I could plainly see he was in great pain as well.
“Curse you and your mortal flesh,” Astaroth growled as he tried to get up. From his mouth, he released a black flame that hit the man directly. The fire disappeared with another flick of his wrist. Astaroth was starting to panic, I could feel the emotion from him.
“Change!”
“You will regret this!” Astaroth shot back. I knew it was all bluster, as he had nothing left to give, at least not right now, but he had to save face, I suppose. An overwhelming sensation of pain shot through my body once more as it felt like I was about to disintegrate from the inside out.
I tried to scream and thrash around, but nothing worked. No sound came from my mouth, and my limbs didn’t move. The walls closed in around me and threatened to crush my smaller frame. I opened my eyes only to see a horrific scene: a demon rotting away. Astaroth’s meat and skin dropped around us and withered away.
“What’s going on?” I cried. He should be able to hear me now, or at least that’s what I hoped.
“I’m giving you your useless body back. I can’t promise it will be just as it had been before, but it should be… human.”
The sneer in his tone was audible. I cringed at the way he’d said it, but even more at what he’d said. What’s more, who knew how this was going to play out? As I was lost in thought, darkness enveloped me and sent me into unconsciousness.
A sharp pain in my chest brought me back from the darkness. There was a clear, blue sky as far as my eyes could see. Something rough and hard scraped against my back as I lay there. With a groan, I got up into a sitting position and looked around. My throat was dry and everything hurt like I’d been ripped apart and then put together again.
“Fuck! What the hell happened?” I cursed and forced myself up. To my surprise, I hadn’t noticed my two queens, my wolf, and Mathi sitting to my right, while my father and mother stood to my left.
“Fuck indeed, my son. Fuck indeed.”
Epilogue
“We need to talk,” Astaroth said one evening. The battle between him and Orobos was still fresh in our minds, as it had only happened twenty days ago. I sat up on the rooftop and took a good, long sip of Raki before I replied.
“I see. What do you want to discuss?”
“Do you love your women?”
I frowned.
“What kind of question is that? Of course I do. You know that.”
He laughed at my reply. It wasn’t sarcastic or mean, no, it was earnest.
“Then you have to understand why I’m going to make you do something for me. See, I… love someone as well. Ours is an old bond, as old as this world. We need to go save her.”
I coughed and almost choked on the raki. It spilled down my shirt and breeches, but that was the least of my worries.
“Wait. Where do we need to go? To hell?”
Astaroth stayed quiet for a long moment.
“If you want to call it that, yes. For me, it’s home. Your accursed parents are the only reason why I was up here for so long. My power here isn’t even a fraction of what it is down there.”
I was at a loss for words. We'd finally gotten some peace and quiet, prosperity as well, only to have it ruined by something like this.
“And if I don’t want to do this?” I asked. Instead of giving me a reply, he forced an image into my mind. The fires of hell surrounded a winged demon. She was naked and badly wounded, marred with cuts and bleeding from a hundred different wounds as the flames burned them closed. She screamed and begged for Astaroth to help her, chanting his name over and over again. But they wouldn’t stop.
A fat demon stood beside her, ugly and greasy. With his long nails, he kept opening wounds on her wherever there weren't any scars yet. The places were very few and far between. One of her horns was missing, together with the skin of her broken wings. A skeletal appendage hung from her back.
Hatred and lust raged within me. I would make them pay. The beautiful demoness, even scarred beyond measure, was just as beautiful as Lilith was.
“What’s her name,” I asked as the vision disappeared from my sight.
“Gremory. She was my general, and one of the older demons from hell. We were united and fought anyone who wanted our lands together as one. For thousands of years, we had peace. Until the day your parents showed up.”
I sighed and shook my head. Them again. It was as if all of the bad things in this world were somehow their fault. Maybe that was even the case.
“Very well. I’ll speak to Lilith and Katya. If they join us, we’ll have a much easier time if we end up having to fighting someone.”
“We leave in thirteen days, during the eclipse. Make sure you put everything in order here first. I have no idea how long it’s going to take us to come back.”
Astaroth’s presence lingered for a few seconds longer and then disappeared. I sighed and leaned back in my chair. How the hell was I going to break this news to the women? It’s not like I had a chance refuse. Gremory, though... She sure was something. A broken beauty that I would never get to taste. Or maybe I would. Yes, maybe I could get rid of him down there, once and for all, steal his bride while I was at it, and then run back up to our world.
My lips curled up into a wicked smile. Both of our worlds had so much to give, and I would be sure to take the best from both for myself.
About the Author
Jaeger Mitchells has been writing for a number of years, but never published anything until the year of 2018. The first million words were practice and experimentation. He is now ready to tackle the world with his GameLit/LitRPG and Dark Fantasy books.
He hails from the often cold, often very hot Bosnia Hercegovina, where he lives with his wife and daughters (5 and 1). Works fulltime in a furniture/electronics store, often more than he should, which detracts him often from self-imposed deadlines.
He enjoys reading SF and Fantasy most, listens to trance and metal music from where he draws inspiration to write. Often is criticized for having MC's who go against the ordinary, not saving the damsel in distress, accidentally starving the kitten and the like.
More HAREM goodness from Jaeger Mitchells
Hazard Online - Oblivion (BOOK 1)
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