by Eric Vall
I summoned red Hellfire into my hand, ran it across the blade of the Unhallowed Sword, and ignited it with a powerful shimmer. Then I flipped it back and held my weapon at the ready.
“Look,” I admitted, “me and my friend just wanted to be left alone with our hot succubi. It was you fuckers who kept dragging us back in for more. Now, it’s you guys who are in too deep.”
Gressil’s expression turned to a frown, and he began to rap his fingers against the stony tomb.
“We shall see in due time, Nephilim,” the King of the Sixth Circle growled. “But for now, I’ve got some freshly-made tombs to fill.”
The Demon King clapped his hands together, summoned green Hellfire into his hands, and then encapsulated each one of the tombs in the glow of the spell.
Suddenly, the air was filled with a loud, stony growl, and the lids popped off with a sharp hiss. The second they were off, the Shades who had been trapped inside stumbled out of their fiery prisons with their skin still ablaze. They screamed bloody murder as they tried to put out the fire, but it was no use.
Gressil snapped his fingers, and then his eyes lit up with a white-hot fire as they rolled back in his head. He raised his arms above his head, and the Shades all stopped in their tracks.
Each one of their eyes lit up with the same white Hellfire, and their mouths went slack. They turned to face me with pure vitriol on their faces, and then they began to shamble in my direction slowly.
“I hope you like a taste of your own medicine,” Gressil cackled. “Have fun killing that which cannot be killed.”
With that, the Demon King snapped his fingers and vanished with a flash of green flames.
“Stay the fuck back!” I warned the incoming Shades, but it was no use.
Whatever the hell this white fire did to them, they were under the full control of Gressil.
The nearest flaming Shade drew a machete from his belt, and I knew the time for talking was over. He swung at my left side as hard as he could, but I was able to get up my blade and parry.
As I spun around, the blunt club of another Shade smashed directly into my chest. My armor held, but the impact from the blow pushed me back into the arms of two more of the attackers.
They grabbed onto my arms and held me tight as Kegg appeared in front of me with his axe at the ready. The fucker swung at my face, and I dispelled his blow with a quick cast of purple. He tried three more strikes, but each time I was able to dispel his attack as if it were nothing.
“Fuck it,” Kegg growled as he stepped forward and placed his massive hands on the sides of my head.
I felt a sharp pressure as he squeezed my noggin, and for a second I was worried he was going to pop it like a watermelon.
Then the Demon Lord lifted up his thumbs and tried to shove them into my eyes.
Tried.
Now that we were far away from Kegg’s castle, there was no hex to prevent green Hellfire.
I threw up two tiny portals in front of his plunging digits and then forced them to reappear in front of the fucker’s own eye sockets.
Kegg roared with agony as his thumbs forcefully jabbed into his eyes, and then I made my move.
I called on my silver Hellfire, ordered the ball around my waist to liquify, and then shot it up through the skulls of the Shades who had been holding onto me. There was the sound of blood and brain matter splattering onto the ground as my attack went through, and then they released their grip on my arms.
I quickly scooped up my black blade, ran up to Kegg, and went for the decapitation blow.
Unfortunately, another Shade hopped in the way of the attack.
His face remained emotionless as his head was separated from his shoulders and gore sprayed up into the sky. His body hit the ground, lifeless, but his head remained alert as it bounced across the sandy ground.
Kegg teleported away as the remaining six Shades attacked.
The first one came at me with a dagger, and I made short work of him with a blast of red flames. I was able to fend off the second attacker, as well, but then they became too much.
A heavy warhammer crashed into my back, and I was knocked down onto the ground. The second I was on my hands and knees, I was assaulted by every weapon known to man. I felt the sharp pain of a knife as it stabbed me repeatedly between the joints of my armor. I felt the blunt force of both a club and a warhammer smash into my back, which drove me further into the sand. Somebody’s metal boot smashed me in the face, and I crumpled to the ground as I spat out blood onto the sand.
I didn’t know how much more of this shit I could take.
But I couldn’t let this end here. I was Jacob fucking Ralston, a Demon King. Was I really gonna let myself be taken out by a bunch of Shades? Was I really going to let Gressil lock all of my friends in tombs of Hellfire for all of eternity, where our skin would be seared from our bodies until we were nothing but bone and charred flesh?
Fuck no.
I felt the horns on my head pulsate with power, and then I cast a protective purple spell all across my body.
Even though I could still feel the blows of all of my attackers, they weren’t as painful as before. At least now, I stood a fighting chance.
I tried to focus through the pain as I called on my silver Hellfire. I located my metal war hammer, commanded it to form into a razor-sharp boomerang, and then launched it at the surrounding Shades.
Two of the bastards went down as the boomerang lopped off their legs. In one fluid motion I reached down, grabbed the goat-headed dagger from my belt, and stabbed it into another Shade’s eye. I repeated the motion with the second Shade on the ground, and he crumpled over, lifeless.
Or, at least as lifeless as a Shade could get.
I knew they would be back on their feet in a matter of minutes, so I had to work fast to take out the others. I stabbed the point of the dagger into another Shade’s foot, and he screamed as he hobbled backwards.
Now that there was an opening, I propelled myself forward out of the range of the Shades.
As I stood up, the blunt end of Kegg’s axe slammed into my armored face. My brain rattled inside of my skull as I was knocked back on my ass, and then the Demon Lord slammed his boot into my chest.
“Real fookin’ clever,” he growled. “Too bad I’m gonna--”
I didn’t let him finish.
I tossed a handful of yellow Hellfire-powered shuriken into Kegg’s chest, and he stumbled backward as blood pooled around the fabric of his shirt. Then I called my liquified metal back into my hand, ordered it to form my warhammer, and gripped the weapon tight.
“Let’s dance, Conan,” I growled as I charged at Kegg.
The Demon Lord was just able to phase out of the way of the attack, and then his fist struck me in the face as he reappeared. Before I could retaliate, Kegg’s battle axe lodged itself into my left shoulder, and I felt a searing agony shoot through the entirety of my arm.
I yelled out both pain and frustration as I blasted the bastard with the strongest fireball I could muster.
He must not have been prepared for the attack, because his eyes went wide, and then he was tossed a few dozen feet backwards.
Unfortunately for me, the rest of the Shades were still advancing.
But I was getting really tired of their bullshit.
The Shade with the club swung at my leg, but I caught his weapon with a cast of green Hellfire.
I ordered the club to swing upward, and blood shot from the Shade’s face as his nose was broken and his eye socket was caved in. I parried the next attack with my warhammer and took out the attacker’s feet.
As he fell down onto his ass, I struck the third Shade with the hilt of my warhammer. He doubled over as the air was knocked out of his lungs, and then I made an upward swing and stabbed the pointy side of the weapon through his frontal lobe.
Finally, I walked over to the last Shade, raised the warhammer over my head, and brought it down on his noggin. Shards of flesh, muscle, brain, and skull flew in ev
ery direction as his head popped like a fucking balloon.
I couldn’t help but whistle at the sight. I knew Shades were immortal and all, but this guy was gonna have a real hard time coming back from that.
Kegg was pulling himself to his feet, but I couldn’t let him recover fully.
So, I summoned green fire into my hands, threw it around the lid of one of the tombs, and then hurled the brimstone structure into the Demon Lord.
Kegg went to phase out, but it was too late.
The massive stone projectile struck him hard and sent him careening across the sandy landscape.
As I began to run toward the injured Demon Lord, I saw the first Shades I’d taken down were now back on their feet and headed in my direction.
Still engulfed in emerald Hellfire, I picked up the lid of the tomb, yanked it to the right, and hit one of the Shades. However, I didn’t stop. I used the lid to push the bastard all the way back over to his fiery grave, shoved him inside, and then released my spell.
I could hear his screams of agony as he desperately pounded on the brimstone, but there was nothing he could do.
As the second Shade approached, I shot him with a blast of red Hellfire. His body flew through the air until I caught it with my jade spell, lowered him into another empty tomb, and then sealed it off before he could escape.
Two down, seven to go.
The next fucker took me by surprise, and I had to quickly turn around and block with the hilt of my warhammer. However, when I did so, I noticed something … strange.
As I shoved the Shade off me, the green and red flames twirled together, almost as if they were bonding to create some sort of mixed spell.
It couldn’t be.
I threw my hammer to the ground, clapped my hands together, and shot out a ball of incendiary Hellfire that was outlined by an emerald shimmer. Then I ordered the ball of fire to halt in mid-air, and it obeyed my command.
Holy fuck. I could combine different colored Hellfire.
The Shade raised up his sword, but I brought the telekinetic fire down square on his head. His body went up in flames, and he began to run around like a madman as he tried to put out the white-hot fire.
What else could I combine?
As the next two Shades approached, I turned my green flames into yellow, clapped my hands together, and shot yellow and red shuriken at the fuckers. When the projectiles struck their target, they exploded upon impact and sent them tumbling across the ground like ragdolls.
One of the Shades rolled up next to an open tomb, so I gave him another little nudge with my telekinetic spell. The second he was in the tomb, I moved the lid back over and sealed it shut.
Before the fourth Shade could get back on his feet, I ordered my warhammer to liquify and then threw it at him horizontally. He tossed out his hands and caught the weapon, but he was far too weak to stop its momentum.
The warhammer continued to push the fucker backward until it knocked him into his tomb.
I sealed it and turned to focus on the last four Shades.
“Ooooh, so the Nephilim learned how ta combine magic,” Kegg scoffed as he wobbled toward me, tomb lid in hand. “How cute.”
The Demon Lord launched the brimstone slab through the air, but I quickly rolled out of its trajectory.
As I came up, I summoned bronze and red Hellfire at the same time, created a fireball, and launched it at Kegg.
He teleported out of the path of the projectile, threw back his head, and laughed.
At least, until the bronze Hellfire kicked in.
The fireball vibrated for a second and then exploded into a miniature supernova. Flames crashed into Kegg’s body, and he screamed as his flesh was toasted at a crisp, warm ten-thousand degrees.
Suddenly, the club of another Shade struck me in the side, and I stumbled off-balance. I caught myself quickly, spun around, and unleashed a horde of yellow and green shuriken into his face at point-blank range.
The attack knocked him off his feet, and then I used the telekinetic fire to toss his body into one of the remaining tombs.
Three left.
Luckily, they had all gathered in the same general vicinity. The Shades held their weapons at the ready as they charged, but I was more than prepared.
I called my warhammer back to my hands, forced it to liquify, and then combined it with bronze Hellfire. Next, I tossed the combined spell into the ground in front of the approaching attackers.
Sand spewed up from the ground as four giant, drill-like spikes popped up from the sand and impaled the Shades through their chests.
I quickly switched to green Hellfire, commanded the spikes to take each of them to a remaining tomb, and then dumped them inside. I sealed off their escape and then let out a sigh of relief.
That just left me and Kegg.
The round, Viking-like demon looked like he was in complete shock, and he looked worse for wear. His stocky figure was heaving heavily as he stared me down, and his flesh was burned off in small flecks, remnants of my Hellfire. He had cuts and bruises all over his face, but those were gonna be child’s play compared to what I was gonna do to him next.
“H-how … Gressil never loses,” he muttered. “His plan was foolproof.”
“Apparently not,” I mocked and reformed my warhammer in my hands. “Now, are we gonna do this, or not?”
“It would be my pleasure,” the Demon Lord growled and tightened his grip on his axe.
We stared each other down and waited for the other to make a move.
Kegg might have been surprised and weakened, but his strength and brutality was nothing to shake a stick at. If I wasn’t careful, this was gonna end really, reallly badly for me.
Fuck it.
I let out a growl of anger as I charged at the demon.
He disappeared with a flash of green flames, and I just had to throw up a hail mary and hope that I hit him. I spun around in a circle and unleashed yellow and green shuriken in every direction known to man.
None of them hit their mark, as Kegg timed his reappearance precisely to dodge the attack.
Or so he thought.
The Demon Lord swung at me with his axe, and I jumped back as it passed by the spot where my neck had just been. As I moved, I yanked my flaming emerald hand into my body, and the dual-spell shuriken followed suit.
Dozens of small, razor-sharp throwing stars stabbed into Kegg’s body from all angles, and he gasped in horror as they turned his body into a pincushion.
I came up swinging, but Kegg grabbed my warhammer with both hands.
He yanked it out of my possession, tossed it to the side, and then tackled me to the ground. The Demon Lord pummelled my armored face with his bare hands, and dark tunnels began to form around the edge of my vision.
I grabbed my goat-headed dagger and stabbed it into Kegg’s side, but that only seemed to make him madder.
The demon gritted his teeth and began to punch even harder.
I could tell my protective spell was weakening and that I couldn’t hold on much longer. If my purple armor went down, this fucker’s fists were going to turn my face into a bloody pulp.
I had to act, and I had to act fast.
So, I summoned a portal of green Hellfire below my body and then allowed gravity to pull us both through.
We reappeared in the air directly above where we’d been, but Kegg was ready for the action.
He teleported away briefly and then instantly appeared behind me. The Demon Lord shoved his boot into the back of my body and sent me rolling through the sky at break-neck speeds.
I slammed into the ground and felt my whole left side go numb. The wound Kegg inflicted on me earlier was now taking its toll, and my left arm was on pins and needles.
“What’s the matter, King Ralston?” he mocked as he reappeared in front of me. “Does the poor little Nephilim need a break? Because I’ll give you one!”
The demon grabbed my wounded arm, flipped around behind me, and twisted.
Pain
shot through my shoulder as a wet pop rang out, and I lost all feeling in my left arm.
Then Kegg’s hairy elbow wrapped around my neck from behind, and I felt my windpipe slowly being crushed by the brutal demon’s grasp. My vision was now tunneling like crazy, and I could barely breathe.
“I’ll let Beelzebub know ya at least went down fighting,” Kegg promised in a slimy, mocking tone.
“I-I’ll be sure to say the same thing about you,” I weakly shot back.
Then I swiftly injected bronze Hellfire into my enchanted armor, and my entire body began to vibrate violently.
Kegg must have been taken by surprise, because he released his grip on me and fell away from my body.
I called my warhammer back into my hands, spun around, and went in for the killing blow.
Kegg phased out of the way of my attack, grabbed the warhammer from my hands, and then spun it down so it took out my legs.
What little amount of breath I had left was knocked out of my lungs as I hit the ground, and I flipped around just in time to see Kegg bring down my warhammer.
I threw up a flaming silver hand, liquified the hilt of my hammer, and ordered it to shoot out at an angle.
The bottom of the weapon turned into a fluid, shaped itself into a point, and then stabbed Kegg right in his fucking face.
Kegg’s momentum shifted as his brain was skewered, and the hammer slammed harmlessly into the ground next to me. The demon wobbled for a second as he tried to make sense of what had just happened, and then he tried to phase away.
However, when he reappeared a second later, his body crumpled into a lifeless heap on the ground.
Kegg’s tongue flopped out of his mouth, and his eyes had both been popped out of their sockets. There was a three inch hole in the fucker’s head from the impact of the spike, and his dark red demon brain was spilling out into the sandy ground around him.
Kegg was dead.
“Holy shit,” I breathed in disbelief.
Somehow, some way, I’d done it.
Now, I just needed to figure out a way to get back to my succubi. As much as I wanted to lay down and rest, as much as I wanted to try and let my wounds heal … I couldn’t just leave them in the midst of battle.
