by Eric Vall
“Something’s climbing up the stalagmites!” Libidine gasped.
“That would be my army, dear Libidine,” the Lord of the Flies chuckled. “Thousands of demons and Daeva, all with one mission and one mission only. To kill all of your friends and wipe your entire existence off the face of this universe, Nephilim scum.”
“My men are more than ready to fuck up your grunts,” I growled as held the Unhallowed Sword at the ready, “and we’re more than ready to kill you.”
“We shall see, Nephilim.” Beelzebub smiled as he pulled his bow at the ready. “We. Shall. See.”
This was it. The trap had been sprung, and Beelzebub had retaliated.
There was no turning back now.
One way or another, this was going to be our final battle.
Chapter 17
Before I could even blink, one of Beelzebub’s Hellfire-enchanted arrow rocketed toward me at the speed of sound. I only had a split-second to knock it away with the Unhallowed Sword, and then I had to go on the counter-offense.
I spun around, called forth red and yellow Hellfire into my hand, and then blasted a shot of shuriken at the Lord of the Flies.
Beelzebub chuckled as the shuriken stabbed into his wing-cloak harmlessly, and then he took aim with his bow once more.
Not this time, bitch.
I activated the red Hellfire on the shuriken, and each one exploded with the force of a tiny impact grenade.
Beelzebub’s eyes went wide as he jerked forward and released his arrow, and the projectile flew harmlessly into the ceiling of the throne room.
“Now!” I called out as I tossed out a large portal of green into the sky.
Todd, Inpulsa, Deja, Liby, Gula, and Sia all unleashed their spell of choice into the swirling emerald vortex, and then I made the other end appear right in front of Beelzebub’s exposed body.
The Lord of the Flies let out a yelp of pain as he was lit up with an electric spell, followed immediately by red fireballs and yellow daggers. Beelzebub’s body was violently thrown back into his chair, and it shattered the brimstone structure into a million pieces. The Demon King was quick to get back on his feet, though, and now he wore a look of wild anger on his normally-stoic face.
“So, it’s not just the fancy armor that’s new,” he spat, “you’ve been training.”
“We all have, Brundlefly,” Todd warned, “because you’ve already outlived your regular lifecycle!”
“That was actually pretty clever,” Libidine admitted.
“Really?” Todd asked nonchalantly. “Because I totally thought you were all gonna think it was lame.”
“Fight now, banter later!” I ordered as I summoned purple Hellfire into my hands.
Thanks to Cupi’s training, I knew exactly what Beelzebub was going to do before he even did it.
The Lord of the Flies hopped up to his feet, tossed his razor-sharp wings out parallel to the ground, and then began to spin rapidly to create a living buzzsaw. Beelzebub shot toward us like a deadly top, but I was able to throw up my purple barrier just before he turned us all into mincemeat.
I let out a brief gasp as the demon’s wings hit my shield and sliced it clean in two. I only had a split-second to react, so I threw down a portal of green Hellfire beneath all of my team. We fell through the interdimensional portal, reappeared behind the King of the Eighth Circle, and then took a fighting stance.
“Well, that’s new,” Gula snarked as she summoned her double-sided battle axe into her hands.
“How is that possible?” Sia gasped. “Your shields are usually impenetrable.”
Beelzebub’s momentum came to a halt, and then he came up with the shot of a Hellfire arrow.
“I’ve been training too, Nephilim,” Beelzebub mocked as he released the attack.
Superbia caught the projectile with her black Hellfire, flipped it around, and sent it right back at the King of the Eighth Circle.
The green-skinned demon flicked the arrow away with one of his wings, raised four more to his bow, and then launched them into the sky. All four of the arrows shot off in different directions, almost as if they were each being controlled by a different entity.
Todd flitted up and out of the way of the first one, while Libidine cartwheeled away from the second. The third arrow was headed straight for Inpulsa, but the yellow-haired woman blasted it at near point-blank range with her black lightning.
The last one was aimed at Deja, but the valley girl was able to quickly duplicate herself. Instead of striking her between the eyes, the arrow passed harmlessly between the two figures of the tan succubus.
“So, it is you,” Beelzebub grinned, “I knew you were gone, but I never would have pegged you for one of Ralston’s little playthings, Deja. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you slept your way to the top … ”
“You--You knew I was gone?” Deja’s two bodies gasped in unison.
“Oh, yes,” Beelzebub mused, and then he summoned more arrows into his hand, “I always know. You aren’t as sneaky as you’d like to think.”
The Demon King ducked out of the way of an incoming electric blast, rolled directly into a spin, and became a deadly tornado once more. This time, however, he added another angle to his attack. As he spun, flaming arrows shot out in all directions.
“Holy shit, bro!” Todd gasped. “He went full on Tasmanian Devil!”
I threw out a shield of purple to knock away an incoming arrow, and my friends all ducked out of the way of the flying projectiles.
Unfortunately, that was exactly what he wanted us to do.
My stomach fell into my knees as I recomposed myself and saw Beelzebub’s razor-sharp wings headed right at Libidine.
“Liby!” I called out in warning, but it was no use.
If I didn’t act quickly, Libidine was going to be decapitated.
That’s when I saw the metal beams in the ceiling.
So, I summoned silver Hellfire into my hands, tossed it over the dark metal poles, liquified them, and then yanked them to the side.
The brimstone ceiling that the beams had normally held in place cracked and then crumbled into a massive pile of rubble.
Directly between Beelzebub and his target.
The demon buzzsaw hit the rocks, and bits of shrapnel flew into the air as he tore through them like a steam-powered drill.
However, it was enough of a distraction to save Liby, and the Sister of Lust let out a yell of frustration as she tumbled out of the way.
Beelzebub came through the other side of the debris an instant later, and his wings just barely missed Liby’s feet.
“We have to slow him down!” Sia commanded. “We’ll never be able to defeat him if he’s bouncing around the room like this!”
“Inpulsa! Gula!” I ordered the two succubi as I looked at the liquified metal in the air. “I’m gonna turn him into a giant conduit!”
Gula summoned brown Hellfire into her hands, blasted it around Inpulsa, and then watched in awe as the yellow-haired beauty created a shield of yellow flames around her whole body.
I took aim at the spinning Beelzebub and then commanded the metallic liquid to his position. At the same time, I enchanted the metal with red Hellfire.
I wanted this bastard to burn.
The silvery liquid rained down on Beelzebub like a waterfall of molten metal, and it sizzled as it drenched his body in its embrace. It hardened the instant I removed my enchantment, and Beelzebub’s momentum slowed to a crawl.
“Now!” I called out, and then Inpulsa’s super-powered shot of electricity blasted past my body.
It struck Beelzebub head-on, and the fucker was lit up like a Christmas tree. The Lord of the Flies seized when the electricity hit him, and then he lost his balance and went tumbling across the floor of the throne room. He tried to jump back to his feet, but Todd was already on the offensive.
“Eat my flaming balls, Brundlefly!” the imp cackled as he tossed down tiny black fireballs.
The projectiles stru
ck the ground around the Demon King, exploded into a blinding flash, and caused him to miss the landing.
Beelzebub let out a growl of frustration as he crashed into the wall of his castle, and his bulk sent a massive crack up the side.
Before he could retaliate, Deja’s spear and chain wrapped around his wrist and jerked him forward.
Too bad Beelzebub had other plans.
The King of the Eighth Circle regained his balance, grabbed the chain, and yanked Deja straight toward him. He sneered as he summoned a red arrow into his hand, held it out like a skewer, and aimed it at Deja’s heart.
Instead, the succubus simply surrounded herself with green Hellfire, phased out for a second, and passed through Beelzebub’s body without incident. She turned solid once she was behind the green-skinned tyrant, summoned black Hellfire into her hands, and commanded her spear and chain back to her. Then she hopped up onto her former King’s back, wrapped the chain around his neck, and began to strangle him.
“Holy fuck, bro,” Todd gasped, “and I thought Crazy Eyes was the sadist.”
As much as I appreciated Deja’s gusto, I couldn’t waste this opportunity. Beelzebub would break out of her hold soon, but right now, his body was completely exposed.
So, I charged at the fucker as fast as my legs would take me, hauled back the Unhallowed Sword, and aimed to sever his head from his shoulders.
Beelzebub must have realized what I was doing, because he quickly crouched down and then launched himself up into the air. He may have avoided certain death with this move, but my blade still caught him on the ankle.
The Lord of the Flies let out a gurgled scream as his right foot was sliced straight off and fell to the ground with a wet “plop.” Then Beelzebub slammed Deja into the ceiling at break-neck speeds, but she somehow remained on his back.
“I can’t get a clean shot!” Inpulsa growled as she watched Deja and Beelzebub struggling.
Finally, Beelzebub began to spin around in midair. The metal on his wings may have slowed him down, but he was still able to get up to the velocity of a helicopter’s blades.
Deja hung on for as long as she could, but she was eventually tossed off the demon like a ragdoll.
The second our teammate was clear of Beelzebub, all of us attacked with everything we had. Balls of black, red, and yellow Hellfire shot across the room toward the deadly dust devil, but this time he was too quick.
Beelzebub spun out of the way of the projectiles, rocketed off to the side, and then struck the area of the wall with the crack in it. His momentum carried him through the brimstone structure, and then he disappeared to the other side.
“Did we scare him off?” Gula questioned.
“Impossible,” Deja grumbled as she stood to her feet, “Beelzebub is a lot of things, but a coward isn’t one of them.”
Suddenly, the whirlwind of deadly wings crashed through the far left side of the same wall and came spinning back in our direction.
I threw up two walls of purple just in front of my friends and then shoved them out of the way of the incoming attack with a heave. I was just barely able to roll to the side before Beelzebub’s blur of a body shot past my position, and it tore through the second wall of the throne room.
This time, I heard the entire castle shift.
Holy shit … he wasn’t trying to attack us right now.
He was trying to bring the whole palace down on top of us.
“Everybody get outside,” I commanded as I pointed to the downed wall. “Now!”
My friends obeyed me without hesitation, and the seven of us rushed toward the other side of the room. As we ran, chunks of the brimstone ceiling began to collapse on top of us, and it was all I could do to throw up a shield of purple above our position.
The impact of the falling stones nearly brought me to my knees, but I couldn’t let that happen.
If we stopped for even a second, we would be buried underneath the weight of the entire building, and, even if my shield were to hold, we’d eventually run out of air to breathe.
Failure wasn’t an option.
The succubi were the first ones to make it into the clear, followed by Todd. Finally, I passed through the broken wall, deactivated my shield, and gasped as I went over the edge of the stalagmite.
I stabbed the Unhallowed Sword into the rock as hard as I could and then let out a grunt of frustration as I tried to slow my momentum. Then I threw down a portal of purple beneath my feet, landed on it with a harsh thud, and tried to recompose myself as I looked down into the abyss.
I could see why this dude was the Lord of the Flies. Not having wings around here was basically suicide.
Thankfully, I had the next best thing.
I summoned green Hellfire to my hands, spread it around my body, and lifted myself back up to the side of the ledge. Then my jaw fell open when I reached the top and finally saw the chaos unfolding all around us.
Beelzebub’s entire castle had crumbled into a heap of brimstone, metal, and gold that now acted as a makeshift cliff for combatants to fight on.
The cherub army of Mammon, led by Ira, was zipping around in the sky fighting with Beelzebub’s airborne demons. Acidic Hellfire sprayed from the Sister of Wrath’s hands, and the tiny, fat demons behind her blasted arrows at their enemies.
Beelzebub’s minions didn’t appear much different from what Azazel’s had looked like. They were human-sized demons with small horns, wings, and razor-sharp claws and teeth. The only difference was that, like their master, these grunts had green skin.
Meanwhile, down below, the rest of my army and generals were taking on the Army of the Dejected.
I saw Mammon’s massive yellow foot stomp a Daeva into a bloody pulp before he turned around, picked up another grunt in his hands, and chomped off their head with his teeth. Then the King of the Second Circle tossed the body off to the side before he went after the next closest enemy.
Tris, Invidia, and Eclipse were all standing back-to-back, and they were tossing out their long-range spells at any demons who dared get within their striking range. A few of the tiny fuckers were ripped apart by bullets, while others were impaled by Vidia’s mind-controlled dagger.
The really unlucky ones, however, found themselves sucked into the nothingness of Eclipse’s black holes.
Perhaps most impressive were my Shades. The ghostly humans cut down Daeva and green grunts where they stood and deflected their attacks as if they were nothing. These guys were going toe-to-toe with the Army of the Dejected as if they were a highly-trained, elite fighting force.
Who was I kidding? Under the guidance of Cupi and Daniel, they were an elite force.
“Who builds a fucking castle on the edge of a cliff, bro?” Todd mused as he floated up next to me. “That seems like a serious design flaw to me.”
“Where are the others?” I questioned. “And where is Beelzebub?”
“Chillax, Jakey,” Todd scoffed, “most of them got wings, remember? I think they’re all--Heeeeey, there they are!”
The imp pointed down to the battlefield, where Superbia, Gula, and Libidine were already comboing Daeva with their Hellfire magic. Just above the three Sisters, Inpulsa darted through the air and used her chain-lighting attack to fry dozens of grunts out of the sky.
Rounding out my team of generals was Deja. Or, rather, a set of Dejas. The brunette succubus skewered Daeva left and right with her spear and chain, and her doppelganger followed up with a quick blast of incendiary flame.
Still, there was no sign of Beelzebub.
“Where the fuck is he … ” I muttered as I scanned the battlefield for my nemesis.
“Who, Mr. Tumnus?” Todd giggled, and then he pointed toward the rubble. “He’s down there, still reading that book ya gave him earlier. What a fucking square, bro.”
“Not Ziminiar,” I explained, “Beel--”
Suddenly, a flaming arrow shot toward me from the crowd. I swiftly knocked it away with a cast of purple and then searched for its source.<
br />
There.
In the center of the battlefield stood the Lord of the Flies. He must have cauterized his wound, because there was nothing but a singed stump where his foot used to be.
The King of the Eighth Circle stared directly into my eyes as he drew another arrow, took aim, and then blasted three arrows in rapid succession.
What was this guy’s deal? He might have been a powerful Demon King, but his arrows didn’t really do much damage if you knew they were coming.
The next thing I knew, Beelzebub’s body rocketed toward me like it had been shot out of a cannon.
Todd let out a girlish scream as he zipped to the left, and I decast the telekinetic spell holding me up. Gravity took its course, and I plummeted downward just as a blur of razor-sharp wings shot over my head.
I hit the top of castle ruins hard, and wave after wave of pain shot through my body as I ricocheted off the jagged boulders on my way down. Finally, I slammed into the ground and yelled as I felt a wet crack in my ribs.
“King Ralston!” Ziminiar gasped as he hobbled over to my position. “Are you alright?”
“I’ve been better,” I admitted as I pulled myself to my feet.
The commotion of my fall must have attracted the attention of the Daeva, because six of the little fuckers came running toward us with pure murder in their eyes.
Thankfully, I had plenty of experience with the Daeva. I could kill these guys in my sleep.
I summoned silver Hellfire around the metal ball at my waist, commanded it to form into a spike, and then shot it through the first Daeva’s chest.
I heard the crunch of his sternum as my weapon pierced the bone, stabbed clean through the demon, and then lodged itself in the head of the fucker behind him.
Both of the Daevas’ eyes rolled back in their heads as they collapsed to the ground, and I turned my attention to the other four.
The next one made the fatal mistake of getting too close to my blade. I lashed out with the Unhallowed Sword, struck it in the neck, and sent its head flying into the air. Then I liquified the silver metal once more, enchanted it with red Hellfire, and splashed it onto the next two Daeva.
