Succubus Lord 7

by Eric Vall

Then two giant, stony tendrils rose out of the ground and danced in the air gracefully before they slammed down on my position.

  I rolled out of the way of the first attack, but the tendrils were relentless. Before I could reorient myself, I felt one of the rocky tentacles strike me in the back, and my body skidded across the brimstone like it had been shot out of a cannon. As I tumbled, my armor scraped across the jagged rocks and filled the air with a sound ten times worse than nails on a chalkboard. I was finally able to use my momentum to get myself into an upright position, and then I threw up a large wall of purple flames in front of me.

  A massive shockwave blasted across the ground as the tendrils crashed into the flickering violet flames and shattered into a million tiny pebbles.

  Azazel was back on his feet, and his hands were aglow with red Hellfire. He clapped his hands together in front of his chest and slowly pulled them apart. As he did so, the fucker’s giant broadsword appeared out of thin air. The thing was nearly as large as my entire body, but it looked tiny in the possession of Azazel’s massive frame.

  The King of the Fourth Circle gripped the broadsword tightly, slammed its point down into the ground, and began to thunder forward.

  I summoned red Hellfire into my hands, ran it across the Unhallowed Sword to enchant the blade, and then charged.

  The two of us ran for about fifty feet before our swords met. Azazel tried to strike me with a rapid upwards strike, but I was able to block the blow with my own weapon. The force of the attack caused me to stumble to the side, but I cleverly used that to my advantage.

  Without slowing my momentum, I spun around and lashed out at Azazel’s leg. The demon asshole jumped back in time to dodge the attack, and then he came at me with his free hand.

  I ducked down as the blow passed over my head with a gust of wind, and I quickly summoned yellow Hellfire. I unleashed a handful of glowing shuriken into Azazel’s chest, and he let out a yowl of pain as they stabbed into his torso like tacks in a bulletin board. I went in for the killing blow, but the demon was able to parry my attack with his broadsword.

  Azazel held his sword up horizontally, grabbed the tip with his free hand, and then drove it at my neck.

  I quickly threw up my sword to block, but the strength of the demon was too much. The next thing I knew I was on the ground, using every inch of my strength to keep the blade at bay with my own weapon.

  The demon army around us cheered excitedly as Azazel’s blade creeped closer and closer to my neck. Azazel’s face was now directly over mine, and I could see every disgusting detail. His eyes were pitch black, with no irises whatsoever. His breath reeked of whatever foul, raw meat he had eaten for his last meal, and pieces of it were still stuck in his teeth. Azazel was wearing a shit-eating grin as he realized his final victory was near.

  Not on my watch, asshole.

  I swung my right knee up into the demon’s torso and drove the shuriken deeper into his flesh.

  Azazel winced in pain, but he didn’t release his attack. Instead, his face contorted into a look of pure rage, and he started to push even harder against my weapon.

  If I didn’t do something now, my head was about to be separated from my shoulders.

  I could have tried to use my bronze Hellfire on his blade, but I wasn’t sure if it would work on an item as enchanted as his sword. However, I did know something my Hellfire of judgement would work on.

  Myself.

  I took a deep breath and halted my defense. As the Father of Warfare’s sword plummeted toward the flesh of my neck, I summoned up the bronze flames into my right hand. Then I slammed the glowing palm against my neck just as the sword connected, and Azazel’s blade passed right through.

  The demon’s eyes grew wide with surprise, and I used the opportunity to try and gain the upper hand. I rolled out from underneath Azazel, brought up my sword, and stabbed the fucker right in the shoulder.

  Azazel bellowed in pain as a collective gasp spread over his minions.

  I pulled the weapon from his flesh, aimed at his thick neck, and swung as hard as I could.

  There was the sound of metal-on-metal as his blade rose to meet my own, and the two of us stood there, facing each other down as we each tried to overtake the other one.

  I reached out with my free hand still aglow with bronze Hellfire and grabbed the hilt of Azazel’s sword. The flickering fire danced up the weapon, caused it to vibrate at a subatomic level, and the Unhallowed Sword passed right through.

  Unfortunately, the sudden forward movement meant that my fatal blow didn’t land. However, the point of the shimmering black metal struck the demon in the chest and left a nasty gash.

  Azazel cried out in pain as he lashed out with his bulky fist. The sudden swing caught me square in the chest, and I heard the metal of my armor being crushed as I flew back in the air.

  I halted my trajectory with a cast of purple Hellfire, and then I hopped to my feet to access the damage.

  The entire front of my breastplate now had an inward dent the size of a small boulder. Thank fuck I was wearing this thing, or that asshole’s fist would have gone straight through me.

  Across the way, Azazel was grumbling furiously as he stood to his feet. It’d been a pretty evenly-matched battle so far, but the Father of Warfare looked beat up. His chest was still full of yellow shuriken, and he took heavy, labored breaths as blackish-red blood oozed out of the gash in his torso. There was a gaping hole in his shoulder where I had stabbed him, and a trail of gore ran down his log-like arm.

  “I’ll admit,” Azazel’s deep voice bellowed, “you are much stronger than the last time we met, mortal. But you’re still nothing compared to the Father of Warfare!”

  The demon called forth his elemental magic, and the ground began to shake. Five large chunks of brimstone were lifted up into the sky, and he began to hurl them at me one-by-one.

  I dashed directly at the incoming projectiles and called forth my bronze Hellfire. I hit the first boulder with a blast of the judgement spell, and its massive form passed over me without incident. Then, I leapt up into the air, used the second boulder as a makeshift vault, and propelled myself closer to the demon. I brought down the Unhallowed Sword on the next bogey, sliced it in half vertically, and watched its two halves pass by me harmlessly. The last two projectiles were far enough above the ground that I was able to slide underneath without losing my momentum. Then I rolled upright and closed the gap on Azazel in seconds.

  I let out a scream of anger as I swung the Unhallowed Sword as hard as I could, determined to sever his head from his spine.

  The Father of Warfare was able to weakly get his blade in front of mine, but my attack was so powerful it disarmed the fucker.

  Now, he was completely exposed.

  I lashed out at Azazel with my sword, but he was quick to dodge. He countered with a knee, and I jumped out of the way before it could connect. I swung the Unhallowed Sword at the fucker’s injured arm, but he was one step ahead of me.

  Azazel’s hand shot up and grabbed the very blade of the Unhallowed Sword. He grimaced as blood dripped from his wounded palm, and the blade made a sizzling sound as it burned his flesh. However, he had stopped the attack successfully.

  At least, that’s what I wanted him to think.

  I reached down with my free hand, unhooked the curved khopesh sword I’d gotten from Black Bart, and twirled it upward. The heavy blade of the weapon hit Azazel in the wrist and lopped his hand clean off his arm.

  The demon roared with pain as he stumbled back and desperately grasped at the stump where his left hand had been. Blood spurted out of the wound like a geyser as his minions hissed with rage. Finally, the Father of Warfare summoned red Hellfire into his remaining hand, clasped it over the wound, and seared it shut.

  “You son of a demon fucker!” Azazel growled. “Mortal filth! You think you can defeat the Father of Warfare?”

  “Yeah,” I shot back. “I kinda do.”

  I lunged at the one-handed demon a
nd swung both swords simultaneously.

  Azazel was able to dodge both blows, but then he came at me furiously. His right hand grabbed me by one of my blue horns and lifted me up into the sky. Before I could react, the King of the Fourth Circle began to repeatedly punch me in the stomach with his stump of an arm.

  My entire body shook as each blow struck at my armor, and white-hot pain reverberated through my very core. The armor made a sickly crunching sound, and then I felt a sharp crack as one of my ribs was shattered.

  “You. Will. Never. Be. A. Demon Lord!” Azazel’s normally confident voice was filled with unhinged rage.

  I thrust the Unhallowed Sword upward, and its shiny, enchanted metal stabbed through the meat of the demon’s bicep.

  However, he acted like it was nothing and kept going.

  A wet pop in my torso. Another rib broken.

  Finally, I summoned a portal of green Hellfire in front of my body. Azazel’s stump passed through and reappeared next to his head, but he was smart enough to lean out of the way this time.

  Azazel growled as he closed his hand around my horn and crushed it under his might.

  The world went white for a second as a sharp pain blasted through my skull, and I fell to the ground. I couldn’t afford to give Azazel a chance to gain the upper hand, so I blindly blasted red Hellfire where the demon had been standing. I heard him let out a grunt of pain, and I knew my attack must have hit its mark. As I stood back to my feet, my vision began to return.

  Azazel was patting out the flames on his chest, and the Unhallowed Sword was still lodged in his arm.

  Meanwhile, my armor was totally trashed. The breastplate was completely torn open, and I could feel the sharp edges of the metal pressing against my flesh. It was honestly a liability at this point, and I needed to get it off. I quickly unsnapped the breastplate, and it clanged to the ground.

  Now, my weakest areas were unprotected. If Azazel got his hands on me again, it was lights out for Jacob Ralston.

  I extended my glowing green hand, engulfed the Unhallowed Sword with the spell, and called it back to my hand.

  “You know what, mortal?” Azazel grumbled as he nursed his new wound. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe you can beat me in one-on-one combat, and deserve to rule over my domain. But it’ll never happen. Do you know why?”

  “Because you’re a coward?” I growled.

  “I like to think of it more as ‘self-serving,’” the Father of Warfare said with a grin.

  Azazel began to laugh as he summoned orange Hellfire to his hand and stump and then slowly raised his arms.

  I heard a commotion up on the castle wall behind me, and then I heard Cupi scream.

  This fucker resurrected all the demons we’d just killed.

  “Army of the Damned,” Azazel hissed. “Rip them to pieces.”

  “No!” I screamed as I turned around and began to limp toward the castle wall.

  However, my progress was quickly halted when dozens of Azazel’s minions stepped between me and my friends. They all had red Hellfire in their hands, and I knew what was coming next.

  I threw up a dome of purple Hellfire around myself just as the fiery attacks reached my position. There were so many fireballs I couldn’t even see two feet in front of my own face, all I could see was a blinding red light and hear Azazel’s laugh booming through the air.

  I should have fucking known he was going to pull a fast one on me. But what other choice did I have? He would win a war of attrition. The worst part was, I had actually been winning. If he hadn’t decided to cheat, I would be savoring my victory right now.

  Oh well. Now was not the time to dwell on “what ifs.” I could feel the heat of the white-hot fireballs, and I began to worry my shield wasn’t going to hold for much longer. I was fucking tired, and it was all I could take to keep from falling over and giving up right then and there.

  But then I remembered what would happen if I did. If I fell on the battlefield today, Azazel would kill Todd and Eligor and return my succubi into his service. He would cement himself as the greatest Demon King to ever live and become second in Hell’s pecking order.

  I couldn’t let that happen, but I wasn’t much use if I had to keep actively focusing on my protective magic. Unless … Todd’s suggestion from earlier. Was it possible to cast a protective spell passively?

  I didn’t know if it would work, but I was about to fucking try. I closed my eyes and focused in on everything that was at stake in this battle. I felt the heat of the attacks grow stronger and draw closer to my body, and I almost blacked out.

  Then it happened.

  It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I opened my eyes and saw they were covered by a bright layer of purple. I looked down and recognized my entire body was aglow with a violet shimmer that resembled the armor I had been wearing earlier.

  It was a suit of flaming Hellfire armor.

  The fireballs bounced off me harmlessly as I reached out and blasted a handful of the demons with my own attack.

  Their flesh melted from their bones, and they screamed in agony as they were reduced to a pile of rubbery flesh and ashy bones. I killed a few more of the fuckers, but there were just too many of them. Even with my new badass armor, it felt hopeless.

  The next thing I knew, a bugle sounded.

  The chaos of the battle halted as we all turned to face the newcomer to the battle. At the top of a rocky brimstone hill stood a large crowd of what appeared to be Shades. Each of them had a melee weapon in one hand and a machine gun in the other.

  I nearly swallowed my tongue. When we had left Daniel and our loyal Shades, there had only been half a dozen. Now, it looked like there were hundreds.

  The bugle sounded once more, and the Shades charged down toward the demonic army.

  “You dare oppose me?” Azazel bellowed. “You ungrateful bastards! Once I’m through with the mortal, I’m going to raze this whole Circle to the ground and start over with a new, more torture-filled structure. You will all rue the day you betrayed the King of the Fourth Circle.”

  The crowd of demons scattered and ran toward the incoming Shade army, leaving Azazel exposed.

  “Former King of the Fourth Circle,” I hissed. “You’re about to be deposed, you spineless mother fucker.”

  “You can’t blame a demon for trying,” Azazel admitted with a shrug. “But I guess it is just the two of us once more. Let’s settle this once and for all, shall we?”

  “Let’s,” I hissed as I sheathed the khopesh and held the Unhallowed Sword in both my hands.

  Azazel had his broadsword at the ready, and the two of us stared each other down silently like we were in some old western film. In the background, I heard the screams of demon grunts as they were mowed down by the Shades’ bullets.

  Azazel and I were both in rough shape, but I knew we both wanted this fight to be over.

  And we were going to give it our all.

  “Jakey!” Todd’s voice called out. “You look badass, bro! Long live the Purple Knight!”

  “Do not worry about us, Jacob,” Cupi shouted. “The demons up here are dead, and the Shades look like they’re handling the army.”

  “Silence, succubus!” Azazel hissed. “As much as it pains me to say this, Cupiditas, I’m going to cut out your tongue first. I’m tired of your insolence.”

  “Don’t you dare fucking talk to her like that!” I screamed and charged the Demon King.

  Our swords clashed, and I took the opportunity to deck Azazel in the face with my flaming hand.

  The Father of Warfare twirled his sword around and brought it down on my right shoulder. I felt the blow of the weapon, but thankfully it didn’t cut off my arm like it should have.

  My armor was too strong for that.

  I brought the Unhallowed Sword to my side and then swung it upward.

  Azazel was able to sidestep the blow, but only somewhat.

  The blade of the weapon hit the fucker right where his left horn attached to hi
s head, and the massive black appendage fell to the ground with a dull thud.

  The demon let out a gasp of surprise, and then his entire body began to shake with rage.

  I tried to skewer the bastard with my sword, but he stepped to the side and caught it just under his left armpit.

  “Fine!” Azazel screamed and tossed aside his broadsword. “If I can’t slice you in half, I’ll just bash your skull in instead. Nothing can withstand the wrath of the Father of Warfare!”

  Suddenly, Azazel’s hand was around my throat as he lifted me up into the air and forced the sword out of my grasp. Then Azazel slammed me into the ground as hard as he could, lifted me up into the air, and repeated the action as many times as he could.

  Which was a lot, since I lost count.

  Waves of pain shot through my body as the rocky brimstone of the ground threatened to break through my enchanted armor. My vision began to darken, and I raised my hand to try and cast a spell.

  Before I could summon anything into my hand, Azazel’s stump came down and punched me square in the face. My brain rattled around in my skull as he pummeled my body violently, and I could feel my armor beginning to weaken.

  I’d thrown the book at Azazel, but he was still going strong. It all seemed hopeless. This might be it. This fucker may just get the last laugh after all.

  Even though I couldn’t see myself, I could tell my body was covered with bruises, and I could feel the warm blood dripping down my forehead.

  Azazel stopped for a moment to catch his breath.

  “Just like cracking open a walnut,” he mocked. “But your skull is going to be much more fun to break open, and your brain is going to make a fine appetizer for the delightful things I’m going to do to your friends.”

  My friends. Maybe there was a way out of this after all.

  Of course, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

  I needed to do a God Bomb on this fucker, and it needed to be the most powerful God Bomb I’d ever produced.

  To do that, I needed all hands on deck. It would mean that the portal between the underworld and Earth Realm would be closed, and it would also alert Lucifer to my presence in Hell.