by Eric Vall
As I looked up and down Inpulsa’s figure, I couldn’t really disagree.
Her tight outfit consisted entirely of latex and metal studs, almost like she was wearing a gimp suit.
I could only imagine what kinda jokes Todd was gonna cook up about this poor girl.
Then there was Eclipse, who had on a muted silver armor with a collar that would put David Bowie to shame. Her arms and thighs were completely exposed to show off her ink, and she held a medieval-looking naginata in her hands.
The weapon itself was intriguing. Unlike the traditional naginatas used in Feudal Japan, this thing had a blade almost double the width of its pole. Meanwhile, there were intricate etchings all over the blade that, upon closer inspection, seemed to match the tattoos on her body.
Last, and certainly not least, came Eve.
The beautiful redhead was now wearing a bronze chest piece that looked like it was made up of a thousand small, coin-shaped objects. Her lower half consisted of a white mini-skirt that traveled down to just above her inner thigh and a belt that held a small leather sack as well as a rapier. Meanwhile, she had let her hair run just as wild as it had been yesterday.
“Is that thing gonna do any damage?” I joked playfully as I approached the sexy woman and pointed at her rapier. “I think I’ve picked my teeth with more deadly weapons.”
“You’ll see,” Eve retorted with a shrug. “It might not seem like much, but size doesn’t always matter.”
“I’ve never heard that once in my life,” I shot back with a raised eyebrow.
“Lucky you,” the succubus said with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t we have a mission to start here?”
“Right.” I nodded, and then walked over in front of the women so I could address the entire group. “Hello everyone. You five have been chosen by Todd, Superbia, and I as potential recruits. You’ve impressed Todd in the screening, and then you showed us you were the best of the best in the second interview. Out of almost three-hundred succubi who applied for this position, we’ve narrowed it down to you. However, there is one last step that needs to be taken. King Ralston’s inner circle has one rule, and one rule only: you have to be a team player. You’ll soon find out we do everything together, and we pride ourselves on our competence as a team during battle. This is what the final mission is for. We are going to be traveling out to the Hunter’s Plains, where we will work together to try and take down some Vargrats.”
“Ewwww, rats,” Deja gagged.
Eve raised her hand promptly.
“King Ralston?” she questioned. “Most of us have already killed a Vargrat before. What makes this mission so special?”
“Who was with you when you killed the Vargrat?” I prompted.
“Nobody,” Eve admitted.
“Exactly!” I clapped my hands together. “We don’t do solo out here in the Fourth Circle. Today, I’m taking you out to the Hunter's Plains, far beyond the borders of Hell, so I can observe how you fight as a team. To see how you communicate with each other and how you can use your skills together to solve complex issues. And if Gula gets some extra meat for the kitchen in the process, so be it. Who’s ready?”
All five of the succubi let out a resounding “yeah,” so we began our mission.
I led the five women back to the moat of the castle, where Charron’s dinghy was tied up to the pier.
“We’re going to travel on the River of Souls?” Eclipse questioned. “I thought Demon Kings could just, like snap their fingers and teleport to another Circle.”
“No, no, silly,” Deja corrected with a wave of her hand, “haven’t you heard? They just fly there.”
“Uh, right,” I chuckled and rubbed my neck awkwardly. “We’re taking the dingy because it’s all we got. Jacob Ralston’s kingdom is very makeshift, but it’s all part of the charm!”
The girls all looked at each other, shrugged, and then climbed into the boat.
I used my telekinetic Hellfire to untie the knot from the pier, and then I summoned purple flames into my hand and ordered them to surround the boat.
The dinghy lurched forward, and we were off.
There was a slight chill that rolled off the River of Souls, probably an effect of the literal thousands of dead beings that inhabited its waters. However, we still made light of the situation as we passed through the different circles.
During our time in the Third Circle, Eclipse reminisced fondly about her home in one of its deep, dark caves. She told us how much she loved the snow, mostly because she could use it as a cold compress when her tattoos were still fresh, and she told us about her interactions with Vermis the Devil Worm.
“He wasn’t really a ‘pet,’” the dark-haired woman explained, “more like a wild animal everybody knew about and followed.”
“Yeahhhh, sorry about that one,” I apologized. “He was kinda trying to kill me and all of my friends.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Eclipse mused. “Vermis was like, the Third Circle’s mascot. He isn’t even the biggest Devil Worm in the place.”
Holy fuck, Vermis wasn’t the biggest? It had taken a combined effort just to hold him off, and if it wasn’t for my bronze Hellfire, we would probably have never killed him.
Yet, apparently, he was just a baby compared to some of the other Devil Worms out there.
I made a mental note to try and make nice with the Belphegor, the King of the Third Circle, as we passed through the frigid, slushy landscape. We definitely wanted the Devil Worms on our side.
Next came the Second Circle, the dark, windy place where Shades were forced to chase their most intimate desires for all eternity. The kicker was the wind kept their most desired object just out of their reach, and the Shades would suffer gruesome injuries as they tried to pursue it.
Once we entered the horrid place, we all shielded our eyes.
Or at least, five of us did.
“Ohhhh,” Deja cackled happily. “I can tell you exactly which ones are illusions and which ones are real. Wanna play along?”
“I think I’ll pass,” I answered as I pressed my hands tighter over my eyes.
I honestly didn’t even know what the Second Circle would tempt me with this time. The only other time I’d been here, while Invidia was still locked up in Azazel’s domain, it was an image of the Sister of Envy that beckoned for me to follow. Now that she was free and by my side, the possibilities were endless.
Despite my curiosity, I really didn’t want to open my eyes and find out.
We floated along the River of Souls for nearly twenty minutes before we reached the entrance to the First Circle. As we passed through and I removed my hands from my eyes, I marveled at the City of Limbo.
It had been a while since I’d been in this part of Hell, and its peculiarity never ceased to amaze me. The City of Limbo looked just like any other modern metropolis on Earth. Skyscrapers towered above the rest of the buildings, and even from this far away, I could see the hustle and bustle of Shades going about their everyday lives.
“So, this is what the First Circle looks like,” Eclipse mused. “It’s a bit too peppy for me.”
“I think it’s perrrrfect!” Deja retorted. “The sun is shining, the water looks clear, and I’m sure the beaches are sandy and warm.”
“Not in the First Circle,” I corrected Beelzebub’s former succubus. “It may look like sunshine and rainbows on the outside, but it’s called ‘Limbo’ for a reason. This place is full of ‘good’ people who were nonbelievers and are thus being punished.”
“How could they possibly be punished in this place?” Deja sighed as she threw her head back and soaked up the sun.
As if right on cue, a flock of bats flew above us and made a seagull-like sound. As they passed, a glop of guano plopped down right onto Deja’s shoulder.
The succubus froze for a second before she slowly turned her eyes down at the stain on her armor, made an exaggerated cringe, and then began to gag. The rest of the team stifled laughs as we watched Deja fr
antically lean over and then splash water up onto her armor to wash off the stain.
“See what I mean?” I guffawed. “The First Circle looks completely fine and dandy, but there’s always a minor inconvenience waiting right around the corner.”
“It still beats what goes on in my old Circle.” Deja shrugged. “Do you have any idea what Beelzebub does to his Shades?”
“Twisted, fucked up shit, I’d imagine,” I admitted. “Probably more on the psychological side, yeah?”
“You’re super smart,” the brunette succubus noted. “I’ve seen my old master do some pretty gnarly stuff. He always finds out what makes each individual Shade tick, and then he tailors the torture experience to whatever he finds out. So, like, there was this one guy who lost his wife and kids in a car crash. He locked him in a dark room with a younger Shade and a woman Shade, neither of which were his wife or child, and then played the audio of the car crash over and over again on repeat.”
“That’s fucked up,” I agreed. “It sounds exactly like something Beelzebub would do.”
“Don’t act like the First Circle is such a tame place,” Mirage spoke up from the back of the boat, “the Shades may not be as tormented here, but Asmodeus is just as twisted and evil as the rest of the Demon Kings. Have I told you about the time he made one of his enemies stick their penis in a bear trap?”
“I can’t say you have.” I cringed at the thought.
“It’s true,” she continued. “He found out one of his Demon Lords had betrayed him, so the King of the First Circle ambushed him, took him prisoner, and then forced him to make love to his lover through a hole that was cut in the trigger of the bear trap.”
“How does that even work?” Inpulsa questioned.
Mirage gave the yellow-haired succubus a sultry glare and shrugged.
“Asmodeus created a hole just large enough for the demon to fit through, and then he chained his lover up to the other side, with the deadly end of the trap facing her,” the brunette explained. “One wrong move, one thrust too hard, and his lover would be snapped in half. You can guess how long he lasted.”
“Wow,” Eclipse muttered as we approached the main gate of the city, “The worst I had to deal with was my old Master freezing people in slush.”
“We shouldn’t think about our old Masters too much, girls,” Eve spoke up. “Should this mission go smoothly, we will all be the subjects of King Ralston, and he is nothing like the rest of the bastards who rule over us or our sisters all around this god-forsaken place!”
All of the succubi in the boat responded with a resounding “yeah!” as the gates opened in front of us, and we were taken out into the darkness of the outer limits of Hell. We floated along in total silence for what felt like an hour before we finally arrived at our destination.
“This place is fucking creepy,” I heard Deja shudder. “It’s so dark, I can’t even see my hand in front of my face out here. Also, why is it so quiet? Shouldn’t there at least be some wind or some bats or something? This is freaking me out.”
“I’ll handle the light,” Inpulsa offered.
Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of yellow Hellfire accompanied by the staticky sound of electricity crackling through the air. A ten square foot area around us was illuminated in a flash, and we could now see exactly where the fuck we were.
Our boat bobbed peacefully along the River of Souls, but the sight in front of us was anything but calming.
Dark black, rocky brimstone made up the landscape as far as Inpulsa’s light would show. There was dark blood splattered all across the stony ground, and it was littered with the skulls of various creatures that I didn’t recognize.
Yup. This was definitely the Hunter’s Plains.
“This is it,” I announced as I summoned purple Hellfire into my hands.
I ordered the dinghy to stop in its tracks and then slowly moved it over so it was at the shoreline of the fields. Then I called on my telekinetic Hellfire, surrounded the boat, and lifted it up onto the ground where it wouldn’t be washed away. Once we were safely out of the water and on solid land, the six of us exited the vessel and stepped out onto the deadly fields.
“So, we just have to kill some Vargrats?” Mirage mused. “That shouldn’t be difficult.”
“There’s more to it than that,” I corrected the beautiful temptress, “I want to observe you all fighting as a team. So yeah, you’re killing Vargrats, but don’t just run off and try to one-on-one the things.”
“So then, what’s the plan of attack, King Ralston?” Mirage questioned as she stared off into the distance.
“That’s not my call,” I admitted. “I’m just here to watch.”
“I bet you’d like that,” Eve purred flirtatiously, and then she strutted past me in a hurry. “It’s pretty simple, if you ask me. You with the brown hair. You create illusions, right?”
“Mirages,” the succubus corrected, “but yes, I do.”
“Excellent.” Eve nodded. “You can use your powers to create something that would be visually appealing to a Vargrat. Then, once it gets close, we can collectively kill the beast.”
“That sounds way too easy,” Eclipse protested. “What’s the catch?”
“There isn’t any catch,” Inpulsa scoffed, “the plan is perfect. She lures it out here, I hit it with a blast of electricity and then bam! One toasted Vargrat, coming right up.”
“I can split into two and then wrap it up with my chain!” Deja interjected. “That way it can’t run away while you’re trying to fry it. What about you, Eclipse? What’s your role gonna be here?”
The tattooed succubus rapped on her chin curiously as she thought about it, but she didn’t seem to be finding an answer she liked.
“I seriously don’t have a clue,” she admitted. “I’d usually try to like, blind them or something, but the Vargrats’ other senses are top tier. And it’s not like there’s any sort of light I could be stealing.”
“Then you’re just gonna have to get down and dirty with that big ‘ol polearm of yours,” Eve noted coyly.
“It’s not a polearm,” Eclipse sighed, “it’s a naginata. But yes, this bad boy is about to get more use than it’s gotten in years.”
“You sure you can still get it up?” Mirage asked suggestively as her hand began to glow with green Hellfire.
“Very funny,” Eclipse shot back with a catty tone. “If anyone needs to worry about getting it up, it’s gonna be California Girl over there.”
“I work just fine with flaccid, thank you very much,” Deja protested. “When you’ve got this much length, the sky’s the limit on what you can do. I’m sure Jacob knows what I’m talking about.”
I felt a warm blush creep up my face as my pants tightened. Of all the rumors I was proud of Mephisto for spreading, the one about my cock size probably made me the proudest.
Then again, that was much more than just a rumor.
“Alright,” Mirage tried to bring everyone back to attention, “what kind of illusion should I concoct?”
“Well,” Eve pondered aloud, “these things can smell blood from dozens of miles away, and they’re known to go after just about anything that moves … ”
I wanted to speak up and ask what kind of prey a Vargrat usually hunted, but I’d promised myself I wasn’t going to interfere.
“Bats,” Inpulsa muttered nonchalantly as she used her yellow Hellfire to inspect one of the skulls on the ground. “A Vargrat’s diet is mostly composed of bats.”
“Then that’s a great place to start!” Deja agreed. “You could make a whole flock of the little fellas and make ‘em extra loud and supersonicky.”
“One flock of bats, coming right up.” Mirage nodded, and then her eyes rolled back in her head. “Are we ready, girls?”
The other four succubi took their positions as they awaited their teammate’s move. Eve, Deja, and Eclipse all drew their weapons in anticipation, and Inpulsa took a fighting stance with her hands both aglow in yellow Hellfire.
Mirage’s body began to float up into the air as green mist poured from her eyes like a waterfall of jade and then surrounded the landscape around us. A few seconds later, the mist floated up into the air and formed itself into dozens of tiny, winged figures.
We were now staring at a large flock of bats. The projections of the creatures squeaked and squealed loudly, and their voices mixed together to form a sort of amplified, supersonic wave of sound.
The shrill sound pierced my ears like a knife, and I had to throw my hands over them to make sure I wasn’t going to permanently damage my eardrums.
However, the girls’ ploy worked.
Within a few minutes, the ground began to rumble beneath our feet, and the bats’ ultrasonic squeaks were met with a deep, guttural growl that sounded like a cross between a bear and a bobcat.
That would be our Vargrat.
The four remaining succubi surrounded Mirage as they desperately looked around for their incoming target.
“There!” Inpulsa called out as she tossed a bolt of lightning into the sky on her left.
As the blast of staticky yellow Hellfire passed through the sky, it illuminated the massive figure of the Vargrat.
This fucking thing was huge, even by Vargrat standards. The giant rodent was nearly double the height of any of us, and his body was three times as wide. Thick muscles rippled underneath his fur as he ran, and there was bloodlust in his eyes.
“Uh, Mirage?” Deja gasped. “I don’t think he gives a flying fuck about the bats anymore.”
“Of course not,” the brunette succubus mused as she floated back down to the ground and drew her gladius. “Now that he’s found six more tasty morsels to snack on, those things are nothing. Just as I had planned. Now, shall we?”
Watching what came next was like watching clockwork.
Mirage zipped over to the left, next to Eclipse, and tossed a handful of red fireballs at the Vargrat.
The creature serpentined to dodge the attack, and he let out a roar of anger as he closed the gap on the succubi.
“Now, Deja!” Eve commanded, and the time-manipulator jumped into action.