by Eric Vall
Deja’s body was eclipsed with black Hellfire, and then it began to rapidly fade in and out. Next, a mirror image of the succubus appeared at her side, brandishing the same chainspear that she held in her hand. Deja called forth her tiny bat wings, lifted up into the air, and flew sideways. As she did so, the copy of herself did exactly the same.
Once they were nearly parallel, Deja and her clone threw their chains around the Vargrat’s neck. The creature’s momentum nearly yanked them out of the sky, but they were somehow able to retain their balance.
The Vargrat screeched as it flailed its head wildly in an attempt to shake off the succubus. However, the other four were already on it.
“Calm him down, ladies!” Mirage called out, and then both Eve and Eclipse summoned their Hellfire into their hands.
Eclipse’s spell struck first, and the rat’s eyes lit up with black Hellfire.
Now blinded, he began to jerk back and forth even harder.
“She said calm him!” Deja grunted as she tried to keep her grip on the chain. “Not piss him off even more.”
“Relax,” Eve reassured her teammate. “He will be beyond calm in a moment.”
The redheaded succubus pointed her open palm at the Vargrat’s chest, and his motions suddenly began to slow. He was still pissed off and trying to escape, but it was easy to see his “spark” was gone.
I guess that’s what happens when somebody drains part of your life force.
“My turn,” Inpulsa boasted as she took a running start.
Once the yellow-haired succubus was behind the Vargrat, she squatted down and then propelled herself into the air. She somersaulted over the monster gracefully, and when she was just above his grotesque head, she threw out her hand and blasted him with her yellow flames.
The Vargrat’s body twitched violently as it was electrocuted from the brain down, but he remained on his own four feet.
“Plan B,” Eve announced as she drew her rapier, “One well-placed stab should do the trick.”
“How are you going to--Ahhh!” Deja screamed as she nearly lost her balance. “How are you going to stab this guy when he’s flailing around like this?”
Eve didn’t even respond. Instead, the armor-clad succubus strutted up to the Vargrat, squinted one eye, and then pulled back her weapon. She took aim for a split second more before she drove the point of the rapier forward, directly into the monster’s chest.
Suddenly, the Vargrat went motionless. Then he let out a pitiful squeak as his body collapsed to the ground with a loud thud, and his gnarly tongue flopped out of his mouth.
“Go, Eve!” Deja exclaimed as she recalled her chain.
The doppelganger of the succubus floated back over to the original, lined up evenly with her body, and then was assimilated in a flash.
“That was actually really damn impressive,” Mirage added as she walked back over to the group. “Where did you learn how to do that?”
Eve just shrugged.
“A good girl never tells,” she giggled. “Besides, you guys aren’t the ones I needed to impress. What do you think, King Ralston?”
The redhead’s question caught me off guard, and I tried to think of an answer as my mind tried to reorient itself.
“Two words.” I grinned at the women. “Bad. Ass.”
All five of the succubi let out a chuckle of glee as they pumped their fists in the air and celebrated.
“Does this mean you’ll accept us as your Demon Lords?” Inpulsa asked. “Because that would be really fucking awesome if you did.”
“That was just one Vargrat,” I explained. “You guys did great, but I was thinking maybe we could try something with a bit more adversity? Maybe like, a small herd of these guys? That would at least show me how you perform in group combat situations. I--”
“Wait.” Eve shushed me with a raised finger. “I’m sensing a huge surge of life force around us right now.”
“Is it more Vargrats?” I questioned. “Did they see the bats and decide to come investigate?”
“No, not Vargrats,” Eve gasped. “Their heartbeats tell me they’re tall and muscular.”
“Where are they coming from?” Inpulsa asked, somewhat flustered. “These things think they’re catching us off-guard, but I can easily reveal them if I know where to shoot.”
“That way,” the redheaded succubus announced as she spun around and pointed behind us.
Without missing a beat, Inpulsa launched a massive bolt of electric Hellfire in the direction Eve had mentioned. The spell traveled for a few dozen feet before it struck one of the incoming figures and lit up its body like a Christmas tree.
I let out a gasp as I saw what was coming. I recognized the figure immediately, with its pale, ashy skin, bald head, and muscular frame.
It was a fucking Tartaruchi. And, judging by the readings Eve was getting, there were a lot of them.
“How many, Eve?” I demanded, but the redhead just frowned and shook her head.
“Too many to count,” she gasped. “My magic can’t even detect any sort of numerical figure.”
Great.
I turned around to face the incoming assault, drew the Unhallowed Sword from its sheath, and summoned yellow Hellfire into my hand.
What had started out as a simple training exercise looked like it was taking a turn for the worse.
Chapter 6
“What in the holy Hell are Tartaruchi doing all the way out here?” Deja gasped when she saw the figure illuminated in the light of Inpulsa’s electricity. “Aren’t they supposed to, like, stay in their assigned places in the different Circles and all that?”
“For being the ‘protectors of Hell,’” Mirage grumbled, “they sure are doing a terrible job at it.”
The footsteps of the horrid creatures were growing louder by the second, and I realized we would soon be within their striking range. I had to make a move, and I had to make it quick. So, I called forth purple Hellfire in one hand, green Hellfire in the other, and then slammed my palms down into the ground.
Four massive walls of fire sprung forth from the brimstone and surrounded us in their inferno. The combined Hellfire types swirled together to form a strange, dark brown color as their magic was combined.
Then came the assault of fireballs.
Small, red blasts of Hellfire lit up the darkness of the Hunter’s Plains, and for the first time, I could see what we were dealing with.
The Tartaruchi were all around our position as they hurled their spells, and I figured there must have been at least a hundred of the fuckers.
Unfortunately for them, their ranks would be thinning quite quickly.
As soon as the fireballs struck my barriers, they were transported across space and time before I commanded them to reappear. Right in the air above the fuckers.
I heard a series of inhuman hisses as the Tartaruchis’ own fireballs rained down on them, and there were a few flashes of bright red as bodies went up in flames. Had they been stupid enough to continue their attack, these bastards would have done all the work for us.
However, these weren’t simple grunts like Azazel’s red warriors or the Daeva. These were the Tartaruchi, the sacred guardians of Hell.
They knew exactly what they were doing, and that made this assault all the more troubling.
“Is this our second test?” Eclipse asked over the sound of the screaming, ashy demons.
“If I could control the Tartaruchi, I’d have this whole war won by now,” I joked. “I have no idea where these fuckers came from, or how they knew we were out here. All I know is that, right now, they need to die.”
The guardians of Hell halted their attack on our shields as they allowed the cover of darkness to return. The glow of my brownish Hellfire continued to illuminate the area slightly, but it did little more than show me the front of our enemy’s ranks.
Now that they realized they weren’t going to get through, each of the Tartaruchi stood deathly still with their iron pitchforks down at their si
de. They had a blank, emotionless expression as they stared us down through the translucent wall, and it was enough to send a shiver down my spine.
“What are they doing?” Eve growled. “Why did they stop?”
“They’re trying to wait us out,” Mirage explained. “They know we can’t hold our position forever, but they also realize they can’t do anything until we move.”
“It’s like an old west showdown,” I added as I drew the Unhallowed Sword from my belt. “The question is, can we hit them before they hit us?”
“I could take ‘em all,” Inpulsa boasted with a hand on her hip. “Seriously, King Ralston, pull down your shields, and I’ll turn ‘em all to ashes.”
“Hold on,” I whispered to the yellow-haired succubus, “that’s actually not that bad of an idea. We just have to play it smart.”
“What are you talking about?” Eve hissed. “If you release your shields, we’ll be sitting ducks.”
“I know that,” I confirmed, “but if we want to stand any sort of chance against these bastards, we need to get them split up into more manageable sizes. And the only way we’re gonna do that is by breaking through their forces.”
“Uhhhhhhhh,” Deja mused in a high-pitched tone, “I’m not really following … ”
“We have an illusionist,” I whispered as I nodded to Mirage. “If we play our cards right, we can replace the real shields with fake ones. Then, the six of us will at least be the ones to land the first blow.”
“Ohhhhh, I get it.” Deja nodded as she tightened her grip on the chain in her hand. “You want me to get in on the action, too? I could trick them all to make it look like we’re moving slower than we really are.”
“And then I could steal the light from their Hellfire,” Eclipse added. “That way, they’d be attacking blind.”
I glanced over at Eve to see if she had anything to add, but she just gave me a disapproving stare.
“My powers aren’t strong enough to weaken this whole army,” she said in a hush, and then she waved her rapier in the air. “But this bad boy can do way more damage than you’d think.”
“Fair enough.” I shrugged and then turned back to Mirage. “Are you ready?”
The brunette succubus took a firmer stance, and then she rolled her eyes into the back of her head. As she did so, green Hellfire mist began to pour out of her orbitals and trickle down onto the ground.
My heart hammered in my chest as I watched the mist travel over to the base of my barriers, and then I prepared to decast my spell. I had to be really fucking careful. If I mistimed the transition by even a few seconds, the Tartaruchi would realize what was going on, and we would all be incinerated by their white-hot flames or skewered by their deadly tridents.
I took a deep breath as the mist began to slowly climb up the walls, and then I set to work. I tried to look as nonchalant as I possibly could as I deactivated my protective spell, little by little. I could feel the cold sweat beading on my forehead, and it was almost as chilly as the blood running through my veins at the moment.
Just stay the course, Jacob. Don’t let ‘em see you sweat.
Then, before I knew what had happened, it was over. The real barriers around my team were now gone, and Mirage’s illusion stood in their place.
The best part was that the Tartaruchi appeared to be none the wiser.
It was time to do or die.
I summoned red and yellow Hellfire into my open hand, swirled the spell together, and prepared for the attack.
At the same time, I saw Inpulsa’s yellow fire crackle and spread through her body like she was charging up a taser. Meanwhile, Eclipse had black Hellfire in one hand and her massive naginata resting against her shoulder, and Eve had her rapier at the ready.
Deja started to swing her spiked chain around her side like a lasso as she raised a flickering hand into the air. She gave me a nod to show that she was ready, and I returned the gesture.
It was showtime.
“Now!” I exclaimed, and then I hurled forth a shot of yellow and red flames.
The succubi all followed suit as the air behind me crackled with electricity and the sizzle of Hellfire.
Just as we’d expected, the Tartaruchi had no idea what was coming. They let out a collective gasp of surprise as our attacks passed through the shield and struck the bastards closest to our position.
My yellow-and-red shuriken stabbed into the chests of ten different Tartaruchi and knocked them back into their allies behind them. However, they weren’t done.
I snapped my fingers, and the shuriken exploded. There was a brief yelp of pain as chunks of Tartaruchi flew up into the air and then fell back down to the dirt like a hurricane of gore.
I saw Eve zip past my right on her large, black wings, and then she used her momentum to skewer three of the fuckers straight through the chest like a shish kebab.
“That’s why soldiers shouldn’t stand in a line!” she mocked as she stabbed her rapier through the eye of another Tartaruchi. “It makes you much easier to kill.”
Damn. I made myself a mental not to never get on Eve’s bad side.
Inpulsa was just off to my left, and she flipped over the blows of the Tartaruchi as she blasted them at point-blank range with her electric flames. The ashy bastards seized and gasped as their bodies were fried from the inside, and then they crumpled down into a heap.
Two more of the Tartaruchi took a swing at me with their tridents, but I quickly threw up a portal of green in front of the trajectory. Both of the deadly weapons passed through harmlessly before they reappeared beside the heads of their wielders and jabbed into the flesh of their temples. The dark red eyes of the bastards went dead as the prongs turned their brains into swiss cheese, and their tongues flopped oafishly out of their mouths.
Just as the two dead Tartaruchi went down, I had to spin around to counter the next attack. I got the Unhallowed Sword up just in time to block an incoming trident, and then I swiftly ducked down to avoid a blast of white-hot incendiary flames.
“Fiiilllthhy Mortalllll scummmmm,” the creature hissed with an almost reptilian voice.
I summoned bronze Hellfire into my hand, blasted the ground beneath us, and then watched as the Tartaruchi stumbled backward and tried to hold his balance. Before he could reorient himself, I spun around, threw up my dark blade, and separated his head from his shoulders with a wet crunch.
“Nephilim!” I cried as I whipped around and parried another trident. “When will you guys get it right?”
I hauled back my sword to kill my next attacker, but Deja was already on it.
The tip of her spiked chain erupted through the eye socket of the Tartaruchi from behind, and I gagged as a mixture of brain matter, skull fragments, blood, and some sort of clear liquid splattered all over the front of my armor.
Deja gave the chain a yank, and the creature’s corpse was thrown to the ground like a ragdoll. But the succubus wasn’t done yet. She ignited the dead Tartaruchi’s body with a blast of red Hellfire, pulled the chain in closer, and then began to spin the flaming corpse around her head like a lasso. As she spun, her hand began to glitch in and out before the effect spread up her chain and onto the makeshift flail.
The dead warrior’s body suddenly started to flicker in and out like mad, and then Deja released it from her grip. As she did so, the flaming body multiplied into five replicas, and the crowd of Tartaruchi were assaulted by the burning corpse of their fallen brother.
I blocked another trident with my purple flame, stabbed the assailant through the stomach, and then laughed as I watched several more of the fuckers light on fire and run around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Deja may have played up the whole “ditzy California girl” shtick, but she was as deadly as any of the other succubi on my team.
I watched the succubus jump up into the air, twist her body like a top, and then launch her spear through a handful of nearby targets. Then she tossed them up into the air, and I finished them off wit
h a massive ball of red Hellfire.
The ash of their burnt bodies fell down on us like powdery snow as the battle raged on.
As another small horde of Tartaruchi charged at me, I lifted up my hand and endowed it with silver and red Hellfire. I aimed at the fuckers, lit up their tridents with the spell, and watched in amusement as their weapons turned to liquid in their hands.
The Tartaruchi screamed as the molten metal scorched their hands, and they tried to toss it out of their grip.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Instead, I ordered the runny metal to attach itself to their hands and then climb up their arms like a series of deadly silver vines. Try as they might to fling the watery material off their bodies, it clung to them tightly as it seared into their flesh and muscle.
While they were distracted by the pain of their burning appendages, I made my move. I stabbed the first one directly between the eyes, and then I dislodged my blade, spun around, and came down on the second Tartaruchi’s neck in a downward slash.
A tidal wave of dark red blood sprayed from his neck as his artery was severed, and he gurgled helplessly as I moved on to the third fucker.
He desperately tried to lash out at me, but I was too quick. I liquified the metal once more, ordered it to climb even further, and then watched as it shot up like a jumping spider. The watery metal latched onto the Tartaruchi’s face, and his screams of agony were muffled by the material as it burned into his ugly mug. He was dead in seconds.
“Eclipse, can you give me a hand?” Eve called out from my far left.
I twisted around to see the redhead’s hand aglow with silver Hellfire. There were several tendrils shooting out of her open palm, all of which were attached to the hearts of a nearby group of Tartaruchi.
She was weakening their life force.
Suddenly, the darkness of the Hunter’s Plains were illuminated with a blast of yellow Hellfire as it shot toward the group of ashy fuckers. It struck the first one before it splintered off and hit the rest of the group, and they all began to vibrate violently. Then there was a spray of gore as their hearts literally exploded out of their chests.