by Eric Vall
“Who wants to go first?” Cupi asked the crowd as she stepped forward.
Without uttering a single word, Inpulsa ran forward, summoned her wings with a flash of purple, and rocketed straight up through the disguised hole.
“I like that one,” Cupi cooed, “always straight to the point.”
“Her name is ‘Inpulsa,’ Cupi,” Todd noted. “It’s kinda in the title. Anywhoooo … alley oop!”
The imp summoned black Hellfire around his body, took a running start, and then shot up through the hole. Mephisto was right behind him.
Libidine was next, followed shortly by Eclipse, Eve, Cupi, Tris, and Sia was carried by Gula. The succubi disappeared through the shabbily-disguised opening, until it was just Mirage, Eligor, and I left down below.
Mirage took another look at the faux wall above her, scrunched her face in disgust, and then summoned two large, scaled wings from her back.
“Amateur hour,” she chuckled to herself as she jumped up and flew through the illusion.
“You go next,” Eligor ordered.
“We’ll go together. I need a lift, anyways.”
“Oh, right,” the knight of Hell said coyly. “I forgot that you don’t have wings. What kind of demon are you, anyway?”
“Nephilim,” I corrected her jokingly. “Now, are you gonna help me or not?”
“On three.” Eligor nodded and held up her glowing green finger. “One … two … now!”
In one sudden movement, Eligor released her spell, summoned her black angel wings, and then zipped over behind me. She took me in her arms, yanked me up into the sky, and we shot through the false ceiling in a flash.
I glanced down and saw she had moved just in time. Below, a literal tidal wave roared underneath our feet and then crashed into the wall with the force of a tsunami.
If we had been one second later, our bodies would have been swept up in the waves like ragdolls, and we probably would have been violently thrown against the rocky wall. At best, that was a few broken bones. At worst, our heads would have been cracked open like a walnut.
Thank goodness Eligor knew what she was doing.
Once we were through the faux ceiling, the entire area around us became more visible, thanks in part to a giant opening about two-hundred feet above our heads. The walls abruptly transformed from jagged black brimstone to a series of polished, symmetrical bricks as we rose.
This thing was man-made, almost like a sort of reverse chimney.
Within a few seconds, the two of us blasted out of the top of the structure and were met with the dark blue sky of the Fifth Circle. The rest of my friends all hovered in the air around us, and about twenty feet below us were the swampy depths that housed this place’s tortured Shades.
However, not half a mile across the landscape stood an island. An island with a castle that was a dirty white and appeared so rickety it could fall over at any moment in time.
It was the Palace of Bones.
“We made it!” Libidine exclaimed happily.
“Not quite yet,” I reminded her. “We need to get over there before Baphomet figures out we’re here.”
Hastened by our panicked realization, the group shot over the grody water without another word until finally, we put ourselves down in front of the Palace of Bones.
This fucking thing was every bit as horrific as I expected it to be. The entirety of the perimeter wall was made up of arm and leg bones that had been fastened together to create a structure nearly one-hundred feet tall and nearly a mile wide. The main gate of the palace was constructed completely out of mandible jaw bones and held in place by a makeshift pulley system. Upon closer inspection, the “rope” that held up the drawbridge was made up of fucking spines.
Meanwhile, the whole perimeter of the castle glowed brightly with a protective spell of purple Hellfire.
“Strange,” Sia mused as she took in the sight, “most demons don’t know how to use protective Hellfire. They’re usually much too aggressive and selfish to have anything to truly care about.”
Unfortunately, Gamigin very much cares about one thing … self-preservation, Mephisto explained. It makes him one of the few demons in Hell who can use that sort of power.
“Still,” I observed with a sly grin, “we have one thing that trumps all of that. We’ve got Cupi, the succubus with the greatest tongue in the universe.”
“Hey!” half of the succubi on the team responded offendedly.
“Your tongues are all great too, ladies,” I shrugged coyly, “but I’m talking about her abilities with incantations and all that.”
What kind of incantation can deactivate Hellfire? Mephisto questioned.
“Simple,” Cupi explained proudly as she strutted forward. “It’s a little-known fact most Hellfire magic can be stomped out with a proper incantation. It’s just the incantations take forever, and that makes them nearly useless when you’re in the heat of battle. For static spells, though … Now, everybody join hands and repeat after me.”
The group all got into a large circle, reached out our arms, and took each other by the hand. Then, we bowed our heads as Cupiditas began to speak in a mixture of Latin and tongues. I could only make out a few words of the incantation, but it sounded like she was calling upon a greater power to “extinguish the fire of her enemies” and to “break through the shields of the damned.” We repeated her incantation the best we could until finally, the blonde succubus stopped talking.
At the same time, the purple Hellfire that surrounded the Palace of Bones began to flicker and fade until finally, it disappeared completely.
“Nice work, Cupiditas,” Superbia announced.
“You’re welcome,” Cupi giggled and then pretended to brush dust off her shoulder.
“Now, for the door,” I said as I turned to the Sister of Lust. “Liby, you want to give me a hand on this one?”
Libidine and I both summoned green Hellfire into our hands, took aim at the pulleys on either side of the door, and then surrounded it with our emerald spell. We ordered the circular pulley system to turn and, sure enough, the bony door began to descend. The spinal chains clinked and clanked as it was lowered down to the ground, and then it finally came to a halt with a dull “thud.”
“There,” I chuckled and decast my spell. “Now, it’s only a matter of finding that fucker Gamigin.”
“I think I can help with that,” Eve suggested. “I can already sense the heartbeat from earlier is much, much closer. If we just keep following it as it gets louder … ”
“We can find Gamigin and make him fucking pay,” I growled. “Let’s do it. Is everybody ready?”
The rest of the team gave me firm nods, and then we began our journey into the depths of the castle.
Eve led the way, and it took everything in my power to not just stare at her perfect, tight ass as she walked. Instead, I focused on the architecture of the castle itself.
The Palace of Bones was built much more like a cathedral than a traditional castle. The ceilings were ridiculously high and built up to form a large dome, and all around us were arches made up of the macabre remains of Baphomet’s former foes. There were even a bunch of pedestals that housed the artifacts the King of the Fifth Circle thought were his greatest conquests.
Baphomet was one sick fucker.
“What’s the plan when we get there?” Libidine asked quietly as we passed through the main lobby of the Palace.
“It’s thirteen to one,” I reminded her. “For once, just this once, I say we kick down the door and light him up with everything we’ve got.”
“What about his protective powers?” Deja questioned. “Won’t that like, shield him from our attacks? That’s what you always do.”
The brunette succubus was right. Even if we were to get the jump of Gamigin, he would just toss up a wall of purple fire and then use his elemental magic to counter-attack from safety.
I rubbed my chin curiously as I pondered a solution.
Then it hit me.
“Recreating the image of thirteen demons and their individual spells?” she scoffed. “That’s child’s play, my King.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” I agreed. “So, new plan. Mirage creates an illusion to draw Gamigin’s attention and then, when he lets his guard down, we attack him for real.”
“I like the way you think, Jakey,” Todd snickered, “we’re totally gonna make Mr. Ed shit a brick before we send him off to the glue factory.”
Who is this “Mr. Ed” you keep comparing Gamigin to? Mephisto questioned. He sounds like a very prominent figure in your Earth Realm culture.
“You don’t even know, Great Pumpkin,” the imp giggled. “A horse is just a horse, or course. Unless it’s Mr. Ed.”
A horse is a horse … unless it’s Mr. Ed? Mephisto questioned with eyes full of confusion. So, he’s a human? A great Earth warrior?
“Nope,” Todd corrected, “he’s a talking horse, bro. But not just a horse, of course.”
Mephisto stared in silence at the imp for a long moment and then shook his head.
Your Earth Culture baffles me, he surrendered.
“Guys … ” Eve warned us, “his heartbeat is going crazy. I think he’s in this room over here.”
The redhead with the wavy hair pointed over to a nearby door covered with grisly decor. There was a humanesque skull in the center of the door with two rib bones that jutted out of the mouth and curled down to form a knocker. All over the wood were tiny, white pieces that acted as a sort of bedazzlement.
Once we got closer, my stomach did a full three-sixty.
It was decorated with teeth.
I held down my lunch and then turned back to Mirage as I placed my hand delicately on the doorknob. It was made out of a small skull, and I had to force my mind away from all of the awful possibilities that went along with the revelation.
The short-haired succubus summoned her green Hellfire mist into her hand, gave me a nod, and then surrounded the team in its glow.
I flung open the door and jumped out of the way as Mirage’s spell flew into the room and projected the image of all thirteen of us inside.
There was a split-second sensation of being transported through time and space, and then I felt my projection appear directly in front of Gamigin. It was a strange feeling. I could see both what was going on inside the room and what was going on in front of my physical body at the same time.
The room we’d just entered appeared to be a study of some sort, with a bony bookcase against the wall and a couple of desks made out of the same material.
“Jacob!” Gamigin gasped when he saw us. “How did you--”
“You fucking tried to kill me, bro!” Todd’s projection hissed. “But the Toddster lives to fight another day. Viva la revolución!”
The imp’s projection launched a fireball at the horse-like Demon Lord, and everyone else in the group followed with a spell of their own.
As expected, Gamigin created a massive wall of purple Hellfire in front of himself and then summoned lime green fire into his second hand.
Now was my chance.
I quickly surrounded all of our physical forms with green Hellfire and pictured the spot directly behind Gamigin.
Enchanted vines shot up from the ground beneath our projections, but when they attacked, they hit nothing but air.
“What in the--” Gamigin began, but that was when I made my move.
I teleported the team’s physical bodies into the room. We reappeared right behind the horse-faced fucker, and he’d just began to turn around when we lit him up with everything we had.
Shots of yellow, red, silver, black, and bronze Hellfire shot through the air, struck the Demon Lord, and turned his body into a living light show. Gamigin let out a wail of horror as his body was assaulted with every type of attack we knew, and then he fell to his knees as smoke rolled off his body and his flesh began to singe away.
When we finally released our spell, Gamigin was little more than a burnt husk of a demon. His skin was completely charred, and blood was oozing out of every orifice on his body as he heaved forward and landed on his hands and knees.
I drew the Unhallowed Sword as I approached the bastard, intent on going in for the kill.
“Gamigin,” I growled, “I don’t know what was going through your mind when you decided to betray me, and frankly I don’t care. You tried to fuck me over and kill my friends. And for that, you die.”
The horse-faced Demon Lord lifted his head to say something, but I was done with his bullshit.
I brought the sword down on his neck, and the fucker’s head was separated from his shoulders with a wet shlock. It hit the ground, rolled across the floor, and came to a stop underneath Mirage’s foot.
“That was way less intense than I thought it would be,” the brunette mused. “Do all of the opponents you face go down so easily?”
“Not at all, Houdini,” Todd explained as he rapped on his tiny chin. “In fact, most of our adventures end with us facing off against some massive, larger-than-life enemy that nearly kills us. It feels like we just took down a mini boss or something, and the real boss is--”
“Very impressive,” a deep, inhuman voice mocked from above.
“Theeeerrrrreee it is,” Todd sighed and summoned red Hellfire into his hands.
We all looked up to see the shadow of a large demon through the stained-glass window, hovering above the Palace of Bones like a vulture circling his prey. Without warning, the shadow lurched downward, burst through the window, and sent a spray of colorful glass shards in our direction.
I tossed up a quick barrier of purple to protect my friends from the falling glass and then watched in horror as the demon descended.
His massive, bulky frame was carried by two giant black angel wings. His hairy, hooved legs were covered up by a loose-fitting pair of pants that hung off his body like a disheveled bedsheet, and his goat-shaped head and long, reverse-curved horns became clearer as he approached.
The demon landed hard on the ground, stood to his feet, and crossed his arms over his muscular chest.
It was Baphomet.
“Long time, no see, King Ralston,” the King of the Fifth Circle mocked. “I didn’t expect you to deal with Gamigin so quickly. If I knew he wouldn’t have even put up a fight against you, I never would have chosen him as the bait in the first place.”
Son of a bitch … getting strategic information from Gamigin was never the end goal for the Unholy Trio. He was little more than a sacrificial goat, used to bring in the real target. They wanted us here, on their turf, without my army to back us up.
And that was exactly what they had done.
Now, Baphomet had us right where he wanted us, and there was no way both of us were walking out of this room alive.
Chapter 17
“Beelzebub and Gressil warned me about facing you head-on,” Baphomet mused as he stood there with his arms crossed over his buff chest. “They said they needed ‘strategy’ and ‘careful planning’ to crush you like the cockroach you are, but they were wrong. Apparently, all it took was a blow to your ego. Like I said before, Nephilim, you’re not so different than the rest of us Demon Kings.”
“What can I say?” I growled and tightened my grip on the Unhallowed Sword. “I’ve got the blood of the Prince of Darkness flowing through my veins.”
“Ah, yes,” the goat-headed fucker rolled his eyes dismissively, “so I’ve heard. Do you want an award or something? Your heritage doesn’t make you any less killable.”
“Killable?” Todd snorted. “I think your little ungulate brain can’t comprehend simple math, Mr. Tumnus. There’s thirteen of us and only one of you.”
“Ungulate?” Tris questioned curiously. “Is that one of your weird sex terms?”
“What?” Todd retorted. “No, it’s a large category of mammals that have hooved feet. Duuuuh. I would
n’t expect a sloth like yourself to understand.”
“I-I don’t understand,” Eve gasped, “I couldn’t sense him at all.”
“That’s because you’re a lowly succubus.” Baphomet grinned as he summoned black Hellfire into his hands. “Your powers are nothing compared to my concealment magic. I’ve been hovering over the Palace of Bones this whole time, waiting for you.”
“Shoulda cast ‘detect magic,’ bro,” Todd whispered.
“I could kill all thirteen of you with a snap of my damn fingers,” the Demon King mused, “but I’m only here for one of you. My Daeva will handle the rest.”
Baphomet did in fact snap his fingers, and then the air around us was filled with the sound of rumbling water. Suddenly, there were several splashes, and tiny black demons with red markings began to appear in the window above us. Their eyes glowed a shade of dark crimson as they stared down on us and snarled with their razor-sharp teeth.
I couldn’t get a good count on the little bastards, but there were far too many for my liking.
“Crowd-controllers and long-range fighters,” I ordered my team, “you guys handle the Daeva. I’ve got Mr. Tumnus here, unless anyone else wants to help out.”
“Please,” Baphomet begged mockingly, “the more, the merrier. Now, ‘King Ralston,’ do you have any final words? Would you like to beg for mercy and the lives of your pathetic friends? I’ll be honest, it won’t make a difference. But it would be very entertaining to watch you grovel like the vermin you are.”
“Alright,” I snarled, “I’m done fucking talking.”
Without another word, I summoned bronze Hellfire into my hands, launched it at the Demon King’s feet, and sent him stumbling backwards. Then I charged the fucker with my sword at the ready, but he was much faster than I’d anticipated.
As I swung my weapon in a diagonal motion, Baphomet sidestepped and then used his massive, goat-like horn to parry the blow. The next thing I knew, his fist swung at me with the speed of a professional boxer’s.
I tossed up a quick shield of purple to knock away the attack, but he was already onto the next strike.