by Eric Vall
He tried to throw another projectile at me, but it was knocked away instantly by Eclipse’s naginata as she took to the sky on the offensive.
Todd, Eligor, Gula, and a healed Liby were right behind her, and I couldn’t help but gawk with pride as my friends attacked the Demon King head-on. Sia was dangling from Eligor’s arms, but even she pitched in with a blast of black fire.
Gressil and my friends grew further away as I descended, until I was nearly four full stories below them. I couldn’t focus on the battle or the incoming Targlin for long, anyway, since the rest of the Shades were getting up.
So, I called purple Hellfire into my hands, created a large, glowing cube around my body, and then commanded it to expand indefinitely.
As the glowing violet structure expanded in five different directions, it moved the mind-controlled Shades with it. They tried to resist the push of my spell, but it was futile. One by one, the fuckers disappeared over the edge of the platform and down into the space between the stage and the wall.
Just where I wanted them.
Then I reached out once again, grabbed the lever with my telekinetic Hellfire, and reversed it mid-descent.
I almost felt bad for what I was about to do. These things were once regular humans, just like me.
Then again, they were trying to kill us.
Besides, they might be in a world of hurt when all was said and done, but they’d heal. Eventually.
I remained at the center of the stage as the platform came to a crashing halt. Then the ground groaned once more, and the entire structure began to rise upward. As it moved, the parts of the structure that had retreated back into the walls reemerged and began to slowly press toward the platform in the middle.
With the Shades still trapped inside.
This time, they did scream. The air was filled with the horrific sounds of the Shades as their bodies were crushed between the two walls of brimstone, and there was a nauseating, wet crunch as their screams died out once and for all. Or at least, until I released them and gave them time to heal.
Now, that just left Gressil and the Targlins.
As I rose back up, I saw the rest of the team were engaged with the small, goblin-like creatures high above my position.
There were blood splatters all over the wall from where the Targlins had been killed, and several of their bodies were falling down to the platform around me with wet plops. Meanwhile, Gressil was jumping from one side of the vertical silo to the other as he launched knife after knife at my friends.
Not for long, fucker.
I waited for Gressil to make the leap, and then I tossed up a wall of purple Hellfire directly in front of his trajectory.
The King of the Sixth Circle smacked into the damn thing like a cartoon character and then ragdolled backward as he plummeted down toward the ground. His body bounced off the brimstone violently, and then he flipped back up to his feet. However, he was looking worse for wear. The bastard had blood trickling out of his hooked nose, and he was panting heavily.
“Thanks for giving me that idea, King Ralston,” he growled as he pulled out another knife, “I’ll have to be sure and crush your Shades into dust when we finally invade your domain. After we eliminate Mephisto and all of his followers, of course.”
“Not a fucking chance, Gressil,” I shot back as I tossed out a handful of yellow shuriken.
Even in his injured state, Gressil was light on his feet. He flipped through the barrage of deadly disks and launched his first knife at me.
I knocked it away with the Unhallowed Sword, but then his next one was on me so quickly that I barely had time to lean out of the way. It soared past my head, stabbed into the wall, and then returned to Gressil as a streak of green.
“So, you took out my Shades,” he taunted as his eyes glowed white, “no matter. The Targlins will still feast on your friends’ innards while I make you watch. Then I’ll force you to watch as I invade your castle, take your succubi for myself, and torture any of the foolish demons who chose to ally themselves with Nephilim filth like you.”
“Oh, I think it’s the other way around,” I retorted. “I’m not sure how many of your succubi showed up to my little auditions, but one thing was clear. They want me, and they want to be as far away from you as fucking possible.”
As the last words left my mouth, I summoned silver Hellfire into my hands, liquified the metal ball at my belt, and turned it into a spear again. Then I threw it as hard as I could at Gressil as I also spun around and tossed out a handful of green and yellow shuriken.
The King of the Sixth Circle tried to kick the spear away, but I was onto him.
I liquified the thing, ordered it to wrap around his leg, and then pinned it to the ground. At the same time, the shuriken reached the bastard.
Gressil screamed in agony as his body was turned into a demonic pincushion, and then again when I commanded the deadly, enchanted disks to drag themselves downward. Blood oozed out of the Demon King’s wounds as he tried to pull himself free, but I had him pinned down.
“Oh, do you need some help with that?” I mocked, and then I ordered the metal around his leg to twist.
There was a loud crack as the bones in Gressil’s leg were shattered, and he yelled in pain as he went down onto one knee.
This was too fucking easy.
I ordered the metal to liquify once more and then stab into the fucker’s head.
However, much to my surprise, Gressil’s hand shot out, and he snatched the metal out of the air. His hand glowed white, and then the spell spread across my weapon.
I tried to recall it to me, but it wasn’t responding.
“I call it the ‘Midas Touch,’” Gressil panted as his glowing white eyes met mine, “everything my white Hellfire touches becomes my own. Including your precious weaponry.”
Gressil let out a grunt as he hurled the hunk of metal back at me, and I was just able to dispel it with a cast of purple. Then the unthinkable happened.
My own weapon turned on me.
The silvery liquid metal wrapped around my neck, twisted itself around like a noose, and lifted me up into the air.
I gasped as the breath left my lungs, and I kicked fruitlessly for any sort of salvation. Finally, as my vision began to turn black, I threw down a platform of purple underneath my feet. I sucked hard at the air as I tried to keep myself from passing out, but Gressil was already on the move.
The bastard jumped up on the wall to my right, stabbed into it with his knife, and then propelled himself toward me. He spun around in midair, and the next thing I knew, the point of his blade was headed straight for my temple.
I threw up a portal of green Hellfire in front of the incoming knife, and it disappeared inside. The portal reopened just behind Gressil’s head, and he just barely leaned out of the way of his own incoming attack.
Then the King of the Sixth Circle slugged me as hard as he could in the gut before he flipped backward into the air and launched another knife.
I tried to knock it away with my sword, but I was too gassed. There was a sharp pain as the blade stabbed into my upper left calf, and my leg gave out underneath me. As I collapsed, I felt the deathly grasp of the metal around my neck.
If I didn’t get rid of this thing, the life was going to be literally choked out of me.
White-hot pain shot through my leg as I forced myself back to my feet and tried to pry the metal away with a cast of green flames. The emerald fire glistened as it fought against Gressil’s white spell, but nothing happened.
Meanwhile, the King of the Sixth Circle cackled maniacally as he threw out another handful of knives.
This time, I used the metal noose to my advantage.
I grabbed onto to it by both sides and then grunted as I bent my entire lower half upward. The daggers passed harmlessly beneath my feet, but I still paid the price for my actions. I experienced an intense searing sensation in my palms, and I let out a growl of pain as I released my grip on the metal.
&n
bsp; “What’s the matter, King Ralston?” Gressil mocked. “Have you finally realized that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?”
I wanted to retaliate with a snarky remark, but I needed to save my breath. Instead, I let my shuriken do the talking.
I tossed out a handful of the yellow, glowing disks and then enchanted them with bronze Hellfire while they were still in the air.
Gressil flipped vertically on the wall of the silo to avoid my attack, but it didn’t matter. The second the bronze and yellow projectiles hit the brimstone, the entire right half of the silo began to vibrate intensely. Gressil’s eyes went wide as his knives were shaken loose from their hold, and his body plummeted down and then smacked violently into the ground below.
I knew that would only slow down the Demon King, but at least it gave me a minute to figure out how to get out of my current situation.
I needed to think. My own Hellfire didn’t seem to do anything against the white flames Gressil controlled, and using my weapons against this thing was a waste of time and energy. The second they touched the white shimmer, they would become as good as Gressil’s.
Then it hit me.
What I needed right now was some Divine intervention.
I looked up above my current position and saw all of my friends still engaged in battle with the hideous Targlins, who descended from the upper levels of the silo.
The Targlins were skittering down the walls, while my friends fought them off from their positions in the air.
Eligor kept the closer ones away with her dual swords, while she knocked others off the wall with sporadic casts of red fire.
Meanwhile, Eclipse, Gula, and Sia were all tag-teaming. Gula held Sia in her arms as she pumped her brown, boosting Hellfire into the madame’s body. As a result, Sia was blasting out beams of black flames that were bigger than any I’d ever seen her create before. The attack knocked the Targlins off the walls, and then Eclipse would make them disappear with a quick cast of black nebulous flame.
Todd and Libidine worked together, as well. Todd was zipping around as he crop dusted the Targlins with silver, reefer-infused flames. Once his enemies became nice and disoriented, Libidine would take them out with a shot of her yellow daggers.
My team was doing all they could to keep the bastards at bay, so now I needed to improvise.
In one quick motion, I decast my purple flames, created a portal of green Hellfire beneath my body, and then moved it upward so it encased me with its jade glow. Suddenly, I felt myself floating through time and space, and then I forced my body to reappear just above the chaos of the Targlin versus Succubi battle.
“Jacob!” Libidine gasped when she saw me.
“Holy shit, Jakey!” Todd whistled. “Green Goblin musta decided to choke a bitch, huh?”
“I n-need your e-energy,” I gasped as I threw down a platform of purple flames beneath my feet.
“Ohhhh,” Todd cackled as he sliced open the face of a Targlin with his claws, “is it Spirit Bomb time? Because that’s always my favorite part of the episode?”
“Just do it!” I commanded my friend.
“Alright, alright,” Todd giggled, and then he flew down to the rest of the team muttering something about “getting my power level to over nine-thousand.”
Suddenly, I could feel a cold, pin-prick sensation that I was all too familiar with.
My friends were sending me their energy.
Unfortunately, my new position on the battlefield was also drawing the attention of a few unwanted parties. The Targlins who had mainly been focused on my friends had now turned their attention to me, and they were out for blood. They made inhuman hissing noises as they skittered down the wall, wiggled their butts like a cat ready to pounce, and then leapt straight toward me.
I commanded my purple flames to expand and create a protective box all around my body, and the tiny Targlins bounced off harmlessly before they plummeted to their deaths below.
It didn’t take long for the little fuckers to catch on, though, and within seconds, they clung to the sides of the box like lemmings and began to beat on it with their deadly claws.
My spell couldn’t hold up forever, but it didn’t have to. I felt a familiar tingling sensation in my temples, and the pin-prick sensation was now engulfing my entire body in its bristly embrace.
My blue horns were sprouting, and I was just about at full power.
Now, these little Targlin bastards were gonna get it.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I decast my purple flames and surrounded myself with Divine Light. Then I let out a yell of anger as I blasted the heavenly magic in an outward circle in all directions around my body.
The Targlins let out a series of gargled screams as their bodies were evaporated by the light, and I sensed the metal noose slip away from my neck. Then I suddenly felt the pull of gravity, and I gasped as I plummeted downward.
Luckily, Libidine was there to break my fall. I heard the beat of the succubus’ wings as she swooped down and snatched me out of my freefall, and as we lifted back up into the air, I tossed out a beam of bronze Hellfire against the nearest wall.
Several more Targlin let out a surprised yelp as they were knocked loose from the wall and then fatally crashed down into the brimstone floor.
“We gotta stop meeting like this,” Liby giggled.
“I dunno,” I shot back, “I always like having you all pressed up against me.”
I looked down to see Gressil had recovered from his fall. He was now clawing his way back up the silo with a series of long, ascending jumps, and he would soon be back within striking distance.
“Liby, do you want to help me kill a Demon King?” I asked with a grin. “I think the rest of the group can more than handle the Targlins.”
“It’d be my honor, my King,” the succubus purred with determination.
“Then take me down there.” I pointed to the ascending Gressil. “We need to finish this shit off once and for all.”
Without another word, Libidine and I swooped down just above the Demon King, and I tossed out a large platform of purple fire. We landed on the glowing purple wall, split up, and prepared for battle.
Gressil made one final leap, and then he was face-to-face with the succubus and me.
“I don’t say this often,” Gressil sneered, “but I’m going to enjoy killing your succubus.”
“I’m a Demon Lord, you slimy-skinned, oversized bile stooge!” Libidine growled.
“Not bad,” I noted. “Did Todd teach you that one?”
“No,” Liby shook her head, but she didn’t take her eyes off Gressil, “I came up with that one all on my own. I’m quite proud of it.”
“This is why I don’t give a shit about my succubi,” Gressil snorted sarcastically, “your little lover’s banter is both pathetic and fruitless.”
Then the King of the Sixth Circle spun around and unleashed a slew of throwing knives in our direction.
I knocked the first wave away with a flash of purple Hellfire, but another set came bearing down on our position.
Libidine somehow caught them all with her green Hellfire, but she was barely holding onto them. The succubus let out a scream of determination as she kept the knives at bay, and I used this opportunity to counter attack.
I decast the purple Hellfire from underneath Gressil’s body, and he just barely grabbed the edge of the platform before he fell.
However, that was all the time I needed.
I limped forward as quickly as I could, tossed out a series of red and yellow shuriken, and then forced them to explode against the Demon King’s hands.
Before the projectiles could hit their mark, though, Gressil pulled his body back, swung forward, and then used his momentum to launch himself horizontally across the bottom of the purple platform.
I spun around just in time to see the King of the Sixth Circle flip up onto the platform behind Libidine and throw another series of knives.
Liby knocked them away, but th
at was exactly what Gressil had intended.
The demon fucker dashed forward, grabbed Libidine by the throat, and then picked her up into the air.
My vision went red with rage at the sight of the fucker holding my beautiful succubus, but I couldn’t fly off the handle. If I did that, Libidine was as good as dead.
“You love this one, don’t you?” Gressil chuckled as his eyes lit up with white Hellfire. “I wonder if you love her enough to give your own life for hers? Or, will you kill her, and prove once and for all that you’re just as selfish as the rest of the Demon Kings? Either way, I win, King Ralston.”
White flames surrounded Libidine, and Gressil laughed as the succubus fell under his control.
Or so he thought.
“You really didn’t do your research, did you?” Liby’s voice mocked, and I smirked.
“What the fuck?” Gressil gasped, wide-eyed. “You should be under my--”
Before he could finish, Libidine summoned yellow Hellfire into her hands and then stabbed a handful of enchanted spears directly into Gressil’s neck.
The Demon King let out a gurgled wheeze as he released his grip on the succubus, grasped at his throat, and began to cough up dark red blood.
“You can’t use mind control on a demon with mind control powers,” Libidine taunted, “that’s like, Hellfire magic one-oh-one.”
Gressil fumbled for his knife and lashed out at Libidine, but the succubus was too fast.
She rolled back out of the way, threw out a ball of red flames, and knocked Gressil back onto his ass.
Before the fucker could recover, I engulfed him with green Hellfire, lurched my arms upward, and tossed him into the air.
“Everybody get to the side!” I commanded my friends as I watched Gressil rag-doll in the air.
As if it were second nature, all of the succubi and Todd pressed their bodies as close to the sides of the silo as they could.
It was time for the Gob Bomb.
I closed my eyes and focused on the energy coming from all of my friends. Even here, all the way out in the Seventh Circle, I swore I could feel the power of my allies all the way back in my own domain. While the sensation consolidated in my chest, my body became weightless as it floated off the ground and glowed brightly with the blinding white light.