Inside a large stone room, the walls dark and damp, devoid of light aside from strange, almost living, looking lights on the walls, The Monarch of the Abyss sat atop a dark and twisted throne made from charred bones held together by Abyssal Energy.
His dark brown hair crawled down his back, atop his head he wore a black crown, the frame looked almost like a birdcage, thorns adorned the black metal frame, the inside of the cage-like frame pulsed a sinister black colour.
He wore a black cloak lined with bones underneath for defence.
A strange red crystal sat in the middle of the cloak, within the crystal a strange shape, almost like an eye, glared outwards from the outfit.
His dark soulless eyes gazed down at Hecate, who was kneeled before him.
"The conquest is going as planned. The Abyssal Architect successfully constructed the Gates, the other five Lieutenants are out in the field destroying the last of my foes. Only you remain unoccupied Hecate, that is about to change, I have another order for you."
Hecate shook nervously as she remained facing downwards towards the stone floor. Her bright blue hair hid her face.
She wore armour made of solidified blood. "P-please Monarch, haven't we done enough? Humanity isn't coming back from this... why must we crush them entirely?"
The Monarch smirked. "So, we have mopey Hecate with us do we? Shame, you've got potential, that insufferable personality. Empathy doesn't suit you, my Lieutenants are my weapons, and a weapon doesn't second guess itself or question authority!"
"I named you after an ancient god so start acting the part!"
The Monarch extended his hand, Hecate felt herself being dragged towards him by some unseen force, before she knew it she was in front of him, his hand clutched firmly on her neck.
"If you won't cooperate, I'll have to make you do so!" The Monarch forced Hecate's mouth open, she squirmed and cried out.
Suddenly Abyssal Energy spilled from his palm directly into Hecate's mouth, she choked and gagged.
"Swallow" The Monarch forced her head back.
Hecate swallowed the strange energy.
"Good girl, that wasn't difficult, and three, two, one." Hecate's body went limp in The Monarch's grip.
The Monarch clicked his fingers. Hecate's eyes flicked open and she gazed up at him, her eyes grew more fiery, her horns grew longer and claws extended from her hands.
She smiled at The Monarch. "Hey, as much as I love being held by you like this Monarch, can you let go please? I kinda like being able to breathe."
She wriggled free of The Monarch's grip and leapt backwards, kneeling excitedly before The Monarch.
"How can I be of service today Monarch? What sort of mission do we have?"
The Monarch chuckled "Not we Hecate, just you this time, you're needed for the final battle. The Golden Regent and his group are making their way here as we speak, to my citadel, I'll meet Regent atop World's End Summit as planned. I require you to cut off Regent's allies at the root. Daniel Draven is currently escorting what remains of humanity to that little stronghold city of theirs, let them go, you needn't bother with them, let them live in fear for a while, Draven is your goal, slay him and prevent him meeting with Regent!"
The Monarch rose from his throne, his form towered over Hecate.
"The Abyssal Oracle has informed me that I have a fifty percent chance of winning against Regent, one of us will die on that summit, in the event that it should be me I require a contingency plan, I won't take my crown with me to the summit, you'll know where to find it in the event of my demise, should I lose wait for humanity to become complacent then retrieve the crown and resurrect me."
Hecate nodded firmly. "Yes Monarch, I doubt you'll lose though. You were strong enough to unite the six Demon Clans, something nobody has achieved since the Demon King centuries ago. You even took a champion from each clan to be your Lieutenants."
The Monarch chuckled. "You place too much faith in me, while I am incredibly powerful, so too is Regent, he's unnaturally strong for a human, he'll prove a challenging opponent. If the worst does come to pass, I'll simply use my last resort, though it would surely tear this world apart it'd allow me to gain the upper hand against Regent. He's humanity's last line of defence, without him they'd soon perish!"
Hecate nodded. "That makes sense, as always Monarch, I'm yours to command."
The Monarch smiled. "Good girl, you're as loyal as ever, just as I expect from my chosen Lieutenants."
The Monarch waved his hand and a small worm-like creature appeared in it. "Here, this is the spawn of the King of the Abyssal Hives. Infuse it with some of your own Abyssal Energy and it'll grow exponentially, a steady flow will allow you to keep it under your command."
The Monarch placed the creature into Hecate's hand.
The blood armour on her hand liquefied and melted away, her palm exposed to the air so she could feel the worm. "Use it well, once it's unleashed it can't be contained again."
The worm's mouth was lined with long, sharp teeth, it bit down on Hecate's hand, blood seeped into the worm's maw.
Hecate giggled. "Silly wormie, it seems a little hungry!"
The Monarch walked towards a large slitted window, he gazed down at the world below.
The flames of war danced from building to building, a city of flames, skyscrapers crashed to the earth, cars exploded and people fell in the hundreds. Abyssal monsters prowled the decimated land, the last of humanity's army was shattered, heroes who stood against the abyss, decimated.
The Monarch chuckled. "Kings, gods, rulers of all kinds, it matters not who they thought they were, there's only one Monarch."
The Monarch turned to face Hecate. "You've got your mission, you may begin from now."
"Yes Monarch, I won't fail you."
"I know you won't, you're my Witch after all. Of all the Demons, the title of The Witch is yours alone, don't disappoint me."
Hecate nodded and rose to her feet, she turned and walked out of the room.
Once outside, Hecate moved towards the main battlefield.
Rain poured down on the damp and muddy ground, thirty humans all armed with guns stood behind barriers, shooting the Abyssal Monsters that poured towards them.
In front of them stood several heroes, one of whom was Daniel Draven, survivors were hidden behind the defensive barriers.
Hecate strode towards Daniel and smiled as he came into view.
Daniel's red eyes squinted as he recognised her. His short black hair soaked in the rain.
Daniel saw her approach and waved to his men. "Take the civilians into the forest, they'll reach Arhke soon enough, Hecate The Witch is here, I'll deal with her!"
Hecate's hand dripped blood which formed into a sword, it solidified and the blade set ablaze.
"Draven, I've heard so much about you, your power is really interesting to me, shall we fight?" She giggled and glared at him.
Daniel stood his ground and the other heroes stood beside him. "Hecate, you've been more of a problem than most other Lieutenants, not only do you fry people alive, but you also force their souls to fight for you, they don't get respite even in death, you truly are a monster!"
Hecate nodded cheerfully. "Yep, that's me, Hecate The Witch, certified monster! That's why The Monarch chose me, because out of everyone from my clan I was the most perfect for his plans, which right now involve removing you from this world!"
Her eyes grew fiery as she beckoned him closer.
Daniel nodded. "I don't believe we have much more to discuss, let's end this, one of us dies here!"
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Hecate smiled and charged at Daniel, her flaming sword crackled through the air, the blade impacted Daniel.
He dissolved into a dark shadow which dispersed and reappeared next to her.
"I hate it when you do that! Just stay still dammit!" Hecate swung her sword around frantically.
Daniel raised several shadow silhouettes all around him, they attacked Hecate.
She swung her sword to disperse them, only for them to reappear again shortly after.
They charged at Hecate, overwhelming her and pinning her down. Her sword flew from her hand, landing and splashing into a puddle of blood.
She struggled and writhed. "Dammit, fight me properly Draven, you coward!"
Daniel nodded. "It's over for you Hecate, this has to be a record by now, beating you this quickly."
Hecate giggled. "Oh? Did you think I was done?" Blood gushed out of Hecate's armour, the arm pieces dissolved away as more poured out, it shot up in a torrent, piercing the shadows and causing them to reappear a short distance away.
Hecate stood up and looked at her now exposed arms. "Oops, guess I went a bit overboard, now my arms are unprotected."
She shrugged. "Ah well, I'll be fine anyway, after all, if you injure me that just gives me more blood to work with!"
Daniel shook his head. "You've not been trying up to now, you're trying to conserve your blood aren't you?"
Hecate smiled. "You saw through my bluff, guess you're smarter than you look, I see why Regent chose you, that makes things interesting, I'll give you a battle worthy of Regent Squadron then!"
Her horns set ablaze and she smiled devilishly.
Hecate's blood trailed down her arm and pooled in her hand, she shook her head.
"The Monarch always chooses the difficult jobs for me, you're nothing I can't handle though. Oh, by the way, The Monarch sends his regards, he's passing through right now, on his way to pay Regent a visit... You won't be by Regent's side during the final battle!"
Daniel signalled to the other heroes by his side. "Go, find Regent and warn him before things are too late!"
The heroes nodded and rushed away to Regent's aid.
Hecate giggled. "Oh no you don't!"
She splattered blood through the air, it landed in a circle around the heroes, dousing some of them in blood, the ring then ignited, surrounding them with a ring of fire. "I'll deal with you later... and don't try to escape, the fire will burn away everyone's bodies if even one of you tries to leave!"
Daniel sighed and looked at Hecate. "That was a dirty trick, even for you."
Hecate pointed at him. "Says the guy who just pinned me down and tried to kill me the coward's way. Fight me properly, one on one. I promise to go all out, so you do the same, no holding back!"
Daniel nodded. "Very well, this will certainly be a difficult fight. Humanity is stronger than you think Hecate, I won't lose, but even if I do, I promise you one of my subordinates will bring your wretched life to and end! Regent is too strong for you and your Monarch, he holds the collective hopes and dreams of all humanity on his shoulders, he'll win, for everyone who's left, and for everyone we lost!"
Hecate yawned. "Oh sorry, your monologue got a little long, you done agonising over humanity? Great, let's start!"
Daniel created shadows which stretched all around Hecate, she ignored them and faced him, her blood turned to embers as it dripped from her hand.
She formed a whip with her blood and set it on fire. The whip crackled as she twirled around, swinging the whip with her, she impacted all the shadows, causing them to dissolve and reappear elsewhere.
"Time to die Draven!" She flicked her wrist and the whip whistled towards Daniel.
He dissolved into shadow, appearing off to the side.
Suddenly the whip stopped in it's tracks, it flicked to the right and flew at Daniel at full speed.
"Nice try Draven, that trick only works once!"
The whip impacted him, his arms shielded the brunt of the blow, burning his sleeves and charring his arms. He winced in pain and jumped backwards.
He channelled darkness into his hand, he crushed his hand into a fist, the darkness spewed out in all directions, shrouding the area pitch black.
"Now you can't see my shadows, they are all still there however."
Hecate's giggles rung through the black void, suddenly from above a red streak of light pierced the darkness, the moon had risen, bright blood red and shining intensely and causing the darkness to dissipate.
Hecate smiled. "Nice try Mr shadow man, your power is cool and all but I'm just better, time to meet my pet I think!"
Hecate traced her inner wrist with her claws, causing blood to seep out, from the cut a small worm-like creature wriggled to the surface.
Hecate threw it to the ground, she concentrated and placed a hand over the creature.
The worm began to grow, slowly at first and then faster and faster, the worm grew to the size of a large house.
Hecate smiled. "Wow, wormie's all grown up, go get him wormie!" The worm screeched and writhed, it slid towards Daniel, he dissipated again and appeared behind the worm.
The worm crashed into a rock with a loud thud, it recovered quickly and shot towards him.
A bolt of pure darkness shot towards the worm, it pierced it's slimy skin and caused it to bleed black blood.
The worm suddenly sprouted hundreds of legs like a centipede, it scuttled along the ground and jumped into the air.
As it landed it broke the ground beneath it, causing the land to shake and crumble.
Daniel struck the creature with another blast, shadows surrounded it and it screeched, it thrashed around as it bled out, it hit Daniel, which sent him flying backwards, he landed on the ground and stood up.
The worm burrowed underground, the land shook around it as it screeched and disappeared into the earth.
Hecate sighed. "Well, that didn't work, ah well, it's more fun to fight for myself anyway!"
Daniel shook his head and looked down. "I never thought I'd ever use this, you asked me to go all out, so that's what I shall do... Draven Family Protector's Artifact, Deathless Scythe!"
He formed a shadow in front of him, it formed into a scythe with a pitch black blade and a handle which radiated a sinister aura.
"This is the artifact of the Draven Family, this Scythe destroys the soul of a target it kills, denying them even an afterlife, I swore I'd never use it, but you've denied so many people proper deaths, proper honour. You don't deserve an afterlife!"
His grip on the handle tightened as he spun the scythe around in a large vertical circular motion in his right hand.
Hecate looked at him and nodded. "A Protector's Artifact? I've never seen one before, you brought that fancy weapon out just for me? Oh wow, I'm honoured!"
The blood from Hecate's arm solidified into a scythe shape. "I'll use one too! That way it's fair."
Hecate swung the blood scythe over her head, she held it like a sword. "How does this thing work? I've never used one before."
Hecate fumbled with the blood scythe.
Daniel took the opportunity and dissipated, he appeared behind her, Hecate turned around quickly and with a large swing he shattered her abdominal armour and lodged the Deathless Scythe straight into her navel.
Hecate spat out blood, her eyes widened in shock. "Y-you managed to hit me!? Owww, that thing is sharp, why'd you hit me there?"
Blood seeped from the gash in her abdomen, the scythe blade lodged firmly inside.
Hecate's momentary shock faded and she giggled manically. "You know, it's really funny... just how foolish you are... You know about my three powers, but I'm sure you also know that Demons have an additional ability, our Abyssal Curse!"
Daniel nodded. "I know about Abyssal Curses, they're seals that are placed on you at birth, they grant you a useful ability but there's always a draw back, what's yours Hecate?"
Hecate smiled. "Glad you asked, I was gonna tell you anyway but it's nice that you care! My curse makes my heart set on fire, my skin entirely fireproof, no matter how much anybody tries, I'm impossible to burn! The drawback is that once I run out of Abyssal Energy I'll revert to some mopey girl who doesn't share my memories. I'll have you dead before that happens though!."
Hecate's blood doused her entire body, she set herself on fire, laughing manically, the Deathless Scythe began to heat up, the blade dislodged and Hecate immediately rushed around in a circle, she leapt over Daniel several times, blood poured from her fiery body.
Daniel's shadows swiftly moved to intercept Hecate, her flaming body stopped a few meters away, she held her hand in the air, blood and light gathered into a ball, she threw the ball onto the ground, it formed several humanoid forms made of blood, which she set on fire.
The flaming soldiers moved to attack the shadows, both destroying each other and reshaping again.
Hecate shouted from within the flames. "Thanks for this fight, you're the first person to actually hurt me in a long time, this is fun! It's a shame I have to end it now, goodbye Draven!" Hecate charged at him.
Daniel, now covered in Hecate's blood, created a net made from shadows, he threw it around Hecate, she stopped in her tracks.
Her flames suddenly extinguished, the blood solidified into armour again, except it was weaker this time. "What did you do?!"
Daniel chuckled. "I neutralised your fire, my darkness consumes the air around it, and without air, fire can't persist."
Daniel grabbed the Deathless Scythe, he held the blade to Hecate's neck.
He whispered in her ear. "You're not getting an afterlife, not after what you've done! The Monarch will lose, and so will you, it's time for you to perish!"
Suddenly, Daniel's body went up in a blaze, fire burned at his skin, peeling it off, he writhed and struggled as the inferno raged on, He screamed loudly as the flames engulfed him.
Hecate began to laugh, her laughter grew louder along with Daniel's screams.
"You're such a fool, you didn't notice I was dousing you with my blood the entire time? I expected you'd do something like this! Perish in flames!" She laughed as he burned up.
Without warning a black bolt shot from the inferno, it pierced Hecate's navel again, her armour crumbled, revealing sliced up skin all over her body, as she clutched onto her abdomen, she glared at him. "You can still fight? Even while suffering immense pain? Just what on earth are you?!"
Hecate coughed up blood. "Shit, this isn't good, I'm losing way too much blood, I can't solidify my injuries at this point, it's a struggle just to maintain my armour."
The flames eventually faded away, Hecate clutched her abdomen tightly as she wobbled towards the charred and burnt corpse of Daniel Draven. She traced a finger along the dry and leathery skin of his jaw.
"I won, as I said I would... out of respect for your skills in maiming me... I won't enslave your soul... your power can live on in another someday... goodbye Draven..."
Hecate pried his mouth open, she wriggled her fingers into his mouth and began to pull, she tore his skull from his jaw with a loud crack.
She threw his head to the ground.
She turned to the other heroes as the ring of fire faded away. Her head tilted to the side and she licked her lips.
"You want some flames too?"
She ignited the other heroes who were still doused in her blood on fire. She chuckled softly as she wobbled from side to side.
"I'm done... Monarch... I completed my mission... hehe" Hecate wobbled and fell into a small crater which was created during the fight. Her eyes began to close and she fell unconscious.
Hecate woke up a short while later, she was sat in a pool of her own blood, the pool sat just below her bare shoulders.
"W-what happened? Where am I?" She looked around nervously and then winced in pain.
"Ah, my abdomen hurts... what did other Hecate do while she was in control?" She looked around and saw the masses of charred corpses, and Daniel's head on the ground.
She began to panic. "I-I did this?... And based on the pain I'm feeling... somebody managed to hurt me..."
She heard a loud bang and a radiant flash of light from atop the mountain of World's End Summit.
Suddenly she felt lighter, more free.
Hecate immediately knew what that meant. "T-The Monarch!! H-he's dead... he lost to Regent..."
She solidified the blood around her onto her body as armour and stood up. "I need to go... I can finally escape The Monarch... I need to be quick, the other Lieutenants will be looking for me..."