A mountain. A tower. A monument of power. Should one ask any deofol residing in Kel what was the dark as night mound rising high up into the air, casting shadows over anything else and eclipsing even the tallest of mountains, this is what they would get for an answer.

And all of them would be correct. Lemegeton, a country spanning mountain sitting in the very center of the lifeless and desolate Ninth Circle, whose lower parts were composed of dark gray and black stone, was just a base of Kel’s greatest creation. It could count for a town in of itself, whilst nothing from the other circles could measure to its grandness, not even the Horn of Sheol, being the whole Seventh Circle. For the mountain was there before even the circles were there. The higher one would venture upon the black stone hills, the more dark blue crystals would become apparent, sprouting from the ground as if they were budding flowers. Further on they would start to rise, coming together to build a wall, then another one and one more. That was Regis. A grand tower of dark blue crystals that arose all the way to the brimstone clouds behind which only eternal darkness would be met. It was a home for all of the royalty and nobility. For only the most elite of soldiers could dream of setting their foot there, let alone becoming one of the nobles. And only together Lemegeton and Regis became a monument of High King Lucifer’s dominion.

Phantom was one of those who Fortune favored, letting him inside the black mountain and allowing him to live as a nobleman along with being a soldier in His Excellency army. An army that was a goal of every deofol that had ever once picked up a blade or spellbook. While the responsibilities and hardships were many, the luxuries were just as bountiful. As long as no one was foolish enough to step out of their line and try to oppose the orders that were given to them, they all could enjoy a joyous life as noblemen. Even now Phantom was following his order, not using his leisure time to his heart's content, instead he was consuming the knowledge from scrolls and books as the Lord Beelzebub, third in command and general of the army as well as the teacher of all magic ordered him to do. The snake’s chamber was situated on a floor in which Lemegeton and Regis met, hence the walls halfway through turned from pure black stone into dark blue crystals.

Lengthy, violet snake-like body occupied most of the room. Whatever empty space could have been left was taken by two rather impressive in size bat wings in a similar color, though the membrane between each ‘finger’ had a much lighter shade. And it’s not like there was much space to begin with. The room or rather a chamber caved deep into the Lemegeton could just barely fit his body. The floor of the chamber had been completely littered by scrolls and books and so were any additional carvings in the black stone that acted as a provisional shelves. Whatever candles that Phantom could fit in were working overtime to bring any source of light into his room. Luckily for him, the very upper carvings were perfect for said candles with little risk of burning his entire collection. Now the deofol was sitting on a bright brown fur of an animal that he killed a long time ago and brought with him to Kel as a remembrance of his very first mission being successful and studied a magic scroll given to him by master Beelzebub.

The scroll was of a curious reddish material, that was almost like a skin in touch with some unnatural hardness added in. On the very top in bold letters ‘Aspect of a Black Flame; Combusting Armor’ was written with a black ink. Lower was a pictogram with the spell being properly casted, complete with the sigil, consisting of a seal as well as the necessary invocation. In the left corner remained number VII, indicating the tier of the aspect. Blue eyes situated on a sharp face with many small horns coming from its back side carefully studied the invocation. Scroll being held by six hands with no connection to the main body allowed Phantom to have it fully unrolled which helped with reading its content.

His studies were cut short by an urgent banging onto the massive boulder that acted as door to his chamber. Not the most ideal door, but it was doing its job just fine. Getting up with a groan and with another one pushing the boulder away, a grimace appeared on the deofol’s face and he knew that he wouldn't be back in a good mood for a good while.

On the other side awaited a rather tall skeleton whose head had been replaced with a sheep skull, though setting it apart from a normal one were seven eye sockets and seven curly horns, and whose white bones created quite a contrast to the black stone and dark blue crystals walls. It was almost eye-bleeding in Phantom’s opinion. His entire body could be mistaken for some sort of a bizarre art as from head to toe it was covered in various runes, symbols and whatever else could fit onto his brittle bones. Ah Lamb, to say that Phantom hated him would be an understatement. To this day he wondered how this coward managed to get into Lemegeton, let alone also study under master Beelzebub. The fact they were of the same rank was just a further insult. And the smell of charred bones that always accompanied the deofol was just rubbing salt into his wounds.

“Whatever thou want, make it quick. I am quite preoccupied compared to others.” The deofol shot the skeleton a cold stare. It seemed like wandering around Lemegeton was all he was good for.

“Preoccupied enough to disregard His Majesty?” Hearing that Phantom tensed up. He often forgot that Lamb also acted as a messenger to his excellency. “Thought so. Lord Lucifer requested for you to see His Excellency in the throne room. You better hurry, we don’t want to keep His Majesty waiting.”

“What we? ”

“His Majesty also wants me present, and no, I haven’t been told anything else if that is what you are wondering.” Phantom shook his head. Of every deofol living here, this coward just had to be the one to escort him. And worst of all, he can’t just smash him into the nearest wall. Sometimes, life can be quite cruel. Not saying anything more, both of them started marching towards the throne room. Passing through many corridors and by many lower rank deoflu who saluted both of them, the deoflu finally reached the very center of Lemegeton which was an enormous spiral staircase that reached from the lowest floor all the way to the highest. It was one of the few instances where it wasn’t built of either black stone or crystals, rather of beautifully chiseled white marble.

Phantom lamented in spirit as his snake body got onto the staircase. He always hated it. His tail always had to bump into every turn as he was going up and someone, Lamb especially, just had to step on it. It wasn’t his fault that the staircase was so narrow, there wasn’t even a space to spread out wings if one would want to fly up. When Lamb once again stepped on his tail, intentionally or not, he already imagined how the skeleton was falling down right at the bottom floor, perhaps even smashing into pieces in the process. Unfortunately His Majesty wanted him for one reason or another.

Reaching the very top floor that the staircase allowed them to go, both of them marched throughout the lengthy corridor of dark blue crystals, towards eye-catching, grand steel doors, guarded by two towering figures. Their heavy plated, bulky, almost like chunks of stones, black armors stood out on the steel-built doors. Heavy boots stood firmly on the ground as the frogmouth helmets, with three horns coming from each side and a middle, looked down upon the approaching deoflu. Black guards crossed their halberds, decorated with red and gold embattled banners, each showing black silhouette of Lemgeton and Regis, preventing both of the deoflu from entering.

“Iblis Lamb and Iblis Phantom.” Lamb stepped in front of the snake deofol, frogmouth helmets now focusing on him. “We are here for an audience with His Excellency.” The two guards swiftly uncrossed their weapons, allowing them to proceed. The last generation shadows to which the guards belonged, truly were fit to be his Majesty personal guards. Unlike deoflu, golems such as shadows couldn’t say no to an order and always did what they were told the best they could. Even if seeing other shadows anywhere near Lemegeton, let alone Regis nowadays was a rarity, those gigantic armors were scattered around it, both inside and outside. They also acted as a reminder of a bygone era, as shadows production was stopped a long time ago, being deemed as ‘only slightly better than a meatshield’ and their combat performance leaving a lot to desire.

Lamb pushed the heavy and grand steel doors. No matter how many times Phantom had seen them, they were one of the few things that always managed to fill him with awe. Even just by the size themselves they were a work of art. The shadow guards who already stood at an imposing fourteen feet in height only reached maybe up to half of the steel doors. Though the real reason as to why they were so captivating, were all of the carvings that decorated them. At the very top, in the middle was a silhouette of High King Lucifer himself. Slightly lower under him were, respectively on the left and right, silhouettes of Atzili Erelim Beelzebub and Atzili Erelim Leviathan. Under them was Lemegeton with Regis, standing tall and proud even if just a carving and under the Ninth Circle were evenly split remaining ones, going from Eighth to First from left to right. Each of them also captured the heart of each circle. Seventh’s Horn of Sheol, Fourth’s clouds reaching dead tree whose upper branches reached from one corner of the circle to another, First’s natural wall of tall and thin, spike resembling mountains behind which the endless desert of Limbo remained in its unraveled mystery.

Entering the throne room both deoflu kneeled, or bowed in Phantom’s case, almost immediately. Standing still on the crimson, velvet carpet which length reached all the way towards the throne, their heads remained down, awaiting for his Majesty's acknowledgement. In the throne room, one was not allowed to as much as to even twitch, once they were in front of the High King. The deofol that stood on the left to the throne, seemingly also waiting for them, was no exception from the rule. He was massive. His dark green spider-like abdomen already could overshadow the throne. And that without counting his fly-like body, currently protected by six folded wings that created a golden armor on his back, with six mantis legs that miraculously supported him, the golden head that was a mixture of spider’s shape, wasp’s antennae and mandibles, fly’s red bulgy eyes and whatever else one could find resemblance to. The presence of lord Beelzebub made both deoflu even more curious.

“I see you are as loyal as ever. Raise your heads.” The voice that ordered them sounded rather young for a king. That of course couldn’t be much farther from the truth as the High King was the oldest deofol residing in Kel, coming into existence back when Kel was just a nothingness. Raising their heads, their eyes first focused on the throne. Standing in the very middle of the dark and light blue room, its black stone spiral podium surely caught an eye. From the middle of the podium arose an upside down pyramid, held slightly in the air by thick chains coming from each corner of the pyramid, connecting them to the podium, with three massive pillars sprouting from both sides and back edges, acting as a proper part of the throne. And on it sat the High King himself, looking down on everyone.

The High King’s petite posture created a jarring contrast towards the aura that his persona created. Indeed he was a deofol and yet he looked nothing more than a man. His skin, like ash, without any imperfections. The small body was well hidden away by lengthy, royal purple robes that have been decorated with golden and black details, such as black stripe that went throughout the entire cloth, accompanied by two smaller ones, golden that were linked together, by thin crossing golden lines. Even despite sitting high on the throne, a good portion of the robe laid on the floor. The same case was with his highness, equally long black hair, with a slight mixture of strands of blue hair, mostly at the very bottom, leading to minds bolts of thunder that split the night that were the black ones. The yellow eyes situated on a rather feminine looking face, were calmly, even if not apathetically, staring at the bowing subjects. Even his aura stood out in front of other deoflu. Covering the entire throne room and dominating over any other aura, its velvet, sweet smell was tantalizing, not an ounce of brimstone stench stained it.

“I have called you for the reason of utmost importance; not so long ago, I had receiv’d an epiphany. Whilst dreaming I was inform’d of an existence of peculiar artifacts and a being even more peculiar than them, fit for mine might. Beelzebub if thou willst.” Beelzebub stood up and stepped in front of the throne. He opened his hand, revealing a perfectly chiseled, shining black crystal resting on a piece of white clothing.

“Quite a beauty, won’t you agree? Nothing like you would see in Kel. This is the artifact that his Excellency has given me.” The insect deofol continued to talk while showing the captivating black crystals to his subordinates. “However, this piece of art turned out to be quite a troublesome find. There was but one scroll from the entirety of mine and the royal's collection that briefly mentioned such a thing. It spoke of seven of those crystals, although with no mention of the black one. They’ve been dubbed by the author of the scroll as Crystal of Elements as each of them supposedly corresponded to each attribute. It had mentioned that one crystal points to another, although we had no way to test it ourselves hence we had to believe what was written. Later on the scroll spoke of something known as a Jahfal. It had not specified what it was, other than calling it ‘a war machine unlike anything else’ and mentioned that the crystals could be used to bring it back from wherever it is now.” Beelzebub then continued to mumble to himself just how an unknown to him artifact could exist, let alone in such quantity. And that not mentioning this whole Legion.

“And that is where my plan was born. If that Jahfal is as great as the scroll impli’d, Empyrean would finally crumble under mine might along with their little pet plane. Phantom I have a mission for thee. Thou art to be task’d with retrieving the remaining seven crystals and bringing back Legion. Should thou succeed, thou might be promot’d to become an Erelim.” Phantom’s eyes lit up hearing that. Finally, after all these years Lord Lucifer acknowledged him. To be an Erelim, not many deoflu could bear that title. And to be one of them, there was nothing greater than that. “Of course the mission is of utmost importance hence thou will not be going alone.”

“Your Highness, to give this deofol a team to command? We tried that and lost six men! And they were one of the finer soldi-” Lamb chipped in before closing his mouth shut with a hand.

“Lamb.” Lucifer’s half closed yellow eyes focused on the skeleton. The said skeleton stood there frozen, not even daring to shake or tremble. “I might have misheard, but did thou imply that my idea is in the wrong? That I have committ’d a mistake?” The calmness in his Highness voice made the remaining two deoflu tense up. They shot Lamb a furtive glance. This fool should have kept his mouth shut. Lord Lucifer always held undermining his authority as the greatest offense one could make. And those who did so were never heard of again.

“My Liege, I wouldn’t have even dreamt of correcting you, for you are always infallible.” The desperation in the deofol’s voice made Phantom’s skin crawl on the tip of his tail. He hated him, that’s right, but even more he hated when he became a pathetic mess like so. Soldiers had to have dignity, not even honor, just a sense of self respect. And the frozen skeleton lacked any of that. If he committed a mistake, he should have been ready for the punishment that came with it. Like he did.

“That is what I thought. And of course I had not forgotten about that.” This time the yellow eyes shifted to the violet snake. “That’s why as thy punishment, thou will have to findest every member that will come with thee, thyself. I do not have to add that it would be better if this time they return’d alive, do I?” Phantom shook his head. Lucifer then took out a stone tablet from his sleeve and handed it over to Beelzebub who in turn gave it and the black crystal to Phantom.

“Good luck boy, make sure to make us proud. And think of it as a good luck charm if it doesn’t work.” Beelzebub added with a whisper as the snake deofol took the crystal and kept it closed in one of his hands.

“Sir yes sir! I, Iblis Phantom, will bring glory to His Excellency Lucifer and will successfully carry out the mission.” After that, full of pride, Phantom saluted his superiors and slithered out of the throne room, ready for the adversities that would come his way. The High King waited until the snake vanished from his eyesight and turned to Lamb.

“As for thou, thee will come after him. Keep an eye on the snake, we would not want any more casualties after all, would we?”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

Phantom already made his way out of Lemegeton. He headed through the desolated, ashen desert towards the far gate that stood out on the ashen dunes, natural wall in between Eighth and Ninth Circles. Grand, golden disk was hard to miss here and in any other circle. The only difference between each of the gates were the Enochian carvings that contained the names of the circles. Though they weren’t the same on each side. For example, coming from Eighth one, one would see ‘Arx’ but coming from Ninth it would be ‘Glacier’. He stopped right before the golden disk. On both left and right were massive stone statues of robbed figures with masks, having their arms crossed on their chest. From each hand came a chain connecting itself to two halves of it, even if the split was hard to see once the gates were joined together. The same pattern was repeated on the sides of both circles. Bluish, transparent flame the size of the statues engulfed the deofol for a split second. Little tongues of fire split from the main flame and entered the statues. They turned around, facing away from each other and pulled the gates open in the process.

Passing through the gate his eyes were met with pure white snow mounds, hills and mountains. In fact that was the entirety of the Eighth Circle. Save for the ice path, which reflected everything just like a mirror, that led from one gate to another, that was it. Just snowy mountains that filled the entire circle. Or so it would seem on the first glance, as even the mounds closest to the walkway were filled with holes, bigger and smaller that lead into webs of maze-like tunnels. It was a perfect place for deoflu that preferred silence, peace and not to be bothered by anyone. In other words, a safe haven for hermits. How deep did the tunnels go, he be damned if he knew. He could only suspect that they had to cross or maybe even connect with each other. Perhaps they even had some sort of bigger ‘caverns’ deep inside that were just like Lemegeton. Phantom didn’t know and Eighth Circle was too cold for him to even care in the first place. Anyone that would willingly live here had to be mad in the very least.

Passing through another gate, dubbed ‘Metropolis’ he finally could start with finding the member of his team. That is if any of them wasn’t insane enough to live in the Eighth Circle. The Seventh Circle created quite a jarring contrast towards both Eighth and Ninth.

The entirety of the Seventh Circle, otherwise known as Horn of Sheol, was placed in what at best could be called a canyon. Surprisingly or not, its residents didn’t like it when it was referred to as a ‘hole’ instead. There was a gradual slope with carved out stairs that spread through the entirety of the circle, coming from the Eighth and Sixth gate. They led to the true heart of Kel. While Ninth Circle was the most important one, this one had the majority of the residents within its range. And it showed.

Buildings of various shapes, sizes and colors were spread as far as the eye could see and from the Eighth gate it gave quite an impression. Already from there one could see black spiral spires that seemed to race with each other towards the brimstone clouds. Along with them were mounds composed of all of the sand and dust that could be found in Kel. Some gray, other orange, some even red and then the rest a mixture of those. Of course they were far from the weirdest the circle had to offer. Other quite popular buildings were great spheres that hung like cocoons from branching out towers, smaller than the spiral ones but still eye-catching. There were pyramids smaller or bigger standing on pillars, cubes, rods of colorful crystals that had hollows in them, tents, huts, piles of rocks and stones, almost anything that one could think of, all in varying shapes and sizes. Some of them could barely fit him, while others could easily be home to an entire army. Those were mostly made of black and gray stones, charred marble, colorful crystals gathered from the Third Circle, clay, bones and whatever else one could get their hands on. And not to mention bridges, tunnels and what not that connected all of that from all sides. It was a beautiful mess of everything.

Of course having so many unique buildings often came with problems. The most common one was space. More often than not, the majority of the houses were built one upon another, coming along to create even more bizarre forms that they would do alone. Mounds were the number one pick to build another house upon it. Nowadays there wasn’t a single one that wouldn’t have at least one other thing on it. The one thing that always piqued Phantom’s interest when he set a foot into the circle was but one mound that had five spiral spires breaking through its roof. How did they come with this, let alone build this was still a mystery to him.

Going down the stairs, joyful noises of aouloses and djembe drums filled the air, making the sightseeing quite a treat. Truly there was nothing like the Seventh Circle. If only it wasn’t so cramped. With all of the buildings so close to one another, Phantom could barely squeeze through some gaps and there was no way that he could ever traverse it without losing some skin out of his tail. Even flying was out of question. All of those spheres, piles of buildings that covered up the sky and other hanging buildings along with bridges made it impossible to even spread wings, let alone fly. The fact of it being pretty much a one complex maze wasn’t helping either. Though in his own opinion, the worst part about all of this were the auras that always caused him a headache. Just the sheer abundance of them was overwhelming even if most of them belonged to average or below average deoflu. They all stenched of brimstone and blood, unlike the deoflu from Lemegeton that carried a much more noble and domesticated smell, Lamb excluded. In most cases he was glad that he was that much sensitive to auras, it made combat much easier, however this time it was not one of those cases. Still, he shouldn’t distract himself, he had a mission to carry on.

On his mind now were two major ‘districts’ if they could be called such. Those were Eastern Sheol, a complex of buildings creating one grand pile of structures and the Tower of Magicians situated in the gymnasium; a new and less barbaric version of long gone Tower of Mages. Phantom finally got to the less cluttered part of the circle, from where it would be close to Eastern Sheol. While it was nothing more than a wild guess, taking a glance at the stone tablet it did say that one of his ‘companions’ would be a living samurai armor. The complex seemed like a perfect place for such outstanding character as beings like him were mostly occupying it. The two other members would be a kelhound and a shadow magician. Now that he thought about it, those were rather unconventional picks if he was being honest. That of course had to be a trail from the High King himself. This mission after all could guarantee him a rank of Erelim and it meant that it couldn’t be too easy. Being focused on the stone tablet, Phantom felt a bunch of stares drilling into his soul. Right, as of now he was being quite an attraction for the plebs. It was rather uncommon for noblemen to come here. Lifting his gaze from the tablet he took a good glance at the surrounding deoflu. Most of them were unknown to him, though he did recognize a bunch of them, mostly of bigger or smaller fights he had with them in the past. The massive white crow with seventeen wings, the tall and slender one with a bunch of snakes for a head, a humanoid lion with mouth on left breast and red eye on the right and countless others were looking at him with curiosity.

Walking past the alleyways the purple snake ignored most of the stares and whispers that focused on his person. Noblemen for most of the time weren’t somebodies who were kindly looked upon anywhere beyond the Lemegeton. And he especially was considered as someone who brought bad omens whenever he left his head outside the black mountain. His current position, achievements and youth gave more than enough fuel for the plebs to keep whispering and spreading rumors about him. As long as they paid him an adequate respect, he didn’t care what they were talking about. The worst that could be said about him was already circling Kel pretty much since forever and there wasn’t more that could be added to it. Shooting occasional glances at the deoflu living in the Seventh Circle, Phantom finally got to the Eastern Sheol. It was a round plaza with one massive complex of buildings standing at the Northern end while lesser ones came from both sides, creating a wall around the plaza. Though today, something seemed a little off to him. While he barely came to these regions, he could swear that there never was a black mound just sitting at the top of the two leftmost buildings. The marvels of deofolic architecture would never cease to amaze him.

Phantom stopped right next to a little bazaar run by a toad-like deofol that was sitting with his legs crossed on a horribly worn out dark blue carpet. He was encircled all around by jewelry, books, scrolls, clothes, colorful crystals and whatever else could fit on equally worn out red carpets placed in front of the toad deofol. Bartering was the second most popular activity in Kel, right after fighting, and more often that not it was how those who were not soldiers spent their free time. And Zloty was one of such deoflu. The sorcerer did run into him and his crew a bunch of times, more often than not they were busy scavenging corpses from the battlefields, just so they could have more goods to barter with.

“Oi Zloty, wouldn’t you happen to know where I could find a samurai, shadow magician and kelhound?” Hearing the voice of Phantom, Zloty yelped in surprise and turned around to face the sorcerer.

“Ah, Phantom, sire. What brings ye there? Did any of my goods caught yer attention?”

“I believe I asked you a question.”

“Ah, yes yes. I don’t know anything about any samurai or magician. But the hound I know all too well. It came here with a whole pack and ravaged the place, destroying my beloved stall. Only the big hound stayed.” The toad’s mouth opened, revealing a charred skull inside its throat that kept its gaze focused on the snake.

“Where is it now?” What he got was only partially good information. If the hound stayed then at least it meant that he wouldn’t have to go through all of the circles. But the fact that it could be anywhere in the Seventh was already giving him a headache. In response he received a stifled laughter from the deofol.

“Where? You are looking at it.” Phantom’s eyes once again shifted towards the black mound on the roofs. That was the kelhound? Now that he took a better look at it, the mound did move gently, slowly raising up and down. Still the idea of it being a kelhound was ridiculous.

“Are you taking a piss at me?”

“N-No! I would never!” Zloty waved his hands in the air, terrified of the stare that the sorcerer sent him. “It’s a kelhound, that I can guarantee. And it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen in Kel.”

“You better not try to fool me, frog.” Saying that Phantom slithered closer to the black mound sleeping on the roof. The fact that those two buildings still stood was a miracle. Though who was to say for how much more they would endure it, as the walls were littered with cracks and seemed to be shaking slightly, supporting much more weight than they ought to. The deofol still wasn’t entirely convinced of the idea of the mound being a kelhound, for as far as he might have known such a thing might be a new type of shelter, however he decided to give it a try. Otherwise he will have a toad to hunt.

“Kelhound, in the name of our Lord I order you to wake up.” The black mound shifted in its wake. At first a mighty leg covered in black fur came out of it. The leg slammed down next to the sorcerer, as he backed off upon seeing another one come down. Each of them was as thick as he was and the paws themselves already reached up to his half. Then came the head of a wolf with its black snout and red eyes carefully studying the deofol that dared to break its nap. As the kelhound started getting off the roof Phantom found himself moving backward more and more. The beast was massive, he had to give it that. Even when sitting, the hound still towered over him and if he had to say even now in his full length he would barely be able to reach the top of hound’s head.

“Hound, are you the one they call Fenfir?” To his surprise the hound responded. First with a tilt of its head and then with a loud and echoing ‘woof’. Phantom smirked, the beast was well trained it seemed like. “If so, hound from now on I shall be your new master and together with me you shall fulfill the will of our High King.” Fenfir seemed to accept the snake as his new master, wagging his tail as his red eyes were still glued to the sorcerer.

“Now then, your first order is to wait for me here as I will go in search of a samurai.” The kelhound once again barked at Phantom who turned to face the amalgamation of buildings that was composed of a cylinder shaped-like stone tower, with two smaller spiral towers protruding from each side, eventually bending and colliding with the very top floor of the complex. From the front the building was additionally ‘protected’ by two smaller cavern like houses each ending with chains that linked to the middle floor of the main part, acting as provisional bridges.

Phantom entered through one of the smaller buildings, finding his way through the tens of skins and furs that have been hanged in a place of doors. The insides weren’t lit by any means, nor were they particularly occupied by anything or anyone. Save for the one small rodent-like deofol that had been covering in the corner obscured by shadows, the sorcerer would have thought that the place had no living soul in it. Though not even a second later, a rupture of laughter coming from above told him otherwise. Well, if he wanted to find that samurai, there was no point in staying downstairs. He threw the stone tablet onto the ground, there wouldn’t be a further need for it. Climbing upon the spiral staircase, the laughter grew louder and louder with each step passed.

The snake stopped before yet another cover made of red fur, making sure that he was about to enter the right room. He could feel quite a lot of deoflu behind the fur, though their auras were nothing out of the ordinary, in fact he would say that they were even below an average. Though there was one that had a rather, exotic smell to it. A metallic tinge mixed in with the smell of dirt and sea. Quite a pleasant change from the usual blood and brimstone.

“Shh! Shh! This one- haha- this one is a good one!” A voice came from the deeper part of the room, having trouble keeping his laughter under control. “S-So, a man went to a slave trader and said: ‘The slave I bought from you yesterday has died’, and the slave trader responded: ‘Indeed? That’s curious. He never did that when he was with me’. ” Another fit of laughter, louder than before, was brought to a halt when the figure of a violet snake entered through the curtain.

“I was looking for a samurai and yet I have stumbled upon a jester.” Phantom took a good, long look throughout the entire room. It was packed to the brim with various deoflu. A bipedal wolf with brown fur covering his bottom half while from waist up he was nothing but bones, a small crimson bat with golden fangs and claws, giant eyeball with myriad of tentacles spawning from it, an arachne-like deofol with iron lower body of a spider and upper one made out of stone, resembling a monolith, as well as many others. Kel’s grandest menagerie. Of course one stood out from the rest. In the middle of the room, sending the snake the same confused look just like the rest, stood who Phantom guessed to be his future ‘teammate’.

A black clad samurai. He stood perfectly still, his armor surely catching an eye. Though the sorcerer could have been mistaken, he was sure that these kinds of armors weren’t as heavily plated as the one that samurai bore. In fact there wasn’t a single place of his body that wasn’t covered by the black lead armor. A masterfully smithed armor, frankly speaking. Despite the fact that plates creating the armor looked rather thin, there was no dismissing the fact that they were probably sturdier than most armors he had seen. And the dark purple accents and trims made them stand out even more. The same case was with gauntlets, boots and even the helmet, which lacked the usual horns that he had always seen on such warriors. And by one look at the helmet, Phantom was more than sure he got the right samurai. While he carried a mask on his hip, which looked more like a black lead plate with two holes for eyes drilled in as an afterthought, the visor-less helmet only showed that inside the samurai was nothing more than a hollow shell.

“I too see one standing before me.” The samurai faced the sorcerer, making sure that he flashed all three of the swords that he bore on his person. Phantom scoffed at that. Three swords. It was ridiculous. Just who did he think he was? Was he trying to be intimidating? The two normal looking ones were crossed on his back, holding on just barely by leather straps. They didn’t seem too different from the ones used in the whole Kohryu Empire and the deofol was wondering why did he even waste his time having them? The one on his hip in comparison seemed to be the real deal. From what he could tell about the part that was sticking out a blackened, iron sheath with red accents, it was made completely out of black lead, instead of steel like the other two, it was much longer and thicker than any normal Eastern sword he had ever stumbled upon. Its handle was beautifully crafted, finished with red leather and dark purple trims resembling those of his armor. “Now who are you exactly? I don’t remember seeing you around here.”

“Are you the one they call Samukai?” Phantom questioned as he approached the armored figure. The other deoflu quickly got out of his way and now he was standing right before the samurai, looking him straight where he would have eyes.

“Depends on who is asking. Speaking of, you didn’t answer my question.”

“And neither did you.” In response, the sorcerer heard the samurai groan. To be fair, he brought this onto himself. Should have just answered him like any other proper commoner.

“Listen, I am a patient man, however even I have my limits. Now be a dear and tell me who you are and what you want from me.” Great, that answered his question. Now, Phantom could end the talking here and now, the problem was, the samurai didn’t seem keen on following him. Especially when the deofol noticed the samurai's hand slowly wandering towards the sheathed blade. They could do it the hard way if the warrior wished so.

“I am Iblis Phantom, and I am here fulfilling His Majesty's order. And you have been chosen to go along with me.” Samukai stopped dead in his tracks, now curiously glaring at the deofol. Soon after, he laughed.

“Now I know why your face seemed familiar. You are the king's errand boy, aren’t you? And have you boys heard? The all mighty king wants a simple man like me to do his bidding. If his lordship needs someone to lick his ass clean then I see a perfect candidate right over… here!” Samukai pretended to point his finger at one of the many deoflu that encircled the two, before he eventually pointed at the sorcerer.

“Oi, oi, I think you should listen him out, at the very least.” One of the deoflu closest to the samurai whispered to him as the rest froze in fear upon hearing him say such words. Badmouthing the king was already one swift way towards the grave and doing so in the presence of the nobles made it sure that the way here would be painful.

“You better heed what they are telling you, samurai. And I assume that you won’t simply join me to fulfill the task given to you?” Despite being able to conclude the answer himself, Phantom wanted to make sure of it. After all, he was supposed to bring them back alive, but it wasn’t specified if in one piece. And from the looks of it, it looked like they will have to settle their differences in the old fashioned way and here Phantom couldn’t guarantee not making the samurai half the man he was right now.

“Of course not, are you that dumb or just pretending? Go tell your king that he can find another ass-licker to do what he wants. Oh, and while you are at it, tell the rest of your joyous company to stop accusing us of riots. We aren’t doing shit and are punished for it.” While Phantom took offense to his words, he was rather dumbfounded by what followed them. What was the samurai talking about? What riots and punishments? He couldn’t remember when was the last time he had seen any of his fellow noblemen leave Lemegeton, let alone wander all the way to the Seventh Circle. Was he making it up? Nevertheless, he had a mission to fulfill.

“Then it would seem we have reached an impasse. I guess we could resolve it the old fashioned way then.” A smirk appeared on the sorcerer’s face. Now the warrior could either accept or refuse and join him in an instant. Either way, his fate was already decided. And while the samurai lacked a face, from the way he carried himself at the moment Phantom could only guess that he also wore a grin.

“Oh? Is it what I think it is? Do you want a fight? I hope you know what you are signing in for, errand boy.”

“Calling it a fight would mean it would be even.” The deofol shot back, trying to turn down the samurai’s cocky behavior. That was one thing he hated the most about commoners. They acted hot-shit while they couldn’t even comprehend a simple tier five incantation for the most part.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. But so be it, although I can’t say I fought with a nobleman before. I guess there is indeed a first time for everything, including kicking someone’s high horse’s ass. Then how about we do it in the training grounds just behind? I could treat my boys to some good show.”

“Hey, hey Samukai, I really don’t think you should do this. This guy’s an Iblis.” Yet another deofol called out to the samurai, who once again ignored the warning.

“So what? Don’t worry your head about this, just give me a few minutes at most.”

“A man of your temperament should last longer than that, especially if it’s your first time. Very well then, lead the way.”

“I was right to call you a jester.” Samukai took a sigh. “Noblemen first.” He gestured at the entrance and the snake slowly slithered out, making sure that the samurai followed him. The black clad warrior led him outside and behind the complex, all the way to the makeshift training grounds, doubling as an arena, shielded from curious eyes by the ridiculous building. The training grounds surely looked to be a bungled piece of art for the lack of better words. A rather sizable hexagon was made out of six laid down black marble and stone pillars, most of them cracked and just barely staying in one piece. It all was encircled by a small forest created out of said pillars, possibly a reservoir if anything would have happened to the ‘arena’. And it seemed to be the case as the samurai picked up the debris laying in the northern end, presumably the remains of a long gone pillar.

“It might not be your coliseum or whatever else you keep in that mountain, but I think it should do just fine.” Samukai called out as he finally cleaned up the training grounds. Being a founding father of it also came with the responsibility of cleaning it from time to time. And it wasn’t like the others would move a finger to help or let alone do it themselves. Even now they just barely were sticking their heads out and gazing at them throughout the windows and other various holes. Well, he couldn’t let them down and had to put up a good show.

“The battlefield matters not. Draw your sword.” The deofol said as the tip of his tail was gently yet urgently tapping against the ground. He didn’t have time to waste on such child play, even if there was no way around it.

“I’m glad that there is at least one thing we agree on.” Samukai drew the black sword, making sure that the sorcerer saw its glistening blade and razor sharp edge. “What about you?” As if almost on cue, a sigil started forming on the snake’s hands. At first two circles appeared. One inner and the second one outer. Inside the inner one formed a seal. This one consisted of three blades crossed together, pointing downwards. The utmost left one had a Raidho rune in its center, the middle one Ehwaz and the right one, Othala. Then Enochian letters, bearing a true name of the sorcery linked both circles. At last from the outer circle came the incantation, formed in a language long forgotten by men. The seal covered his right upper hand, while the incantation covered the remaining fives. Sparks of black and crimson flames shot out beside the deofol, taking the shape of a scythe after a short while. When the flames vanished, the samurai whistled as he gazed at the scythe.

Samukai had to admit that this one was a beautiful piece of work. Fully made of black lead, it was slightly taller than the sorcerer. Its black thin pole was decorated by a carving of a serpentine-like dragon wrapping itself around it, reaching all the way to the lengthy blade which looked to be coming from the dragon’s open mouth. The samurai, however, felt his back crawl as he looked at the blade. Although calling it a blade would be an exaggeration. It was dull, completely dull, and much thicker than it had any right to be. Lacking any edges it once had, he had his doubts if it could even be called a scythe any longer. At this point it pretty much was just a beautifully made and weirdly shaped mace. Of course he should have expected that noblemen can’t take care of their belongings.

“Now come samurai, let us see if you can put some bites into your barks.” The deofol taunted as he allowed his black scythe to rest against his left wing. The black clad warrior stood still for a good second, only to put his sword back into its sheath. A small smile appeared on the sorcerer’s face. It seemed like the samurai had some brain in that helmet of his. Good, it made his task that much easier. Just as Samukai sheathed his katana, the warrior took a look at one of the windows. The curious eyes that demanded blood were still overlooking the arena. If he promised them a good show, he would give them one.

“I see that you came to your sens-” At an amazing speed, Samukai charged at Phantom. The snake didn’t even have time to shield himself with his wings as the warrior scored a not-so clean hit right in between his eyes. With an audible crack, samurai saw black, sticky blood stain his gauntlet. The deofol staggered backward, covering his face with one of his hands. Before he could have time to register what even happened, Samukai delivered another strike, right to his jaw. This was swiftly followed by a right jab and a middle kick to his upper body.

Phantom swiftly grabbed his weapon before it could fall onto the ground and made a wide, high swipe to deter the samurai from further assault. In that exact moment, Samukai drew his black katana and parried the upcoming strike, further leading the deofol off balance. The snake flailed his tail furiously, just like an amateur would do with a flail, while continuing to swing his scythe. The black clad warrior was dodging both of them without much of a hassle. When the tail struck the ground once more, he stepped on it and drove his sword right into the deofol’s body. It went without any resistance, stopping only on what the Samukai could guess was a spine.

Phantom made an overhead swing with his scythe. Samukai pulled out the sword, more black blood staining the deofol, and dodged the upcoming strike just in the last second. The scythe struck the ground with such a force that its dull blade dug straight into it. Wasting no time, the samurai jumped onto its blade, carefully balancing on it, staring right at the deofol’s blood stained face. The cracks on his skin have already nearly healed and the black blood dried. Such a shame that he wouldn’t have a reminder of this. The hateful blue eyes didn’t stare back at him for long, as Samukai jumped into the air just as Phantom pulled out the scythe from the ground and delivered a spin kick at his temple.

With an even louder crack than before and a loud cheering coming from the building, the snake sorcerer ungracefully landed on the ground, laying on his side. The warrior approached him and while standing over the deofol raised his katana into the air, the black blade aimed at his head. There was one major rule that had to be followed when fighting against a sorcerer. Never, under any circumstances, let them as much as take a breath. The faster they were dead, the better. He brought the sword down, however the sorcerer shielded himself with his wing. The blade cut through the membrane, getting stuck just before it could reach the snake’s eye.

To say that Phantom was furious would be an understatement. This lowly incubus not only fought like an absolute troglodyte, seemingly refusing to use even a single spell, but also dared to make him lay on the ground! And to think that he was capable of doing so in the first place. Such dishonor couldn’t be left unanswered. Lord Lucifer wanted them alive, not necessarily in one piece. The deofol grabbed the black blade with all of his free hands, effectively stopping the samurai from retrieving it. Samukai struggled to get it out, cutting the wing further, but the deofol’s grip was simply too strong. He even drew one of the swords from his back and was constantly stabbing the wing, the deofol however didn’t seem fazed by it. And when the sorcerer’s tail wrapped around his leg, he knew that he had to think fast.

While Samukai was struggling to free his weapon, a sigil started forming on the deofol’s back. The seal appeared right below his wings. Its inner circle had a heptagram inside with an upward triangle that had a line going through its upper part in its middle. Each of the sevens arms had a symbol of brimstone in them and in between the arms were smaller circles, each bearing a symbol of Jupiter. The incantation snaked all the way to the tip of his tail.

The warrior’s urgency to free himself from the steel grip of the purple tail only grew as the air around both of them started to heat up and a low buzzing sound filled the area. He left the wounded wing alone. Instead he focused on the tail. Samukai was mercilessly driving the shorter blade into it, hoping that it would loosen its steel grip. He even let go of his black blade and two-handed the smaller one. A black, sticky blood covered entirely both his leg and the deofol’s tail. There was so much of it that the samurai couldn’t tell if he was making any progress at freeing himself as he felt as if he was stabbing into a puddle of mud.

Seeing small, buzzing, blueish orbs appear in the air all around him and the sorcerer, samurai casted his own spell in a last ditch effort. The sigil appeared on the black blade itself. Its seal consisted of two squares situated in the inner circle, one of them tilted, creating an octagram. Inside of it was a silhouette of a paw of a mighty bear. Each claw bearing the Hagalaz rune, while the paw itself had a downward triangle crossed with a horizontal line that had the symbol of Terra on one end and the symbol of iron on the other.

From the tip of the blade came a brownish flame that swiftly enveloped the edges of the sword. The flame solidified instantly, coating the weapon in a thick, yet sharp layer of stone. With one swift strike, he cut through the wing and hands to then cut off the part of the tail wrapped around his leg. The cut limb immediately went limp and the black blood sprayed from it, staining samurai’s armor. With his leg free, Samukai jumped away from the deofol at the last minute.

As the blueish orbs filled the air all around the sorcerer, they all released furious lightning bolts that connected the orbs with each other, creating a sort of a cage. Any stray one that struck the ground ripped it with ease, casting chunks of stone into the air. Phantom stood up while the spell lasted, his furious face illuminated by the blue light. The wounds that Samukai afflicted earlier were already gone, the dried blood looking even more morbid in the shine of the bolts. Even the tails started slowly reattaching itself to the cut off end.

It looked like gauntlets were off in terms of casting spells. While the cage of the blue lightning was still active, Samukai used his spell. A sigil on his right palm, bearing a silhouette of a man and his shadow, which split into three equal parts. Samurai’s own shadow lengthened and came before him. The black clad warrior smashed his hand against it, and with the accompanying sound of broken glass, the shadow split into three. Not even a second later, the three shadows rose from the ground.

Despite the trap already fading, the deofol didn’t move from his place nor did he cast another spell. Instead he observed the three shadow dolls standing by their master, awaiting for his command. Truth be told, he did not expect for the samurai to turn out to be an umbramancer. Not the most common choice for most, especially for those who fought purely by blades. Perhaps that was the reason as to why he was given to him. If that would be the case then Lamb, no matter how much it hurt him to admit it, would be a more preferable choice. However if it was to temper his attitude, then the snake was perfect for such a task.

Seeing how the deofol decided to focus on studying him instead of fighting, Samukai along with his three dolls encircled the sorcerer, their blades pointed at him. He stood in front of the snake, who was only moving his glance from the doll on his left, to him, to the one on the right and to him once again. The small and mocking smirk that appeared on Phantom’s face was more than enough of a signal for samurai to act.

Samukai and the shadow doll on the left charged at the deofol. He raised his scythe defensively, clashing it with Samukai’s blade while getting the doll’s stuck on the shaft. In that moment the remaining two did their part. The blade of the right doll was blocked by the wing while the one from the back got stopped by the barely reattached tip of the tail.

“That spell, it’s of sixth tier, isn’t it?” The deofol asked as he once again spared a glance at the shadow dolls. While Samukai couldn’t tell what was the point of the question, he could tell that the sorcerer’s grip was slowly getting weaker. Just a few seconds more and he won’t be able to keep his scythe against his sword. “And it is your only seventh tier, am I right?”

“And how can you tell that, huh?” The black katana finally overpowered the scythe and got dangerously close to the snake’s neck. Just then the warrior noticed the finished sigil that formed on the deofol’s lower body.

“It is quite simple; if you had any better option, you would have used it.” Samurai, along with his dolls, dashed away just as a ring made entirely out of wind formed around the deofol. It expanded a good fifteen feet in radius, further ripping the ground and casting chunks of stone. Once it was gone, all four warriors came at the sorcerer once again. They encircled him once more, however this time they were running all around him.

While fast, Phantom managed to keep his eyes steady at the master of the dolls. He couldn’t wrap his head as to why they decided on such a thing. It wouldn’t protect them from any spell that affected an area, therefore he was quite dumbfounded. As he was preparing another ‘Nest of Garura’, the samurai made their move.

It all happened in a blink of an eye. Phantom only saw a gust of wind and a greenish flame erupt from under the feet of Samukai and the shadow doll that was opposite to him. Then he felt a cold black lead on his sides. After that came wounds that leaked the black blood like a waterfall. Before he could understand what they were doing, another pair made their assault. Then another and another. They were not-so-slowly and surely making their way towards his spine. They were moving so fast that they appeared as nothing more than a blur in his eyes. Even the ‘Nest of Garura’ was unable to reach them as they were just nimble enough to avoid it and return to their assault.

As much as the deofol hated to admit it, the samurai was causing him a fair share of trouble. Never in his life had he seen such a strategy and he had seen some bizarre ones. That being said, he wasn’t completely hopeless. There was one trick, which didn’t equate to razing the Eastern Sheol, that would give him an upper hand upon the samurai. A sigil formed on his left wing. Its seal showed a dove with chains all around its body, proudly spreading his wings and partially breaking said bindings. His bat wings got covered in an ethereal, ghostly white flame. Not even a second after, the white flame created copies of his wings, two appeared above them and two below. Phantom spread them out with pride and with a few flaps starting rising into the air. He managed to straighten to half of his whole length, with the samurai continuing their onslaught, before his adversaries decided to finally spread out and plan their next move.

The three shadow dolls were moving all around the arena while Samukai backed off and prepared his own spell, a trap to be exact. He crouched and put his hands on the ground. A sigil formed on his back. In the inner circle was a silhouette of a demonic fox’s head with its jaws wide open. Phantom’s shadow started to bubble as if it was boiling water. Noticing that, he shifted his gaze from the dolls, which were essentially doing a hit-and-run strategy, towards the samurai. The sorcerer could have stopped him, he was sitting wide open after all, however the curiosity got better of him. He knew of many sorceries, hundreds even, curses, blessings and circles, some arts also. Traps on the other hand weren’t his specialty, especially the ones related to umbramancy.

Phantom’s shadow was boiling more and more, becoming like a hot tar. When Samukai spread his hands apart, the shadow split in two with a loud growl that belonged to a beast. Then he raised them and so did the shadows, taking the form of fox’s jaws. They reached about a half of the deofol’s body. Clasping his hand together the jaws shut themselves, their fangs digging deep into the sorcerer, immobilizing him. Phantom flailed for a short while, yet the shadowy fox wasn’t keen on letting him go. The fox kept his fangs where the samurai previously cut him, further keeping his wounds from healing. The three dolls immediately used the occasion, climbed onto the shadowy fox in a blink of an eye and drove their blades through his body. Though wary of his spells, they quickly retrieved them and returned to their master.

Not a shabby work if the deofol were to have any say in that. The trap itself was of fifth if not sixth tier and its delay wasn’t as awful as compared to most. And the shadow dolls, he had to commend them. Quite quick to learn to keep their distance. Summoned familiars were often too keen on pressing the offense. Perhaps the samurai wasn’t as much of a simpleton as the sorcerer had thought of him originally. Under any other circumstances, Phantom might have prolonged the fight, mostly for his own entertainment, but also to get to see more of the warrior tricks. However he had a mission to fulfill and he had a samurai to make an example of for the curiously prying eyes that were constantly overlooking the battle without much of a care in the world.

“The scolding flames that melt the scales of the drakes.” There was no need for the sorcerer to utter an incantation, even if just a shortened one. Especially for a spell of seventh tier. It would be seen as foolish in a proper fight, giving away your intentions if the spell had been mastered prior. Yet this was nowhere near a proper fight. To quote the warrior; a ‘good show’. And what good would it be without some thrill for the audience? “Answer my command, take your shape and split into seven; Chains of Igneus Hydra, scorch all that stands in your way and feed on their ashes. ” Just a sigil showcasing seven serpents intertwined with each other to create a circle, each bearing a sign of Mars on their forehead, finished forming so did an arc of flame above the sorcerer’s head. It spread from one wing to another and after a short while it split into seven fiery orbs. The orbs then quickly took the form of hydra’s heads.

With a roar, the heads took flight, creating chains of fire in their trail. They were, like vultures, circling above the battlefield before descending onto the samurai. Samukai along with his dolls made mad dashes all around the arena, avoiding the scorching and roaring chains. Two of the seven spiraled a little before striking the ground, casting chunks of stone into the air and setting it ablaze. Another one made a u-turn, grazing the window by which the prying deofols were observing the ‘show’, fleeing as the chains turned the wall red-hot as it passed on by, rising higher and higher towards the brimstone clouds.

Samukai was having second thoughts about challenging the deofol. He was no fool and he expected some sort of higher tier spells at his disposal. One of Hydra’s chains wasn’t at the top of his list. A said chain barely caught him, exploding nearby. It still had enough strength to put him off balance, sending him flying a good few feet away. The samurai didn’t even notice a second chain making its way towards him. Without a chance to dodge, it slammed itself into the warrior, exploding a second later. Last thing he saw before being sent into the stone pillars behind the arena was another chain hitting a very disoriented shadow doll. It shattered into pieces and soon after the remaining two followed suit.

As the last two chains gave chase into the forest of stone pillars, the shadowy fox turned itself into a black puddle, the wound left staining Phantom’s whole lower body black. That should have done it. The sorcerer gave one last look towards the window. None of the deofols were there. Probably scurried their way, worried that they could be next. Then his gaze focused on the wound. The fox had a stronger bite than he wanted to give it credit for. Nearly gnawed through the bones. Healing it would take some time, as well as the stab wound. Well, he will have enough, now he should probably retrieve his reward.

Descending, Phantom heard a whistling noise that seemed to get closer and closer. A gust of wind pierced his wing. Then another and another. He was still fighting? And from such a distance? Quite a relentless one. It didn’t help that the deofol was making a perfect target practice for the warrior, barely any of his windy arrows missed him. As they tore through his wings more and more, the aspect allowing him to fly was vanishing. Phantom was lucky that the damaged incantation and sigil didn’t blow up on him. He wouldn’t know how we would live through such embarrassment.

Without much of a grace, he fell onto the ground as neither the aspect nor the wings could longer support him in the air. At the very least the arrows wouldn’t be able to reach him as easily now. Gradually getting annoyed with the samurai’s antics, Phantom casted yet another spell. The sigil formed on his chest. It showcased a singular snowflake with many miniscule ice shards coming from each end, growing in size as they were closing into the inner circle.

It didn’t take long for the ground around the deofol along with his body to get covered in a hoarfrost. In addition to that, small spikes of ice started forming, growing in size exponentially as they spread around. The sorcerer ordered them to snake towards the stone pillars. The spikes were already half his size as they reached the border of the arena and as they entered the ‘forest’, some of them were even reaching the height of the pillars. As they chased deeper into the pillars, one final spike arose. Though calling it a mountain would be appropriate. It was the size of Eastern Sheol with a few more, equally intimidating, spikes branching out. Phantom wouldn’t be surprised if every deofol in the Seventh Circle could gaze upon it.

Before the deofol could go and retrieve the, probably by now, unconscious samurai, he noticed something with a corner of his eye. A black spot moved from behind one of the stone pillars and hid itself behind one of the ice spikes. He stopped for a second, observing the spike. Could his eyes play a trick on him? They had to be, there was no way that the warrior was still up for a fight. Maybe one last umbramancy trick to try and save face.

There it was! It moved once more, going from one spike to another. Phantom conjured up a simple fireball. To think he would use a mere first tier spell in this day and age. However, there was no need for anything more. If that indeed was Samukai, he only needed to rat him out. His spiritual flame had to be close to a complete exhaustion. The fireball exploded upon contact with the spike, melting others in the process. The black spot ran. It zig-zagged all around the ice spikes, dodging fireballs that rained upon it. The black spot was faster than Phantom could have ever guessed. And it wasn’t going in a random pattern either. Despite jumping from spike to spike seemingly without much of a thought, it was getting closer and closer to him. Once it got into a rather close proximity, it was circling around him, putting him in a stalemate. He couldn’t hit it with any spell that had shorter cast time and anything longer would have left him wide open. Clever boy.

Though there was one thing that neither of the combatants took into consideration. The one massive ice mountain in the middle of the pillars wouldn’t last forever. And for the woe of both the sorcerer and the warrior, it was reaching its breaking point. It started cracking and soon after, it fell apart, causing further havoc in its vicinity. The fallen pieces brought forth dust and hoarfrost into the air, obscuring the vision. The black spot used the occasion and got right next to the deofol. The very next thing that Phantom saw was a metal boot connecting with his jaw.

Samukai jumped out of the black spot, placing his closed fist on the ground and with legs raised in the air he used his body weight to deliver a devastating kick right into the sorcerer’s face. Phantom staggered but digging the pole of his scythe deep into the ground he managed to keep his balance. Just as the samurai landed on his feet, the purple snake lunged at him, his mouth wide open, even more so due to the barely hanging jaw on its left side. Samukai sidestepped the deofol, though his lengthy body still managed to send him onto the hoarfrost covered ground. Did he just try to bite him?

Samurai had no time to ponder on that as the sorcerer was already getting up, visibly agitated if the hateful stare coming from the blue eyes was anything to judge it by, completely ignoring the few small ice spikes that dug themselves into his body. Still on the ground, Samukai kicked him a few times in the chest, effectively getting himself a few seconds to back off and get back into a proper stance. He drew his black katana and waited to see what would be Phantom’s next move. Now he quite understood just how a daunting task was to even keep a deofol down. The majority of the wounds that he gave him had already healed, only the dried up blood left as a reminder, and even the newer ones were closing on his very eyes. And it didn’t seem like he would exhaust his spiritual flame at any time soon.

Once the sorcerer stood up, Samukai felt the air in the vicinity heat up and he could swear that he heard it sizzling like a hot metal put in a water. And when he saw what appeared in front of the snake, he acted purely on instinct. He had never seen a spell that manifested itself as a red pentagram hovering in the air, humming with an eerie screech but by no means did he want to be at the receiving end of it. He casted the strongest spell in his arsenal. The black blade swiftly got coated in a dark green flame that took the shape of a fang of a mighty dragon and as the red pentagram started to spin, glowing brighter and brighter, he charged. The flabbergasted deofol didn’t even have time to process what the samurai did as a great gashing cut wound went diagonally from where his head connected to the body to nearly all the way down his upper body. However his eyes didn’t fixate themselves on the wound. Rather on the charging spell that the blade went through.

Next thing both of them knew, a spectacular explosion of red engulfed the whole arena. It sent Samukai into the wall of the Horn while Phantom was sent flying into the nearest stone pillar.

“You absolute troglodyte!” The deofol called out after getting up and fixing his jaw. “Haven’t you been taught to never interrupt a sorcerer when he is casting a spell?”

Frankly speaking, Samukai couldn’t care less about what the snake was yelling at him. The ringing in his head made it rather hard to focus on anything. Finally getting himself out of the wall, he took a good long look at his armor. Left shoulder guard completely busted by the icy spike, the chestplate scorched and mildly shattered by the chain and overall cracks by that explosion. It would take an entire day at least to repair all of that. Exhausted, he sat on the ground. His spiritual flame was too low for anything at this point. Umbramancy was more taxing than it was worth it.

“Hey, how about we call it a draw?” Samukai proposed. It probably wouldn’t work, but it was worth a shot. There was no way that he was going to continue fighting with the sorcerer. That red pentagram. It had to be an eight tier. There was no doubt about that. But to think that Phantom could cast it so quickly and with a silent cast. Samurai knew his limits and that was above them. The deofol in question looked at him, completely dazed after his words. Perhaps he would agree to it? He was quite battered after all. And rather lucky. That explosion didn’t tear off the loosely hanging pieces of, well, everything on him. Idiots really had luck on their side.

“Are you..? Are you taking a fucking piss at me?” Was the samurai being serious? A draw? There was no such thing as a draw. Soldiers either knew death or victory. Nothing in between. And commoners could not and would not ever understand this. Phantom slithered towards the warrior who was currently busy checking if his chest plate could even stay in one piece if he tried to move.

“No, not really. Now shoo, go away to your king.” As the sorcerer passed him by, the samurai for a second thought that it worked. Standing up and with a vision of returning home mostly safe and sound, Samukai didn’t even notice the tip of the tail sneak its way towards his arm. Only when a strong grip yanked him towards the deofol, Samukai noticed Phantom waiting for him. “Hey, what are you thinking? Let me go.” No matter how much he was trying, he couldn’t release his arm from those violet coils.

“What you ask? Taking what’s mine.”

“That’s not what we agreed upon.” Samukai should have known that deoflu, especially nobles, aren’t really known for keeping their promises, however he wanted to believe that at the very least someone as highly situated as the snake would be an exception from the rule. Again though, he let himself be disappointed.

“It indeed is. You conceded the fight first, therefore the last man standing was me.”

“Well of course I did. No sane man would stay and fight with a madman. Especially ones that’s as prideful as he is mad. Now let me go!” Samukai grabbed the purple bone and squeezed it with all of his might, hoping that it would loosen the steel grip. It seemed to have an opposite effect as he felt the metal bend slightly.

“Tough luck that you have to live between them, isn’t it. And never touch my wounds again, incubus.” The venom dripping from the serpent’s words instantly made the warrior let go of the bone, his gauntlet dripping with the gooey black blood. Before the samurai knew it, he was tossed right in front of another black, furry mass. Looking up, he instantly backed off. The biggest kelhound he has ever witnessed was sitting right in front of him.

“Pick him up.” Samukai didn’t even have a chance to protest as the hound’s jaw clenched around his whole abdomen. Surprisingly, despite his gargantuan size, the hound was rather considerate and didn’t pierce his body with its fangs, for what the samurai was thankful for. Though being carried horizontally, with all of his limbs dangling from the hound’s mouth, wasn’t all that comfortable as it might have seemed. And Samukai still didn’t know exactly why and exactly he was pretty much being kidnapped. “Now move, there’s only one remaining.”

“Would you mind at least letting me know why exactly his highness wants me?” After being met with silence, Samukai knew that the answer just simply wasn’t destined for him. At the very least it wasn’t ‘pest control’, otherwise he would be dead. Still, just what could require him of all the deoflu?

If there was one and only positive to the whole situation was the fact that Samukai didn’t really use to stick his head outside the complex. So being able to see all of those buildings was quite a treat to his eyes. He never knew that Metropolis could be so vibrant, despite its citizens. Though he was rather sure that he would have enjoyed the sightseeing much more if he wasn’t dangling from the kelhound’s mouth. Following the snake as he traversed throughout the narrow streets and squeezing through gaps between buildings, the trio made quite a sight for the other deoflu. Though they had to swiftly move out of the way as the hound was trampling everything under its feet as well as damaging the buildings. Still, Samukai would have preferred if he could just return back home. And that’s when a brilliant idea was born in his mind.

The kelhound was causing quite the mayhem, its massive body taking chunks of buildings with itself, much to the dismay of their residents. And just so happened that the samurai was dangling just low enough to the ground to barely be able to grab some of them. At first Phantom ignored it when a fist sized piece of debris struck his head. The sorcerer also continued to ignore another bunch. Once they were out of the more crowded part of the district and returned to more spacious streets, the deofol started using his wings to shield himself from the occasional rocks and stones. The bones didn’t bother him as much, and the crystals were too brittle anyway. Seeing that it had no effect, the samurai ceased. Instead he started screaming for help and saying he was being kidnapped. Phantom just barely stopped himself from setting the warrior on fire. Being just a few minutes away from their destination this also turned out to be futile, however even more commoners were drilling their eyes into them. Finally able to take a deep breath of relief as the silhouette of the tower appeared, Phantom bit his tongue when a rather sizable chunk of rock struck him straight in the back of his head. The deofol stopped dead in his tracks.

“If you will make another scene or throw anything once more then I swear that I will pull out my scythe, ram it down your arse and carry you like a banner!” Phantom turned to face the samurai, one last small piece of debris striking him right between the eyes.

“Then just let me go. I’m sure there’s a whole lot of other idiots glad to take my place anyway.”

“For your information, I’ve been ordered to bring you back alive. Not in one piece.”

“A threat?”

“A reminder.” Phantom resumed the march, going down a gradual slope towards a circular plaza with a cloud reaching a tower resembling a dead tree. Its branches were hanging dangerously close to the more residential area, just one bad day from a catastrophe. Ah, the Tower of Magicians. The sorcerer couldn’t help but reminisce about what once stood in its place. Once, Tower of Mages stood proud in the very center of the plaza, a heart of gymnasium. Much more straightforward structure, torn down and rebuilt into this. To this day he couldn’t understand why. Deemed too barbaric in its methods, even by Kel standards, nothing but excuses. That was from where he had stolen his first scroll, before being scouted by lord Beelzebub. “And try to behave. Wouldn’t want to have a bad influence on our future generals.” The deofol added with a slight laugh. If Samukai could, he would have rolled his eyes at that.

As they were approaching the structure, most of the students that were enjoying their time outside stopped, stared and gossiped between each other. What was a nobleman doing here? Especially the infamous sorcerer. Phantom on the other hand nonchalantly slithered towards the grand steel doors, at least the younglings knew their place and didn’t dare to approach him without a proper reason and waste his time, though he stopped as he heard shouts and sounds of something falling coming from the building. The doors flung open and the current headmaster threw, something, out through them.

“And if I ever see you here again, I will tear you apart!” The obese deofol clad in old crimson robes that just barely covered his body, letting his dark brown and gray hooves remain unclothed, screamed as the thrown out mess of tattered purple robes and two black antlers laid on the ground.

“Threat me all you want, I still will find my way in.” The figure responded, raising itself slowly from the ground, its one, cyclopic blue eye staring right in the blood shot eyes of the boar-headed headmaster. Phantom cleared his throat, getting the attention of both of them.

“Ah! I-Iblis Phantom!” The headmaster fell to the ground immediately, only keeping his head raised up, entirely focused on the sorcerer. “I-I am truly h-honored by your visit. W-We haven’t been informed that a nobleman would arrive, b-but nevertheless I am truly grateful that the greatest sorcerer-” In response, Phantom only raised his hand, commanding the deofol to stop talking. While he was glad that at least someone knew how to pay proper respect to him, he didn’t have time for this now.

“Now then, mind explaining what this was all about?” The sorcerer gestured at the robbed figure, whose blue eye kept staring into him, dazzling like stars in the night sky while doing so.

“A-about that, forgive me for m-my impudent behavior earlier, but that thing has been stealing our scrolls and books! I had to do something with that thief an-”

“Enough. Return to your duties, headmaster.” With that, the crimson clad deofol swiftly returned back to the tower and sealed shut the iron doors. “As for you, you are a shadow aren’t you?” The sorcerer pointed at the still figure who didn’t even recognize that it was being talked to. The said figure already stood up. It was rather short, not counting those antlers. If he was to make him stand right next to the samurai then maybe he would reach to his shoulders. The robes he wore were tattered and covered in dirt, however they bore a resemblance to those of the students. Long, dragging on the ground and with equally long and oversized sleeves. Though instead of being a one piece they looked to be a bunch of them sewn together. Upon taking a closer look, there were just barely visible lines and certain parts of the robe were either lighter or darker shade of purple. The robes had two holes in it, one smaller for the mouth and one for the cyclopic eye. The black antlers also came through holes on the very top, though the deofol doubted that those were an intentional design.

“Huh? Who? Me? I mean yes! Reverend Iblis, I indeed am a shadow.” Phantom smiled lightly upon hearing those words. Who would have thought that a shadow would have better manners than most other deoflu. Especially one waste of metal right behind him.

“Shadow, would you happen to know one of your kin under the name of Noktum?”

“Of course! It’s me! I am Noktum.” Ah, how the deofol loved when everything aligned how he wanted. Perhaps it was a sort of reward for dealing with that samurai. A well deserved, if he could say so himself. “Though reverend Iblis, might I know what is expected of me?”

“Consider yourself honored. His Highness appointed you to join me and together fulfill His will.” Noktum froze. At first Phantom didn’t know what to think of it. The shadow just stared absentmindedly at him, not even blinking. Deofol backed off slightly when, something he could only describe as a joyous squeal, echoed throughout the area.

“I can’t believe this! High Highness! And to study under Iblis Phantom of all sorcerers…!” Study? Where did he get that from? Nevertheless, the deofol was glad that the shadow was more than eager to join him, even if he started to ramble a little. Though now looking at the full picture of his team, it really did look odd. Phantom had his doubts. He shook his head. No, he wouldn’t fail, not this time. Lord Lucifer personally constructed this team for him, there was no way to fail. “Ahaha! And who said I couldn’t achieve anything? I don’t need you anymore!” Noktum shouted, while taking one last look at the Tower of Magicians.

“You sure it is wise to take him?” Samukai asked, while eyeing both of them. So far that shadow didn’t seem as bad as the deofol, save for the fact of idolizing him, but he knew better not to test his luck. And probably being stuck with one madman for the nearest future wasn’t promising prosperity. Two would be too much.

“I wonder if we should keep you around.” Phantom faced Samukai, who scoffed at him, before turning back to Noktum. “Now, seeing how this part of my task is finished, the only thing left is to get to the Circular Rift.”

“Huh? Wait, why?” Samukai couldn’t wrap his head around. Were they getting out of Kel? Just what was this whole mission about. Though perhaps there would be one good thing coming out of this. Once they would be back on Earth, then maybe getting away from them and returning home would be an easier task. He would just have to wait for a perfect opportunity.

“To fulfill His Majesty's wish. Do you even listen to what is being told to you?” Samukai bit his nonexistent tongue. That much he knew. Maybe later this whole reverend Iblis would be benevolent enough to let them, the commoners, know what is that they have been tasked with. In order to get to the Circular Rift, they would have to wander all the way to the outskirts of Metropolis and seeing how it was a rather spacious circle, it could take some time. At least the gymnasium was closer to the edges than Horn of Sheol.

Finally getting out of the city, the team was marching through a red stone wasteland, marching towards the equally red hills that were the home of the Circular Rift. Samukai along with Noktum felt rather uneasy in that part of the circle. Used to crowds and massive buildings, to only be met with silence and empty space, with the towering gate golems looking at them from far away was a rather unpleasant experience. Despite going up the slope, the walls around Metropolis weren’t growing any smaller and the tallest of spires were still casting their shadows. It felt as if they were climbing forever when the shape of Circular Rift appeared on the horizon.

A grand circle made out of fifteen massive and gray stone pillars shaped like claws. They were arranged around a flat stone circle. Each of them was from head to toe covered in runes and symbols, making quite an impression on those who witnessed it for the first time. Stepping inside the Circular Rift both the samurai and the magician were staring in awe even if slightly worried about lack of any guards. Anything that important shouldn’t just be left all by itself, should it? While Samukai was contemplating about this, Noktum went to examine the runes and symbols. At first they seemed to be gibberish but any sorcerer worth his title would recognize them. In those pillars was embodied nothing else than the whole incantation of Long Distance Teleportation. The stone circle on the other hand had a carved seal of that spell. Phantom called over the team to him. Fenfir with Samukai, alongside with Noktum quickly found their place near the sorcerer. The deofol once again was engulfed by the transparent blue flame. It filled in the Circular Rift before vanishing. The carvings started to glow with white light and the claws hummed and trembled.

The only thing they remembered before blacking out was the dark blue cloud that formed at the tips of the claws and descended upon them, covering them in impenetrable darkness.

ACT I

Scene II

Black and Red Jester:

Four fools have ventured out,

stranded away

in faraway and strange land,

still obvious to their demise.

Chorus:

Away from home, away they are.

To their demise they turned a blind eye.

Black and Red Jester:

Will they go far,

or fall at the start?

Spill rivers of blood,

or let their bloodlust subside?

Turn to dust,

or perhaps thrive?

So many questions,

I can’t answer them all,

for Act One has just begun.

(Theatrum doors open)

The first guests have arrived,

come on in and don’t be shy,

this foolish tale has only begun.