It was like watching two animals fighting to the death. On one side, the King of Demons. Iron fists bared, breaking bones and tearing cartilage with every mighty punch he threw. And on the other, Cobalt Atticus Trayer, giving as good as he got. Unrecognisable beneath the impenetrable suit of bone armour encasing his entire body. The way he ripped and tore, and how he shrieked and spat...
He was a monster.
Karazelle stood amidst the horror show that Cobalt had left in his wake. Dead Devils lay everywhere; limbs torn asunder, bodies left broken and bleeding, dead before they hit the ground. It was like watching a nightmare. The man she knew so well, broken so thoroughly. The moment Brass Trayer breathed his last, the Incubus just... snapped. She could see it in his eyes.
That kindly glint was gone, replaced by a furious blaze unlike anything she had ever seen.
As the battle raged atop the platform, she turned her gaze to her companions. Once Cobalt had devoured his father's heart, Lucifer ordered all of his soldiers to put him down. And the Incubus just... changed. One moment he encased himself in a mass of gnarled bone, and the next he was that... thing. The monster that tried to hurt his own students without a second thought.
Whitney lay slumped on her side, struggling to catch her breath beside the shards of her destroyed prosthetic. Alerted by the sound of rocks clattering to the floor, Elya skirted over to the Nymph's side, doing whatever she could to get her back to her feet. Izzbelle was holding her hands to her face, struggling to stem the bleeding as she tried to soothe an inconsolable Jelli. Quinn had pulled herself out from beneath Lottie, and was trying to attend to her wounds, but to no avail. The side of her head had been ripped open, and the Golem's screams were nothing short of haunting.
She looked back up. Lucifer's clothes were torn and bloodied, and Cobalt's armour was broken in places. But while the Incubus kept regenerating, the Devil lord's wounds stayed bleeding.
It was only a matter of time, wasn't it? And once Cobalt had seen his hunt through to the end...
Karazelle turned her gaze down to her hands.
She did what she could. She saw him pinning Whitney down, and for just a moment she had hoped that he would have snapped out of it. But no; Cobalt Trayer as a man was gone. Burned away by Incupsychosis, the very thing her mother had broken him in order to prevent. She pulled him off Whitney, but that was all she could do.
She was paralysed.
She didn't know what to do.
It was like putting on a brave face for so, so long, all of the mounting fear had finally caught up with Karazelle Terna. She just slowly sunk to her knees, watching helplessly as the fight ensued above her. Lucifer held his own, delivering blow after devastating blow, but it was like pain no longer meant anything to Cobalt. He sunk his claws deep and gouged the King of Demons for all he was worth, until blood was streaming down the platform steps in rivulets, mixing with the mire of red seeping from the corpses all around her.
This was what Viola warned her about. This was the real Cobalt Trayer. The monster that had lurked beneath the surface all along.
And yet she... she thought she could...
Karazelle thought she could find a solution. As she always did.
But there was no fixing this. A rampant Incubus was an unstoppable force, and there was no immovable object great enough to stop him. Not even the full might of Lucifer. The King of Demons would run out of blood to bleed sooner or later, and once he fell, the rest of them was soon to follow.
This...
This was it, wasn't it?
This was what it was like to face death.
It was funny.
That Cobalt managed to last so long, harbouring a feeling like this. Without shedding a tear.
Karazelle wanted to cry. To scream. To curl up into a ball and beg for her life. To just... just...
Give up.
But as she knelt there on the floor, mired in blood and despair as she watched Cobalt tackle a god to the floor, a rough hand suddenly grabbed the back of Karazelle's blazer, wrenching the Succubus to her feet.
"We don't have much time. I need you on your feet," a waspish voice urged in her ear.
Dazed and drained, she could only blearily turn her head to find none other than Lilith standing by her said, bruised and beaten, but still standing. The Devil's eye was clamped shut and a fair amount of blood was leaking from beneath her eyelid. She looked sick.
"Wh- What...?" Karazelle breathed, staring into the Devil's one remaining eye.
Lilith grabbed her shoulders, to steady her if nothing else.
"Are you just gonna lie here and wait to die?"
The Succubus slowly turned her head to look at the ensuing fight, only for her to grab her face and forcefully turn her away.
"I asked you a question."
"... Why do you care?" Karazelle asked in a small voice.
Gritting her teeth, Lilith looked over her shoulder before sighing.
"... He wouldn't have wanted this for you. And if he's not in a state to keep you safe, then it falls to me. I owe him that much and more."
There was a flash of sincerity in the Devil's eye, one that Karazelle wasn't expecting to see.
"We gotta get you and your friends outta here. Get them to the elevator, and I can guide them out from there. Got it?"
"But... I don't understand-"
"You don't need to understand shit, alright?! Stop thinking, and do something!"
She slapped the Succubus on the back, knocking the air right out of her lungs. As she stood there - stunned - Lilith skirted past the bodies over to where Whitney lay, gasping for breath as she struggled to gather up the pieces of her broken prosthetic.
This Devil... why would she care about them...? Why would she want to help, even after all of this...?
Karazelle shook her head.
No. Damn it, Lilith was right. Now wasn't the time for losing hope. Even if she felt like there wasn't a point in going on, there were others here that needed her help. She had to be as she always was; standing strong for those she loved.
With a renewed sense of purpose, the Succubus gathered herself and bolted off to where Izzbelle lay, focusing her vision so as not to look at the mutilated corpses all around her. The air with thick with the stench of gore, and it was taking every ounce of willpower she had not to just throw up right then and there. The Oni lay on her side, shaking all over with her hands clamped to her face, while beside her Jelli knelt on the floor, pale as a sheet as she quietly sobbed.
"Jelli! C'mon, we have to-!" Karazelle urged, only for the Glutton to latch on in a desperate hug.
She had seen her scared before; Hell, Jelli was always terrified of something or other, big or small. But the poor girl, she... she had wet herself with fear. The way she clung to Karazelle's blazer, unable to speak save for barely gasped whimpers as her legs refused to let her stand... All the Succubus could do was hold her for a moment, whispering frantic reassurances as she hugged her close.
"We can't stay here, honey. We have to go."
The memories rushed back, more vivid than she could have imagined. She remembered that unassuming day, not that long into second-year, when Karazelle stepped outside for another lonely lunch of fruit salad, rice pudding and whatever the Hell that brown gloop was that the canteen was serving that day. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw it; Jelli, keeled over with her lunch splattered all over her uniform, and Cobalt, being threatened by Magnus Rost and his lackeys. The urge to leap to the Glutton's aid, to make some kind of connection, even if it got herself hurt...
"Th- That's... That's... d- das ist nicht...!"
"Don't look at him. Okay, just... Just keep your eyes on me, Jelli," Karazelle urged, holding her head close to her chest.
She gasped for breath and nodded frantically, squeezing her eyes shut tight enough for the tears to streak down in rivulets. With Jelli close to hand, Karazelle knelt by Izzbelle and shook her shoulder.
"Let me see," she said urgently, eliciting a pain groan from the Oni.
"F- Fuckin' bastard...! Agh...! It... hurts...! Can't... fuckin'... breathe...!" she choked, her voice sounded congested.
"Izzbelle, sweetie, let me see."
"Fuck off!"
Rolling over, Izzbelle held one bloodied hand to her face as she swiped at Karazelle with an equally-stained hand. Her eyes were wet and she was shuddering all over; the pain was clearly crippling her.
"I- I'll kill him... I'll fuckin' kill him...!" the Oni guttered, struggling to stand up.
"We need to stem the bleeding," Karazelle muttered urgently, grabbing the sleeve of her blazer.
Before she could begin to try and tear it off, however, she was startled by a concussive burst of magic from the central platform. A swathe of iron knives burst forth from Lucifer in an effort to defeat Cobalt, who kept fighting despite the blades jutting from his bony armour. The Devil lord was badly wounded all over, and yet he did not relent.
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"Shit..."
Pulling one of the blades from the floor, she frantically cut her sleeve off and approached Izzbelle.
"We need to apply pressure. This will help," she urged, reaching for her face.
Backpedaling out of the way of an incoming backhand, Karazelle raised her hands as her friend bared her bloodied teeth.
"Fuck off! I don't... I don't want your help!"
When did she ever? From the get-go, Izzbelle never wanted help with anything. She never wanted friends. Never wanted companionship. Never wanted to be happy. But by hellfire's grace, she needed all of those things, and Karazelle was damned if she wasn't going to be the one to give them to her.
"Dammit Izzbelle, pull yourself together! For her!" she snapped, pointing a finger at Jelli.
Just as predicted, the Oni's gaze softened. Releasing a shuddering sigh, she pulled her hand away, dripping coagulated blood all down the front of her shirt. It was bad. Cobalt's claw had carved right across her face, gouging a thick gash beneath her eyes and cutting straight through the nose bone. No wonder she couldn't breathe; her airways were completely clogged.
"Right... breathe through your mouth, alright? This is gonna sting...!"
Wadding up the ripped sleeve, she pressed it against Izzbelle's wound, drawing a scream of agony from her throat.
"Keep pressure on that."
"It fuckin' hurts...!"
"I know, I know."
"Agh... make it stop...!"
Gritting her teeth, Karazelle turned to Jelli and took her hand. Taking Izzbelle's, she joined them together.
"Jelli, I need you to be real brave for me, alright?"
The Glutton shook her head.
"I can't! I can't, I can't, I can't...!"
"Yes you can! Izzbelle needs you to help her to the door, okay? Can you do that?"
Despite the clear terror in her eyes, one look to the pain-addled Oni was enough to get Jelli to agree. Nodding, she padded over to the exit as fast as her little feet would carry her, dragging Izzbelle along behind her. That girl needed a doctor, and soon. If only the one medical professional Karazelle knew was still actively practicing...
With those two making their way to safety, she swallowed her nerves and surveyed her surroundings. Cobalt had Lucifer in a deadly embrace, and with the two belligerents distracted, Jelli and Izzbelle were able to pick their way across the chamber unharried. Glancing over to the other side of the platform, she noticed that Elya had taken to following the Succubus' lead; helping Whitney off the floor as she checked her for wounds.
What the Hell happened to that Fallen? She was always weird and creepy, but there was a deep sadness underlying it all, and even though she should have known better, Karazelle found herself feeling bad for her. And now she seemed more coherent than she had ever been, and as silent as a swan. Even her eyes had changed.
"Put the gun down already!" cried the voice of Lilith over the sound of scraping bone and grinding iron.
Alarmed by the Devil's cry, she skirted around the platform, feeling nauseous as her shoes splashed through Devil blood. She could see his body just out of the corner of her eye; Brass Trayer, lying still and lifeless. Sweet hellfire, he deserved better than this...!
Lilith was standing with her hands raised, trying to talk down an inconsolable Quinn. The Imp was sobbing - completely distraught - as she aimed her Lead Revolver at the Devil, defiantly standing guard as her girlfriend lay motionless on the floor, the stone armour gradually sliding off her body.
"Stay away! You stay the fuck away, or I swear I'll kill you!" Quinn screamed, cocking the hammer of her gun.
"We don't have time for this! You need to get out of here!"
"I'm not letting you hurt her!"
She fired it with a terrific bang, startling Karazelle. Lilith ducked in behind one of the pillars, swearing loudly as she pounded a fist against its metallic surface.
"Dammit, you stupid son of a...!"
Her single eye flitted over to the Succubus cowering in her midst.
"Do something! Say something! We stay here any longer and we're all fucked!" Lilith cried, baring her teeth.
Nodding shakily, Karazelle loudly cleared her throat and stepped forward, raising her hands as non-threateningly as she could. Quinn immediately trained the gun on her. Despite her tears, her catlike-eyes shone with deadly intent.
"Stay back, Kara," she breathed, clicking the hammer back once more.
Quinn... that girl was always the joker, always the one to make light of the situation, no matter how dire. She was solid brass, from her neck to her nethers, and even when Karazelle herself felt despaired, Quinn would offer a new perspective for her, wittingly or no. She only ever saw the Imp panic about one thing, and that was Lottie. That simple, happy-go-lucky soul that she had fallen so hopelessly in love with was all Quinn truly cared about in this world. To see her so badly wounded, Karazelle couldn't even blame her for overreacting.
But Lilith was right; once Cobalt was no longer satisfied with Lucifer, he'd train his sights onto the rest of them. And not even Deadeye Redtile's legendary aim would save her.
"I know you're scared, but you need to put the gun down, Quinn," she said as calmly as she could, taking a step towards her friend.
She shook her head rapidly, loosening coils of auburn hair from beneath her hat.
"No. No, I can't do this. I can't fucking do this, Kara!"
The Succubus stopped. The Imp was panicking; appealing to her rationality probably wasn't going to get her far.
"Lottie needs a hospital. If you'd just let me-"
"Don't you dare fucking touch her!"
The revolver went off again. The warning shot whizzed just past Karazelle's ear, rapidly quickening her already-rampant heartbeat. She could feel her legs threatening to buckle as the cold, cloying fingers of fear snaked their way up her spine, threatening to clasp her heart tight and drain the strength from her limbs.
But she couldn't fall now. Not when so many eyes were on her. Not just Quinn and Lilith, but everyone. If Karazelle couldn't help them - the bare fucking minimum - then what the Hell was she even good for.
"Okay, Quinn. Let's just... let's just take a second, alright?" she said aloud, glancing at the ongoing fight.
Lucifer had wrested control from Cobalt, who was screeching like an animal as he frantically swiped at the Devil's chest, raking through his shirt.
In front of her, the Imp choked a little and gripped her Lead Revolver in both hands. The distress was getting to much for her. Any more and she was liable to shoot Karazelle square between the eyes.
"I'm not gonna hurt Lottie, okay? This is me we're talking about here," the Succubus called, keeping her tone nonconfrontational.
"How do I know that?! How do I know you're not working with that tramp?!" Quinn screamed, turning to point the gun in a different direction.
Karazelle looked over to see Elya and Whitney making their way over to the door. The Fallen flinched at the sudden prospect of being gunned down in cold blood, but despite the loss of her arm, her companion defiantly placed herself between her and Quinn, glaring at the Incubus through bedraggled blue hair.
How far she had come. Whitney Brode was the worst person Karazelle ever had the pleasure of meeting, back in first year. She was the kind of girl who used people whenever she pleased for whatever she felt like, going through them like cheap tissues. And now there she stood, willing to take a bullet even for someone like Elya.
"This isn't about them, Quinn. It's not about the Devil either. Just look at me, okay? Listen to what I'm telling you."
"No, no more! I should never have listened to you! I should never have brought her here!"
It was true. She dragged them all here. One lapse in judgement - one sentimental mistake - and now two of her friends were gravely wounded, and the rest were likely going to be traumatised for life. Karazelle knew how badly she had messed up. But she couldn't let that break her. At least not yet.
"That's on me, I know. Once we're out of here, you can do whatever needs to be done to me Quinn, but we have to get out of here first. Just... let me help Lottie. Please."
Quinn's gaze flitted over to Elya.
"She's not going anywhere near her."
"Quinn, please. You have to trust me."
"How?! How can I trust you?! How can I trust any of you?!"
Karazelle took a long, deep breath. Quinn was cracking under the pressure; her naturally suspicious nature was getting the better of her. Looking over at Lilith, the Succubus her her hand by her side and clenched her fist, deliberately extending her index as she kept the Imp's attention with her other hand. The Devil noticed her signal immediately, nodding slightly as she prepared herself.
"The longer we stand here arguing, the less time we have to get Lottie to safety. She's bleeding out-"
"Shut up! Just... shut up and let me think!"
The Succubus shook her head.
"... I can't do that, Quinn."
She snapped her fingers.
As soon as she gave a signal, Lilith darted out from behind the pillar, keeping her stance low as she rushed Quinn while she was distracted. Baring her teeth, the Imp turned to crack off a few rounds at her, but the Devil ducked beneath her shots and tackled her, knocking the Lead Revolver from her grasp and pinning her to the floor. With Quinn incapacitated, Karazelle immediately rushed over to Lottie and fell to her knees, pulling her blazer off in anticipation of what was to come.
It was bad; really bad. Cobalt's claws had cleaved right through the side of Lottie's head, slicing through her silver curls to expose four seeping gashes. He had ripped through skin and muscle, exposing bone, and her ear was completely destroyed. It was a miracle that her skull was still intact, otherwise...
Feeling remarkably ill, Karazelle swallowed her nausea and got to work. Balling up her blazer, she pressed it against the wound, feeling remarkably disturbed at Lottie's lack of reaction. She was out cold. Hopefully...
"What do we do?" Whitney asked, stooping down to help her.
They all flinched as Cobalt shrieked from atop the platform and a spray of hot blood rained down upon them.
"We have to get her out of here, but I don't know if moving her is a good idea," the Succubus responded breathlessly.
"There's no time! Get her moved!" Lilith barked as she restrained a struggling Quinn.
Sweat beaded on Karazelle's forward. Stress was weighing down upon her, heavier than she had ever felt it before. But it could not break her. Not yet.
"Elya. Take her legs," she instructed, nodding to the Fallen.
She stood there for a moment, eyes glistening with concern. But with a shivering nod, Elya dutifully did as she was instructed. With her taking her legs, Karazelle supporting her head and Whitney doing what she could to support the Golem's midsection, the three of them began to slowly carry their wounded friend to safety. Past the bodies left in Cobalt's wake, they left the chamber and inched towards the elevator, where Izzbelle and Jelli were waiting. As they eased Lottie into the elevator, Lilith rushed over, carrying Quinn over her shoulder. She had bound the Imp in iron chains. Karazelle didn't enjoy seeing her friend tied up like that, but it was for her own sake as well as everyone else's.
"All eyes are going to be on Cobalt, so your best option is to make a straight shot for the front door," the Devil panted breathlessly, tossing Quinn next to her girlfriend.
"Careful!" Karazelle snapped as she helped Izzbelle in.
"There's no time to be careful! Now when this lift reaches the bottom, I'm going to need you all to run and don't stop!"
She was addressing all of them, eye wide with concern despite her gruff demeanour. It was disconcerting to think that this woman knew them all much, much more intimately than they knew her. Still... she was helping. Even for a Devil, that was... admirable.
"Can you promise me that?" Lilith asked, pushing Karazelle into the elevator.
The Succubus looked back at her friends; broken, bleeding and wounded as they were. Swallowing hard, she turned back to Lilith.
"You're doing all this for him...?" she murmured, looking past back to the blood-soaked chamber beyond.
Lilith sighed.
"... I get he seems like a real piece of shit from your angle. But there's something you need to understand."
The Devil stooped down to her eye-level.
"Even if he went the wrong way about it, and even if he can't say it aloud, he loves you. All of you. Now promise me you'll run and not look back."
Her words... Karazelle didn't want to notice the sincerity. But not even willful ignorance was enough, further deepening the painful knot of doubt within her stomach. The paradoxical urge to hate the Incubus for what he had done, and the uncomfortable truth that - in the grand scheme of things - he never had a choice.
"I... I prom-"
A deafening howl of agony drowned her out, one loud enough to force everyone to cover their ears. As everyone recoiled, only Lilith remained still, her single eye widening with horror.
"Oh shit..." she breathed, turning back to face the entrance to the chamber.
"What? Is it Cobalt?"
Lilith shook her head.
"No... That's... Go. All of you, go! Get out now!"
With that, she slammed the elevator door shut. The Devil ran back to where Cobalt and Lucifer were fighting, the sound of her boots echoing off the stone walls. Karazelle just stood there for a moment, staring at the metal doors as she processed everything that was happening.
"Should we...?" Whitney asked, inching towards the elevator's lever.
The Succubus didn't reply, instead stumbling a little as she braced herself against the walls of the list. She wanted to sink to her knees. She wanted to pass out. She wanted to scream, cry and throw up all at once. Every fibre in her body begged her to just run; to get the Hell out of there as Lilith had instructed.
But then she thought of Cobalt's face. His stupid fucking face.
Even after everything he did... Everything he said... not just to her, but everyone...
"Karazelle...?" Jelli whimpered, looking up with big, moony eyes.
They were counting on her. As they always did.
She couldn't let this break her. She returned her attention to the door, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
"Not yet."