Chapter 18 - Unveiled

The tongue flicked in the flesh eater’s direction, a wad of drool landing mere feet away. The stone beneath it sizzled and bubbled, a wisp of steam rising from it as those beady eyes narrowed even further.

“You’re the one who ate Yago.”

Lazar heard a few whispers at that from the other demons, but they quickly died down. Beside him, Ciel chuckled, and his eyes darted over to her.

“Oh, now I remember. You’re, what, Ilana, right?” She scratched her head. “Damn, it’s been a while. Didn’t think you were still alive.”

“I could say the same to you.” The demon shifted closer, her body slithering like a snake’s. “I never thought you’d dare show your face around here.”

“Like I said, I’m just showing a friend around.”

“A friend or food?”

Ciel raised a hand up placatingly. “Hey, it was just survival. You know how it is. We do what we have to.”

“No.” The voice boomed louder, so loud that Lazar swore the ledge shook a little, and he barely managed to hold himself back from covering his ears.

“We,” the demon continued, anger barely restrained, “abide by our own codes of honor. As intelligent flesh eaters, it’s our duty to maintain order where we can, lest all of the Abyss collapse!”

The demon took another step forward, finally exiting the cave and expanding out to her full size. Her form engulfed the surrounding cliff walls, covering stone in oddly liquid-like scales. Behind her, Lazar saw more demons step and climb and crawl out, their eyes hard and cold.

“But you,” Ilana continued, “You are no different than those mindless beasts. You bring dishonor to the Abyss. You are nothing but a wretched excuse of a demon. A genuine monster.”

Ciel laughed, and the sound sent shivers down Lazar’s spine. She looked the other demon straight in the eye, her lips pulled back in a sharp grin. Her golden eye remained utterly cold, that same hollowness that Lazar had seen when she first appeared from the stone.

“Awfully dramatic, aren’t you?” Her arm shifted, the one obscuring Lazar’s halberd. The seraph took a step closer to it, noting how the flesh around it shook slightly, ready to unveil the weapon. He tensed, remembering what she’d said about tapping the skin, and prepared to grab it at a moment’s notice.

More of the demons had exited the cave, crowding the ledge, and he could see more waiting inside. His eyes darted around, rapidly taking them in. Ten, twenty? No, there were more. How many could fly or climb? Which ones looked fastest? Who could attack at range? He took in their different forms, mind whirring. Assessing.

Ciel’s visible eye scanned the other demons as well with plain disinterest. She cocked her head to the side, revealing the mass of glowing eyes covering the other side of her face.

“Don’t you think it’s a little silly to try so hard at this civilized play?” She gestured at all of them, and more than one demon bristled. “I mean, what exactly are you trying to do?” Her grin sharpened. “Do you think if you play nice, the Light’ll take pity on you and stop ripping tears open down here? You think the Cycle’ll give you a nice little life as a human next time?” She chuckled, and a stone fell over the ledge, clattering down the cliff side. “You’re so deluded it’s sad. It’s impossible to change what you are.”

Lazar dove for his halberd at the same as the large demon roared. The seraph’s ears rang from the sound, but he gritted his teeth and ignored it, fingers wrapping around the halberd just as Ciel unmorphed her hand.

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His cloak flew off, fluttering into the ravine, and he tightened his hold around the cool metal, the blade of the weapon gleaming in the light as he jerked around and swung.

Small form, long claws, thin wings built for speed.

The blade sliced clean through a small imp-like demon’s left arm and wing. The creature shrieked and stumbled back into the gathering mass of flesh eaters.

“A fallen seraph?”

Lazar didn’t hear the rest of what the demon had to say, because he didn’t stop there. Using the momentum of the first swing, he twisted the halberd and stabbed the point into one of the demons approaching at the front, one with hundreds of crawling legs that would easily be able to traverse the sheer walls.

He moved on instinct, his mind falling into that sharpened, focused state. He was vaguely aware of more screams and yells and felt something warm splash on his face, but he ignored it. He spun around.

“Run!” he yelled, and he heard Ciel follow behind him as he sprinted down the cliff pathway while the demons reeled back, taking advantage of their temporary surprise and shock.

The seraph’s feet pounded against the stone, and he felt his halberd brush against the cliff walls, sending rocks tumbling down. He put all his focus on running.

The wind whistled past his ears, and he felt something whizz past his shoulder and embed itself into the cliff side. Feet pounded behind them, flapping wings, scuttling legs. He ignored them, forcing himself to move faster.

You can do better than this, a low voice rang out in his head. Stop pretending like you can’t do it.

A claw barrelled into the cliff ahead of him, cutting Lazar off. He brought his halberd up as rocks sprayed in his direction, just barely managing to block another hit with the shaft. His hand shook slightly as he was pushed against the cliff face from the pressure, and his eyes landed on the demon responsible.

The demon was tall and spindly, with thin needle-like limbs. The creature flew on a pair of bone wings completely bare of feathers and skin.

Tightening his grip, Lazar shoved the claws away, ducking his head low to dodge the next strike, but as he turned to keep running, another demon, small and barely the size of his head, leapt onto his arm.

Razor sharp teeth sunk into his flesh. Lazar bit back a yell and reeled his other arm back to strike, but he was forced to block a third demon’s attack. He struggled to get the small demon off, but it held on with a vice grip. He heard the flying demon snap its claws back again, more footsteps approaching, and in a split second decision he slammed his arm and the demon directly into the cliffside.

The teeth dug even deeper into his arm, rocks tumbling around them, but the demon’s resulting shriek loosened its grip just enough for Lazar to yank his bloodied arm away and keep running.

Lazar’s eyes scanned the path ahead, desperately searching for an escape, but there were no forks or alternative routes. The trail simply kept winding down deeper into the pit, widening in a few sections but otherwise remaining steady in its course.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bloody demon fall down into the ravine. The spindly demon dove after it as a fleshy arm undulated and retracted back. Ciel was still behind him.

The seraph ran through their options with sharp, focused clarity. They wouldn’t be able to run forever; soon the demons would catch them, and on the narrow paths, they were very likely to lose their footing and fall to their deaths. The flying demons, especially, were a problem.

Lazar risked a glance back and saw the tall demon flying back up, the fallen one in tow, though it moved slower, likely as a result of the added weight.

There weren’t too many flying demons, he assessed, eyes darting around. Two, no, three excluding the one he’d initially attacked. Hiding was impossible. If they could take those out, they might have a better chance at fleeing the rest. It was a gamble, it might not work, but it was better than nothing.

Up ahead, Lazar could see another space where the path widened into a ledge, this one even larger than the first. His grip on the halberd tightened, and he ignored the feeling of blood trickling down his arm, still gushing from the wound. If they were going to try and fight any of the demons, that was the place to do it.

Lazar pushed his legs faster, jumping and rolling onto the platform just as claws dug into the wall where his head had just been. He skidded across the stone, but he managed to land on his feet and quickly rose again, turning to face the pursuing demons with his weapon raised. Ciel was a little behind him, not quite as fast, and he tossed her a meaningful look, his eyes darting over to the flying demons then back, hoping she’d understand.

From the glint in those golden eyes of hers, he assumed she did.

Lazar exhaled, tightening his hold on his bloodied halberd. The seraph bent his legs in a ready stance as the horde of demons approached.