Chapter 57 - Unravel

Lazar’s fingers tightened around the cool silver of his halberd, muscles tensing as he looked up at the massive demon. Positioned overhead, it completely covered the clearing with its web-like body.

The line of saliva dripping down its mouth landed thickly on the barren earth, forming a viscous, cloudy puddle. A second sharp creak sounded. Lazar leapt away a second before the next gust of wind swirled into the soul eater’s open maw.

Stray dirt and debris rose, some of it flying into Lazar’s eyes. He ignored the faint sting and scanned the clearing, memorizing which trees the demon’s spindly limbs had grabbed onto. In its current position, they wouldn’t be able to damage it.

He glanced back. Ciel was a few feet away, having also dodged the attack. Her hair fell messily across her features. Through the stray strands, Lazar could see clusters of yellow eyes gathered on the right half of her face, her disguise now completely down.

“Ciel!” he called. The demon’s head snapped in his direction, and he jerked his head towards the nearest tree. “We need to bring it down!”

The flesh eater didn’t need another word. Reeling an arm back, the flesh around her shoulder morphed, rising in bubbling lumps. When she thrusted the limb forward, a mass of twisted flesh shot towards Lazar.

The second the limb passed him, he jumped on, riding the crude ramp upwards towards the soul eater.

The rising mass of flesh began to slow. Halberd in hand, Lazar dug the blade deep into the tree trunk to grip on. Bark and branches snapped around him, but the blade remained secure. He shifted, gaze honing in on the spot where the soul eater’s limb had rooted itself into the tree.

Using his legs to grip onto the trunk, Lazar yanked the halberd blade out and thrust the point straight into the round yellow eye peering out from the limb’s surface.

Metal met a hint of resistance. He pushed harder, and the tip pierced through.

The eye burst like a popped balloon. Pale yellow liquid dripped down from the puncture while a piercing screech sounded in Lazar’s ears. He winced but maintained his hold, attempting to force the halberd in deeper.

The soul eater released a sound like a deep groan. In a flash, a whipping tendril shot out from its open mouth and slammed into the seraph’s chest.

The tree split behind him. He gasped, his breath escaping his lungs. Lazar saw the appendage pull back, readying to attack again.

In a split second decision, he released his hold on the tree and prayed the halberd was deeply embedded enough in the demon to support his weight.

Straining his muscles, Lazar pulled himself up just before the next blow could hit him, managing to flip onto the top of the soul eater’s limb.

The creature released another screech, but he ignored it. Gripping the halberd shaft tightly, he twisted, pushing the blade all the way through the limb in an attempt to sever it entirely.

A second yellow eye stared unblinkingly at him as he worked. The flesh around it bubbled.

Lazar tensed, readying to jump away, but a violent lurch interrupted the movement.

He fell forward, barely managing to hold onto the demon as it thrashed and screeched. Grey eyes darted across the clearing, widening when he spotted Ciel.

The flesh eater had gone to the tree opposite this one, and instead of severing the limb, she punched straight into the trunk. With each hit, stray splinters flew out, scattering across the ground. The crack climbing across the wood’s surface only grew in size.

Ciel reeled her arm back and slammed a bloodied fist into the tree again, sending another shockwave up the trunk that had the soul eater lurching. She probably didn’t have many flesh reserves left, Lazar realized. Since she couldn’t reach the soul eater directly, she was bringing down the entire tree.

The seraph tightened his hold on the halberd, then dug his free hand into the gleaming leg for a better grip. The surface of the limb was sharp, its edges cutting like blades. Lazar ignored the sting and held on tighter.

With a final heave, the blade carved clean through just as Ciel’s next blow sent the opposite tree collapsing down.

All at once, Lazar felt himself falling with the soul eater through the air. It crashed into the hard earth.

The seraph barely managed to pull the halberd blade out in time before it was crushed under the demon. He rolled onto the bloodied earth and realized he’d landed on the soft remains of one of the earlier demons who’d come through the tear. He was thankful for it. It had helped soften his landing.

Lazar slowly rose back to his feet, still a bit stunned from the impact. His body throbbed where he’d landed, but it didn’t feel like he’d broken anything. A hand gripped his shoulder, steadying him, and Lazar shot Ciel a grateful look.

In the corner of his vision, the flesh atop the soul eater bubbled. Lazar’s eyes widened.

“Get down!”

The seraph threw himself forward, knocking both him and Ciel away just as the surface of the soul eater burst into a fanning wall of spikes.

Lazar heard fabric rip and felt a faint sting on his back, but they’d just managed to get out of range in time. He turned.

All across the soul eater’s body, long, thin needles extended outwards, preventing anything from drawing near. Through the labyrinth of spikes, he could just barely make out those yellow eyes and a puddle of drool forming where it must have landed on its mouth. There were no gaps in the spikes. Lazar couldn’t see a way through.

His eyes narrowed. Before he could swing and test the strength of the spikes, the ground beneath them trembled.

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Earth and stone split open. Squirming appendages burst forth like blooming vines.

One wrapped around Lazar’s arm and he sliced it off without thinking. The appendage flopped limply onto the ground, leaving behind a mark where it had burned through his sleeve.

Movement flickered in the corner of his eye. The seraph spun around, using the shaft of the halberd to block the next blow. The soul eater hadn’t moved. These were the same as the tongue-like appendage that had attacked earlier; the demon was tunneling them through the ground to strike within the safety of its spiked shell.

Beside him, Ciel’s arms rippled. An extra layer of protective flesh formed over her forearms, allowing her to block and strike the tendrils without getting burned. They moved in an unspoken rhythm, each one covering the other as they focused on separate halves of the clearing.

A third swing nearly sent Lazar sprawling. He jumped over only to immediately veer to the side, narrowly missing a fourth blow.

The seraph’s eyes flickered across the clearing. With every limb he cut, another soon replaced it. It took all his attention to dodge and sever them. They needed to find a way to reach the main body of the demon.

Lazar ducked under another tendril and swept his halberd in a wide arc, slicing through four appendages at once. Some of the acidic liquid splashed onto him, burning his skin. He ignored it.

He turned, but as he moved, he felt a shift in the air around him—faint and nearly imperceptible. The soul eater made a rattling sound.

A sharp pain burst in his chest. Lazar doubled over, a hand instinctively gripping at the area as a familiar pulling sensation beckoned him towards the demon. The whipping wind roared in his ears. He struggled to get out of range, trying to press against that invisible force tugging at his soul.

Then, all at once, it stopped.

In front of him, a wall of quivering flesh cut off the tunnel of wind. The pain dulled, and Lazar quickly leapt out of range, legs slightly shaky from the residual sensation.

“Thank you,” he breathed. Ciel just nodded.

“I’m almost out of reserves,” she warned. As if on cue, the detached wall of flesh slumped down, falling to the ground in an amorphous mound barely distinguishable from the dead demon corpses already littering the space. “We’re gonna need to get past that,” she said, jerking her head towards the spikes.

Lazar nodded in agreement. The tendrils had vanished back underground. He guessed the soul eater could only use either them or the wind attack one at a time, but he was sure the appendages would appear again soon. They didn’t have much time.

Lazar surged forward, halberd raised and ready. He heard the ground split behind him, but Ciel was there blocking the blow in an instant.

Silver metal crashed into gleaming black spikes. Lazar felt the force of the impact climb up his arms. He gritted his teeth. The blade was cutting through, but it was far too slowly. This would take too long.

Another appendage shot out from the ground to his side. Lazar turned, readying to attack.

Before he could, a spark of umber light flashed. The tendril burst into flames.

The seraph whipped around. There, chest heaving and dark eyes set with grim determination, was Alaric.

Lazar’s eyes widened. “You—”

“The villagers have all been evacuated,” the man interrupted. He took a deep breath and straightened, hands tightening around his drawn sword. “I couldn’t leave the two of you behind.”

Lazar’s gaze shifted over to Ciel. The flesh eater had managed to smooth her disguise back before the human could see, though the skin around the right half of her face looked a bit uneven when studied closely.

Behind them, the soul eater rumbled. Lazar carved through the next appendage that attacked.

The idea of endangering a human felt wrong to his core. It was an instinctive, primal emotion. Even after falling, the teachings of Elysium were still deeply ingrained in him it seemed.

And yet, the more logical part of him saw how vulnerable the soul eater had been to fire. He swallowed.

“Alaric,” Lazar said slowly. “Can you burn through those spikes?”

He could see how exhausted the man was, remembered how much magic he’d already used. And yet, Alaric didn’t hesitate to nod. His gaze was hard.

Another flurry of appendages burst from the earth. Alaric’s sword sliced through the ones nearest to him while Lazar and Ciel dealt with the rest. The seraph met eyes with the demon, flicking his gaze to the soul eater, then back. Based on the gleam in those golden eyes, she understood.

Lazar shoved a tendril back, feet skidding on the earth slightly, then carved into the next one. For a brief moment, the path to the spikes was clear.

“Now!”

Umber light burned like a flame behind him. Alaric gritted his teeth, forehead shining with sweat as his hands moved rapidly through a series of connected symbols.

A second later, he thrust his palm forward and a stream of flames jetted outwards, burning into the barrier of spikes.

The soul eater shrieked, but Lazar didn’t pay it attention. He burst forward as the flames blazed through. Behind him, he heard Ciel block the demon’s retaliatory attacks while the seraph focused on reaching his target.

The air around him sizzled with lingering heat. A few remaining spikes sliced into his skin as he ran, but he only pressed himself to move faster.

As the last spark flickered out, Lazar lunged.

The blade slammed down into the main body of the soul eater, the seraph throwing his entire body weight into the blow.

He didn’t stop, hanging on despite the lurches and thrashes, pressing past the creature’s gleaming exoskeleton. It snapped with a loud crack, and then the metal sunk down into soft flesh.

Blood gushed from the wound, thick and sticky. Finally, after what felt like hours, the demon fell still.

Through the remaining spikes, Lazar could see the tendrils collapse to the earth and the yellow eyes blacken. His own breaths rang loudly in his ears, a fresh wave of exhaustion washing over him.

With his remaining strength, he yanked his weapon out from the demon’s body and staggered back. Above, the gaping void of the tear remained, but nothing more came out of it.

It wouldn’t last. Eventually more demons in the Abyss would find it and use it to pass into the first plane, but for now, it seemed the initial wave was over.

Lazar turned to return to where Alaric and Ciel were. They would need to leave and inform anyone nearby of the situation. He suspected the people of Carran would have to move; they couldn’t risk living so close to an open tear.

“We need to leave,” Lazar said. Alaric’s brows were furrowed in concern as he took in the seraph’s wounds.

“You need to wrap those cuts first.”

Lazar shook his head. “I’m fine. I—”

He didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence, because at that moment, a loud snap echoed in his ears.

He spun around, eyes widening as the central body of the soul eater split open and a hand dug out.

A small imp-like demon with pointed teeth and a sharp smile screeched, barreling towards him with its claws drawn.

It was too fast, Lazar realized. He didn’t have time to dodge.

He braced himself, preparing for the blow.

A squelching sound rang throughout the clearing.

Dark red blood fell to the earth, staining the already filthy ground. The demon sputtered.

Through its body, an extended arm of flesh had pierced straight through its chest.

The demon fell, body twitching in stilted motions before finally falling still. The spike of flesh loosened and landed onto the ground as well, quickly disintegrating into scattered lumps. Those must have been the last of Ciel’s reserves.

The demon in question lowered her arm, the skin rippling briefly before smoothing back out. She’d saved him.

“Thank you, I was careless,” Lazar said once he’d confirmed that the creature was fully dead this time. He nodded gratefully.

The flesh eater simply raised an eyebrow, a familiar grin spreading across her features.

“Eh, give yourself a break. You almost got your soul sucked out back there.” She rolled her shoulder back and moved to step closer.

Before she could, a bloodied sword blocked her path.

“Stop.”

Alaric’s words rang out clearly in the now empty clearing. His voice was hard, his grip on the sword steady even as his eyes burned with a frenzied mix of emotions.

“Don’t take another step, demon.”