Kyle solemnly watched as the black wall of the barrier covered their horizon, they were approaching it’s edge. Lilith had long disappeared while Dagon, him, Birse and Skill stood above the carriage as Sly in his Aurei form, Cherry in his beast form pushed the carriage from behind as Soren stood at the open-door relaying directions.
Kyle was above them, the back of the carriage’s roof. “Wait so, you need to be almost dead to enter your Devil form?” he asked Sly while reading over the skill window he forwarded to him.
[{Deus Ex Machina}] (Set skill stats) : The destroyer has seen it fit to imbue you with her curse, Kali shares her power and her pain with you. Abide by the curse and the power of destruction will be at your fingertips.
Requirement: Must be below 10% cHP of mHP to activate.
Kyle then read over his own.
[{Cold Soul}] (Set skill stats): The winter lord’s blessing is upon you, personally selected by Ymir as a vessel for his immense power. Channel his energy at will making it your own, the power of ice nothing more than another limb under your control.
They were eerily similar.
“That’s masochistic as fuck.” Said Soren “Left! Tree!” he then shouted causing Sly and Cherry to swerve left and evade a tree’s trunk.
“Yeah it’s bad, what’s worse is I couldn’t have known how it worked at all if I didn’t ask the bitch herself.” Explain Sly from within his Aurei armour as he continued to push the carriage from the left.
“What about you Kyll? Any clue at what yours does?” Cherry asked as he also pushed from the right, they both looked slightly exhausted as they had been going for over an hour.
Kyle forwarded the skill window to them “See for yourselves, I’ve tried everything except Sly’s requirement. Mine probably has a similar requirement but unless I ask Ymir I doubt I’ll figure it out.”
“Left again! Turn right after!” Soren called out again, “Can’t you contact him somehow? Sly how do you do it?” he later asked.
“I don’t do shit, bitch just knocks me out whenever she sees fit or sends me these fucked up thoughts like I got some deranged voice in my head.” Sly explained after turning the carriage with Cherry “And it’s not like I can block the bitch out, like right there every time I call her bitch she has something to say!” he groaned in annoyance.
Kyle chuckled “I know the feeling, well you three keep it up.” He stepped away from the edge and walked over to Birse, Dagon and Skill who sat on the front edge with their legs hanging.
“We’re almost there.” Said Birse as Kyle approached, he was sitting like the other two but with a leg up and his arm resting over the knee.
“How do we get in though?” Kyle asked as he crouched down between Dagon and Birse.
“Lilith was the welcome party, they know you are coming and Lucifer will sense my soul coming closer. He will allow us through so just move right in.” Dagon explained.
Kyle watched as the black barrier came entirely into view as the trees cleared out of the way, if one was to be honest…they were approaching it too fast.
“Oi you three, slow the hell down or we’ll crash into it!” shouted Birse back at the three supposedly pushing the carriage.
“Well…there might be a slight problem with that.” Said Cherry as he climbed up to the roof.
Kyle and Birse rushed to the back to see nobody was pushing the carriage, they then noticed they were moving slightly downhill.
“SLY! SOREN! STOP THE FUCKING CARRIAGE!” Birse shouted down the hatch loudly.
“Uhhh….I don’t feel so good!” replied Sly from inside.
“And I can’t feel my damn legs!” added Soren.
“You weren’t even pushing!” retorted Cherry.
Birse was just about to descend the ladder when Ch also spoke from the inside “I think it’s too late for that boss!”, he was on the second floor and was relaying directions to Soren.
All of them looked to the front to see a fallen tree branch poking out of the snow, the barrier close behind it.
“Well, at least dungeon cores are resistant to blunt trauma.” Stated Dagon before disappearing, everyone else remained staring in bafflement as they hit the branch.
The carriage flew up and crashed into and through the black barrier. Instead of turning to splinters the carriage flowed through the ethereal-liquid like mana as it seemed to briefly cling to every surface including their bodies.
Kyle watched the barrier in wonderment as it moved through him and he moved past it, his vision briefly went black before being assault by light again. He took in the scenery inside as they flew over the river, the water below them being fierce rapids.
The outside of the island called Devil’s eye was mostly farmland, crops grew plentily being fed by the river. Many wooden buildings lay next to each field, farmhouses and other lone buildings. Far off in the distance they could also see it, the large fortress said to have kept at bay two whole legions until they somehow got in without a siege.
But Kyle didn’t have time to take in the fortress yet, gravity finally decided to get off it’s lazy ass and pull them down. Down towards those fierce rapids.
“Hold on!” Shouted Skill as he hugged the floor while clinging onto his dagger, he had embedded it into the wooden roof.
Everyone else followed suite with their own weapons or magic, blades and frozen slime pierced through the wood as everyone held on for dear life.
The carriage hit the river. Water splashed all over as the carriage sank a couple feet before the wide river spat it back out briefly, it was then carried along with the flow.
“Shit, what now!?” shouted Cherry as he glanced off the side.
Birse looked around before releasing his chains from his gauntlets with a single move of the wrist “Kyll weight us down or something! Stop us!”
Kyle rushed to the front of the carriage and hung off the edge “Here goes! Essence of shape take form and bend to my will! From the core inside me expel outwards! Core Overload!” yellow slime rushed out from his arms, his mana bar drained completely as every drop changed to fiery slime.
Steam rushed up as the fire slime flowed underneath the carriage causing it to hover over the water, the carriage spun around briefly as the slime made it’s way to the other side. With the whole of the carriage’s bottom covered in yellow slime and steam rising up from every side the carriage hovered over the water but kept it’s momentum.
“Nice! My turn.” Said Birse as he summoned up shadows to engulf his chains, “Flock to my side like a hurricane of death, rattle my chains and echo the sound of doom! Shadow Flock!” with a movement of his arms he sent them forwards as the shadows took the form of a murder of crows that carried the chains with them.
The shadow crows carried the chains over to the other side of the river where they flew around a couple small trees and using the hooks locked the chains in place. “Cherry! Skill! Lock these last two chains to either side!” Birse ordered as he struggled to keep his footing.
Cherry and Skill ran over and grabbed a chain each, as they pulled the chain seemed to grow longer out of nowhere. Each hook was fastened into the wood of either edge of the carriage’s roof. The carriage had continued on with it’s momentum from the rapids and with the chains holding it, it began to turn.
Slowly they made their way through the wide river as Birse summoned two arms of shadow to alleviate the weight from his arms. Steam covered their vision entirely until the sudden bump of ground shook the carriage. Birse willed his shadow arms to pulled them up as Kyle dissipated the slime causing the steam to end moments later.
The carriage had reached the edge of the river, a couple feet of stone bricks keeping the water from flooding over.
“Cher! Sly! Soren! Help me pull this thing up!” Birse ordered as he found it difficult to pull the carriage over the brick wall.
Cherry beasted out and jumped off the back, the river was shallow there but the flow of water was still strong. Sly and Soren stepped out of the door, the same side Cherry was standing.
Sly summoned up his Aurei form “I got this side, Cher get the other.” He said while crouching down by the right wheel, Cherry nodded back and crouched down by the left while Soren stood by the middle.
All three grabbed hold of the bottom and pulled up, Sly and Cherry raised the carriage over their head as Soren hung by the doorway’s edge too short to help.
“Mother fucking hell!” Soren swore as he let go and fell back down into the water.
“Yo nobody told you to pick Dwarf, should thought it through better.” Said Sly as him and Cherry held the carriage up while Birse pulled on his chains causing it to turn over the wall.
“This wheel’s on.” Noted Cherry as he moved to help Sly with his side.
Slowly they turned the carriage to where the back wheels were on top of the wall.
Sly gestured at Cherry “Let’s push it up now. Now you can help us lil mid-”
Soren was already at the front and singlehandedly pushed the carriage up and over to the river side, he stretched his short arms and walked by the two baffled giants while giving them both the finger.
“How much fucking strength did you stat in!?” asked Sly as he and Cherry walked over to the brick wall and simply stepped up and over it.
“More than either of you, now pull me the fuck up!” said Soren as he glared at them from down below, he was too short to climb out of the river.
Sly and Cherry glanced at each other “Should we leave him?” asked Cherry.
“Dunno, don’t think he asked kindly enough though.” Replied Sly smirking under his armour.
“Fuck ya’all.” Added Soren as steam burst out of his armour through the molten crevasses, he leaped up causing the water beneath him to burst aside. He landed behind them leaving a tiny crater below himself.
“Oi stop fucking around and start pushing!” ordered Birse as he retracted his chains “Steph drop the cloaking, won’t be of any help here. Everybody be on high alert!”
After going down to check on Lilior, Kyle climbed back up to the roof along with everybody else but Ch who stayed on the second floor to give directions to Soren who’d relay them to Sly and Cherry.
“This isn’t what I expected…” said Sparta as she and everybody else glanced around the fields of growing crops, unlike the surrounding forest of snow the inside of the barrier looked like the definition of spring.
The carriage moved through a dirt road in between the fields that seemed to go towards the large stone fortress.
“Yeah…even down south I’ve never seen…So much green…” added Soren.
Kyle took a deep breath “This is it, this is what we’ve been wanting. Vast fields of green, blue sky, magic and supernatural strength. No metallic buildings, no packed streets and a real damn sky.”
“As expected from a strong empire, their resources were cut off so they started growing their own.” Pointed out Birse “With the barrier protecting them, this looks idle. If the barrier falls though, these vast fields will be a disadvantage for the alliance’s larger numbers.”
“Indeed.” Said Dagon as he appeared beside them “But the barrier won’t fall, Lucifer is putting his all into it. Nothing less than an angel, dragon or worse can break through it.”
“Look’s like we’ve got company!” suddenly shouted Ch from below, everyone turned to look down the road, a dozen horsemen were rushing towards them followed by around three dozen hell hounds.
The horses looked much different from your average steeds. With a dark red pelt, black carapace covering some of it like armour and a jaw full of razor sharp teeth the horses looked fiercer than the hell hounds.
Their feet weren’t the same as a horse’s either, paws with scythe like claws replaced the usual hooves while veins of molten fire flowed throughout the entire leg.
Instead of a tail or mane of hair thick red-yellow flames ushered out like hair and out of their foreheads grew two crooked horns each that ended in a sharpened blade.
But what truly caught their attention were the riders themselves.
They all wore the same pitch black armour, full plate with the wicked design of serpents flowing through the metal while serpent heads designed their shoulders like pads. Their helmet was the same serpent’s head shape, crooked scales similar to a wyvern’s but thicker in size.
Two holes to the top sides allowed the rider’s own red horns to poke out. About a foot long each the horns were all the same shape, straight while slightly curving downwards at the end. The horns seemed to come out from each side of their foreheads.
No other features were visible from the riders, their armour covered it all. Each came equipped with a long poleblade, pitch black pole and crimson red blade curved like a hook.
Kyle and the others watched them approach warily, the hounds surrounded the carriage and curiously sniffed at it while the riders did so as well without exchanging a word.
The Demonic escort silently throttled alongside the carriage while the adventurers silently and warily watched them back.
“So, who are our new friends?” quietly asked Birse towards Dagon.
Dagon smiled proudly as he responded “Demons, Dezol Dragon Cavalry. Highly skilled warriors trained in the ancient ways of slayers, once our main force in taking down the draconics. They ride Hell steeds, bred from hellhounds and unicorns for the sole purpose of the deadliest charge you’ll ever see.”
Birse eyed one of the cavalry “No shit, just one of them looks fully equipped to tear up a front line of shields.”
As they moved through the road Kyle also noticed some of the other inhabitants stroll by to take a look at their escort. From the red horns he guessed them all to be Demons just like their escort. Light red skin was the norm while their hair colour differed between red, blue and green.
Over all Demons were similar to humans, their red skin, unorthodox hair colouring and short pointed ears being the main differences Kyle could make out.
“Don’t be fooled, those are only one kind of Demon.” Said Dagon noticing everyone inspecting the farmers that watched them pass by.
“Do Demons have any connection to Devils? Other than collaboration that is.” Asked Kyle out of curiosity.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Many Devils were once Demons but other than that no, as I said before Devils are evolved beings. Two of the mortal sins use to be Demons too, Satan of wrath and Leviathan of envy.” Dagon explained as he watched the fortress grow closer.
“So this change, what happens exactly?” continued to ask Kyle.
“It starts with extreme emotional stress causing the mana within you to start altering the body. The actual change…It’s different for all races, the only one that is common is from Devilling- Descendant of a Devil- to a Devil themselves. Your friend back there was about to go through it but, with your intervention and giving him my already evolved body saved him the wager.” Dagon replied bitterly.
Kyle snorted in amusement “What would have happened exactly if the change fails?” he then asked.
“Either they destroy themselves from the insanity or…” Dagon gestured over at their escort “They turn hellhound. Those pups there are bred hounds, not exactly what they’d turn into but picture it twice it’s size and engulfed in fire. You should get a picture then.”
“Huh…” Kyle watched as two of the hellhounds growled at each other “You got those huh…”
“Prepare yourselves, we approach the gates.” Dagon then pointed out gesturing ahead.
The fortress was both vast and tall. The stone walls were taller than even Helix, black metal was built onto the walls like armoured scales while archer canopies were built above. The fortress was a circle of reinforced walls with ten towers along the wall, within that wall was another wall holding six towers and within that one was a third holding three towers.
Each tower was rectangular with the same metal armouring as the walls, the top was an archer perch off and a strange ballista on.
“Welcome to Fort Geb, named after the God of Earth as being the impregnable mountain.” Dagon began to explain “Built by the humans after their escape from Il’tel, improved by us through decades of preservation. It has never been defeated by siege, only taken over through trickery and betrayal. Most of our legion fell to it’s bloody walls and deadly interior.”
Kyle studied the fortress as they approaching the metal reinforced wooden gate, a set of two large wooden doors with metal bars. The gate was large enough to allow a ram demon in. As they stopped by it began to open, more Dragon Cavalry joined their escort from inside.
Surrounded by deadly warriors and hellbent beasts the carriage of adventurers moved forward and into the fortress.
Kyle looked up to see metal reinforced stone bridges passing from one wall to the other, about two dozen of them spanned around the two walls. Behind the first wall was a decently large expanse, wooden houses lined the inside with two cobblestone roads running in between them.
Unlike he had expected there was no gate ahead of them and with their escort turning left, they followed suite.
“The gate is on the other side isn’t it?” asked Birse as he studied the bridges with wide eyes.
“Yes.” Dagon answered simply.
Birse glanced around and snorted in amusement “Smart, deadly interior alright.”
Kyle followed his eyes to the inside of the first walls and towers through the space between houses, nothing but flat metal sheets covering stone. No entrances, doors, hatches or anything to climb up. The first wall had no way to climb up from where they stood. He then looked up at the bridges “That’s some serious ambush.” he mused.
As they moved through the now packed road, the inhabitants of the town came out from their doors, windows and shops to take a look at the adventurers. Kyle saw more of a mix in the people now, different skin colouring of scales, red, purple and blue with different appendages other than horns like bat-like wings, serpentine tails, more arms, spikes and even tentacles.
“How many kinds of Demons is there?” Seren asked as she also studied the populace.
“Hundreds.” Replied Dagon “There is the four most common races, Castanic, Sin bound, Hellborn and Imps. The rest number in small groups of thousands but there are many hundreds of those groups.”
“Well you definitely got diversity down…” mused Skill.
Kyle on the other hand simply felt relieved (“I knew it, they aren’t some horde of monsters that only wish to destroy. Not like how the alliance made them seem. They’re civilized, trained and studious.”) he glanced around at the houses, shops and workshops trying to understand as much of their culture as he possibly could.
“There’s the gate.” Pointed out Dagon as they approached it from the side, it had taken them about twenty minutes to go around half the walled town. Would have taken less if it wasn’t for the two lazy giants pushing the carriage.
The second gate was nothing like this first, a thick single fully metallic shutter that opened upwards but more importantly made to close quickly and violently. It was currently laying half open like a dragon’s maw with it’s spear tips lining the bottom.
Their escort of hellhounds and riders formed a path around them and through the gate as a couple followed behind them, they had nowhere else to go but into the gate. Well that and right through the riders which is what Sly and Cherry almost did a couple times.
“Fucking hell don’t run them over!” shouted Birse down the hatch as the riders made their steeds step back a couple, one of theirs was almost rammed into.
The carriage moved under the wicked looking gate and into the next district. Rows of warriors stood at attention on either side of the new road, large winged bat-like creatures stood behind the eight or so rows of footmen each ridden by three soldiers.
Behind the bats were a mix of large creatures, the most apparent were the two ram Demons on either side followed by the almost as large black scaled serpents.
Around the giants were a mix of large black humanoid demons, lanky red humanoid demons and several thousand more Hellsteed riders.
Birse eyed the Dezol forces “A show of force huh.” he mused while counting.
The carriage continued straight from there. Inside the second wall were very little buildings, most of the area was training grounds and strange hills of black flesh that pulsated with a red aura.
“What’s with the bats?...” asked Steph as she watched the creatures with a pale expression.
“Hellbats, vicious things.” Replied Dagon with a smirk “They live for gore, the riders are just for support while it makes it’s way to the battlefield. Once there all three jump off and let it indulge itself in blood and organs. Nothing less than death will stop the vile things from eating.”
The Hellbats were simply giant bats with pitch black skin, lines of fiery red mana glowing through and long blade like claws.
“What about the giant fucking snakes?” asked Sparta, also paling.
“Snakes?” asked Dagon quizzically “Oh those, they’re Demonic Dragons. Both are Sea dragons with Demonic blood. The left one is Tiamat, the right is Lotan.”
Lotan was a colossal snake with pitch black thorny scales, fins grew out from either side along it’s length with sharp claws growing out of them. It’s eyes were a deep blue with streaks of black and a yellow slit.
Tiamat was slightly smaller than Lotan with similar black thorny scales but instead of fins had a set of six arms that grew into four razor-like claws. It’s red eyes were plain and empty except for a single tiny black dot.
Lotan eyed them briefly but quickly lost interest, Tiamat on the other hand continuously glared them down as it’s pupils slowly expanded having found it’s prey.
The last gate lay ahead of them, the exact same as the second one except that it lay closed shut. As they approached the gate the army surrounding them opened up into a vast circle. Inside that circle were some key figures that caught everyone’s attention.
Lucifer, Lilith, Belial and Legion stood beside each other along with several other armoured Demons and Devils. One though wasn’t a Demon and neither a Devil, this one caught their attention the most.
“Is that an adventurer?” asked Birse as he glanced over at Dagon.
Dagon nodded “From the looks of it yes, last I knew we hadn’t dealt with any of your people though.”
Kyle’s eyes widened “Fuck, that’s…That’s one of Zeeke’s people, Reyna the healer that came with us remember?”
“Zeeke’s? That kid doesn’t have the balls to approach the Dezol, she’s here alone.” Birse replied as his expression turned stern “Dagon I hope this doesn’t change our deal.”
“A Devil’s deal is for life, you have my word.” Dagon replied as he also studied the people waiting for them “Although it seems you’ll be dealing with more than Lucifer, Asmodeus has arrived.”
The carriage stopped a couple dozen meters away from the Dezol leadership, Lucifer and another stepped forward.
Asmodeus- the one who stepped forwards with Lucifer- is a lanky humanoid with light blueish skin, dark blue hair tied up in a ponytail and bright pink eyes with silver slits. Albeit wearing heavy makeup it looked almost perfect showing off what the Devil stood for.
Asmodeus only wore a pair of long blue pants with a silver shimmering garment draped around his waist, leaving his chest bare except for a silver shimmering scarf around his neck. He smirked condescendingly as he watched the adventurers approach.
Lucifer on the other hand looked much more dignified with his full black plate armour, crimson red cape and blood red longsword at his side.
Kyle and the others got off the carriage and gathered at it’s back facing the mortal sin Devils of pride and lust.
Dagon appeared in front of them also facing the two Devils, he bowed respectfully “Father, master Asmodeus. I bring you the heroes of the Dagger and Dark Frost along with their guild, the Blood Pack mercenaries.”
Lucifer replied first “Tell me Dagon, why are these roaches before me? Why is one wearing your descendant and why are you enslaved?” his voice immediately turned cold and sharp.
Dagon trembled slightly as he continued to bow “We underestimated them Father, they are much stronger than they seem. We also misunderstood them, they hadn’t sided with anybody and only took on temporary deals for profit. They wish to side with us Father.”
“And Abaddon? The retaliation against Legion?” Lucifer asked.
“The same temporary deals, done with the alliance and only for payment.” Dagon quickly answered.
“And what about…” Asmodeus began to ask before pausing for effect “The insult to our lady?” his voice also turned harsh.
Dagon gulped down at the sudden chill that slowly moved down his spine “The hero meant no insult! The Fae used for the divination spell was contracted to him! He was confused by the soul wail that followed!”
“And you vouch for all this?” asked Asmodues.
“Of course he vouches for it Asmos, why else would the boy be standing in our way?” Lucifer snapped back at him before addressing Dagon again “Make your statement Dagon, what use can they be of? We already have a chosen with us now, why should we take them in?”
Dagon straightened up “They wish to contract in as soldiers, paid arms to fight for us. I vouch for their strength and strategizing, they’d make a strong ally. The Dagger hero is also one of our own, a descendant of wrath. He is currently inside my carrier to evade his change unprotected, not my idea but alas I had little choice.”
Dagon then gestured at the carriage “They not only bring the power of a dungeon at their side- my captor- but also a gift.”
“Lilior bring him out.” Kyle whispered at the dungeon through the doors behind him.
“The old hero of the blessed blade and second general of the Esfeltian military’s soul, Draxxer Blade.” Dagon announced as Draxxer appeared beside him stiffer than a stone pillar.
Asmodeus smirked “Oh how wonderful, I’d take the deal Lucy.” he nudged Lucifer in the shoulder.
Lucifer grimaced and rolled his eyes before studying Draxxer’s trapped soul, the dungeon inside the carriage and then the adventurers themselves. He snorted in disdain “Victory by trickery doesn’t impress me, gifts earned by so impress me none either. I’d guess that creature inside there is what brought around those victories, so I question this strength you speak of Dagon.”
Asmodeus giggled wickedly “Indeed there should be no way these rodents could have defeated either you or Draxxie. As for the Devilling of wrath? There is only one reason a sin descendant to be in the manaless plane and that’s to be descended from a banished.”
Lucifer nodded thoughtfully “True, we cannot allow a banished into our ranks so easily.”
“Brothers those ancient laws are what brought us down in the first place, why should we continue to follow them?” asked Belial with a serpentine voice, he stepped towards the both of them.
Asmodeus glanced back at the young sin of vanity “Well we can’t just ignore customs Belly, something has to be done about his banishment.”
Belial smirked “Then let’s deal with him as we would with any other banished, if you wish to follow ancient law then we shall albeit slightly altered to a sin banished.”
Lucifer frowned as he studied Sly “Trial by combat? He is a descendant of sin so a sin must be the combatant, which of us three forwards themselves?”
Asmodues raised his arms up in surrender “I just did my nails.” with his polished pink nails facing them.
Belial stepped forward “I forwarded the idea, I’ll deal with it.”
Lucifer eyed his younger comrade “You sure your body is ready?”
“I’m tired of being looked down upon, this fight is mine.” Said Belial as he stepped forth.
Sly cracked his knuckles in his Aurei form “Guess I’m up.”
Dagon raised his arm to block Sly’s path “No you aren’t, the accused doesn’t fight. They pick the fighter from your comrades.”
“But…” Sly looked actually irritated by this.
“No buts, step back and watch you combat freak.” Birse hissed at him.
Belial studied the group of adventurers with his pitch black eyes and violet slit, he looked similar to Lucifer with pale white skin and black hair but other features were mixed in. Grey strands were within his black hair while dark purple scales covered the whole left of his face. A long scaled tail grew out of his back that ended in four claw like blades forming a wicked star.
But even with that wicked appearance he looked no older than ten.
“You…you will stand for your banished comrade. Come forth little fox.” said Belial as he pointed at Kyle.
Birse clicked his tongue in annoyance “Don’t think we have a choice, Kyll do you got this?” he asked glancing over at Kyle.
Kyle’s expression was nothing less than annoyed “I too am tired of being fucking looked down upon.”
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Author: And you thought I’d leave you hanging without a fight ;P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mb3KsEl548
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Kyle stepped forward and faced Belial while inspecting him.
{Devil} Belial Venus (Sin of Vanity) (Eighth Hell) [Level 165]
“The let us start!” announced Belial as he suddenly rushed forward at great speed.
Kyle quickly summoned forth Elder frost slime and covered himself in it, his [Slime Armour] began to take shape as Belial leaped back and forth slashing wildly with his tail. Belial’s tail wasn’t long enough to touch Kyle but he was powerful enough to remove a large chunk of slime with each pass.
Belial continued to slash away at the slime giant as it stood it’s ground, more slime flowed out to replace the lost chunk with each attack. He was too fast, Kyle could barely keep up with his eyes and wouldn’t be able to if it wasn’t for [Draconic perception].
As Kyle reached half his mana bar he decided he needed to retaliate. He waited for Belial to leap at him again then summoned forth a massive wave of Frost fire, the flames flowed through the slime causing the armour to fall apart. Belial found himself caught in the blaze, frost formed on his body as he hastily leaped away.
Kyle left no ground for recovery and used [Surge] to leave his broken armour behind, he summoned [Frostfire blade] and held it with both hands as he appeared in front of Belial.
The Devil moved his tail to parry the attack but the blade slashed down and right through it leaving behind thick frost and pain followed by numbness. Belial leaped back again and entered a frenzy of leaping back and forth while surrounding Kyle, he was trying to shake off the frost and numbness in his tail.
Off and on Kyle was forced to lash out with his blade or [Devouring flames] as the Devil tried to slash away his face with his claws or tail. Slowly he was running out of mana and he had little to no spirit to make use of.
In last dish effort to win he pulled out a core from his inventory and used every last drop of mana into summoning forth a golem, from the presets he had previously created he went with the smaller fox golem due to his limited mana.
Slime rushed out of his arms and quickly engulfed the core before taking shape “Kitsune golem!” he announced the golems name causing it to take life. “Attack him!” Kyle had to vocally command the golem when not connected to it or focusing with his [{Be one with slime}] skill.
The fox of black carapace slime and elder frost slime charged after the quick Devil, almost fast enough to catch up but only because Belial had stopped. The Devil charged the creation of slime and tore through it’s body with his entire body, tail and claws alike shredded slime as he passed through it.
Leaving the slime to splatter behind him Belial landed on all fours with the golem’s core in his mouth, as he rose he bit down and shattered it. Belial stared at Kyle with a smirk “Already worn out? Too bad, this was just starting to amuse me.” He chuckled wickedly while approaching Kyle.
Kyle was currently under the effects of mana exhaustion, his mana bar was empty and his spirit was too low to be of any use. [Core Overload] was useless without any mana to use or slime surviving on him, his [{Tails}] also required either. He was worn out with half a bar of stamina, no mana and very little spirit.
(“All I can do is run…for how long though?”) he thought as Belial suddenly charged at him, Kyle surged to the side avoiding the bladed tail.
Belial continued to smirk causing Kyle to get even more irritated (“I’m not losing to this bastard…Everything we’ve worked for…everything we ever wanted! It’s all at stake!”). Kyle did what Belial least expected, he charged straight into him using [Surge].
Belial’s smirk grew into a grin as Kyle summoned a blade of mixed slime from his wrist, it took all his spirit to make it. He lunged at the Devil’s chest as he surged again for power and speed.
Belial sidestepped the attack and lashed out with his tail.
Kyle stumbled forwards as he regained his footing from the [Surge], glancing to his side he saw the bleeding stump that once was his left arm.
“Now that’s just pathetic.” Mocked Belial as he waved around Kyle’s arm with his tail “So slow, so fragile and so stupid.”
Kyle teared up from the pain that went through his left shoulder, he fought through it and turned to face Belial with an expression full of agony and hatred.
Belial simply laughed louder “These are the warriors you fell to Dagon!? These weak roaches!?” he exclaimed with arms open wide, he then threw aside the arm “At the very least, they’re comfortable to slice apart!” he declared and charged Kyle.
Kyle watched with wide eyes as Belial charged at him, his long claws and bladed tail ready to cut him apart. He surged around leading the Devil as he slowly began to bleed out, finally running out of stamina and his health quickly dropping Kyle turned around after his last surge then watched as Belial slowly walked over to him.
His wide grin brought Kyle new waves of hatred “Come now little fox, you’ll make a good stew. After that? It’s your friends.” his words fuelled it even further.
(“Release yourself, let go of your hatred and let the anger fill it’s place. A chill won’t aid you in this fight but a blizzard just might.”) Ymir’s voice echoed in Kyle’s mind as a chill went through his entire body.
Belial laughed wickedly “You walked in here all high and mighty! This is as far as you and your comrades get huh? Really what were you thinking? Accepting a duel with a sin! Accepting a duel with me! I am Bellial! Mortal sin of vanity! Devil king of the Eighth legion!” he declared proudly before charging at Kyle “And I condemn you to death!”
The Devil lashed out like a whirlwind of blades with his claws on both hands and bare-feet alongside the tail, a wicked grin plastering his face. With well-placed movements he flowed through the air, propelling himself with each spin and turn using his arms, legs and tail.
Kyle watched all this in slow motion after a wave of frost blasted out of his position, it covered the entire army causing everyone’s reaction to slow down.
He had let go. All the hatred he hid beneath against the Devil for possibly causing the end of their journey, the bitterness for ending their adventure into crafting this world into the one of their dreams.
He let it burn up inside and turn to anger. For the first time in what seemed like years Kyle let his anger truly show, his cold façade disappeared completely as he grinded his teeth and shook with every part of his being.
Tendrils of Frostfire flowed out of him as Firefrost surrounded his entire body. Not waiting a moment more he charged Belial as the Devil slowly flowed through the air with seemingly deadly movements.
Kyle leaped up and tackled the Devil to the ground moments after the spell ended causing both of them to crash down to the ground and tumble over a couple times.
Kyle held down Belial with his legs as the Devil lashed out at his chest and back with tail and claws, he hissed up at him ferociously as Kyle’s remaining hand grabbed hold of his head.
Slowly he pulled it back as a glimmer in his eyes showed the activation of his skill, Belial’s soul came out with the hand causing the body to go limp. In his hand Kyle held a black, violet and grey flame that continuously lashed out at it’s surroundings.
He looked up at a baffled Lucifer and gawking Asmodeus then spoke “You look down upon us like wolves looking at mere sheep but I warn you, these sheep are just as much the predators as you. We are just as much pack beasts as you and as a pack we forward you a gift from our pack leader.” His tone was harsh and full of anger.
“Mercy.” He said that single word infused with spirit causing it to send a chill into everyone’s soul, he then shoved Belial’s soul back into it’s body leaving the Devil unconscious. Kyle stood up covered in cuts that bled all over himself, his stump gushing out even more. Frostfire tendrils continued to cling to him as well as a blizzard of Firefrost continuously flowed around him.
A couple of the Hellhounds and...others...took that moment to shit themselves.