“Sometimes, God doesn’t send you into a battle to win it; he sends you to end it.”

― Shannon L. Alder

“Conflict and resolution are two sides of the same coin.”

― Haresh Sippy

Nile watched as Olana faced off against the Collector, who got back to his feet brushing of dust and small pieces of rubble of his black drench coat. The Collector stood to his full nine-foot frame and said with a surprisingly calm tone.

“Resistance is futile—”

The Collector was cut off by Olana’s laughter, it sounded both beautiful and horrifying.

“Really?”

Olana said with a grin.

“You believe because I do not have my rod that I am…what? Vulnerable? Weakened?”

She chuckled again.

“Collector, you have miscalculated.”

Then, Olana struck. Nile and the Collector’s surprise, she did not strike at the Collector. No, instead, she struck at the Collector’s Bion Demons. Olana cast spears of ice bolts at the demons, and they hit their marks. The Bion Demons found themselves impaled, not expecting the attack they had no time to defend themselves. However, the spear ice bolts were only able to injure the Bions. It was one of Olana’s minor spells, capable of killing a mortal out right. But for a demon, it is merely a distraction or an annoyance. With the Bions occupied by their new injuries. Lydia, Nanina, Balca, Talin, Malice, and even Nile took full advantage of their distraction. Attacking the demons and putting most of them out of commission.

The Collector was so surprised by this unexpected maneuver, he stood still for precious seconds. Seconds which Olana took full advantage of. Her tail imbued with lightning struck out at the Archdemon like a viper strike. The tail darted straight for the chest of the Collector who found himself impaled all the way through to his back. Black blood spilled between his lips as Olana used her tail to lift him up to her eye level.

“You should have kept your oath, now, you will pay dearly for your lack of wisdom.”

Olana growled at the Collector who looked up at her and replied.

“I…think…not.”

With quick movements, the Collector held out a hand a few feet in front of Olana and cast a spell. A dark purple circle with rune markings appeared in the air between them and hundreds of needles, like quills shot out hitting Olana in the face, neck, and chest area. The needles were more of an annoyance, they did no real harm. Nevertheless, Olana shook her head and neck. Some of the needles fell off, unable to penetrate deeper into her steel-like skin. But a few needles stubbornly held tight to her flesh. Olana pulled them out as soon as she did the needles disappeared. During the attack, the Collector pulled himself free from the she-devil’s tail that had pierced his body. He had a gaping hole in his chest, but after a few seconds his regenerative powers close the wound.

The Collector wasted no time in launching another spell at Olana. This time black chains emerged from the palm of his hand. The chains quickly wrapped around her body. It was obvious to Olana, the Collector still hoped to add her to his collection. Foolish, Tabitha thought as she easily broke through the chains by summoning hellfire from all over her body. Then she moved fast, the Collector moved too and just in time. Using his feathered wings, he shot up to the air flying out of harm’s way. There was a lot crashing and more smoke and debris appeared, then the flap of leathery wings cleared up the space. Olana was standing at the exact spot the Collector had been standing. Her right fist had smashed into the ground. The Collector could see red energy traveling around the she-devil’s fist.

Again, the Collector cast that annoying purple needle spell as Olana came after him. Olana just cast a fire shield in front of her, and the needles burned up before even reaching the shield. With the needles proving useless, the Collector canceled the spell. That is when Olana turned her fire shield into a fire disc and threw it. The Collector chuckled thinking that a fire disc would have no chance of burning him since he was a demon, not some lowly mortal. His smile turned into a grimace of pain when the disc struck the left side of his torso. It burned which shocked the Collector, he looked at Olana in surprise.

“What? Did you think you are dealing with some low-level demonic? I am Olana, the Devil Queen of the Crystal Pyramid.”

Tabitha declared, and then she began throwing fireballs at the Collector. Who found himself dodging fire attacks in the air, the dog fight was a spectacular scene to watch? At least that is what Nile thought see the two in the air flying here and there so fast, her eyes could barely keep up. How can her flames actually burn me? The Collector thought as he spun out of the way of another fireball which exploded on contact with the wall, he had just flown past. Olana was hot on his tail and he was trying to think of another way to capture the she-devil. Deciding his next move, the Collector spun around in mid-air an unleash another spell. This time stone hands appeared out of the walls, and they stretched forth lightning fast.

Before Tabitha could do anything, the stone hands had grabbed her arms, legs, and every part of body. In a matter of seconds, Tabitha was rendered immobile.

“The Black Tower is mine Olana. I am master here and you will bend to my will.”

Tabitha said nothing, instead, she rolled her eyes and then focused. The Collector was still talking, boasting about his power over her and her friends. He stopped talking when he saw the stone hands crumbling from Olana’s body. A disintegration spell! The Collector thought as he was about to cast another spell. But Tabitha beat him to the punch. Before the Collector could utter a syllable, Olana thrust forth a hand and a powerful invisible force struck him in his chest. It was like being hit by a Mack truck, the Collector found himself flying backwards and not under his own power. The Archdemon struck a wall and went through it, hitting the ground in the other room the Collector rolled a few times before stopping.

The demon’s chest had been caved in by the force Tabitha had unleash, but it was not enough to keep him down. By the time the Collector got back to his feet, his sternum had already healed. He had just enough time to see Olana fly through the hole his body had made before he cast another earth spell on the walls. This time, instead of stone hands they were stone spike that shot out of the walls like thrown spears. Dozens of stone javelins 42 inches thick came at Tabitha from all angles. Once again Tabitha cast a fire shield but this time, she surrounded it all over her body. The stone javelins crashed and disintegrated on the fire shield. The Collector kept up the attack, suppressing Tabitha’s ability to strike back or so he thought. Tabitha had no problems keeping up her fire shield, pointing her index finger at the Collector. Tabitha fired off an actual laser beam from the tip of her right finger.

The beam of red-orange energy grazed the Collector’s neck on his left side. The Archdemon hissed, not in pain but in surprise. Black blood sprayed out of the Collector’s neck before he clamped it shut with a hand. Tabitha growled; she was hoping to at least take the Collector’s head off with that laser beam attack. What she had fire off was not really a laser beam, it was a concentration of her flames condensed to make is so hot the gases are ionized and become yet another state of matter. Specifically, plasma. So, it was more of a plasma beam than a laser beam. In any case, that attacked broke the Collector’s concentration. He was no longer casting stone spikes at her. Tabitha took full advantage of this by closing the distance between herself and the Collector.

However, the Archdemon was just fast enough to jump clear of Tabitha’s talons. This did not stop her from pursuing him all around the room. It was a big room though, like a theatre. Tabitha chased the Collector all across it, almost able to get him but just falls short of the mark. The Collector wanted to stay as far away from Tabitha as possible, he is not a fan of close-quarter combat. Truth be told, he is not very good at hand to hand fighting. The Collector prefers to use his magic for mid to long range combat. But so far, Tabitha has proven capable of shrugging of some of his most powerful spells. Now, she was up close and personal, and he could not find room to break away.

Suddenly, the Collector’s back struck the wall. He was surprised at this, while trying frantically to think of a way to get away from Tabitha. The Collector forgot to make certain of his surroundings. Tabitha had the slippery bastard now; he was trapped in a corner between two walls. With no room to maneuver, she struck. Sometimes, Tabitha believed that her tail has a mind of its own. There have been instances where her tail reacted without her will or conscious thought. Tabitha had one or two theories about that. It might be possible that this is something that all demons and devils can do. Some kind of nerve signal in the brain that allows the tail to act as if it had a will of its own. Or it could be something else, it is something to think on when she is finished with the Collector.

Back to the fight, Tabitha had struck after finally cornering the Collector. Once again, her tail moved like a viper. This time, it was charged with electricity. But the Collector still had a few tricks left up his sleeves. Before the electrified tail could touch him, the Archdemon turned out the lights. It was the only way Tabitha could describe it. One moment, she had him where she wanted him. The next, utter blackness was all around her and her tail struck nothing…?

The Collector breathed a sigh of relief, as he looked at the round sphere of blackness. It was a dimensional pocket reality. A dimensional pocket or pocket dimension is an independent section of space-time created by an individual or groups of magic users in the same universe they live in. It is a dimension that can only be access through specific means according to those who created them. It is a place where time and space exist according to the same or different laws of your universe. The Collector created this pocket dimension as a backup prison to hold very powerful beings that his conventional means are unable to contain.

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Nanina cut down another Bion Demon with her bastard sword which was now on fire. Otherwise, the naked blade of her sword would not be able to cut through the thick carapace slash scaly hid of their enemies.

“Look!”

The word came from Zula who was pointing up, Nanina and the others looked in that direction to see an unsatisfactory sight. The Collector was floating out of the hole in the wall Olana had sent him flying through minutes ago. He had a satisfying smirk, but that was not all. Seconds later, a giant black ball followed him out of the hole. The women had just finished off their present Bion Demons who were in pieces, but already regenerating. So, they would be up in minutes. Nanina would not have been worried if not for the fact that on top of the Collector coming back. More Bion Demons were coming out of the darkness to reinforce their brethren. As the Collector landed gently on the ground, the black ball hovered to his right a few feet away.

“Ladies, your resistance was impressive. But now you must face facts.”

“Where is Olana?”

Talin demanded. The Collector just motioned toward the black sphere.

“She is trapped inside a prison of my own creation.”

He said proudly, as if a father showing off his son.

“I must admit, if I were to face Olana without the resources of my Black Tower.”

He shivered just thinking about it.

“Then it would be Olana and not me standing here victorious.”

Nanina was about to launch herself at the Archdemon when a small slender hand gently touched her shoulder. Nanina looked over to see Balca giving her a wink and a smile. She did not understand what was going through the green she-demon’s head. But when Balca had that look, Nanina knew to wait and see. Balca hovered forward, her wings were blurs they flapped so fast.

“Hey, Collector!”

Balca called out. The Archdemon gave her a look wondering what she wanted. He motioned for her to continue; he could be gracious for a little while.

“Now you look like an intelligent demon when I first saw ya. So, I’ve got to ask. Why the hell would ya double cross the most powerful she-devil in the Nether Realm when the deal was struck?”

The Collector laughed before answering.

“It is because she is the most powerful she-devil in the Nether Realm. I have a goddess in my collection.”

He shrugged before continuing.

“It only makes sense to add a she-devil to my collection. Olana is the greatest, the best, and I desire the best.”

The Collector smiled showing off his fangs.

“Now, it is time for all of you to—”

The Collector stopped talking, snapping his head to the side in disbelief. He and everyone else heard the cracking sound and all were looking at what he was looking at. The black sphere had a long-jagged crack in the center of its surface.

“Impossible?”

Everyone heard the Collector whisper before more loud cracks began to appear all over the black sphere. They appeared one at a time at first, then two at a time, three, six, a dozen, and more. Before anyone could blink, the black sphere was covered in spider webs of cracks.

“How can this—”

Before the Collector could finished those words, the black sphere exploded. Sending a shockwave that threw everyone to the ground. The Collector who was the closet to the sphere got the worst of it. The wind got knocked out of him, the Collector was momentarily dazed. Standing in the place where the black sphere was is Olana, and she gave the Collector a deadly smile. The Archdemon’s white eyes looked as though they were ready to pop out, he was looking at the Devil Queen with such shock.

“H-how, how, how, how…”

The Collector could not even articulate an appropriate question. Shaking his head to regain some senses, the Archdemon started over.

“How were you able to escape my dimensional prison? I shouldn’t be possible. I cannot fathom how you could have done it. No one has ever escaped my prison before.”

Once again, Tabitha moved and this time the Collector did not have enough time to react. She caught him by his neck with her right hand and lifted him up to her eye level.

“Finally, I’ve got you and you are not going anywhere.”

Tabitha said triumphantly, the Collector tried to use his magic to escape. But to his utter disbelief, he could not cast any spells. Looking up into Olana’s gold and silver eyes he saw her satisfaction.

“Look down.”

Was all she said, and the Collector did. What he saw filled him with fear. Somehow without him noticing, Olana had manage to create anti-magic circle with a demonic pentagram inside. It served to purposes, the first was to prevent any magic from being cast within the circle. The second, to prevent demons from leaving the circle. Looking at the circle more closely, the Collector could see dozens of runic symbols. He did not understand their purpose, but he guessed that the runes allowed the one who create the circle to ability to use their magic. Realizing his situation, the Collector did the only thing he could do. Without his magic, he did not have the physical strength to escape Olana’s grasp. So, he panicked.

Tabitha found herself holding a hissing, clawing, screaming, kicking Archdemon. She found it rather pathetic. The Collector without all his power or access to the Black Tower was nothing more than a coward. Her anti-magic circle was five meters in diameter, and it did more than just prevent the Archdemon from using his magic. It prevented him from calling on the resources of the Black Tower. No matter how hard he tried the Collector’s claws could not penetrate the she-devil’s gold forearm brace nor her red skin. The Collector had no choice, he fell on his very last option.

“Please Lady Olana, I have seen the error of my ways. It was foolish of me to try and take you, I see that now. I will do as you wish, I will release Danisha into your custody.”

Nile never saw a demon beg before, much less an archdemon. For some reason, she found it comforting to know that even the most powerful of nether beings can be brought down to their knees. Olana was a different type of being though. Nile could not imagine ever seeing the Devil Queen begging for her life. Tabitha was shaking her head slowly.

“You had your chance to show me your integrity. And you’ve shown that you have no integrity. You have lied to me more than once. There is nothing you can saw to make me trust your words.”

Olana’s words had the proclamation of execution, and the Collector was racked with fear. He had to think of something to save his life, and then it came to him.

“As a show of my serenity, I will return your Rod of Might to you. That would prove my trustworthiness.”

“Thank for reminding me about my rod.”

Tabitha said and then stretched out her left hand. It was open as if ready to grab something. The Collector was confused and so was Nile, and then they heard it. The sound could barely be heard at first, then it got louder and louder. The Collector and Nile tried to identify the sound. For them, it sounded like something was breaking through walls. Their guess was confirmed when something silver crashed through the wall and flew into Tabitha’s hand. Everyone looked at what she had in her hand, and it was the Collector who recognized the object first.

“You…could have called you Rod of Might anytime during…our battle.”

It was not really a question; the evidence was in Tabitha’s hand. But she nodded once and said.

“You believe that I was only powerful because I had my rod.”

Tabitha began, then she pulled the Collector closer.

“You actually thought that I relied on my rod you pathetic little worm. The Rod of Might is a tool I created to help focus my tremendous powers to do greater things. By itself, it is a powerful tool. But in my hands, I can perform greater miracles. The rod does not make me powerful; I make the rod powerful.”

The Collector knew now that the moment he broke his oath to the Devil Queen, she would show him no mercy. Still, he had one last card to play.

“If you kill me, you will never find or free Danisha Goddess of the Storm. If you destroy me, she will be lost to you forever!”

He said the words with finality that Nile could not help but believe them. But Olana laughed, she laughed unphased by his desperate act for survival.

“Let me inform you on how all of this is going to play out. Before you die and trust me, you’re finished. I will drain all the knowledge in your head, and I will take all your power, I will take this Black Tower and make it mine. Because to the victor goes the spoils.”

The Collector was about to make another entreaty for his life when Tabitha slammed the head of her rod into the head to the Collector. The moment the rod touched the Collector he went still, unable to move or speak he was at Olana’s mercy and she had none for him. All seven jeweled rubies flared to life as soon as the rod touched the Archdemon. Tabitha did not waste any time, she began to drain the Collector, she would take his accumulated knowledge and power. His memories too would be of great interest to her. Nile watched as the Archdemon who nine feet was tall began to shrivel up like a grape. It was both terrifying and interesting to see at the same time.

With her priestess sight engaged Nile could see the magic of the Collector being taken from him and poured into Olana. She knew that the Devil Queen was taking more than just his power. She was taking his memories, his knowledge and experience. Olana was taking everything that made the Collector who and what he is. It was a horrifying thought and Nile thought could not have happened to a more deserving monster. The Collector felt himself losing everything he had lied, stolen, and cheated to gain. Not just his powers or physical strength. His knowledge and memories were being taken from him by force, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

When Tabitha finally released the Collector, he sounded like a bag of bones when he hit the ground. Nile doubted that whatever made a demon’s body strong was still there. The Collector was literally skin and bones, and he could not get back to his feet. His ebony skin was now a dull gray having lost its vitality, his white eyes were now black and lifeless. He no longer wore his trench coat, it hung off him. Tabitha was still standing, having drained the Collector of all that he was. She was surrounded by a purple aura which soon disappeared. Tabitha had her eyes closed and some may think she was savoring the power she had just taken. Which was not the case, Tabitha was swiftly shifting through the memories and knowledge she had just gain. She discovered two important things. The first was the location of Danisha and how to release her. The last was a past memory of the Collector’s dealing with Romanto himself. Both were important and the ladder would be useful at a later date. Opening her eyes, she glared at the Collector.

“You have much to answer for Collector. Know that your Black Tower and this island is now in good hands. Better hands, and your time here in the Nether Realm is over.”

“Uhhh, ooaah.”

The Collector tried to speak but all that came out were sounds. Nile did not think he had a voice box anymore.

“No famous last words then, huh?”

Tabitha said sarcastically and held up her right hand. Nile’s breath got caught up in her throat, because in Olana’s hand was black-purple fire.

“What is that?”

Nile asked no one in particular.

“It’s the only fire that can leave burn scars on a demon, the Flames of Hell. Not many devils can summon those flames, and very few demons have the potential to use it.”

The answer came from Malice, and hearing what those black-purple flames are called sent shivers down Nile’s spine.

“What do they do exactly?”

“The Flames of Hell do not just burn your body; they burn your very soul to nothing. I’ve been told that it is agony to have your very soul burned by the Flames of Hell. Olana does not use it much, only when she is really enraged by an individual’s actions would she use the flames.”

Malice turned and smiled at Nile then.

“It seems that the Collector has made the cardinal sin of angering our Devil Queen.”

Again, the Collector tried to speak but just more noise came out. Tabitha said nothing, she had no more words for this demon. Thrusting forth her right hand, a stream of black-purple flames. The Collector was in gulfed, he did not even have the strength to scream. As quick as he was enveloped by the Flames of Hell, it was over just as quickly. When Olana stopped her flames, the Collector was gone. Not even ashes remain, all that was left of the Archdemon was a black scorch mark.

“Yeah! Olana is victorious once again!”

Balca shouted while throwing a fist in the air in triumph. Nile had to agree, there was no doubt in her victory. And no doubt about the power of the Devil Queen. If she did not know any better, Nile would have thought Olana to be almost godlike.