A single scream rose up from the courtyard. Surprise and agony mixed together in a delightful harmony as Andras fell from the balcony overlooking the courtyard. Smoke poured from his body as he rolled across the ground in agony.
I took perverse enjoyment in seeing the Demon suffering the same as my mom had. In many ways, it felt like justice. My only regret was that a Demon's body was far more resilient than Mom’s had been. Where Mom had been injured to the point of being on the brink of death after getting hit by just one splinter cannon, the Demon almost immediately stood up after getting hit with three.
His skin was scorched black, leaving the only color remaining the glowing red of Andras’s eyes. His furious gaze turned towards the source of the five splinter cannons that had caused him such humiliation. His voice was barely more than a guttural growl as he spoke a single word.
“Kill.”
Like thunder shaking the heavens, the tens of thousands of Demonkin gathered in the capital all roared in response. I slunk back down into my hiding spot as the earth began to shake. A stampede of monsters charged out of the central courtyard. Their bloodthirsty gazes focused entirely on following that single command. Houses and walls that stood in their way were trampled into the ground. stones were shattered and anything that might slow their charge was quickly torn apart by sharp claws and an endless tide of bodies.
It was fortunate my hiding spot was not in the direct path of the Demonkin charge. Even with my increased strength, I was not sure I would survive if I was caught in that stampede. As it was, much of the already crumbling house I hid in completely collapsed just from the shaking of the earth.
It had been a bit of a gamble but my plan had worked even better than I had anticipated. Hitting Andras was just an added bonus. My real goal had been to clear the courtyard of anything that might stop me from reaching the palace grounds and in that, it worked perfectly. Not a single Demonkin remained anywhere I could see. For them, Andras’s command was absolute and none could disobey.
Double-checking with Irene that the area was indeed clear of any hidden threats, I quickly hopped out of the ruined house and dashed across the courtyard. I ran, not towards the main palace door, but instead towards an old armory on the outer edge of the palace. I could not be sure if the Alphas that normally guarded the palace also got swept up in Andras’s fury so, even though we could not see any Demonkin right now, I continued with my original plan and looked for one of the few secret entrances in and out of the palace.
The old armory was dim and dusty. The blood mist had corroded much of the once well-kept weapons and armor but none of that mattered to me right now. At the back corner of the barracks, was a stone tile, identical to all the others on the floor. Not wasting any time, I slammed my hand down on the solid stone surface. Normally, there was a mechanism that opened a secret passage but it required energy to power. Energy that I was still currently unable to use while holding the siphon stones from my prison cell. Instead, I simply slammed my hand into the stone two, three, four times. I cursed my own perfectionist nature. the floor of the barracks was made of special material that was even tougher to get through than my prison bars. I had to strike the floor nearly a dozen times before cracks finally appeared. The entire time, I counted the seconds that passed. It would not be long before Andras realized what I had done. Then, he would rush back here. I had to move fast before that happened.
Eventually, the stone shattered, revealing a dark hole leading down into the ground. I sighed in relief that Sebastion had not closed off or filled in the passage. Without wasting another second, I readjusted the limp Irene on my shoulder and hopped into the inky blackness below. There was a weightless feeling as I fell for several seconds before eventually landing far less gracefully than I would have liked.
“Not being able to fly is the worst,” I mumbled as my hands groped around in the dark. Of course, I hadn’t put anything down here to light up the cavern either. Why would I ever need a torch when I could create tows of fire with the snap of my fingers? But since I didn’t want to give my position away, all I could do right now was stumble around in the pitch-black corridor.
Luckily for me, it was a straight path between here and the palace. I simply had to keep my hand on the wall and keep walking. I was fairly deep underground, so, it was something of a surprise when I heard the deep rumble of an explosion. The tremor shook the walls of the tunnel and caused dust to fall from the ceiling.
Had Andras already found what I had done? Even he shouldn’t be able to cause a boom that big. Did he get one of the Leviathans to do it for him?
The scale of the explosion was a cause for concern but for now, I simply had to keep running. I was getting close now. I could feel it. The resonance between me and the power I sealed away all those years ago grew with every step I took towards the palace. If I could just reach that, nothing Andras did mattered. Even if he had ten times the number of Demonkin I saw before, it would not matter. I would win eventually.
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With renewed vigor, I sprinted even faster through the dark, only to come to a sudden stop as I slammed headfirst into another stone wall. Irene moaned in pain as her body tumbled to the ground.
I rubbed my head in embarrassment more than pain as I groped around blindly in the dark. After a couple seconds, I found a lever and the wall opened. Light poured into the passageway and I glanced down at Irene squirming on the floor.
“Good idea Irene. You stay here and guard the exit. I will come back for you when everything is over.”
Irene made a sound that was probably supposed to be a string of very unsavory words but with how messed up her mouth was, what she was trying to say was completely unintelligible. In response, I just gave her a thumbs-up and hopped out of the opening in the wall.
Closing the secret door behind me, I took a quick look around the well-lit hallway lined with oil lamps. The palace had changed a lot in the past fifty years I had been gone. I had always preferred muted colors in my palace with splashes of green mixed in but apparently Sebastion had a must more boisterous sense of style. Red and gold lined the floor with bright paintings covering every wall. This was simply a hallway underground that only a select few people had access to. I could not understand the need to decorate it so extravagantly.
Shaking my head in annoyance, I returned to the task at hand. The décor might have changed but the halls were still the same. I knew exactly where to go to reach the vault.
I moved through the hallways carefully. I listened for any sigh of Demonkin that might be guarding my path but to my surprise, I found nothing. With Andras’s cautious nature, I expected there to be some guards just in case I ever made it this far but there was nothing. Maybe he never expected me to make it this far but I could not shake the sinking suspicion that I missed something important.
I was startled from my worries as another series of explosions shook the air. They were not as big as the first one but far more numerous. Despite the distance, I recognized the high-pitched undertone beneath the rumble. It was the repeated fire of Sebastion’s light beam attacks.
The continuous unending explosions only meant one thing. The battle for Ater-Albus had begun. The army, or at least a detachment of it, had already reached firing range of the splinter cannons and now both sides were trading blows.
I wanted to rush out there and help but I knew where my priorities laid. I was so close now. Just beyond this last door was the Chronicle. Finally, after all this time, it would be in my hands again.
I dropped the siphon stones in my pockets and spat out the one in my mouth. My domain surged, instantly filling the hallway and pushing back the blood mist. There was no need for secrecy anymore. My domain encompassed the door in front of me, flooding the complex interior. Through it, I could feel thousands of small switches inside. Only a few dozen of them needed to be flipped and doing it out of order or flipping the wrong ones would lock the door permanently.
I followed the familiar pattern I had done thousands of times before and a heavy click echoed from the depths of the large black door. With an excited smile, I pushed the door open, but as I did, I realized why I had felt something suspicious as I walked down the hallway.
The room before me was well-lit. Just like the hallway, the oil lamps on the walls burned bright. The problem was, Demons didn’t need light to see. They could use the blood mist to navigate far more easily than their vision so why were the lamps lit?
My answer was in the room before me. Andras had an annoyingly smug smile as he stood in the center of the room expectantly. His skin was still burnt and looked painful but it seemed he had time to change into a new suit while I was racing through the tunnel. My eyes darted around the room curiously but there were no holes in the walls or ceiling. Andras, or more likely Berith, had somehow managed to get past the door legitimately.
I frowned as I glanced at the other two Demonkin in the room. Two strong alphas stood at the far back corners of the room. The first looked like it was a mass of millions of insects crawling over each other until they had the rough shape of a man. In its hand was a book. I recognized it at a glance. A simple leather-bound cover with the symbol of infinity overlapping itself nine times on the front. The second of the Demonkin on the other hand was little more than a deformed mass of flesh. Green liquid oozed from dozens of holes across its body and I did not need to see the smoke rising from where it fell on the ground to know it was dangerously acidic. A tentacle of flesh extended from the second Demonkin, wrapping around the form of an undead with glowing green eyes, a young woman with flowing blond hair, and a look of innocence that even death could not wipe away.
My own bloodlust bubbled up as I saw the second Demonkin holding my former student, Lucia. It took all my self-control not to immediately charge past Andras and save her, regardless of the consequences.
Andras chuckled as he saw my expression. “You really are so very predictable Aurielle. Did you really think I would fall for such a simple distraction? I knew from the moment I brought you into the city there was a chance you might escape and I made contingencies just such an occasion.” Andras paused to make a grand flourish, spreading his arms wide, both hands motioning towards one of the Demonkin. “On my left is your precious student and on my right is your greatest weapon. Should you try to run, I will destroy them both. Try to fight back and my subordinate will dissolve the body of your former student. Disobey me and I will have these insects devour the pages of your armament. Be a good little human pet, submit to me, and I will let them remain unharmed. The choice is yours.”