Chapter 157 (Patreon)

Chapter 157

The merchant and his servants bowed low, exiting the storage room full of boxes and crates to shut the door behind him.  His feet clapped against the store’s floor until the sound of the next door at the far end of the hall opened and shut again - leaving the beholder demon alone with Athela and Fay in the dark.

Not that any of them had any qualms with being in the dark, they were demons.

[Beholder Demon, Level 28]

Athela casually glanced around, not seeing anyone or anything that could be a threat, then folded her arms.  Fay’s illusion dispelled a second later, revealing the horns, tail and wings of the succubus - as well as Athela’s red eyes, pitch black skin, and the arachnid limbs ripping out of her back.

“What do you want, eyeball?  Spit it out, don’t just sit there.  I doubt it’s about the ingredient I was looking for concerning my master's birthday present, so whatever it is - make it snappy.” Athela eventually said after the two sides just stared one another down - evaluating each other in turn.  She inspected her fingers that each turned into a long obsidian claw, one by one.  “There better be good reason to call us in here like this.  My friend and I are on a schedule, don’t waste our time.

Fay nodded with a more polite smile and a brief bow of her head.  “What she said.  We don’t have much time to waste.  Please tell us what it is you desire from us.”

Blinking a couple times from various different appendages, the beholder demon pulled up the cortex forums.  From there he navigated to the main page of Panu, and scrolled through the forum posts until he found the one he was looking for.  Selecting a video channel, he set up the display for Riven’s battle in Chicago.  Pausing the video feed when it gave a snapshot of Fay and Athela, the beholder demon turned back to them.

“You are the same.  Yes?”

Athela rolled her eyes.  “Congratulations, you’re not blind.”

“That’s correct.” Fay confirmed.

The beholder hovered in silence, took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly while casting his gaze downwards.  His demeanor changed to that of a strange and manic glee, and he even blinked away a cascade of happy tears that came unbidden to him - which was very much a surprise to the other two demons in the room.

“My name is Brezkevix.  I need your help, and the help of your master.  It's only right considering you happened to show up at the wrong place and the wrong time... Could you not have just stayed away from the city for another day or so?  That's all it would have taken... You should have been more careful!”

Athela’s eyebrows raised in surprise, feeling very unsettled by the entire situation.  Something about this wasn’t right.  “Uhm... And just what can we help you with?”

The beholder’s mouth widened to abnormal proportions, and a hiss of hot air escaped its lips as its iris began to glow.  “You can help by dying for me!”

With a cackle, the beholder self destructed and unleashed a maelstrom of violent, unholy energy that crashed into the other two demons like a freight train.  Athela and Fay were both thrown backwards, smashing into an invisible barrier that’d been erected along the walls of the large room’s interior.  Fay screamed in pain as ethereal chains rapidly bound her to the wall and began to burn her alive, but Athela was too quick to be caught and blurred ahead - trying to find who or what was attacking her as a plethora of spells detonated around her.

*CRASH*

*BOOM*

*THUD*

Flurries of infernal spears, globes of blood, and a swarm of ravenous insects ripped out of spatial tears that tore into her like a hurricane of violence.

And despite how agile she was, Athela had been caught completely off guard.

*RIP*

*TEAR*

*SPLAT*

She was violently whipped around, half of her jaw hanging off and holes riddling her body as she gasped for air.  Three of her arachnoid legs were ripped completely off along with one of her arms, burn markings scorched her body and one femur was sticking out the side of her thigh when she slammed into the floor after the barrage was done.

A man’s voice called out above the screams and cries of the flailing, burning succubus.  “STOP!  WE MUST FINISH THEM WITH A BLADE!”

Athela’s vision blurred, and blood began to pool around her as she tried to activate a portal back to the nether realms - but it was blocked.  Enchantments - having been inscribed into the surrounding stone walls, ceiling, and floor - were obstructing her passage back home.  But she could still make out the robed, hooded figures of eight men and women circling her, with one of the older ones - a Japanese man with a neatly trimmed white beard - coming to the front.  Two more demons accompanied them as well: a minotaur, and a humanoid cthulhu abomination from the outer realms.

The Japanese man turned to the cthulu monster, held out a hand, and was given a slender white blade with black runes that writhed with dark flames.  The blade was only a few feet in length, but Athela’s heart nearly stopped in absolute horror when she saw the weapon.  She knew what it was before the man even told her.

“Hello Athela.  You put on quite a show with your master not long ago, we were all very impressed that one of Chalgathi’s chosen - one of us - would have come so far in such a short amount of time.  To reach the top 100 so early is beyond anyone’s expectations… it is unfortunate that he is not part of the cult. ” The old man said slowly, coming to stand over the demoness while twirling the blade across his hands - spinning it, only to rest it on Athela’s neck.  “Do you know what this is?”

Athela could barely move, but her loud whimper and wide-eyed horror was all it took to get the man to let out a malicious laugh.

“This… is a demon slayer blade.”

Fay, who was still strapped to the wall with flaming chains, let out a scream of absolute denial and blasted out every bit of mana she had left despite her flesh being eaten slowly away by unholy power.  Yet the chains soaked that up too, and she stayed there - helplessly beginning to sop - as she screamed out.  “PLEASE DON’T!  WAIT!  WE DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT WE CAN BARGAIN WITH YOU!”

“Bargain!?” The head cultist laughed, as did the other hooded, robed figures around the room.  “The sex toy wants to bargain.  Isn’t that funny.  Let me ask you a question, succubus - do you think your master would bargain with us too?”

The old man grinned savagely at Fay, who’s tears were actively streaming down her face as she trembled knowing full well what the weapon in this man’s hands did.  “ANSWER ME SUCCUBUS!  WE OF CHALGATHI’S CULT DO NOT HAVE TIME TO PLAY GAMES WITH YOU!”

The man sank the blade an inch into Athela’s neck, and immediately she began to spasm and scream with absolute agony.  Her very soul began to burn away, bit by bit, faster and faster as the blade continued to grind down into her throat and then into her spine.

Athela shed tears of blood, having a seizure on the ground as Fay screamed and begged for this unknown man to stop.

“ANSWER ME SUCCUBUS AND PERHAPS I’LL MERELY VIOLATE YOUR BODY INSTEAD OF YOUR SOUL AS I DO TO THIS ONE!”

Athela coughed and sputtered again, completely broken on the ground, but managed to try and claw at the old man’s foot - only to have the boot slam down and crunch onto her fingers with breaking bones.  She glared up at the man who’s blade was still stuck in her neck, managing to get only a few words out before the end. “Riven… *Cough* Will kill you… *Cough* *Cough* He will avenge me…*

The old man sneered.  “It is certainly possible, but I doubt it.  He wouldn’t be the first of Chalgathi’s chosen we killed that weren’t true members of the cult - and he wouldn’t be the last.  Yet, that being said, we don’t even need to fight him… we only need him distracted long enough for us to accomplish our goal with the cube.”

The blade punched through Athela’s spine, and then was ripped up into her brain - sending pieces of her face across the floor to be burned away with black flames as motes of light started crackling and fizzling away around her.  Her soul complex was breaking down more rapidly now, and she gave one last look to Fay - gasped and fell still.

Fay let out an ear-piercing scream of denial, arms and legs still burning as the chains bound her to the wall, and then the scream faded into violent sobs and ugly-crying.  Her head dropped, and the old man yanked the sword out of Athela’s corpse to look at the others.

One of the other robed men stepped forward, gesturing to the succubus.  “What of her?  We need to leave fast, before he gets here.  We cannot beat him in a frontal assault or in a fair fight, and permanently killing these demons is only a temporary solution.  The one you killed was a rarer and more dangerous breed, perhaps we really should keep this one for a bit of fun?  That way he won’t’ be able to contract other demons in the meantime.”

The old man scoffed with a glowering look at the crying woman restrained on the wall.  “There’s almost no chance he could so quickly contract other demons, not in the time it will take us to set the plan in motion to kill him and the other two participants in the cube.”

The ring leader glanced back over his shoulder to the others, only to receive looks of doubt and wariness.  His eyebrows rose.  “You truly think he’d be able to get more minions that fast?”

“I do.” Another hooded Chalgathi cultists stated solemnly.  “We only have three advantages here.  First is the demoness you killed was a much more dangerous variant than what he’ll likely be able to contract next.  Second is he doesn’t know who or what we are - or where we are, as none of us are carrying our artifacts on our persons.  That however could change at any moment if we don’t get out of here right now.  Third, we have the succubus.  Perhaps we can just mute the connection so he can’t track her?”

“He’s stronger than us and could just brute force the connection.” argued another woman from the back holding a staff.  “I for one don’t want to end up as red paste on the ground, you all saw what he did in Chicago.  He’s an absolute monster.  I say kill the succubus too so loose ends are tied, we don't want him finding out who did this - even if he does realize it was likely a distraction for what we're about to do.”

“Nonsense.” replied the second cultist with a scowl and a lustful glare towards the succubus on the wall.  “At the very least let me have her for a little while, just cut the connection with that fucking blade and let’s move.  You owe me Kenji, remember?  This is what I want in return for the favor I did you.  Give her to me instead.”

Kenji, the group leader of this sect of the cult, scowled at his underling - but eventually scoffed and handed the blade over.  “Cut the connection yourself.  You have thirty seconds and we teleport out of here, no doubt he’s already headed this way.  Hopefully he hasn’t realized the magnitude of what we’ve done just yet, because if he has - he’s no doubt rushing.  God help us if he actually catches us before we’re gone.”

The younger man grinned wickedly, then licked his lips and headed for Fay.  “Fine!  Prepare the portal ritual and let’s go!  I’ll subdue the succubus and put her in binding manacles in the meantime.”

He turned back to Fay, crashing a fist into her gut and causing her to sputter before pinching her cheeks with one hand.  “Oh am I going to have fun with you.”

***

[Your minion Athela has been slain by a demon slayer relic.  Your minion Athela has permanently died.  A demonic minion slot has opened up.]

Riven abruptly stopped laughing at the joke the swordsman at the bar had told him, going pale and dropping his drink to crash against the wooden countertop.  Was he reading this right?

Shakily and with panic quickly beginning to set in, he rubbed his eyes and stared - beginning to full-body tremble as he lurched back from the countertop.  It’d only been an hour, just how the fuck had this happened?

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?

His aura began to billow out.  Rage quickly was replaced with fear, fear was replaced by anxiety, anxiety was replaced with desperation, and desperation was replaced with extreme sorrow like nothing he’d ever known before.  Even when Jose had died, it was nothing like this.

It was nothing… Like this…

The mask temporarily opened up.  Lurching forward and vomiting violently onto the countertop to the loud and angry or confused expressions of discontentment by nearby patrons of the bar - the hallucination around him began to flicker and abruptly stopped working altogether when yet another message appeared.

[Your minion Fay has had her demonic contract forcibly severed.  A demonic minion slot has opened up.]

The entire bar was now quiet as his aura began to slowly climb.  Red frost began to accumulate along the chairs, cups, walls and ceiling as he just stared - dumbfounded at the system notification.  Everybody there as staring wide-eyed at the man many of them recognized from the world forums.  Fully armored with a black robe, red mana began to swirl around his body as the maw along his chest hissed with building rage to match his own.  All seven eyed feathered began blinking rapidly, and the horned pauldrons on either shoulder glowed more and more brightly as the room began to shudder with power.

Why hadn’t his malignant prophecy activated?

Was it still on cooldown from the last time he’d used it to save Kathrine’s life?

But that’d been three months ago?  Or was it just not important enough to the prophecy for a trigger point?

No that didn’t seem right, the blonde woman he’d saved in Negrada had meant nothing to him!  It should have activated! WHY hadn’t it activated!?  IT SHOULD HAVE FUCKING ACTIVATED!

His fingers clenched around the desk, smashing the wood to splinters underneath as he began to whisper - with that whisper turning into a scream.  “No… Nooo, no, no, NO, NO-NO-NO NOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

His body pulsed, and everything around him for over a mile erupted into a nova of red.  Bodies and buildings were vaporized within seconds, and the resounding explosion sent a shockwave that radiated for miles as his scream reached the heavens and all activity in the city stopped.

With it came an aura of malice and rage, and the hot sands of the desert froze over as Riven’s body ripped through a tear in space as he raced towards the last location he’d felt the two female demons with his soul aperture.

***

He looked down at Athela’s broken, smoldering body that still had black flames trickling along her skin.  Her once beautiful features were now barely recognizable, and the tiara she’d prized so much - the very first gift he’d ever given her - was laying covered in blood a few feet away in a pool of her own viscera.

Riven dropped to his knees, ignoring the screams and commotion outside at the carnage he’d indiscriminately wrought in his moment of panic.  He also couldn’t care less… because right now, his very world was falling apart.

His best friend had died, again.

Riven dropped to his knees, letting out a hiccuping sob as he buried his face in her unmoving chest.  Bringing her body up to his own, he continued to cry while rocking back and forth - shaking violently while he continued to shake his head in denial over and over again.  The words he wanted to speak were garbled both in his head and as they left his lips, and he was left as little more than a mourning, bawling child - reduced to the same state he’d been left in when his mother had left him all those years ago.

From the side of a pile of crates, the merchant who owned this shop was breathing fast.  His heart pounded in his chest, and he held the communication stone up to his mouth to whisper a report.  “Make your move to steal the cube now, he’s preoccupied and probably will be for some time.  His reaction was far more volatile than you anticipated and-”

The merchant’s voice caught in his throat when all seven eyes along the glowing crimson feathers coming off Riven’s porcelain mask focused on his location.

“You cut out.  Continue the report.” Kenji’s voice came through at a hushed whisper - but even he on the other side of it stopped when a ravenous scream of hate roared across the sky - and the visage of a great maw darkened the land.

The roof over the top of Riven and the merchant shattered, and the sandstone material it was made out of was sucked skywards as Riven found a target for his rage.

There would be retribution for this.

There would be pain.

And in this realm of magic and miracles: he would find a way to bring Athela back if it was the last thing he ever did.  Even if he had to tear apart the entire world to do it.