We glared at each other, our auras and bloodlust clashing, vibrating the black stone beneath our feet.
"You should've stayed in your kennel, you mongrel." Genisix glowered.
As I smirked, the crimson and black Bloodfire flared and crackled in my palm. "Hey, sometimes you have to let the dogs out for a walk."
But something is weirdly off.
As soon as I stepped out of the passageway, I began to hear voices.
I know I'm losing my marbles, and hearing voices has become my norm.
But this was different
It was a singular voice, a female, barely a whisper.
"Who is there?"
It was soft, but it wasn't weak. It was not like the distorted voices of the demons.
This voice was layered with a certain power. The words it spoke echoed in my mind.
Yet the voice didn't overwhelm me. It was almost… soothing, ancient, despite the power behind it.
"Child not of this world. Who are you?"
"What the…?" My gaze darted around, trying to figure out the origin of that voice, much to the annoyance of Genisix.
"Are you okay, Little Prince?"
That got my attention. "Now you're starting to use that term? Asphodel's bad habits are rubbing off on you."
Despite the banter, I just can't get the voice out of my head, plus I can't afford to waste time with Genisix here.
I sense countless daemons approaching my position.
However, I couldn't sense Asphodel and Naberiax, but that doesn't exactly reassure me.
I had no idea where or when they might strike.
And I couldn't exactly go back the way I came.
So there is only one way.
Smirking, I condensed my flames just as Genisix and the other daemons lunged at me.
"There's no way I'm wasting time on the likes of you."
{Haema: Crimson Flare Wall}
Bloodfire surged forward like a tidal wave, forming a massive searing wall of crimson and black flames, separating me from Genisix and the elite daemons.
I didn't even bother to hear the daemon commander's response and vaulted over the railing in one swift motion.
It was a long way down from the exterior corridor to the courtyard, but I enhanced my legs with Ardor and landed hard on my feet.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, I broke into a sprint. I couldn't escape through the same path with daemons behind me, so I aimed for the far side of the courtyard.
That is, as long as the daemons are behind me.
If they circle around and come together on the other side of the palace. I am absolutely screwed.
So I picked up the pace, enhancing my body with ardor, and dashed toward the other side.
As I neared the pit, that colossal black hole swallowing the heart of the palace, I felt its gravity pressing against me, pulling like an invisible tide.
Better make sure I don't fall into the bloody hole.
As I tried to skirt around the edge of the pit, I felt a powerful presence falling from above.
It was a disgustingly familiar one.
I immediately jumped to the side as Asphodel landed where I was just a few moments ago, cracking the white stone beneath his feet.
"Going somewhere?" His eerie and grotesque grin stretched across the smooth black canvas devoid of any other features.
My eye twitched, and I retorted. "Yeah. Somewhere where I don't have to see your ugly face."
I feigned a gasp. "Oh wait! You don't have a face!"
Asphodel's grin widened. "You dare to harm our queen and flee?" he asked, his distorted voice sounding like an awful music mixer. "She told us to bring you back. I don't think she would mind if I dragged you back without your limbs."
The black roots forming his body flexed and coiled like live serpents. "She would be delighted to create new replacements for you."
His words irked me, and I clenched my fists with rage.
I know I have to keep moving; I should be escaping. Genisix and the rest of the daemons are catching up to me. That would make a very sticky situation.
But I just can't stand seeing that disgusting grin on that rooty son of a bitch. The moment I saw him, I stopped thinking rationally.
As much as I hate Lilith, that hatred doesn't come close to the utter loathing I have towards Asphodel.
This walking abomination was the one who started my hell that would last for ten years.
Our first encounter.
Felix's death.
My fall into the Abyss.
And the agony I suffered in Lilith's palace.
They all had one major and revolting thing in common.
The daemon before me with its utterly sickening grin.
Asphodel.
My loathing towards him rose up in my throat like bile.
And for the first time in a long time, I smiled for myself. "I'd always wanted a rematch with you."
No Madness, no stigma.
I just want to rip him apart with my bare hands.
Even if Lilith manages to recapture me. She would be losing one of her commanders.
Asphodel tilted his head. "I feel the same,"
He raised his arm in the air and uttered a single word, his distorted voice echoing all over.
"Stop."
At once, every daemon I sensed approaching my position froze in place.
A suffocating silence swept over us, which was immediately shattered by an enraged shout.
"ZYGAXIS!"
Genisix exploded onto the scene, his abnormally long claws mere inches from Asphodel's throat, his black chains pointing their spiky ends at the root daemon.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" His voice shook the courtyard, echoing off the massive palace walls.
"Genisix," Asphodel calmly moved away the claw. "If you interfere, I will end you before fighting the human."
His warning sent chills down my spine even though I was not the one he was addressing.
"We were told to capture him," Genisix growled, not backing down, his distorted voice like knives scraping on stone. "It is Her Majesty's will."
"And this is her will as well," Asphodel replied.
That made me pause.
Weirdly enough, his words made sense.
All daemons in this world are under Lilith's absolute control. Even if some of them are under the commanders, it is ultimately Lilith who dictates their actions.
So, for the pursuing daemons to stop at Asphodel's command, Lilith must have allowed this to happen.
This means that she wants me and the rooty bastard to have a one-on-one slugfest.
"Her Majesty's will?" Genisix asked and then rotated his head backwards, like something out of an old horror movie, his fiery eyes regarding me.
A moment of silence passed before he retracted his claws and let out an irritated sigh.
"Very well. I will stand back." He walked past Asphodel before casting a glare at his fellow commander.
"I pray to Her Majesty that the human kills you, Zygaxis."
He gave me a backward glance before disappearing into the army of daemons that was stopped in its tracks by a single command from Asphodel.
Asphodel turned back to me, "Now let's-"
I didn't give him a chance.
In the blink of an eye, I was right before him. My blood swirled around the stump on my right shoulder, instantly forming a blood arm covered in a jagged armor of crystallized blood.
"Let's fucking do this!" I shouted, driving a heavy punch into that revolting grin of his.
The shockwave formed from the contact ripped through the air, and the daemon was hurled across the courtyard, crashing into the white stone and cracking it.
Incarni! That was just satisfying!
But I wasn't done.
I immediately rushed to his position and leaped in the air. My blood arm ignited into Bloodfire, which I aimed right at Asphodel's chest, ready to rip his black heart out.
However, things never go according to plan for me, like ever.
It was just a mere flicker, but I reacted instantly, using my clawed blood arm to slash at a black root that came out of nowhere, its serrated point aimed at my beautiful face.
Oh no, not the face. Just because you don't have one doesn't mean you get to deprive me of mine.
Asphodel's arm shot out, and before I could react, he grabbed my leg.
Ah, fuck.
The world spun violently, and the next thing I knew, my face slammed into the courtyard stone. Pain exploded through me.
Before I could catch my breath, he yanked me up and slammed me again, this time, straight on my spine.
I gasped as all the air left my chest, every nerve in my body screaming.
Before Asphodel could slam me again, I twisted my ankle mid-hold, shattering the joint just enough to slip free.
I leaped away from him, using Haema to fix my twisted and bloodied ankle before landing.
Asphodel was already on his feet, the black roots forming his body coiling and writhing.
His right arm morphed grotesquely into a smooth black blade and he lunged.
I pulled out the Fangs and blocked his jab. The dual daggers deflected his thrust with a jarring clang that rattled my bones.
Blood appendages unfurled out of my back and surged toward Asphodel, their serrated crystalline tips enveloped in Bloodfire.
Black roots erupted out of the daemon's body and intercepted my crimson tendrils, sparking and tearing with each clash.
Blood flowed down the edges of my daggers and ignited. The heat of Bloodfire forced Asphodel to step back momentarily, and I struck.
The Fangs turned into my sword, enveloped in scarlet black flames, and I slashed across his chest.
The wound burned, and Asphodel froze on the spot, paralyzed by the basilisk emerald lining my sword.
I couldn't help but smile. I didn't expect the paralysis to take over, since it had a twenty-five percent chance of affecting the victim.
{Haema: Vortex Bloodlance}
Multiple spiraling lances of blood covered in Bloodfire formed above me and shot towards Asphodel.
He immediately recovered from the paralysis and was quick enough to dodge some of them.
But he wasn't quick enough.
Five Bloodlances pierced his body. Black ooze poured out of his wounds, and the Bloodfire burned his black flesh.
However, as if they had no effect, he stretched out his arms, and they transformed into hundreds of black roots that surged towards me like a wall of death.
I clicked my tongue and slashed at them with my sword, slicing and burning them with Bloodfire. My tendrils worked overtime, defending me from all angles.
My blade was quick, but there were simply too many roots.
They tore through my skin, ripping flesh from bone, and they burned like death.
After what seemed like an endless assault of black roots, they suddenly retracted away from me.
My body was covered in lacerations and deep wounds, bleeding like crimson rivulets from the ravaged flesh, and steam rose from my wounds as if acid had been poured on them.
My strand immediately went to work, stitching back the open cuts, clearing the lacerations, and regenerating the blood I lost.
However, Haema was unable to clear away the scars that formed as a result of this rooty assault, and they joined the macabre mosaic of scars that covered by body.
Except for my face.
As if reading my mind, Asphodel, fully recovered, said. "It would be terrible for our queen if your pretty face were marred with immortal scars."
I grinned, bloody and unbroken. "How considerate of you. You have my thanks, I really love my beautiful face."
"Your narcissism truly astounds me." His distorted voice echoed in my mind as the roots of his arms convulsed and formed massive scythes with serrated edges.
Black energy that once decimated the railguns of the Shield licked its deadly edges.
"It's self-love, you rooty son of a bitch," I said, returning my sword into my bracelet and taking out a long black scythe with a crimson edge to the blade.
I swung it in an arc in front of me, creating a strong gust of wind. Shimmering blood flowed down the shaft and covered the blade, igniting and covering it in Bloodfire.
I spun the flaming scythe before letting it rest on my shoulders.
Looking at Asphodel, I grinned.
"Shall we test our scythes?"