Into the Abyss

“So why,” Ramses asked. “Isn’t the Type IV leaving? He should have enough mana left to fade to the Abyss. The little ones over there,” he pointed to the other three demons, “may not be able to do so on their own.”

“Particularly inside that weird net thing.” Bess observed.

“But the big guy?” Ramses asked.

“Quiet, something is happening.” Exador commanded.

They looked down on the field.

“So demon.” Talarius was standing over the greater demon who had been flailing around on the ground with no feet, only one wing and one arm. That arm had been flailing around a bit as if trying to throw something at the priests but not much had happened. “You are defeated, and now you and your immediate compatriots will face the true death.”

“You cheated.” The demon croaked.

Bess and Ramses chuckled. Exador shook his head thinking about how times had changed the Rod; then he smiled, obviously, he must have had some influence on the development of the Rod’s ethics.

“There is no such thing as cheating when fighting Evil.” The knight took his helmet off. He almost looked sad as he stared down at the demon.

“So you say. I disagree.” The greater demon said. The demon was smoldering a bit now. The demon let out a loud sigh and suddenly there was nothing but glowing ashes on the ground.

“Finally,” Bess stated. “The suspense was getting to me; I couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t leave.” Exador chuckled and Ramses grinned. They turned back to the drama.

“Curses!” The knight yelled. “He fled back to the Abyss!” He turned back to the group of priests that were not trying to contain the other demons. “How are the preparations going?”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” A man who appeared to be a general asked. “This is the sort of stuff that can have unintended repercussions.”

The knight sighed, “I understand Barabus, but these are clearly the root of the problem we and the Sky Fleet have pursued and we need to deal with them once and for all.”

“Do you not want to question them?” Barabus asked.

“What good is questioning demons?” Talarius asked. “We’ll get better results from their human henchmen.” Barabus was nodding as a senior priest nearby suddenly threw up.

“Are you OK?” Barabus asked. The man was seriously pale and shaking his head no, he was gasping and too weak to speak. Another high priest suddenly turned pale and fell on the ground vomiting. Then another, and then a fourth high priest.

“What the hell is going on?” Talarius was looking around. “Verigas? What’s wrong?”

The high priest named Verigas was very rigid and saying nothing, it was like he was locked in some sort of internal struggle.

“Oh, this is a strange turn.” Bess stated. “I’m really glad we didn’t tune out. I’m thinking this is even more interesting than our spat with Lenamare.”

Exador glared at her, aside from distracting him from the spectacle below, she was taking her eye off the real prize, the book.

Ramses just chuckled.

“I wish I had some popcorn!” Bess told the others.

The high priest Verigas seemed to wake from his trance and turned to face Talarius.

“Well, knight, you said that in the battle with Evil, there is no such thing as cheating.”

Talarius looked at the priest strangely, clearing sensing something was not right. “So, I’ve decided to pull out all the stops.” The priest said.

“Verigas, what the hell are you talking about?” Barabus asked the high priest.

Verigas smiled a rather wicked looking smile. “What makes you think I’m Verigas? Where are your paranoid conspiracy theories now when you need them? You’ve really pissed me off, Talarius: you cheated; you have no honor, no integrity.”

“Oh shit.” Talarius stated, the blood draining from his face.

Suddenly the embers where the greater demon had fallen burst into flame. A whirlwind of embers and smoke rose into the air over the site of the fallen demon. Suddenly the smoke and embers joined into flame, growing and growing. The knight and priests stared as the flames grew and melded into a humanoid form, a large humanoid form.

The high priest Verigas let out a shriek and fell to the ground, collapsing in a heap like a discarded marionette. No one moved to attend him.

The flames grew to twelve feet tall and then solidified in the form of the demon they had just defeated.

“I’m afraid you won’t get rid of me that easy, Talarius.” The demon grinned.

“Oh, goody, round two!” Bess shouted with joy.

∼

Tom smiled at the shocked knight and the priests who were still unaware of what was going on amongst their ranks. He wanted to enjoy their shock while he rebuilt his mana supply and solidified his hold on the Rod members he was infiltrating. He was busy gulping in as much mana from the umbilical cords as he could.

The trick had been the Holy Arrows. They had provided the needles to the umbilical cords. He’d managed to object link them to himself and then somehow, lift them, telekinetically or something to the mana cords and pierce them.