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Why couldn’t I have stolen a sword? I can use those!
Discouragement slows my movements until a loudcracksounds behind me as the butt of my spear connects with something hard. I whip around to see an envy demon falling, its skull split open.
Cool! I guess if I can’t stab with this thing, using it as a club is an option.
Now that I’ve taken one of them out, the envy demons eye me with a mixture of suspicion and respect. None of them have apparently seen me fight, so I suppose I wouldn’t be considered a threat before. I guess it takes murdering one of them to earn cool points.
Fuck! There are a crap-ton of these little shits to fight through! We’re coming, Cal, I promise. Me, your brothers-in-law, the wolves, and Asmodeus are all trying to put a dent in the throng here, but it’s slow going.
I wish I could reply. Sadly, I’m stuck with this damned collar that blocks any and all magic I try to use. I can’t even summon a fireball.
Not wanting to get distracted from the here and now, I blindly whip the spear around and crack two more skulls, breaking the tip off in the process. Should I be disturbed at how satisfying that cracking sound is?
Maybe with His newly acquired Domain, Az can sense my anger at these little fuckers. Know that I’m fighting. Anything to let Him know where I am.
More envy demons file in to take the places of the ones I’ve taken out. They’re on the defensive now, though, with the inner half trying to keep me contained and the outer ring trying to fend off the incoming allied demons.
A few more friendlies make it through, but they’re all cut down. With all the demon bodies in here, allies and enemies alike, the tower room is getting cramped. The envy demons are tripping over themselves and their fallen brethren, and it’s getting harder and harder to dodge the spear tips. One manages to make it past my whirling staff to slice my arm. I bite my lip again, but a small squeal of pain still squeaks out.
There it is. Az’s roar. He’s closer now; I can hear it. The sheer volume tells me He’s moved up in the castle, climbed some of the floors that separate us. I can’t wait to see Him. My heart pounds at the thought of being in His arms again.
All of a sudden, the castle starts to change. The coral beneath my feet seems to melt into sea glass, giving me a wavy view of the floor below me. As I watch, each floor beneath does the same, until I see a nightmare lying in wait five floors down.
Even with the haziness of the sea glass, Leviathan is terrifying to look at. He’s all slimy tentacles and sharp teeth and glowing green eyes. Envy is not a pretty thing, and neither is its Prince. Each of His tentacles is wrapped around the hilt of a sword, and to top it all off, a weird substance drips off Him, dissolving the coral beneath Him the second it touches. Acid. The dude sweats acid.
Gross.
When He tilts what I assume is His head upward and spreads His thin green lips in a wide, evil grin, a chill runs through me. Why is He so damned happy?
Then I see it: the floor beneath Leviathan changing to glass.
He’s directly above Az.
And Az isn’t looking up.
Az is busy fighting envy demons. Upper-level ones, and even with the help of Lena and our friends, it’s hairy down there. Az and the others are covered in oily black and green demon blood, so much that I can’t tell how injured they themselves are. Is Az hurt, or is that some of Lena’s boyfriends’ blood on His broad chest?
Then I see the signs of the toll this battle is taking on my friends and my lover. The torn wings. Samsher’s broken horn. Lena cradling one arm that’s not hanging quite right. The wolves’ bright red blood mixing with the demon green and black.
Everyone’s hurt in some way. All for me.
I have to find a way to stop this! I can’t let Az or Lena or any of the others die like this. But how?
While I contemplate a solution—and continue to swing my staff—I watch in horror as the glass ceiling above Az opens up beneath Leviathan’s tentacles. The Beast is going to drop down on Az, and He has no clue it’s coming.
I take a deep breath and scream as loud as I can.
“Asmodeus! Above You!”
To my relief, He looks up, but it’s too late.
Leviathan’s mass of writhing armed limbs descends through the hole in the ceiling, landing right on top of Az. A searing pain lances through my own heart as I watch Az’s chest impaled by one of Leviathan’s blades.
“No!”
As I shout my agony, something amazing happens.
The collar breaks off, and the second it does, my magic surges forth, carnal and infernal both, in a pulse so powerful it knocks all the envy demons out the windows. It knocks the walls and roof off the tower and shatters the floors beneath me. I expect to fall through, but somehow I stay aloft. Levitation, I guess? It’s not something I’ve practiced, but I read up on it in Az’s books. I must’ve cast the spell without thinking.
