Chester finished wailing on a guard and wiped the sweat off his brow, stopping for a moment to catch his breath when he noticed Aslalo was nowhere to be found.
Chester "Where'd he go? What the heck man…I swear between him and Cole I'm going to go insane. Ugh guess I should find him? Now where do I look?"
Just as Chester started to walk off he could hear growling in the background behind him, quickly jumping out of the way narrowly escaping being bitten by the ravenous shadow in the form of a decaying dog. The shadows grew more numerous and in various sizes, growling and barking one after the other in a mad frenzy, ready for their hunt. They wanted to eat and devour every bit of Chester like he was the scraps from their master's table. In a moment of hesitation Chester chuckled and dashed out as fast as he could summoning a sword to dice a few of the dogs in his path he ran through the castle trying to find Aslalo but every exit he found was cut off by the shadows howling in the distance.
Asmodeus "Hunt him, rip his flesh, tear out his eyes and bring his soul to me! Eat your fill my darlings. EAT YOUR FILL!"
Chester "Damn it. We blew the mission real bad. Damn it, where is Cole? This would be a damn good time to find something, maybe a little help would be useful or something! SHIT!"
A hound pounced on Chester's back and was quickly thrown to the ground and kicked aside. Chester beat his head to find a solution when he remembered the words of Cole.
Cole "Look, spirit isn't hard to learn but difficult to master."
Chester "And? Stop all the cryptic shit."
Cole "Okay, think. When you want fire you need three things. Ignition, fuel, and Oxygen. The fuel is your energy, oxygen is in the air, you just need to find your spark."
Chester coming to a sudden realization "Cole you genius!"
Chester snapped his fingers, making a tiny fizzle, then a large poof of flame, the third time he put all of his focus and everything he could into the snap making flames burst from all around him dispersing the shadows and making a few whimper but no stopping the advance of the demon dogs. The snaps weren't working after a while the dogs just moving out of the way Chester began to focus them specifically popping each of them like a fire cracker. He snapped his fingers over and over damn near breaking them and giving himself serious friction burns on his fingers.
Chester "That's what he meant. It's not magic, there are actual consequences to using this power. I see, the more you exert power the more you damage your body. An exchange of physical attributes for spiritual gain. Such a thing who could've thought he could tap into something so effective but harmful."
Chester ran until his back was against a wall, still popping the dogs as best he could when they all started to whimper and cry before running away.
Chester "Hell yeah. Run you cowards! Hahaha I'm so gonna tell cole about this."
As Chester was beating his chest in triumph a large plop of a thick viscous liquid fell on his head making him slowly look up to see large red eyes staring him back into his eyes. He felt behind him and what he thought was a wall felt just a bit too soft to be a rock and too fuzzy to be moss. With a gulp he snapped his fingers and was swiped into a wall by the large beast's tail. Although the image was blurry he could make out a large three headed dog with the number six carved into each head as a scar but bled as though it was still fresh. It's fur absorbed all light as if were the color vanta itself, its red irises contrasted only by the yellow surrounding it. A golden crown permanently sewn upon the middle ones head with golden threads. Around each of their necks were thick golden chain links with the name 'cerberus' carved onto a tag that dangled off the chain. Slowly rising to his feet, Chester summoned a hunters knife, flicking the blade back and forth in a stance ready to attack. The very wind of Cerberus' growl blew the false bravado right off of Chester, but that wasn't going to stop him. He charged at Cerberus with a mighty war cry and was instantly swiped into the castle's walls by its massive paw, just barely recovering to block the beast's teeth from gouging out his body with his blade. The only thing stopping Chester from being snapped in two was his boot and single blade. With a mighty swing Chester poked Cerberus in its eye, making the beast recoil from the pain and let out a ghastly growl. Without skipping a beat Chester stabbed his blade into the other eye and kicked the demon dog to the other side of the room with everything he had falling to the ground recoiling in pain as Cerberus' flesh was packed with muscle harder than stone. The beast stood to its feet like nothing happened. The head on its left started to breath heavily with a green fog coming out with every breath. The head on the right started to chomp its teeth to generate sparks as the head in the middle barked sending massive balls of fire all around the room as Chester tried his best to dodge but his arm was caught in one of the fire balls making him drop his knife from the pain.
Chester "Damn it! It's like anything I do to this damn thing just makes it stronger! AND IT CAN BREATH FIRE! WHAT THE HELL DID THEY DO TO THAT DOG!"
Chester snapped his finger, summoning another sword engulfed in fire from the air dropping into the beast back and another and another until the beast fell. Chester wouldn't stop summoning flaming swords. A growl, turned murmur, to whimper then silence. Chester approached Cerberus to check if it was dead when out of nowhere each of the blades shot out of its back and all of its wounds healed with the beast rising to its feet it got larger and its growls were deeper and stronger than before. The crown on its head shimmered a golden light illuminating the entire room allowing Chester to see everything. The bodies of warriors past laid strewn about. Large bones sat to the side with bits of flesh still hanging onto it, chains dangled from the ceiling with hooks holding onto skeletons at their ends.
Chester "So I guess this must be it's den…Okay, not too bad. I'm not like those chumps, I'm still alive. It was definitely dead before and it came back to life and it regenerates stronger than the last time. How do I kill this thing?"
Cerberus wasted no time swiping at and chasing Chester all around its den growling once more to blow out all of the torches surrounding the area. Now in complete darkness Chester could hear the sounds of the hellhounds coming for him, his back was mauled by a dog he cut in half with his knife. With not much left he held on for as long as he could, killing as many dogs as he was able, and even killing Cerberus over and over only making the task more difficult each time not that it was even easy the first time. Each time he killed the hellhound its crown glowed and illuminated the room and it was brought back to life.
Chester "That must be it, the crown brings it back to life somehow… but how do I take it off. I've sliced and diced every part of this animal countless of times already and it just came back. Damn it."
While Chester racked his brain to kill Cerberus, Aslalo was face to face with Asmodeus in his cage. Each skill Aslalo used did nothing to the bars nor the surrounding wall but made Asmodeus laugh hysterically.
Asmodeus "Hehehe boy, you aren't getting out anytime soon. Just calm down, eat, I made it fresh for you."
Aslalo "I don't want anything you made."
Asmodeus "Fine…suit yourself. Just be hungry, I know it must be getting to you by now…You should eat before you notice it."
Aslalo "I'm not hungry."
Asmodeus "Are you sure about that?"
Aslalo's stomach growled audibly as he stared at the plate of steak and potatoes set before him, but he remained steadfast in his conviction picking up the plate, smelling it and throwing it in the face of Asmodeus.
Asmodeus "Fine, starve then. I'll check on you in an hour or so…"
Aslalo "Wait, don't go yet."
Asmodeus "Would you like to eat?"
Aslalo "Go fuck yourself. You can leave now."
Asmodeus "You are rather amusing. I can't wait until I serve you on a plate to the king."
Aslalo "The king? I thought a queen was in power."
Asmodeus "The king is roaming the lands as we speak. I must go capture him before long, Queen Jody! I have done it. My life debt to you is complete. I shall eat fine foods and drink of great wine."
Asmodeus left aslalo in the cage Shutting the door to the dungeon behind him. After a few minutes of being in the darkness Aslalo could feel his hunger grow as if he hadn't eaten in a few days. An hour passed and he started to hear his stomach growl louder and louder. Another and he could feel deliriousness setting in, the stones nearby looking like bread and the vines looking like ropes of licorice, the hunger growing more and more to the point he could feel his body eating itself just to survive. Just before Aslalo passed out from the exhaustion of holding body up he thought about the others and what Asmodeus was saying, his eyelids felt heavy but he slapped himself to keep awake as best as he could. As he was about to give into his hunger Aslalo saw a tray with a bowl of rice a plate with a perfectly medium rare steak with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans, paired with a golden cup filled to the brim with wine that dribbled slightly off the side of the cup as if calling him to take a drink, His mouth watered as the tray slid closer to him, the smell filing his nose with an enticing smell. He grew closer and closer to the tray, even picking up the steak slowly putting it to his mouth.
Evanescence "NO! DROP IT! DON'T EAT ANYTHING ON THAT PLATE!"
Aslalo "Why? It looks perfect."
Evanescence "You aren't seeing anything straight. Please don't eat it."
Aslalo "Shut up. I'm STARVING."
Evanescence "It's not what you think it is. That's a plate of human flesh and fat. If you eat that, I will turn into a demon. Please master, fight it. I'm calling Cole as we speak. Hold out for just a while longer."
Aslalo "You're lying! I'm hungry…It smells so good."
Aslalo lifted the steak to his face making Evanescence scream in rage and desperation making one of her wings setting ablaze, burning off all of its feathers, her golden halo pierced by a blackened horn coiling itself around it, her once pure white dress turning dirty gray filled with burn holes from her falling feathers touching it, beautiful black tattoos wrapped around her left side like lightning cracks in her flesh stopping around her neck and right breast. Aslalo's Aie's shining a bright purple in response to his angel's cry. Aslalo recoiled from the pain in his head as wings burst from his back one on fire the other pure white and fluffy. As he reached out for the plate he was knocked back into the wall by the wings flapping him in the opposite direction of the tray. The force sheer shook the castle in its entirety, but this wouldn't stop Aslalo from reaching out for what he thought was the steak, his hand slamming into the wall with enough force to crack the wall under its weight. The constant thrashing around knocked over the tray of food sending everything flying everywhere.
Aslalo "What are you doing!? Let me go!"
Evanescence "It's for your own good. Look at what you did to me. Calm down already."
Aslalo "NO! I'M HUNGRY! I MUST EAT!"
The dress surrounding Evanescence started to get darker and darker, Aslalo's Aie turning into a red-violet as Evanescence fought with Aslalo for control to stop him from eating the meal strewn all over the floor, she fought hard while she called out for Cole over and over getting a dial tone every time. She rang Chester and he picked up instantly.
Chester "Hello? Who is this?"
Evanescence "Hello Chester? HELP! ASLALO! He-he is trying to eat humans."
Chester "I can't right now. Sorta tied up at the moment."
Evanescence "What?"
Chester "Big dog trying to kill me right now."
Evanescence "Can you call Cole?"
Chester "I've been trying it's just going to a dial tone."
Aslalo "I will kill you! Wrraaaa"
Chester "Wow…He sounds pretty bad, damn. This place has been getting to his head since the start. I knew this was gonna go to shit. COLE WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!"
Far off from the castle Cole was set wandering outside trying to find an exit somewhere.
Angelos "Cole…Cole…COLE! Are you really just going to leave? Seriously after we made so much progress?"
Deablos "Would you rather have him die?"
Angelos "I wasn't talking to you. Cole, turn back. They need you. I've been getting call after call for you. They are probably in danger."
Cole "I don't care. I told them we were turning back and they decided to raise a mutiny, anything that happens isn't my fault."
Angelos "Yes it is. You abandoned them, you forced them into the depths of hell and when things got too hard like always, you ran."
Deablos "Like a coward, but that's okay. Cowards live, they get to see another day. What's the point of dying when the ones who sent you were too afraid of coming themselves? They knew you were going to die. It's a suicide mission."
Angelos "And what are you going to tell them on the way back? 'Oh I was too scared to fight a real threat so I came back to bully those weaker than me.' You have no convictions, no drive and I'm over it."
Deablos "I got something… 'We tried to complete the mission but due to some unforeseen circumstances Aslalo and chester died in battle leaving me the only survivor.' makes you and them a hero and perfectly explains what happened."
Cole "Now someone is using their head. I didn't make anyone do anything. An order is just that, an order. Nothing more than mere words that can be obeyed or disobeyed. They chose to listen, that isn't my fault. Where is their personal responsibility?"
Samael "I got this one, you two stop arguing…Cole, where is your responsibility as a leader? This is not the sarrah I've seen grow and develop. Mal'lak you seriously have lost your mind."
Cole "My name is Cole, despite your desire for me to be your old friend, I'm not. I'm just a sixteen year old boy, who was forced into power and leadership. I was forced to fight for life and limb and I don't want to anymore. So call me what you want."
Samael "You are a king, my being here is proof but sure just give up…and just when you find that thing you are looking for give up. What's the point of working hard and putting in effort? Just give up."
Cole "Cut your self righteous bullshit. You want to talk about effort? What have you done? What have you sacrificed? I've seen your little dream memory, you whined and complained and still got what you wanted. What have you ever suffered?"
Samael "I lost my family for an ungrateful soul. Time and time again his vestiment says they hate me although I'm the reason they are alive. I gave up heaven to be with you. Suffering? Such a word means little to me at this point. Pain? Agony? Loss? All worthless, all that matters is the here and now, and right now your subordinates and friends are dying. They are calling out to us with everything they got.'cole where are you?' Chester… 'I'm going to rip you apart! Let me go!' Aslalo sounds like you when you became a demon. Is that you? You just leave people to suffer the way you do?"
Cole "It's not my problem…"
Samael "Fair enough…but then don't complain when you are alone. Don't complain when you feel unsatisfied with your life. What peace can you find when you can't even give peace to others? Just perpetuate the cycle of hatred but you aren't like them right? Tuh."
Cole "I hate this…Why me? Why can't I give up? Why can't I be just like everyone else?"
Samael "tragic isn't it? It's one of the biggest dilemmas of humanity, ya know? To actually be about what you say and not just be a hypocrite."
Cole "Let's make quick work of this."
The A.I. under him agreed in unison as cole made his way to the castle but something felt off as if he was being followed. As he approached the castle the feeling only grew more, like an itch inside his body that made his skin crawl. Reaching the massive doors of the castle Cole kicked as hard as he could bursting them down making a loud crash that was immediately eaten up in the vastness of the castle.
Angelos "There seems to be bodies laid about here. I'm guessing they went this way as well."
Deablos "There's small traces of sulfur in the air too. From the looks, it's hellhounds. The bodies go left but the sulfur goes right."
Angelos "I suggest left, I'm getting a massive magic signature coming from that area. It may be aslalo. It would be easy and it's the most critical objective as of now."
Deablos "Should we call Evanescence? We have received several ignored calls from her."
Cole "Sure but something doesn't seem right…I'm not seeing either of their souls and I can't sense anything despite you both picking up a magic signature."
Angelos "And? That just means there is some sort of barrier."
Cole "Exactly…Aslalo has been acting drugged up way past the dose we gave him. Either he was already struggling or he was placed under some sort of illusion."
Deablos "Yeah, that's obvious but what does that matter? We just have to snap him out of it."
Cole "What if we all were put under an illusion? I'm assuming this place probably produces the main ingredient in blu-sky and since me and Chester's tolerance is higher we didn't have as bad an effect as Aslalo. By all means the dose we gave should've just made him a bit off but not to the degree he was acting."
Angelos "I get it. It was like he was double dosed…"
Deablos "But that would mean, you and chester were doped up as well and it only got stronger the longer you stayed here."
Cole "Exactly…but that wouldn't explain something."
Deablos "Cole above you!"
Cole backflipped out of the way of a falling chandelier, just recovering as the hallway lit up with the torches on the walls turning into beautiful golden lampstands, the floor and walls into ivory marble, an elegantly decorated red carpet flowed from the spot where Cole was standing. Rose petals and buds falling from the ceiling onto the carpet as if to show him the way.
Cole "This is way too familiar."
Deablos "It's how the school looked around Angillina's throne right?"
Cole "Yeah…hmm I figured something like this would happen. Come out already. I know this is fake Angillina. You're really a one trick pony."
Cole made a knife appear and threw it straight ahead as hard as he could. The illusion wavered a bit and with the clanging sound of the knife hitting the ground. Feeling his guess was accurate Cole threw a few more knives, eventually getting a scream that made the lamp stands flicker, the illusion waver and out of the shadows came an older woman with hair as red as a maple tree in fall, eyes burning with demonic passion, skin soft and flawless with a dress to match her undying beauty.
Vinessa "Angillina? I haven't seen that little bitch in months. You must be one of her little friends she kept blabbering on about."
Cole "Then who are you?"
Vinessa "I'm her mother."
Cole "I see…No wonder she is messed up. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree huh?"
Vinessa "That drug addict whore is nothing like me."
Cole "No…no I'm sure you're just perfect huh?"
Vinessa "Absolute-"
Vinessa was cut off as she coughed up blood with a line of it leaking out of her neck, her head rolling to the ground a few moments later, Cole appearing behind her shaking the blood off his blade with an annoyed expression on his face.
Angelos "What happened to not killing demons? Rehabilitation, remember?"
Deablos "Doesn't matter, that was sick. She didn't even notice."
Cole "I don't have time nor energy to be wasting on these things right now. We have to find Chester and Aslalo. Besides, she is too old to be in the school. She's stuck in her ways."
Vinessa "How rude! Interrupting someone while they are speaking. You have no manners boy."
Cole "Of course you're still alive. That was way too easy…nothing can ever just be simple."
Vinessa's body vanished into a black goo with another one appearing out of the puddle that remained. Cole made quick work of that one as well, Vinessa shortly appearing again out of the goo. With a sigh Cole tried to keep walking but something itched his neck making him duck out of the way of a glave trying to take his head.
Cole "Look I don't have time for your fuck shit! Just fight me or get the hell out of my way!"
Vinessa "Such foul language. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, young man?"
Cole "What in the sweet home shit. I don't kiss my mother?"
Vinessa "I see you children have really lost your way. This generation is lost."
Cole "ThIs GenERatIoN Is LoST meh meh. Shut up and fight me already."
Vinessa "Why are you so eager to lay your hands on a woman, especially one of my status? Don't you know who I am?"
Cole "No, and I don't really care about you or your stone age bullshit!"
Cole rushed over to Vinessa punching her in the face a few times and getting black goo all over his hands. Vinessa countered Cole's attacks with a kick straight to the jaw, sending him flying into another punch that was followed up by another. Multiple Vinessa's forming from the black goo passing Cole around in a merry go round of pain. Quickly recovering from her assault Cole sliced off the arms of all the Vinessas, black goo leaking out to form new arms with the detached limbs growing new bodies. Cole getting obviously frustrated by the situation he let out a series of attacks, freezing, burning, even electrocuting the Vinessa clones until one remained. Charging at it with full power, in three powerful strikes Cole diced her into a splotch of goo on the floor.
Cole "What the hell!? This one was a clone too? How!?"
Deablos "The goo seems to be ink of some kind…With the faint scent of cyanide. Kinda like these are just pictures of her."
Angelos "Or movies?"
Cole "Movies?"
Angelos "Yes, if she is anything like her daughter it would be easy to assume she would see herself as someone to be idolized and he daughter didn't get her desire to become a model from nowhere…right?"
Cole "If her power is film based then that would explain why the illusion distorted? But magic is generally based on elements. So is this some sort of emitter trait like light projections?"
Deablos "Demon blood magic works a tad different. We don't have access to the elements the same way others do. It's more likely she is physically using cameras to project light and she is messing with your senses to give the illusion of an illusion."
Cole "An illusion of an illusion? That's pretty high level magic honestly, this is going to be a hard one…we need to figure out how she is projecting these illusions."
Deablos "When you threw your knife I'm pretty sure you hit her, then the illusion shook right? What if it's a projection of her imagination?"
Angelos "And the ink, cameras, and projections are just the physical manifestation of her imagination! The A.I. has cameras that work with the brain that records memories. She is projecting her memories as physical objects."
Cole "That's perfect! That means we just have to mess with her mind, but how?"
Vinessa "Had enough boy? I had enough of these silly little games. I would just kill you now had you not been that man's interest."
Cole "If your little dolls were anything relative to you then I don't have much to worry about."
Vinessa "Hahaha please, if those things were trouble for you then I would have to say you're pitiful. You are a man aren't you? Surely fighting a petite female such as myself would be childs play hahahaha."
Cole "Petite? That's a bit of a stretch. Kinda like the marks or your thighs!"
Vinessa "How dare you! I'll have you know my skin doesn't have a single blemish!"
Cole "That's not what Angillina said about you. She said you were a PIG when you gave birth to her."
Vinessa "PIG! I am a LIONESS! Have a demonstration!"
Out of the goo pounced, a lioness that swiped at Cole with her claws cutting off a small lock of hair and scratching his forehead, in the process of dodging Cole did a backflip kicking the lioness in the jaw and making it squeal like a pig.
Cole "So we were right! She has such a fragile ego. Mere insults stick deep in her subconscious and they manifest in her constructs. HEY OLD HAG! WHY DON'T YOU ACTUALLY TRY THIS TIME!"
Vinessa "Mere insults, such a petulant child. I'm sure that man wouldn't mind if I tear an arm or leg off so long as you don't die."
Out of the goo came mangled and decaying animals of all sorts with more Vinessa clones, the clones however were much older than they appeared before. Cole, being still young and agile, quickly dispatched each attacker as quickly as he could, a small bead of sweat dripped from his brow, his grip weakened just a bit from exhaustion and pain, but that wasn't going to stop him. He called out insult after insult with the constructs reflecting his comments more and more until he ran out of insults. Backed into a corner there wasn't much Cole could do to save himself besides slash and slice randomly until the constructs turned into a puddle of ink before him. A deep sigh, then another, and another got him back into shape ready to handle another wave of enemies but it never came. Instead the room went pitch black, a single spotlight suddenly shone on him. A flash of light knocked him to the left then another to the right and another broke his nose.
Cole "What the hell!? I thought she made constructs! WHAT the FUCK is this?"
Vinessa "It's a special technique I made for foul mouthed critics who can't handle the light of the paparazzi. All my life people like you just couldn't stand to see someone in the spotlight. Each insult is like a punch to the face, a blow to the gut, I would say a dagger to the heart but YOU couldn't handle such an insult. It would kill you hehehe. What would you know of beauty? Grace? Fame and popularity is a burden you have to face every criticism with your head held high. You can't just run away."
Cole "What's that supposed to mean?"
Vinessa "We were watching you from the start. How do you think you got inside the castle? How do you think you even found the place? Like come on, some boys who barely got a hair on their chin could get past the matriarch and patriarch of this dimension? You and your little group were under my spell the moment you stepped foot into that cave. You should have never taken the mission, like come on it was such an obvious set up. Information gets leaked and suddenly heaven eats it up like the fools they are!"
Cole "You leaked the info on purpose."
Vinessa "Bingo! Everything since my idiotic daughter took the school from you weaklings was planned by yours truely. The greatest movie…Hmm…the title would be a Queen and her ballroom. Face it, you couldn't even beat her. Addict or not she had her uses, she even told me all of your little weaknesses such as how you couldn't come to a solid decision if it would save your pathetic life."
Cole "Angillina really knows how to spin a story. Ya know, I doubt she told you the truth. You couldn't break someone like her. She believes even her own lies."
Vinessa "You are right at least under normal circumstances. I broke her nails, cut her hair, I even broke ribs but she wouldn't say anything. Until my wonderful husband gave me a wonderful idea. I do say withdrawal must really hurt. I was beautiful, it was slow and she stayed strong for days when the chills, vomiting, loss of appetite kicked in, she even scratched her skin to shreds thinking things were crawling on her…In a penthouse hahaha You couldn't make this up. I thought she would never say anything, that is until my husband dangled those wonderful blue pills in front of her. Oh she wouldn't shut up then, she almost broke her arm trying to reach for them. It's tragically hilarious actually."
Cole "You are sick…I-I can't believe you would do such a-"
Vinessa "Me sick? It's my job dear, we cure addicts…She was a drug addicted whore."
Cole "She learned it from YOU. YOU LEFT HER AND PAWNED HER TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER WHEN YOU GOT THE CHANCE! DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK ON HER NAME! I WILL KILL YOU!"