The sound of the bank vault's whirs and clicks were drowned out by Santos's shouts and the screams of Danas. The silver wheel spun, and with a soft click, a loud screech, the golden vault door opened wide.
Another challenger had entered the arena.
Savannah opened her eyes when someone grabbed her ankle, their hand soft and fingernails long, scraping against her filthy skin.
As pieces of flesh and acid rained down, Savannah turned to look down at the familiar face. Her body went cold as the demon opened her mouth wide, stuck out her tongue, and caught a finger, swallowing it whole. She shivered as it slid past her tongue, fell down her rotting esophagus, and into her black bile stomach.
Fingers are her favorite treat.
Licking her lips, she gazed up at Savannah. Savannah stood still, hoping that if she didn't move, the demon couldn't see her. It worked with dinosaurs, why not monsters? The demon had no idea what she was doing and pushed her long black bangs out of her eyes so she could get a proper look at her victim.
She said the same thing whenever she was in an uncomfortable situation.
"'Sup."
Savannah started sobbing uncontrollably, and the demon rolled her eyes. Savannah repeated the same lines she had heard her victims repeat, over and over again. It was a boring song of despair, the lyrics repetitive and droll.
Without saying a word, she dragged Savannah down into the vault, and with more clicks and spins, a final bang, it closed shut.
Santos saw the bank vault close and grinned. Thinking that Savannah had escaped, he was now free to let loose, not worried about friendly fire. Danas swerved his head around, spouting out the bile.
The more he regurgitated, the hotter it became, heated by his hellfire stomach. Arms outstretched, and wings jutting straight out, he glided, faster, downwards, trying to get Danas to aim the bile away from the empty lake.
He needed the door to stay open so he could leave after he had won his battle.
At least, that's what he tried to tell himself.
Danas was right. Santos had only gotten so far by sheer luck alone. Limbo's gatekeeper was nothing compared to Beelzebub and Danas. Asmodeus only let them leave because they accidentally set him free.
He was not as strong as his siblings, one of the youngest and weakest. He was not special, his voice only made to sing praises to a father that had punished him. What Santos lacked in power he made up for in ingenuity.
Santos couldn't kill him with his attacks alone, but he could use Danas' power against him.
Flapping hard, he soared higher into the sky, far enough for Danas' attacks to be unable to hit him. Except for one. Raising his behind, shaking his barbed tail, long spikes shout out in all directions from Danas' scorpion appendage.
Seeing his first chance, Santos stopped flying and fell towards the barbs, grinning and rasping hard. After centuries of boredom, he could have fun. No one could stop him, no reason to try so hard to not be a monster.
Santos made a sudden swerve back towards Danas and shouted, the sound waves booming in the sky, shaking the ground. Danas stumbled, and his feet-hands tried to help him stay upright as the ground trembled.
The barbs were pushed back from the sound waves and they fell down in an arc. It wasn't close enough to reach Danas, and they fell into the ground, standing upright, red and throbbing on impact.
Danas laughed again, trumpets blazing as he mocked his prey.
"You think such a simple trick will get me? I am not stupid like the others; you'll have to try better than that."
Jutting his wings out again, swooping down, Santos landed on the ground, and skidded, the decomposed and rotting flesh making it hard for him to land. From the river of feces climbed out the pale, dead souls, the preta.
Up close he could see their eyes, circular and black, taking up half of their face. Their eyes looked like the insides were scribbled in with pencil, their design an afterthought of malevolent higher power. The inside of their eyes shifted back and forth like static, as they trudged through the sludge towards Santos, new food to be had.
His wings were covered in slime and trash, and he sobbed, as he sank deeper and deeper, trying to get to the first barb he saw. They loomed over him, like a tree, and they smelled like blood, the most wonderful smell to him.
Spittle dribbling down his chin, he grasped the side of the barb and sunk his sharp fingernails into it. The preta latched onto him, their mouths gaping wide like a canyon, their eyes shrinking, and Santos screamed as he could see the inside of their bodies.
It was empty.
A black void, impossible to fill, and when he looked inside of them, seeing nothing, was worse than something because he was afraid of what would happen on the other side.
All the preta bit into him, and he screamed in agony, pushing his other hand through one of their heads, sinking his nails again to the barb. Its head slid down his arm, its black blood making it harder to hold on.
The preta wouldn't stop, biting into him, the trash stinging his open sores.
Danas kneeled and watched from afar, cocking his head and enjoying the show.
He would let the Preta consume him until only the head was left, including his vocal cords of course. Enough to keep him alive and neutered for transportation for Him.
Spitting out whatever filth that entered his mouth, through bloody tears Santos pulled himself up, climbing higher until the preta couldn't reach him. Santos ruffled his feathers, trying to shake loose anything left, and took a deep breath, bracing for more agony.
It was a mistake, as even the air tasted filthy, and he gagged.
Danas' attention was caught as the angry, filthy man flapped his wings aggressively, pulling harder and harder, careful to not touch the poisonous tip. Danas got up, and carefully marched towards Santos, trying to thwart whatever fool-hardy plan he had.
With one final pull, Santos pulled the barb out of the air, and he flew off, as fast as he could, weighed down by the red, sticky, diseased thing. He flew higher and higher, right above Danas' head.
He dropped it, and it landed on his head, making him look up in confusion.
Danas laughed at the weak attempt to kill him.
Trumpets blared, mocking his small attempt to win, Danas told him, "You think you can stop me with one little stinger? You can barely hold it up! Stop wasting my time!"
Danas arched his waist again, his stinger poised to hit, and Santos giggled, as the barbs soared, right where he wanted them to. He flew straight towards them, and Danas' humanoid face squinted at him, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Screaming that Danas could eat shit, the barbs were pushed back down, now close enough to hurt him. Using his own strength against him, Danas was pierced by his own poisonous barbs.
One lodged itself right into his eye, and he stumbled, trying to see, but he slipped on his own excrement. The surprise made him shoot out more barbs, and Santos dove faster, screaming out that he could suck a fat one.
More barbs pierced the manticore's abdomen, and he cried in agony, the sounds of trumpets returning as he tried to run away. Danas used his hand-feet to grab the barb and pulled it out of his eye.
The entire eye came out along with it, hanging on by a tendon, and Santos saw his exposed, rancid flesh, and had another chance to win. Danas jumped up to grab him out of the sky with his shark-like teeth, but he missed, unable to aim with only one eye.
Santos angled himself over the gaping wound and hugged his legs close to his chest. He closed his eyes and screamed out,
"Cannonball!"
His shout pushed his body out, using it like a bullet, and he closed his mouth, plugged his nose, trying not to get anything else inside of him. Fear erupted out of his body as Santos entered Danas' head, and ricocheted around his skull, scrambling his brains, cracking his skull.
Santos was lodged somewhere near his pons, and he felt Danas fall to the ground, his gelatinous brain jiggling inside, and take his last breath.
He opened his eyes, still inside the manticore, and his fear turned into excitement.
"I won," he shouted, his mouth filling with cerebrum. "I won!"
The preta all gathered around their warden, and instead of looking forward to freedom, they ate his flesh. A treat had come! It would be rude to pass up such a wonderful offering.
After some chewing, a few congratulatory whispers to himself, Santos decided to bask in the glory of the moment by singing his favorite song, in his native tongue.
Aramaic.
~Fed unto the axioms, and I fell upon the earth and ran.
The air around him vibrated and shook, and he extended his body out, as the brain matter became mush, his words, setting him free.
~your brain increases its wisdom, but your heart increases its stupidity.
The pressure from inside the skull caused it to crack, and the blood poured out of Danas' mouth, nose, and ears, the preta dancing under the raining blood, the most exciting day of their after-life. They cheered as the raining black blood-soaked slid down their bald heads, their moans of ecstasy turned into shrieks and cries.
~you will not know if you do not go.
Black blood poured out faster, and Danas' head split wide open.
~you will not shine if you do not glow.
The air was now vibrating outside Danas' skull, no longer were the sound waves trapped inside. His skull shattered, and his dead brain slid out, Santos along with it, covered in a thick white slime, laughing, loving his favorite song.
~you're a star child.
The preta exploded, their skin bulbous, lesions and sores erupting upon their pale skin. Santos stumbled upwards and tore off what remaining clothes he had left. Feeling free from the chaos, he understood why they were all naked down there.
It was liberating.
His joy was interrupted, as something gross came over him. The smell of shit was stronger, and Santos knew that Beelzebub was back. Without moving, Santos saw him in the corner of his eye.
He turned his gaze forward, and there he was, standing in front of him, hovering upside down in the air.
"Don't think you're going to leave here alive," Beelzebub said.
"I can't, I'm already dead," Santos snickered.
Beelzebub was not amused.
Black and blue fire surrounded his body, and Santos grinned, ready to sing the rest of one of his favorite songs.