The bell screamed as Nero left his advanced runes class to get to his locker, thoroughly bored from having to identify and understand all the intricacies of the different old letters and what spell affects they could have. Granted, some of this stuff was kinda useful for fighting monsters, but Nero still found it boring.
Firstly, because all of this came to him way too easily after he started learning the lessons, so he just coasted away so it would end faster while he was at Hexside. Secondly, he tended to prefer the...hands on approach.
Either way, he opened up his locker and placed his ruin books on the tongue that came out, letting it swallow them now that he had no need for them for the rest of the day.
"Hey Nero!"
"Ugh," Nero groaned as he turned to face the now thirteen-year-old Blight twins.
Edric and Emira looked at him with coy expressions, both of them adorned in the Illusionist Track uniform like he was. He was pretty sure that they just chose the same track as he was in for the sole purpose of getting more opportunities to bug him.
Adding to his issues, their lockers were now right next to his, something he was pretty sure wasn't a coincidence.
The Titan is just fucking with me, Nero bemoaned to himself, I know it is.
"So Nero, any plans for Grom?" Emira asked as she put her books in her locker.
"Yeah, it's called 'Literally anything else'," Nero said with a glare at the admittedly smarter of the Blight twins.
"Aw, don't be like that Claw Boy," Edric teased, calling him by that annoying ass nickname the twins had been using on him for half a year now, "We just want to help you have some fun." he said as he took a textbook on illusions and physical interactions off the tongue of his locker.
Nero elected to try and ignore him as he walked away while also electing to ignore all the Grom decorum and over-the-top ways students around them were asking their dates out for tonight. Thankfully, he didn't have Illusion class at the same time as Edric and Emira, but unfortunately, they continued to follow anyway since their classes were in the same general direction.
"I mean, you could do a lot of fun things at Grom," Edric started listing things off, "You could spike the punch with laxatives to get someone to go to the toilet. You could meet a cute girl or boy. You could set up the old bucket of three hour petrification serum on the door so that when someone walks in-"
"Wow, I didn't think you could make me want to go to Grom less, but congrats, you managed it," Nero deadpanned as he shifted the book sack he carried.
"See? This is why you should go," Emira cut in as she walked backwards ahead of them, "All you ever do is brood, read, study, brood, draw, write, brood, seriously, you're worse than Mittens. Learn to have fun for once in your life."
"I can have fun, it's just that none of it involves you two or anyone else here," Nero fired back as he walked past Emira.
"Spoilsport," he heard Emira mutter as they made it to the circular crossways.
Just then, a loud, static noise was emitted from the intercom.
"Attention Hexside students!" Principal Bump's voice came out of it as several students either gathered close to a nearby intercom or just looked anxiously at it, "It's time to announce this year's highest Grom honor! And it looks like we have a king this year!"
Nero looked and saw that Edric was starting to look nervous while Emira sighed with relief. Not that Nero blamed them for once, since if what he heard about the so-called 'Fear Bringer' was true, they'd probably get eaten alive and terrified out of their wits in the first fifteen seconds. Since thirteen was where the age-bracket for getting selected to fight Grom opened up, all of them were eligible to be selected now. Nero didn't particularly care though, as he wasn't planning on going to these things anyway and wasn't selected last year, so the odds of him getting selected were slim to none.
"Well, I feel sorry for the poor guy who gets picked this year," Emira said as she smiled, clearly glad that she had no chance of getting selected, "I sure don't envy anyone who has to fight that thing."
"And our Grom king is...Nero Clawthorne!"
"Wait, what!?" Nero exclaimed.
"Oh...crap," he heard Emira mutter.
"Oh thank the Titan, it's not me!" Edric breathed out, before he let out a loud "OW!", taking Nero out of his slowly growing turmoil as he turned to see that Emira had just elbowed him in the shoulder. She then looked at Nero with something he'd never seen on her face before; legitimate concern and worry. After Edric finished rubbing his shoulder, even he seemed genuinely worried about him.
Nero was lost in thought after hearing the announcement and what he knew was going to happen. He didn't even pay any mind to the growing crowd of students that surrounded him, ignoring their collective congratulations or declarations of 'But he's too cool/handsome to die'. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't mind fighting Grometheus, given what he already did for fun, and the new monster could be a new challenge for him. But these weren't his normal circumstances; he wasn't fighting the Fear Bringer on his own in the woods with no people for miles around to witness the fight. He was fighting it in front of a viewing crowd, with people seeing what he could do. And if they saw that, then they'd spread the word, and that word could reach his mother. Hell, she'd have to chaperone and come anyway, so she'd see it with her own eyes!
"Fuck..."
Lilith internally grumbled to herself as she filled out various forms at her desk. It had been an hour since she'd picked up her son from Hexside and so far, her day had been troublesome. Firstly was that she had to spend much of the day listening to Kiki's prattling when she was addressing the members of the Emperor's Coven during a presentation, her smug sneer making the whole thing all the more obnoxious. The second was that something had been clearly bothering her son, given how nervous he looked and how he refused to so much as say a word outside token phrases of 'fine' and 'okay', and yet he refused to open up about it. And the third, and worst of them all was this, the worst part of being leader of the Emperor's Coven:
Paperwork.
At the moment, she was filling out the forms for admission for new members into the Coven that had passed the trials for entry. Some looked rather promising, while others looked abysmal, with her assuming that their forms only found their way to her desk entirely because of dumb luck.
Like you're one to talk, you no good snake.
Shaking her head and snuffing her thoughts out, Lilith directed her focus back to filling out the forms. The sooner she did this, the sooner she could relax and stop thinking about all this tedious busywork that she had to do for the Coven.
"Uh, mom," Nero's voice prompted her attention as she turned her chair to face him, looking as nervous as he did when she picked him up from school.
"Look, Nero, whatever it is, can it wait?" Lilith said, turning around as she was still caught up in her tedious endeavors, "I'm rather busy at the moment."
"But it's important!"
"Nero, I'm in the middle of something right now, please just wait a bi-"
"I got selected as Grom King." And with that, Lilith dropped her pen and froze. Her son, her little raven, was selected as Grom King. He was going to be forced to fight against that horrid monster lurking beneath Hexside. "Mom?" At some point, Nero started shaking her by her hand and calling out to her, but she barely even registered it. "MOM! Are you okay?" At first, anyway.
"Y-you...you're going to fight that...that thing!?" Lilith stood from her chair so fast that it fell to the floor.
"Uh, yes," Nero said, his voice filled with trepidation as he looked to the floor, "Principal Bump announced it somewhere after my runes class." Lilith just stood there silently, not moving a muscle until she opened up her stand mirror. "Mom, what are you doing?"
"I'm calling the Principal to both get him to excuse you from fighting Grom and let him know that I'll be dropping a house on him later." Lilith was sure that anger and worry were rolling off of her in waves, but so long as Nero would be safe, she couldn't care less. She started dialing up Bump to act on that line of thought, only for Nero to jump in her way and close the mirror.
"Hold up, do you...do you not think I can do this?" Nero asked.
"Nero, listen to me. You don't know how dangerous Grom is. It is a creature that feeds off fear and nightmares."
"That wasn't what I asked. I was asking if you think I can do this."
"Nero Claudius Clawthorne, don't you dare take that tone with me! Whether you can or can't is not the point!" At that point, Lilith still wasn't yelling, but only just barely. Her mind flashed back to when he was attacked by the slitherbeast all those years ago. The sight was one of the most horrific things she'd ever witnessed, and it would have to be a pleasant day in the bleakest, most chaotic pit of Hell before she ever allowed something like that to come close to happening again. "Don't act like you know what you're getting into!" she continued, "I know what's best here, and what's best is that you not fight that monster!"
"And that wasn't my question!" he yelled back, "Do you honestly think I can fight Grom, or not!?" and yet he still didn't understand.
"NO, I DON'T!" The second the words left her mouth, all of her anger faded away, but it was too late. The look on her son's face made it clear that the damage was done. "Nero, I—" Without a word, Nero stormed out of the room away from her; the next sound she heard was of him slamming his door shut. "I'm so sorry."
Nero sat underneath the covers of his blankets, reading away in the contents of his book to ignore the pain of his previous conversation with his mother. He decided that he could push his anger away by reading for anything regarding Grom's strengths and weaknesses, but so far, he couldn't find anything. The book's contents only covered demons and beasts from the greater circles of Hell that were often found in the wilds of the Isles. Whatever Grom was, it was unique and consequentially, undocumented.
I mean, as much as I'd rather not be Grom King, I'll still fight the damn thing if I have to. Even if I don't want mom to find out, I was hoping she'd at least believe I could do it. If that thing hasn't gotten out this entire time, then I'd say I could fight it and win.
A loud knocking from his bedroom door drew his attention as he got out of the covers and put his book away. Once again, the knocking sound came.
"Nero," his mother said, her voice muffled by the door, "Can I come in, please?"
"Go away," Nero fired back, not in the mood to hear his mother.
"Please, I just want to talk," she said as desperation permeated in her voice, "Please..."
With a sigh, Nero got off his bed and walked up to unlock the door, letting his mother in. He felt his anger vanish for a second as he saw her face, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. He couldn't remember a time when his mother looked this sad.
She spoke as she sat on his bed, "Nero, I.." she took a deep breath before continuing, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that I didn't have faith in you. It's just..."
Nero walked up to her and sat at her left as she wiped her face and spoke again, "Do you remember all those years ago? The day your new arm first manifested?"
Now nervous, Nero gave a short nod.
"When I first saw that slitherbeast slash away at you, it was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life," she explained as she turned to face him, "After that moment, I never wanted something like that to happen to you ever again."
The two just sat there in silence for what seemed like hours despite it only being moments.
"Mom, I know how to be careful," Nero found his voice, "I...I don't exactly want to fight Grom in front of all those people, but if I don't, then won't Bump just pick another student to fight it?"
"I don't care about the other students' well-being, only yours," his mother declared as she cupped the sides of his face, "I know that must sound rather heartless of me, but you're my son, and..." she then enveloped him in a hug, "and raising you has been my greatest joy. I know I can't protect you forever, but I'd like to do so for as long as I can."
For a moment, Nero didn't know what to say or do, simply sitting motionless in his mother's arms. But he found it in himself to return the gesture, giving his mother a reassuring hug.
"Mom, it's okay," Nero said, letting his mom know he forgave her, "Look, I know you don't want me to fight Grom, but just..." he fell silent for a second as he exited the hug, "Just let me try. Okay?"
His mother looked rather horrified at the prospect, and her face cycled through different forms of contemplation, many of which probably thinking about telling him no, but she eventually sighed and said, "Alright, I'll...I'll let you fight Grom."
Nero gave a small smile, "Thanks mom."
I still don't really want her to find out though, he thought to himself, Maybe I can pick the right weapon and subdue it quickly or something. Just got to make the fight fast.
"But first," his mother said as she stood up, "If you're going to do this, then I want you to be prepared. I won't take any chances, understood?"
He nodded, knowing that his mother wouldn't budge on this.
"Hey, sis, have you seen Nero anywhere?" Edric asked. The Grom party was in full swing as couples danced, laughed, and all-around had their share of the fun. He and Emira originally planned on setting up a few pranks like coating the floor in slipping fluid so that people would trip and fall while dancing, or maybe taking a bunch of stinger hornets and unleashing them on unsuspecting partygoers, but neither of them really had the spirit to pull that off. Whenever Emira asked, he lied and said that he was afraid that the prank would mess up his dark green three-piece suit. When he asked Emira the same question, she grunted and said that she didn't want to ruin her favorite purple dress. Now that Edric thought about it, he noticed that Emira's dress pocket had what looked like a trading card sticking out of it.
"What's that card in your pocket?" he asked, pointing to the card in question.
"It's a good luck card. Y'know, the kind that are enchanted to give someone good luck for about a day," Emira said as she pulled it out of her pocket.
"Oh, well why haven't you used it yet?"
"None of your business." Emira pocketed the card with a grunt and stepped outside of the auditorium to wait outside. "What about you? Why's that thing around your neck?" Emira pointed at the hairy, closed fist that was on the end of his necklace.
"I think the guy who sold it to me called it a 'monkey's paw'. He said it granted wishes, but I tried it and it didn't work, but I figured I'd keep it as a good luck charm."
"Hmm." Emira hummed as she leaned against the doorframe, looking as bored as he was feeling, but there was something else that he saw in her eyes.
Oh! So that's what's up! Edric thought. It took him a minute, but he figured out what was going through her head; he couldn't call himself her twin if he couldn't do that much, at least.
"Don't worry Emira, I'm sure Nero will be fine," Edric said. "I mean, Hexside is still standing, so maybe Nero has a shot at beating Grom?"
"Oh, please, like I'm worried about him," Emira said. "Why do you think I care anyway? He's been an annoying killjoy since we met."
"Emira." Edric's tone lost its last bit of levity "I know you. We've pretty much shared the same room since before we were born. I just have to look you in the eye and know what you're thinking. And I can tell that you're worried about him."
"Oh yeah, well what about you? I can tell you're worried about him, so how about that?" Edric tried to find a retort, but he couldn't make anything come to mind; he couldn't remember the last time he had trouble saying whatever was on his mind.
"Excuse me, uh, Edric and Emira?" A mature, adult voice caught Edric's attention, and he and Emira turned to see Nero's mother dressed in a pretty black dress that pooled over her feet and hands, and standing behind her was Nero.
Uh...what? The sight of Nero's outfit left Edric at a loss for words. He wasn't sure what kind of suit Nero was wearing because he couldn't tell thanks to the armor he was wearing over it. And the armor he was wearing over that. And the armor over that, and more and more armor in that manner to the point that it looked like he could barely move. To say that it was a lot was an understatement, to say the least, and he could only think of one appropriate action in response.
"Bwahahahahahahaha!" Laugh at him to the point of tears. "You look ridiculous!"
"Like a giant ball of metal!" Emira said, laughing right alongside him. Edric could feel Nero shooting daggers at them through his comically large helmet, but at that point, he hardly cared.
"Can it!" Nero said. "This was pretty much the only way mom would let me come here."
"As I said, Grometheus the Fear Bringer is extremely dangerous," Miss Lilith said in response to Nero's statement, "I'm not going to take any chances. The armor is enchanted so that you have extra protection."
"But I can barely move in this crap!"
Miss Lilith simply pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered something about 'not having time to make lighter armor'. Edric looked to his sister, who seemed to be lost in thought before she walked up to Nero, pulling the card out of her pocket.
"Look, this isn't much, but here," she formed a spell circle on the card and put it in Nero's left hand, where it glowed for a second before it ceased and the card turned a dark grey, "That should give you good luck for the next 24 hours. Figured it might help."
"Uh...thanks. I guess?" Nero said, sounding unsure.
"Don't assume this means anything," Emira said, albeit a little too fast in Edric's eyes, as she crossed her arms and looked away in a huff.
Edric suddenly got an idea and walked up to Nero, taking his monkey's paw necklace off, "Here. I got this a while back. It's a good luck charm." he then tried to put it around Nero's neck, but the headpiece he was wearing in his helmet was really large, making putting it on too much of a chore.
Grunting and realizing that he wasn't going to get it around Nero's neck, he gave up and put it in Nero's glowing, reptilian right hand, "Just hold onto it for good luck. You're gonna need it."
"Huh, thanks guys," Nero replied, sounding a lot softer than he normally did.
"Don't thank me just yet," Edric replied, "I still want that thing back."
"Good to see you all getting along for a change," Miss Lilith said before checking in her pocket watch and turning to her son, "Since there's still plenty of time before the fight begins, how about you three 'hang out', if I'm saying that correctly," she then maliciously rubbed her hands together and chuckled with sinister intent, "Meanwhile, I need to find Principal Bump and let him know that a falling house is in his near future."
Edric leaned in and whispered in Nero's ear, "Y'know, your mom's pretty cool."
"More like pretty smothering," he grunted back. Edric could almost hear him roll his eyes as he said that.
A ringing sound permeated the hallway they were in. While Edric and Emira looked around for where it was, Miss Lilith's face turned slightly red as she held out her finger and pulled her pocket mirror phone out.
"Hang on, I need to take this," she opened the mirror and reacted with shock, "O-oh! Emperor Belos! I...I wasn't expecting you. I apologize, but I'm extre-"
"Whatever it is you're doing will have to wait Lilith," the emperor said, his tone of voice rather dismissive from what Edric heard, "You are needed at the head of the Isles. Our spies have informed us that another attempt at summoning a great threat from beyond my domain is underway, and your aid is required in dealing with it."
"B-But my lord, I-" she stammered, looking deathly worried at Nero and sort of afraid. Not that Edric blamed her, since Belos sounded pretty scary.
"Mom, it's fine. If you need to go, then go," Nero said, trying to turn to her despite all the cumbersome armor, "I'll be fine."
Miss Lilith looked like she wanted to do anything but leave. She looked to her mirror, then back to Nero a few times over before she relented and said, "I'll...I'll be there as soon as I can, Lord Belos."
"See to it that you are."
With that, she closed the mirror and turned to Nero.
"Nero, I promise I'll get this done as fast as I can. I'll be back before you even start the fight."
Edric looked to his sister who gave him a nod of agreement. It was pretty clear that this was a promise she wasn't going to be able to keep. It reminded him a lot of their parents. They'd say they'd be there on time, but they never bothered to show up unless it was convenient for them or the 'family name'.
"Mom, I said it'll be fine."
"I...just promise me you'll be careful." Miss Lilith almost sounded like she was begging.
The headpiece of the armor creaked forward, showing that Nero nodded. Miss Lilith gave her son a quick hug and ran down the hall, looking back at them a few times as if she thought her son would vanish if she took her eyes off him for too long.
When she was out of sight, Emira grunted, "Welcome to the parents are a 'no show' club. I'd give you a t-shirt, but it looks like you're overdressed for this thing already."
"Oh ha ha," Nero's deadpan voice said from the headpiece, "Now help me out of this armor. If I have to fight Grom, I'm not doing it looking like an overweight knight."
It took about a few minutes, but the Blight twins were able to get most of the armor off of him, leaving him with only the first layer of silver armor on and making the dark blue, three-piece suit he was wearing more obvious.
Nero would admit, he was...perplexed by Edric and Emira's actions, what with giving him good luck charms and sympathizing with his mom no longer being here. After all the annoyances they tended to put him through, it was kinda weird, them helping him out like this.
As he walked down the hallway, his thoughts were rather preoccupied by his upcoming Grom fight and the fact that his mother was no longer here. Admittedly, a part of him was glad that she got called away by Emperor Creepazoid, since it made it less likely that she'd find out about his...extracurricular activities, not to mention the fact that he took her Coven Saber and made it into Red Queen. On the other hand, a part of him wanted her to be here when he fought and defeated that thing, something that he hoped would make her proud of him and be less smothering.
He could almost see it, the proud smile on her face as he showed her what he could really do. But then was the other option, the one were she didn't accept it...
He shook his head, not wanting to think about it.
"Damn, why does all this have to be so confusing?" he said out loud to no one in particular.
He neared a familiar set of lockers that he frequented every now and then, if only to have someone to talk to.
Right now though, he needed some advice.
"Hey, been a while huh," he said as leaned back against the lockers and sat on the floor, "Any chance we could talk? Got a lot of crap going on."
Nero turned back to look at the wall, seeing the familiar graffiti of "Eda Rules, Bump Eats stink" and "Hoot" move close to him. Over the years at Hexside, he tended to frequent this spot after he learned how to understand what the sentient vandalism said. It became a good source of advice over time whenever he needed to vent out his frustrations with either Hexside, its students, the twins' annoyances, or his mom's smothering in ways that didn't involve throwing demons and monsters into trees.
The graffiti shifted around and spelled out "What's up?" as it moved.
"It's this whole Grom thing," Nero admitted as he ran his right hand through his hair, "I...don't really want to fight it since...well, what if mom starts putting together what I've been doing every now and then?"
The graffiti swirled, turning into a series of question marks.
"I mean, mom had to go do some mega important Coven crap, so at least she won't actually see the fight and figure shit out, but..." Nero sighed and looked to the floor, unsure of what to say, "But...a part of me actually wanted her to be here too. I don't get why this all has to be so confusing."
After swirling for a second, the graffiti formed to say "Family's weird like that". At the bottom was an image of what looked like a mother, a son, and...a father.
Seeing that image bothered him. As he got older, he tried asking his mother time and again why he didn't have a father. He'd seen other kids on the Isles who had a father and mother, or two fathers, or two mothers, while he only had one parent. But every time he asked, his mom just went silent, refusing to answer, sidestepping the question, just saying that his father wasn't around, or saying that she just didn't know where he was.
While he loved his mother, as smothering as she could be at times, he still would have liked to have a father in his life.
Choosing to move away from that, he said, "Yeah, I guess family can be kinda odd sometimes, even if it's just me and mom." he scratched his head before continuing, "Still, I'm not completely sure about this though."
It shifted once more, this time turning into a poster that said "Face your fears! Kick Grom's ass!" with an image of him wielding a sword fighting a black blob monster at the bottom.
Nero chuckled a little at the graffiti's attempts to encourage him, "Thanks for that." he then looked up to face the ceiling, "Still kinda wish mom was here though."
The graffiti once again shifted, swirling into an image of his mother surrounded by several question marks.
Knowing what it was asking, Nero replied, "I don't really know what the Coven's making her do right now. Heard Emperor Creep say something about a "great threat" or whatever."
Okay Lilith, just calm down, get this done quickly, and get back to Nero before he starts fighting Grom. Lilith's thoughts were plagued with worry as she flew to the skull of the Boiling Isles as fast as she could. She'd already changed out of her more elegant attire and switched back to her standard outfit, complete with her white cloak and hood.
As she neared the skull, she saw one of the Coven members signaling her from inside the right eye socket. She quickly landed and joined with the gathered soldiers.
"Let's make this quick, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to." Lilith was aware that she was being rather rude, but considering the circumstances, she honestly couldn't care less. If it got things done faster, then she'd continue with it.
"Of course ma'am!" the soldier saluted, "We've been tracking this group of renegades down for the past week. We've confirmed that their leader is the younger brother of the rogue that summoned 'Echidna' years prior."
"I see," Lilith said as she started following the Coven members into the socket of the Titan's skull. Lilith had to fight the urge to cover her nose from the stench of rot and decay. While the Titan was considered to be perhaps the true ruler of the Isles, as even Belos claimed to be "his humble messenger", that didn't stop Lilith from disliking the terrible smells of the Titan's rotted corpse that invaded her senses. It was worse here given that the skull was among the few areas of the Titan's body that had yet to completely decay.
Drawing her attention away from her offended sense of smell, Lilith focused her hearing as the sound of chanting echoed through what was essentially a cavern of sorts. As she and her men walked through the cave of bone and decrepit, ancient, decaying flesh and muscle, they exited to see a light down below, which illuminated the inside of the skull and lit up the underside of the Titan's brain. As she looked down, she saw a scarlet, glowing pentagram similar in shape and size to the one that summoned Echidna. In front of it was a small, goat-like demon in a crimson robe in a state of procession as other bandits and scum surrounded the pentagram from all sides. At the center of the pentagram was...
By the Titan, Lilith thought as she saw a small assortment of common Isles citizens gathered at the center, each of them tied up and in varying states of terror. The one that caught her attention the most was a male teenage witch with near-platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, huddling desperately to the woman in the group, whom she assumed to be the boy's mother. It reminded her too much of her own son, the sight almost making her jump right in to kill all the renegades herself, but before she could...
"Surge, o magna Belial!"
…It was too late.
The pentagram glowed as the family screamed, dissolving into ash as their remains mixed into the symbol, making it glow brighter and brighter. Suddenly, the pentagram became a geyser of pure heat and flame that shot up, hitting the brain of the Titan, yet leaving no sign of damage. Out from the flames flew several bat-like demons whose bodies were ablaze; they flew around the room before landing just behind the leader and a few of his thugs, kneeling to the inferno.
The flames then died down, revealing what stood at the center of the now blackened pentagram. The beast had a centaur-like appearance, with legs and feet akin to dragon claws and a muscular upper-body with the visage of a snarling beast. His body was jet black with large spires of flame bursting from his shoulders. In his left arm was a truly enormous blade that gave off immense heat at the tip, making the upper portion appear a super-heated orange.
As Lilith and the other Coven members ducked behind the edge to remain out of sight, Lilith poked her head out to try and better hear and see what was happening to assess the situation. She saw the great demon point his sword at the rogue leader and speak in a deep, booming voice.
"Now that you have summoned me, mortal, let us discuss our business."
After his pep talk with the graffiti, Nero wandered back into the school gym to wait for when he'd get called up to fight against Grom. Overall, he felt better for what he was about to do, but he still felt kind of confused on a few things and even a little bit scared. Just a little bit. As he walked around and avoided most of the partygoers, the lights dimmed down.
"Attention everyone, it's time for us to introduce our Grom King this year!" Principal Bump said into the microphone, drawing everyone's attention to where he stood on the stage, "You know him! You love him! Let's give a big round of applause for Nero Clawthorne!" at the declaration, the students cheered and the spotlight showed on him, forcing him to block out the light with his left arm.
"So...uh, good luck." Emira's voice chimed in beside him, sounding rather unsure of what to say. "I'd say break a leg, but that sounds bad so...break Grom's leg?" Edric said, sounding rather unsure as well, "Wait, what if Grom takes the form of something that doesn't have legs? How would that wor-Hey!" before he could start rambling, Emira grabbed him by the shoulder and took him to a spot on the bleachers. Just as Nero's eyes adjusted to the brightness of the spotlight, the auditorium lights went back on and the floor split open to reveal the underground arena, with two weapon sets manifesting at both his sides.
As he looked through them, determining which weapon he could use, his eyes fell to a peculiar sword on the left weapon set. The blade was a pristine silver with a guard modelled after wings, meeting at a dragons head that appeared to bite down on the sword itself. The hilt bore a swirling pattern that ended in multiple skulls at the bottom, a small spike pointing at the very end. Almost as if the sword beckoned for him to lift it, he picked it up, tossing it from his left to his right to experiment with how it felt. As soon as he did so, a blast of lighting erupted from the blade and flew straight into the ceiling. Nero couldn't help but smile at the weapon.
"Hey, can I keep this!?" he asked out loud to Principal Bump as he tossed the blade back in his left hand and held it over his head. Much to his dismay, Bump shook his head, "Sorry Mister Clawthorne, but that's school property. Afraid I can't allow it to leave campus grounds."
Nero groaned at that as he looked down at the blade, "Ugh, fine, guess it's just one time thing then." he then looked down into the arena and took in its crypt-like appearance. Out of the corner of his eye, he swore he saw a black, amorphous object move between the columns as he mentally psyched himself for what he was about to face.
"After so long, you finally answer my summons, great Berial," Lilith heard the leader of the group say to the demon, whom she now knew was called Berial, as he bowed to him, whether it be in reverence or fear, she didn't know nor care to know. She also felt shaken by his words of admittance that this isn't the first time that he tried to summon him.
How many innocents did he sacrifice just to get into contact with this one demon?
"Yes." Berial's booming voice shook the entire skull, "I understand that you seek my aid in avenging your brother. Vengeance is something that we understand in the Fire Hell. But this is not why I have answered your call."
"T-then why have you answered now?"
So, he's afraid of Berial, Lilith thought, noting the fear in the leader's voice. It was clear that the demon was the one that held all the power here and that if need be, he could just kill the entire group of rogues and be done with it. After what she saw them do, she almost wanted him to do just that. But part of her wanted him to spare the rogues so that she could savor killing them for herself.
While her task was to bring them in as prisoners, the sight of the sacrifice and the faces of the family as they dissolved to nothing but dust (and how the boy of the family reminded her too much of her own son) made her desire to see these monsters suffer burn far more than her desire to bring them to justice.
"Because word has travelled down throughout Hell, reaching mine own ears," Berial stated as he knelt down to better meet the leader's eyes, "My brethren have been slaughtered by a peculiar presence they claim is on the isles, and now that I am here, I can smell it in the air."
He then took a deep whiff of the air and snarled with immense rage, "The blood of the betrayer, the blood of Sparda, lives on these isles."
"Sparda?" Lilith whispered as she looked to the rest of her Coven, all of whom seemed equally confused. Just who was this 'Sparda' that Berial spoke of? It was the first time she had ever heard that name.
"If you aid me in finding Sparda's kin and slaying them for his sins against Hell, then I shall aid you in your vengeance against Belos and his followers. Is that clear for you, mortal?" Berial declared as he stood up and pointed his blade directly at the leader, who backed away in terror as the tip neared him.
Lilith saw the leader rapidly and fearfully nod as the bat-like demons surrounding the group snarled and hissed at them, as if daring them to defy their will. At this point, she decided that enough was enough.
That's it, she looked to her allies and nodded at them to follow her lead. She stood up and jumped down from the precipice of the height, landing in a kneeling position before she stood tall and proud, pointing her stave as Coronis unfurled her wings, eyes shining a bright blue.
"Surrender! All of you!" she declared as her Coven warriors landed beside her, "In the name of Lord Belos and the Emperor's Coven, you shall suffer for your crimes!"
Upon her declaration, the demonic bats snarled and spread their wings while the rogues cowered and began backing away. The great demon, Berial, however, seemed more curious as he looked down at her.
"So, you are the witchlings who enforce rule over the Titan's body. How...quaint." he said, clearly dismissive of them as a threat. Lilith fully intended to make him regret his arrogance. He then sniffed the air and pointed his blade at her, "Interesting, your scent. I recognize it."
His statement made Lilith curious. It reminded her of her fight with Echidna years ago, where she said that she smelled familiar and ran away, never to be seen again. What were the demons smelling on her anyway?
Berial then gestured to his fellow demons, "Dispose of them. Leave their master to me." upon his command, the burning bats took to the air and started swarming around her Coven warriors, who engaged them in battle while the rogues all started to run away, fleeing deeper into the Titan's skull.
Lilith attempted to fly after them, but was quickly stopped by a blade that blocked her path. She looked up at Berial, who snarled, "Your battle is with me witchling! Let the cowards flee. They are of no importance."
He then batted her aside with the enormous blade, causing her to wince in pain from the immense heat that she felt from her brief contact with the sword. Luckily, she stopped herself before she hit a wall and flew herself to the ground.
"When I last stepped foot on the Titan's body centuries ago, I sought to slaughter those who desecrated his corpse." he growled as he approached her, his stomps reverberating throughout the entire base of the skull, "But I was pushed back. Forced to retreat by the witchlings of the isles then, for despite being parasites who fed off his body, their might was formidable, I shall grant them that. But my blade was sharpened with the bones of your ancestors. Its flame fueled by their bodies. I may have lost then, but I've slain many a witch before you. More than I care to count." he pointed his sword at her as his flames grew more intense, "Show me if the witches of this realm still have the might to challenge I, Berial! Conqueror of the Fire Hell!"
He then roared, shaking the entire skull as his flames erupted, forcing Lilith to avert her eyes as an inferno danced around her enemy. Steeling herself, she aimed her staff at the claimed conqueror, gathering power to face his might.
Nero turned his head left and right, sword in his left hand as he searched for signs of that ominous black blob that he saw before he entered the crypt-like arena. So far, there had been nothing down here. Or at least, nothing he could see. Still, Grom was around here somewhere, so he couldn't rest easy.
Then, an odd, liquid-like sound drew his attention, and he found himself staring at a black blob that split itself into three.
"Okay, ugly," Nero said, pointing the blade at the blobs, "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're Grom." The three dark blotches then rose up and morphed, turning into three exact copies of Scarecrows.
That's it? Nero thought, almost disappointed. These things were a snail-a-dozen. Was this really the best Grom could manage? It also made little sense to him from what he'd heard. Grom fed off the fears of its enemies, but he wasn't afraid of these guys in the slightest.
As fast as he could, he ran up to the first one and cut it down with his sword, making it dissolve back into a blob that sunk into the floor. Just as another was about to slash him, he backflipped over it and summoned an ethereal arm to grab it before taking his grabbed opponent and slamming it into the last Scarecrow apparition. He slammed it down once, then twice, than finally a third time, reducing both of them to goo that quickly sunk back into the ground.
The sound from before permeated in his ears as he turned to see an even larger blob rise from the ground. It took shape before its surface became as white as snow and a maw of teeth opened up, roaring at him with pure rage. Nero recognized the creature as a slitherbeast, and with a single glance into its mouth, he saw something startlingly familiar.
"Is that..." He recognized what was impaled on the monster's tongue: a moderately-sized spear of ice. "Is that the same slitherbeast?" Just as quickly as he asked that, the beast charged right at him, forcing him to dodge to his right as quickly as he could. For a split second, he felt his right arm tremble as he regained his footing.
Get it together, Nero, this isn't the same slitherbeast as from when you were a kid, Nero thought. It's just an ugly blob monster trying to fuck with you. It isn't real, there's nothing wrong with your arm, now use it to kick that fuckhead's ass!
The slitherbeast turned to him as it recovered from its failed charge. It roared at him and spat out a strange substance right at him, which he countered by casting a ball of blue fire to destroy it mid-shot. Just before it could attempt another attack, Nero threw his right arm at it, launching out another claw apparition, but unlike before, rather than grab the beast and crush it in midair, he instead pulled himself towards it as it roared, exposing the eyes in its mouth. Nero smirked as he aimed his sword right into one of the monster's eyes, hitting it dead center and making it snarl in rage as Grom's black tar-like substance poured out of the wound.
Nero jumped off, smirking in victory as the slitherbeast fell and dissolved back into the floor. Feeling confident that he could handle anything Grom could throw at him at this point, he bent down to the floor and tapped it with his right arm as he hoisted the sword onto his left shoulder.
"Hello! Grometheous the 'Fear' bringer! If you don't mind, I'd actually like something scary for a change. Unless you figured out my fear is boredom, in which case, good for you." Nero snarked at the so called 'Fear Bringer', seeing as it just wasn't living up to the hype he'd heard about.
"Nero."
He went stiff as he heard a voice. A voice that, shamed as he was to admit it, he was hoping he wouldn't hear tonight after its owner left early. Slowly, he turned around to face whoever spoke, and he felt his entire body begin to shake as he looked upon who spoke.
There, standing in front of him and at the center of the Grom arena, was his mother. She bore a look that he could only describe as shocked and horrified.
"Nero. What are you doing?"
"M-mom!"
"Shit!" Lilith cursed as she barely dodged a slash from the blazing sword and the sound of her men fighting and dying was drowned out, becoming nothing but background noise in her battle against the lord of the Fire Hell. So far, she'd had several close calls, given how close many of his attacks came to hitting her. Throughout the battle, she tried to keep her distance and gauge how best to approach him, launching an occasional spell to try and do some damage, however little she could manage at a time. She'd quickly come to learn that fighting him up close was a recipe for disaster, as that was where he worked best and could most likely kill her, if not for his blade, then for the blazing aura of pure fire he would let out. The heat alone was enough to sear her skin if she got too close, and she already had some intense burn wounds on her arms to show for it.
Out of habit, her first attack was a fire spell, which proved fruitless given that Berial was practically made of fire, so fighting his flames with her own was a no go. She quickly shifted to launching spears and blasts of pure ice at him, hoping that the opposing element would help weaken him. It worked...to a point. She could somewhat cool his fire with enough sustained ice, but he would just as quickly block her ice blasts with his saber or grow enraged and expand his flare, burning hotter and undoing a decent amount of the damage she did.
All right, Lilith, think! Lilith thought, pausing to get her bearings. I need to figure out how to end this quickly, but how? She tried looking around her environment for anything she could use against the demon lord, but, with exception to the brain above that remained unaffected and undamaged by the chaos going inside the Titan's head, there was nothing here that would serve her advantage.
"Cease your running, witchling!" Berial roared. "Are you like those who came before you that drove me to heel? Or are you a coward?"
Lilith couldn't help but feel her blood boil for a bit, and not just because of the intense heat her opponent was giving off. If there's one thing she hated, it was being called a coward.
Though it's not like it isn't true...
Lilith cursed her sudden melancholy when she saw that Berial was now right on top of her, sword in hand about to slam down and reduce her to a charred smear. As quickly as she could, she formed a dome of pure ice around her as the blade came down, blocking the attack with a thunderous boom and giving her a moment's respite to catch her breath. However, another loud boom caused that breath to get caught in her throat as she looked up and saw that, slowly but surely, the ice dome was cracking and melting away, drops of water falling onto her.
"Okay Lilith, self-pity later, taking this bastard out now," she grumbled to herself as she removed her hood and ran a hand through her hair, "Come on! How are you going to hurt him?"
As she stood there, doing her best to hold it together as a vile demon lord struck away at her shield, she could only hope that her son's woes with Grom weren't anywhere near as bad as what she was currently going through.
"Nero, why were you fighting those creatures?" his...mother asked him. His words were caught in his throat as he tried to stammer out an excuse. Any excuse. But nothing came out.
"You fought them like you've done this before." she said, her face changing from shock to anger, "What have you been doing?"
"I...mom, I..."
"You've been lying to me, going behind my back, haven't you!? What else have you hidden from me?" as she kept prodding him with question after question, weakening his resolve, Nero found himself, for the first time in a long time, slowly backing away, too afraid to do anything, "Is this what I raised you to be, Nero!? A violent thug!?"
Suddenly, her head cocked all the way to her left at a 90 degree angle as she began to slump forward, her face hidden behind her indigo hair, "Well then, son. I think you're in need of proper discipline!"
As her voice altered, gaining a frightening reverberation on the last word, she contorted and altered, screeching as Grom's amorphous black mass pooled at her feet and grew in size. It warped and morphed, growing four legs with razor sharp talons and a pair of large horns at the front with a single blood red eye between them. A maw opened on its front, revealing row after row of teeth sharp enough to slice him to ribbons. There wasn't even an esophagus inside of it, as it was just an endless black void behind those teeth. But the most frightening thing of all was his mother at the top of the beast. The lower half of her body looked like it was fused to Grom's form as her arms grew disproportionately long, with her nails growing equally as much, becoming pitch black blades. Her head remained cocked at its 0 degree angle, but more of her face was visible; her cyan eyes now had black sclera that glared hatefully at him while her teeth grew to canines. Her smile was the most horrific thing of all; it wasn't the loving smile she usually gave him. It was a cheerfully psychotic grin that bore all her teeth, outstretched wide enough that it looked like she was going to bite his head off. He was pretty sure that she wanted to.
"Oh Nero," her now demonic voice said with false joy, "You're grounded." her arms elongated and reached out to grab him. Nero panicked and quickly made a large cloud of smoke before casting an illusion of himself as fast as he could; he ran to hide behind one of the interior pillars, hyperventilating as he did so.
"Where did you go my little raven?" that...thing called out to him with his mother's usual nickname for him, but it held none of the love that it usually did. It sounded more like a promise that it intended to hurt him, "Come out, come out, wherever you are."
Okay Nero, you just need to calm down, he though to himself as he tried to keep his cool, despite how easily he failed at that now, given the circumstances, That...that thing isn't mom. It's just Grom. You can take it. So why can't I move?
All of a sudden, he was really grateful that his mother wasn't actually here right now, and hoped that she wouldn't be here for a while.
Lilith winced as the ice barrier shook once again, dripping more water on the now entirely damp floor. From the looks of it, only a few more strikes and it would shatter and give way to Berial's blade. Thankfully, she managed to use that time to come up with a plan. It was a bit of a longshot, but if it worked, she could end this fast. One issue with it was that she needed to time it just right, specifically just as the blade was about to strike the barrier. So she listened to the rhythm of the strikes and found a pattern, and sure enough, she found just the right moment.
"Ready Coronis?" she asked her Palisman, now perched on her shoulder. For this plan to work, she needed Coronis to distract Berial for just long enough to get things set up. Lilith was banking on her partner's small size to be her shield, preventing the demon lord from landing any solid hits on her. She waited for just the right moment, timing the swing of the burning blade and...
"Now!"
...at her word, she dropped the barrier and side-stepped the sword strike, letting Coronis fly into Berial's face, causing the demon to growl in annoyance as he shouted, "Annoying little bug! Cease or be crushed in my grip!" as he tried to swat her Palisman away, missing each time.
Lilith smirked and saw that her plan was working. She looked behind her to the rotting flesh-like wall of the brain cavity and made her way to it as fast as possible before jumping towards it, her speed making sure she would not fall off for a short moment. Using her feet, she spun, creating a large, blue spell circle before looking to see that she was aimed right at Berial's chest. Lilith smiled as she jumped from her position and flipped into the air, a massive pointed stalacmite of pure ice aimed straight for the demon's chest emerging from the spell circle she had just formed. She whistled for Coronis to return to her staff, prompting her Palisman to retreat from Berial just as the demon lord's eyes widened with realization, but too late to do anything.
The stalacmite hit its target dead on, and while satisfied, Lilith couldn't help but wince just a bit as Berial cried out in pain, his flames dying down with a cool orange hue replacing the areas where his flame once burned brightest. Confidant that her opponent was too weakened to fight back, she calmly walked up to him, stalacmite still impaled in his chest as he breathed heavily and looked down on her.
"Heh, impressive," he complimented, "You are more cunning and able than I perceived. Then again, you must have done something to impress the kin of Sparda."
"What are you talking about?" Lilith asked, still confused by the name, "I've never met or even heard of this 'Sparda' or his relatives. What makes you think I even know them?"
At her question, Berial just started laughing, as if she had just told some kind of joke, "Truly hilarious! It would seem the young witchling laid with the blood of Sparda without even knowing!" and then he just continued laughing as if what he just said was the funniest thing ever.
"What do you mean-" Lilith almost asked, but then she realized what he was referring to. She also realized why the previous demon, Echidna, ran away from her when she smelled 'him'. They were referring to a descendant of this 'Sparda' person, one the demons of greater Hells clearly held in fear and contempt. That means that the person I slept with, Nero's father, is directly related to Sparda, whoever that is! She realized as her brain ran a thousand miles a second. If nothing else, she was at least finally getting some answers on that front.
She gestured for Coronis to return to her place on her staff before pointing it at Berial, her Palisman's wings unfurled as a cold chill surrounded her. "You will tell me everything you know about this 'Sparda'. If you do, I can guarantee your sentence will be lightened." She declared to the demon, who simply chuckled in response.
"Though you have bested me, I have no interest in being captured by your kind!" Berial held his blade into the air as pure heat gathered around it. Lilith jumped back, preparing for him to strike again, but instead, he smashed the stalacmite that impaled him and slashed at the air beside him, creating a burning vortex; a cacophony of screams, screeches, and bloodcurdling roars could be heard from the other side of it. "We will meet again, witch." he said as he then walked into the vortex, which gave off a deafening explosion as he disappeared into it, with Lilith shielding herself from the heat and boom as it vanished.
Lilith couldn't help but curse at what had happened. Once more, she had defeated a demon, and once more, they had gotten away. This time though, she had actually gotten clues as to who she had slept with long ago. She had a piece of the puzzle for figuring out who had fathered her son and...
"Shit!" she cursed and panicked, realizing that amidst the battle with Berial and his fellow demons, she had almost forgotten about Grom. Her son was probably fighting the monster right now and she wasn't there to do anything about it. Calming down as best as she could, she turned to her men and said, "Everyone, I need to g-"
She stopped as she realized two things. Firstly, most of her men were dead, having been killed off by those burning bats. Secondly, the only survivor was Steve, who was casually sitting on the corpse of one of the bat demons. The sight left her with only one question, "How?"
"That," he began dramatically as he jumped off the corpse, "Is a long, complicated story of heroism, betrayal, and-"
"Okay, let me stop you right there, I don't have time right now," Lilith interrupted as she pinched the bridge of her nose to stave off a headache, "I need to get back to Hexside right now, can you try to track down the rogues for me?"
He then saluted, but before he could give an exuberant answer, Lilith nodded and climbed aboard her staff to fly out of the Titan's skull as quickly as she could. She only hoped she wasn't too late.
"Well my little raven, hide like you always do. Hide your true self from me," Nero heard the beast with his mother's face mock, "Where are you, I wonder? Did you run from this school, into those Titanforsaken woods like you always do, to put yourself in peril behind my back!?"
Nero blinked away tears, nearly hyperventilating from behind the pillar. So far, it hadn't found him, but it came damn near close at times, forcing him to hide again and again to avoid it. When it was dangerously close, he actually felt the urge to stab it in the face, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Beyond being too paralyzed to fight it, the beast still carried his mother's face. A warped, twisted, nightmare-inducing version of his mother's face, but he just couldn't find it in him to strike at it. Making matters worse, every question, every insult, served to erode his confidence even more. At this point, he didn't know if he had any fight left in him.
"How ungrateful. A mother should expect better from her son. But what more can I expect from a bastard child?" Out of everything Grom had said so far, that one particularly stung. Before he could even process that insult, it continued, "How does it feel to be the prey? To be the same thing as these monsters? Did you truly think yourself to be above the ones you've slaughtered? With that thing you call an arm?"
At that point, Nero found that he was hyperventilating as he curled into a ball and tried to block Grom out. He wiped his face using his sleeve, forcing down the bile that threatened to lurch out of his throat. He couldn't deny what Grom was saying, nor could he bring it in him to fight back now. At this point, he may as well just keep hidden and avoid it for as long as...
"Found you!"
…he looked up to see the warped visage of his mother right in front of him and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid another attempt at grabbing him. Grom then slashed at him with its claws as he ran, with his armor thankfully taking the damage, getting destroyed in the process and leaving him with just his three-piece suit. Nero rolled forward and faced Grom again, wiping any tears from his face and glaring at the monster, converting his fear into anger.
"No more crying Nero," he muttered to himself, "This thing isn't your mom, and you can't let it get to you. Worry about it later and kick its ass now." Nero then waited for Grom to make another attempt at grabbing him before he made his move. Just as the arm's claws reached him, he swung the sword and slashed away at the nails. Grom hissed in pain and retracted the arm back.
"Why you little-," Grom hissed out, "How dare you strike at your own mother!"
You're not my mother you fucking freak! Nero mentally yelled as Grom's monstrous maw glowed a dark blue and shot out a large blue fire ball. Nero just barely dodged that attack, but the explosion behind him sent him flying away and knocking him back to the center of the arena. As he got up, he glowered at the sword he was holding and said, "Damn it! How do you activate the lightning on this thing anyway!" if he could get it to emit electricity like it did when he first picked it up, that would have helped him a lot right now. He then looked back to Grom, who was turning to face him with a vicious snarl. "Screw it." he sneered as he dashed right towards it and lunged into the air, impaling the sword right in the eye between its horns.
Unfortunately, to his horror, Grom began to chuckle as he looked up to see the twisted smirk of his mother, "Did you really think that would work a second time?" it said. Just as it made a move to grab him, Nero clutched the blade with both arms, and, much to his surprise, the blade began to glow a bright blue and emitted lighting from the hilt. The electricity coursed through the blade and went right into Grom's body, shocking it and making his mother's visage cry in pain. However, Grom made a final move to slash at him, and Nero just barely avoided it by letting the blade go, falling on his back as he rolled away from the screaming fear bringer. For a good minute, the blade continuously electrocuted Grom until it collapsed and fell to the floor on its side, slowly dissolving into black ooze. Nero shuddered as his mother's face returned to normal for a brief moment before it melted away into a black stain that sunk into the ground.
Before he could process any of it, however, he felt something on his head, and reached up to pull off a crown. "And that's a wrap on this year's Grom everyone!" Principal Bump's voice yelled over the auditorium speakers as Nero wordlessly exited the lower arena and walked up the slope, "Let's give a big hand to our Grom King, Nero Clawthorne!"
Nero ignored everyone's cheers and congratulations for him as he went to go sit in the bleachers while everyone else started partying like the entire ordeal never happened. He just sat alone, lost in his own thoughts and wanting to avoid any contact with anyone. "Hey, Nero," Emira's voice pushed him out of his funk as he looked up at her and Edric, both of them looking rather concerned, "You alright?" Edric asked, to which Nero only nodded, not wanting to talk about it.
"I'm fine, just leave me alone right now," his request was thankfully heard seeing as they nodded, albeit hesitantly, and walked away, heading for the auditorium exit. Apparently neither of them were in a particular mood to pull any of their usual tricks. So, Nero just sat by himself, trying to bite down the fear and apprehension he felt from fighting the last form Grom took, trying to ignore the words it spoke to him during their fight. Though given how he ran and hid, only managing a lucky shot at the last second, calling it a 'fight' was being generous if he were to ask himself, but he didn't want to think about it right now. He didn't know how long he sat there by himself. Right now, he was content to just let that whole experience fade away like a bad memory like everyone else was, though in their case, it was anything but unpleasant given how they danced and cheered.
"Nero," suddenly he heard his mother's voice, prompting him to look up and see that she was now sitting next to him with an apologetic look on her face, "I saw Edric and Emira outside and they explained what they saw. I'm sorry I missed everything. As much as I didn't like the idea of you fighting Grom, I wish I was there to see you win against it."
"Yeah..." Nero muttered as he absentmindedly watched the Grom party play out in front of him without any care to what was going on. "Is something wrong, my little raven?" his mother's concerned tone prompted his attention again as he put all his focus into not flinching when called him by that nickname. After how Grom called him that, he wasn't sure he wanted to hear it anymore, "Did something happen during the fight?" she was starting to enter 'tell me everything' mode, but Nero didn't want to say a word on what happened. He didn't even know if there was a way he could put out words on what happened. Instead, he decided to just deflect and avoid, since it was better that way.
"Nothing happened, mom," he replied, "Can we just go home? I don't want to be here anymore."
There was probably a minute of silence before his mom gave the okay and they began to walk out of the auditorium. He barely gave the other students that waved at him anymore than a passing glance, while he did give a small wave to Edric and Emira, who gave their own quiet goodbyes as they left. Right now, he didn't want to think about of even be a part of this day anymore. He just wanted forget it all and move on, but he doubted he'd be able to forget this day no matter how hard he tried.
It had taken them many hours to ensure they had escaped the Emperor's Coven. So far, they hadn't seen any sign of their members hunting after them as they made their way to a hidden cave complex, which was either a sign of a stroke of luck on their side, or Berial had managed to kill them all. Vindice was hoping for the latter, but the fact that Berial wasn't rampaging on the isles and laying waste to Coven strongholds indicated the former.
It frustrated him, to say the least. Years of planning, contacting one of the most powerful demon lords in Hell and setting everything up to summon him to Limbo to lay waste to the bastards that took his brother from him, only for those same Coven members to force him into retreat, undoing all their hard progress.
"Uh, Vindice, sir," one of his allies asked, looking apprehensive from behind his hood, "Now what? Summoning that guy took a lot of time and sacrifices. Are we gonna try again?"
Vindice could only give a nod as he pulled out his book and scoured through the pages, looking for any incantations and summoning rituals he could find to call forth another lord of Hell. Whether he could contact Berial again or another, possibly stronger Hell lord didn't matter to him. All that mattered was that Belos would perish, and that he would have his revenge.