Hell's Consort

Chapter 55 - Archdemon Of Lust*

Luna had passed beyond terror into a sort of icy stillness.

She swallowed as she pushed her silver strands away from her eyes, crouching and planting her feet firmly on the ground, ready to fight for her life.

If she couldn't keep a resemblance of calm, Luna would never be able to see this through.

Preparing for the ideal arsenal to wreck this demon, Luna was having difficulty manifesting anything when she felt too weak.

The thing was on its feet now and it crawled toward her.

She evinced tiny ivory daggers from her fingers and flung them at the monster.

The daggers hit its midsection, bouncing, and it shattered into broken pieces, striking the floor. The creature didn't seem to notice. It came on towards her, broken shards splintering under its feet. "Drink the veins…"

Luna's back hit the wall.

She could back up no farther in this tiny space.

The creature tackled her and knocked her to the ground, which sent her head and shoulders slamming into the ground.

She twisted to the side, but she couldn't, for the monster was too heavy.

The demon was on top of her, and its oppressive, slimy weight made her want to gag. "To eat, to eat," it moaned. "Magic blood... To drink."

She continued casting her spells to complete the Archdemon of Lust's summoning ritual.

The hot breath in her face smelled like blood and rot. She couldn't breathe.

Her ribs felt like they might shatter, and her arms were pinned between her body and the monster.

Luna twisted, trying to work for her hand free. The demon's lipless mouth twitched as its jaws opened slowly, a wave of stinking breath hot in her face.

Luna's hand came free. With a scream, she stabbed the thing blindly with an iron rapier multiple times.

As the creature lunged for her face with its jaws wide open, she jammed a ball of holy fire between its teeth. Hot, acidic drool coated her wrist and spilt in burning drops onto the bare skin of her face and throat.

The creature jerked back, a ball of greenish fire lodged inside its mouth. It growled in a thick angry buzz and threw its head back. Luna saw it swallow and saw the movement of its throat.

Suddenly the thing began to twitch. Spasming uncontrollably, the demon rolled off Luna and onto its back, multiple legs churning in the air. Black fluid poured from its mouth.

Oh, my goddess, more demons were coming out from the pentagram.

Normal daggers wouldn't affect these monsters.

Luna realized that the first creature was not a weak demon when iron and salt didn't work on them.

The holy fire she had shoved into its mouth did destroy it, but for how long can she keep that up when she was losing her energy from her hunger for Ravin's blood?

"Ego vocare vobis, Luxen, ego opus tuum auxilium, venit, et deinceps."

Luna never got to continue her spells again with too many distractions.

Gasping for air, Luna rolled over and started to scramble away from it.

She had nearly reached the trapdoor when something whistled past her head.

Luna raised her hands and ducked, but it was too late.

A heavy object slammed into the back of her skull, and she almost collapsed forward into blackness. At that moment, another demon tore free from the pentagram with a high yowling cry and flung itself to Luna.

She was too weak to summon another Holy Fire, so she jerked an iron anelace, somewhere between a dagger and a long sword, towards it, hitting its large head.

The sticky acid of the demon's blood ate away her shining blade as if it was rust--no like how a colony of termites devouring a piece of wood was most accurate. Luna swore and tossed the weapon aside, and it landed in a filthy puddle and commenced, smouldering like a doused match.

They fell to the ground and wrestled once again. The demon knocked the breath out of her chest, tearing at her with hands that glittered as if tipped with metal.

Her blood gleamed at the tips of his razor-like claws.

Too weak and too hungry to carry on fighting that she could barely think straight, Luna's protection magic had failed her once again, and the demon extended its claws and slashed at her. She threw an arm up to protect herself, and the claws raked it, splattering blood.

The demon lunged again, and some other creature came down across its back. The demon shrieked and fell to the side.

Luna rolled over and sank the blade gleaming in her hand and sank it into its chest.

The demon exploded in a shower of guts, blood and gore. Blackish liquid exploded around the hilt.

The demon itself, of course, had vanished--dispatched back to whatever hellish world it had come from, though not without leaving a mess behind.

Luna finally heard his voice in her mind, both a relief and a hint of foreboding. "I see you have chosen death for the second time, little girl."

The Archdemon of Lust was pale as he was, once again surrounded by his glow lights--paler even than the last time she remembered. He had silver eyes and delicate yet angular cheekbones.

There were dark stains across his white shirtfront, and his hands were thickly smeared with red.

This powerful Archdemon had killed one of his kind with his bare hands.

"Why did you call me again?" Lux frowned in annoyance as he focused on the drawing he had stood on, which Luna had drawn with her blood.

Luna felt embarrassed at the Archdemon of Lust's scrutiny of her illustration.

Was it ugly or something?

Was this Archdemon going to insult her again?

You are the most stupid High Priestess I had ever seen in my entire existence. That's not the Pentagram of the Devil's Trap." After a few seconds, he proceeded to laugh maniacally as he shook his head in derision, "You drew the Sigil of Lucifer, my dear. You even included Baphomet's head at the centre. This is a portal connecting Hell to other dimensions."