All Hell Breaks Loose

(Samira)

'This is so infuriating' I thought for the millionth time tonight as I stared wistfully out of my slow rocking carriage.

My mind flashed back to the discussion we'd had on the balcony back at the palace.

•

(FLASHBACK)

"Really?"Azrael asked.

"Yes. The damn bastard even agreed to give me a full tour of the fortress, just as long as it's a date", I said. I clenched my fists so hard, I felt my fingernails dig into the skin of my palms and draw blood.

But what made things worse for me was Abi's reaction.

He threw his head back and laughed at me!

"Well", he said, wiping away a tear from his eye ,"That's um...quite unfortunate but anyway..."

Azrael stood up and looked at me with his usual expressionless face. He took a silver bracelet out of his pocket and handed it to me.

"Call him and accept his proposal. We'll stay in touch using the bracelets", he said ,"You just have make sure to remain calm and find the exact location of the the magic circle. We'll handle the rest"

•

(Samira)

"Really, how can Abi be so insensitive?" I asked myself quietly.

To be honest, I was more crestfallen than angry. Abi wasn't worried about me in the slightest. To the point that he even laughed at me.

Did he really not care about me going out with someone else?

"Well, it's not like it's an actual thing. Maybe that's why he's so carefree", I said, almost like I was trying to convince myself.

Suddenly, the air around me felt different and I could feel multiple presences surrounding the carriage.

"We are arriving at the Baristian Fortress, Milady", I heard the carriage driver call out.

I looked out of the window and caught my breath. It truly was a fortress.

In front of the carriage, an enormous wall rose from the ground, towering menacingly over us. At every interval on the wall, greater demon soldiers, equiped with high quality armor and weapons, stood guard and patrolled the wall.

Beyond the wall, I could see a single stone paved bridge, hanging over a dark bottomless pit, that led to a majestic blackstone castle that stood in the centre of everything.

Even from here, I could see the flags with the crest of the demon of Lust on every rock spire of the castle

I swallowed nervously as the carriage crossed the bridge and came to a stop in front of the castle.

The carriage door was opened by a smartly dressed butler. A handsome boy with maroon colored hair, dressed in a diner jacket came forward and offered me his hand.

"Samira, darling", said the boy with a sly smile. He was just as sleezy as I remembered.

I ignored his hand and got out on my own. He looked more amused than annoyed by my reaction.

"Good evening", I gave a small bow ,"Lord Diazel"

•

(OVERVIEW)

"Hmmm", said Azrael, hovering quietly in the sky as he looked down at Samira's carriage. He watched closely as it entered the Baristian Fortress ,"The place looks better than it used to in the old days"

"Yeah", said Abigor, gesturing towards the dozens of greater demons ,"And it's heavily fortified"

He hadn't said much from the time we had started following Samira.

'Ah, I see' I smiled to myself 'That's how it is'

"Oh, look", Abigor pointed at Diazel and Sam as they headed inside ,"She's in. Let's go"

With that, he descended towards one of the sides of the walls. I followed suit close behind him.

As we approached, one of the demons on duty looked up at us and I got ready to knock it out, quick and quietly, but Abigor raised his hand and stopped me.

We hovered in place for a moment longer before the demon turned away from us and continued it's patrol.

I looked at Abigor for an explanation.

'I covered us with a veil' he signed with his hands 'We can see each other, but they can't see us'

I nodded and gave him a thumbs up. We landed right besides the wall and I got to work.

I ignited my fingertips using my primordial hell flames and started cutting out a section of the wall, the size of a door. I cut through the blackstone like it was butter.

With that done, I gently pushed the piece of the wall I had cut out, trying my best not to make any noise, and left just enough space for Abigor and I to slip inside.

Once I put the piece back in place, Abigor let out a breath of relief.

"Whew", he wiped the sweat off his forehead ,"To be honest, I didn't think we'd make it this far"

"I was kind of hoping we wouldn't", I admitted.

Abigor frowned ,"Why?"

"Cause I wanna have some fun", I shrugged.

"Don't even think about it", Abigor shot me down ,"Remember, that's our plan B, so save your strength. Now come on, this way"

•

(Samira)

"And over here, is one of my personal favorites, a portrait of the Goddess of Death, Hel", Diazel waved his hand at one of the many paintings in his art gallery.

For the past half hour, I had listened to him drone on and on about the various paintings and artefacts that his family owned.

My feet were swelling up from moving around so much. I felt like clawing at my ears to prevent me from listening to him.

'I swear' I thought inwardly 'If I have to hear one more damn thing about his great grandfather again-'

"Samira?" I felt Diazel's hand on my shoulder.

"Wh-what?" I answered, his voice shaking me out of my thoughts ,"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Am I boring you with all this?" He asked.

"To be honest, yes", I answered immediately ,"I mean, I've studied and seen almost every single piece of art, artefacts and history in this entire city"

I ran a finger over the frame of one of the portraits ,"Including all the ones you've shown me. So if you're trying to impress me, you'll have to show me something I've never seen before"

Diazel chuckled ,"I figured as much. And although I was going to save the best for last, I think I have something you might be interested in"

He directed me to another section of the gallery with a single glass case that hang along the wall.

A beautiful demonic sword rested in the case. It's hilt was made of dragon bone and it's scarlet colored blade gave off a reflection of blood.

I recognized it...

"Legend has it, that when the World dragon created demon kin", I walked towards the sword case ,"He tore off some of his own scales, ripped out his own teeth and took out some of his bones to create-"

"The Ten Primordial Swords of Hell", Diazel finished as he took the sword out and ran his hand down the blade ,"These swords increase the wielder's strength ten-fold. And each one has a special power of it's own. This sword-"

"Is the demonic sword of the family of Lust, Asmodeus", I finished.

"Wow", He nodded at me ,"I must say, I'm impressed"

"Well I, for one, am not", I folded my arms ,"I told you, unless it's something new, nothing could possibly appeal to me"

"And that is exactly what I intend to give you", said Diazel confidently.

He turned back to the wall and touched the tip of the sword to one of the blocks in the wall.

I heard a small click and the wall vanished before our eyes, revealing a narrow a staircase that lead up to who knew where.

"Right this way", Diazel stepped aside to let me through.

I hesitated for a brief moment before I walked past him and started making my way up the staircase.

A minute later, I heard a loud thud as Diazel closed the entryway behind him.

"For security" he assured me with an innocent look on his face.

"Sure", I nodded stiffly.

As we continued upward, I wondered where this staircase would lead us. I saw light up ahead and we arrived inside a massive dome-shaped circular room.

I caught my breath.

There were dozens of shelves carved into the walls, each shelf was stacked with all kinds of different scrolls.

I spotted a few pedestals that stood besides each shelf. Atop each pedestal, a stone gargoyle crouched, as if ready to pounce on anyone that got too close to them.

And best of all, a huge strange looking magic circle covered most of the floor in the centre of the room.

'Jackpot!' I thought to myself in triumph.

"Impressed yet?" Diezel asked with a smug smile on his face.

"Yeah", I tucked my hair behind my ear, making sure to keep the bracelet close enough to my face for Abi and Azrael to hear ,"Even I have to admit, I've never seen a magic circle like this before"

"Ah yes", he said ,"This is the only summoning magic circle in all of Deauis"

"A summoning circle?" I feigned ignorance.

"Yes", he said ,"The only way to get to the Mortal realm"

"Oh, I see. But how does it activate?", I baited and playfully stepped inside the circle ,"Do I just step inside and wait?"

Diezel laughed at my cluelessness ,"To actually travel between realms-"

He walked past me to one of the shelves and took one of the scrolls.

"-you'd need a contract"

"A contract?", I asked again ,"A contract with who?"

"Well, the Mortal realm belongs to mortals, of course", Diazel explained as he walked up to me ,"For immortals such us ourselves to manifest in their world, certain conditions must be met"

"Hence the contract-"

"Exactly", he stopped in front of me ,"Contracts vary depending on the Rankings of the demons that get summoned but generally, a demon is summoned to the Mortal realm to do a single task of the summoner's choosing. Thereafter, the demon is immediately sent back here"

I nodded thoughtfully ,"I see...and how many demons can be summoned by one mortal"

"A maximum of 10", said Diazel.

I hadn't noticed before but he was wearing a space storage ring on his finger. Out of it, he pulled out a bottle of dark nectar and two glasses.

"Now enough questions. How about a toast to remember this evening", he poured some nectar in one glass and handed it to me before pouring some for himself ,"Cheers"

"Cheers" I clinked his glass and took a sip of the nectar. It was delicious!

"Do you like it?" Diazel asked eagerly, a strange look in his eyes.

That was the moment I realized something was wrong but it was already too late.

"You-", I tried to say something but my knees buckled as I dropped to the ground and the glass in my hands slipped from my fingers and shattered on the floor.

A maniacal smile shone on Diazel's face as he looked at me on the floor ,"Oh Samira Samira Samira. Not feeling too well now, are we?"

My vision was blurry and my whole body felt numb. I opened my mouth but I couldn't even speak.

Diazel laughed and through my blurred vision, I saw him lick his lips and loosen his shirt collar as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt.

"I've grown tired of you always denying me, Samira", he said ,"Every other woman in Deauis would literally throw themselves at me. But not you. Never you-"

He knelt down next to me, placing Asmodeus on the ground beside me, and turned my head so that I faced him. I tried to use magic but even that wouldn't work.

"-which is why I jumped at the chance when you accepted my proposal for this date", said Diazel as his thumb rubbed against my lip ,"But then I thought to myself, why would you accept now all of a sudden? And the answer was simple-"

He tilted my head towards the summoning circle.

"You were looking for a way to the Mortal realm, right?"

My eyes widened and he must've seen that because he grinned at me.

"You're wondering how I know? Word gets around pretty fast in the lower Echelons. Well, whatever your reasons are, they're of no importance now", he said ,"You belong to me now"

His hand reached for my dress and I shut my eyes, waiting for what was to come next. However, before he could do anything more, I heard someone else say:

"Well...you're dead"

BOOM!

A massive ball of scorching blue flames slammed into Diazel and he crashed into one of the walls. A raging roar resounded through the room and a massive creature leaped swiftly over my limp body.

"Yep", said Azrael who was suddenly at my side ,"He's definitely dead"

He turned me over gently and removed a small vial of red liquid from his space storage ring. Azrael uncorked it and poured the liquid into my mouth.

"Dragons blood", Azrael explained ,"Drink up"

Almost immediately, strength coursed through my body once again and I sat up.

"Thanks", I said.

Another roar erupted behind me and I turned towards it. I watched as Diazel fought a large humanoid creature covered in blue fur. It was two times his size, with large claws and fangs that looked like they could tear through steel.

'No, not blue fur' I realized 'blue flames'

Despite it's large size, the creature was too fast for Diazel and he seemed to be struggling without his sword. It must've gotten lost in the explosion.

"Wow", I said ,"What is that thing?"

"Oh that?", Azrael scoffed ,"that happens to be your beloved boyfriend"

"What?!" I shot up to my feet, completely astonished and horrified.

"Abigor has completely lost his sense of self", Azrael explained ,"I tried to stop him but there was nothing I could do. I must imagine he was already barely holding it together when you left to get ready for this date"

"What?" I was confused ,"What do you mean?"

"Honestly, both of you can be really dumb sometimes", Azrael shook his head as if the answer were obvious ,"Didn't it ever occur to you to question why Abigor laughed at you back the palace?"

"Of course I did", I said ,"Its because he doesn't mind it at all"

"Wrong" Azrael tucked his hands in his pockets ,"He's been pissed from the moment you told us about it"

I blinked ,"But then why-?"

"Why did he laugh it off?" Azrael continued as he watched Abi smash Diazel into a wall ,"He chose to hide behind that and kept his feelings to himself. Because he didn't want to get in the way of the plan"

"No way..." I turned my eyes back to the battle ,"Abi..."

Abi roared and tendrils of lightning flashed from his body, striking in all directions. I raised my arms to shield myself but Azrael was way ahead of me.

"Setorir", said Azrael as he raised his hand.

A wide barrier surrounded both Abi and Diazel. Diazel lay unconscious on the ground, bleeding terribly with cuts all over his face.

"This is bad", said Azrael ,"His body's absorbing mana from his surroundings. The longer he stays in this state, the more powerful he'll become and the harder it will be to subdue him"

I stepped forward ,"Open the barrier"

"What?" Azrael asked in surprise.

"It's my fault he's like this", I clenched my fists in determination ,"So I'll be the one to bring Abi back"

Azrael looked at me hesitantly for a brief moment before he dropped the barrier.

"Good luck", he said "And don't die"