14 The Test

"Well Athel, doesn't this look pretty familiar?" Domo asks me

"I suppose.." I reply back

We're in a cell, but unlike the last time we were captured. We were both in the same cell. Especially the other two adventurers who were with us. The archer girl was just sitting on the floor staring on the ground beside the swords man, but without the sword. I approach them both and get their attention.

"Hello there, I'm Athelstan"

"We're aware of who you guys are. I'm Eliza, an adventurer" she replies

"I'm Vunshen, swords man from the eastern continent" he replies

"Who was the other guy you were with?" I ask

"He's a our Oracle. The last thing he foretold was that we were to join an upcoming war. A war that could end the living, he even told us we would meet you there. What do you think?" she says

"What else did he say?" Dom asks

"He also said that yesterday would be our last time together. The next time we meet him would be in the battlefield" Vunshen replies

We continue waiting, sitting in the cell for about an hour or two before knights come in and take us out.

"The King requests an audience with you two" the knight says pointing to me and Domotraus.

We were led into the throne room of the king. It was a big room with a big chair in the middle. He would be sitting. Other than that, the room is empty. The knights that had brought us in left immediately. Both Domotraus and I knelt down in the king's presence.

"Rise" he says

We both stood up

"I've been informed it was you both that had killed the rebel in the tavern yesterday morning. It seems I have underestimated the strength of you assassins. Though I expect much since you are here in my land, what is it you wish to say?" the king asks

"My lord, we would like to request for your aid in stopping Cilan Mamoru" Domotraus says

"How exactly? What is this aid are you referring to?" the king responds

"As much as possible, my group would want to travel to Nizari quickly and safely"

"Nizari? What for?"

"Knowing that Cilan is dead, we believe him returning to life has something to do with necromancy"

"Fools!" the king abruptly shouts at us.

"Necromancy has nothing to do with demonic curses. It was the curse that had brought him back to the living!" he continues

Both Dom and I stayed quiet after hearing this. We had only thought that a necromancer may be of help to us, but it seems we were wrong. Just as the king have said, the dark arts has nothing to do with something from a different realm. If what he's saying is true, then there isn't any other way I could think of to stop Cilan Mamoru.

"Then how do we stop the curse?" I ask

"Stopping the curse is easy, but you need to prove to me that you're strong enough to fight against Cilan" he responds

"How shall we do that?"

He smirks and raises his hand in the air. His staff appears on his hand and his appearance slowly changes. He grew a tail, small horns on his head, and he grows bat wings stretching out. We could feel the surge of power coming from him. The tip of his staff glows dark purple and a portal opens on the floor. A red hand appears from the portal and it slowly lifts itself up. A humanoid with red skin comes out of the portal. He'd have chains all around him covering most of his body. There would be blades at the end of each chain.

"Addffsgheir aiosidfjvnvv" I heard this in mind, as soon as the being entered the room.

"You are under my command, chained devil. I order you to fight these two!" the king demands.

Domotraus and I would be on guard, we didn't have our items with us as it wasn't returned to us. So we were unarmed. The chained devil looked at the king and the chains started levitating into the air, with the blades pointing at the king.

"You dare defy me you infernal weakling?" the king scowls

The chains fly so quickly towards the king, but is stopped by a shield from a spell that was casted by the king as a reaction to the chain attack by the chained devil.

"Now show me what you've got assassins!" the king exclaims

The king summons two scimitars on his hand and throws them to us. We catch the scimitar and prepare ourselves for the chained devil. The chained devil averts it's attention towards us, and so do his chains. The chains race toward Dom, which he parried easily with his scimitar. I sprinted towards the chained devil and attempted to horizontal slashes at him. The chained devil blocked the attack with his arm. His flesh was as hard as steel, but I still managed to slash and do damage. There would be a mark on his arm that blocked my scimitar, but didn't bleed. Domotraus gets close to me. We'd be 20ft away from the chained demon.

"Maybe you have an idea Athel" he says

The chained devil's chains begins to fly towards us, we block the blades using out scimitars and leap backwards avoiding getting captured by the chains he's able to control.

"An idea? You have one? I don't got any" I reply back

"Then follow my lead!" he says

Domotraus runs toward the chained devil while avoiding the chains. I followed behind him staying 10ft. He gets surrounded by the chains, and I did a running jump. At full power I did a vertical spin slashing with my scimitar at the chains, and it cut through the chains, breaking it. Domotraus got close to the devil and he starts doing a series of slashes. Most of them were able to hit the chained devil, but the slashes were stopped by the devil grabbing the blade of his scimitar. I got close to the devil and tried to go for a fatal attack. I got to his side and tried to stab him in the neck. It pierces through him but wasn't deep enough. He started bleeding. I take out the scimitar and create some distance. Domotraus does the same.

"One more time?" I ask

"I'll do the attack this time" he replies

The devil approaches him, and uses his chains to try to immobilize Domotraus. Domotraus did the same thing I did. He aimed his attacks at the chains that the devil was controlling, and the chains got even smaller. This time, I assisted Domotraus in attacking, I threw multiple slashes at him. He kept blocking my hits with his chains, this time the chains seemed reinforced through magic as I was not able to cut through them. Domotraus got in behind the devil without being noticed. He stabbed the devil in the back, pulls his scimitar and did a slash at the neck. With full power, he successfully decapitated the devil. His head flew into the air as the scimitar passes.

"Bravo, bravo, well done!" the king exclaims

The body of the devil begins to fade away. I point my scimitar at the king.

"What are you?" I asked

Both of our scimitars disappear and appear at the hands of the king. His staff disappears.

"I'm the king of this land. What else?" he responds

"How do you have that tail, wings and horns?"

"If you're asking for my race, I am a Tiefling. My ancestors were originally from the Nine Hells. I am half human, half devil. With my Illusion magic, I'm able to hide my true appearance" he answers

"Now, you've proven to me that you can take on Cilan. But know this, the devil is merely a lesser being. Beating it doesn't mean you can beat Cilan, but means you're strong enough to stand against him with actual chances of winning. As for the method of stopping Cilan, I shall be handling that. For now, I have a request of you in exchange of me helping" he goes on

"What is it you ask of us?" Domotraus asks

"I'm sure you're aware of the rebels that go against me. They call themselves the Gem of Rider. They call each other 'Gems' and I'd like you lot to aid the Hollow Arthas in taking them out" he says

"So be it your highness" I reply

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