Chapter 135: The True Battle Begins

AN: This chapter is extra-long!

I was sitting up against the stone wall Xhag’duul had thrown me into, Dark Plate broken and sure that I wouldn’t live to see the next ten seconds. The Demon marched toward me, fist clenched.

But then, before he could reach me, Xhag’duul exploded in a ball of fire.

…What?

The explosion dissipated, leaving the Demon staring off to his side with a scorch mark on his enraged face. Then something flew in from the side again—a Firebolt, I recognized—and impacted him, resulting in another explosion.

I looked over at the direction the Firebolts had come from and saw nothing.

“Arlan, you fucking idiot!” A voice shouted. “You told me you’d do your best to not die! What the fuck was that?!”

“Erani?!” I recognized the voice, the realization that she was here enough to spur me from my stunned position lying on the ground. I quickly pushed myself up to my feet, trying to ignore the pain in my body when I did so. “Why are you here?”

“Ainash could tell you were lying, you idiot,” she said. She was tearing up—I could hear it. “You never had any intention to survive. No way to survive. And I am not going to let you just give up like that!”

Her voice was coming from my left, where I was looking, but I still couldn’t see her. She was still under the effects of invisibility, I realized. “Ainash is here too?”

“I am little bit far away,” the familiar voice spoke into my mind. “But do not tell bad guy! I am sneaking.”

“You shouldn’t have stayed,” I said. Relief cracked my voice, but also fear. It was one thing for me to lose my life to the hands of this Demon. But if they died, too? It would’ve truly all been for nothing. “You need to leave, before—”

A scream of rage interrupted me. I turned back to see Xhag’duul swipe his fist through the cloud of smoke that enveloped him. “You think you can kill me with some puny fucking Spells?! Where the fuck are you?!”

I backed away, eager to put some distance between me and the clearly deranged Demon. Regenerate had finished doing its thing, putting my Health back up to 186, but it wasn’t enough. Once Dark Plate was active again in around 30 seconds, I needed to be above 240 to survive another hit. So I activated Regenerate once again, praying that I’d be able to buy enough time to at least survive a bit longer.

You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 29.6 Health over the next 10 seconds.

50 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 111.

Since Erani and Ainash were still invisible, they were mostly safe for now. I was still vulnerable, but thankfully Xhag’duul didn’t seem to care about me at the moment.

“Interrupting my fucking execution! What the fuck is wrong with you people?!” He stomped away, in the direction of where Erani’s last Firebolt had come from. But I had no doubt that she was long gone from there by now.

“What’s the plan? How are we escaping?” I mentally asked Ainash.

“We are not escaping!” She replied. “Are going to kill the bad guy!”

“Okay, please pass that question along to mom and tell me what she says, not what you want to do.”

“Mother says so! Says that running will only lead to bad guy catching up and killing us. So will kill the bad guy and then will be safe forever.”

“What? How would we even begin to do that?”

“My job to kill bad guy!” She said. “Your job to get bad guy in right spot to be killed.”

“And where’s that spot?”

“Do not know yet. Will tell you.”

“Arlan Nota!” Xhag’duul whipped around after searching the area and not finding Erani. “What the fuck are you trying to do?”

I continued backing away. Regenerate had finished again, Health was up to 216, so it was time to activate it again.

You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 29.6 Health over the next 10 seconds.

50 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 61.

“Not sure what you mean,” I said, trying my best to stall for time. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You called your fucking lackeys on me, huh?! I know you and your devious little fucking lies and manipulations. You can silently talk to those other two somehow. Probably have them stationed up in sniper positions somewhere.” He looked wildly around at his surroundings, up in the cliffs and in the few trees in sight. “This whole time you were fucking mocking me to them. This was all planned out, huh? Thought you were so fucking sneaky? Thought you could plan out all those little jabs and comments just to make me mad? Well I figured you out, you stupid fucking dumbass!”

“You’re not quite there,” I said. “I didn’t really know about any of this, either. Just got saved by some people who care about me. Think you’re a little paranoid.”

“You smug motherfucker,” he growled, taking a step forward to me.

Then another Firebolt apparated out of nowhere and sped forward, straight into Xhag’duul’s face, exploding on impact.

“Fuck!” He screamed, holding a hand to the cheek it impacted. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

I held up a hand, shooting him with a couple Rays of Frost. 57 damage. 62 damage. Mana was down to 514. Just keep him from thinking. If he wasn’t so angry in this moment, he’d probably have understood that the correct course of action would just be to ignore the distractions and kill me anyway. It wouldn’t take much time, and I highly doubted the Firebolts caused any more pain than something like a wasp’s sting to us. Annoying, sure, and it would definitely leave a mark, but not anything that was actually concerning.

But in his current state, he wasn’t thinking about this logically. And all we had to do was keep him like that. Well, evidently that was the plan Erani and Ainash had made. Ainash had some sort of plan to kill him soon, but first we had to buy her time to prepare whatever it was she was doing.

“Arlan Nota, I swear to the lord below,” Xhag’duul growled at me, “you will regret this so much. I will make you watch every single person you love die. I will keep you alive just so you can see them scream in agony. And then I’ll do everything I did to them, to you. So that you know exactly how it felt when they died. So you know exactly how much your decisions made them suffer. I will fucking—”

He was cut off by another explosion coming from yet another location. I kept backing away, trying to put enough distance between us that I’d at least have some time to react if he ever made a move toward me. But ten paces, even twenty paces wasn’t enough. Really, I wouldn’t have any time at all.

Once again, Regenerate wore off. My Stamina was pretty low by this point, so I didn’t want to activate it again if I didn’t have to. And since my Health was at 246, I technically didn’t need to—it was above 240, Dark Plate’s threshold. And I’d gotten another notification, too.

Dark Plate is no longer broken.

I was safe for one more hit, now. Though, even if Dark Plate saved me, I certainly wouldn’t be in very good shape afterward.

Xhag’duul picked up a loose stone from the ground around as big as my head and threw it in the direction Erani’s last Firebolt had come from. It slung so fast through the air that I couldn’t even follow, but a chest-shaking crack told me that it’d apparently embedded itself into the stone wall behind the area. At least it hadn’t found its target.

“Where the fuck are those damn Spells coming from…” Xhag’duul muttered, glancing around the area.

Again, trying to keep him occupied, I fired off a few more Rays of Frost, all of them hitting against his back. “Hey bud, I’m still here. You’re not done with me.”

“Oh, believe me, I am not done with you,” he said, turning to face me. He seemed only somewhat hurt by the hundreds of damage I’d done to him with the Spell—and the probably thousands of damage he’d taken from Erani.

“Yeah,” Index confirmed. “He’s still a bit above eighty percent.”

Yeah. We’d certainly dealt a significant amount, but we were low on Mana, and I had a strong feeling that Xhag’duul would just kill me instantly if he ever started to genuinely fear for his life. The damage was just a distraction. If it kept him talking, it was working.

He continued, “I just want to get rid of your annoying little friend, first. If you die before her, you don’t get to see her in pain. So you’ll just have to wait, bud.”

“Well good luck finding her,” I said. “Lost cause, if you ask me. You can’t do anything, so just give up.”

“Me?” He laughed. “Give up? Yeah, sure. I’m the one who should be afraid. I’m the one who should be hopeless. Go fuck yourself. How’d you even get access to invisibility, anyway? Is this some other miraculous fucking Spell you got that can save the day? Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Maybe,” I said. He was still gazing across the edges of the cliffs and along the ground, no doubt looking for hints of movement from Erani. Just keep him distracted—apparently Ainash was working on something. “I’ve definitely got a decent repertoire. What are your Stats at, anyway? You don’t seem too hindered by my debuffs.”

“Oh, enough,” he said absentmindedly, seeming to grow more and more frustrated as the seconds passed and he continued to see no sign of Erani. “Oh, I remember now! You got those damn invisibility rings from the stupid fucking scout we sent! The one you murdered and looted the corpse of.”

“Not sure you get to be the one to criticize us for killing. You’ve done more than enough. Tell me, how many people have you killed?”

“A few,” he said, squinting curiously and pausing for a moment. Then he shrugged and quickly turned to me. “But I think I’ll go ahead and add one more to my count.”

And then he sprinted straight at me, crazed look of determination on his face. I tried to backpedal, raising my arms in defense despite knowing they wouldn’t help at all. Fuck, I was using up my last lifeline already?! If he hit me here, I’d—

But Xhag’duul’s advance was stopped short by an explosion at his feet. Two more followed, each Firebolt being thrown straight into his head. Xhag’duul bent over in pain, crouching down and gripping his fingers in the dirt as he looked over at where the Spells had come from.

Wait, what? How were they so painful that they stopped him in his tracks and even knocked him to the ground? Something wasn’t—

“There!” he shouted and flung his hands in the direction Erani was still in. A barrage of rocks and pebbles shot through the air, perforating the cliff face with the extreme force they’d been thrown with.

I heard Erani scream in pain and she suddenly appeared, mid-retreat from his attack. But evidently, she hadn’t been quick enough, as the damage from the stones had cut her invisibility short.

Xhag’duul laughed and got back up to his feet. He shook his head. “Stupid fucking Humans. Your flawed, emotional nature always gets the better of you.”

I reached into my mind to try and activate as many curses on the Demon as I could—maybe I could slow him down. But before I could even cast a single Spell, he took a step forward so he could touch me, reached out, grabbed the bicep on my right arm, and squeezed. Hard.

You have been crushed. 70 damage.

Your Health is 176.

Your arm has been broken.

A snapping sound filled the air and a bolt of pain rushed through my arm, shoulder, chest, entire body. I screamed and recoiled away, trying to escape his grasp. And, surprisingly, it actually worked. I looked up and saw that Xhag’duul had let go of me.

Then, he reached up and slapped me across the side of my face with the back of his hand, hitting me so hard I was tossed across the air and to the ground.

You have been hit by something. 52 damage.

Your Health is 124.

I tumbled across the dirt. But in the instant he was touching me, I’d managed to get off one Spell.

You have cursed Level 61 Devil with Sanguine Bond. For the next 10 seconds, or until Level 61 Devil is further than 10 paces away from you, the following effects are true:

It loses 6.21 Health, 7.76 Stamina, and 9.31 Mana per second.

You gain 1.55 Health, 3.55 Stamina, and 4.65 Mana per second.

238 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 201.

Not much, but I was below the necessary threshold of 240 Health now. Maybe I could get enough Health regeneration to push me back above it. But that would take a lot of time. Time I didn’t have. He was here, and he was going to kill me.

But just as I thought that, my enemy turned away from me. I was still groaning in pain, unable to do much in terms of inquiring what he was up to. Then I remembered what he’d said. He had just revealed Erani from her invisibility. And he wanted me to watch her die.

“Fuck,” I coughed weakly. “No. No!”

I raised my only good arm and pointed my hand at the Demon as he began to walk away, hitting him with a couple poorly-aimed Rays of Frost for a few dozen damage apiece. He ignored them, continuing in his stride toward her. I chased after him, trying my best to ignore the pain in my arm as it flopped uselessly by my side.

Erani was backing away, hand raised in preparation to cast, but I could see the fear in her eyes. What could I do?!

“Ainash! Can you save her?!”

“What going on? Not watching fight right now!”

“What?! Where the fuck are you, then?!”

“Getting something to kill bad guy with! Stay alive for just little longer and then can kill him.”

“Please just come back! We can get her and run!”

“Cannot right now! Please help mother if she is in trouble!”

No! She wasn’t going to die. I wouldn’t let her die. But I couldn’t do anything! My Spells were pointless, I’d even lost use of an arm. I had no options. Nothing to hurt him with.

“Fuck you!” I could hear Erani shout, shooting off Firebolt after Firebolt at the approaching Demon. They did nothing to slow his progress.

“Stop!” I shouted after him.

He kept going, running at a speed that just barely outpaced her. At some point, he got past the ten-pace limit of Sanguine Bond, breaking it a few seconds early. I knew he could easily catch up to her in an instant, so it was clear he was just toying with us at this point. I couldn’t even see his face.

“Fight me!” I yelled.

Nothing.

“You’re here for me, not her!”

He just kept moving. Only a few paces between them, now, and Erani had turned to run in a full-on sprint. He was still gaining on her.

“I’ll do anything!”

The Demon reached out and caught her by the wrist. She pulled and tugged to get away from him, and as I watched, she even shot off a point-blank Firebolt straight into his face, enveloping them both in an explosion. But when the smoke cleared, he was still there, holding onto her. She’d obviously taken some damage, but it seemed like her Bond with Ainash had saved her from the majority of the damage. Not that Ainash was of any help now. Where the fuck was she?!

“You seem a lot less confident, now that you’ve lost your invisibility,” I could hear Xhag’duul sneer at Erani.

“Let me go!” she responded. He didn’t.

It was only then that he turned back to look at me, and I could see the expression on his face. It was one of pure glee. Pure, insane happiness. Excitement that he’d get to see me suffer, after all.

“Xhag’duul!” I screamed. “I will fucking kill you!”

He actually paused, at that. For a moment, I thought it was the threat, but then I realized I’d never actually called him by his name yet, in this timeline. He was probably just somewhat shocked I knew it. But I did my best to capitalize on that.

“I know everything about you,” I grunted, stumbling toward them in spite of my pain. He was probably over fifty paces away by now, but I knew that, with his stats, he probably had the senses to hear me just fine. “I know your name, I know what you want, and I know what you’re afraid of. I know your boss, Quinmorada, and I know she thinks you’re a failure. I know you can’t stand how unfairly you’ve been treated. I know you just want your life back. I know you need to have your life back. Please. I’ll work with you. I’ll help you get your life back. Just let her go. Let all of us go. We’ll help you. We can work together.”

“Together?” he asked. His tone was almost hopeful. He began to walk toward me, pulling the still struggling Erani along with him.

“Y-yeah,” I said, still pushing the words out through my pained grunts. “I won’t hold any of this against you. Promise. Just let her go. Please.”

“But I’m worried,” he said. “I’m scared of them.”

“I know. I can help,” I took a deep breath. We were close, now. Just ten paces away from each other. “Just let Erani go, and we can talk about it.”

“But…but…” his expression suddenly changed, from the genuine, hopeful one, back to a dead face with a permanent half-snarl etched onto it. “But I want to see you suffer.”

He reached back with his other hand and grabbed the base of her forearm, so one hand was on her wrist and another just below her elbow.

“Fuck!” Erani yelled and shot off another desperate Firebolt straight into him, her own Angelic Shield protecting her, but it still did nothing to stop him.

And so his arms tensed. And I realized he was pulling. One hand pulling her wrist away from his other hand, keeping her arm in place. Erani screamed in pain, and he pulled harder. I shouted and stepped forward, trying to stop him.

But I was too late, and he finished pulling.

Erani’s hand was ripped off of her arm.

The fraction of a second felt like an eternity. I could see the image of her hand, half of her forearm still attached to it, separated from the rest of her body. Her skin tore, the bone in her arm cracked in half, strings of muscle stretched and then snapped, and her hand, wrist, and the top half of her forearm were ripped away.

And then the eternity of the moment ended, and time continued. Blood splashed against my face, the iron scent oozing into my nose. Xhag’duul’s wicked laughter mixed with Erani’s blood-curdling scream to make a horrifying cacophony of noise assaulting my ear. The pain of my own fractured arm faded into a dull hum as I saw the exposed white of Erani’s stump turn red from the blood that squirted over it.

And in that moment, I realized. I was going to kill that motherfucker. I didn’t give a damn what was considered physically possible.

He had to die.