22

Beelzebub

"What the actual fuck just happened?" I dragged my claws along the stonework wall where the portal should be in full effect, but nothing appeared.

One second I was stepping through the portal, Wally's hand in mine, and then everything burned, shoving me back into the labyrinth. I could tear this wall down, but it wouldn't lead to Wally. The engine room was in the villa, technically speaking, merely a dimensional layer or two apart, but the entire room was sealed off to limit access. I seethed with rage, ready to obliterate every piece of this fucking fairy hellhole until I found my Wally.

"Calm yourself, Bezzy." Mora traced her fingertips over the symbols lining the doorframe. "Something's missing."

"Yeah, the fucking portal."

"No. Look, Bez." She ground her teeth, snapping a fang in the process. "You just assembled these. What's missing?"

I followed her hand, searching for an inconsistency. But in truth, I wasn't paying attention when I threw them together. I sort of winged it, trying to impress Wally and show Mora up because I could be as clever as the two of them. The symbols looked right, then the door opened so quickly I couldn't help but boast. This was probably all my fault. My impulsive arrogance had once again endangered Wally.

"Wait." I reached for one of the symbols wedged between a stack in the most bizarre fashion, some archaic mortal language shoved between Sylvan and Diabolic letters. "This wasn't here before."

"And these two are missing." Mora pointed to gaps toward the lowest reaches of the wall.

"My doing, I'm afraid," Eligos' hollow voice echoed from his suit and through the corridor. "Limited the parameters to allow only those without Diabolic essence to cross through."

His glowing golden eyes stared from the darkness; every lantern dimmed despite his nearby presence.

I growled, summoning a coat of sheen black essence to line my forearms and shins. It expanded and hardened over the flesh of my body. Flesh that didn't have enough essence to create a full-body buffer. This conjured essence would lower the protection lining my body overall, but so long as I kept up with his movements, these shields would withstand any strike he attempted, from his armored attacks to the many blades he wielded.

"I'm going to kill you." I glared.

"Before or after I take out your king?" Eligos chuckled, his laughter rattled inside his suit.

Blurred figures whipped past me, snatching Mora and dragging her deeper into the labyrinth. Claws clashed, slashing through rock and flesh.

"In the mortal game of chess, kings are most valuable, yet the weakest pieces," Eligos said. "I hold no value toward Morax, but you do. And her weakness will be easy to exploit in order to hurt you."

"I'll kill you, then your damn demon lackeys—if Mora doesn't finish them first."

"Is that before or after I obtain your misfit mage and slaughter that insufferable witch?"

I froze. Did he mean to collect them himself? If so, he might attempt to skirt past me, the fearsome devil, and leap into the portal. I wouldn't drop my guard for a second, refusing to give him any opportunity to flee. Or had he already sent another demon to procure him? How many demons had he released? I heightened my senses, listening to the chaotic battle between Mora and the demons that'd snatched her away, attempting to discern how many—

Eligos appeared in front of me in a flash, hovering, fist raised, and a moment from punching right through my head.

I deflected his assault. Barely.

"Not happening a second time, asshole."

"For a god, you're lacking in a skilled move set." Eligos wiggled the fingers of his other hand before balling them into a fist.

Dammit.Of course I'd fallen right into an obvious trap.

I spun around, kicking his chest with the heel of my foot—which throbbed between his armor and essence and my current lack of either—then I used the blow to propel my knee upward and knock his three blades onto the ground before they gutted me.

Metal clinked against stone undisturbed. He didn't bother retrieving his lost weapons, which meant I wasted three seconds savoring a futile victory. I zipped up the wall, scanning the terrain in the process, and kicked off the ceiling to rocket at him, weaving between sharpened spears.

"I'm so sick of you, Eligos." I punched his helmet, cracking it slightly until the glow of essence restored it.

"You know my name, shocking." I could feel his hateful smirk over a shitty pun as black lightning formed around his armor, propelling toward me.

Gods. I evaded, continuing in a fight I didn't have the energy or conviction for. I hated him for hating me, but he only hated me because he believed me to be someone we both hated. Ugh. What was I thinking? Or overthinking. Snapping back to attention, I dodged a blow and leapt away. My thoughts were as absurdly convoluted as Walter's.

Wally.I needed to end this fast, rescue him.

I hated admitting it, but in my condition, facing off against someone of Eligos' level could drag out for hours, days even.

There was one thing that'd draw all this to a close.

Relaxing my muscles, I pulled my essence back into my core, circulating throughout my body but showing I meant no hostility.

"You intend to use Beelzebub's devil essence to break down doors to sealed Hells—all Hells, really—and rally demons to wage wars against every devil in existence."

"Those who once lived, those still reigning, and any others that conceive themselves into existence," Eligos said with a bravado I recognized from years of pining over the magnificent demon who sought change. "The devils will be no more."

We'd only spoken a handful of times in Hell, each a life-changing experience that I clung to, using as inspiration to change into the person I strived to become, the one who walked through the wake of destruction during the coup meant to bring down Beelzebub. Unfortunately, I used that chance to express my eternal cowardice and ran from the battle, abandoning a dying realm. I saw Eligos as a friend, an idol, a role model, and I failed him every single step on the journey to find myself. Only I hadn't found myself. I'd found comfort in a lie. A lie I needed to confess, hopeful it'd put an end to all of this. Not for my sake, but for Wally's. For Mora and Kell, too. I ground my teeth. That was a lie. I frantically desired to ensure Wally was safe above all else and would give anything, even my life, to know he walked away from this unharmed.

"Your plan won't work." I crumpled inward, shamefully averting my gaze. "I'm not Beelzebub. I'm not the devil you hate, the one you seek vengeance against. I'm merely a lowly demon. A pathetic demon too frightened to raise arms during the coup, one who slinked across the battlefield and snatched a piece of devil essence then fled to the mortal realm."

I awaited his reaction. His entire body stilled within the confines of his suit of armor, not a single sound. Those golden irises and the pale-yellow sclera of his eyes vanished in the darkness of his visor. Enhancing my senses, I searched for the faintest trace of Eligos stirring, reacting, doubting, or sinking into the truth of the matter. Nothing. His essence was pure silence, his armor immobile.

Perhaps now he'd see reason. He'd understand this fight was futile, and I wasn't his enemy.

Mora wailed, then snarled. She slammed one of the demons through a wall or the ground. It was difficult to discern this far away. The other demons had dragged her down several corridors, cornering her at a dead end of some locked chamber, only for them to meet theirs. With the silence from Eligos, the emptiness of the labyrinth and villa alike, every movement of Mora's battle came in crisp.

A demon struggled to claw their way out of the rubble when suddenly Mora's talons impaled them, making them gurgle. Her essence rumbled beneath her flesh, erupting from her pores in an effort to devour the first, but before she could, something hacked at her back.

Her boots swished and dug into the gravel of debris as she repositioned herself to strike the second demon, impaling them and redirecting her essence. A third presence struck her, forcing her to retreat, pivot, and knock that foe down in an attempt to devour one of them before the others recovered. This continued for some time, Mora gaining the drop on a demon, bringing them to the brink of death, and another interfering before she slaughtered any demon.

Her emerald essence radiated so powerfully, I could see the color in the clash of combat, taste her aura on my tongue, feel the fatigue in her battle.

I balled my fists.

Mora was better than this, but between the essence she lost fighting off Eligos, the massive amount she poured into Kell, and that incessant need of hers to prioritize a host body. I caught wind of it four moves back when she halted an attack and pivoted to scale the ceiling and return from a different vantage.

Those demons already had her outnumbered, the element of surprise, and the second they realized how to exploit her fancies, they'd overwhelm Mora. I couldn't allow that to happen. This needed to end.

"Eligos," I shouted. "You don't remember me, but I remember you. A demon of virtue, one who prides himself on all the deeds of a true knight. I also know you can spot a lie when you see it. You know what I've said to be the truth. I am not Beelzebub. Claiming my essence will not be enough to open his closed world. Take some small solace in knowing the devil Beelzebub can never harm anyone again."

There was no relief in this confession, not like when I told Wally. Every truth I shared with him allowed me to swim away from that pit of despair I'd spent eons drowning in. But with Eligos, divulging this carried a shame to it. He'd despise me, find the actions repulsive, yet he'd have to concede. Everything he did was to strike down a devil for his crimes against our demon brethren. His nobility wouldn't allow him to punish me for another's crimes.

Eligos laughed, a slow chuckle that reverberated in his suit of armor, each dragged-out syllable of laughter dinged against metal. I raised my eyebrows. Soon, it changed into a steady flow revealing the hilarity Eligos found for my confession, one that quickly enveloped the stone hall with an unhinged cackle creating a cacophony of clinks and rumbles.

"You think I didn't know?" Eligos wheezed between each word, incapable of stifling his amusement. "The imposter devil who fooled the world, many worlds, in fact."

Eligos barely composed himself, plodding forward and bracing himself against a wall.

"What?" I took a step back. "But when you acknowledged me as the devil, called me by his name, and laid the blame for his crimes at my feet… You were pretending?"

"Lying." Eligos snorted. "It's called lying. Sort of the same way you lied about being Beelzebub for centuries. I kept my cards close, a necessary precaution to determine the full extent of your power and that of the misfit mage you keep. After all, he wrought havoc down upon his Collective, tearing their system and balance asunder."

I widened my eyes. My revelation meant nothing; it paled in comparison to his.

"Turned out he was even less of a threat than your demon king or her witch."

He knew nothing of Wally. Not a damn thing.

"When I arrived in the mortal realm, my essence was in shambles after Beelzebub shattered it—the true devil. I laid in a state of decay, stuck between a cumbersome recovery and a slow death for the better part of a decade. I had no strength, no will, and certainly no desire to devour lesser beings to reclaim my destroyed essence."

My mind spiraled in perplexed thoughts, unraveling the enigma of Eligos' words. When did he find out? Had he overheard Wally and me discussing my demon secret? No. We often carefully skirted the words aloud, Walter's desire to respect my privacy.

"I finally found my will to restore myself when whispers of a barbarous devil emerged." Gloved fingers dug into rock, and the piercing scrape dragged my attention back. "A sadist who swept across the New World, slaughtering mages who defied his reign, chasing Mythics to devour, and flaying mortals who attempted to settle."

I'd been very loud and hostile in my early years after Mora's tutelage. She offered me the tools for survival and allowed me to choose whichever path I sought. In finding my footing, I learned all too quickly that no one wanted a kind demon, so I became a cruel devil. It was the best way to evoke a name for myself, create fear, force respect, and refuse to silently exist as some unknown weakling like I had for so long in Hell. I carried that name across the continents, exploring every crevice of the world and leaving a trail of mayhem in my wake.

"You knew this entire time?" I croaked, swallowing the pitchy fear in my voice. "For centuries? Why wait? Why attack me now?"

"As the former baron would say, patience is its own reward. It was my hubris and hasty plans that led to my downfall against Beelzebub. After such a massacre, I swore I'd never lose to a devil again. With the life and blood and essence of a phony devil, I won't have to worry about that."

Eligos lunged ahead, snatching me by the collar, and dragging me into a void of his making, a hidden layer of Diabolic essence circulating throughout the villa, allowing him fast travel anywhere and everywhere unseen.

This was unlike any demon-void world I'd entered before, with the pitch blackness illuminated by trickling comets in the background of this secret shadowed space. The flaming rocks burned in an array of luminescent colors, a rainbow of fiery destruction using Fae magics that further amplified his cloaking. No wonder I couldn't detect Eligos' presence when I arrived or pinpoint anything in the villa. He used the exact magics the baron used.

A fist rocked against my jaw, cracking the bone before disappearing into the darkness of the void. Light shimmered against the armored suit, where the helmet lay abandoned next to the empty suit. Here, in a world of Eligos' making, he favored skirting the shadowed walls of his reality in his own skin, which would make him even faster.

I gripped my jaw and wiggled it back and forth until the throbbing passed, and the healing began. Quickly, I manifested my essence, circulating it around my forearms and shins once again in preparation for his next assault.

A flurry of strikes hit me from every direction. By the time I'd memorized the pattern, Eligos had vanished back into the darkness once again. I reprioritized my essence to healing since guarding seemed utterly impossible in his world. Next thing I knew, something whipped me dead center in my back, breaking a vertebra. A heavy foot collided with the back of my knee to further assist in knocking me down. Then balled-up tendrils hit me in the stomach before lifting up and uppercutting my jaw. I spun through the air, all my bearings lost, my jaw refractured, and seeing only stars. Granted, the stars of Fae magic, but those blows really had left me dazed.

I had to escape. Eligos had the advantage in this void realm. He already possessed more combat skills. Add to that the fact his essence flowed strongly while mine still waned. My exposed secret offered no reprieve from this battle, only a revelation the valiant knight made a goal to bring me down all the same—since he saw me as nothing more than a devious demon playing the role of a devil.

Truthfully, was I anything more than that?

Exhaling a deep breath, I released my fear. I couldn't allow him to win. Whatever he had planned for me, for the fragment of devil essence I carried, I had to prevent.