The demon and the angel he was taunting both froze, as the lower half of the demon’s leg crashed to the ground. The angel cocked his head in confusion, while the demon turned to level a glare at me. A red glow enveloped both the demon and his leg, and I cursed as the leg reattached itself to the body. The small bit of health he had lost didn’t recover, but creatures that you can’t cripple are damn annoying.

“Inkler! They’ll heal crippling attacks!” I yelled out, hoping he would understand.

“[Hellfire bolt].” The demon spoke, sending a burning ball of black and red flames in my direction. I ducked behind a stone pedestal, glad for the cover. “Just effing great. I can’t cripple them, and their spells can track me.” I muttered as stone chips flew past my head. “I officially hate this quest.” I rolled out of my hiding spot, charging in to see the demon harassing the angel again. Well, if they were going to ignore me that just makes my life easier. “[Reality slash].” I again targeted his knee, taking some damage in return as I couldn’t quite avoid the counter with the demon’s blade.

“Foolish mortal. I will enjoy tormenting your soul for eternity.” The demon promised in a gravelly voice, again enveloping himself in the red glow. Unfortunately for the demon, I had mystic vision activated and could see the magics origin point, a familiar hexagon shape right where the heart would be on a normal human.

“[Mana shockwave].” Before the leg could completely reattach, I had closed the distance and smashed the crystal. A look of shock flashed through the demon’s eyes, as his health bar immediately disappeared and his body crumpled to the ground.

“Why mortal?” I heard the angel ask.

“Not now, we have 9 more to kill! Get your brethren to fight defensively, I’ll go through and take out the demons.” I ordered, already heading to the demon that Inkler was distracting. Once again, the demon ignored me. It was easily following Inkler, something the cat seemed to realize and dropped his invisibility.

“I’ve not seen a beast like you before. Perhaps I’ll just capture you and use you for breeding. Hellhounds that can turn invisible would be incredibly useful.” The demon taunted Inkler. “[Stone cage].” With a twist of his wrist, curved spears of stone erupted from the ground surrounding Inkler. He used a reality slash to escape, surprising the demon. “You can use shadow magic as well? I’ll definitely be keeping yo-.” His words cut off with a grunt as my arbalest bolt took him in the chest.

“Nobody’s taking my friend.” I snarled as his lifeless body dropped to the ground. “You ok Inkler? It looks like they all have the same weak point. We’ll alternate, taking out the leg joints. I can deliver the fatal blow as they reattach their limbs.” Inkler chuffed his agreement, and we continued moving around the circle.

No matter how strong and durable the demons were, once their weakness was exposed they were simple to dispatch. When reattaching limbs, they were forced to remain immobile allowing me to strike their cores with impunity. They were also absorbed with their own battles, completely ignoring how swiftly we were cutting down their allies.

“Thank you, mortal, for your timely aid.” An injured angel spoke after the last demon fell, though it looked rather troubled. “I must ask though, why a monster race would be helping out the light?”

“The simple answer is that I got a quest for it. The longer answer? I figure that you all are slaves down here. I know Lucifer has been feasting upon light beings for a while, and that if he hadn’t eaten some light beings they would be trapped.”

“So you would free us?”

“You would be free soon anyway if I’m successful. Thanatos has tasked me with killing Lucifer.” I shrugged.

“At long last, our prayers will be answered.” He sniffled, taking a moment to compose himself. “If you seek to end Lucifer, then you will need our aid in taking down this demon lord. He holds one of the keys to accessing the manor.”

“I’ll gladly take all the help I can get. What can you tell me about him?”

*Crack* As I spoke, a massive crack appeared across the chest of the demon, and a panicked angel cried, “Hurry Elatru, the seal weakens as we speak!”

“There’s not time! Bifrons is his name. He can switch between stone and spirit, striking from either form for devastating effect. We can force him to remain in this world, allowing you to battle him.”

“Good enough. Make sure to keep the circle clear, and don’t interfere. I’ll take him down.” I promised, heading toward the statue. Taller than me, it had a zweihander and looked like it would be wielding it in one hand. Wonderful, that had to equate to an insane strength. Mystic vision revealed not one core, but five arranged in a pentagram around a sixth, central core. It didn’t bother with armor, seemingly content with a pair of ragged pants and a belt. There were three horns in its head, and when I finally crossed the inner circle there was an explosion of stone shards. Standing for the first time in who knows how long, it took a second to crack its neck and shoulders a few times.

Bifrons

Demon Duke

Level 80

Bifrons. A powerful demon duke, he is known as the Two Faced. While most would focus on his incredible physical strength, Bifrons can also enter the spiritual plane and launch devastating attacks upon the soul.

“Oh, it is so good to be free of that cursed seal. And there are so many angels here waiting to sate my appetite. How very thoughtful of you.”

“Mortal.” One of the angels behind me hissed. “Bifrons is far too strong for us, even weakened from being sealed. We can force him to remain in the physical realm, but it will only last for a half hour. You must destroy him within that time.”

“What’s this? Have you angels finally realized you stand no chance against me and hope to appease me with a sacrifice?” As the demon smiled, I flipped up my arbalest and fired at one of the outer cores, shattering it and getting a grunt from the creature. “HA! HAHAHAHA! The look on your face is priceless mortal! Did you really expect to take down a duke of Hell with a single shot?” The demon cackled at me, as I stared at the lack of damage. It took maybe ten percent health damage, but that was it. Magic from the other stones flowed back and filled the void, and the formation was repaired within seconds.

“Not good.” I muttered as the demon dropped down off of his pedestal.

“And now for your punishment. I think I’ll start with a few strikes to your soul.” Bifrons gave an evil smile as a light blue glow enveloped him. Just as an ethereal form started to shift out of his body, red chains fired out from each of the weaponless angels, binding the blue form to his physical form. “EVEN NOW YOU DARE TO BIND ME!” He howled in rage, struggling against the chains.

“[Oblivion sphere][Dark bolt][Light bolt][Lance of light].” I fired the series of spells at him, aiming for the middle of his body. Distracted by the chains, each of the spells struck true, taking off another ten percent of his health.

“Insolent mortal! [Underworld strike].” The demon cried, slashing at me with his blade that now glowed a dark red. His blows were easily read, and parrying wasn’t too hard, but the force of his blows and the length of his weapon kept me from properly counterattacking. “I do hope you aren’t waiting for my stamina to deplete.” He said, lunging forward and forcing me back. I felt my back strike a pedestal, and desperately tried to find a way to evade or parry that wouldn’t involve taking a massive critical hit when a stone blade flashed over my head, deflecting the sword.

“Go mortal!” The angel hissed, as Bifrons retaliated with a hellfire bolt to his chest.

“Wait your turn ange – AAAAH!”

“[Dancing shadow steps][Keen edge].” I immediately teleported behind the demon and delivered a slash down his spine, causing him to cry out in pain. He recovered swiftly, but his horizontal backhanded slice only cut the air where I used to be as I teleported away.

“You will pay for that.” He promised, eyes glowing red. “[Demonic boost].” Wary of his skill, I was woefully unprepared as he sped forward and punched me in the chest, sending me flying across the circle and slamming into the pedestal he originally occupied. “And now we end this.” He said, suddenly in front of me again.

“[Binding shadow chains]!” My spell caught him with both arms above his head, ready to split me in two with a massive overhead strike. Climbing to my feet in a hurry, I activated another skill. “[Rocket slash].” I angled my attack so that two of the smaller cores were shattered, and whatever the massive source in the middle was took a portion of the attack as well.

“GYAAAAAAAH!” Bifrons screamed in agony, his health dropping from 75% down to 40% with that attack. “[Vorpal slash]!” His attack slashed diagonally across my chest, taking out half my health with one attack. I stumbled away, rolling along the side of the pedestal as we both stared at each other. “To think I would be so diminished by the seal that a mere mortal could hurt me to this extent.” He muttered, panting. “The other dukes will never let me live this down. [Demon lord’s essence][Vitality drain][Retaliation of the Nine Hells].” Activating several spells, I watched in horror as the demon’s muscles swelled. His skin darkened, though several cracks glowed an ominous red. A thin ribbon of red flowed not only from my chest, but from the chests of all of the inner ring of angels as well, slowly healing Bifrons. His sword turned an ashen gray with a vibrant green glow coating the edge.

“[Death’s Raiments].” I activated all of the skills of Thanatos, incredibly glad that Inkler and I had slept beneath the river the other night, giving me enough time for the cooldown to finish. Staring at the now paralyzed demon, I was confused as there was no soul well. With nothing else to go on, I struck as hard as I could at the swirl of mana at the center of the pentagram, burying my scythe blade in his body up to the weapon’s shaft. Shoving with my shoulder, I gave a massive jerk downwards as he stumbled backward, slicing through his stomach.

“Wha? What is this?” He weakly asked, as mana poured out from the wound. The initial blow took his life down below ten percent, and I watched his health bar plummet as he desperately tried to hold in the mana leaking from his wound. “[Undead attraction].” With his final act, he pointed a finger at me and launched a bolt of pure black that struck me in the chest.

Danger!

As a final act of spite for his slayer, Bifrons has cursed you with Undead attraction! Any undead creature within 15 feet of you will immediately select you as priority target. Damage received from undead creatures increased by 50%. Stealth skills against undead creatures are 95% less effective.

Duration: 24 hours

“By Pelor, he did it. He actually did it!” One of the angels cried, as they all started cheering. I walked forward and looted the demon, wondering what he had in store for me. Two normal cores and three cracked mana cores as well as something called cindered demon skin were less than useless to me, though there were two items that I did like.

Mansion Seal part (1 of 5)

Quest item

A portion of the key required to access the mansion of Lucifer.

Hungering vorpal blade

Unique zweihander

Forged in the depths of hell, this blade ignores armor as it seeks to devour the life of its foes.

Damage: 1250-1750

Durability: 50,000/50,000

Vorpal strike: Once per hour can activate a vorpal strike. Attack does 175% damage and ignores all armor.

Hungering: Boosts any drain abilities of the user by 50%

Vorpal: 20% chance to ignore 75% armor per strike

The quest piece was rather simple. The bottom third of a shield, it was simply a field of green. The sword. The sword was beautiful. Two handed, it held a ruby in the pommel. The cross guard was unadorned, but the wave design of the blade looked absolutely vicious. The metal itself was a dark grey, with blue patterns of concentric circles. Between these circles that were randomly scattered were lines of the blue metal, giving the blade the look of rain on a lake.

“We thank you for freeing us, mortal. Before we return to Pelor’s side, is there anything we may do to aid you?” One of the angels asked as it approached me.

“Pelor? I want nothing to do with that bastard.” I snarled, shocking the angel who immediately backpedaled.

“Apologies! We have been sealed here for far too long, and know nothing of what is happening in this world. Why do you hate Pelor?”

“It’s a long story.” I said, not wanting to go through all the details. “Let’s just say that Pelor had some of his followers attack the city I live in. They were supposed to kill the city guard from the inside, but the only one they killed was an innkeeper. A friend of mine.”

Several of the angels hissed at this, while others hid their faces in their hands. “I… I’m sorry. We all hear the truth of your words, though it is hard to reconcile with the god we served so long ago. For what it’s worth, you have our sympathy.” He said, keeping his distance as he eyed my clenched fist.

“Thanks.” I said after a few seconds, releasing a breath I had been holding. “A part of me realizes that you had no hand in what occurred, sealed here as you have been, but a much larger part of me doesn’t care. If you can point me to the next creature that I’ll have to kill to obtain the manor keys, I would appreciate it. After that, I think it would be best you left.” As I spoke, an invisible head knocked my hand up and onto the top of it, demanding attention.

“Yes.” The angel replied after a second. “That building over there.” Pointing behind me, I turned to see a building the size of a small backyard shed. “The entrance to Lucifer’s mausoleum. In there you will find the next guardian, though we don’t know what sort of monster it is.”

“Thanks. Farewell, and if at all possible I suggest you find another god or goddess to work for.”

“We have much to think about, thank you mortal.” As I started walking toward the mausoleum, I saw flashes of light behind me as I assumed the angels left. Five levels stronger from just the one fight, I crossed the white fence that encircled the building as I strode up to the door. Time to see what lurked below.