The leader of the city guards, Commander Medina, raised his hand to signal that Belphegor was where we wanted him to be. In response, three flares were shot up into the sky. The darkness of the night receded, and the hills shone as if at noon.

“The mages will make their move now,” Rick said.

As Belphegor screeched and advanced, many magic circles appeared at the foot of the hills. The mages recited incantations in unison, and hundreds of fireballs flew across the sky. The flames hit their target, and Belphegor’s ugly face was hidden behind a veil of smoke.

“It is futile, mortals,” Belphegor’s voice said. “I will not leave this world until I have claimed a hundred cities as my own.”

He reappeared as if nothing had happened, and I was growing impatient.

“When will it be our turn to attack?” I looked at Rick.

“We have to wait.”

Another round of fireballs battered Belphegor, but the Lord of Demons continued forward as if nothing had happened. Our efforts looked like pointless resistance, and I imagined Faust sneering at us.

“So, this is your plan,” Demetrius suddenly said.

“What? What’s the plan?” I turned to look at him.

“You have sharp eyes, Professor Zahr,” Rick said.

“What are you two talking about?”

Demetrius pointed at the foot of the hills. I looked there again, but all I could see were the mages who launched the fireballs. Belphegor was immune to their attacks, but they were diligently firing one round after the other. What’s so special about them? I took a closer look before I realized that some of the mages weren’t attacking: some were standing still with magic circles under their feet.

“What are they doing?” I asked.

“You’ll see soon,” Demetrius smiled impishly.

Belphegor emerged from behind another cloud of smoke. He began to descend the hill, and his eyes searched for the mages. “I will crush every one of you. It is useless to struggle, mortals!” Another round of fireballs was shot at him, but he ignored this attack like the others. When the new smoke cleared, however, he found his arms and legs tied in chains.

“The fireballs were a distraction, Lance,” Rick said. “It’s all part of our plan.”

Belphegor pulled and tried to free himself, but the mages were resolute, and their chains were sturdy and numerous. They couldn’t tie Belphegor up forever, but they had the upper hand for now.

“Archers!” Commander Medina shouted.

Groups of archers stepped forward, raised their longbows, and released flaming arrows. Like a late-night drizzle, the arrows fell from the sky on Belphegor’s body. They pierced his arms and torso and burned his skin.

“And here comes the finale,” Rick said.

The chains started pulling Belphegor down. He roared and planted his feet firmly on the ground, but the mages pumped more of their magic into the metal. The chains shone with a green light and sent him flying against his will. He slid downhill, uprooting the plants and carving a path in the mud.

“Charge!” Commander Medina shouted.

The ground troops advanced: the city guards raised their spears and swords; Demetrius chanted incantations as he ran; Rick dragged his war hammer; and I dashed with my sword. As a cloud of dust dispersed, we arrived at Belphegor’s fallen body.

“Cut it into pieces!” Commander Medina shouted.

But I had something different in mind. I climbed onto Belphegor’s back. The ghosts aren’t appearing, and things are so much better than I expected. I raced past Belphegor’s wings. But that man won’t stand idly and watch. I know what he’ll do. I know how he’ll think in this situation.

“Faust!” I lunged at him, only for my sword to hit his magical barrier. “I knew exactly where to find you.”

He was standing on Belphegor’s back, and the light of several magic circles had been shining around him. If I hadn’t interrupted him, he would’ve fired at the mages who kept Belphegor chained.

“You never lose your calm. You always look for the best course of action.” I attacked again. “But it’s time to give up. You lost.”

My sword hit his barrier. Then he jumped backward and looked at me in dismay. Sweat was sliding down his forehead as he said, “What are you doing here? I sent you to the Seventh Labyrinth… You died. This is nonsense.”

“I’ve come back to haunt you.” I grinned as Demetrius and Rick arrived to support me. “You’re weak and outnumbered.”

“It is always the guild. Every wretched moment of my life!” Faust placed his hands on Belphegor’s body, from which demonic ghosts emerged. “Send him back where he belongs!”

The demons attacked, but I raised my left hand and erased the threat.

“What happened?” Faust summoned more demons out of Belphegor’s body. “Do your job, you useless fiends!”

“We can do this all day.” I absorbed the attackers again.

“This power…” Faust gulped nervously. “No… This is why you made it back. You are one of the Kenos Vir.”

“Yeah, your demons won’t help you,” I said.

“I… No, Belphegor is on my side.” Faust raised his hands at the level of his chest. Two magic circles appeared, and serpents rushed out of them. “I will not be defeated!”

“Rick.”

“Let’s do this, Lance.”

While Demetrius stayed behind to chant a spell, Rick and I confronted the two serpents. They sprung at us with open fangs, but we didn’t give them a chance to bite us. I chopped the first snake’s head off while Rick crushed the other under his war hammer.

Faust summoned more serpents and continued to back away, but neither Rick nor I relented. My sword cut through one head after the other, and Rick’s war hammer crushed even more snakes under its weight. After a few seconds, Faust was within my reach.

“None of your cheap tricks will help you this time!” I struck Faust’s magical barrier. Then Rick jumped high from behind me and hammered it. It cracked but didn’t shatter.

“Out of the way!” Demetrius said.

He had finished one of his intricate incantations and summoned a pair of giant chains. Using magic to control them, he whipped at Faust with ridiculous strength. After two lashes, the cracks in the barrier ran longer and deeper. Then the third lash finally broke it into countless fragments. Faust dodged sideways at the last second and fell pitifully on the ground.

“It’s not over. Not over. Azuria is near.” He scrambled to his feet. “You cannot win against me; I have a god on my side!”

“Last time I checked, Belphegor was a demon.” I lunged at him.

“He answered my prayers!”

Faust’s hand glowed, and he tried to grab my weapon. I stopped my attack halfway through and cleared the way for Rick to strike with his war hammer. Knowing that he couldn’t melt the entire hammer, Faust jumped backward and avoided the deadly blow.

“Reinfried and Marie are alive, and your cult is almost destroyed,” I said. “Why are you still fighting? The whole world is your enemy. You won’t find peace wherever you go.”

“The guild robbed me of peace long ago. I will destroy Azuria and die in its ruins!”

Faust dashed forward and released two serpents. Rick and I cut them into pieces, but then we realized that they had been only a distraction. Keeping us busy with the snakes, Faust made it past us and headed for Demetrius.

“Professor, watch out!” Rick said.

Was Faust aiming for Demetrius all along? No, something else is going on.

When the two mages—Faust and Zahr—were about to meet head-to-head, Belphegor began to shake, creating a dizzying wave. Faust ran past Demetrius, sent a serpent to bite Belphegor’s shoulder, and used the slithery body to pull himself up. He had realized before all of us that the chains that tied Belphegor were breaking. The monster was standing up again.

“I need no allies. I need no peace,” Fause shouted. “I will step on you like the insects you are. You will die under the feet of this god.”

Demetrius, Rick, and I started falling, rolling off Belphegor’s back.

“Faust!” I shouted, planted my sword into Belphegor’s flesh, and tried to stay on his back. “You’ll never reach Azuria!”

Demetrius fell toward me. He caught my foot and dangled in the air.

“If we stay like this, we’ll be vulnerable to attacks,” Demetrius said. “Remove your sword, Lance. We should get to the ground.”

“He’ll get away!”

“This battle isn’t over,” Demetrius said, letting go of my foot.

After a moment of hesitation, I saw that my sword was already coming off and surrendered to the fall.

***

I found myself in the middle of bedlam. Belphegor was breaking free, and the mages struggled to control him. He was pulling their chains and tossing them away. They tried to increase their control over him, but their spells were either late or ineffectual.

The ground troops watched the mages’ failure and began to panic.

“We’re done for!”

“We have to retreat!”

“We’re going to die here!”

Standing in the middle of the desperate crowd, I said, “What are we going to do now?”

“I don’t know,” Rick said. “We thought the chains would be enough.”

“Well, have you ever considered a Plan B?”

“Commander Medina said his ambush didn’t need a Plan B.”

Noblemen and their pride… I sighed.

Chaos took over the battlefield, and the ground troops began to run for their lives. Demetrius, Rick, and I were no exception. After we retreated some distance, Belphegor broke the last chain. He reached for the mages and crushed them in his fists. His rampage was unstoppable, and corpses piled at his feet.

“The mages need help.” I stopped and looked at the city guards around me. “We need to do something before they’re wiped out.”

“I can’t send the city guards to die. It’ll scar my name,” Commander Medina said, standing a few steps to my left. “We tried everything, but black fumes erupt from the Aberration’s wounds. They heal its injuries and make my men pass out.”

Have we exhausted all our options?

One of the mages was flung into the air and landed dead on a rock.

Is there nothing we can do to stop this?

Another mage was crushed beneath Belphegor’s foot.

There must be a way out.

“Lance,” Demetrius said, “we’ve got to move.”

Belphegor was finished with the mages, who either fled to the hills or surrendered to death. He was now heading toward us to repeat the carnage. He would surround us, wave his arms, toss us in the air, and crush us in the end.

“Divide yourselves into smaller units and disperse!” Commander Medina shouted. “While the Aberration chases one group, the others can escape. There’s no time! Move!”

The ground troops began to disperse, forming random groups that ranged in size from only five people to around twenty. Demetrius and I decided to follow Commander Medina, since his group was the closest to us, but Rick chose to head in a different direction.

“Rick, where are you going?” I said.

“I’ll join the adventurers. I recruited them for this fight.”

“They can survive on their own. Come back here!”

“Sorry, Lance. You have Demetrius to take care of you, but they have no one. We will rejoin you later.”

“When will you stop being so stubborn?” I shouted but to no avail.

“He can take care of himself, Lance,” Demetrius said. “Come on, we don’t have much time.”

Unable to argue, I reluctantly parted with Rick. Demetrius and I followed Commander Medina’s group. We were running for the hills and hoping to join forces with the remaining mages there. Every step brought us closer to safety. Every step was indispensable for our survival. But we knew that we also needed an amount of luck.

“It’s working! Bless the Heart of Mana!” Commander Medina said. “The Aberration is chasing another group! Ha-ha!”

Demetrius and I turned to look behind. It was true. Belphegor was pursuing another group, a decoy that was randomly chosen. I should’ve felt relieved like the commander. I should’ve been thankful that Belphegor was walking away. But I was filled with horror. I stopped in my tracks and forced Demetrius to stop too. My eyes widened, and my heart hammered against my chest. It was Rick’s group that was being pursued. It was Rick’s group that had been chosen as the scapegoat.