THIRTEEN: DEVIL

  Wicked mana spun free of the baton as the old creature smiled wider, teeth dulled by age. Its measured shaking stopped for a moment and in response both of the assassin's chests glowed brightly through their clothes. More runes, angry red light spilled free of them as they leapt back. They threw their heads back and yowled as the smell of brimstone and burning fur filled the air.

  “Kill them now!” Lucilia ordered. Both of the assassins moved before anyone could land a blow, running with preternatural speed as they dodged swords and spears. The moved through the crowd of monsters as if they knew where the beasts would be, never once hindered as the glow of runes brightened even further. The backyard became nearly as bright as dawn as the creatures continued to yowl.

  Bone cracked, loud as thunder as the screams stopped. Blood burst from both of their chests as the assassins folded on themselves as the runes projected outward, lights searing the world as they connected above the mass of imps. The horde screeched in terror as a vacuum was created, air howling toward where the light of the runes met.

  Lucilia and Vira both tried to get closer to the two dying killers, but imps threw themselves at them in a constant wave. In the center of the formation the smallest of the imps was sucked off the ground, hit the nexus of the two runes and disappeared with a wet squelch. Blood and guts showered over the rest, but the gale grew stronger.

  “We need to run,” Cassius whispered, his instincts screamed at him. Whatever this was, it was dangerous and he wanted nothing to do with it.

  “I agree with the kid, time to go,” Marcus said, suddenly by his shoulder. Cassius tore his eyes away from the nexus point of the runes and back over the patio. The Agricola nobles had killed the last of the pale worms, leaving a path to retreat.

  “Not without orders,” Pius said, stopping them both in their tracks. Hostus stepped past them, sword dripping blood as he slowly shook his head. He whispered something that nobody heard, the words snatched away by the growing gale of wind. When nobody moved, Hostus turned to look at the line, eyes wide with fear.

  “RUN!” the attendant roared, so loud that even those at the front of the lines turned briefly to look.

  Cassius stood rooted to the spot as a rip opened in the air, harsh light bled across the world as the screaming wind increased, whipping around the buildings and growing in strength as larger and larger imps were picked up and thrown into the portal. Any who hit a side of the tear in space split apart cleaner than any sword blow. Cassius watched as a harsh plain was revealed. Heat crept free of the portal, baking the air and turned the cool night into an oven.

  A figure ducked through the portal, landing heavily on the ground. An imp screamed as armored boots crushed its body into the muddy ground. The portal snapped shut instantly, the withered corpses of the two assassins collapsing in heaps as the figure looked around at all that surrounded it.

  Cassius swallowed hard as his body trembled. The creature was twelve feet tall and bare chested, gray-blue skin packed with muscle. Chains wrapped around its four arms, barbs dug into its skin, constantly twisting and tightening, black blood rolled free to drip down into the field. A wide maw of jagged, broken teeth gaped open, strands of flesh still wedged in the gaps. It shook its head back and forth and inhaled deeply through the slits on its face where its nose should have been.

  From each of its four hands massive hooks swayed, attached to the chains that were wedged into its skin. There were no eyes, just a bulbous lump of bone where the eyes should have been, straggly strands of hair stitched into its scalp. Cassius retched as he realized they were scalps, scalps that had been stitched into the devil’s own scalp.

  “Feast,” the summoner whispered in the still night. Its leathery voice was hardly loud enough to be heard but the devil reacted instantly. All four of the hooks spun out, three grabbing legionnaires, but one snagged an imp as well. Before anyone could react, the chains retracted with the sound of tearing flesh and Cassius screamed as a man was folded in half and stuffed into the creature's open maw. Bone, metal, and wood crunched as the man screamed for a brief moment before the devil bit down again.

  The other impaled legionnaires cried out, struggling on the hooks that had caught them. Cruel iron held them without fail, no matter how they twisted and shook, the hooks held tight. Cassius gagged as he watched as Lucilia, Vira, and two more armored nobles strode forward without fear. Another legionnaire was eaten in crushing bites, the empty hook falling to swing back and forth.

  “Run,” Hostus hissed as he betrayed his own words, surging forward with his sword raised up. Legion lines started to reform as the back of the imp swarm was broken. Nearly half the century was gone, either dead or dragged to the back to be tended too, but they didn’t break.

  “Form…form line,” Marcus sputtered, as if he couldn’t believe the words coming from his own mouth. Cassius looked around himself, desperation banging wildly in his mind. Instinct told him to run, to run and never look back again. Fear and horror clung to his spine, his guts, his heart, his mind. It stole reason from him, suffocated him, but his feet still moved him forward as legionnaires shouted, their resolve not broken.

  More horns sounded as the devil swung its wide head back and forth, eating the imp in a single bite before swallowing noisily. It tilted its head down toward the line of warriors who scarcely passed its stomach and rumbled, body shaking as the chains began to dance as it lifted the last thrashing legionnaire to its mouth.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Lucilia blurred forward, burning gladius striking and carving a long line along a muscular thigh. The devil smiled down at her as it bit the legionnaire in half, showering her in the woman’s blood. Her screams cut off as it flipped the rest of her into its overly wide mouth, threw its head back, and swallowed.

  “DAMN YOU!” Lucilia screamed, rage and fear in equal measure as she hacked and cut. More and more of the devil's blood flowed out of the long wounds, but it didn’t slow it down as its chains spun around. Vira lept up and rammed her sword into the creature’s stomach, burying half of the sword there as she dangled for a moment before the blade snapped off at the hilt. She landed in a clatter just as the chains rocketed from the creature’s hands and snagged fresh prey.

  The man in front of Cassius screamed as forearm thick hooks punched through him. Blood misted and covered Cassius’ face before the man was yanked away, drug to the devil’s waiting hand. Cassius stepped forward even without his shield as the lines of the legion closed the distance to the devil. Spears jabbed at it as the champions ran around its back, hacking at the tendons and knee to try to bring it to the ground.

  It continued to rumble even as a single leg folded, the ground shaking as it hit the earth. One legionnaire ate, then a second in short order. Cassius saw the wounds that Lucilia had made slowly start closing shut as the monster ate.

  “It heals as it eats!” Cassius screamed, the cry picked up over the lines as spears bounced off the dense muscle. A few used [Thrust] which helped pierce its hide, but the damage was so little, the equivalent of bugs biting a man.

  “FOR THE LEGION!” It was a haunting call, wrath pulled forth and shaped by devotion. Centurion Lucilia Durum leapt and grabbed a dangling hook, pulling herself into the waiting hand of the devil who grasped her gently. Cries of horror rose up as efforts were redoubled. Hostus screamed and leapt at the devil, his blade a blur as he stabbed and slashed along the creature’s exposed side.

  Cassius felt the wave of rage burn away everything else, red tinted his vision as he ran with his gladius outstretched. The rest of the line broke as legionnaires crashed upon the giant; armored men and women leaping up and grabbing appendaged, determined to drag the beast down.

  An empty hand waved in front of Cassius and he jumped, grabbing a thick finger with his free hand. Pulling himself across the creature’s wide hand, Cassius leapt to its long forearm and balanced there like it was a tree limb.

  Above him Lucilia had managed to reach the devil’s shoulders and stood with her feet spread apart as she reared back. Mana spun around her blade, once, then twice as its fire redoubled. Her body jerked forward just like when one used [Thrust]. Her blade plunged all the way to the hilt in the creature’s thick skull plate and for once the wide smile disappeared as the maw snapped shut.

  Lucilia twisted the blade before she put her boot on the skull and pulled the blade free in a spurt of blood as she staggered off the shoulder and fell to the ground. Cassius was climbing even as Lucilia fell, his free hand grabbing the next arm and hauling himself up, feet scrabbling over the devil’s torso. His toes found a barb on the coiled chain and he cursed as he felt something stab him, but adrenaline thundered through him as he raced up toward the wound in the beast’s head.

  It rose in a smooth motion as its mouth opened right as Cassius passed by it. The stench was enough to make him stagger, but he kept his balance as he rose up and looked at the weeping wound that Lucilia had carved in its skull. Already he could see the skin and bone knitting together.

  “STAB IT!” Marcus’ voice rose from the din as Cassius drew back and activated [Thrust]. The last whispers of mana depleted as he lunged, the triangular tip of the gladius piercing through the wound and tearing a wider gash through its head. Cassius became weightless, flung in a single instance as the devil shook its head. Its wide chains began to scythe through the air as it thrashed back and forth, killing men indiscriminately rather than bringing them back to be eaten.

  “Oh,” the word hardly left his lips before he crashed back to the ground, air pushed from his lungs. Something cracked as he landed and he lay there, mouth open as he stared at the devil as it twisted back and forth, trying to reach up for his buried gladius.

  Long moments stretched out as Cassius tried to draw a breath in, but his lungs refused to cooperate. Hostus was the next to scale the monster, limber as he crawled up the thrashing limbs and wedged his own sword into the creature’s head. A rumble echoed out of the devil, a shaking cry that grew as the air shook.

  Finally his lungs drew in air and Cassius groaned in pain as his body exploded with pain from his hard landing. He raised himself up and saw his twisted ankle, the foot pointing the wrong way.

  “What?” he asked confusedly, not understanding.

  “You broke your ankle,” Pius said as his comrades ran up to him. Marcus and Pius each grabbed a shoulder and pulled him, ignoring Cassius’ screams as his leg jostled.

  “Agricola is going next,” Valeria said as they dragged Cassius up the steps of the patio, the jostling worsening the pain until Cassius’ eyes blurred and whited out.

  “Ouch,” someone said. Cassius panted as he tried to control himself, propped against the wall of the manor as his file mates stood on the edge as they watched the nobleman get his arm ripped free between the inhumanly strong fingers of the devil.

  “Centurion is down,” Marcus whispered, pointing a finger to where Hostus was dragging a limp Lucilia Durum away from the fight. Other brave men and women followed her stead, climbing the demon and stabbing it as the horns continued to blare out, rattling the air from somewhere behind the manor.

  “Vira?” Cassius asked between heaving breaths. He didn’t see her distinct armor for several long moments.

  “There,” Marcus said, pointing off to the side of the long lawn where a knot of riders cantered around the house, lances lowered.

  “Bout time they got mounted,” Pius grumbled. Cassius didn’t say anything as he watched the charge, mana built up upon the tip of the long weapons as the nobles raced across the grounds in seconds. Legionnaires and a single Agricola jumped off the devil right as the lancers hit the devil.

  The air exploded in fury as the devil was torn in half, body thrown above the low wall and out to sea. It happened quickly enough that Cassius had to blink to be sure he had seen it correctly, the monster fully slain.

  Chain Devil of Gluttony

  Level Fourteen

  Information: Restricted

  “It’s dead. I got the kill notification,” Cassius said slowly. The others nodded as the battle ended as suddenly as it had begun. The old withered summoner had disappeared, no new imps rose up over the wall, and the kidnapped villagers had been eaten by the other bugs.

  “Let’s get Cassius to the [Medicus],” Marcus said and the others nodded as the survivors of the fight slowly just sat down in the bloody mud of the fight, silent as they tried to understand what it was they’d just fought.