Sorry for the wait. Wasn't happy with the first draft so had to do some rereading of their last encounter with Karlac to get the details right. Hope you like the chapter!
Hump gazed up at the Karlac with tired eyes. He wasn’t exactly surprised that Karlac had come for them, but he was disappointed.
They’d been too slow.
And now they had a devil to deal with.
“Karlac,” Hump said. “I really wanted a few moments before you arrived.”
Karlac’s smile tightened, faintly amused. “I’m sure you did. A final breath before the noose tightens.” His gaze drifted lazily over them. “There is nobody to help you here. The Three Eyes cannot reach this place. No gods. No saviours.” His lips curled. “Just us.”
Hump frowned at that, and Karlac caught it instantly.
“Oh, did you not know?” he taunted. “You’ve come all this way to Heaven, yet still the gods do not speak to you. They do not greet you.” His good eye burned brighter. “You’re alone, Bearer of Infinity. And now you are mine.”
“You talk like you’ve already won,” Celaine said, stepping forward slightly. “Last time we met, it didn’t end so well for you.”
Karlac went still. Slowly, his gaze shifted to her, hatred in his eyes. “Nobody will save you this time. I have thought of that moment often. Your tricks cost my eye, and it will be many years before it is whole again, but it will be whole. I will show you before your punishment is done.”
Bud stepped forward, placing himself between them. “You’re forgetting about the rest of us. You’ve made a mistake coming here alone.”
Karlac glanced at him, dismissive at first, only to pause. His brow furrowed.
“Child of—” He tilted his head, studying him. “No…” His smile returned, wider now. “You have forsaken Kelisia.” His words dripped with delight. “You are Fallen.”
Bud’s jaw tightened. “I am still a knight.”
Karlac laughed, the sound echoing through the hollow city. “Oh, but it is different now. The doubt. The hollowness. You feel it, don’t you? That absence. The silent pit where your goddess once made you whole.”
Bud didn’t answer.
“Is that why you’re here?” Karlac continued softly. “To beg answers from empty temples?”
His gaze flicked away, bored already. “Go, then. Pray. Scream. It makes no difference to me.” He waved a hand dismissively. “I am not here for you.” His eyes returned to Hump and Celaine. “I am here for them.”
“Why would we leave when you have served yourself to us?” Bud asked. “I may no longer be a Chosen of Kelisia, but that does not change what I stand for.”
Karlac’s smile sharpened. “My offer will only last so long.”
“Why are you here, Karlac?” Hump cut in.
He already knew, but time mattered. It gave them a chance to compose themselves. To prepare for the inevitable fight. A part of Hump thought the gods might even arrive to help them, but that was clearly not something he could rely on. Karlac was right—he didn’t sense them at all.
Karlac inhaled slowly, savouring the moment. “For you,” he said. “For the book. And for your staff.” His gaze dropped to it, hunger flickering behind his eyes. “It is different to before. You carry something possessing a power that I have not sensed in a long time. Where did you get it?”
“You don’t need to know that.”
The devil paused, then let out a sigh that seemed like genuine disappointment. “You will speak in time.” His expression shifted—something almost gentle, almost regretful. “You and I are going to become very well acquainted.”
Then his composure broke. His face twisted into a cruel, inhuman smile. His hollow eye fixed on Hump, unblinking. “There is a world of pain waiting for you, Wizard.” His gaze slid to Celaine. “And for you, Huntress. I have been so looking forward to it.”
He spread his arms, addressing the others as one would an audience. “As for the rest of you, I am feeling generous. Give them to me—the wizard, the girl, and the dragon. In return , you will live. You walk freely. “Refuse…” Karlac’s voice dropped. The air grew heavier. “And I will show you what pain truly is.” His eye gleamed. “There will be no third chance. This is the limit of my mercy. There will be no quick deaths.”
He looked at Hump. Waiting. Enjoying it.
“Now choose,” Karlac said softly.
Hump clenched his jaw but hid his fear. Fear was his enemy. The worst thing he could do was show Karlac that he was afraid. The truth was… while Karlac was weaker than Godfrey, he was still a demon with strength equivalent to the eighth rank. One who could not only manifest his soul but project his Soul Domain.
“My choice was made long ago,” Bud declared, drawing his sword with the scrape of steel. “There’s no use talking. If we are to fight, let us fight!”
Celaine had an arrow on her bow in an instant, silver and shadow already coiling faintly around the shaft. Vines erupted from the ground around Dylan’s feet, thick and twisting, rising like spears toward Karlac. Emilia moved to flank without a word, rapier low and ready, her steps light and precise.
Hump remained at the rear, staff in his rift hand, essence boiling in the focus. Yet even as it gathered, he could sense that the essence here was not like he was used to. There was little ambient magic for him to draw upon. And Karlac was right—he sensed no divinity here. If the gods were present, surely they would have responded in some way.
At his side, Nishari snarled—he could sense her barely contained rage. She recognised Karlac from their encounter with him in the devil’s vault. An encounter that had almost killed himself, her, and Celaine.
But it was different this time.
Not only were they more powerful, but they’d prepared for this. Karlac was a foe they knew they would one day face. They’d discussed him at length. Recalling every detail of his powers, his strategy, his strengths and his weaknesses.
Karlac wasn’t just strong, he was overwhelming. His will alone could crush spells before they fully formed, his control was so absolute that even the ambient essence bent toward him shadows answered him like an extension of his soul—or the demon equivalent—binding, shifting, and striking where he pleased, while his Hellfire devoured anything it could. And worst of all was his domain—a place where his power was absolute.
Fire did little to him. Power meant nothing to him. Everything they could throw at him would be met with sturdy defences or simply ignored.
A head-on fight wasn’t going to work. They knew that. They’d spent days pulling apart everything they’d seen in that previous battle. Every weakness they could exploit. Every mistake they couldn’t afford to repeat.
Hump exhaled slowly, feeling the others settle into position around him. Bud anchoring the front. Celaine searching for the opening. Dylan and Emilia shaping the field. Nishari coiled, waiting for the moment to strike.
Karlac ruled the battlefield, but he couldn’t be everywhere at once. That was where they would win.
Their advantage lay elsewhere. Teamwork, numbers, preplanned strategy. And then there was one more weakness. Karlac didn’t want to just kill them, he wanted them to suffer. That arrogance was their opportunity.
At least, that was the theory. In practice, Hump could already sense the intimidating aura of Karlac radiated.
Bud moved first. Frostfire erupted around him in a surge of icy blue flame. Ice Armour crackled over his existing plate. Wings of the Frostfire Paladin burst from his back, and he launched forward, a streak of cold fire cutting through shadow straight at Karlac.
Dylan followed, his body shifting as Aspect of the Guardian took hold. Bark spread across his skin while spectral trees manifested around him. Roots tore through the stone tiles, anchoring deep as vines lashed outward, forming a living barrier between them and the encroaching horde.
Emilia was already gone, slipping to the right without a word, curving toward the flanks. Celaine vanished behind Hump, her presence dissolving into shadow. She would build up her shots and focus on lethal attacks aimed at exposed points.
His armour was dented, but the ice had held.
Hump walked behind Bud and Dylan, watching. Waiting.
Karlac’s Hellfire was their greatest threat. That all consuming flame fed on anything it touched.
Karlac met the knight’s charge with his own. A weapon formed in his hand, flying out from the shadows—a long, gleaming spear etched with runes.
“The Spear of Orenidil,” Bud said, shock in his voice. “You dare tarnish it!”
Karlac’s smile cut him off as he pressed down on Bud, sword and spear locked together. “What better weapon to strike down a traitor of the Pantheon? Today I do the gods’ work!”
“Do not speak of them!” Bud roared.
“You forsake them yet defend them now.” Karlac said. “How interesting.”
The spear flashed.
Bud deflected the blow with his sword, but the devil’s free hand shot forward and caught Bud’s arm. Hellfire erupted, latching on to Bud’s arm as his chest became exposed.
Karlac drove the spear forward. It slammed into Bud’s stomach with a bang. Ice Armour burst outward in pointed crystals, but they didn’t reach Karlac before Bud was blasted backward across the stone. Dylan caught Bud with his vines before Bud could hit the ground, absorbing some of the force but the knight still doubled over with a grunt, the breath knocked out of him.
Hellfire still consumed Bud’s arm, but Hump was there. The trick with Hellfire was that it sought to consume—give it a better target, and it would lose focus. He formed a barrier that was rich in essence and swept it over Bud as if it were liquid, dragging the flames with it and sending them into the air. As the barriers essence was consumed, the flames burnt bright, only to vanish into nothingness.
Bud’s arm was burnt. Even a few seconds had done damage, and that was through his blessings. The rest of them would have it even worse.
“You have grown more skilled, but you cannot win,” Karlac said.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Hump said. “You’re outnumbered.”
“Is that what you think?” Karlac said with a smile.
Power manifested around Karlac. The space warped, air bending as though reality struggled to hold shape around him. Black essence seeped from the devil’s wings in slow, inevitable currents, fiery embers drifting in outward. His Soul Domain expanded, bleeding outward in a tide of shadow that turned the already grey fragment to shadow.
Hump felt its pull immediately. That terribly, familiar tug toward Karlac’s vault.
For a heartbeat, his soul trembled on the edge of it, the pressure immense, like unseen hands trying to drag him inward, but this time he was ready. He gritted his teeth and pushed back, manifesting his own soul in defiance. His aura flared, violet essence pressing back in defiance, sending out a shockwave that sounded like the roar of a dragon. Nearby, the rest of his party protected themselves too.
Buildings dimmed. White stone was hidden beneath long shadows. Within that darkness, shapes stirred. A host of lesser demons crawled out from the dark places. Dozens of twisting things of claw and bone, their flesh like sand.
From amongst them, two more prominent figures stepped forward. The first was an enormous towering brute of layered muscle and blackened hide, its frame bulging like the muscles of a bull. In one hand it carried a brutal war axe, its edge chipped and jagged.
Beside it strode a more controlled figure, almost human in form, but with a face that looked as if it had melted. They were tall and lithe, with limbs that were too long and a posture that was too straight. It walked with deliberateness. A wand of white bone rested lightly in its hand, runes crawling faintly along its length. Its fingers ended in long, elegant claws, and its eyes were sharp with intelligence.
Karlac raised an arm toward them. “Do not kill them my servants. I want them alive.”