Belzebub's Mind: I hope to come out of this alive.
I was passing through the main gate when I saw her there, my executioner. Her murderous presence was palpable, and she was staring at me with killer eyes.
Lucifer: Oh, my daughter, where are you headed?
Belzebub: I'm going for raw materials.
Lucifer: It's necessary that you leave.
Belzebub: Yes, since I don't trust your useless slaves.
Lucifer: If you don't return before nightfall, you won't have dinner tonight, understood?
I lowered my head because I knew she hated me and only wanted to make me feel bad. As I saw her smile, she simply walked away, and my flies and I left through the main entrance.
The journey was long, well, not so much with my modifications, but I was reflecting on my existence as I was leaving behind the person who had mistreated me for so long, and eventually, I would kill her myself.
Fly 1: My lady, we're almost there.
I looked at my face in the reflection of the carriage's crystal, so I took a deep breath and with that, I got off the carriage and saw the Steel Town. We saw guards with hostile intentions towards us, and I saw an old man approaching.
Town Chief: Good afternoon, miss. What can I do for you?
Belzebub: I came for raw materials. Is there any problem with that?
Town Chief: Not at all. If you want that, you need to go towards that mountain.
He pointed to the tallest mountain, which seemed to be cut in half.
Town Chief: And you also need to pay a fee.
With a snap of my fingers, one of my soldiers brought some silver coins, five in a small leather pouch, and threw them to the chief. I only saw him nod, and we proceeded to go to the mountain, crossing the town. I could see everyone staring at us, some with hatred, others with astonishment, and the children wanting to get closer to my servants.
We only passed by there, but the houses seemed to be made entirely of steel. There must be many talented blacksmiths around here. We walked a bit and saw them from afar: two women and a great monster from the depths.
Belzebub: Hello, are you the king's servants?
The servants' eyes shone emerald green, and then they spoke.
Shadow King: Hello, dear. Ready to leave your prison?
Belzebub: Yes, what do I need to do?
Shadow King: We need to leave traces of a fight in case your mother comes to investigate.
Belzebub: I understand. I'll destroy almost everything around here.
Shadow King: Yes, and we also need to cut off one of your arms.
When he said that, I began to regret it.
Shadow King: Don't be afraid, my dear. These are my personal healers; they can reconstruct limbs.
Belzebub: I understand, but what about them?
I pointed to my flies, and the creature hurt them. Parts of my soldiers fell, and blood soaked the ground. I aimed my weapons at the servants.
Shadow King: Calm down, my dear. Now, they will heal them, so I suggest you get ready.
I watched in astonishment as the limbs grew back. I only extended my right arm, which had more visible wounds from the past, and yelled.
Belzebub: VERY WELL, JUST DO IT!
It was so fast that when I looked down, I saw my arm was no longer there and was on the ground. I clenched my teeth with so much force; it was very painful, and the blood gushing out scared me. Now I know how those I killed feel.
I saw the maidens come to help me, and I saw my new arm grow with great, but great regeneration. As Antoine said, matter cannot be created or destroyed; it only transforms.
Shadow King: Ready, let's go.
When he said that, the monster from the depths took me and my flies and put us in its belly pouch and began to dig, and we followed for a good while until we reached the unknown kingdom.
Meanwhile, the maidens who stayed behind began to destroy the carriage and steal whatever seemed valuable. This would make it more believable that it was murdered and robbed.
It didn't take long before we arrived at our destination. The mole took us out, and then I saw a large town, and with that came the big surprise. It was full of shadows, and they began to guide us to the king when suddenly the whole atmosphere changed; I was in a space, it started to get extremely cold. It seems there's a battle in progress.
When the space disappeared, it didn't last long. Something was wrong here. When I arrived with the king, he was with the guys I hit and mistreated a little. Seeing me, they put themselves on guard, and all I see is the king telling them to calm down and that I'm now on their side. Their faces were priceless.
My flies went to apologize to the one I slammed to the ground.
Fly 3: I'm sorry, brother, it was on my lady's orders.
Dario: I understand, friend. Thank you for apologizing, but I still don't like you.
Fly 3: It's understandable.
I approached them, and they all looked at me very badly, but they stopped when they saw the Shadow King giving them a strong look.
Belzebub's Mind: He really has them under control.
Shadow King: Well, greet courteously.
They introduced themselves, and they were very curt. It's logical; I tried to kill them. We shook hands, and the truth is, I behaved timidly. I wasn't used to this kind of environment.
Shadow King: You arrive just in time for the level tournament. They are going to participate with my servants to see their current level, and with this, I will choose the 50 best of my soldiers, who will be chosen randomly to see how much they resist.
Everyone got excited because they had to prove what they were made of. Well, that's what I think.
Dario's View:
I was training one last time in my space because we would face the best of the best to see how much we had improved. Everything was ready until my girl arrived. She looked very serious and asked me to stop. What happened next was strange: the woman pierced my neck with her nails and ordered me to be whipped on the ground twice. She was in front of us; truthfully, we all put ourselves on guard. That wasn't normal. I remember my queen told me that someone could pass to our side; I don't remember well, I was more focused on space and training.
She told us to calm down, and we saw her; she was wearing casual clothes. I have to admit it; she didn't have all her weapons like that time.
We greeted her reluctantly, but the tournament was about to start; we were mentally preparing ourselves.
Suddenly, a stadium formed of pure rock. We saw monsters manipulating the ground; only we remained in the middle of the stadium. My queen's and
mine's shadows arrived and sat on the benches. I felt betrayed.
Shadow King: Welcome to the level tournament. This year's participants are the six youths in the middle of the arena. Who will be the first? Let the roulette speak.
A roulette with our names came out, and it started to spin. It landed on Ruben's name.
Shadow King: Please, the other competitors leave the arena.
We wished him luck and cheered him on enthusiastically. Ruben and I bumped fists and exited. As we stood at the arena entrance, we watched the combat.
Shadow King: And his opponent is...
The roulette changed our names to numbers, exactly 50 numbers, and then it spun until it stopped at 48.
Shadow King: Please, number 48, go to the combat arena.
When the dust settled, Ruben faced a huge anthropomorphic bear with tonfas.
Ruben's Perspective:
In front of me was a bear with tonfas and scars on its face.
Shadow King: Ready to fight.
The bear, without saying a word, propelled itself with the tonfas, which seemed like rockets. It caught me off guard, hitting me so hard that I crashed and created a crater. I saw the intention that the bear would launch itself again, but with a chain from the ground, I made the tonfas point towards the ground, and it hit, leaving a straight line of earth. The tonfas detached from their handles, something I didn't expect. With a lot of movement, I generated my improvised armor, surrounding my whole body with chains. We went into hand-to-hand combat, and with a punch to the face, it staggered, and as it fell to the ground, it feinted and kicked my chin.
It hurt. My brain was so messed up; I couldn't think properly. The only thing that occurred to me was to flee. I generated an escape route on the wall, and with that, I escaped when it lunged at me to land on top of me. I kept moving from side to side and realized that it couldn't make tight turns like me. I started making them, and it crashed into the walls. I started wearing it down, and when I realized it couldn't catch me, it just stood there, waiting for its moment. But I wouldn't let it. I threw chain after chain with blades so thin they could cut through metal. It only moved with a footwork that resembled a boxer weighing tons. When it fell for my feint, I sent chains for it to see, but the real attack was cutting its Achilles tendons. When it knelt, I propelled myself and delivered a very strong knee to its head. I only heard something crack, and when I looked down, it was the bear's head that was now broken. And with me, I just stayed there. My knee hurt like hell, limiting my movement because of my idiocy, but it was a sacrifice.
But when I thought I was winning, the worst happened. The bear's eyes shone red; it gave a great roar. It seemed to go berserk, and with that, it ran regardless of the pain in its heels, and I couldn't run. I could only watch as it dodged my punches, which seemed deadly, and eventually, it hit me in the stomach. I regained consciousness when I was on the ground vomiting blood. It seems I'll have to use my last resort. I'm just watching as the guy breaks the ground and takes out a huge, but huge, stone that would kill me if it crushed me, so I put my hands together in my hand pose and said, "Neutral space extension, puppet prison."
The bear threw the stone, and as it hit, it began to hit itself. My left hand's fingers turned into chains.
Ruben's Mind: Good try, but the game is over.
When something unexpected happened, as he was bleeding from so many self-inflicted blows, with a great effort roar to free himself from my hand, I exerted much more force, and this became a battle of endurance. I just thought he would give up. My hand hurts like hell.
Duncan: You can do it, Ruben.
Dario: Don't lose.
Everyone: Don't lose, Ruben! Ruben, Ruben, Ruben!
I heard my friends cheering me on, and with that, I gained some strength. The bear kept roaring and forcing the chains, but at one point, my fingers broke, bending, and all touched my back, and I felt all the pain. The bear ran towards me, coming in slow motion, preparing its punch, and as it hit my face, I felt nothing.
To be continued...
Thank you for waiting. The good stuff is almost here—tough fights are coming. I apologize if next week I don't post much or at all, as it will be finals week, and my love story will be delayed since I'm new to writing that. Stay tuned; the good battles are coming, and we're nearing the end of Lucifer.
With love, Rixsune.