Sasaki strode through the dark cave, darkness swallowing the path behind him. His expression immediately hardened as he neared an invisible barrier. Beyond it stood an altar, Pestilence's altar to be exact.
He pressed his hands against the invisible barrier but it pushed him back, humming with a faint tremor that ran through his palms. Summoning his scythe, He swung the blade across the transparent barrier. However, the surface resisted, stretching like glass under strain.
Realizing that it would take more than just a regular slash of his scythe, he backed up ten steps and charged at full speed, slicing multiple times in the same spot. After the tenth strike, the barrier finally cracked open just enough for him to squeeze through it.
The instant he passed inside, the barrier snapped shut. However, he didn't look back, not even for a second, as his eyes stayed fixed on the altar.
A carpet of grass spread across the ground, its greenery swaying in the dim light of the cave. The soil shifted as rats and mice burst out in swarms, their bodies scattering across the ground.
The cave suddenly trembled under Sasaki's boots. Then a shriek ripped from above and shook stones loose from the ceiling. His feet shifted in quick steps to avoid the falling debris as the dust from the impact of the rocks covered the entire altar.
"ffffiiiinally, we meet once more." the voice within the cloud of dust screeched.
Sasaki taunted with a grin as the dust settled.
"Is that you, Beelzebub? Lord of the Flies?"
The figure stepped forward, revealing the head of a massive fly with red, glassy eyes that bulged outward. A torn brown cloak hung over his thin frame, hiding the faint buzz of tiny wings beneath it.
"Itz me, of courze…I finally located you. Mammon, The Demon of Greed."
"I don't go by that name anymore. Were you following me? Tell me, how did you find out it was me under this disguise? And more importantly, what are you doing in my sister's sacred altar?"
Belzubub chuckled
"Yes, my apologiezz, you go by Death now… and yesss, I was following you. I made a contract with the human you call Nicholaz, and to my zurprize he told me you were here in the living realm, dizguized az a human. Az for why I'm here, Mammon… I mean… Death… I have taken the liberty of residing here becauze your zizzter'z altar haz many fliez living with the ratz and mice. I have been coming and going from thizz cave for the pazt fifty yearzzz, finding it a great place to take zhelter while I wait for the contract between me and that human butler to end…"
Sasaki grinned
"Ah, so I assume no one knows outside of yourself and Nicholas that I'm here?"
Beelzebub crouched atop the circular altar, his clawed fingers scraping over the stone.
"Of courze… but not for long. Everyone will zoon know you've been hiding here… and not only that, you zeem to be in a weak mortal ztate… almozt fragile. Now imagine… if all the entitiez who hold a vendetta againzt you knew thizz fact. You would not zzzurvive to zee another day. Itzz going to be quite fun to watch that unfold… but I would rather cripple you firzzt… before I bring you back to Lord Azazel…"
Sasaki's eyes widened.
"Azazel is free from her imprisonment?! That's not possible!"
Beelzebub rose from the altar, his claws scraping against the stone as he removed his tattered brown cloak.
"Oh… itzz very pozzible, why do you think I'm here, getting humanzz to cauze mazz disappearancesss, hmm? Thizz was all planned by Lord Azazel."
He leaned forward and coughed, hacking up a long wooden staff adorned with a star and a goat's head. Gripping it tightly, he aimed it toward Sasaki.
"Don't take thizz perzzonally… itz juzt a job, you underztand, right?"
Sasaki summoned his scythe into his hand and dropped into a combat stance. Beelzebub's power thrived wherever flies gathered and unfortunately for him, this was the altar of his sister, Pestilence. And where there was decay and filth, flies always followed.
His chances of surviving without the Sorcerer King were almost zero against a demon of Beelzebub's rank.
"Attack, my children!" Beelzebub roared, waving his staff in a violent arc.
The swarm answered. Flies gathered into a single writhing mass beside him, forming a dense, shifting ball. With one sharp gesture of his staff, Beelzebub sent them forward, millions of black wings bursting toward Sasaki in a living storm.
Sasaki sprinted across the chamber and took cover behind one of the stone pillars. The buzzing grew louder, shaking the air around him. Within seconds, the swarm found him. They crashed against the pillar, their acidic saliva eating through the stone until half of it melted away.
Beelzebub grinned, the corners of his mandibles twitching.
"There's nowhere to run, I made zure to make the barrier extra reziztant… zo no one can get in or out without zufficient force."
Sasaki rolled to the side and slashed in a wide arc toward Beelzebub, his scythe cutting through the air. But the demon only raised his staff, sending the swirling mass of deadly flies to intercept the strike.
"That won't work, Death, Itzz over for you. I'll have them eat your legzzz and armzzz… and drag you back to Purgatory…."
He waved his hand, clearing the cloud of flies from his face, only to realize Sasaki had vanished. Beelzebub snarled and swung his staff in a wide circle, commanding the swarm to scatter through the cave.
A few thoughts crossed Sasaki's mind while he hid behind the altar. The first was clear now, Beelzebub had been the one who infected the Guardian, turning it into that twisted creature that devoured children and grew their bodies from its skin. The second was more useful, Beelzebub still had the horrible habit of talking too much. If he played his cards right, he could drag something important out of him.
Sasaki rose from cover, stepping into the open.
"I'm right here. Come and get me."
Beelzebub aimed his staff at him, a wicked grin cutting across his insect face.
"Go on…eat, my children!" he hissed.
Sasaki's scythe spun in a wide circle, its speed pulling in the nearby rats and tearing them apart. Blood splattered across the cave walls, staining his black suit and face. It wasn't the most effective attack against an enemy like this, but it was all he could manage for now.