Page 80 of Dark Souls Academy: The Sacrifice

A few minutes passed before another answered.The West group are with you, Ivy.

The desire to rub my temples was strong, but I held back and just glared at the council. I had too many people connected to me at once. Lucifer still gloated, and gleefully told the crowd how his own kids and future Queen were going against him. I blocked him out. My mates could keep an eye on things.

The next leader felt like scrunched up plastic bags rubbing against my brain.East side will fight for our freedom because running isn’t going to get us anywhere. Lucifer is too powerful. If we want any type of life, we need him gone.

Same for the North.

South lost a few demons, but we’re still good to stand tall with you, Ivy.

A wave of relief hit me. We couldn’t fight an army by ourselves, and, without Kain, we were sorely outnumbered. His shadows would have helped a great deal.

Even though the plan is ruined, let’s not lose hope. We’ll go in with all we have. East you’re closest to the stage. You need to come from behind. Focus on the council. North will back you up from the front, but they will be handling the guards. He has several more guards than planned, so South and West, I need you two to work together from the outside in. Me and my mates will focus on Lucifer. If you need us, we’ll slowly branch off to assist you. With any luck the rest of the school will join in our fight.

The others all processed what I said. I could hear faint mumbles from them in their hiding spots. Only North would be seen. The others hid in the trees. It was only a coincidence that people’s placements had changed this morning, and since no one could get a hold of Demarcus, he didn’t know.

Just as I thought about the placements of my faction, guards moved to those spots. They even dug a hole that was hidden by the plants while I was out. Way better than hiding behind thetrees like kids playing hide and seek. Trigger was a better leader than he gave himself credit for.

Ivy,Dex’s whispered voice had my hackles rising.

My eyes focused back on the bitching Lucifer. His nostrils flared in irritation, but he had a smug expression giving him crazy eyes. He did another psychotic twirl before speaking, his gold suit flowing over him like silk.

Then, I noticed the body at his feet. I gasped. The Headmaster bled with a missing heart as Lucifer danced around him. No! My own heart felt like it left me. Fuck.I’m so sorry, old man. I should have been paying attention.

Don’t blame yourself. He knew this could be a possibility. He was happy to give up his prison sentence for the cause. Don’t let him die in vain, that’s all we can do.Trigger soothed over the rough edges of my guilt, but it still festered like a fungus in my gut. He’d deserved his freedom too.

“Kill all the traitors,” his voice boomed over the grounds. My heart skipped a few beats. My old instincts to run and hide flared, but I pushed those bitches down in the dirt where they belonged. Shit, we needed to do something. What? Ugh, where was Kain when I needed his overbearing ass.

Every one of my visible faction members began to glow like a streetlamp. “Oooh, it looks like it’s a game of hide and seek.”

I took a deep breath and channeled my inner Kain.

We need to attacknow. Take him by surprise. Use the spells first. Give him a force to scare some of the Nati Demons before they go into blood lust. He’s expecting us to run and hide.My voice was a like the crack of a whip. The demand had the effect that was needed.

The old plan had been to sneak around to kill Lucifer’s forces and slowly take them out. The new approach would work because it was still a surprise.

People came from all directions. I waited for each team to attack, and like I thought, no one was ready for us to still fight. I couldn’t help but chuckle at all the surprised faces. Especially when Lucifer smugly pressed a button on a device and nothing happened. Thank you Trigger for unlinking our communicators to the school. Lucifer couldn’t electrocute us into submission now.

While he shouted at people to figure out what was wrong, my eyes took in the people who weren’t fighting. The students not in my faction had a panic expression on their scared faces as they turned and ran away. Some fought, but mostly to just protect themselves.

They needed to be directed. Lucifer had said all the right things today to get them on my side. No one wanted to be ruled by a dictator who didn’t even let them have their own faction.

Before everyone could run and hide, Trigger used his powers to amplify my voice. “No more hiding! We fight for our freedom! It’s time you fight for yours, before it’s too late.” The magic released my vocal cords.

“Short and sweet. I like it,” Trigger said. He kissed my cheek.

“And apparently so did they.” I turned around when Dex grabbed my shoulders, facing me toward the horde of Dimidium Demons swiftly moving our way. Tons of students were running back to the fight, not everyone, but more than half.

“Yaah!” With a battle cry, we charged into the fray.

Magic flying through the air and over people’s bodies. One of our newest members had the ability to turn into a metal shield. My demon was jealous, especially when a fireball grazed my shoulder. I cried out but didn’t stop.

My mates and I stalked toward Lucifer. He had jumped off the stage to meet us. His council members were engaged in a surprised attack from behind, but he didn’t even spare them a glance.

They had become complacent, never being attacked directly by people they believed were lesser than them. Two hit the ground before the yellow upside-down impostor did, even though, he should have been the weaker of all of them.

My demon got my attention by what felt like poking my intestines as I continued to throw magic at Lucifer while my mates did the same, using the shitload of potions we had on us. The shock on Lucifer’s face had me moving faster, all while Ilistenedto my demon’s persistent message. I wished she could actually talk. Normally deciphering what she wanted was easy, but I was too distracted by the battle. Lucifer wasn’t just taking the attack with a smile, he threw magic right back at us, throwing potions that he seemed to pull out of his ass. I had to use water and wind to constantly shield my mates.

Trigger was focused on the attacking force. His spells had gotten really good. I was thoroughly impressed. He created a black acid fog around Lucifer’s body. The screams were beautiful, but we weren’t up against a mere demon. One of his fucking amulets magically melted into his flesh and sucked out the magic before the spell could do real damage. We needed to get close enough to get those amulets.

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