Page 54 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

The state I left him in? My heart thumped loudly in my eardrums; the room whirled.

“So many tried to flee before you sealed everyone away and everything for all of time, but the triumphant devil did all in his power to keep a single one from crossing through. Seemed only my tattered broken being managed to skirt past unnoticed. That and the devil himself.”

Eligos wasn’t the only one to escape our Hell. I had, too.

Armor clinked; Eligos’ blurred steps rattled against the floor.

“I’ve waited far too long for this hedonistic traitor.” Eligos unsheathed his blade. “The mortal realm has left you weakened, Beelzebub.”

What? He thought I was actually Beelzebub? The devil essence circulating deceived most, but couldn’t he see the layers of demon essence feeding upon it? Couldn’t he see the demon who listened to his tales a million times over? As someone whoserved the actual Beelzebub for eons, shouldn’t Eligos have seen right through my deceit and known I wasn’t him?

I reached out to my right, intending to stop his sword hand, but only grabbed air. His glove clasping the hilt rang from my left. Eligos held his bloody sword, and the room swirled.

I choked, struggling to stand upright. Wally screamed. Had he been harmed, too? Was that why I found myself struck with such fatigue? I tried calling out, but my throat burned. Blood soaked through my clothes. My legs wobbled, and I toppled over.

15

Walter

He decapitated Bez. I watched his head spin around, flopping onto the ground, crimson eyes rolling back as his body collapsed. My entire being trembled, terrified, petrified, locked in place. The demon in the suit of armor cut off Bez’s head. I grabbed my throat, inspecting an injury that didn’t exist because the essence circulating between Bez and me didn’t match or inflict the injuries he sustained back onto me. I wouldn’t feel the pain Bez endured, not unless he…he died.

Dead. Gone. Bez just had his head hacked off.

I clenched my fists, trying to contain my shaky muscles. Bez wasn’t dead. It took a lot more than that to kill a Diabolic; it required destroying his essence on a cellular level. Or killing a mortal they linked to, like me.

I pushed away the thoughts. I needed to focus on the now. Help. Stop this armored demon knight from actually killing Bez.

“You’re the one who captured Beelzebub’s heart.” The knight’s voice echoed not simply from inside the helmet but stirring around the helm.

Did he have a Diabolic shroud up or essence casting a void realm? Was that how he moved throughout the villa unnoticed? No. Bez would’ve detected it, right?

“You may prove useful, mortal.” Eligos made a fist with his free hand and snatched me into the air with telekinesis.

I kicked my legs in a futile attempt to wriggle free, but it was like being dragged by a powerful tide.

Suddenly, my body rocked back and forth midair, frozen and locked in place. Eligos’ telekinesis pulled me, yet something stalled his hold. Not something but someone.

Mora.

She strutted toward the knight in shining armor, arm extended and power holding him at bay.

“Lopping off Bezzy’s head.” She smiled. “Gotta be honest, I’m going to have to remember that one the next time he runs his mouth at one of my parties.”

“Morax, correct?” Eligos ground his boots into the floor, shifting his stance.

“The one and only.” She curtsied yet kept one arm firmly aimed at me, telekinesis fully intact.

“They call you a king in Bael’s charade of a realm, yet the Morax I know was no king, merely an undistinguished noble.”

“You’ve been reading too much mortal fiction.” Her joyful expression almost hid the crinkle in her forehead from the strain of overpowering his grasp. “Let this be a reminder of your place. Knights kneel to kings.”

Mora lifted her other arm, spinning the air above and slamming a tremendous force of energy down onto Eligos. I gasped, the telekinesis from each of them releasing me. I fell onto my back with a heavy thud, not nearly as hard asEligos, who resisted every inch. His armor cracked, compressed, and black tendrils laced with golden hues throughout whipped between the openings of the suit, stitching the blemishes together like they fixed a host body.

“Quite powerful. I’d always heard Morax was a demon of cunning, never that she possessed a warrior’s spirit.”

“Cute.” Mora strained, forcing Eligos further into the floor—literally cracking it to pieces in order to push him onto his hands and knees. “I usually kiss my fans before killing them. But I’ll make an exception this once since you’re rather irritat—”

Kell screamed.

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