Page 88 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

A quick blitz here, a deep gash there, and when the opportunity presented itself, a light nick to his actual body peering out to fix his beloved armor.

“Enough.” Eligos bellowed, unleashing black flames in every direction.

I eyed Bez, who remained knelt and undisturbed. Having spent my entire life questioning my control over the Pentacles of Power, my ability, my comprehension of magic—I knew how to exploit his elemental attack. Taking a deep inhale, projecting essence into the air, I sucked in all the oxygen while using my Diabolic power to lightly stab at the essence Eligos didn’t keep rooted to his core.

It smothered the fire, but Eligos didn’t relent. Instead, he snapped his fingers, replacing the smolder with black lightning. Wind wouldn’t work. The air itself was too dry to siphon moisture from, and there were no large bodies of water in the engine room, so I traced a single symbolled low-level incantation for creating bubbles. Such a simple spell, it hardly cost an ounce of mana, and I managed to trace dozens of them in seconds thanks to the speed of a Diabolic.

Quite possibly the silliest spell I’d ever memorized, but the first one to pop into my head, allowing me to further dry out the air, amplifying the lightning Eligos had summoned. It moved faster than he’d planned, and when I waved the bubbles with telekinesis, pulling in stray strikes of static along the way, his high conductor of a suit sent all his electricity surging through him.

“I can do this all day.” I ground my teeth, ignoring the swelling heat rising in my body. Bez’s body always burned hot, but in all the months I’d shared in his essence, the sensation never struck like this. Sure, I’d feel the warmth of his presence, but this was like my blood boiled, scalding my insides.

I needed to expel essence and quickly. The longer it dwelled within me, the faster it’d liquify my organs. Darting ahead, I blurred around Eligos, shredding his armor with heavy-handed smacks. My claws tore the suit, my palms dented it, and theessence within me dulled the ache of hitting metal again and again.

“Wally, what have you done?” Bez stared at me in complete shock.

His crimson irises had returned, snapped free from the bounds of a Diabolic nightmare. Relief hit me until those beautiful eyes widened, evaluating the situation, comprehending the lengths I’d taken in his absence.

I must’ve looked savage, ruthless, maniacal—things I didn’t have the time to worry about at the moment because this demon needed to die by any means. All in all, Bez didn’t have to worry about my behavior. He could keep the bad boy cap in our relationship. I only did what was necessary. He hadn’t discussed it, we hadn’t found the time, but I understood Eligos meant something to him once upon a time. We would discuss it afterward; he could divulge what he wanted and keep quiet about what he didn’t want until, hopefully, a day came when he wanted to share his feelings. What mattered was we’d have the time to figure it out after I ended this.

Metal collided with my jaw, cracking the bone and knocking me into the railing. I stretched my mouth wide, popping the many tiny bones until they all healed and clicked back into place.

In those few seconds, Eligos sprang forward, skirting past Bez and reaching for the golden lance embedded in Bez’s former body. He ripped it from the corpse, spun around, and aimed the weapon at my devil, still on his knees and looking at me with the most perplexed expression.

Not happening. Not a chance. “You won’t ever touch Bez again!”

I chased him, drawing the dagger to my hand with a telekinetic pull, and stabbed Eligos in the hole in his back.

Twisting the blade, I tore through his insides, hacking at limbs, ignoring the slaps of erratic tendrils, watching the golden glow of his essence fluctuate irregularly.

I expelled my essence, sending it forward and seeping into the cuts I’d created, allowing it to consume Eligos. This wasn’t like when Bez and Mora devoured the sapphire-eyed demon. Eligos and the essence linked to me cannibalized one another until only droplets of black oozed out of the suit, attempting to flee. A golden shimmer of life.

I burned it away to nothingness, charred the last remnants of Eligos’ existence from this world.

“Wally,” Bez called out, eyes locked onto my shaky body, not even bothering to check for threats.

There were no threats for him to worry about. I’d actually done it. I’d killed Eligos.

My knees buckled. Instinctively, I cast telekinesis to steady my stance; the vestiges of what remained kept me upright until essence pooled out of my pores, stabbing my skin. I winced, holding back an aching scream as it peeled away layers before fluttering away with pieces of flesh. It hurt. Sores covered my arms. It was okay. I’d survived it.

My body convulsed, all equilibrium lost, and I tumbled over, unable to brace the impact.

Bez zipped so quickly, I lost sight of him before blinking and found him holding me when my eyes opened. I guess all the essence had finally faded away, meaning I couldn’t keep up with Diabolic movements again.

It didn’t matter. I’d won. I smiled at Bez’s sweet embrace, gently holding me with one arm wrapped under my legs and the other around my back as he softly set me down.

Bez cried. Tears splashed my face, sizzling against my skin. Why was he crying?

I reached out to brush away his tears.

“I tried…tried to…stop…” I gasped between words, unable to pull any air into my lungs. “I wanted to help y—”

A surge of pain struck, coursing through my arm, spreading across my chest like a sudden ripple in the water and erupting throughout my entire body. Fiery explosions of pure agony. Each breath hit sharply, cutting my throat. Bez’s gentle touch was sandpaper against my skin. Bez’s cries pierced my ears until a dull hum replaced it, an incessant ringing. My vision blurred, and all the light stung my eyes, needles stabbing at my retinas making me tear up.

The last thing I saw as the darkness swept in was Bez shouting. Was he shouting? He had that adorable crinkle in his brow when he got pouty and grumpy, but the tears. Still couldn’t make sense of those…

26

Beelzebub

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