Page 88 of The Misfit Mage and His Devilish Desires

Bez turned his gaze toward me, and a calm washed over his face despite being entrenched in battle, slashing at essence, summoning elements in flurries, utilizing dark artifacts to lay curses and commands that might’ve at least stunned their devil target momentarily.

I took a deep breath and exhaled my frustration. As much as I could, at the very least.

Bez needed me here so he wouldn’t fret. Our entire relationship, he always worried about me, about how breakable I was compared to Diabolics. But I was a Diabolic now. Adjacently, at least.

He could have his combat with me safely out of the battle if it made him happy. But he best believe we were going to have a discussion about this. I’d saved him on more than one occasion, so I was no damsel who’d die in a fight.

It’s not like it’s a pattern or something.

My heart pounded in my chest, erratic and pumping blood so fast it boiled. Essence bubbled inside me, defensively swelling, ready to burst through my pores any moment.

“What’s happening?” I squeezed my head, trying to calm my thoughts, sway my essence, soothe the power circulating at hyper speed.

The broken sky tore asunder again, the tear splitting wider as four beastly arms barreled their way inside the dimensional walls.

The worst possible thing happened.

“Beelzebub is here.”

26

Bez

Beelzebub descended in his full glory, his skin as black as the tar of Lilith’s essence but lacking the shimmer against the sunlight. Natural sunlight that pierced through the dimensional walls that Lilith and now Beelzebub had cracked apart upon their invasion.

This made no sense. I turned to an awestruck Corson and Satan, who quaked at the impending clash. To think they could reveal such horror on their faces after already witnessing him duel against Lilith for centuries was a true sign of Beelzebub’s tyranny.

“I thought you said Lilith fled, left him locked behind her sealed gates!”

“She did.” Corson trembled. “I barely made it through, swept in her wake.”

“Perhaps it comes from the essence he stole,” Satan said. “He did take a lot of Lilith’s essence.”

“Impossible.” I ground my teeth, fighting off my own fear of Beelzebub’s return. “Slipping through a sealed doorway to Hell requires a fully intact devil. Taking her essence wouldn’t restore what he’s lost.”

It was equivalent to grabbing a second sword for battle instead of a shield. Yes, it would help Beelzebub in combat, but it didn’t simply substitute for the missing item. Or, in this case, his missing essence. It gave him access to different techniques, nothing more.

“Lilith does it.” Satan gestured to her ocean of tar.

“Lilith only circumvented it by her hidden keys across the universe,” Corson added.

“Fuck me.” The realization struck. That was how Beelzebub got here. “He’s stolen some of Lilith’s essence, subsequently giving himself access to her power, her private secret portals, the hidden cracks between sealed doors to Hell.”

He used her trick to claw his way into our world, where he’d now slaughter us all and restore his lost essence by ripping Wally apart.

Beelzebub’s veins glowed a multitude of colors, almost like an enchanting rainbow that coursed over his skin, except each bright array represented an aura from the demons he devoured in Lilith’s Hell. Their essence still pumped through his body, fueling him beyond reproach.

“You thought you could run!” he roared in echoing Diabolic tones, voice literally cracking the air around us. His snout scrunched as he snarled and let out more foul growls.

I covered my ears, wincing from the sharp slice of sound tunneling through me.

“You believed fleeing here would distract me, appease me?” Beelzebub bellowed, a horrible mocking laughter of ear-piercing brutality. “Foolish creature. Your vanity beckons completion asa sign of perfection. I require only drops of my essence to be deemed perfect. Worthy. Unstoppable.”

Each of his eight wings flapped, sending tornados, fires, ice storms, and waves of elemental destruction in every direction. Not only attacking Lilith but shattering Nature’s forces upon contact.

“Bringing me to the mortal world where my lost essence dwells will not deter me from slaughtering you, lowly devil.”

Beelzebub began clashing with Lilith. Conjuring flames that burned away the army of plant life. They raged in an inferno that burrowed through the earth, tearing its way across the land. Soon, the fire took shape in the form of giant talons and snapping teeth and hooked whips and a thousand other weapons meant to strike and tear and pull Lilith’s essence into one singular location.

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