Page 96 of The Misfit Mage and His Devilish Desires

In one blink of an eye, Lilith raged against the orb. In the next, she’d fallen prey to the indomitable artifact.

It worked. It held. It still had power, power Kell directed toward Beelzebub. She chanted the song meant to contain him, enacting the symbols on the Diabolic orb and giving her all to end this battle.

“The absurdity of twisting an angel’s tears into a prison,” Beelzebub growled. “To think such a thing exists.”

Angels? What?

Beelzebub lifted off the ground, not resisting the pull of the Diabolic orb but instead using the momentum to lunge at Kell.

NO!

Mora leapt at Kell, knocking their footing out of Beelzebub’s path but also breaking the gravitational pull of the Diabolic orb.

“Angels?” Kell asked, as perplexed as me.

“The Angelics are long since lost to the universe,” Mora explained, her eyes glowing emerald green. “Very few still breathed when I was born.”

“They were admirable in combat but soft.” Beelzebub stood tall again. “They challenged the glory of the devils, and as such, I removed them from existence.”

“Lucifer loved his angels.” Satan punched Beelzebub, knocking his balance off, but not enough. “One of his few admirable qualities. You haven’t tasted love until you’ve tasted an angel.”

Beelzebub went to strike Satan, only to miss when Orias wrapped a tentacle around Satan’s waist and pulled him out of range.

“Lilith never stopped talking about how much they glittered.” Corson struck Beelzebub from behind. “It seems you owe me a few centuries of whiny lectures endured about the times before.”

When Beelzebub turned in rage, another tentacle snatched up Corson from the devil’s grasp.

Soon, Mora and Bez joined the fray, each demon antagonizing and retreating again and again with Orias’ aid.

I gathered my bearings, doing my best to heal the injuries endured. Between my essence and magic, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

Each demon fought with a fury, using the catalyst of the Diabolic orb to push them past their limits. Slowly, it dragged Beelzebub inward. His essence could only fight so much. Every time a demon landed a lucky strike, a piece of Beelzebub was sealed away. But he warred and raged and refused to go quietly.

Surrender from the incarnation of violence seemed impossible, but I wanted to do my part. Moving was too much work, so I shared my power, weaving sigils with my tail—the only part of me not entirely numb—and created every top-tier incantation I knew, which made for a lot of spell weaving.

The demons moved faster, harder, ruthless and unyielding. I threw more spell work at them. More. More. More. Anything to bring this devil to his end.

The devil’s lower arms transformed into blades, and he lunged directly for me.

Bez intercepted him, stopping him from impaling me. Two blades thrust through his chest, another breaking his remaining wing.

“Takes more than that, bastard!” Bez spit at Beelzebub, dragging himself off the sword arms.

Without hesitation, Bez resumed his attacks, the same each of the demons before had attempted. Bit by bit, he ripped apart Beelzebub’s essence. Small fragments, but enough to lure them into the orb. If he could keep this up, if the others could, if I could, then it’d bring a final end to Beelzebub.

“Whenever you fail me like this, I just send you back to Oblivion so you can contemplate your disgrace.” Beelzebub unleashed such tremendous fire it incinerated Bez to nothingness.

Instantaneous. Even the ashes were mere wisps. Impossible. Bez couldn’t… Bez wouldn’t… Bez… Not Bez!

I screamed so loudly I shattered the broken shards of the dimensional wall Lilith had cracked apart. They sprinkled like snowfall, glittering around the ashes of Bez. Those flakes were fueled with magic both new and ancient. I took a deep breath, drawing in all that stray mana. More than any misfit mage or not could contain. My essence clawed at my insides as furious as me. It needled throughout, repurposing the magic we’d taken.

My shadow swelled before Beelzebub, horns growing into gnarled twists much like a demonic stag.

“I’ll end you.” In a flash, part incantation and part essence, I appeared behind Beelzebub.

Without a word, I hacked and slashed and ripped into every weak point Bez had exposed. I tore chunks of Beelzebub out, releasing them back into the pull of the orb. I dug my claws into Beelzebub, burrowing into the spots Bez had already chiseled away at.

Bez had pushed his former devil to the precipice of defeat, and I gave the final shove. I wanted to drag out this agony. I wanted to make the devil suffer a fraction of what I felt. But more than anything, I didn’t wish to give him the glory of a final battle.

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