Page 103 of The Road to Hell

Her beasts prowled around her, half-formed specters of great hellcats that flickered like dying embers, their eyes glowing with an eerie, unnatural light. Their paws barely made a sound as they moved, silent hunters waiting for the command to strike.

I swung Inferno’s Kiss, sending a blaze of fire at her, but the moment the flames neared, one of her spirit beasts leapt into their path. It incinerated in an instant, but it gave Tavira the moment she needed to attack.

I barely had time to process what had happened before she was on me, moving too fast to track. A gust of wind whipped past my face—her clawed hand slicing down in a deadly arc toward my throat. I dodged, but her beasts followed, their spectral fangs snapping and claws tearing through my shadows.

I struck out, my blade cutting through the nearest one, but it didn’t bleed. It merely dissipated like smoke, only to reform an instant later, snarling.

I gritted my teeth. This wasn’t going to be easy.

Tavira lunged, her form shifting mid-motion, a shadow of a great beast phasing around her, mirroring her movements. I met her strike with a blast of hellfire, forcing her back a step, but she was relentless, her claws flashing as she came at me again, her spirit beasts lunging in perfect synchrony.

I parried one attack before another came from my blind spot, a massive ghostly tiger snapping at my side. I twisted, slashing at it, but Tavira was already moving again, pressing her advantage.

And then came a roar.

The ground quaked as Mephisar and Sable crashed through the battlefield, their massive hellwyrm forms tearing into Lucifer’s forces like a storm of teeth and scale. Mephisar’s maw clamped down on a fallen, his powerful jaws crushing bone as he lifted the body into the air and tossed it aside like a broken doll.

Sable was even more ruthless. She tore through the ranks with terrifying efficiency, her tail whipping out and sending hellspawn flying. Her massive form coiled and lashed, bodies crumpling under her strikes, her teeth and claws turning the battlefield into a slaughterhouse.

One of Tavira’s spirit beasts leapt at Mephisar’s throat.

Mephisar didn’t even slow. His head snapped to the side, his teeth cutting through the incorporeal creature, and it vanished in a burst of blue light.

Tavira hissed.

She moved to strike again, but Sable’s tail whipped out, striking her with bone-crushing force.

Tavira’s body slammed into the ground and skidded across the battlefield, ghostly beasts scattering around her as she lost control of them. Dust and debris kicked up in her wake, her form motionless for a fraction of a second.

I didn’t hesitate.

I surged past Tavira, trusting Sable to finish her, and raced toward Gavrel. He still moved through my forces like a phantom of ruin, his power twisting through the battlefield like an infection. He turned soldier against soldier, and grinned as he did.

I had to stop him.

I pushed forward, cutting through a hellspawn that lunged into my path, its shriek cut short as my blade slashed across its throat. Black blood splattered the ground, but I didn’t slow. Another spawn lunged for me—I met it with fire, the flames roaring from my free hand, consuming it in an instant.

But it wasn’t enough. Not fast enough.

More of my soldiers were turning on each other. I caught sight of one of my netheron warriors shoving his blade through the gut of another, his face twisted in confusion and rage, as if he hadn’t even meant to do it. A hellspawn at my back had turned on its own kind, snarling as it ripped into the nearest soldier, its claws tearing through flesh without hesitation.

Damn it.

I snapped my head up, searching for Gavrel. I lifted a hand, fire coiling at my fingertips, ready to scorch through the chaos demon’s path. But before I could release it, a wall of shadows erupted between us, curling and thick, like living smoke.

Zera.

I barely had time to react before she emerged from the darkness, her form materializing from the shifting void, a threatening grin playing on her lips.

I struck first, slashing Inferno’s Kiss through the air, aiming for her throat. But she was faster. The shadows coiled around her, swallowing my attack, twisting and reforming as she ducked low, her own blades flashing toward me.

I barely deflected in time.

The impact sent a shudder up my arms, but I gritted my teeth and pushed back. I twisted my blade, knocking hers aside, but before I could retaliate, the shadows at my feet surged up like grasping hands, yanking me off balance.

I stumbled back and saw Gavrel lift his hand, a pulse of raw, chaotic energy rippling outward.

My forces staggered.

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