All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 319: Good Hospitality

Chapter 319: Good Hospitality

Archibald did his best to relax as he stared at the demon across from him. Well, he was pretty sure it was a demon. In fact, if he had to guess, he would have said it was a high-level archfiend based on the nearly immaculate disguise. Immaculate aside from the slightly enlarged shadow and strangely ashen skin, that is.

He had seen their like before, but this one was doing a much better job of seeming human. Back in his day, the ones he had seen were tall, thin creatures of flame and shadow armed with three-pronged whips. The whips weren't usually used as weapons against humans, though. Instead, they were used to discipline the demons in charge of the demons who ordered the humans. It was a pretty messed up system, to be honest.

Archibald had a lot of experience with archfiends, though. He'd killed a lot of them in order to liberate humans, which was part of the reason he was now so familiar with them. Of course, he hadn't done it alone. Daedalus had always been involved since high-level beings like that were far too much for Archibald to handle, especially early in their campaign. Now, though, he was pretty certain he could take it on his own. But what he wasn't sure about was protecting Susan and Tony at the same time, not to mention making it out of the castle together. No, that would be a lot more, Especially since they didn't see through the ruse.

"No offense was intended. We have no idea what happened to your earlier envoy," the demon said in a placating voice. He pushed his spectacles up slightly and scribbled something on his parchment.

The plan was a pretty straightforward one. Susan, Tony, and himself were here to inquire about a citizen from the Theocracy who had disappeared a while back. The last place this theoretical citizen had been seen was here in the city, and they were simply concerned with finding the man. It would give them an excuse to put pressure on Barleona and a reason to be searching all over.

Judging by the reaction they were getting, the Barleonans obviously weren't particularly upset about this. Still, the goal was to make a big fuss and then have an excuse to stay around for a little bit and investigate more. If they just stayed around for no reason, it would be pretty obvious they were spies. Well, more than it already was. They wanted to have plausible deniability and all that. Plus, any stalling they could manage would give Daedalus more time to find the fleeing Harold and get him to safety.

But Archibald hadn't really been prepared for how bad things were. The palace was crawling with demons, and as far as he could smell, Susan and Tony weren't aware of it. In fact, he wasn't sure how he was going to tell them without showing his hand.

"The man we're looking for was a merchant, so I'm sure you'd have records of his comings and goings or sales in the area. We'd appreciate your cooperation in obtaining those records," Susan said.

The demon thought, and Archibald could see the gears turning in its head. Could it get away with denying them access? He knew as well as Susan did that no such records would exist. The "merchant" they were looking for didn't exist. Or would turning down the request be too suspicious?

Eventually, the demon nodded. "Of course, of course. We'll make sure to locate the records you requested. Though, as you know, bureaucracy can be slow-moving. It'll take a little bit of time to dig through everything..,"

Susan nodded graciously. "Of course, we understand that. We do hope that there's a certain amount of red tape that you'll be able to bypass for us, though."

The whole time, Archibald kept his attention firmly on the archdemon. They hadn't been attacked, not yet. That was good news. Maybe its hands were tied somehow, or it didn't see them as a threat. But he hoped that they'd have some chance to get out of there before the jig was up.

Tony tensed beside him, and Archibald thought that someone else had finally realized they were talking to a demon. But after glancing over, he realized that Tony was actually looking behind them towards the door.

Archibald quickly spun in his chair just as another figure entered the room. It was another Archfiend, this one not in disguise. Unlike its fellow, this one's skin glowed like hot coals as it uncoiled a large whip.

Behind the desk, the "royal adviser" spoke again. The pleasantly polite tone of an overworked bureaucrat had vanished from its voice, replaced with a far more menacing growl.

"I understand perfectly. Now, we'd love to have you join us for dinner. Perhaps you can help answer some questions of our own."

Archibald didn't hesitate. He kicked the table forward, sending the four-hundred-pound piece of oak into the disguised archdemon's gut and pinning it back into the wall. As he spun, he drew his sword and cut the whip out of the air as its tendrils reached for Tony. Tony raised his hand, and the blue light that formed a permanent halo around him coalesced into a singular beam. It shot out of his finger and struck the demon in the forehead. The demon's eyes rolled up in its head, and it collapsed to the ground.

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He didn't trust that the thing was dead yet, though, and for good reason. Archibald already saw it twitching as it got up. He lunged forward, striking down with his blade. He wanted to kill one of the archfiends before engaging the other while his companions ran. But it rolled out of the way of the strike and was back up on its feet in a moment.

Tony grimaced. Looking around, Archibald saw Susan sprinting for the one that was pinned against the wall. Their chances of winning this were slim, not to mention getting away afterward. They needed to leave now.

Archibald dragged Tony away from the still-disoriented demon, and the three of them moved to pile on the fake bureaucrat. They wouldn't be able to just kill it. That would take far too much time and power, but perhaps they'd be able to disable it. Higher level demons were known for their regeneration, not just Lieutenants.

Susan's blades drew lines through its neck. Archibald stabbed it in the chest and ripped his sword out the side of its ribcage. At the same time, Tony imprisoned its ankles with energy constructs and slammed a spike connected to his fist through the thing's jaw.

"Come on! We've gotta go!" Archibald yelled and dragged his companions away as they ran past the other recovering archfiend and into the maze of corridors. No alarm had been raised yet, but it would likely happen any time now. They didn't slow down as they worked their way toward the edge of the palace.

They weren't on the ground floor, and Archibald didn't want to risk leaving through the front door again. They immediately looked for a room with a window. Perhaps they'd be able to climb out, or Tony maybe might be able to levitate them down. In the city, they'd have a better chance of losing any pursuers.

A group of earth elementals rounded the corner ahead of them, but the trio kept going. This much couldn't even slow him down.

A trail of water appeared behind his blade as he began spinning it. The Dragon Rider quickened his steps as he sprinted towards the new enemies. He delivered a scything strike to the first elemental, the water collecting behind his blade following right after. It smashed through elemental after elemental as his momentum carried him forward. By the time Susan and Tony caught up, there was just nothing more than wet mud coating the corridor.

A roar from behind him made him flinch. A brute. A demon that stood about twelve feet tall and had limbs as thick as his torso. He felt the floor shaking as it approached, and he yanked them off into a side room. They should've been near the edge of the palace now. Unfortunately, the room they had chosen had no windows. Only the rough stone of the outer wall greeted them.

Archibald cursed. There was no helping it– they didn't have time to keep looking.

"Cut a hole. Hurry," He told Tony and Susan. "I'll hold it off."

They nodded somberly and began hammering at the wall while Archibald put himself in the doorway, ready to face down this monster. He could probably kill it in an open battle, but in tight corridors like this, with it having reinforcements and him on the back foot? He just had to hope his allies could cut through stone quickly.

The thing rounded the corner a moment later, and to his horror, Archibald realized he'd misjudged the situation. There wasn't just one brute barreling towards him, but three. And behind them came a horde of lesser demons ready to serve as cannon fodder.

The massive meatheads saw him and surged forward, heedless of the lesser demons they crushed beneath their feet. Behind them, he caught a brief flash of red-hot skin and whips. Apparently, the two archdemons had also re-entered the fray.

Archibald bit his tongue. He focused on activating several skills in quick succession, such as jets of water and force blasting outward. His blade moved like a conductor's wand as he smashed aside the lesser demons. He saw the impacts damage the brutes slightly, but not enough to halt them outright. It wasn't long before they came into striking range.

The first one brought its fists down with a deep bellow. He met the blow with the flat of his blade braced against his arm, but still, he could feel the tremors in the marble floor as he skidded backward a step. His shoulder cracked from the impact. He didn't think he broke a bone, but that would definitely be sore for a while.

Kicking out, his foot smashed into the demon's leg with minimal impact. It felt more like he was hurting his leg than the demon. He called over his shoulder with concern. "Hurry up!"

"Uh, there's a problem," Tony called back.

Archibald glanced behind him, narrowly avoiding another heavy blow, to see that he had miscalculated even more. This wasn't the edge of the palace. The wall that he had cut into simply led to a different room in the palace. One that was also full of demons, several of them holding massive rock drills and ready to ambush them from behind.

"By Void," Archibald cursed as he drew back his weapon and let out the most potent skill in his arsenal, Unstoppable Force. The wall of force smashed the three demons back through the wall and into the room across the hall and left Archibald reeling as a sudden rush of magic left him light-headed.

Still, as he stumbled, he knew that he couldn't rest yet. He turned around to face the demons about to attack Susan and Tony. Sending out several bursts of magic, he kept them off him for a second, and then everything was spinning. Archibald's head rang from a strike from behind, and he felt his legs give an outside roll. He felt himself slam up against an adjacent wall. The room seemed to vibrate and swirl as he tried vainly to pull himself together.

With a force of will, Archibald tried to get his wits about himself as he stood up. Still, he was so discombobulated by the blow to his head that he fell over backward and lay there, looking up into the sky above.

For a moment, he simply lay there, appreciating the stars as they appeared in the night sky. Then he stopped. Why could he see the stars?