Shadow of the Abyss

Chapter 151: Heralds of Astaroth III

"GIVE IT BACK!!!!!!!"

Dark and sickly, as if ravaged by something so profane, thundered through Altair's ears. A tingling sensation he nearly thought to be fear slithered up his spine like the touch of a stranger in the shadows. Cold and merciless, its words hounded itself into the Prince's mind until a cold sweat pulled him back.

"We… We need to get the hell out of here." He stammered to say, shaking where he stood, with a bright smile plastered over his face. Unsure whether he felt fear or excitement toward the unknown, Altair looked to Ren, wondering if she knew what it was as he explained what he saw.

Reina scratched at her head, grimacing. "I've no idea what that is… maybe if I see it with my own eyes, my blood will react with its inherent knowledge. But until then, we need to move. Come on. Where is our next stop?"

Seeing her look to him for direction, Altair steeled his heart, pushing down his excitement. It had been a while since he had faced death, where he knew there'd be no one to save him. He missed that feeling. He sucked a deep breath in, and as if placing on a mask, he regained his poised demeanor.

"Our best bet is still the Sanctuary," He carefully said, shifting his gaze back to that of the Ravens. The Cathedral was completely surrounded and was being swarmed by the Heralds of Astaroth, slaughtering whoever caught their eye. He looked up at Ren, whose brow seemed wet with sweat in front of the flames, and turned to one of the Sisters of Silence. " Lead us to the sanctuary."

The Twelve Sisters of Silence were still for a moment before they began up the stairs without a hint of sound in their step. They moved yet somehow held formation, moving in tandem without one another without gesture or eye contact.

As if the silence were their language, they herded them through the aisle, lined with figures of armor worn by the Dawnbreakers.

"Big Brother… I'm scared." Aria mewled, whimpering with tears streaming down her eyes. "I want papa."The ground shuddered with a fierce rattling that tore the armor off the stands, causing her to quiver. "Please… Please…"

"Oh, Aria," said Altair bitterly, unsure what to say. He had never been good at pacifying others. Perhaps once upon a time… But now the feeling felt foreign, like a fleeting dream. He lifted her off his neck, looking her over with a warm smile, and without cause, his palm cracked over her neck, plunging the girl into sweet oblivion before she knew what happened.

"You're getting to be a sociopath!" Reina said incredulously.

"What? She would have given our position away," Altair responded as a matter of fact. "This way, she'll be nice and quiet."

"Maybe a psychopath. Yeah… let's go with that."

The Sisters of Silence glanced at him with their black obsidian mask for a brief second and proceeded on. Altair glanced at Ren smilingly as if to say, 'See? Not even her people care.'

Reina rolled her eyes, studying the peaceful expression of the small girl, and sighed. "What's done is done,' she mused to herself and moved along after the Sister, shadowing their steps through the fire that made goosebumps prickle her skin.

Baelfire was one of the Nine Flames of Hells that burned so hot it was said that no matter if the flame died, the sensation of scorching heat would linger for eternity. And like most flames of the Nine Hells, Baelfire could not be healed by normal means.

The stride to the sanctuary had given time for Altair to think, and despite the scorching heat that burned a profane light, dancing around his barrier until it distorted and bent into odd shapes. Sweat trickled down his forehead, and he felt fatigued in his two circles.

He had not been used to maintaining his barrier, but more than that, the Baelfire seemed to be burning at the mana in the air like firewood.

Abruptly, the Sisters of Silence stopped, and for a moment, they stood there glaring through the violet-black flames that led directly to the sanctuary. A soft, ringing clangor sounded like a blade running across the ground came from behind the flames.

"... Shit." Altair groaned, spotting a large shadow through the flames. He summoned a few hearthstones and handed one to Reina. They swallowed it, refining the core almost instantly.

The ring soon grew louder until it sheiked like the cry of a banshee. A beast that bore flames from its snout snorted. Emerging the through Baefire that clung to its enormous body, searing his charcoal mane. Two thick horns roared their defiance to the Eternal Heavens, sharp like a trident.

They rested a bull-shaped head that carried eyes that smoldered a deep red. Bulging arms and legs thick as a battering ram protruded over the demon, the Bapett stepped forward, clutching a great scythe-like axe as large as three people that dragged against the stone.

"A Minotaur?

"No… That Bapett, creatures born from the Archdemon King, Baphomet." Reina hissed, clenching her bloodstained greatsword.

[Ding]

Name: Bapett [Cripple]

Race: Demon(Half-Blood)

Str: 898

Dex: 350

Con: 456

Wis: 754

Char: 67

Mana: 64

The Bapett gave a deep roar that wilted the flames to embers, shattering the earth and rupturing the ceiling until trickles of dust and stone crashed.

"Shit…" Altair said with a smile, trying to wonder how many which ways they were fucked. Those were the stats of a fourth circle. And yet his instincts told him that this was the only path open to him. The only path of survival. He gulped down a nervous laugh and readied himself, allowing the black of his eyes to shine two bloody irises.

These past eight months, he had gained much control over the Eye of Sacrilege. Simply transitioning its innate color to black had taken little concentration to maintain. Still, he opened up the King's Domain. Slowly, nodes of small embers filled a ten-meter-long domain from the center of Altair's feet, covering both sky and earth with its points.

"Don't get hit," He warned Ren.

The Sister of Silence all charged, swift as a pack of wild jackals. They whipped towards the Bapett, who gave such a roar the sheer force of it alone shattered the ground, pushing back the sisters.

"Reina, the fire!"

Altair said, channeling the Will of the Abyss. His presence crashed over the Bapett like an iron mountain, shattering the earth in which its hoofed feet stood, and something akin to a whimper echoed from its throat.

[Bapett has been Frightened.]

[Bapett's stats have dropped by 40%]

Name: Bapett [Cripple]

Race: Demon(Half-Blood)

Str: 898 ? 538.8

Dex: 350 ? 210

Con: 456 ? 275

Wis: 754 ? 452.4

Char: 67 ? 40.2

The twelve Sisters of Silence charged once again, in a shrieking flash, cleaving their blades across the mane of the Bampett. And for what little it did, a mere sliver of blood slid down their blades, having bearly penetrated the flesh. And yet, in a synchronized fashion, they each pulled out a flask of Holy Water from their robes and cracked it over the demon's mane before leaping away.

Azure fire blazed, billowing smoke from out of the demons as a cry so deep and painful it crackled from its tainted soul.

"RRRROAAAAAAAR!" The Bapett roared, thrashing about, and charged at such a speed that didn't remotely match its height, much less its robust size. It swung its axe in a fiendish barrage that shattered the hall, carving through marvel floors and chandeliers as if they were brittle pieces of stone.

A hail storm of blood and gore smeared over the ground, following the bodies of seven of the sisters caught. Their bodies practically exploded into a mesh of grounded meat.

"Art… give me a good vantage," Reina asked, summoning her Godly Armament granted to her by Artemis and nocked its string.

Altair rested Aria onto the ground with a barrier over her and stepped towards the Bapett, still locked in a rampage hammering at the remains of the dead Sisters. It whirled to Altair and charged like a beast on all fours, clutching its great axe stained red. It snorted a barrel of flames from its nostrils, blazing forward like a bull.

The speed of it alone had only allowed the Prince a step, but it was all he needed within the Domain of the King.

In a single step, he was ten meters into the air and above the beast as it crashed through a wall, tearing through the decor with vicious fury, bellowing as it whirled towards the Prince. It leaped high into the air, shadowing the Prince still mid-air with its looming shadow. The demon cleaved its great ax down.

'You'll make a good test dummy,' Altair said coolly and did the unthinkable. And took a step in mid-air within the King Domain. He moved twice in less than a single breath. He side-stepped the Bapett axe with Sovergns Gale while his second step landed him upon the demon's large grotesque head.

A presence so profound pillared over the Cathedral, like a great abyss of destruction, alerting hundreds as they turned one after the other.

The Vale descended.

Cloaking the Prince's leg in a great baptism of black flames that neither scarred nor burned but devoured: Be it light or dark, wind or fire, life or death, all things perished before the Vale: returning to its birthplace.

Altair stepped dowing, channeling his mana into a single point.

Enigmatic Step