“The Prince of Darkness,” I roared, the tendrils around Karl squeezing him as tightly as a boa constrictor, “would never give up something that belongs to him! Maddie is mine, Karl, every bit as much as Christina and Mareth. As much as the top of your precious leaderboard is mine. As much as the title of Archlord is mine…!”
The tendrils wrapped tighter and tighter as I spoke. Karl’s words of protest soon transformed into screams of pain as bones broke, splintering and shattering as I choked the life out of him.
Just as he threatened to pass out, the tendrils relaxed a fraction. I stepped forward, bringing my face close to his. “Give me my human,” I growled, spit flying over his face, “and I’ll leave you alone. For now.”
Karl’s face twisted. “Fuck you,” the demon sneered. “This is my world—”
That was as far as he got. Karl burst like an overripe melon, blood and gore spraying across the walls of the cell as my tendrils squeezed his innards dry. A wheeze escaped his throat like the air being let out of a balloon as I dropped his remains to the cell floor.
I loomed over the wreck of his body, my face contorted in rage. “Who’s too soft now, motherfucker?”
The rattling of bars reached my ears. Christina and Mareth tore at the bars of my cell, struggling to rip it open. A big vein of muscle flexed in Christina’s neck as she tugged at the locked door, but the steel refused to budge.
“Luke!” Mareth reached through the bars, her nails grazing my wings. “We can’t get the door open—”
“Don’t bother,” I grunted, kicking the meat sack that had once held Karl’s skeleton. “Look.”
The blood staining the floor hadn’t come to rest—it shimmied across the floor like a living thing, droplets of it rolling back toward Karl’s body. Chunks of gore slowly rolled across the stones, heading back toward their Master. Karl hadn’t been lying about his regenerative ability.
“Fuck,” Christina hissed, pulling harder at the door. “Luke, you’ve got to get out there!”
I turned around, silencing all three members of my team with a glare. “Find. Maddie.” I commanded, meeting Christina’s gaze, then Mareth’s, then Oni’s. “Every time I kill Karl, he’ll get back up—but I can hold him off for a good long while. You focus on finding where he’s stashed Maddie. I’ll keep him from getting in the way.”
Mareth’s lips formed a tight little line. “But Master—”
“I told you to go!” I roared. Behind me, Karl was already rising to his feet, the gashes in his skin stitching themselves back together. A single lock of blonde hair hung from the side of his hair, the rest of it planting itself back in his scalp follicle by follicle. “Don’t fucking disobey me!”
They sprinted off, each taking one of the paths leading from the triple intersection. I hoped Maddie lay at the end of one of them—otherwise, this was going to be one hell of a long fight.
As they raced off, hunting for Maddie, I turned around and faced Karl. His body was almost totally reformed now—even the smug, shit-eating grin was back on his face.
“Alright, bitch,” I snarled, flapping my wings. “Ready for round two?”
Chapter 27
I had to hand it to Karl—he might have been an utter bastard, but he was a fast learner.
As the demonic master of this subspace pulled himself back together, he charged. My tendrils wouldn’t last forever, but for the moment it was the easiest thing in the world to wrap him up and rip him apart again, piece by piece. Which was why he got in close, forcing me to fight him face-to-face.
Well, face to half-a-face. He hadn’t quite finished piecing the rest of his bits on yet.
He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around my neck. The two of us grappled, my wings proving to be more of a hindrance in the confined space than the advantage they’d been in the Wrath Arena. I toppled backward, the side of my face slamming into one of the bars of the cell.
“Same offer,” Karl said, the words from his still-ruined throat watery with blood. “Give up and go away! You can’t possibly beat me, human!”
I put a knee right in that torn throat, stifling any further conversation. Karl’s arms left mine, reaching for the wound, and the momentum in the fight shifted. I headbutted him in what was left of his face, his nose cracking and flying off into a corner of the room.
Got to keep him from reforming, I realized. He’s less powerful when he’s pulling himself back together.
It was a good plan. Problem was, Karl had just realized the same thing. He ducked and weaved like a prizefighter, bobbing away as my tendrils swung. He backed up again and again, putting him square in my long-range attacks but allowing more chunks of him to reconstitute. My tendrils ripped at his chest, opening up the wounds that were busy closing, but I wasn’t fast enough.
Growling, I snapped my fingers and charged up twin fireballs. Flames sprang to life across my fingers, filling the confined cell with the brimstone smell of smoke. I didn’t have the best track record of aiming the things, but with Karl mere feet from my face, I could hardly miss.
Fire flew from my fingers. Karl ducked to the side, throwing up a magical shield at the last moment. It blocked the largest section of the flames, sending them to either side across the walls. The cell warmed rapidly, sweat dripping from my skin as I tried to close the distance.
Just a little closer, I thought, reaching out for Karl. Quit running away, you piece of shit…!
As the last lock of blonde hair
