Into Hellfire

Chapter Nine

General Patrick was the first to notice his comrades entering their makeshift fort. In reality, they'd walled off a relatively cold cave and held it as a defensive position. Help wasn't coming, they knew that.

Azura landed in the courtyard, setting Amy down and allowing Stella to look over her wound. The Enchantress shook her head. "Just give me a moment, kid. You'll be okay."

Amy whimpered from the pain, but nodded and allowed Stella to cast several spells. General Patrick walked over to join the group. "Is everyone okay?"

"General. All company accounted for, minus Gabriel," Azura reported.

Patrick nodded. "Good. Abigail and her group are still missing. They know their way around, so I'm not too concerned about them."

As soon as the formalities were over, the Scholar ran forward, hugging Patrick. "How did things go so wrong?"

Patrick sighed, hugging her back. "Sometimes, Azura, the cards just don't fall in our favor."

"Everything's wrong, Patrick! We're all trapped here, those who escaped are probably gonna be attacked by the Hordes, and we can't do anything about it!" Azura was becoming quickly distressed, rattling out words that dissolved into nonsense.

The General did the first thing he thought of. He gave the Scholar a quick kiss to shut her up. It worked, the girl going silent and staring in disbelief.

Patrick spoke up. "Everything is going to be okay. I've led us this far and I refuse to let it be for nothing. I'll promise you one thing, Azura- it they lay even a finger on you, they'll regret it."

At that, he walked off to check on the rest of the soldiers. Azura just stood, utterly confused at what had just happened to her. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

It was Swan. A look of concern was clear on the Indian girl's face. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, just... so much has happened. I guess I'm just... a bit overwhelmed," Azura replied shakily.

Swan nodded. "I get it. Phantom and Wolf have gone to get some help, but there's no telling when they'll be back."

Azura nodded. They just had to last.

***

"Queen Crysteffor, what are you planning?" Kronos asked as they hiked through the fiery hellscape, the remains of their group behind them.

"There are a few fallen Gigas over this way. If we can raise them, they'll fight for us," Abigail replied.

"Are you certain? They seem loyal to Naeus when they're clobbering baddies," Blair remarked.

"I'm certain. They're loyal to the one that raises them," the Exiled Queen affirmed.

"You're sure about this?" Kronos was still skeptical. Their skeleton force couldn't handle one if this went wrong.

"Completely."

Kronos was about to protest, but Abigail put her hand up to silence him. They had arrived.

Abigail walked up to one of the massive skeletons, running her hand along one of its massive ribs. This was an ancient one- it had grown larger than any other Giga. Abigail stepped back, planting Ruby Thorn in the ground, the gemstone at the end of the staff glowing bright. She began to chant, and a red aura developed around the Ancient Gigabone.

Blair stepped back. "Holy crap.."

***

Azrael and Gabriel stood shoulder to shoulder, their scythes raised and ready for Amelia's attack. Or, they thought they were. Instead of attacking them directly, the Nether Queen rushed around them, driving her daggers into the soft netherrack around them. The daggers' blades began to gain ethereal extensions, a kind of combat magic that Amelia learned from General Naeus. She ripped her blades free as she ran and drove the ethereal extensions up the sides of the shelf. In doing so, the netherrack was unable to support its own weight and broke free, collapsing towards Gabriel and Azrael.

The pair gave a quick glance at one another before deploying their wings, flying out of the way of the massive netherrack shelf. In the rush to get out of the way, both had lost track of Amelia, but gained the attention of the two dragons who still sat at the entrance of the Citadel. The pale white dragon roared, blue fire rushing out towards Gabriel. Azrael was quick to react, however, and slammed into Gabriel, knocking them both to the ground and out of the way of the dragon's attack. The other dragon, who on closer inspection appeared to be Enderheart, drew closer to them, inspecting them closely before lashing out at Azrael with her claws. The Demon rolled backwards, avoiding the blow, and returned with a fireball that staggered Enderheart.

"Azrael, we have to go!" Gabriel shouted.

A mistake, as the other dragon turned its head to look at him. It wasn't any more than a second later that the beast was rushing at him, horns lowered to skewer him. Gabriel dove out of the way, avoiding the horns, but he couldn't avoid the Dragon's tail that threw him onto the netherrack wall behind him. The soft rock broke on impact, collapsing on top of him, effectively burying him alive. The Archangel lay still under the rubble.

Azrael, seeing this, let out her demonic shriek, both dragons staggering from the shrill sound. She swooped down, her scythe tearing through the pale dragon's face and neck, but the dragon's quick movements meant she missed anything that would've killed it. It roared in pain, snapping its jaws at her and roaring.

Azrael smirked. "You wanna dance? Let's dance."

The girl, now fully in control of her own body, expertly piloted herself around the dragon. The Demon spell had taken control of her, forced her to watch as it killed others using her body, but now? Now she could get retribution for everything that it did, for everything that Naeus had done. She dove and climbed, slashing at the dragon at every chance she got. When it snapped at her, she'd slash its nose and eyes. If it tried to whip her with its tail, she'd dig her scythe in and fly right with it.

Soon, she had it right where she wanted it. She dove under, feigning an attack on its belly and forcing it to take flight. The wind whipped up around her, and threw her into the ground, but it also knocked the rubble off of Gabriel. Looking up, though, Azrael saw that he remained still and unmoving. Her backup was gone. Her scythe had been thrown in the impact. She was defenseless and had two dragons circling her.

Then, she saw the teeth coming at her.