NOVEL WEB Arc 1 Finale: Part 2
We both rushed forward side by side and everyone around us seemed to stand still. Mellic was doing an impressive job at keeping everyone at bay with endless enchantment attacks. Even outnumbered nearly 100 to 1 he was holding his own and proving just how powerful he truly was. As my demons were pushed back by a shockwave that traveled along the ground, I flanked Mellic on his right and Aeryn on his left. Chains burst from the ground and flew at me, but they couldn’t keep up with the overwhelming speed I was moving at. My master backpedaled a few steps and raised his hand like he was preparing to attack Aeryn, but faltered when he saw his spidery form.
“What’s wrong Mellic? Don’t like the gift that your sister gave me? All of her children told me just how weak you really are… You’re the runt of your family; a whelp. A nothing who uses petty tricks and charms in place of real power. Even your own creation has far surpassed you. You really are a pathetic excuse for a demon.”
I could tell that Aeryn’s taunts had struck a nerve from the look of absolute hatred that Mellic wore. He stopped his nimble movements and held both hands in front of his abdomen like he was holding a ball. The air thrummed with energy, and everyone surrounding him was forced to the ground. My body felt sluggish and heavy as if each limb weighed thousands of pounds, and I struggled to stay on my feet. Even Aeryn was driven down and I watched as he collapsed onto the ground. Chains shot from the ground, but this time I was far too slow to evade them. The heavy metal chains wrapped around my wrists and ankles, while another wrapped itself loosely around my throat. My arms were spread, stretched out to each side and my legs had been pulled til I was almost off balance. My head jerked back and breathing became more difficult as the chain on my neck went taut. I looked around and saw that all of the others had been wrapped completely with similar chains, and I felt panic flare up in my stomach. The heaviness of my body lifted, but I was still completely immobilized by Mellic’s enchanted chains.
“Don’t. Call. Me. Weak.”
Mellic reached down and I watched helplessly in dismay as he snapped Aeryn’s neck with a quick jerk.
“You’ll... pay for that… you bastard!”
“Look at you… even when you’ve clearly been beaten and I have you at my mercy you’re still defiant and ungrateful. When all of your friends were nearly flattened by my spell you still managed to stay on your feet. You really are perfect.”
He walked slowly towards me and reached out with one of his hands, placing his palm and fingers on my face. I felt his hot breath on my ear as he leaned in closely.
“You could have had it all… but instead you thought you could beat me. Like you were somehow better than me. Now I’m going fuck each of your clan mates while you watch helplessly. Over and over. I’ll take extra pleasure in corrupting that pretty ice mage you’re so attached to. And when they’re all loyal to me I’ll make them fuck you over and over and over until you see that I am and will always be your master.”
He pulled away and spun on his heel. As he walked towards Emelia I saw that a split had formed along the back of Aeryn’s spine. Just like Mallica, he was in the process of shedding his skin, and I knew it wouldn't be long before he was back in the fight. I just needed to hold out until then…
“Mellic… Master! Wait! Please… just hear me out before you do anything.”
I heard him grunt in irritation and he walked back in front of me.
“What?!”
“Let me do it. Forcing me to fuck my friends and corrupt them into your slaves would be the ultimate punishment.”
“And being forced to watch me rape them isn’t?”
“You’ve already shown that you’re better than everyone else. That what Aeryn said was merely words meant to get under your skin. Having me do it in your stead would show them that even the mighty demoness Allexus submits to your will. You can even cast that mind control spell like you did earlier to ensure that I cooperate.”
He sighed heavily and I maintained eye contact with him as best I could.
“Fine.”
I breathed deeply and closed my eyes. The numb feeling that I experienced earlier returned, and my eyes snapped open. The chains unraveled from around my body and I stood up and glanced at Mellic.
“I’ve come up with an even better punishment, dear Allexus. You’re going to be the one restraining your friends as I take each of them. And when I’m finished I’ll let you have a turn with each of them.”
I wanted to scream out, to tell him to go fuck himself. But my body moved on its own and instead I stood on my toes and kissed Mellic on the cheek. My body turned and walked towards Emelia. I saw her relax for a moment before noticing the same distant look my eyes had.
“Allie.. Allie! Fight it! You have to fight it! You’re stronger than this.”
I reached down and backhanded her with my armored hand. Her head jerked to the side and she groaned in pain. My hand wrapped around her throat and hoisted her into the air as the chains around her fell away. I heard my friends shouting for me to stop, and I could see tears streaming down Emelia’s face as my body turned and walked back towards my master.
“Allie… please… don’t... do this.”
I focused all my will on trying to break through Mellic’s enchantment, and a groan bubbled up from my throat.
“...don’t… worry... K?”
She stopped struggling against my grip and her face calmed ever-so-slightly. As I drew closer to Mellic, whatever control I had wrestled from his enchantment slipped away. My body stopped in front of the demon lord and I held Emelia up towards him.
“Strip her.”
I slowly lowered the small ice mage to the ground, but still held my hand around her throat. With my other hand I reached down and grabbed a handful of Emelia’s robes, before tearing them off her body with a single strong tug. Her pale skin glistened like diamonds from the light layer of frost coating her body, and the black bra and underwear she wore made her skin look even more milky white. My hand traced a line from her belly up to the thin layer of fabric between her bosom and my claw extended. With a swift movement it sliced through her bra and her large breasts swung free. I fought with all the willpower I could muster as I felt my body start to move lower, but I couldn’t stop my hand from reaching between her legs and caressing the sensitive skin over top of her panties. Despite the circumstances she was in, Emelia moaned against my touch; but the look of pure hatred she wore told me she wanted no part of this. I grinned and flashed her my fangs wickedly as I tore the last remaining piece of clothing off.
Mellic waved one of his hands and his pants shimmered and disappeared. He stepped closer to Emelia and placed one of his hands on the small of her back. She flinched away from his touch, and my grip tightened around her throat.
“Hold her still. I plan to take my time with this.”
Emelia trembled in my grasp as Mellic grabbed onto her waist with each of his hands and pulled her lower half back til she was standing off balance. He spread her legs with his knee and lined himself up to take her from behind. Just as he was about to push his hips forward and thrust into her, blood splattered all over her back. Mellic looked down at his chest at the fist that had punched through his ribcage with a look of confusion. Aeryn leaned in close to Mellic’s ear and placed his other hand around the demon lord’s throat.
“Don't touch my sister you pathetic piece of shit!”
Aeryn twisted his hand around Mellic’s throat and snapped his neck until the tall demon’s head was turned completely around. The numbness in my body lifted all at once and I reached forward and grabbed Emelia before she could fall to the ground. I eased her down slowly and stepped forward. I watched in dismay as Mellic reached up and twisted his head back to normal with his hands. A trickle of blood poured from his lips as he rapidly swung his forearm downward down and severed the limb that was still protruding from his chest. He jerked his head back quickly to bash Aeryn in the face, and as I moved to strike him with my sword he held out his hand and summoned his giant claymore to block my attack.
Fury and rage filled me as I attacked relentlessly. Fury at all the shit Mellic put me through, at all the torments I had endured, at all the times I had to pick myself off the floor after he used me and then tossed me aside. My demonic strength surged in a way I had never felt before, and I grabbed the edge of his massive sword and easily wrested it from his grip. I slashed out with my own blade, and cut him diagonally across his chest. I screamed loudly at him as I attacked with every ounce of vitriol and hatred I had.
“Never-”
I flipped his blade and caught the handle with my free hand as it turned in mid-air. I swung it and bared my fangs as I felt it cleave into him.
“Touch-”
I sliced downwards with both swords and he staggered from the impact of both weapons hitting him.
“My-”
I pulled my arms back and then thrust the point of both swords into his chest. I growled loudly and forced the blades deeper into him until I was almost face to face with him.
“GIRLFRIEND!!!”
I left both blades impaled deeply in his chest and reached up and grabbed his head in my hands. I summoned up every last bit of my strength and pulled as hard as I could until the sound of flesh tearing and bones snapping filled the air. I roared in triumph as I tore his head off his body and kicked the headless corpse away from me. I forced my hands together to completely crush Mellic's decapitated head before tossing the pulpy remains to the ground. I slowly walked back towards Emelia as my ragged breathing and pounding heart rate slowly returned to normal.
The arena around us shimmered and started fading like a sidewalk drawing being washed away in the rain. I helped Emelia to her feet as the dull gray stone walls of the castle returned. The others were slowly standing up and looking around, and I let out a huge sigh of relief. I turned back towards Aeryn and was surprised to see that Mellic’s body had already started to crumble to dust.
“Did we win?”
I started to nod, but realized that this could be yet another deception from the master of enchantments. As I turned towards Emelia to say something, it suddenly felt like my entire body was on fire. I doubled over in pain and fell down to my knees. The others rushed to my side with concern on their faces, but I couldn’t focus on much beyond the excruciating pain wracking through my body. Dark marks like tattoos appeared all over my skin, each mark was shaped like a sturdy chain. The marks started glowing a bright fiery orange and I could feel the heat radiating off of them inside my armor. All at once the marks began to slowly fade away like blood flowing towards my heart. Just as quickly as it started, the pain that had crippled me ceased and I slowly made my way to my feet.
“Allie, are you OK? What the hell was that?”
“I… I’m not sure.”
I pulled up my character screen and then sifted through the various other menus. All traces of Mellic’s detrimental enchantments were gone, and my [Summon Master] skill had been replaced with [Summon Demon Enchanter]. I also noticed a new menu that I didn’t have before; Castle Command Menu.
“I think that was all of Mellic’s enchantments being removed at once. I also think control of the castle shifted to me, cause I got a new menu called Castle Command Menu.”
“Seriously? That’s awesome! Wait… if Mellic’s enchantments are gone does that mean he’s actually gone for good?”
Without a thorough inspection of the castle I didn’t want to get my hopes up just yet. Everything was suggesting that Mellic was indeed gone, but at this point nothing would surprise me.
“I hope so. For now let’s check out the rest of the castle just to be sure.”
As we inspected the castle, we realized that everything beyond the plain stone walls and floors had been Mellic’s enchantments. The entire castle was empty except my bedroom, which was the only room that remained the same. Upon returning to my bedroom, I found a letter on the desk with my name written on the front.
Allexus,
If you are reading this, it means your defiance won out and that you managed to beat me. I want to think that there’s a chance you may never read this… but I know better. You truly are my best creation, and it’s because of that that I know you will surpass me. While it angers me to my core that you won’t simply submit to me… I shouldn’t be surprised. I think if I hadn’t made you into the epitome of demonic perfection that I did, you would still be loyal to me; but my pride wouldn’t allow for anything else.
Since I was a child I was told that my enchantments were weak, and that my reliance upon them made me inferior in the eyes of my siblings and parents. I honed the only skill I had any talent in until I could prove to everyone that I was anything but weak or inferior. Enchantment magic allows anything considered impossible to be possible. I can take a pathetic Angelspawn, strip it down to its bare bones, and build an entirely new creation of my own design.
No matter what you think of me, you have to acknowledge that without me you would not even be a shadow of what you are now. I literally made you who you are, so I take pleasure knowing that you will always carry a piece of me with you. Every level, every quest, every kill is all because I made you into the perfect demon.
Along with complete control of the castle, I’ve left you a few parting gifts:
-You are hereby granted the title of Demon Lord, which will be applied the next time you level up.
-You will always have my true form available as one of your summons.
-An enchanted potion that is very similar to the one I gave you. The Demon Enchanter can give you more information about this if you need it.
-Your Blood Tithe meter can now be filled by your minions or those you have corrupted, you will also gain experience points every time the meter fills.
-1,000,000 gold
You have the potential to be the greatest demon lord that has ever lived. Don’t fuck it all up by dying.
Your Master,
Mellic
I reread the letter several times before saving my progress and leveling up. Mellic’s defeat had jumped me up another 10 levels, putting me at level 63. I chose my new skills and left my room to show the others the letter. We assembled in what used to be the throne room and discussed everything that had happened.
