49. A bone chilling scream

Five days later Leviathan’s castle was surrounded by an army of demons. The remaining princes of hell had demanded several times that he surrender Elise to them. Every time Leviathan told them no, but they were not playing any more. There were thousands of demons outside, ready to wage war.

Elise looked down on them from one of the bedroom windows. She knew they all hated her. She had no allies here. Only Leviathan and his men. It would be a long and tiring fight. It could last days.

As she watched someone step out from the crowd. As she looked closer, she recognized who it was. It was Mara. The other princes stepped out behind him. They all looked up strait at her, staring her down.

Her face contorted as she turned and left the window. She made her way down to where Leviathan was and looked at the men around him. They looked indifferent to their circumstances. They were just pawns, and they knew it.

All who followed the various princes were their pawns. They would do what they were told and Leviathans demons where no different.

“Are we ready to start?” Elise asked.

“I think so.”

He looked over his demons and then back at her. They nodded to each other and then led the way through the front door. As they made their way across the courtyard Elise could feel the world slowing down. She felt her heart beating heavily in her chest. Her only options now were to fight or be tortured and if she failed, she would endure nothing but pain for the rest of eternity.

The gates opened slowly. First a trickle and then a wave of solders pushed through the opening into the courtyard. Elise reached between her shoulder blades and pulled out her weapon. She braced herself as the wave of men charged across the courtyard drew closer. The enemy broke against their line. Elise was quickly swamped.

She swung and stabbed repeatedly using both sides of her weapon to kill any demons and men that came for her. She glanced around as she fought. She could no longer see Leviathan. He was lost somewhere in the sea of the battle. She kept fighting for hours. Hours turned into days. Every time she thought she was getting close to achieving something, more bodies would come flooding through the gate.

Exhaustion was starting to overwhelm her. Her arms were weak from constantly twirling her weapon. Her hands were so slick with blood and sweat that she had trouble holding on to it. Blood had seeped through her clothes and was now covering every inch of her body. The drying blood was sticky and made her skin feel tight over her screaming muscles. She had never felt tired like this before. After days of fighting her body was beginning to betray her.

Then she caught a glimpse of Leviathan. It was the first time in days she had seen him. At first, she thought her eyes were deceiving her, but the way his body moved there was no doubt it was Leviathan. She craved him. She wanted too just be near him. She felt that if she could just reach him, everything would be okay.

She tried to move towards him, but as she cut down a man in front of her another appeared. She knew this one, it was Mara.

“You will wish you never came to hell.”

“Fuck off.” She spat.

“Oh, I am sure Asmodeus will find a much better use for that mouth.”

Elise lunged. But Mara was swift. He moved in fast. Elise lunged at him, but he fell to the ground in a slide. He sliced her leg as he passed her. She let out a scream as she stumbled. She managed to stay on her feet. Mara came in close again. This time she moved just in time to avoid his hellish daggers.

She went to stab him, but he sliced her arm. Elise lost her grip and dropped her weapon. She growled as she swung her fist punching him in the face. He moved to stab her, but she kicked him in the nuts. Mara dropped his daggers. He recovered quickly though and tackled her to the ground.

He tried to punch her in the face, but she moved to dodge it. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled her torso up rolling so he was now on the ground beneath her. He elbowed her in the side, knocking the wind from her lungs. She loosened her hold on him as she tried to regain her breath.

Mara broke free and tried to reach his daggers. Elise tackled him. The two continued wrestling and trading punches. Elise was having a tough time though. Her exhausted body could not keep up. She knew it and he knew it. She broke away from him and grabbed her double-sided sword. She released her black wings and attempted to fly away.

She lifted into the sky, but Mara had once again gotten ahold of his daggers. He threw one cutting into her large wings. She fell a bit, struggling to recover from the blow. She fell low enough for him to reach her. He jumped into the air stabbing her wings again. Only this time he dug the knife, dragging it across her wing as he slid down. Her magnificent feathers fell to the ground.

The pain was excruciating for Elise. She let out a bone chilling scream. She fell hard to the blood covered ground. Leviathan saw her attempt to fly. He began fighting his way over. He needed to get to her, to protect her. Mara hastily cut her wrist, making her drop her weapon again.

He could not lift her divine double headed spear. Only she could pick it up again. He needed to prevent her from retrieving it. He beat on her repeatedly till she became unconscious. Then he bound her, hoisted her over his shoulder, and retreated.

Leviathan was too late. He fought even harder to catch up only to be lost in the crowd of demons and men. He thought that the fighting would stop now that they had taken her. If he couldn’t get her back now, he would have a chance to plan and get her back.

But the fighting didn’t stop. The people he killed came back to life after a while and continued to fight him. Only Elise’s weapon could kill them for good. He would continue to fight for centuries. The demons and men had been ordered to keep him fighting for the rest of eternity.