Hell Raiser

Frustration at the castle began to grow after discovering that one of their prized generals and his troops were outdone by a group of five women and a few soldiers; which made people in the demon council doubt the Demon Lord's efficiency but their doubts were put to rest during a meeting the Demon Lord called.

"I've been hearing rumors that some of you don't see me fit enough to bring ruin to the human world," Vermont said with his voice echoing throughout the hall as he walked up the flight of stairs towards Lord Zalon. "And Lord Zalon, I hear you've been fanning this flame of doubt around the castle". he said stroking Zalon's long hair.

"My Lord I would ne–ver do anythi–ng to go aga–inst you," Lord Zalon said trembling.

"But it seems your wife and son have other ideas," said Vermont and with a signal, Zalon's wife, Tarai, and his son Ubshed were brought into the hall. "Now Lady Tarai tell this great hall what you told me".

"I overheard him mocking your defeat in the human world to Lord Boltmazar," she said. "They said you weren't old enough to have a wife let alone lead a nation into war. I'm sorry husband my children are my utmost priority and I will not be associated with traitors".

"Ahhhh beautiful, beautiful" Vermont said laughing and clapping his hands as he turned his gaze to Zalon and said. "I should kill you right now but you were valuable to my father so I believe you can be of value to me, but I can't say the same for you Boltmazar".

"My Lord I promise we were just drunk on dragon brew and we didn't mean what we said," said Boltzmazar leaving his seat and bowing with his head touching the ground.

"Raise your head, my Lord. Your fate has already been decided; you shall duel me in the arena and should you lose I'll imprison you and feed your family to the dogs" Vermont said. Later that day after the fight was set everyone gathered in the arena to watch the fight including the family of Lord Boltmazar who was in chains outside the fighting ring. When Vermont made his way out into the ring Boltmazar's wife called out to him pleading.

"At least spare my children, my Lord, they didn't know of his betrayal".

"The time for Mercy has passed and only my wrath shall be known," Vermont said. The winner of the fight was already decided before the duel started as Vermont was one of the few Demon Lords who had great strength and skill without possessing the ancestral Demon Lord power. Both fighters entered the ring but before they started Boltmazar bowed down and pleaded that his family is spared,

"Fine then, I'll spare them only if you give me a good fight," he said.

"Yes my Lord". The signal was given and the battle started with Boltmazar who was both excellent at using a sword and a skilled magic user using his sword to send a slash of fire towards the Demon Lord which he dodged and went on to use the Lotumus spell to make the ground muddy after which it solidified holding him in place but before he could strike him with a curse Boltzmazar broke free and threw his sword at him and with a spell he teleported to where the sword was catching Vermont off guard and landed a very hard punch to his face. Vermont stumbled backward and smiled he got up and used a lightening bolt to strike him but he dodged and bellowed "Neco!" stretching his hand towards Vermont but Vermont dodged the curse and asked him smiling;

"You're going for the kill?"

"Like you asked my Lord," said Boltzmazar. At this point, Vermont who was attempting to please the crowd by toying a little with Boltmazar stopped holding back and unleashed his true power. The aura that Vermont emitted made it difficult for Boltmazar to move at first but he got his balanced and launched another attack; Vermont this time successfully reflected the attack making the temporal paralysis spell hit Boltmazar immobilizing him. As Vermont got closer to him, Boltmazar quickly got up like he hadn't just been hit with a paralysis spell and attempted to pierce Vermont with his sword but the sword broke immediately it touched Vermont's chest; he knew at that moment that the fight was lost and his death was imminent so he used a forbidden spell that would've bound the soul of Vermont to his own but before he could cast the spell Vermont with lightening quick movement punched a hole in his stomach exposing his guts prompting the crowd to erupt with a loud cheer.

Lord Zalon had already come up with an idea to land a devastating blow to the human world and he rushed to the Demon Lord's chamber in excitement to inform him.

"My Lord, it is an issue that they always know when we arrive hence they're always prepared," Zalon said. "But we have something that they won't be expecting".

"And what might that be?"

"The Hellraiser, it's an ancient Canon-like a relic of devastating power that can destroy a large area with extreme firepower but it can only be used once". Zalon said.

"And where's this relic?"

"It's buried deep within the old ruins of Bulbern".

"Take some men and locate the weapon, so we can attack when the portal reopens," Vermont said. The search was a tedious one but after three days they succeeded in finding it; they brought it back to the access point where they set up camp and waited for the time the portal would reopen.

In fear of an inevitable third attack, the magic council decided to evacuate every family who had homes close to the access point to other settlements. The students and every other person in the Magic world of France increased training routines and began to practice the use of swords as they came in handy in close combat. The friendship between Peter, Alice, Claire, Adrien, and Marie began to grow as they would practice for most of the day together; they also spent most of their free time together but the particular closeness Claire had with Peter made Alice feel uncomfortable but she never once voiced it to either of them. Meanwhile, Sarah urged the council chairman Mr. Deschampps to continue asking for aid from the magic council in other nations as the numbers they had wouldn't be enough to withstand the incoming onslaught; After receiving and declining numerous mails the magic council in Belgium finally found reasons to join France in fighting the Demon Lord and one of those reasons being if France was lost the next country that would be invaded would most likely be Belgium and in reality, Belgium possessed lesser forces in comparison to France and also without the expertise of the demon allies France had in Sarah and her family making it impossible to last a day in the battle so it was logical to help France; they opened the magic barrier blocking both countries and began to transport troops over to the camp near the access point. Sarah had the local transportation barrier dropped so she could see the nomag world once again and for probably the last time; she was accompanied by Peter and Alice. They walked on the streets just observing nomags as they went about their normal business; some were jogging, others sitting on park benches with earphones on while some others were walking their dogs and having nice laughs which made Peter stop and began to weep.

"What's the matter, Peter," Sarah asked.

"Look at how happy and carefree they are, they have no idea how much danger they're in," Peter said.

"And that's why it's our duty as the strong to protect them," Sarah said.

"But some people believe it is the natural order of things for the weak to die," Peter said still crying.

"Those ideas shouldn't exist in your mind Peter, just as a mother takes care of her child when it's born so the weak should look unto the strong for help and it is the duty of the strong to provide it," Sarah said wiping the tears off his face while Alice just stood looking and taking in the peaceful atmosphere as it would probably be the last time she would get to experienced anything like it.