Blood Magus Chapter 84

AN: Content warning for some graphic descriptions of violence and gore (more than has already been shown in this story.) You've been warned.

When they arrived at the edge of the forest, gazing upon the down, Zeth saw a picture of wanton destruction. Bodies were scattered through the streets, both humans and of monsters, painting the entire town red. Windows were broken and doors were busted in, and over in the town square, merchant carts were tipped over, spilling their goods all across the scene of the massacre.

And, even more noticeable than all of that, the entire town was still.

There were no people around, and no monsters—no living ones, at least. The entire place was eerie, completely still aside from the presence of Zeth and the demons.

In the distance, though, he could still hear screams and shouts—at least it was a sign that there were still living people around.

Zeth cautiously approached the town, gazing at the corpses littered about the streets. He looked at the demons walking with him. “Stay near me for now, until we figure out what the situation is.”

“Understood,” Astrys said, speaking calmly. Zeth could tell she was completely unbothered by the sight of all the blood and gore. Normally, he might be put off by the idea of being around someone who could so easily tolerate walking through a field of lost human lives, but in a way, it almost comforted him right now. At least it meant she’d be able to protect him and the remaining survivors without any mental disturbance.

Withstrom leaned over to her as they walked, and Zeth could hear him hiss into her ear, “Why are you so eager to follow this slug’s orders? What has he offered you?”

“Focus on the objective,” she ordered. 

”I am plenty focused. But tell me—are you forbidden from speaking of your compensation? Why were you given a different set of orders from us? Does it have to do with your bloodline? And why are you—”

As he spoke, Zeth heard a noise from behind a corner and shushed him, listening closely. It sounded like some sort of wet chewing.

Dreading what he was about to find, he made a hand motion to call them forward as he stepped ahead to peer around the building blocking his view.

Sure enough, he found what he’d expected. In the otherwise empty streets, one of the dog monsters stood, eye unfolded to reveal the toothed flaps that made up its mouth as it used that mouth to chow down on a human corpse’s face. The person had long since been dismembered and torn apart, the only thing attached to their head being the top half of their torso as it leaked blood and gore everywhere. The sight turned Zeth’s stomach—as did the stench.

“Go,” he whispered to the three demons. “Kill it.”

They instantly moved forward, the three of them striding forth to slay the beast that stood no chance against their power. It noticed the sound of their footsteps eventually, drawing its head back from the corpse and looking like it was about to prepare for a possible attack, but Astrys was already on it, swinging hard and raking her claws across its torso. It was thrown back by the force, screeching loudly with pain as it tumbled across the cobblestone road.

She moved to continue after it and finish the job, but as she did, another screech echoed through the town. Zeth turned around to see two more of the hound monsters bounding around a corner to find their injured companion, their gigantic eyes focusing on Zeth as they approached.

He took a step back, adopting a combat stance, but then decided against fighting them directly. He’d been able to handle one, but taking on two at once would be an unnecessary risk—especially when he brought soldiers along to help him.

“Astrys!” he shouted, looking back at her.

She stopped and glanced at him, seeing his predicament, and immediately nodded, turning on a dime to start rushing to his aid.

The two demons with her stopped as well and stared at her as she ran to combat these two more monsters.

“You two, just kill that monster,” he called to them. It was definitely overkill to have two demons take on a single injured monster from a lower realm than theirs, but he definitely didn’t trust them to give it their best effort, so he figured overkill was likely necessary. Astrys had spoiled him; he’d forgotten how annoying it was to work with these insufferable types.

But the two of them eventually caught up with the monster as it struggled to stand and lazily stabbed it to death with their claws, and Astrys swiftly took out the other two that had come after them, their own dying screams attracting no more predators. Zeth felt uneasy out here; there were clearly many monsters in town considering the destruction, but where were they?

He still heard the screams in the distance, all coming from one general direction—it was where they’d been headed as they marched through town, but the fact that there was nothing else in this destroyed area made him feel like he was walking through an abandoned battlefield. He’d never believed the stories of the spirits of dead humans rising from their bodies to haunt the area they passed away in—as far as all knowledge went, once you were dead, your consciousness was gone, and there was no way to bring it back—but standing out here, it made him realize why people would assume such a thing. The place certainly felt haunting.

As the three demons reconvened and they continued trekking through the streets and toward the source of the screams, Withstrom once again looked at Astrys. Though, this time, he had a different expression on his face.

“The slug called you ‘Astrys,’” he said.

Her face hardened. “...Yes.”

“A demon named Astrys, with royal horns.” His face morphed into a sadistic sneer. “So you’re her, then. Astrys Thylmoor. The four hundred and ninth princess.”

The other demon, Sinthar, bowed his head, reciting what seemed to be a practiced line. “It is my honor to be in the presence of a royal.”

Withstrom barked out a laugh. “It certainly is not your honor. She’s four hundred and ninth out of four hundred nine. Last place. The unwanted daughter of a whore.”

Zeth looked over at Astrys, expecting her to blow up like she did before, to scream at him, to slam her fist through his nose—anything. But she just stood there and took the insults on the chin, her face unchanging.

“A royal is a royal,” Sinthar said simply, head still bowed.

“Not this one. Not anymore. Not after she used her political stance to force her way into the military, gained control of an entire army of soldiers, and then ran them straight into the most obvious trap since Tyber Thylmoor was walked into his own jail cell and locked inside by his brother three hundred years ago! An entire army led to their slaughter by the hands of the River Powers, and it was entirely her fault for somehow not noticing the forest of void trees half a mile to her north. It’s only been a few days since then and the war has already taken a turn toward disaster. She’ll go down in the history books as the single woman who led to the destruction of the Thylmoor Kingdom—if there even are history books detailing our history after the River Powers slaughter us for our land.”

Sinthar looked cautiously between the two. “...I am nothing but a servant of a noble house. I should have no opinion on disagreements between—”

“There is no disagreement,” Astrys said, her voice a somber calm. “What he says is true. I failed the kingdom.”

“You know, reports said that you died in the massacre, as well,” Withstrom said, leaning forward, inches from her face. “That actually gave me a decent final opinion of you. At least you went down with your soldiers. It was like you were the opposite of a martyr, dying for your own sins as penance. But now I find you here, up in the First Realm, acting oh so friendly with a slug. You’ve been here since the massacre, haven’t you? I don’t know how you’ve done it, but the unwanted princess has found a way to leave responsibility behind once again, traveling to a place where she can finally feel needed. By a fucking human. She couldn’t find a way to save her soldiers' lives in a perfectly equal skirmish, but it seems as though she was more than willing to find a way to break the laws of summoning itself and stay in the First Realm for more than the time limit allows so she could save herself. At least we know now where her priorities lie.”

Once again, Zeth stared at her, waiting for the retort that must have been coming. She had just beaten this man half to death minutes ago—why wasn’t she saying anything now?

But then she did say something. She bowed her head, lips trembling, and muttered, “Nothing I can do can make up for my failure. Please know that I—”

“You don’t deserve any final words,” he interrupted. “You should have died days ago. If you want to make up for it, if you want to make penance, then you need to go back to the Thirteenth Realm right now. Go home, and die. If you’re in the hands of the enemy, let them kill you. If you’re somehow safe, then fall on your sword and kill yourself.”

She looked back up at him, eyes glistening.

“Do it,” he continued. “Now. I don’t want to see your disgusting  face for another five seconds. Unsummon yourself at this very moment, and end your life. If you don’t, that just proves—”

Zeth stepped forward, forcing himself between them. Both Astrys and Withstrom were significantly taller than him as all demons were, so he didn’t quite properly push Withstrom back with his physical presence, but he at least distracted him from continuing his diatribe.

“Take a step back,” he ordered, “and shut the fuck up.”

Zeth initially felt like it’d be rude to step in and fight Astrys’s battles for her when she’d clearly been capable of handling this asshole earlier, but it seemed like what Withstrom was saying clearly had far more of an effect on her than anything else. Watching him just tear into her like that, refusing to relent even as she apologized, pissed Zeth off to no end.

“Zeth,” Astrys muttered, her voice only barely wavering to show the pain she felt, “it is okay. All that he says is true. There is no need to—”

“You shut the fuck up too,” he said, glancing back at her. Then he blinked and let out a breath. “Sorry, no, you don’t need to shut up. I didn’t mean to word it like that. But don’t talk about yourself that way. I don’t care what is or isn’t true, I’m not gonna let someone tell you to end your own life and then walk away.”

Withstrom barked out a laugh once again. “Oh? And how will you prevent me from doing that, slug? You think you, a human, could actually do something to me? You think you could harm me in any way? Slugs like you are far too weak to even lay a finger on a being superior to yourself. And unfortunately for you, you already gave me my payment, so you can’t even take that away from me. The deal is struck—like it or not, you are stuck with me for the next four hours. And if I am to be forced to work alongside a traitor like her, no matter what orders you give me, know that I will do everything in my power to inflict whatever fraction of the misery she wreaked across our kingdom back onto her.”

Zeth chewed on his lip, a smile of his own spreading across his face as Withstrom spoke.

“You know what?” he said gleefully. “You’re right.”

The demon frowned. “What?”

“You’ve already gotten your payment to stay here for four hours—the deal has been struck. That means no matter what, you can’t leave.”

Withstrom stared at Zeth with clear unease on his face.

Zeth stared back at him. “Gouge out your own left eye.”

The demon sucked in a breath, uneasy expression instantly morphing into one of fear as he realized what was happening. He couldn’t leave, which meant he couldn’t refuse. And because the deal he’d made was initially done under duress, he hadn’t taken the time to include any stipulations about what type of labor, specifically, he’d be doing—and what he wouldn’t be doing—during his four hour stay.

Slowly, he brought a trembling hand up to his face, long claws extended. It looked like he was doing everything he could to force the pointed tip away from his flesh, but he couldn’t; it continued moving steadily toward its destination. Sure, the injuries a demon sustained while summoned would go away once they returned home, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t feel the pain.

Eventually, his claw touched the soft flesh of his eyeball and he let out a grunt, clearly trying his hardest to keep it from going any further and cutting it open. Standing beside him, Sinthar looked away, bringing up a hand to shield his eyes from seeing what would happen next. And behind Zeth, Astrys let out a soft gasp, though Zeth heard no movements from her—she continued staring straight at the act of self-mutilation.

After resisting for a couple seconds, the force making him follow Zeth’s orders overtook Withstrom’s resistance, and his claw jolted forward, stabbing straight into his eyeball. He let out a shout of pain as blood squirted out, spraying across Zeth’s face as he watched.

“Keep going.”

Withstrom flexed his fingers, digging his claw even deeper into his eye socket, groaning in pain and sucking in quick breaths as he scraped his claw through his own fleshy insides. He fell to his knees, forced to continue on and on as he tortured himself, unable to stand.

Zeth looked down at him, watching intently as the demon was reduced to whimpers, hand still pressed to his face as his entire finger was submerged in the messy pit of gore that now made up his left eye, moving back and forth as it stirred the stew of flesh.

“Alright,” Zeth said, “pull your finger out.”

Slowly, with a few more gasping breaths between his groans of pain, he withdrew his claw from his eye socket, the curved tip still holding some strings of flesh that he was forced to bring his other hand up and slide off of his finger, leaving them dangling from his face.

“Now, I think you stated earlier that you, as a demon, were a superior being to me.” Zeth leaned down and brought his right hand up to gently cup Withstrom’s face. “Do you feel superior?”

Withstrom didn’t respond, gasping in pain as he failed to comprehend the world around him.

Zeth shifted his hand’s position on his face, bringing his thumb up and jamming it into the flesh pit that was the demon’s left eye socket. Withstrom shouted out in agony as Zeth squeezed hard, yanking upward and forcing the demon to his feet, face inches from Zeth’s.

“I said,” Zeth growled, “do you feel superior?”

“N-no,” he gasped out.

“Then you’ll do what I say. Right?”

“Y-yes, yes. Please…”

“So fucking apologize.”

“I’m sorry for insulting you,” he rushed to whimper out in a quivering voice.

“Not to me!” Zeth shouted, spittle flinging across Withstrom’s face.

“I-I’m sorry, princess. N-no, y-your royal highness, I apologize for—”

Zeth let go of his face and stepped aside so he wasn’t standing between him and Astrys, pushing Withstrom down to the ground. “On your knees! And look her in the fucking eyes while you do it!’

Zeth watched him fall to his knees, hands gripping the rough cobblestone road as he struggled to tilt his head upward and look at Astrys. For the first time, Zeth also saw Astrys, who was staring at the scene with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry, your royal highness, for insulting you,” Withstrom begged with a shaking voice. “I was insolent for speaking to you that way, and I take back everything I said to you. I implore you, please find it in your heart to forgive me.”

“Well?” Zeth said, looking at her. “Do you want to do even more to him?”

“...No,” she said, her voice quiet. “I don’t.”

“Cool.” Zeth looked down at him. “I do.”

Withstrom whipped his head over to look at Zeth, crawling over to him to beg at his feet. “N-no!”

“How do you feel about losing your right eye, too?”

“No, please!” he whimpered.

“Yeah, I know you wouldn’t like it, but I think I’d really enjoy watching you gouge that one out, too,” Zeth said casually, bringing his hand up to stroke his chin as though he were thinking it over.

“Please don’t make me do it,” he moaned.

“You really don’t want to?”

Withstrom shook his head, continuing to take panicked, shaky breaths.

“Fine, I guess I won’t make you do it. You already put me in such a good mood already doing your left eye,” Zeth said with a sigh. Then he knelt down, sinking to eye level as he stared Withstrom down, speaking in a much lower voice. “But if I ever get in a bad mood, I may just have to cheer myself up and use you for entertainment. So you just make sure you are very fucking careful to keep me happy today, alright?”

“O-okay,” he sobbed.

Zeth patted his cheek, standing back up. “Alright. Get up then, and let’s keep moving.”

He strode ahead through the decimated town streets, continuing to head straight for the sounds of fighting further ahead. Withstrom scrambled to his feet, rushing to walk behind Zeth, and Sinthar ran to follow along too, clearly afraid to anger Zeth. Astrys was the last to move, hesitantly following as well as she eventually came to walk alongside him again. She glanced at him with a strange expression that he could tell was partially that of fear, but there was something else there he couldn’t quite identify.

He could barely pull his mind away from the intense need for violence right now, though. He’d offered mercy to that fucking Withstrom guy only because Astrys asked him to; that didn’t mean he wasn’t still burning with anger.

He began walking faster. “Come on, we’re picking up the pace. I need to find something I can kill.”