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Two days later, Feldspar came knocking and strolled into the home, glaring back and forth before relaxing as she saw both Selena and Sin were out. She sat down on the couch, dressed in a long, flowing dress â€" red, like her scales were today â€" before putting her hands in her lap and looking up at him innocently. "So, lover. You don't have anyone else in your life other than me right now, do you? Because I always want to know what you're up to..."

Zerrex shook his head before pausing and leaning forwards with a slight smile, trying to do things as he'd rehearsed with Selena. "Well... Selena's been crawling all over me lately, so I've been trying to let her down easy... but she seems completely obsessed with me. I mean, just the other day she was talking about all sorts of things I'm not interested in with her at all, like being in a relationship or marriage, or even just being my slave." These lines are lamer than my bad leg was back on the mortal plane.

Feldspar looked infuriated until Zerrex mentioned the last, and then her eyes brightened a bit as she said slowly: "Really now? Well, why wouldn't you be interested in that, Lord Zerrex? I have to admit, that's a very interesting idea..."

She licked her muzzle slowly, her eyes glowing with hate; hate that had been born of jealousy and envy over all her years of loathing Selena for pointless reasons. It was exactly the nerve they were looking to touch, as the Drakkaren tilted his head thoughtfully and said slowly: "Well... of course it's appealing. I'd love to get her back for all the cruel and unfair things she did to me, certainly... but I was worried that it would offend you, since I know how forgiving you are and how much you dislike her."

"Oh, but I think that's all the more reason to make her your bitch!" Feldspar said eagerly, nodding quickly as she stood up and grinned, taking Zerrex's hands tightly, and her eyes burned up into his adoringly. "Yes, in fact... I have a wonderful idea for an extra-special present I could make her, too... one of several extra-special presents, in fact, a few of which I wouldn't mind you using on me..."

Her eyes half-lidded, and then she was kissing him hungrily as she pulled him back onto the couch with him... and five minutes later she was curled against his chest as she sat in his lap, moaning blissfully as she rode his enormous shaft up and down, her hips bucking firmly and her dress puddled around the floor, the front pulled down around her breasts... and Zerrex gazed over her shoulder with a half-bored, half-irritated expression as he gripped her waist with one hand and her hip with the other, his own pants puddled around his feet. It didn't take much to get her screaming and squealing in ecstasy, and he didn't have to try to make her orgasm... and yet every time they had sex, she felt looser around his shaft, and it was less and less-pleasurable of an experience for him.

Instead, he was thinking back to his most recent time with Selena, how well she'd handled him, how she'd fought him for the top... and how he'd finally mananged to push her down as he rammed in and out of her almost viciously, nothing like this bored pumping he was doing now. He had made her scream too... and he remembered his own roars before they had kissed hungrily, as his shaft tore into a passage so tight it was almost painful, not only gripping and pushing back but seeming to ripple and get smaller, tighter, better with every thrust into her...

He remembered his testicles slapping against her anus, how she'd cried out for harder, more, and more... he remembered the sound of squelching in and out of her, of the slapping of flesh on flesh; it had been nothing like this, his huge navy orbs feeling a bit of pain, if anything, as she dropped her weight down roughly and squished them against the cushion over and over, and how she never bled because she was never tight. Her vagina seemed almost elastic... Selena's was more like rubber: he could stretch it, but it always closed down as tight as it could, and damn did it grip.

And with Selena once was never enough: after he had an orgasm, he would plow her in some other position or some other way, and then he'd spray again... and sometimes they'd go a third time, filling every one of her holes, although once he'd entertained himself by spraying over her body every time, and at the end of it she looked like she'd been thrown into a wet snowbank, leaving him thanking whatever genius had figured it out for the cleansing spell. But with Feldspar he barely had an orgasm: instead, he fired a few times, and that was that. Afterwards, he was always quick to go down, unless she insisted on doing something else... and then it was a fight to ensure that he could actually manage it so she didn't either sulk or get suspicious or paranoid.

No other Dius... not even any succubus or incubus he'd ever had sex with, for that matter, had ever been as unappealing, as unattractive, as untalented, or as plain un-fun as Feldspar. Ever since he'd achieved his demonhood, he'd had a sexual stamina that was unbelievable, and when he wanted to, he could just keep going and going until he got bored with taking different people or doing different positions. His hungers were incredible, though, and could be a pain in the ass to control a lot of the time... and it wasn't like Feldspar was willing to share him with anyone or anything. Once or twice he'd thought about telling her he'd masturbated the night before, just to see if she'd give his hand a dirty look for taking her ‘Zerryberry' away from her.

Feldspar was also all about plain sex: there was no making it fun, no games involved, no roleplaying and not even any talking. There was just moaning and screaming his name. With Selena â€" and many other talented people he had screwed in Hell â€" there was all sort of extra fun to be had when you had a forty-some inch dong and a lot of sexual stamina.

For instance, Selena loved it when he talked dirty... and one of his favorite games was to see who could deepthroat him the longest when he had multiple partners, or who could go the longest without screaming as he pushed into their usually much-tighter rear ends... and, of course, it was always fun to pretend to be raping someone, especially when they fought hard to ‘resist' and Zerrex was able to get violent in return.

It only took ten minutes, and then he faked having an intense orgasm as he felt some piddling amount squirt into her mostly from sheer will-of-force, and then he pulled out, and Feldspar looked as if she'd had enough, laying back on the couch as if it was the most euphoric experience she'd ever had while Zerrex cast a cleansing spell over himself: not because he needed to get rid of any mess, but because he wanted the feeling of her off his penis. He wasn't even half-erect, and he was able to quickly get into his pants as she sat up... and he cast a cleansing spell over her body as she smiled dreamily: "Such a noble male..."

In reality, he just wanted her to put her dress back down faster, but then she clung to him and insisted on going house-shopping, causing Zerrex to groan inwardly. They portalled back into the Southern Province, and Zerrex looked around in surprise: he'd forgotten that despite everything, Hell still did resemble the mortal plane quite a bit... but he'd been in Wrath for so long he'd almost forgotten what the world outside the Circles looked like. Feldspar let him look around for a second or so, but thens he pointed at a pair of massive wrought-iron gates ahead of them and said clearly: "Past there is my home, the Garden of Salt... you'll see it very soon, but for now I want to stay out of it... I'm preparing a special surprise for you after all, Zerryberry."

"Oh joy." Zerrex said mildly, and Feldspar laughed and nestled close to him, clinging to his arm and gazing up at him reverently. "I... look forwards to it then. But you know you really shouldn't waste your time on me..." Please... pretty please?

"Oh, you're my world..." Feldspar gazed up at him with shining eyes, licking her muzzle slowly before she kissed the side of his own tenderly, which made him want to wince. "Without you, I feel as if I have nothing... and I could never stand having nothing... I'm a Queen, you know, and entitled to the whole of this world..."

She spun on the spot, twirling away from him before stepping towards the Drakkaren with a wide grin, taking his hand in both of hers as she said lovingly: "But I believe you're entitled to just as much, so come, come! Let's find you a nice spot within a short distance so we can enjoy some pleasant walks back and forth between our homes together."

The homes here all seemed far too nice for him, and every single one was further magically-enlarged. Five or so of them were already vacant, and in the last two they found families who were terrified of Feldspar, apologizing for not yet having moved out... and Feldspar acted kind to them, but Zerrex could see the anger in her eyes as she said pleasantly: "But come, Lord Zerrex... these are ‘just-in-case' places. I know a place that will surely turn your fancy."

What Feldspar led him to was a massive estate that looked like it could be a hotel: it was tall and rambling, and a sales agent greeted them at the gates, the demon grinning toothily in a way that let Zerrex know she was from Greed. She guided them around the immense mansion, at the same time describing the over two hundred rooms of the tall, magically-reinforced, rectangular building, and the gardens, small pond â€" Zerrex thought it was more like a small lake â€" and other things that surrounded it, which included a full-size stable and more than enough acres for him to ride around as he wished. The property was also protected by a magical ward that would inform Zerrex or his security detail â€" sold separately, of course... â€" of any intruders onto the property.

The cost was a staggering one million silver pieces, and the upkeep would be a ‘modest' ten thousand silver a month. Zerrex was horrified by the prices â€" he had maybe two hundred and fifty thousand silver in the bank, and that was from working two jobs for the last several thousand years and never spending his money on anything â€" but Feldspar said dismissively that it was not an issue. She vanished for five minutes with the demoness, and then she returned with a deed for the property, and the sales agent nowhere in sight.

Zerrex didn't bother asking what happened: instead he stared at the deed for the property, then up at the ceiling of the Estate. They were only standing in the front hall and already he was intimidated by the massive chandeliers of silver and glass hanging above and the huge staircase that curved up to a balcony that ran around the entrance hall. "I... Feldspar, I... this is way too much, too big and-"

"That's what I thought about you at first! And look, it's already pre-furnished, too, what a deal!" she said lovingly, and Zerrex wondered if the sales agent was dead or in the Abyss... and whether or not Feldspar had ever intended for him to be permitted to choose his own home, or if she had already chosen this massive estate for him. "Come on, look around with me Lord Zerrex... let's go find the bedroom..."

She leered at him, and Zerrex swallowed a bit before following her through the house... and he felt horrified at the sheer size of... everything. He had never really believed that anything could be too big until now, as they passed art hanging on the walls that had to be worth more than the entire mansion, and he wondered what the hell he was supposed to do with all this stuff as Feldspar babbled on about the home and the surrounding acres... and he was getting the impression more and more that this was her dream home, and that she had perhaps been the one to suggest the décor scheme.

She guided him to the bedroom, and again insisted on sex as she let her dress fall away from her body... and again Zerrex took her, this time being a bit rougher than he usually did as he grit his teeth and leaned over her, pounding into her body and growling like an animal as she clawed into his back and cried out over and over... and he made her wait until he was done this time, but again it was only twenty minutes: a paltry time for fun when it came to him, and another unenjoyable orgasm.

When he pulled free, she was bleeding: not just from her sex, but from her muzzle when he'd ‘accidently' rammed her head into the wall. But she was smiling at him, too, as he sat at the end of the bed, already limp and trying to hold back his anger at being used like this as she slid over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, whispering softly: "Oh Lord Zerrex... but just wait. I promise that your coronation night will be the best night of all... because it's the night we'll finally see one another's true forms..."

She trailed a finger along his chest as the reptile blinked and started at this, looking over his shoulder in surprise as she smiled teasingly and nipped his neck gently. "Didn't I tell you? It's a tradition in Hell... we show each other our real bodies, our true forms... and we fuck like animals in them to celebrate the coming-together of a King and Queen." She growled playfully, and Zerrex wanted to elbow her in the stomach and call her a bad pet. "But I assure you, you'll love every moment of it... I'll make sure of that. I'll even do some extra things for you that night, the kind of things I don't usually do... and perhaps you'll give me my first child, a son who'll grow up to be powerful, just like you..."

She pulled him dreamily down on the bed and curled against him with a sigh, and Zerrex felt a shiver run down his spine at that. She had sounded far too much like Narrius for a moment... but soon enough she stood up with a sigh and put her dress back, saying over her shoulder mildly: "Walk with me to my home, will you, husband? It's getting late out and I should really be going."

"Of course." Zerrex said moodily, hating the way she talked to him, treated him like garbage. He slipped on his pants and stood up, and she took his hand and squeezed firmly, smiling up at him at him brightly.

He walked her home, the female leading most of the way, before she halted in front of the gate and kissed him hungrily... and she was just as bad at that as everything else as she drew back and gazed up at him tenderly: "I love you, my King Zerrex."

Zerrex grunted, and she giggled and looked up at him brightly, kissing his neck gently as she gazed over him slowly. "Yes... I know, I know. But you're such a sweetheart." She reached up, stroking his face delicately, before kissing his chin softly. "My lovely Lord Zerrex... my handsome, powerful male... I'll come by tomorrow, to see how you're doing. Now I expect you to be in that house, hear me? We'll sell your other home to some needy family in Wrath or something."

He resisted the urge to kick her in the crotch at her playful scolding, watching as she pushed through the gates and strutted off... and the reptile created a portal, stepping through it and walking into his own home, before arching his back and yelling angrily as he flailed at the air. Sin ignored him as she put the finishing touches together on a model of an industrial-class bipedal transport suit, and Selena stuck her head out of the other room as Zerrex fell on his futon, the demoness blinking and rolling her eyes as a male voice groaned shakily. "Give me a second."

The door closed, and Zerrex stared, not knowing if he wanted to know what was going on... and five minutes later, a Wrath minotaur emerged, apparently trying his hardest not to cry as he staggered towards the door. Selena followed him out, completely naked, and then she shouted at the minotaur as he slunk through the door: "Next time actually use your dick, don't just stick it in me and shoot, you cheap fuck!"

"Whore!" the minotaur spat back, and then he ran away as Selena barreled after him. Zerrex winced as he stood up and peered out through the open door, watching as she tackled the minotaur from behind before turning him over and punching in his face several times, and he looked over at Sin, who sighed as she used a claw to carefully stencil the markings on the machine in the picture onto the arm of the model.

Selena stormed back inside a moment later, slamming the door behind her and then she sat down beside Zerrex and pointed at her lap. The reptile decided not to argue with her or push the point that her groin had just been filled with minotaur spunk, and instead he dropped his head down on her legs and closed his eyes as she began to play through his hair, muttering under her breath. "Some fuckers just don't know when to stop using their mouths and put their dicks to work, you know what I'm saying? But so what happened, Zer? From the looks of you, Feldspar tried to get you to pose with her for a family portrait or something."

"She bought me the biggest goddamn mansion I've ever seen, right down the street from her place." Zerrex muttered morbidly, shaking his head slowly. "I didn't explore it fully yet, but it has something like two hundred rooms, and everything's magically-enlarged... I feel like I'm walking around inside a small city or something."

Sin looked up curiously at this, tilting her head and frowning a bit. "Where exactly is it? Is it at the end of the road the Garden of Salt is on, I mean?" She blushed a bit, glancing down and rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment as Zerrex looked at her, and then the reptile nodded and she frowned slightly. "That's the Naganatine Manor... it originally belonged to Astaroth and Azazel, before they... passed."

She swallowed and looked down, rubbing the back of her head slowly as Zerrex frowned deeply and leaned towards her. "If anything, that place could house a thousand secrets... they were never much one for sharing, even with us other Naganatine. Only Mephistopheles knew them well and could control them..." She paused again, hugging herself quietly and closing her eyes for a moment, then she opened then and added in a soft murmur: "It must have been put up for sale by the Princess... it has a lot of history, and most of the older demons in Hell would want to have it just to declare it their own for... what's the term, Lord Zerrex?"

"Bragging rights." The Drakkaren shook his head slowly, looking morbid. "That's wonderful, then. So I... now am an even bigger target on some people's hit lists."

"Well, that makes sense. Fucking Feldspar, always thinking with her ego instead of her brain... the Princess probably set this up and gave her the keys to the fucking place or something beforehand." Selena muttered, shaking her head slowly and glowering. "And it's right near the Garden of Salt, right? So that makes it even better... but at least with that many rooms you should be able to find somewhere to hide from her when she comes knocking."

"She'll probably put a tracking beacon on me or something..." Zerrex muttered, then he paused and glanced up at Selena. "But like you predicted, she's now talking about some... thing she's going to make to make you be more of a bitch to me than you are. Er, want to be. In the whole... thing. Yeah. You know what I'm saying." The Drakkaren said lamely, and the Dius rolled her eyes, but grinned slightly anyway.

"Well, at least that works out... fucking pompous bitch." Selena reiterated, then she looked across at Sin, who made a face at them both. "Hey, don't give me that look! I'm willing to take a shot or two for the team, and it's not like Feldspar's going to risk killing me or pissing off Zerrex too much... besides, strong as she is, I'm pretty sure he could blow her out like a candle."

The Drakkaren looked dryly amused at this, glancing over at Sin and asking mildly: "So what do you think my punishment would be for that, since apparently Selena is thinking with the testicles that are currently in place of her ovaries?"

Sin smiled a bit at this, but her eyes were serious as she said softly: "Killing a handmaiden is a crime punishable by death... but Lord Zerrex... I..." She glanced away, then murmured: "Haven't you thought that maybe... that's exactly what the Princess wants? The way she treats Feldspar is like a toy or a puppet, and... Feldspar herself is too far gone with whatever terrible experiments she's done to herself to realize what's going on..."

The Drakkaren nodded slowly, looking down for a moment before turning his eyes back to Sin as Selena asked slowly: "But why would the Princess want Feldspar dead? She's a powerful alchemist and despite whatever other shit I might talk about her, she's got some nasty-ass magic abilities too... I mean, I can't even think of another demon that has her level of control over water. Why would the Princess want to kill her?"

"Because..." Sin hesitated and looked down meekly, lacing her fingers together and murmuring softly: "Because she sometimes speaks of her as if she's a liability, instead of an asset. Her mind has become warped and twisted, and she's too malleable, too easy to manipulate, and too confident. Her powers are incredible, true... but much of it was granted through theft and alchemy. She's dangerous to keep around... and doubly-dangerous because of Lord Zerrex and the attachment she's developed to him. Even if it's not actually love... it's doubtful she'll find a new... a new toy to cling to as much as him..."

She blushed deeply, looking down and murmuring embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, Lord Zerrex. But... but something's wrong about this entire thing, about everything that's happening here. The appointment, the coronation ceremony, it all makes no sense... the... the Princess wants to control you. Why would she... why would she give you more power like this? I mean..."

Sin broke off, but now Selena nodded slowly, frowning as she slowly tangled her fingers through Zerrex's long hair and murmuring softly: "It's true. And knowing Feldspar, she might end up ‘damaging the goods,' so to speak, especially if she tries to enlist you in some experiment or shit..." The demoness made a disgusted face, looking down and cradling the Drakkaren's head almost protectively against her body as she muttered: "That fucking twat..."

"You're picking up on more and more mortal curses." Zerrex murmured softly up to her, and then he sighed a bit and sat up, shaking Selena's hands off as she tried to pull him back down as he stood up, looking over at her with faint amusement. "Sorry, but we should start moving stuff to the Estate..."

"Wait... there's... there's one more reason you haven't considered." Sin said hesitantly, and the others looked over at her curiously as she looked down quietly for a few moments, then she finally looked back up at Selena and mumbled: "What does Quezan encompass?"

The Drakkaren looked over at Selena as she made a face, crossing her arms and opening her muzzle before it slowly shut, and she shook her head slowly, looking at Sin and then over at Zerrex, and the reptile thought for a moment about what he knew about Feldspar's province before his own eyes widened as he asked slowly: "Isn't the Garden of Salt-"

"Yeah. It contains a Crack that Feldspar uses for her experiments and is currently sealed off... and Feldspar wouldn't even give it up or remove the seal for the Princess. If she was killed, however..." Selena snarled a bit punched a hand into her open palm, muttering: "Goddammit... Feldspar, you fucking tool, this is all part of some master plan and we're all just players in some game of the Princess..."

Zerrex nodded slowly; if the Princess had access to a Crack in the fabric of reality of Hell, she could turn it into not a dimensional breach but a forbidden Devil's Gate: a one-way escape out of Hell that would pour Hell's essence out into the mortal realm. The Drakkaren knew that Devil's Gates had erupted throughout history in places such as Hez'Ranna and to the south of Ire, and they had always resulted in mass corruption: in the case of Hez'Ranna, strange wildlife and the massive jungle before it was sealed... but the name of the Endless Desert spoke for itself.

Hell's energies had a very particular effect on mortals and the surrounding area: it either empowered it or destroyed it, brought life or certain death. For example, what had happened with him and Xerrez; even if the creature was currently still alive and wandering around Ire, the creature had been unmistakeably dying the last time they'd met and his body hadn't been healing, whereas Zerrex had been growing stronger with every passing moment. But in the end I wasn't strong enough...

"Zerrex, stop thinking." Selena said mildly, snapping her fingers in front of his muzzle, and he moved to glare at her before she grabbed his head and shoved it into her bosom, muttering: "Here, be nasty or something instead of looking all miserable."

The Drakkaren flailed a bit, but he didn't know whether to pull backwards or push forwards, and then he finally decided to go with the former, looking at her with sour amusement as Sin rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, looking over them both with a mix of exasperation and amusement. "You know, we still have to move all this stuff to my new house..."

"Fuck, well... at least we'll finally have room for all our exercise equipment." Selena muttered, flexing a bit... and Zerrex smiled slightly as he reached out and squeezed her bicep, looking faintly amused. They were admittedly larger than when they had first met, and she grinned across at him, tilting her head. "You like? I think I'm taking after you and starting to like bulking up a bit, but I don't think I want my muscles to get any bigger than this, it ain't as hot when a chick's covered in rock-hard muscle."

"Yeah, well, remember Cherry?" Zerrex asked mildly, shaking his head a bit, and Selena snorted and rolled her eyes, holding her hands out. "Well, then again, she might have been in demon form or..." He mused a bit, glancing down before frowning and looking up at her dumbly. "Hey, Cherry could use magic on the mortal plane. And so did some of Az'Iriel's troops."

"That's impossible. It must've just been pyrokinesis or some psychic ability, that's all that ever works. Not even runic magic works on the mortal plane." Selena responded flatly, crossing her arms, and Sin nodded hesitantly, although she looked at Zerrex and invited him to go on with a tilt of her muzzle.

The reptile looked back at her, then over at Selena, rubbing the back of his head slowly. "It's... well..." The Drakkaren paused and frowned, remembering the runic circles they'd come across. "No, wait. I had Marina copy down plenty of the runes we saw, and they were charmed to be completely invisible or written in white-writing, which I know can only be done by magic..."

Selena shook her head, but by now she was looking disturbed. "That can't... I mean... come on, Zerrex, I mean..."

"It's alright, Selena..." Sin said softly, and Selena winced as she looked across at her uncomfortably, before Sin glanced over to the puzzled Drakkaren. "It's because... if magic can be used in the mortal realm... it means the world's becoming unbalanced. Magic works in Hell and Heaven because of the essences of corruption and purification, but the entire point of the physical realm is that there's no overlaying essence to affect people... and magic shouldn't be possible to cast or use because of that.

"I mean, there have been times when demons or angels have boosted the natural abilities of some people to help them cast ‘magic,' but it's never been true magic... and some old wizards of your physical world developed staves and crystals that held Hellish or Heavenly essence, and these were used to cast actual magic spells, but their power was used up rapidly..." Sin hesitated, shaking her head slowly, murmuring softly: "But we can't drag the essence of our home planes with us, and like technology, the way those crystals were manufactured have always been kept secret..."

"Clocks stopped." Zerrex said suddenly, looking back and forth and asking slowly: "What if that essence has entered the physical plane, of Heaven or Hell? Does that mean that suddenly people will be able to use magic?"

"Magic is different from the unique powers some people develop." Selena shook her head quickly, making a face and looking sourly amused. "Psychic abilities, your energy abilities, the other shit some people can do ain't magic, it's just... natural development, scary as that is. It can't be learned by just anyone... but magic can." She paused to look at Zerrex with a slight smile. "You're living proof of that."

Zerrex glowered at her, and Sin sighed before shaking her head and looking back and forth, bowing a bit. "We can tell you more later, though, Lord Zerrex. You said you wanted to clean all this up and move it on to your Estate?"

The Drakkaren nodded, feeling relieved that he was being spared another session of mocking from Selena. She really is like my Cherry in Hell. She even likes to pop out a penis every now and then. "Yeah... the Naganatine Manor's the name of it, right?"

"Let's call it the Ravenlight Estate." Selena slapped him on the back, and Zerrex jumped before glancing at her with surprise as she smiled slightly. "That's your old name, right? Well, it's your place now, and you seem about as fond of it as you are of the past... so it works, doesn't it?"

The reptile looked at her for a few moments, making a bit of a face... and then he slowly nodded and smiled a bit, reaching up to pinch one of her nipples and causing her to yelp. "I guess it does, then, Selena."

"Asshole." Selena mumbled, covering her enormous bust, and Sin and Zerrex exchanged small smiles before he created a portal and stepped through it, back into his Estate.

Five days later, Zerrex was sulking as he walked around in a long purple robe edged in gold, his hands behind his back as he walked along the gallery at the top of the Eastern Wing of the Ravenlight Estate. Feldspar was running around the Manor looking for him, but he planned to avoid her for as long as he possibly could.

This was made a bit more difficult by the fact that he wasn't alone in the house: after the first of several coronation ceremonies â€" this one particularly bad for his anxieties, since it involved the Princess touching him with a long sword that could skewer an Infernal Dragon â€" Feldspar had given two gifts to him: a harem of four collared, manacled, chained, and obviously-miserable succubi and a security detail of at least a dozen armored draconic demons and minotaurs. These latter did Feldspar's bidding more than his own, and Zerrex direly wished to get rid of them and replace them with security guards who would actually do their work, or maybe just more harem girls.

For the entire second day he was forced to party with Feldspar at the Southern Palace, dancing with her across the ballroom and bringing back memories of the time he and Cherry had infiltrated a royal gala, and how hard it had been not to laugh while looking like a pompous rich ass and Cherry acting like any other lovely lady there... or well, at least doing her best to.

The reptile smiled a bit at this memory, but it was shoved out of his mind as he slipped into a side room at the sound of approaching footsteps, locking it. The footsteps grew closer, and a pair of male voices argued for a moment before someone checked the door and a muffled voice said: "It's locked, let's keep searching. Queen Feldspar is beginning to grow impatient."

Another voice replied as Zerrex rolled his eyes and turned around, glancing around the room. It was a tiny study, made crampled by bookshelves and furnished with a single desk and old wooden chair... and Zerrex sat down in this with a sigh as he kicked the sandals Feldspar had forced him to wear off his clawed feet and wiggled his toeclaws. Trapped inside my own house... wonderful... I hate her more every day.

Dancing with Feldspar at their own royal gala had been embarrassing, and he wished his memories would overlap so he could imagine himself killing... himself. Or just Cherry killing Feldspar, since that was a pleasant image. And she really would, too... and even Cherry wouldn't put my hand against her crotch in the middle of a dance...

Feldspar was tactless, vile, rude, and repulsive: she seemed bent on using Zerrex as a sex-toy and on keeping him firmly in place, and even in public she would grope him, cling to him, kiss him and slip his hands into inappropriate places, and he always felt horrified by it. Thankfully, he'd pulled away during the dance in this stupid royal robe he was forced to wear, and Feldspar had been happy enough to dance with some young stud prince while Zerrex slid through the crowd.

The Drakkaren had paused, noting the Princess standing on a high balcony above and watching him coldly... and he'd smiled at her and waved, which caused her to glare before retreating. Zerrex had glanced up the stairs leading up towards the empty thrones of marble â€" at the end of the night, he would be forced not only to sit in one next to Feldspar, but join her in making a speech to the several thousand demons he didn't know â€" before pausing as he saw Sin hiding at the corner of the stairs.

He'd approached her and extended his hand, and she'd stared at him, turning pale as he smiled down into her eyes... and then they had danced. And how she had moved in her long dress, and they had moved together, and her hands had gone from cold to burning hot in his touch as her fingers laced tighter and tighter, until he had dipped her near the center of the dance floor as the song had ended and they'd kissed for a brief moment.

Then she'd pushed him back and turned beet-red... but Zerrex had only smiled warmly and hugged her tightly, before kissing her hand and thanking her for the dance as a few people around them watched, passing it off as just politeness... but he and Sin looked into one another's eyes for a moment before Feldspar had all but tackled him. As Sin left, she'd looked after her with repulsion, then muttered to Zerrex something that made him grimace even now, as he closed his hands into fists. "What did she say? Right... ‘she's the first demon whore, you know... and now her insides are falling out. She's just a used-up slut and now she's suffering for it, you don't want a whore who you can look through like a window and who's got things eating her guts while you watch, do you?'"

In fact, Feldspar had said more than that... and Zerrex likely would have smashed her face in right there had he not heard a loud chime, and the actual coronation ceremony had begun: the Coronation of the Waxing Moon or something, it had been called. There were five in total, all ceremonies named after the lunar cycle, and they grew steadily more serious until tonight's... which was the entire reason Zerrex was hiding.

The third ceremony had been a feast of all sorts of foods demons considered delicacies: in other words, foods mortals would look at as either junk or as utterly disgusting. Zerrex hadn't really been forced to talk, and he'd been able to drive Feldspar away from the table in terror at things like carbs and calories, which demons really didn't have to worry about, but thankfully Feldspar was an idiot... and Selena â€" sitting near the foot with the other ‘undesirables' â€" had managed to sneak over to him and slip him a note from Sin, who Feldspar had also placed at the foot of the table.

The note had saved Zerrex's skin, since it mentioned that there was some sort of truth serum in the dessert that would be served in a few minutes. Nonetheless, the reptile had been horribly-tempted by the ice cream cake and all sorts of other treats he adored... but the Drakkaren had instead taken a plate of hamburgers from dinner and gorged himself on those, but he'd noted a blueberry pie with a whipped topping and gotten an idea.

Feldspar had currently been toting blue scales and an azure dress, so he'd called her his blueberry, and at first she'd been confused... but then he'd said in a tender voice that blueberries were his favorite fruit â€" he didn't care about semantics, demons didn't usually understand food groups â€" and then added that blueberry pie was very light and delicious, and that some actresses on the mortal plane sustained themselves completely off it.

The demoness had gorged herself on it, and although she'd shown some resistence to whatever toxin was laced into the pie, soon she was swaying and giggling, cheerfully telling him about how all of this was just a scam to make sure he never ran away from her and that she and the Princess could retain complete control of the Drakkaren, and use him even as a figurehead for the people to rally under, or a scapegoat if things started to turn bad for them. Zerrex hadn't been surprised, but it'd been hard to keep his smile... and by the end of her long speech, it had been only a grim line.

Following this, he had to give an acceptance speech from the head of the table â€" the Princess wasn't there, at least â€" and Feldspar had given her own, although the fact she was still a bit tipsy had shown quite clearly. Zerrex had watched Selena fighting not to cackle the entire time until they had finally moved on to the final event of the night, which had been a presentation of gifts from all who had attended.

Over a hundred people had been at the feast, and Zerrex stared as almost everyone produced two gifts: one for the Queen, and one for the King. He'd had no idea about this part as Feldspar dragged him up to the thrones in this different, all-hardwood hall where they had feasted, and tables cleared themselves by magic before twisting slowly around and facing the front, some sliding to the sides and leaving a wide, open space in front of the King and Queen. Minotaur guards filed in and took their places near the thrones, and Zerrex had watched as a Wentaku walked between their thrones and drew a runic circle on the floor.

It had then retreated through a door behind them, and the circle had turned into a slowly-twisting vortex of energy. And then the presentation of gifts had begun, and although Zerrex insisted on standing for every one, Feldspar only sat and greedily tore open the ones in boxes or bags, although most of them she tossed aside into the portal with only a glance.

Sin approached and bowed to him with a faint smile, and she had gifted Zerrex with a small golden braclet with a strange, obsidian orb in the center... and to Feldspar, she gave a beautiful diamond necklace. Feldspar squealed over this for a moment before throwing it aside and shouting for the next person to approach, before looking disgusted as she saw it was Selena.

Selena strutted up to Zerrex, wearing her usual inappropriate outfit... and in front of everyone, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hungrily. Zerrex twitched and then grasped her hips even as Feldspar snarled and the minotaur guards stepped towards them... but then she slipped away and winked at him. She'd said some bad quip he couldn't remember, but he did remember laughing... at least, before Feldspar leapt out of her throne and tackled Selena.

The two had abandoned all pretense of being formal demons and had clawed, bitten, and flailed at each other before the reptile had managed to drag Selena backwards, and Feldspar had shaken off the minotaurs that had taken her arms and pulled er away, her eyes burning blue and deep azure veins showing even through her cobalt scales before she had closed her eyes, taken a breath, and shot a blast of light energy into the minotaur nearest her.

It had torn through it and the minotaur had crumpled backwards, rotting immediately... but the remains had then been portaled away, and Feldspar returned to her throne as Selena walked back into the crowd, looking grim. They hadn't really done any damage to each other, but it was more than enough of a demonstration of how unstable Feldspar was, as other guests came forwards.

These included Carmen, White, Alastor, and several other demons Zerrex had gotten to know... before a cloaked figure strolled forwards with a quiet laugh, and Zerrex had paled at the sight of Celestial's eyes burning beneath her robe. They were blood red... and she had slipped a strange, purple orb into the Drakkaren's hand before turning away.

Feldspar had shouted angrily for her own present... and Celestial had only had to look at her to send a long rip of darkness tearing through her shoulder and past her to blow a clean, straight-line hole in the wall. Feldspar's eyes had gone blank and she'd fallen to her knees, before she collapsed facefirst onto the ground as her wound burned with a writhing, twisting darkness, a bit of drool spilling out of her muzzle... before, to the horror of all in the hall, she had begun to scream and convulse against the ground.

Celestial only smiled coldly at this, and as the minotaur guards ran at her, she simply sank through the floor and vanished. The guards had turned their attention to Feldspar... but by now she was slowly forcing herself to her feet, panting hard and tears rolling down her cheeks before screamed for everyone to leave and had stared up at Zerrex with pleading eyes as her wound bled terrible, black ooze.

The Drakkaren had looked back down at her for a few moments, unsure of what to do... and then he walked over to her and wrapped her good arm around his shoulders, hefting her gently to her feet. He had walked her away from the thrones as she trembled and sat her down on the table, and for the next ten hours or so, Feldspar had seemed... lucid.

She had become a completely-changed person, rubbing at her wound and shouting at Selena as she left... before asking if she would please help the guards search the ground, that they might need her spellcraft. Selena had looked stunned, but had nodded... and Feldspar didn't seem to remember what had happened between them at all.

She hadn't begged for sex, she hadn't brought up any awkward conversation, she had been polite and she had clung to him, sure... but she hadn't groped him, and when he pulled back, she didn't chase after him for more contact. But by the next day, she had returned to her old self: insane, sexual, needy, and violent.

Zerrex wondered again what the hell Celestial had done to her... and he paused before reaching into his pocket, bouncing the purple orb slowly in his hand and looking down into its swirling depths. He'd shown it to Sin, and she said that it was a sealed rip in the fabric of reality... and that there was no way to know what would happen if he broke the orb open.

Her own gift was an ancient bracelet that would permit Zerrex to travel to the Marquee Sur Noir and move about it freely while protecting him from the monsters that dwelled inside it... and she told him quietly that if he could learn to use the abilities with the bracelet, one day he might be able to learn how to vanish into the Marquee if he ever had to by himself. The Drakkaren had been touched: not only because now he could escape to another dimension if he had to... but that she thought he was strong enough and ready to begin training and travelling to places where even other demons would dare not go. Her faith in him seemed almost unparalleled, however, and she reminded him of Cindy more than anyone else... and Zerrex smiled to himself back in reality, wondering if he was reforming his own little family down here in Hell. I'm weird. And it's not my fault the Princess keeps sending me chicks.

The reptile shook his head slowly, then he attempted to put his feet up on the desk, and the added pressure on the rickety chair he was sitting on proved to be too much. The moment his feet struck the desk, the chair gave out beneath him, and the Drakkaren toppled onto his back with a loud crash and a curse. A moment later, there was a rumble of footsteps, and then the door was kicked open by a minotaur in thick armor made from dragon scales, glaring at him and scolding: "Lord Zerrex, you're twenty minutes late for the Coronation of the Last Crescent! Come along, Queen Feldspar is waiting for you."

The minotaur pointed what Zerrex recognized as a Northern Star out at his side, and a portal appeared. The Drakkaren abandoned any hopes of portaling somewhere else as he stood up from the wreckage of the chair, rubbing at his back slowly as he stepped through the portal and out onto a high balcony in an arena with a wince, as Feldspar immediately grabbed his arm with a loving smile up at him. "Is this another battle?" I don't think I could take that...

The fourth coronation had involved nothing pleasant: it had been repeated duels between demon knights and various imprisoned demons to ‘please the Crown with the strength of the Province.' All five fights had been to the death, and Zerrex had watched as Knights had slaughtered weak and chained demons again and again before they had finished with an all-out battle royale between demons that had been imprisoned in various Pits of Torment, and even a Gigataur that had been sealed on one of the upper levels of the Abyss, all of them fighting each other and ripping one another to shreds before the last demon, bloodied and wounded, had been forced to kneel and either pledge loyalty to the Crown or die.

It had sworn fealty with a grimace... and Feldspar had made a dismissive gesture, and its head had been cut off its shoulders anyway by a blessed axe. Zerrex had been furious, but unable to do anything with the Princess nearby watching his every move... but he had sensed a smile under her mask.

Thankfully, Feldspar shook her head and guided him to their seats on the balcony... and as a bonus, they were alone, with only a pair of enormous, Wrath-demon guards standing by the double doors. She smiled over to him as the crowd rumbled and talked to each other excitedly, before whispering to him: "This is our final and formal coronation, Lord Zerrex..." she paused, then half-lidded her eyes and licked his cheek slowly, the reptile wincing away from the demoness who today had red scales and incredibly, a gold and blue dress instead of one that matched the color of her scales... and he also noted that terrible scepter on the other side of her. It was malevolent, in a word, and Zerrex could almost hear the screams of all the lives it had taken as she picked up a golden, spiked crown from beside her and placed it onto her head... and then she smiled and whispered teasingly: "After this... you'll come to my home, the Garden of Salt... and we reveal ourselves to each other and fuck..."

Zerrex forced a smile, but he didn't have to say anything as Feldspar picked up her scepter, then stood and approached the railing of the balcony, and Zerrex fought a mad urge to shove her over as she closed her eyes before saying in a clear, loud voice that somehow echoed throughout the entire arena: "My people, of the noble province of Quezan! Today we perform the final ceremony that will lock myself and your new lord, King Zerrex, together!"

The crowd cheered, and Zerrex wondered how many of them were actually happy with this as he crossed his arms and tuned out of her speech. King just doesn't fit with me or my name... I... I don't want this. I haven't even heard my darkness rumbling for this... I'm just a puppet...

King is too low a rank in Hell for you, the voice of Ravenlight said disdainfully in his head. I think what you need to do is take on the rank of High Prince. And if you were listening to the fugly dude who's gotten all up in your head, he'd say to go for the gold and rule the Central Throne, but I don't know where he is.

Zerrex tried to ignore his own broken mind as it insisted on talking to him, instead trying to think of something more pleasant, like his family... but his heart felt empty when he thought of them, on the other hand. It had been so many years, and even his Hell-enhanced memory was beginning to fade... but he clung to them still, thought of them every day. Selena could never be his Cherry, after all, just as Sin could never replace Cindy... and as much as he cared for them, as many bonds as he'd made in Hell... he knew at the same time he'd sever them all in a moment to return to the mortal plane and all those he cared for.

He wondered if the others felt the same way... what Sin would do to rejoin God and the Naganatine, what Selena would do if it mean she could be mortal again and have her true love back... and the reptile shook his head as he looked quietly at Feldspar's back as she talked and swung her scepter back and forth enthusiastically with her words. Even she longs to be mortal again... perhaps that's what she's been trying to do all these years, hoping to become strong enough to break free of Hell, just like me...

Don't compare yourself to her. Ravenlight snapped, sounding irritable, and the Drakkaren had a vision of the black-armored version of himself sulking as he slowly polished one of his swords. She and you are nothing alike. She's weak and pathetic...

I'm weak and pathetic, too. Zerrex thought mildly, glancing up at the sky of red and black as he sighed quietly. After all... Cherry forgot about me and the family completely, and I still cling to the idea of escape...

Because Cherry never lies. Ravenlight said sourly, and the Drakkaren frowned a bit at this, looking down into his lap as he laced his fingers together, and the more-evil version of himself added darkly: Think about it. Or are you too dim to figure it out on your own?

Zerrex mumbled something under his breath, crossing his arms and looking dour as he rested back against the chair. It was another twenty minutes before Feldspar finally finished, however, and she rose a hand for him to approach.

The reptile did so with a wince, and Feldspar wrapped an arm around her as she held her scepter high in the other, declaring: "This is your new ruler! This is Lord Zerrex, your new King and mine!"

The crowd roared, and Zerrex waved as he winced a bit, looking back and forth as Feldspar held him close and grinned like the lunatic she was... and a moment later she declared: "And now, for your viewing pleasure, let us begin the executions of those who have defied the Southern Throne!"

Zerrex grabbed the balcony, leaning down in horror as he watched demons being led out on metal chains by executioners carrying massive axes designed only for one purpose: to cleanly cut off the head of a prone victim. One by one, they were pushed down and forced to lay flat, and Zerrex watched as the stakes on the ends of their chains were hammered down to ensure they stayed in place.

The executioners stepped back, and Feldspar raised her scepter as Zerrex looked at her with horror, but she smiled benignly, saying to him tenderly: "It's fine, Lord Zerrex. They're from the Pits of Torment for the most part, only refuse... don't look so shocked."

Then she swung the scepter down before the lizard could say a word, and the first executioner walked up to his victim and chopped the axe down. The crowd roared its approval, and the body was dragged away as the next executioner waited until the crowd was calm again before repeating the process. Zerrex turned away with a snarl, and Feldspar laughed before hugging him with one arm and pressing the head of the scepter against his chest... and the metal was terribly cold, seeming to fuse to his scales as his legs went weak as she said playfully: "You're right, we don't need to be here... but a monarch's work is never done."

She sighed theatrically before creating a portal and striding through it... and feeling no other choice, Zerrex walked after her slowly and out of the roar of the arena to the quiet chatter of water and small birds. He blinked several times as they emerged onto a large, circular stone platform surrounded by lush, squat but thick jungle-trees, with large, long vines hanging down from it and an enormous fountain in the center of the platform.

The fountain had a tall center spire of marble, with several broken cement dishes up the length, water pouring through the large cracks and breaks in the fountain in small waterfalls... and upon the top of the center column was a statuette of Feldspar with her arms raised and her body naked, standing delicately on one toeclaw... and from the other side of the cement circle Feldspar smiled lovingly at him before winking. "If you like that, you'll love this... come darling..."

She strode off the platform down a set of stone stairs, before walking down a raked path of sand... and Zerrex looked back and forth, noting the burbling stream flowing through the trees and beneath the platform, and that he didn't really have much of a choice. The other path led to a massive, closed gate, and he didn't feel like doing any heavy lifting today with what he knew was laying ahead in his future. Screwing her is enough work for one day, thank you...

He shook his head slowly as he walked around the circle of stone, his head down as he stepped off and down onto the path, moving down it and glancing up absently... and then he stared at the sight of two massive statues made completely out of gold on either side of a huge black gate of crisscrossing metal bars. They were of him and Feldspar, both naked with one arm raised towards each other to form a huge arch, and both were incredibly detailed and anatomically-correct... at least, in terms of his unique anatomy, at the sight of that thing between the statue's legs. He could only stare, not knowing what to say, and horrified by the sight of these monstrosities as Feldspar turned with a giggle towards the gate, at the same time tearing her dress off and tossing it aside. "I knew you'd love it! Come, come, come!"

She banged on the gate with her scepter, and it opened immediately with the roll of gears. The Drakkaren walked slowly after her as she all-but-bounced through, looking back and forth at the shining golden monstrosities as he passed between them... and the moment he stepped past the gate, it slammed shut behind him, the reptile's eyes narrowing before flicking to Feldspar, who was holding her naked body and laughing softly as she stood in the center of a huge, ivy-and-moss covered square of dark-grey stone.

There was a staircase leading up to a single metal door,but otherwise he was trapped: the area was wide but the walls high, and the only door out up the A-shaped double staircase looked like it led into some sort of tower, and was likely locked. The walls were covered in ivy and moss as well, some of the vines rustling and twisting, and the Drakkaren could see several deep bowls of stone filled with water sitting atop raised, ivy-covered blocks of dark stone... before she turend slowly towards him as she tossed off her crown and held out her other hand, and a light burned over it as she said softly: "Before we make love... I want you to put this on, Lord Zerrex."

The Drakkaren watched as she held up a collar by one end of pure white leather, with a golden clasp... and he narrowed his eyes at it, grimacing before saying as politely as he could: "I usually don't do collars... and I don't think that one would offset my eyes very well."

"I thought so." Feldspar squeezed the collar tightly, and her eyes burned as her expression turned cold, before she threw it hard into the wall, the golden clasp bouncing off with a quiet ‘ding.' "I guess we'll do this the hard way then, Lord Zerrex... because don't think I haven't noticed what you've been doing. You've been trying to steal my power... you've been undermining me, and secretly seeing Selena, Sin, and you tried to assassinate me with that terrible being you snuck into the dinner... but don't think I don't see what you're doing!"

Her voice rose in a scream at the end, and Zerrex only looked at her with pity as she began to breathe harder, holding up her hammer-scepter with a cruel grin as she said in a deadly whisper: "Look at this. The ultimate weapon, forged with the souls of over two-thousand raging demons and the blood of a hundred virgins. Created through a mixture of alchemy, necromancy, and the Forbidden Arts... all demons fall in a single strike, no matter how strong or how soft if I wish it to, and it will kill even you, Lord Zerrex... but I don't want to kill you. I'll just use it to break your fucking legs."

"Feldspar... look at yourself." Zerrex looked away for a moment, before he pulled off his own robes and tossed them aside, standing now in the plainer black clothes he always wore, stepping carefully out of his sandals and brushing them aside with one foot. He realized talk was meaningless, that Feldspar wasn't listening to a word he was saying... and he shook his head slowly before raising his hands gamely, trying at least one more phrase: "Don't do this."

"I won't lose my power! I won't lose you as my toy, Lord Zerrex! You are mine to do with as I please, you're my gift from the Princess!" Feldspar screamed, charging forwards and raising the hammer high, a golden glow surrounding the lethal scepter... and Zerrex stood and waited until she swung awkwardly sideways with the huge weapon, and the reptile leaned backwards out of the way before he simply kicked her in the stomach as hard as he could with the flat of his foot.

Feldspar staggered backwards with a howl and fell to a kneel, staring at him with shock and anguish as tears rolled down her cheeks, the scepter pressing flat against the ground... and Zerrex shook his head slowly, saying quietly: "I don't want to do this, Feldspar. Don't make me kill you... don't you realize this is all a game, that all the Princess wants is access to the Crack?"

The demoness grinned vindictively, before she slowly stood and whispered: "That's right... I forgot. You're the good guy, right? The Princess is supposed to be the bad guy, but she'd never turn on me..." Feldspar shook her head slowly as she staggered away, still gripping her wounded side before she hammered the center of the dark stone floor with her scepter, and a circle of runes appeared before the ground pushed up smoothly in a circular platform, the runes glowing bright red before a white light rose up from where Feldspar had struck, and she looked at him with an insane grin as she held the hammer out over it, whispering: "You wanted to see my true body, right?"

Zerrex watched with a snarl, readying himself as she inserted the scepter into something and twisted... and then she was swallowed in a pillar of white light, the Drakkaren staggering backwards and covering his eyes with a wince as Feldspar screamed in agony, swallowed by the white column that seemed to reach the sky before it slowly faded away, leaving her panting in a roughened voice as Zerrex slowly lowered his hands and stared at what she had become.

Blue veins pulsed throughout her body, her eyes nothing but a glowing ivory light, and her body was massive: at least thirty feet tall, but also thick and ugly. She was warped and deformed, all her feminine characteristics gone; her shoulders had turned into a rocky, dead black waste, with twisted insect legs pushing out of one shoulder and massive spikes and blades out of the other. One arm had been completely eaten by the black, rocky stuff and moved with a creak as she pushed herself slowly up to her feet to stand at her full height, and her hand had become an enormous weapon; a square of metal from out of the top of which was a huge, barbed spike, from the front a deadly, massive black-metal hammerhead, and from the back of this came a curving, silver scythe blade. The last was currently upside down towards the Drakkaren, and the reptile shivered a bit as he looked over the rest of her body, trying to take it in.

Her chest was a mixture of that stony black and raw, red muscle... but down the center of her body was a glowing white rip shaped like a lightning bolt, continuing from neck to waist... and the tops of her legs were covered in the same stony obsidian material, while the bottoms were only raw flesh leading down in enormous claws. She had no tail, and her other arm looked almost normal, other than the fact it looked like naked muscle and her fingers ended in not claws, but what looked almost like knife blades as she grinned at him, a long, forked tongue snaking of her mouth as she asked: "Am I still beautiful, Lord Zerrex?"

"What have you done to yourself?" The Drakkaren asked slowly, as her body twisted and writhed, and he stared as an enormous chain rose up behind her back, attached to an enormous sphere of flesh surrounded by short, writing red flesh-tentacles, a massive blue eye in the center of this staring down at him as she stepped slowly forwards, and he heard the sick sound of something else sliding out of her back. She grunted and twisted her horned-head back and forth, and a moment later several large, curled pieces of steel pushed out of her skull, making her look as if someone had shoved a sawblade between horns that had spread out into full black antlers.

"I am beautiful!" She spread her arms and laughed, roaring as her eyes burned down towards him, shrieking: "I represent the ultimate power in the universe! Raw strength, and nothing more than that... raw strength that tears through all other things!"

Water slowly rose up through the cracks on the floor and flowed around her body, and it solidified into blue, icy scales that covered the otherwise-raw flesh, and softened the stony material covering the rest of her form... but still, that white light shone through that wound down the center of her body as she leaned towards him. She licked her muzzle hungrily, then whispered suddenly: "Fuck me. Fuck me and all will be forgiven... come, show me your demon form and fuck me, I need it..."

It was grotesque, and he snarled at her before shouting furiously: "Back off, Feldspar! You can't intimidate me into doing what you want, even like this... I am not your toy, and I am not your puppet, and Gods help me I don't want to kill you, but I will if I have to! The Princess is using you, or are you too far gone to understand?"

"I am more powerful than the Princess!" Feldspar screamed, looking up towards the sky and raising her arms as she spun around in a circle and strode away... but the floating eye on the chain continued to watch him as Zerrex stared at the menagerie of swords and other weapons pushing out of her back, before she spun around and howled at him: "Look at me! Tell me I am beautiful, damn you!"

"Feldspar... you're a monster." Zerrex said softly, and Feldspar hissed at him before he added coldly: "With or without your help, I'll find and seal the Crack."

"Idiot, I am the Crack!" Feldspar laughed, touching the white glow on her chest, and Zerrex stared as she bowed her head back, her eyes burning. "Trillions of years of power and gathered essence, all inside me... the power is unbelievable, overwhelming... Forbidden Arts and Alchemy combined to give my body the strength to become its container, and I will use all the power to annihilate you... and dare you kill me and release all the energy stored in here at once?" Dare you even try! I am a goddess, bow before me, worship me, give me what I desire, Lord Zerrex, until the day comes when I use the Crack to absorb you and we become one, one entity like all the others I have taken on the battlefield... give me your power!"

Her eyes burned brighter and brighters as she screamed and raged, until finally she turned towards the reptile and held out her hammer-arm, whispering: "Fine. I see. I see what you want... you want this power for yourself. Well, you can't have it, Lord Zerrex... it was meant only for me, and me alone. Instead, I'll just make you part of the thousands of souls already inside me, to make me even more powerful... and inside me you will become my playtoy forever, lover..."

Before Zerrex could speak, she charged forwards with a scream of fury and rage... and Zerrex cursed before creating a sphere of energy and throwing it at her. She only laughed, however, and the energy was absorbed into her form as the Drakkaren stared before leaping to the side as she threw herself forwards and swung at the last moment.

She collided heavily with the wall behind him, cursing angrily as Zerrex quickly backpedeled and snarled. His energy abilities were obviously useless in this battle, and he was unarmed and lacked any magic powerful enough to kill her... but he watched as she jerked herself free of the wall, looking for a weak point and setting his eyes on that crack in her stomach. She's clumsy and not a physical fighter... I might be able to use that against her...

"Die!" She lunged at him, and Zerrex leapt backwards as she dived and slammed the hammerhead down into the ground. Feldspar landed heavily on her stomach with a curse and a furious snarl before lashing out with her other hand, and Zerrex leapt backwards again, the claws scratching along his abdominals before the reptile looked up in shock to see the floating eye only a few feet above his head, and a moment later it shot a beam of blue water into his body, crushing the Drakkaren down into the rock floor as chunks of ice and a steady blast of pressurized water hammered into him, before he was sent skidding along the floor from the beam and into the wall opposite, a deep gouge torn into his body as the beam halted while Feldspar climbed to her feet with a maniacal laugh.

She charged forwards again, and Zerrex waited before this time leaping through her legs, and Feldspar snapped both hands down to claw at him unsuccessfully before she crashed headfirst into the wall and fell backwards, the Drakkaren narrowly leaping out of the way. He hit the ground and rolled, then stared as the floating eye right in front of him before he was blasted away by a pulse of force, knocked over and rolling backwards a short distance but quickly regaing his feet, unharmed. He snarled a bit as Feldspar quickly climbed back to her feet, the stump that was all that was left of her tail twitching back and forth before she shoved a hand out towards him, and droplets of water formed around the reptile before pounding into him like bullets and knocking him back and forth like a doll.

Feldspar took the opportunity to leap forwards and try to crush him under her huge feet, but Zerrex leapt blindly forwards, covering his head as she spun around and lashed out at him with the scythe blade. It caught him in the side, and agony burned through his body as he was sent skidding ten feet down the square of rock, clutching his stomach and snarling as Feldspar leapt towards him again, cackling furiously.

Zerrex rolled to the side and shoved himself off the ground with his hands, his body spinning through the air as he landed on his feet only inches away from the hammer as it crashed down, and Feldspar immediately stabbed the spike on the end of the huge weapon-hand towards him. The Drakkaren caught the sides of the large cube past the spike, however, and his muscles flexed as he skidded slowly backwards for a few feet before shoving back against her, his body straining as she snarled in shock and put her other hand down against the ground to give herself more leverage.

It was a mistake Zerrex immediately used to his advantage, and he threw the hammer-fist to the side, Feldspar falling forwards with a grunt of surprise before the Drakkaren slipped forwards and smashed both palms up into her flat chest. She twitched and cursed in pain, but Zerrex winced himself: with the protective layering of water over her body, it was like he was punching into somehow-solid jelly. A moment later, Feldspar was rising to a kneel as she swatted at him with her actual hand, and the Drakkaren rose his arms and let her knock him backwards, maintaining his balance as he skidded over the ground with a curse of pain before snapping his arm out towards her and launching a tentacle at her antlers.

She blinked and reared back as it wrapped tightly around her, but she immediately snarled and used her long claws to rend through the flesh tentacle, and Zerrex hissed in pain as he grabbed his arm, the tentacle quickly retracting as Feldspar laughed and threw her head back, the floating eye slowly lowering towards him as she asked in a disappointed voice: "Is that really all you've got, Lord Zerrex? You're far weaker than I thought!"

The Drakkaren snarled, clenching his hand into a tight fist... and then he created a solid javelin of blue energy in his hand... and as he concentrated, it turned pure white before he cocked it back and threw it hard at the floating eye. The javelin shot forwards like a bolt of lightning from his hand, and then Feldspar screamed in agony as the short spear of energy tore through the floating eye and it exploded, the chain falling uselessly as the water surrounding her body boiled and became unstable.

Zerrex leapt forwards, seizing the chain in his hands in his hands before he sprinted in a wide C towards her opposite side, and she snarled and slashed viciously down at him with the hammer hand... but she was awkward and confused, and the reptile easily leapt over it before shooting in a straight sprint forwards as Feldspar began an incantation... but she was literally choked off as the chain came taut around her neck and she was dragged down to the ground with a curse and a growl. She tried to grab it, then screamed in frustration as she only struck it uselessly with her the scythe coming out of the back of her hammer-hand... but by the time she managed to reach her other hand across, Zerrex charged over her muzzle and kicked off it, and she immediately lashed her claw hand out to try and slap him out of the air.

Zerrex gracefully twisted overtop her fingers, then dropped straight down like a rock and smashed his fist into her stomach, and this time he pierced her watery covering and the giant's body arched as she let out a gargle of pain. Water splashed around him... then it immediately pelleted towards him, but the reptile had already leapt out of the spot he'd been in as Feldspar clutched at her gut, whining and howling before Zerrex's next strike pounded directly into the white cut on her chest.

The reptile felt something snag him... and he immediately grabbed it back, and Feldspar's back arched as Zerrex yanked hard upwards, her body going rigid before Zerrex was blasted up into the air as her chest tore open down the middle, and white light shone up out of her eyes, muzzle and the enormous rip in her chest as she floated into the air with her back twisted in a U, screaming as she writhed back and forth before the Drakkaren was slammed backwards by an explosion of energy, whacking his head against the wall and falling into a black void for a few moments as he slumped to the ground.

He came to as he felt a few droplets of water sprinkle over his body... and he stupidly opened his eyes before picking himself up off the ground with a quiet grunt, rubbing at his head slowly. The urgency of battle had vanished, and he staggered slowly forwards before he realized there was another presence here, as a few more droplets of water hit him... and he opened his eyes before staring up at the gentle rain that was falling. The sound it made against the ground was almost unnatural after so many years in Hell without any precipitation whatsoever... and then he slowly lowered his head to start at Selena, who was cradling Feldspar's reverted body against her own, crying as she leaned over her.

Feldspar was bleeding out of terrible wounds covering her entire form, and all the vines in the area had withered to brown and died... but she was still alive, one of her hands touching Selena's face as she panted hard. Her scepter lay shattered and worthless by her body... and a moment later, her hand dropped as she let out a sigh and slumped slowly in Selena's arms, before her form dissolved into water that flowed out of Selena's bloody hands as she rose them slowly in front of her face.

She looked over to Zerrex as he approached quietly, and then she quickly wiped her eyes, trembling hard and turning her gaze away as she said roughly: "Fuck off, Zerrex... I... go away, I don't want you to see me being stupid."

Zerrex dropped down to a kneel and hugged her tightly from the side, and he murmured as he pushed their head together gently: "Cry and let it out... you'll feel better afterwards."

Selena trembled... then clutched into him, her claws digging into him as she began to cry hard, sobbing: "Why? Why... she... she was my mentor, she taught me... everything I know and... she turned so... God, God, no, why... Zer..."

He held her tight against his body, closing his eyes and rocking her slowly in his arms, and she cried against him for almost ten minutes in his arms, trying to curl up and make herself as small as possible despite the fact he could feel her fighting at the same time to keep herself from transforming into her true body. Either way, though, he would hold her as best he could... but soon enough she managed to get herself under control, and he whispered: "I'm sorry, Selena..."

"You had to do what you had to do... I... I can't hold that against you... and it's better she's dead and gone now then... she continued to just be that twisted puppet the Princess made her into." She was silent for a few moments, then she reached up and curled her hand into Zerrex's hair, and her eyes glowed black as she whispered: "Promise me... promise me you'll kill that bitch."

Zerrex was silent... and then he closed his eyes as he squeezed her tight against his powerful chest, saying quietly in return. "I promise you, Selena... I promise you I will. I'll make this up to you... and I'll make sure she suffers for everything she's done to all of us... from the weakest soldier to Feldspar..."

"We need to get out of here, Zerrex... if anyone finds us in here, we'll be killed." Selena shook her head and swallowed thickly, meeting his eyes quietly as she wiped her own. "Listen, you portal out of here back to the Estate, and I'll create multiple portals and leave a fake trail of magic residue in case they try to track us. I'll see you in... in a little while."

She cleared her throat a bit and stepped away from him... then she turned around and walked back to him, taking his hands and kissing him quietly. Zerrex was too surprised to kiss her back, and then she closed her eyes and lowered her head, whispering softly: "If... we could start over from the beginning... I..."

She broke off, then stepped away from him and created a portal, stepping through it quickly. Zerrex stared at this, then sighed a bit as he created his own portal and stepped through, shaking his head slowly as he stepped into the master bedroom at the Ravenlight Estate. He realized he could hear the rain against the windows still, and he cast a cleansing spell on himself to get rid of the mess of battle and the water on his body as he approached the window and gazed out quietly, pressing his hand against it.

He watched the rain for a while, wondering who and what Feldspar really was... before shaking his head slowly, murmuring quietly: "Either way, she turned into a monster... she became enraptured with power and absorbed too much of it..." Maybe the Princess did want me to put her down... and maybe one day someone will have to put me down, should I ever become... become that...

The reptile shook his head quickly and pushed out through the door, walking down the hall slowly and wandering the Estate, checking rooms here and there. It helped him familiarize himself with the magically-enlarged mansion and calmed his nerves... and then he paused as he heard a rustling behind a door and he pushed it open curiously.

He coughed and blushed a bit as he saw Sin's naked body, and she blushed deeply as well from where she was fighting with one of the Seethe Hounds on the floor that was tugging on a coil of intestine hanging out of her stomach... but before he could close the door, she mumbled: "Could... could you help me, Lord Zerrex?"

"Of... course." Zerrex stepped into the room and closed the door, and she glanced over him curiously as he looked away from her embarrassedly, before he gazed back at her and said in a mumble: "Sorry, I... I just don't want to stare or hurt your feelings. I know you're a bit... self-conscious."

Sin glanced down meekly, and Zerrex rose his hands with a wince, shaking them and adding stupidly: "It's not that, I mean... I still think you look fine, or... you know... you'd be great if... I mean... I'm still glad to touch you. It's not the wound, it's the... demon-hound-things."

She glanced up at this, and she gave a faint smile before grunting and wincing in pain as the dog managed to tear a bit more intestine free from her body, and she grabbed the other end of it and pulled back on it as the Seethe Hound growled and hissed, the nasty-looking little demon dog jerking hard and fighting to pull out more. "They... they won't hurt you, Lord Zerrex. I was actually going to ask you to pick it up... they know your scent, and as long as you don't... don't try to hurt it or do anything to me..."

"Are you serious?" Zerrex stared at her with something like horror, and when she nodded quietly, he made a face... but he didn't want to turn his back on the female who had already saved his life multiple times in Hell. So finally, he took a deep breath and stepped forwards, leaning down to grasp its sides gently.

It growled at him, and it felt like touching physical electricity... but when he lifted it into the air, it didn't even twitch, just continued to grumble. Zerrex tried to cradle it, and it bared its teeth at him, but then shifted a bit and still didn't bite... and Zerrex relaxed a bit before watching as Sin sighed in relief and slowly reeled her intenstine back into her stomach, and she murmured quietly: "Please just come over here and place it back into my stomach... the others are all sleeping, but this one's always been a bit rowdy..."

The Drakkaren nodded, admittedly a bit creeped-out before he stepped forwards, glancing along the floor and carefully placing it back into wound in the female's stomach, and it bit his hand firmly as he withdrew his hand, and Zerrex cursed under his breath as he drew his hands out of her wound, wincing as he stared down at it before the Seethe Hound leapt up and vanished somewhere under Sin's ribs as her eyes widened and she let out a grunt before shaking her head slowly, and she grasped his hand quietly with both of hers.

She rose it to her muzzle and quietly tasted his blood as she looked at him with a blush... before Zerrex drew his hand back and suckled quietly on his fingers, tasting her own blood. The two looked at each other, and Sin slowly stepped forwards, reaching up hesitantly... but Zerrex reached out and grasped her sides, and she took another step towards him and pressed her body against his.

He felt her blood leaking out onto him, heard the squelch of her terrible wound against his chiseled abdominals... and when he hugged her, he could feel the other wounds in her back, the tears and that large gap, her spinal cord touching his wrist... and then he stroked along it slowly, and she trembled against it as she whispered to him softly: "Lord Zerrex... thank you. Thank you... for... not being scared of me, despite what a monster I truly am..."

"You're beautiful to me." Zerrex murmured quietly, holding her tight to his body, and he held her tight to his strong chest before he drew back and sighed softly, Sin immediately casting a cleansing spell over his body before he took her hands and bowed his head forwards quietly. "Feldspar is dead... it turned out she had somehow absorbed the Crack into her body, and was feeding off it somehow... and her body was... terrible... but her mind, her personality, how she'd been twisted and corrupted was... was so much worse..."

He shook his head slowly, looking down into Sin's eyes, and the female nodded slowly before raising one of her hands and gently touching Zerrex's forehead... and the reptile felt a shiver run through his body before he saw the image of Feldspar's demonic, mutated form in front of his eyes, and Sin breathed softly as she drew her hand back, the image vanishing from Zerrex's irises. "Alchemy... I see... and the Forbidden Arts."

She quieted, then smiled faintly at Zerrex, looking up into his eyes as she murmured softly: "The creation of Seethe Hounds and everlasting wounds are two examples of the Forbidden Arts... there are very few demons who can do it, but one of them happens to be Magistrate Sabnock, who you met. Other Forbidden Arts include mass sacrifice and the murder of virgins for gain..."

Sin quietly sat down and pulled Zerrex to sit beside her, no longer seeming as shy despite how tight she kept her legs closed and the way she laced her fingers in her lap, glancing over at him with a blush. "As... as all the stories say, pure and innocent virgins â€" a rarity, as I understand it, in all worlds â€" can be used to increase a demon's power. Drinking a certain gender's blood has different effects... and of course, there are virgin mortals, angels, and even demons."

"Not... not all of us are what we appear to be." Sin looked away quietly, then she glanced at Zerrex and murmured softly: "I'm a slut. I'm a whore. I'm the Great Mother and I feel... sometimes... like... I feel like my only job should be to produce children, powerful children, like the other Demon Mothers... but whereas they choose mates based on strength and actual feelings for them... I... I just want to fuck, to use that raw mortal term." She halted and added quietly: "It's a good word. It's a strong word that works for any language."

Zerrex reached up and stroked her face quietly, but she shook her own firmly and pushed her wrist away, laughing faintly. "There's no need to comfort me, Lord Zerrex. I earned this... the Terrors I birthed, the... the way... the things I did for Mephistopheles..." She flushed deeply and stared at the ground. "But... I... I'm sorry. We were talking about Feldspar."

The Drakkaren nodded, deciding to leave the subject alone for the moment as he asked softly: "So... you don't seem surprised."

"I'm not... there were rumors of it, and the way she wielded her scepter... the way it reacted to her will alone..." Sin shook her head quietly, and she dropped her head against Zerrex's shoulder, her cheek seeming to burn red hot against him. "She used alchemy to fuse her soul into the weapon, without thinking about the consequences of putting her own essence into a weapon made of thousands of sacrificed souls... and they drove her insane.

"The soul is only as invincible as anyone's physical body... and it... can be hurt in ways the physical body cannot." Sin looked down, and slowly, bit-by-bit, she was slipping closer to him until she was pressing against him, her arms wrapping firmly around him as her body flickered slowly, losing her illusionary form and once more appearing as the Naganatine she was... but Zerrex didn't think she lost any of her beauty, as she looked up at him with her beautiful purple eyes into his own emerald. "I... it changes always, constantly, and if other energies attack it or worse, merge with it... the person rots from the inside out, so-to-speak."

Zerrex nodded, then Sin looked down and blushed, whispering softly: "I guess... I guess we all knew that... Feldspar was just like a toy to the Princess. And she did change... she became even more violent and more... attracted to power... and... I guess that happened when she merged herself with the Crack using some Forbidden Art to control time and space. The power she must have been gaining from it would be tremendous... but it would have destroyed her completely eventually, because you can't harness a rip in the fabric of reality and expect... to only gain from it, without giving back."

"How the hell does that even work, anyway?" Zerrex asked softly, tilting his head as Sin leaned against him, her body burning against his body. "I mean... it's a rip in the fabric of Hell, like a wormhole to the mortal realm. I know other ones exist in other places, but..."

"The Cracks go both ways... she was eating up energy flowing in from the mortal realm, feeding off it..." Sin glanced down and rested against him, speaking quietly: "And her body was combined with countless other things... she may have even found a way to... I don't know, absorb... absorb souls and other things from the mortal realm that drew close to wherever the Crack fed out..."

The Drakkaren nodded slowly and looked down as he held Sin quietly against his body, and then she laughed faintly and glanced up at him, asking in an embarrassed voice: "Why... why aren't you scared of holding me? Why... why even now, even naked... do you... do you act like you care?"

"Because I do." The Drakkaren glanced down at her and laughed softly before kissing her forehead softly on impulse, and she flushed deeply as he murmured quietly: "I've told you before, but... you don't scare me. I... guess the best answer I can give is because when I look at you... I see two things. I see someone stronger than I am surviving through a punishment they don't deserve... and I see..." He halted, then he glanced away, feeling stupid and awkward. "It's dumb, but... I see... you remind me of my daughter, Cindy. You're gentle... and you're compassionate and tender... but yet inside you, there's this spark that's wild and powerful, and... I dunno, I guess I'm attracted to that. Someone who's gentle outside, but has... something that overshadows my strength inside."

"Typical Wrath." Sin smiled hesitantly, and Zerrex smiled back a bit as he nodded and squeezed her carefully, almost afraid he was going to break her already-damaged body. "I... thank you though, Lord Zerrex. But... will you... just sit with me for a while?"

"My pleasure." Zerrex said softly, and for a little while, he sat with the Naganatine in his arms, holding her decimated body tight... and for a little while, everything was okay.

Two weeks later, Zerrex was absently wandering the top gallery of the Ravenlight Estate and removing everything that reminded him of either Feldspar or the Princess, wearing a long black robe over disheveled clothing, his hair done quickly back in an ugly ponytail. He'd taken a short nap a few hours ago to try and find some relaxation between the hectic appointments he had to keep, which included a strange funeral for Feldspar and an attempt to summon her spirit so she could declare who her killer was, but the reptile did end up wondering curiously if Feldspar would point to him or the Princess.

The Princess, on the other hand, seemed to ignore him for the most part, but the few looks she did shoot him were pissed-off glares. Sin also informed him that the topic most often brought up at meetings was not Feldspar's death â€" that topic, in fact, had already been dimissed several times â€" but the Crack and if there were any other locations where known Cracks existed. It seemed that whatever else, her true nature was starting to be revealed, at least in her private cabinet meetings: she was far more interested in power than the death of the handmaiden who'd served as her second in command.

Selena had been quiet for the last little while, but she was starting to cheer up a bit now, after spending a lot of time sitting around and talking about old times with Feldspar, before she'd gone completely insane. It reminded Zerrex vaguely of how he'd been after he'd killed Requiem... but that brought up painful memories of both his own death and the angel's, and he shook his head slowly before murmuring quietly: "I guess some wounds never stop bleeding... hey, you two, take that painting downstairs and throw it on the pile with the rest."

"Sir." the two demons in work clothes nodded, grabbing either end of a portrait of the Princess and lifting it off the wall, and they quickly fled... before Zerrex paused at the next picture in line and narrowed his eyes. It was an oil painting of Az'Iriel... and a minotaur paused as he began to walk by, before following Zerrex's gaze to the painting.

Before he could ask, however, Zerrex rose a hand and shook his head. "It's... fine. Continue to pull down anything you see of the former Queen, however, I... don't want to be reminded of her face at this tragic time." I'll only keep that one picture... just for memories.

The Drakkaren had started building up his own private art gallery in the opposite wing, which was another fairly-long hall... and he thought that this picture of Az'Iriel would make a decent addition to it. It already included a painting each of the Naganatine Twins, Argalox, Feldspar, and the Princess... and every demon he had conquered had a red X painted beneath it. Even now, Zerrex couldn't bear to damage any art... and he shook his head slowly before glancing to the side as Selena's voice called his name.

She was walking quickly towards him, a thin spiked collar now finishing off her outfit completely... well, that and the studded leather loop around the base of her tail. He smiled slightly at her, glancing of her outfit as she looked back at him with a grunt, and he asked mildly: "Is that all really practical or necessary?"

"Yeah, because you obviously want me to take it all off." Selena said dryly, flexing her fingers a bit as she glanced down at her hand, before meeting his eyes with a slight grin. "Come on, Zer, we're going to go and train. Take that stupid fucking robe off and let's go to the clearing in Wrath."

Zerrex nodded, trying to ignore his eagerness as he smiled at her and rubbed his hands together slowly, creating a portal beside himself with little more than a glance. "Alright, just give me a minute to change and I'll join you."

Less than two minutes later, Zerrex stepped into the clearing where Ixin was imprisoned wearing only his usual black pants and combat boots, and Ixin grunted over at him before saying mildly: "Well, you ain't as nice-looking as Hot Tits, but I guess you'll do... hey, I heard you completed your punishment, too! Does that mean you're going to get my fucking flute for me?"

"You're so damned greedy. Besides, I just narrowly avoided being accused and dragged off to execution for killing a handmaiden." Zerrex said mildly, holding up his hands and looking across at the chained-down Drakkaren sourly. "There's no way in Hell that I'm going to actually attempt to break into the Central Spire's artifact museum and steal your flute, where they're likely hiding it."

"Well, since you never asked me this before, I can sense the resonance of my flute..." Ixin said craftily, but his gaze was slowly turning towards Selena to admire her curvaceous body and sumptuous bosom rather obviously, as a grin spread over his muzzle. "So... you know... I guess technically I could just tell you where it is, sorta..."

"Ixin, by now I know the way you work, and I'm not entirely stupid." Zerrex said irritably, looking down at the lizard with a frown as Selena covered her breasts and made a face, the same thing apparently on her mind as well. "You're never ‘unsure' about something. You always know, or you don't know, or you act like a jackass. And whenever you pull that ‘I'm-so-smooth' bull, it means that you know something and you don't want to give it up until you get a promise out of me that I'll help you with your dumb little quest for freedom."

The Drakkaren looked insulted at this, immediately snapping: "Hey, I'm not the only one on a dumb quest for freedom, here! I-"

"Yeah, well I haven't been stupid enough to carve my way through a legion of jailors and Inquisitors to try and take revenge on Feldspar." Zerrex steamrollered him acidly, and the two glowered at each other before the reptile rolled his eyes and sat down, Selena watching with mild amusement from the sidelines. "Why don't you just tell me for a change?"

Ixin mumbled something under his breath as he tilted his head back and forth before finally muttering: "Fine, fine, fine. Asshole. But the flute's on the fourth floor of the Central Spire, it was moved to the public viewing halls after they spent a billion years or so studying it, and like the morons these mages are, they couldn't figure out how it worked. I swear, there've been like... five creative mages who made up all the spells that now every demon in Hell uses. Even the fuckin' archmages don't make their own magic up or experiment with it, all they do is sit around and declare how cool they are and-"

"Thank you, Ixin." Zerrex said loudly, before the sealed mortal could get going on a rant, and Ixin glared at him and flailed a bit against his chains before Zerrex added mildly. "Anyway, I'm going to wait until things calm down... and you haven't exactly acted like the most sane creature lately. I keep thinking that if I do set you free, you're going to make me implode or something."

The Drakkaren rolled his eyes and pasted an innocent look on his face. "Me, hurt you? Why, whyever would I do that? Unless you're talking about because you don't appreciate the art I do for you!" Ixin looked moodily back and forth, muttering: "I mean, seriously. Do you have any idea how hard it is to draw a picture for someone when you have to first magic the pencil out of thin air, followed by the paper, and then use your mouth to draw it all out? I think you're an uncaring bastard."

Before Zerrex could respond and the two could fall into another pointless argument, Selena leaned down, giving a plentiful view of her cleavage as she said in a teasing voice: "He really can be mean sometimes, that's true... but Ixin, I was wondering if you could do something else to help us out, and-"

Ixin suddenly paused in his leering to glance to the side, and he cursed under his breath as the other two demons looked up, watching as a white portal opened and a Wentaku stepped through, looking coldly over them both. Zerrex recognized it as one of the Princess's advisors... and it sized them up for a moment before saying clearly: "This area is off-limits. Please leave immediately, Lord Zerrex, Miss Selena, or I'll summon the Royal Guard."

Ixin opened his mouth, and the Wentaku raised a hand towards him, and a moment later the Drakkaren slumped against his bonds, falling into unconsciousness as his chains began to pulse darkly. Both of the others looked at him with surprise, then faced the Wentaku again, and it only looked back steadily before Zerrex created a portal and muttered: "Fine. Let's go."

As the Drakkaren began to step through the portal, the Wentaku flicked his wrist... and a moment later, the reptile staggered as he found himself stepping not into his own home, but instead what looked almost like a vast desert, staring back and forth in surprise before the portal slammed shut behind him. He stared back and forth, but he couldn't see anything around himself other than rocky tundra and strange, twisted brown roots that all reached in towards one central area... and the reptile frowned a bit in distaste as he felt a chill roll down his spine. I'd better get the hell out of here...

The lizard attempted to create a portal... but the energy only sparked violently through the air before it vanished, and the reptile shook his head, then paused and held his hand out in front of himself. A moment later, his enormous soul-sucking blade appeared in it, complete with the sheath it was encased inside... and he murmured: "What the hell? Only my portal's been blocked... but why?"

Zerrex thought the answer to that question might be very bad indeed... so he decided to make his way out of here as he cinched the belt on the sheath tightly around his body, glancing at the ominous circle the ‘roots' that came out of nowhere formed and figuring it was probably best to walk away from it. The ground there seemed like it was bit humped-up as well, which he didn't think was a good sign at all... and the reptile shook his head slowly before facing the desert and muttering: "The safest bet is probably wandering for a few klicks before I try to portal again..."

He nodded to himself, beginning to walk away slowly... and then the ground trembled beneath his feet and the Drakkaren staggered, wincing and trying to anchor himself before turning around and staring in horror as the earth in the center of the circle of roots shot up, revealing a massive crystal of transparent green and blue wrapped in the ugly brown roots... and inside the crystalline prison was a terrible creature of immense proportions. The Drakkaren stared in horror, recognizing that it could only be one thing immediately: a Terror. No way... no freaking way, these things are sealed, they're like infinite power generators for Hell... I... they can't...

Cracks spread over the crystal as a single red eye opened, and then it listed slowly to the side before shattering as the creature threw itself forwards to land in a crouch, an enormous black axe gripped tightly in one hand. The monstrosity itself was covered in thick black fur, and it looked almost like a short Gigataur with a deformed body: the head was the same, and the mouth filled with needle-like, sharp teeth as it roared and flexed... but whereas the arm holding the axe was gorilla-like and massive, too big for its body and ending in a three-fingered, reptilian hand... the other arm was tiny and warped, covered in burns and raw flesh that shimmered in the heat of the desert.

Its legs were stocky and small, but its hooves were not only extremely wide, but had claws of bone extending from all sides, digging deep into the earth. It also possessed a long, whiplike tail that snapped back and forth around its body, almost twice the height of the Terror itself and ending in a plain, leathery whip... and Zerrex winced as this snapped out towards him, drawing his sword and cursing under his breath at how weak he felt compared to the waves of power this thing was radiating.

A gust of steam rolled out of its nostrils as it stomped forwards, red eyes blazing as it shook its head, tossing its long black mane around its twisted, uneven horns... and then it grinned slowly as it settled its eyes on the Drakkaren and it charged forwards, raising the bearded axe in its single hand and chopping viciously downwards before Zerrex could force his body to move, the Drakkaren snarling as he staggered backwards and brought his blade up at the same time.

He was knocked backwards from the force of the blow, the sword almost struck out of his hands by the raw strength of the gigantic monstrosity before it swept in with a rapid slash from the side, and Zerrex barely managed to twist his body backwards enough to avoid being decapitated, at the same time bringing up his sword and again having his arm knocked wide as he flailed for balance. It struck out again with another vicious cut, and Zerrex managed to leap backwards this time before lunging at one of the seventeen-foot monster's knees and slicing into it with the sword.

It hissed in pain, but the blade barely dug a cut through the thick fur and thicker flesh beneath, before Zerrex was booted hard in the chest and knocked over, the reptile clutching at the deep gouges knocked into his stomach from the thing's bone claws before it attempted to stomp down on him. Immediately, Zerrex caught the flat bottom of its hoof on his palm, shoving hard back as it pressed down, and he snarled under his breath as he felt his arm straining under the immense power of the creature before he pressed the serrated part of his sword's blade against the creature's ankle and shoved hard.

The Terror immediately brought its foot away with a snarl of fury, at the same time bringing the huge axe it was wielding back in one hand and slashing downwards, cutting into the earth where Zerrex had been only a moment ago. Zerrex had already safely fled the location, however, and the reptile ran in a tight circle around the Terror before lashing out with his sword at the backs of its knees, cutting through the thinner flesh behind the joints and ripping through ligaments and connective tissue like butter.

It screamed and arched its back, but somehow stayed standing straight as its tail snapped around and wrapped tight around Zerrex's torso, before he was hefted into the air and flung straight down into the ground to land in a crumpled heap. Zerrex cursed and forced himself up to his feet, looking over towards the Terror... and the bearded axe caught him in the side and sent him flying bonelessly through the air before he crashed and rolled several feet, his sword flying out of his hand before he grasped the massive rip in the side of his body and howled in agony.

He convulsed on the ground a few times as the Terror started towards him before pausing... and the creature picked up the Drakkaren's sword awkwardly in its small hand, as the reptile forced himself up to his feet. He cursed as he forced out the one minor healing spell he knew, and it at least stopped the bleeding for now... and then he stared in horror as the Terror stabbed itself in the chest with the blade, which immediately began to burn blue, before the creature's eyes blazed with light and it howled.

The tiny arm pulsed, then mutated and grew massive, coarse black fur covering it as it became as enormous as the other muscular limb was... and its legs thickened and grew as well, until most of its body was proportionate, its entire form swelling with muscle and power as it shook its head, eyes now a terrible dead black as it grinned slowly, smoke floating out of its nostrils as it stood before him, no less than forty feet tall, the axe now looking like a hatchet in one of its huge hands as its whiplike tail snapped around it. Zerrex gaped in shock at this, then he shook his head slowly as the giant demon stepped forwards, hooves falling away uselessly as thick claws sprouted out of its feet, and the Drakkaren staggered backwards before he gritted his teeth and shouted hoarsely: "Stay back!"

It continued to approach... and the reptile forced himself to control his panic as he stared up at the beast before he clenched one hand into a fist and he stared over it, looking in vain for some kind of weak point. The only thing he could see was the sword, however, which was supplying the terrible monstrosity with power that looked almost infinite... and then the monster's incredibly long, flexible tail whipped out and wrapped around one of Zerrex's wrists as he tried to catch it, and it hefted him into the air as it cocked its axe back in one hand.

Zerrex concentrated, and a tentacle slid out of his shoulder, coiling down his arm as it writhed and flexed, watching as the monstrous Terror brought its hatchet back all the way before swinging viciously at him in a lightning-fast stroke, but the reptile kicked both feet upwards and hefted his body almost parallel to the ground... but almost half his tail was lopped off all the same, and the reptile screamed in agony, the Terror laughing and throwing its head back, either missing the fact it had failed to kill him or not caring... and Zerrex snapped his arm forwards, the tentacle seizing around the handle before he jerked back hard-

The Terror's entire body shook violently as its laughter halted, and instead it roared in fury, its tail tearing quickly away from the Drakkaren before it slashed down with the axe and cut the tentacle in half, Zerrex cursing in pain before staring in horror as the flat of the weapon snapped out towards him, and he immediately tensed his body before kicking off the flat of the blade the moment it came close enough, sending himself flying backwards as he arched his back and spread his arms.

His eyes closed as he heard the monster charging towards him, concentrating... and his angel wings tore out of his back in a blast of white energy before he dropped like a stone into a dive, pushing himself down at the same time as the wings wrapped around his body, the Terror's wide slash with the axe missing as it grunted and staggered... and Zerrex's wings opened at the last moment as he arched his entire body, and he shot forwards over the ground and between the thing's clawed feet. It spun around with a howl of fury, but Zerrex had already climbed high into the air, sailing above its head and twisting around as he held his hands apart with a snarl, ignoring the pain in his body as his stump of a tail left a streamer of blood trailing behind him.

The Terror opened its jaws and released a massive gout of flame towards the Drakkaren, but the wave of fire missed completely as Zerrex dived, a sphere of pulsating, twisting darkness writhing between his hands before he suddenly halted as the creature tried to anticipate his turn, and it staggered to the side before catching itself to face back towards the reptile with a deep growl as it rose a hand to deflect the ball of dark energy sailing down towards it-

It struck the back of the Terror's palm and exploded in an inferno of flame and deadly energy, and the raw force of the blast jarred the monstrosity's defenses as it stumbled backwards once and shook its head slowly, letting out a high-pitched whine as it grasped at its ringing ears, ash and smoke roiling off its body as Zerrex took the opportunity to shoot towards its chest and seize the sword's hilt in both hands. He twisted his body and cursed under his breath as he slammed both feet forwards into its body, and the Terror's entire body jarred as it looked down in shock before swiping at him with the axe.

It tore through one of the reptile's wings, and it exploded into fragments that hailed down to the ground as its other hand snatched at the other wing and ripped it off, too... and Zerrex arched his back, coughing blood before he gave a final, hard jerk with his entire body and ripped the sword free, and a white blast of energy shot out of the wound and knocked him flying through the air, the reptile cursing under his breath as he flipped violently and fell towards the ground... but grinning vindictively all the same as he heard the Terror give a howl of rage and agony.

Zerrex spun his body hard in the same direction it was rotating, and then spread out of his arms to catch the air and slow himself while regaining his balance before he shoved both hands down into the earth as he landed in a flexed crouch, the ground shaking with the impact and pieces of dead root flying into the air around him as the Terror fell with much less grace nearby, crashing to the ground on its back even as fur rotted off and blood burst from its muzzle and other wounds that ripped themselves through its body. It spasmed as its body shrank down and became deformed and hideous once more, its long tail lashing back and forth as Zerrex forced himself through the pain burning through his body, and he leapt to his feet with the blade in both hands, charging forwards with the remains of his shattered wings trailing out behind him as the Terror managed to sit up, then cock its arm back.

It threw its axe hard, and Zerrex missed as he tried to knock it away with one hand, the blade instead sinking into his chest as the much-shorter, humped and warped creature snarled at him in triumph. The reptile staggered back and forth, the bearded axe sticking out of his body before he looked up, his eyes glowing emerald before he leapt forwards with a roar and stabbed viciously into the Terror's neck.

Its eyes bulged in shock, and it grasped the blade of the sword in both hands as it let out a gurgling, keening wail around the weapon lodged in its neck... and Zerrex tore violently to the side a moment later, and its head toppled most of the way off its shoulders before the reptile spun the sword out to his side in his one good hand, the other spasming uselessly by his chest as he dropped to a kneel and slammed the sword down through the Terror's heart. It spasmed violently, its hands clawing uselessly at Zerrex and leaving trails of blood behind from its fleshy, spongy fingers, before it gripped his legs tightly... and a moment later, slumped slowly to the ground.

Zerrex could feel the force of energy released as it died, could almost hear its raging spirit... and the sword glowed, the handle burning his palm before the Drakkaren snarled and jerked it free of the corpse as it rotted quickly away, and the weapon glowed with golden light almost too bright to look at. The reptile turned his head away, the blade releasing waves of heat and scalding-hot in his grip... but then it cooled only moments later as the glow died down to a faint aura, and then nothing.

The reptile breathed hard, staring down at the blade in his hand... before he slowly toppled onto his back, staring up at the sky above as he let his eyes close quietly. His breath panted in and out, the sword tight in one hand and the axe burning where it was buried inside his chest, but he just didn't have the strength to pull it free as a tear ran down his face... but he blinked as he realized it wasn't his own, and he opened his eyes slowly to stare up into the tearstreaked face of Little Arcy.

"Why don't you ever run, Mister Zerrex?" she asked quietly, and she slowly stroked over his face as the pain began to fade away, before she shook her head with the faintest of smiles, whispering softly: "You're lucky we love you so much... God, you're so badly injured... I... Mister Zerrex? Zerrex! Zerrex, open your eyes!"

But he just didn't have the strength... and slowly, he fell into darkness once more.