Firstborn (The Legacy Series) (20 page)

Amaymon disappeared again, leaving me to deal with a small squad of Asmodaii.
I reached down and a shadow hand grabbed the spider’s head. I threw it at them.

The lead demon swatted the missile away, but fell to my trick. I was right behind the projectile and stabbed Djinn into his head. I wrenched the blade free with a burst of azure light.

My frenzy felled two more demons before the others dodged away.

They launched an attack
and I countered and killed three more.

I slashed at another one and he evaded perfectly. At the same time, his companion came from the side, complementing his attack. I barely managed to keep up, but made it through in one piece.

It occurred to me that the Asmodaii had a hive mind, each learning from the rest. That would explain why these two suddenly became so good at keeping up with me. That’s why they were the foot soldiers of Hell – they adapted to any situation in a matter of minutes. That’s what made them the perfect killing machines.

I blocked a swipe from one of them and shot my shadows at the second one, catching him off guard. Now
, it was one-on-one.

The demon cocked his head rapidly and rushed at me. He feinted and I fell for it. His foot shot at my knee, sending me crashing down. The Asmodaii stabbed forwards with its claws.
I swiped with my sword, cutting his arm off. My own clawed hand raked at his flesh, tearing off a good chunk of his torso.

The demon fell dead.

But it wasn’t over yet. Another Asmodaii brought a falx down on me. The inward curving blade replaced his forearm. I blocked with Djinn and struggled.

Then
, I learned something about my new power. It was temporary. It made you think you were invincible – that you’re all powerful. But that wasn’t true. That was only the lull of power itself. I had made the same mistake Lilith had done with me − thinking I was beyond these low-level demons and could take them easily.

Now, that I had used my power indiscriminately, I felt it fading.

My strength faltered under the blade lock. The Asmodaii cocked its head curiously, trying to understand what was going on. I felt weak and tired and it was showing. And if there was one thing a super soldier knows how to do, it’s exploiting weaknesses.

The Asmodaii released the blade lock and leapt high, landing behind me. I felt a sharp pain in my chest and a cold wave. Then
, I looked downwards and saw a third of that falx jutting from my chest.

26

It was like someone had switched off my body but left my brain on. I knew what was happening – I got stabbed, was probably going to die
again
and there was nothing I could do. It wasn’t painful. At least not until the Asmodaii pulled its blade out and circled in front of me.

I felt my body constructing as my lungs began shutting down. Wave after wave of cold washed over me as blood soaked the decks.

I heard Amaymon scream my name. A pack of lycanthropes ganged up on him as he was momentarily distracted. He went wild, throwing and killing like a berserker.

But it was too late. The Asmodaii’s other arm was equipped with a pair of curved
, dagger-like claws. It raised its hand, ready to strike my face. It would all be over soon – one of those claws would enter my eye socket and rip my face off. He’d most likely take off a chunk of my brain, too. I would die instantly, without much pain. Helpless, I closed my eyes and prepared to die. I murmured an apology to everyone and found myself thinking
fuck it all
.

How befitting of me. Maybe they could chisel that on my tombstone. But once again
, the universe wanted to prove me wrong. It was just dumb luck that it actually worked in my favor this time.

Ah
, Death – you tease. You leave those expecting you still waiting.

Turns out it wasn’t my time yet. Right before the Asmodaii could shish kebab me, a sword of light sliced through it.
The demon exploded in a shower of light.

My savior was
literally an angel. It was a glowing humanoid figure clad in armor. Not the modern Kevlar kind – this guy was in full medieval armor, like he had just stepped out from a Knights of the Round Table re-enactment.

Its face was a sculptor’s wet dream
since you couldn’t tell if it belonged to a male or female – just that it was very, very pretty. A pair of pointy, elf-like ears held back long, flowing, golden hair which shone brighter than the sun.

The whole figure was clad in a halo of pure white light, as if it had its own personal spotlight. The light wavered and I realized those were its wings. Unlike the wings on Gil’s angels, this one had a wingspan that was nearly ten meters wide and the wings were made from pure light. It was hard just trying to look at them.

The angel sheathed its sword and the wings shrank into a pair that weren’t as painful to look at. The light around it dimmed a fraction, too.

It held up the palm of its hand.

Anima Particles rushed into it, forming an ever-growing ball of light. The angel’s gaze shifted towards me and it thrust the particles into my chest wound.

I felt myself on fire. I heard a roar shake the entire ship and realized it was me. The shadow rose and covered the height of the ship, destroying demons and monsters at random.

The angel kept shoving Anima particles into me as I lay there with my power going out of control. Of course, from a distance, it must have looked like the angel was torturing me. Which explains why Amaymon’s fist crashed into the angel and sent it flying.

“Th
e fuck you doin’?” he roared.

From the sky, angels descended like blazing meteorites. They were all in full armor, hacking through demons with swords and shields. Four of the
m landed around Amaymon.

He stepped over me protectively.

“Enough.”

The angels scattered as the first angel walked up to us without so much as a scratch. Its wings flared and I felt an ocean of power emanating from it.

Oh, crap – this was the Virtue. This was the guy that was supposed to counter the sin of Lust. Too late, buddy.

“How do you feel
, wizard?” it said. I suppose I could call it a guy. He sounded manly enough. His appearance, on the other hand, made me question my sexuality.

I had stopped convulsing and twitching. My shadow retracted and I felt more powerful than I had in years.

“I feel great,” I said. I tried extending the shadow consciously and my power responded.

All systems online.

“I don’t know what you did, but thanks.”

Amaymon pointed a finger at him. “Who are y
ou?”

The angel’s melodic voice emanated. “I am Jehudiel, Virtue and
Archangel of Heaven.” He smiled at me. It was a smile devoid of any real emotion but hey, at least the guy tried.

“You are very welcome
, Erik Ashendale. The basis of your power is Life Magic − the same kind found in Anima Particles. It is only natural that you would be compatible.”

What? Me, have Life Magic?

Then, I remembered Lilith’s final words – we are alike.

Did that mean that I was some sort of god? I waved the thought away. Gods ten
ded to live in better houses than mine and not have to worry about taxes. If I were a god I wouldn’t have died so many times in the past three days.

The angel must have been reading my thoughts, since my face was obscured by my power. “You will come to understand your power soon, Erik Ahsendale.” He smiled, like he knew something I should. “Your legacy – you are the root of it all.”

There it was, the word
root
again. Mephisto had used that, too. What the hell did it all mean?

Jehudiel put on his helmet. “It’s time.”

I followed his gaze towards the mass of Anima Particles. I could feel the massive scale of the creature even before it crossed into our plane.

“Dude
, you should see your face right now,” whispered Amaymon.

I ignored him. Instead
, I turned to the angel and asked, “What is that?”

“An Alpha – one of the original demons. Lilith’s spawn,” he replied. “You must have damaged her too much to create more than one.”

Ah hah! Point for Erik. Suck on that, sister.

Jehudiel’s wings flared. “It must not be allowed on this plane. Its presence is enough to alter the
energy flow of this dimension.”

Amaymon snorted. “Angels. Always with the order.”

At that precise moment the particles parted and revealed a monstrous nightmare.

“Holy crap.”

“Hey, we got an angel in the house,” mocked Amaymon.

“Do not mention the Lord’s name in vain,” said Jehudiel.

I did not have a comeback. I was too stunned looking at the Alpha as it emerged. First off, this was no Behemoth. It made those look like cute puppies.

This guy was larger than the ship we were on. The torso was a solid barrel
of muscle and thick, slimy skin like a squid’s. It had a pair of humanoid arms, each layer with muscles the size of a small car. Each finger ended with a thick, black hoof. Its head was a grey blob with a pair of pitch-black, saucer-like eyes and a row of dagger-like teeth. A pair of bull horns emerged from the sides of its head.

The Alpha’s lower half was just a set of eight tentacles, each as thick as the chimney on this tanker. Just one slap of those things and the ship would capsize. Its suckers had rows of teeth in them, which could probably rip off the metal sheets of the tanker.

I remembered seeing something like this once in a painting. It was the monster from Shinto mythology – an Ushi-Oni, I think they called it. Kind of like a Kraken but instead of a massive squid, it was a half-bull, half-octopus monster. Even in mythological monsters, the Japanese prefer hybrids.

Jehudiel tapped me on the shoulder. His touch was electric and warm.

“You and the two demons must keep it occupied whilst my legion and I eliminate the hell-spawn.”

“Why don’t we trade places?” I shot back. But he had already vanished.

Amaymon slapped my shoulder playfully. “Looks like it’s just you and me against Big Ugly over there. Ya got any ideas?”

I shrugged. “Not a clue. You?”

“Same.”

I groaned. This was going to be painful.

“We’re so fucked.”

27

Keep it occupied he says.

Easy for him to say – he’s an angel. He’s got wings and armor and his personal laser light show. Not to mention friends. Angel friends – with shiny broadswords.

All I had was short sword that was looking more impotent by the second and a familiar who was probably more curious to see how the Ushi-Oni would flatten me.

The sky darkened. A giant tentacle was getting closer and closer.

Amaymon had already disappeared. I felt my leg muscles coil and threw myself sideways. The giant limb whipped inches from my face as the ship let out a dying groan and metal screamed in protest. There was a deep dent on the deck. I wondered how much more the ship could take − three, maybe four more hits like that. Then, it’s a
Titanic
re-enactment.

A second tentacle loomed and I took action. No point in trying to stop something that heavy
, I would spend too much energy. Instead, a shadowy mass shot straight for the tentacle, deflecting it into to water. The splash made the ship lurch violently to one side.

Amaymon hurled a gia
nt chunk at the Ushi-Oni’s head, caught one of the horns and snapped it off.

Meanwhile
, wind gathered violently around the beast. Mephisto hovered above the Ushi-Oni like a phantom – his arms eagle spread as he strained to contain the beast. The wind was so powerful it shredded the beast’s rubbery skin and black ichor oozed from the Ushi-Oni.

Two of its tentacles fell off
and completely shrivelled up.

“Amaymon, pin it,” I yelled.

The demon gave me the thumbs up and clawed at the air. He lifted upwards and I could hear his yell even above Mephisto’s wind.

“Rock th
e house, baby!”

I know – I cringed too.

But his magic was not as lame. There was a violent shudder like a scale seven earthquake. Whatever he was doing, it was affecting the whole seabed. Then, giant spikes of stone jutted from the water like icebergs and impaled the Alpha. I shudder to think of the damage he caused to the planet in just that one instant.

But this was priority – I can worry about the planet after the giant spawn from another dimension was vanquished.

I stood at the very tip of the ship and extended my shadow into the water.

I knew for a fact that
I could use magic freely again, that I didn’t need Djinn or channels. My shadow represented my intention and my magic. They were me – whatever they touched became a part of me and my magic.