How I became the Empress of Hell

 

As I slowly flapped to the ground, I laughed at his absurd outburst. I stopped laughing as a tremendous shockwave blasted through the forest and knocked everyone off their feet. I pulled up the party menu as I staggered to my feet and saw that Bray was still alive… but only just.

I looked through the trees and marveled at the level of destruction our combination attack had caused. For a few dozen feet the trees and surrounding brush were mostly undisturbed, but beyond that was complete devastation. Uprooted trees and splintered branches were piled high like a tsunami had brushed them aside and it was impossible to see through the thick layer of foliage, dirt, and other debris. As we walked closer we heard Bray shout out loudly.

“That was fucking AWESOME!!!!!”

I grabbed onto Ghost and Ikelos. I flew over the mound of debris and set my teammates down next to me.

“Uhhh… Thanks for the lift, I guess.”

“No… Problem. Fuck… Used… too much…”

I collapsed against the ground and felt like I could barely move. My muscles screamed in exhaustion and I felt like my body weighed thousands of pounds. Bray, wearing pieces of shambled armor and bleeding from several places, staggered over to our group and lay on the ground next to me.

“Allie… That. Was. Fucking. Epic.”

It hurt to move, but I turned my head to him and gave him as broad a smile as I could manage. As I gave him a thumbs up, a thought occurred to me. Why hadn't the round ended?

Oh shit. One of them is still alive… But how could they have sur- FUCK! STUPID ALLIE STUPID! Fucking spirit magic!

“Ghost… Ikelos… Spirit Mage is…”

I saw the spirits as they flew towards me, and I thought that my grave miscalculation was going to cost my team their VIP. A shield of purple and black fire erupted around me and the spirits crashed into the barrier and wailed loudly as they faded. I forced my body to sit up and turn to face the Spirit Mage, but I couldn’t tell where the shield had come from. Just as she was preparing to unleash another barrage of Spirits, my assassin appeared behind her and thrust her blade through the mage's throat. Her hands shot to her neck and blood spurted from her mouth, and the nimble demon behind her sliced horizontally, cutting the mage in half.

ROUND COMPLETE! WINNERS, THE LOST AND THE DAMNED (TEAM 1)! CONGRATULATIONS!
FINAL SCORES:
THE LOST AND THE DAMNED (TEAM 1):  100
DIABLO’S CHOSEN: -35

The area around us turned white and we appeared back in the waiting room. My body was back at full health and I no longer felt the overwhelming fatigue as I moved over to my teammates.

“We did awesome you guys! I am so proud of you all. For a second I thought that Spirit Mage had me… but whoever cast that flame spell saved my ass. So… Thank you Ikelos or Ghost.”

They both looked at each other and then looked at me with a look of confusion.

“It wasn’t either of us… Was it one of your demons?”

I shook my head and my brows narrowed.

“No… they were all back in the wooded area. I didn’t even know the Assassin had followed until she attacked the Spirit Mage from behind”

The tiny Dark Pixie fluttered in front of me and wore a shit-eating grin on her face.

“Sooooo… When I thought about how losing our VIP would cost us a bunch of points, and it would mean Master Ikelos’s team would have a lower score… I just did the first thing I could think of and the shield appeared around you.”

“Well… I completely did not expect that, Lucifer… Especially from someone who called me a ‘perverted futanari succubus with a body made from weird enchantment magic.’ But… I guess I was wrong about you… thank you for saving me.”

The small creature blushed and then glared at me.

“I didn’t do it cause I like you or anything. You’re still a pervy futa to me… but losing you would mean other teams who didn’t lose anyone would have a higher score than us. I did it so that Master Ikelos’s team would have the highest score possible. Don’t think this had anything to do with you.”

“Ah… well… either way, thank you. Without you I would have been killed instantly. I’m also glad to see that you’re not completely useless.”

She stuck her tongue out at me and flitted back to Ikelos’s shoulder. I walked over to Bray and playfully punched him in the arm.

“Super Fag Attack? Really?! I don’t even know how to respond to that... other than saying that it was the greatest thing I have ever heard. I only wish I could have seen that crater form and the resulting shockwave.”

His grin was wider and happier than I had ever seen it, and he pointed up towards one of the displays on the wall. A reel of highlights was playing on the last one and continually showed the exact thing I had been wanting to see. I swiped my hand in front of me when facing the screen, and the display filled my HUD. I watched from each person’s point of view as the massive warrior struck with an impact that made a nuke look like a cheap firecracker, and I still couldn’t believe the massive amount of destruction we had caused. I closed the display and smiled at Bray again.

“Well… remind me to consider the ‘Super Fag Attack’ more often… that was fucking incredible. I’d have loved to have seen the total amount of damage you caused with that.”

“Right?! Surely that had to be a new game record. It might have even topped Em’s Ice spell if it had hit more players…”

We all talked excitedly about future strategies and attack combos we could do while we watched the other fights taking place. After ten minutes or so, the rest of the matches drew to a close and we all looked up at the board for our scores.

Round 1 Rankings:

The Lost and the Damned (Team 1): 100 points
The Lost and the Damned (Team 2): 100 points
The Lost and the Damned (Team 3): 100 points
The Cleansing Fire (Team 1): 100 points
The Cleansing Fire (Team 2): 100 points
Four OG Gamer Dads: 100 points
Moonlit Black Cats: 100 points
KISS (Team 6): 100 points
Insert Clan Name Here: 40 points
KISS (Team 2): 40
The Dark Side (Team 2): 30 points
Allexus’s Army:  20 points
Eternal Darkness: 20 points
KISS (Team 5): 20 points
Legion of Female Gamers (Team 1): 10 points
Flashing Blades of the Demon:  10 points
Demons FTW: -5 points
Legion of Female Gamers (Team 2) -5 points
I just play this for the demon sex: -10 points
KISS (Team 4): -20 points
DeCiSiVe ViCtOrS: -20 points
What the Hell?:  -20 points
Raging Demon Inferno of Hellfire: -25 points
The Dark Side (Team 2) -30 points
Demon Ninjas: -30 points
KISS (Team 1): -35 points
Death’s Knights: -35 points
KISS (Team 3): -35 points
The Dark Side (Team 1): -35 points
Lucifer’s Champions: -35 points
Diablo’s Chosen: -35 points
Hell’s Eternal Flame: -35 points

I laughed after reading a few of the clan names, and I was also astounded to see a clan named Allexus’s Army. The clan had to have been created in the past couple of days after the massive fight against the Angelspawn duplicate army, and I never expected people to have rallied behind me so much that they would name their clan in honor of me. The thing that made me happiest was seeing every one of our clan’s teams on the top of the leaderboards. I made eye contact with Emelia from across the room and gave her a thumbs up. She blew me a kiss and I playfully caught it.

ROUND 2 COMMENCING!

Blackness filled my screen and a display popped up in front of me. My heart sank as I read it and I sighed softly in frustration.

Round 2

The Lost and the Damned
Aeryn- Arachnid King- Might Path/Arcane Path/Command Path
Scythe- Dark Paladin- Might Path/Arcane Path
Tifa- Shapeshifter- Arcane Path
Areandra- Spell Archer- Might Path/Arcane Path

Your Team’s Score: 100 points
Enemy Team’s Score: 100 points

Seeing the other members of my clan against us in the 2nd round was disappointing. We had chatted about the inevitable confrontations of our teams, and we all agreed that we wouldn’t hold anything back; but it was still going to be challenging to fight people I had spent so much time with. As the display disappeared the landscape around me came into view. This time we were fighting in a marshy swamp. A light fog hung low in the air and it made the area seem very foreboding. I looked at my team and saw that Bray was the VIP this time.

“Of course they’re gonna pit us against our own clan… and of course it had to be against Spence. Fuck me…”

“Just pretend like they’re any other enemy we’ve faced… Aeryn’s team mostly excels at close combat, but Areandra’s extreme long range capabilities mean we can’t be unprepared for ranged attacks. The fog will give us a bit of cover and she’ll have to be a lot closer to attack, but it also limits our ranged abilities as well. Right now it’s best to stay on the defensive and see how they respond. Ikelos, cast all of your summoning spells and have everything spread out a little from us, but keep a pretty tight formation. Lucifer, stay behind Ikelos or find somewhere out of sight, but use that flame shield of yours where it’s most effective. Bray, stay in the middle of everyone, and stick to Ghost even more than last round. Ghost, I want you as Bray’s ‘pocket healer;’ stay on him at all times and don’t let him drop below 75% health. I will use my Priestesses as the team’s healers, so keep your focus on Bray at all times.”

I summoned my healers and had them stand next to Bray and Ghost. I summoned my assassin and paladin and issued them the same commands as last round. I opted to keep my mages and warriors in reserve for part of the strategy I had in mind, and I removed my disguise and drew one of my swords. Aeryn and Scythe had yet to see my new [Duel-Wielding] ability, and I wanted to wait ‘til the last moment to ‘inform them’ of my nasty surprise.

“Leave Aeryn to me. None of you are any match for him 1 on 1, just focus on taking out his spiders.”

The soft twang of a bowstring caught my attention and I watched for any movement of an arrow. A jolt of electricity surged towards Ghost, and I moved with extra speed to push him out of the way. The projectile struck a nearby tree and left a small scorch mark. The sound of legs scuttling through water drew closer, and I nodded for everyone to get ready. Spiders the size of large dogs came at us from almost every angle, and my team began cutting them to pieces. A blur on the edge of my vision caught my eye, and I quickly cast my [Demonfire] spell and threw a large fireball in that direction. Trees and foliage melted away as the flames struck them, but I didn’t sense any other movement besides the hordes of spiders. I could tell Aeryn was trying to bait me away from the rest of my team, but I knew leaving the others would be playing right into his hand.

“Come on Allie… I’m dying to see which one of us is stronger… Come fight me!”

Aeryn’s voice was barely audible, something only someone with greatly enhanced hearing would have been able to detect, and I scoffed as he continued to taunt me. When I answered him, I did so in the same hushed tone that he was using.

“Come now, Aeryn… Do you really think I’m going to fall for that?”

I swung my blade at the nearest spider and cleaved off its legs on one side. I held the point of my sword against the creature’s head and moved closer to its multiple sets of eyes.

“You’ll have to do better than that, Spider King. You know where I’m at if you want to challenge me. Until you show yourself… I’ll take pleasure in slaughtering every one of your children...”

I let gravity drive the blade into the spider’s brain and it twitched as it died. Because of the connection Mallica had had with the spiders that she passed onto Aeryn, I knew that my comment might provoke him into action to protect them. Sure enough, after a few seconds several large spiders crashed through the trees towards us. I spread my wings and flew at the nearest group, using my deadly sword to slice and stab at the large arachnids in the span of a few seconds. As I moved to attack the last one, it turned to me and jumped off the ground. While in mid-air, the spider twisted and changed into the form I recognized as Tifa’s Armor Demon. It swung its heavy plated fist at me, and I dodged out of the way just in time. I zipped around to Tifa’s back and swung at the part of her legs that appeared less armored. My sword cut into the plate but even with a bit of strength behind it I couldn’t do more than scratch her.

As I used my free hand to cast my [Demonfire] spell, I had to bring up my sword to deflect a lunging attack from Scythe’s katana. I barely had time to move my head out of the way of a flaming arrow, and Scythe used my second of distraction to attack me again. Aeryn’s team was ganging up on me to keep me busy while the rest of my team was focused on fighting Aeryn and his spiders. Individually each of them were no match for me, but together they were keeping me on the defensive and reacting on pure instinct. I needed to put some space between me and them so I could take a second to come up with a plan. I focused on my speed and pushed against Scythe’s chest as hard as I could. I zipped around behind Tifa and spread my wings. I launched myself backwards and into the air, keeping my wings tucked as much as possible to avoid getting hit by Areandra’s arrows. As I ascended towards the treetops I heard the sound of a branch moving behind me.

Aeryn’s demon form was almost as fast as mine, and I knew that he could kill me easily if I wasn’t 100% on my game. I twisted as quickly as I could to face him, but he knew he had me at a disadvantage. Instead of letting him attack me in midair from behind, I folded my wings completely and let gravity take over. I fell just out of his reach and I was able to turn my body enough to look up at him as he jumped down after me. I cast my [Demonfire] spell and threw it straight at him. My intent hadn’t been to hit him, as I knew he could easily dodge the attack; which is exactly what he did, and as the ball of flame flew at him, it gave me an opening just long enough for me to spread my wings and shoot back into the sky above him.

With him falling to the ground below me, I dove straight at him from behind. My heavier body and wings allowed me to rocket towards him in seconds and I pushed on him with both hands as hard as I could while flying. The force from the attack propelled him towards the ground like a bullet, and I knew that even with his demonic body he wouldn’t be able to survive the impact from that velocity. He stretched out his hands and webbing shot out and stuck to the trees around him. It wasn’t enough to stop him, but I could tell it was slowing his descent dramatically. Just before he hit the ground a large spider appeared below him and used its body to cushion his fall. He slammed into the creature and crushed it beneath him. He jumped back to his feet and glared at me as I landed in front of him.

Despite me not wanting to abandon my team to go off and fight Aeryn, that was exactly what I had done. I pushed aside all outside thoughts and focused on the enemy in front of me. Both of us moved at the exact same time. I drew my sword and swung at him while he pulled back his fist and punched at my chest. I dropped my shoulder slightly and felt my blade bite deep into his leg. His fist crushed the armor on my shoulder and I felt the force of the blow all the way down my left arm. As he drew back for another attack, I decided it was far past time for me to stop holding back. I ignored the pain in my arm and drew my other sword. Aeryn had proven he could match even my fastest speed, but I had him beat when it came to strength. I moved into a defensive stance and waited for him to make the next move.

“I’m digging the skill change for dual-wielding, Allie; and those blades look badass. It sucks that we had to fight each other so soon… I was hoping to really test myself on other enemies before taking you on.”

He used his webbing to close the wound on his leg and shifted his gaze back to me.

“Are you going to try and draw this out so your army can attack my team?”

He laughed through his nose and shook his head slowly.

“Nothing gets by you… does it. Alright. Enough talk. Bring it on, Demon Lord Allexus. Do your worst!”

His body blurred as he moved in an arc to try and get behind me. I let him draw a bit closer before focusing on my strength and swinging both blades at him at once. He nimbly flipped out of the way of the attack, but I could tell he was leery about moving back into my attack range. I made a move like I was going to lunge at him, and I focused on my speed and strength at the last second. I released each blade and they whistled through the air as they flew towards him. He hadn’t been prepared for me to throw my swords at him, so one of them sliced through his shoulder. While he had been attempting to dodge my thrown attack, I had immediately started casting spells with each hand.

My demon warriors and mages appeared in front of me and all moved at once to attack the spider demon. Aeryn was about to move to attack them, but I opted to use my last trump card. I held each hand up and cast my new spell that I had inherited from Mellic. A chain shot out of one hand and wrapped around Aeryn’s body, while the other wrapped around the handle of my sword. I yanked back both hands and pulled as hard as I could. Aeryn flew back towards me and I moved to catch my sword in mid-air. As Aeryn moved within my attack distance, I swung my blade with all the strength my body would allow.

Even as I sliced through the top of his head and moved down to cleave him in half, he thrust his fist out as hard as he could manage and I felt him tear through my armor on my left side and rip off my arm in a single blow. Each half of his body fell to the ground and blackish-green ichor sprayed out from the bloody chunks. I dropped my sword and cast my [Demonfire] spell. I ignited the bubbling remains of Aeryn's body and then touched the flame to the stump on my left side. The pain was excruciating, but I needed to stop the bleeding and prevent the poison that was left behind from his attacks from spreading. I was almost completely out of MP, and my HP was barely above 10%. I used the remainder of my MP to cast my healing spell and restore as much of my health as I could before I started running back towards the others with my demons in tow.

I ordered my demons to join my team while I flew up and scanned the trees below. I watched for a few minutes until I spotted what I had been searching for. I folded my wings and flew swiftly at the area just behind my target. I landed with a heavy impact, and the small archer turned around in her perch to face me.

“Hey Allexus. That was a pretty epic fight you had with Aeryn. You guys were moving so fast I couldn’t have hit you if I had wanted to.”

I nodded slowly and drew my sword.

“You know, I knew being the team’s VIP would end up in disaster. Aeryn and Scythe’s plan was sound… but we really are no match for the Demon Lord Allexus. At least I get to say I was important enough for you to single out and kill on your own.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Areandra. I singled you out not because you’re the VIP, but because that deadly accurate aim you have could easily cost my team the win.”

She hopped down from her perch and walked up to me as she slung her bow on her back. She offered her hand in a gentle motion, and I shook it eagerly.

“Well fought, Lady Areandra. I promise I’ll make it quick.”

She nodded and I moved at top speed with my blade, slicing cleanly through her neck. I could feel my body’s exhaustion growing as I flew forward, focusing on the last two enemies we had to fight.

When I arrived I readied my sword in preparation for an attack, but I stopped when I saw everyone gathered in a small circle. I ordered my demons aside and moved between Ikelos and Bray. In the middle were Tifa and Lucifer in the middle of what appeared to be the cutest, deadliest match that looked something out of a fucked up kid’s movie.

Each time Tifa would hurl a spell at Lucifer, a small bubble of flame would appear around her and absorb the attack. I could tell both Dark Pixies were almost completely out of MP, as their attacks kept getting smaller and weaker. Lucifer staggered over to Tifa who was struggling to remain standing and drew back her tiny fist to punch the shapeshifter. Instead of striking her, both pixies collapsed into a heap.

“Ugh... Lucifer… getoffame. You’re crushing my boob...”

“Can’t move… too tired…”

“Am I the only one that thinks that fight was the absolute greatest thing ever? I wanted to interfere and end the round… but I also wanted to see who was gonna win.”

“Ikelos! I’ve discovered Allie’s weakness! If we ever want to end her reign of tyranny we just need to overload her with small cute things!”

I resisted laughing and faced the enormous warrior.

“My love for all things small and cute will never be used against me! I am the Demon Lord Allexus, ruler of all that is totally cute and utterly adorable!”

I felt a sting on my cheek as Tifa and Lucifer simultaneously attacked me with a spell and I reacted instantly without even thinking. I slammed my hand down onto the ground in retaliation with a great deal of force before I realized what I had done.

“OH SHI-”

ROUND COMPLETE! WINNERS, THE LOST AND THE DAMNED CLAN (TEAM 1)! CONGRATULATIONS!
FINAL SCORES:
THE LOST AND THE DAMNED (TEAM 1):  100
THE LOST AND THE DAMNED (TEAM 2): -35

“I swear it was an accident Lucifer… my body reacted to you two attacking me, nothing more.”

The tiny girl turned her body away from me as she sat on Ikelos’s shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest. I heard everything she mumbled under her breath, but chose to ignore her and let her cool off. I honestly hadn’t intended to smash both of the pixies… but it was a rather effective way to end the match. I nearly reacted violently again as a pair of arms snaked around me and hugged me from behind, but I recognized the ghostly white skin and immediately relaxed.

“‘Sup babe? How’d your match go? Did you unleash the fury of the Demon Lord Allexus?”

I turned in place to face my fiancée and kissed her on the forehead.

“I don’t know… ask your brother… out of all the teams we could’ve fought, the game opted to pit our teams against each other.”

“Ugh! Seriously? That sucks…Now, I feel bad for Aeryn. Well… at least they had a perfect score in the first round.”

I laughed softly and shook my head.

“Wow… you just automatically assumed my team won. Aeryn by himself is ridiculously overpowered; but with Tifa, Areandra, and Scythe they’re a nigh unstoppable force.”

“Allie… quit sugar-coating it. It’s OK to tell her you royally kicked my ass and that I never really stood a chance.”

We both turned to face Aeryn and I pursed my lips and sighed.

“Against anyone else you would have slaughtered them… It didn’t help that I knew your abilities beforehand and I used two that you’d never seen before.”

“Allie, even if you didn’t snare me with those chains, I couldn’t have maintained that speed for much longer. I’m fast… but you still make me look like I’m standing still. It took everything I had to keep up with you like I did, and I can’t even begin to come close to that strength of yours. I just wish I had done more than knock a bit off your HP with that shoulder attack.”

“Uhhh… Do you not remember punching through my bicep? You hit me so hard it ripped through my armor and tore my arm off.”

The look of confusion on his face that was disguised as a Demonspawn told me he had no clue what I was talking about. I told him about the last few seconds of the fight and he shook his head in disbelief. We discussed (and laughed about) the rest of the fight before the huge display changed for the end of the round.

Round 2 Rankings:

The Lost and the Damned (Team 1): 200 points
The Lost and the Damned (Team 2): 200 points
Moonlit Black Cats: 200 points
The Cleansing Fire (Team 1): 145 points
The Cleansing Fire (Team 2): 110 points
The Lost and the Damned (Team 3): 65 points
Four OG Gamer Dads: 65 points
KISS (Team 6): 65 points

 

I only paid attention to the top 8, as the rest of the scores beyond that were pretty low, so I wasn’t terribly worried about them proceeding to the final team round. I had time for a quick peck on Em’s cheek before the screen turned black in preparation for the next match.