In this chapter, Frost gains even more power, power she will desperately need very soon. The pair face off against Mephisto himself. Read and lemme know what you think!

XVII

The chamber the heroes entered was sectioned off, an atrium with the stairs, and a single opening leading deeper into the room. Inside there was a large moat towards the back wall, separating the main room from the back section. The moat extended down to both the left and right, forming a center walkway that terminated a handful of feet away from a large empty archway. The space in between was filled by the moat itself. The space was too far to jump, but by no means too far for Frost to teleport. To each side of the center branch was branches that led off into a room like section to each side. From the looks of things, the duo would have to enter to move beyond the moat. The area behind the moat had a small walkway to the archway, then featured staggered steps similar to a throne room before terminating in a series of small pools fashioned against the wall.

The room appeared to be the residence of some unknown royalty, identical to countless thrones for countless kings. The difference was the twisted darkness that permeated the entire area, an oppression that just did not seem to lift. The walkway to the arch, and the arch itself seemed to be comprised of bones, most likely human. Blood seemed to fill the moat and the stench was nearly unbearable.

The warriors peered into the room from the atrium, trying to determine the location of their foe. They could not see Mephisto anywhere. Silently Luther motioned to Frost that they should move forward, and Frost nodded. They moved into the main chamber, hiding in the shadows.

They then saw that there was another pack of fallen council paladin demons standing at the very tip of the center branch. For some reason these demons were enraptured by something happening beyond, close to the far wall. Frost took advantage of their distraction, and motioned to Luther that she was going to move ahead a bit, and scout around.

She moved to the left, and reached out with her senses. She determined where the small side chamber started and quickly teleported there. When she materialized, she took in the sight of the pillars at the far end, towards the back wall, and the demon there watching something over to his right. Frost unsheathed Wizardspike slowly, trying to be silent. The sorceress stalked over to the demon, directly behind him. She grabbed the demon and quickly slit its throat.

The demon attempted to shout, but no sound issued except for the gurgling of blood from its wound. The demon fell back and Frost slowly lowered the dying creature to the floor quietly. Satisfied that the room was clear, she teleported back to where Luther was, and indicated for him to follow.

Luther did follow, carefully and quietly. The pair paused in the room, and attempted to find out what was preoccupying the hell spawns. They peeped around the corner and back to the center of the back of the room. An unholy sight met their eyes.

The Dark Wanderer was here, as well as Mephisto.

"Well done my brother!" Mephisto's voice echoed through the hall, with a deep menacing hiss. "I release your true form!"

With that, the Dark Wanderer began to change. Large black spikes erupted from his back, arcing upwards. The Wanderer's skin took on a blood red hue, and he began to grow beyond comprehension. Within a few seconds the man was no more and in his place stood a towering demon. Diablo himself, the Lord of Terror had broken through his mortal prison and back into the material plane.

"Go now, Diablo, and prepare Hell for our final day of glory! Soon I will join you, and then we will consume the world. None will stop us this time!" Mephisto roared, following the words with a spine chilling laugh.

Diablo bared his teeth in an evil smile before turning and lumbering towards the archway. Mephisto chanted something in the native tongue of devils, and the archway sprang to life. Grey liquid like water appeared like a door, and in the liquid was faces of humans screaming in the torture of damnation. Diablo vanished through the arch, barely fitting his behemoth frame into the portal.

The pair knew that this was the time. They had to destroy Mephisto, and then chase after Diablo. If they fell, the world would fall with them. No words were spoken, they both understood the gravity of the situation. Each warrior nodded, and then the duo sprang around the corner and attacked.

"You are too late!" Mephisto screamed in glee as the pair approached.

The warriors answered with action instead of words. Luther shot forward in a charge, and slammed into Mephisto. Frost teleported behind the Lord of Hatred and quickly cast a static field, reducing the monster's health.

Frost's spell apparently caught Mephisto's attention, for the devil swung one arm around, catching Frost square in the chest. The sorceress flew backwards from the force of the blow and landed against the wall with a dull thud. She was not injured, however, and quickly scrambled back to her feet.

Luther continued his vigorous attack, with his normal zeal, keeping Mephisto pinned down. Frost moved back into range, and threw a frozen orb at the monster. The orb did not do any significant damage to Mephisto, much to Frost's disappointment. It did serve to enrage him even more though.

Mephisto let loose an icy nova, similar to Frost's own electrical one. The chilly blast knocked Luther back, disengaging him from the demon. Mephisto turned to Frost, with hatred burning in the black cesspools of his eyes. He formed a ball in his hand, though it was not of ice, but instead it was made of pure unholy energy. He pulled back and launched it hard at Frost. The ball flew true and impacted on the sorceress' armor. She fell back and down from the power of the spell.

"Did you think your puny little parlor tricks could hurt a Dark Lord?" Mephisto hissed angrily. "Now you will die for your arrogance, you insolent bitch!"

The flames of Hell themselves came to life in Frost's eyes when she heard Mephisto's last word. Uncontrollable rage took over her mind. She teleported to her feet, and walked towards the demon. She stopped a few yards from Mephisto, staring hard.

Mephisto laughed. "Feed me your hatred! It will make your death all the much more sweet!"

Frost's anger boiled even hotter. Flames sprang from her hands, and quickly moved up her armor.

Luther scrambled to his feet, attempting to shake off the effects of the icy nova. He looked back to Frost, and saw her standing defiantly in front of Mephisto. Fear shot through him as he quickly tried to think of a plan to intervene before she was killed. As he began moving towards the Prime Evil, he noticed Frost was changing. Flames covered her hands, but remarkably they did not stop there. The fire was moving up her armor, and was engulfing her entire body. She did not appear to be in any pain, however. He did not know the ways of magic, but he did know that what he was seeing was not normal.

The flames quickly consumed the sorceress, making her appear to be a human torch. Frost screamed a horrible scream of hatred and anger, not of pain, and thrust her arms into the air. At that instant, a heat wave tore from her body and washed over the room. The heat was almost hot enough to cause burns. As soon as the wave was past, the fire around Frost solidified, obscuring the sorceress from view. Three large snake like apparitions appeared above where she stood, one from each arm, and one from her head. They appeared like burning snakes, with wicked fangs, and impressive hoods.

Each snake opened its mouth, baring its fangs, and began shooting huge fireballs at Mephisto. Each ball was several times larger than normal, and burned with much greater intensity. The fiery, snake like hydra continued to press the attack and launched wave after wave of projectiles at the Demon Lord.

Mephisto reeled from the blows. Luther saw his opening and took it. He quickly removed his gauntlet, and cut his palm with the hilt of his scepter. He let his blood drip upon the weapon, invoking the power of vengeance. Once the weapon had been enchanted, Luther jammed his hand back in his gauntlet and charged towards Mephisto.

Mephisto did not last long against his attackers. He was bombarded by burning bolts of fire on one side, and by Luther's blows of inhuman power on the other. With a final scream, Mephisto became no more. His body erupted into unholy flames, and what seemed to be spirits flew from his corpse. Finally the Demon Lord fell to the ground, dead. The demon was well on the way to whatever abyss vile creatures like him came from.

Frost apparently regained her composure, as the hydra spell dispelled, and she returned to normal.

"Are you okay?" Luther asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was weird." Frost said, shaking her head.

"Weird? That the best you have? You turned into a three headed snake!"

"Such is the power of a sorceress." Frost answered nonchalantly.

Luther just stared hard, finally having time to be awestruck by what he had just seen.

"Let's get going! We have no time to waste." Frost said, moving towards the arch. "Diablo went through here, so I guess we should follow."

Luther collected his jaw, and followed the sorceress through the portal to the realm beyond.