We're almost there! Only a few more paragraphs to go. In this chapter, the fate of our duo is beginning to be revealed. Everything is wrapped up in the next chapter, so be sure to click over to it and give it a gander!
Happy Thanksgiving!
XIX
The Demon Lord stood in the center of the pentagram, awaiting the heroes with obvious glee.
"This is it! Either we defeat him, or we die trying!" Luther shouted.
"Let's kick his ever-living red ass!" Frost answered.
They charged at Diablo, and the battle began.
Frost teleported to the side of Diablo, and cast a static field a few times, weakening the great devil. She then teleported away, behind Luther, and began to throw orbs as hard and fast as she could.
Luther charged in, and began swinging his scepter as hard as he could. Diablo's flesh did not give way, only bounced the weapon back at him. Luther focused himself even more and put everything he had into his attacks. The blows softened the demon's skin a little, and he could see he was wounding the Dark Lord, but only ever so slightly. He knew that he would need to keep Diablo's attention so that Frost could continue casting her magic.
Diablo let out a hellish grunt, and raked his claws across Luther's chest hard, denting the cold metal. When the blow failed to interrupt Luther's attack, the devil grew more enraged. He lifted his arms up high, and the very flames of Hell shot up through the floor, forming a flowing wave of fire that streaked from the demon's feet outwards. The flames licked at Luther's greaves, burning him severely.
If Luther had not quickly invoked his salvation aura, the flames would have surely slain him. Even with the aura, he was badly injured, and fell to his knees. Diablo saw his weakness and swiped once again with his massive claw.
The blow connected and sent the paladin flying to the side. Luther barely caught the edge of the pentagram, narrowly avoiding falling into the holes, and the fiery death that waited below. Luther struggled to pull himself up before the Dark Lord could complete the task he had started.
Now that Luther was out of the way, Diablo focused his attention on the sorceress. He charged at the spellcaster, and tackled her. Frost attempted to teleport, but was too late. The blow knocked her back, stunning her for a brief moment. The devil smashed Frost hard, sending her flying to the ground. Frost regained her balance, and quickly teleported back to her feet.
Frost knew she could not survive in close quarters with the demon. She teleported several yards away from him, and called a firewall under the demon. The fire burned Diablo, but did little damage. The demon responded by unleashing a blood red stream of pure lightning from his hands. The stream flew towards Frost and impacted her squarely in the chest.
The spell destroyed Frost's energy shield and her shiver armor both, leaving her with no defenses. Her mind was reeling from the attacks, and her focus was wavering. She began to teleport away from the attack, but did so much slower than she usually moved.
Diablo noticed her slow response and brought forth another stream of fire from his feet, only angled a bit to the left of Frost. The sorceress completed her teleport, directly into the spot that Diablo had predicted. The fire from the spell was waiting for her and immediately began burning her flesh. A new streak of pain flew through Frost, jumbling her thoughts even more. She would quickly die if she did not escape the flames.
Once again the sorceress teleported, and once again Diablo accurately predicted where she would land. He raised his arms, and a cage made of pure bone rose around Frost, imprisoning her. Dazed and confused, the sorceress tried to teleport out, only to find she could not. She was unable to think, so she did nothing but flail against her cage feebly.
Diablo knew she was helpless, and wasn't going to let the opportunity pass him by. The Demon Lord charged the cage as fast as he could. He smashed through the cage, and wrapped his huge claw around Frost's face. He then lifted her off the ground and turned back to Luther.
Luther had just finally pulled himself up from the pentagram hole. He scrambled to his feet, planning on charging the devil, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Diablo holding Frost. The demon smiled a smile of pure evil before letting out a deafening laugh.
"Let her go, you son of a bitch!" Luther growled.
"Fine!" Diablo rumbled.
The Demon Lord squeezed his claw, and Frost's head exploded in a shower of blood and grey matter. Her lifeless body fell, impaling on the shards of the bone cage that still protruded from the floor.
"Noooooooooo!" Luther screamed at the demon, falling to his knees in shock.
"Don't despair, you will soon join her!" Diablo taunted.
Luther did not answer, but instead began to shake uncontrollably. Diablo smiled, thinking that the paladin had given up and would take his death without a struggle. He could not imagine how wrong he was.
Diablo began marching towards the shuddering paladin, but stopped short when he realized the man was not crying as he had thought, but instead was laughing.
"What are you laughing at?" The Demon Lord asked confused.
The paladin did not answer, but instead began laughing even louder. Diablo stood at guard, not sure what to make of the situation.
Luther finally looked up, and Diablo saw that he no longer had human eyes. Instead his eyes were purely white, like the eyes of an angel. Luther shot to his feet, and when he did so, a pair of enormous wings of pure light unfurled from his back. Luther arched his back and turned his head skyward sharply. When he did so, his armor seemed to explode and was replaced by coverings of pure light. Only the deep tan of his skin remained to prove that he was not of celestial origins.
Luther looked down at his scepter and threw it aside as though it was worthless. Without warning, a long, wicked blade of shifting bright energy appeared in his hand. The blade itself was on fire, burning without consuming the sword. Satisfied with his transformation, Luther turned his attention to Diablo, and flew towards him slowly, but with malicious intent.
"No! This cannot be! It is impossible!" Diablo protested.
Luther did not bother to explain what he was, or how he changed, but instead continued towards the Dark Lord.
Luther swooped down and swung his sword hard. Diablo threw up his claws, grabbing the blade. The fire burned the demon badly, and the paladin's strength was too much. The blade broke through the demon's defenses and slashed at Diablo's red flesh.
Diablo howled in pain, and reactively slashed at Luther. The paladin gently flapped his wings, and floated just out of range of the blow. Anger consumed the Demon Lord, and he fired a stream of red lightning at Luther.
Luther did not even attempt to dodge the bolt, but instead just raised his hand. The stream ran into his hand, and gathered there. Diablo cut off the stream, waiting to see how badly the attack hurt the flying, glowing man. Instead he saw that the entire bolt of lightning had gathered into a ball against Luther's palm. The paladin did not seem hurt in the least. Luther then pulled back his hand and thrust it hard forward towards the demon.
The red bolt flew away from Luther's palm right back at Diablo. The spell impacted the demon hard, knocking him down and back, something that should not have been possible. Apparently not only could the paladin catch the spell, he could enchant it to where it damaged the caster.
Diablo was badly injured by the bolt, and did not return to his feet. Instead he glared up at the flying man, the hatred of all Hell burning in his eyes.
"Never again will you ever cause any suffering!" Luther said with a voice that sounded like a thousand rushing rivers.
With those words Luther flew towards Diablo, his holy blade thrust forward. He sank the sword deep into the Dark Lord's flesh, piercing his black heart. The Demon Lord died, countless spirits of damned souls screaming out from his flesh, freed from his torment. All of Hell quaked with the passing of the Demon King.
Diablo's corpse shriveled up, returning to the form of the Dark Wanderer, and collapsed to the floor. The Lord of Terror would terrorize no more. It was truly over.