Ch16: The Bloody Road to Alcarnus
It didn't take our group long at all to reach the Khasim Outpost, Serena immediately smelling the telltale signs of demons around us, but keeping it hidden due to us needing to find the Iron Wolves in the command post. I immediately talked to the one demon in the mask of an Imperial Guard captain, standing toe-to-toe with him and looking him in his lying eyes as I asked him the question. "Excuse me, but we were hoping to go to Alcarnus to stop Maghda and her coven. Can you let us through?" I asked him, my face unwavering from his gaze. "You must be mad! But if you insist on doing so, you should talk to Captain Davyd down in the Command Post," he said, his gaze unfaltering from our trio as we descended into the area and saw none other than Maghda and a plethora of Deceivers still hiding behind the faces of Imperial Guards.
"Here you are! Finally! A sacrifice given to me by Lord Belial," Maghda smiled as Serena immediately smelled the scent of demons on the Imperial Guard and looked at me with a furrow in her brow. "Let's kill these demons and then we'll kill the witch that not only killed Cain, but also fails to see that Belial treats all as his tools, including the witch with the butterflies on her shoulders," I smiled in 3rd person as Serena began her slaughter of the Deceivers as I spoke, her finishing the job in a matter of seconds.
"YOU KNOW I AM RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, CUNT!" Maghda exclaimed in pure rage at me. "You can still walk away from all of this, Maghda. If you still insist on serving a lord of lies that has been lying to you for your entire life, we will slaughter you for Deckard's sake. If you choose to walk away now, however, and give up all of your powers, we will let it slide. What do you say?" I asked her visage as mom and Serena freed the imprisoned Iron Wolves. "You may as well be talking to the corpse of that decrepit old man! Belial would NEVER lie to me!" Maghda exclaimed. "Heh. I guess lying comes with being one of Belial's servants, because you just lied big time," Serena smirked at Maghda, her face actually changing from one of cockiness to one of pure shock and aplomb.
"W-What?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. "Belial has lied to you, and he has lied to everyone that he has had as his subordinates, Maghda. Hell, take it from me! I was his daughter in the form of Andariel and he kept lying to me saying how we Lesser Evils would usurp the Prime, but then he kept delaying the Lesser Evils for his own means. You're living a life full of lies, whereas we live the life of truth. Do you want to die knowing that your entire life was a lie, Maghda?" Serena asked.
I couldn't believe what Serena was actually planning! She was actually considering letting Maghda join our side and fight the Lords of Hell together! "I-I..." Maghda said, retreating her visage before she could say anything else. "Okay then. Iron Wolves! Let's take back the town!" I exclaimed, leading the charge out into the city and Serena's claws coming out. "HEY! SNAKE SPHINCTERS! COME ON OUT TO PLAY WITH ME!" Serena smiled as she let loose a pink ray at the entirety of the town, all of the Deceivers' guises dropping and leaving them sitting ducks! "Oh hell yeah! Attack!" I exclaimed, shooting some Disintegration rays at a whole line of Deceivers while mom and Serena assisted the Iron Wolves with dispatching the other remaining ones. The onslaught lasted only 15 seconds.
"Your group is amazing! Never before have I seen a group of sentient zombies and a talking imp be so powerful... in fact, I can say I've never seen a group that had the characters you do," admitted Captain Davyd. "No offense taken. But we need to get going to Alcarnus. Do you think you can open the way?" I asked him. "Of course!" he exclaimed as he opened the gate and our group was soon on our way to Alcarnus.
But when we finally reached Alcarnus... we saw a sight that we were all stunned by! Not only were all the surviving townsfolk outside the city and rushing towards the nearest portal to Caldeum, but inside the city, we saw none other than Maghda using her dark arts to actually destroy her own cultists and the hell spawn that they summoned! We tried to approach, but Maghda looked back at us with a glare in her eyes. "Um... that's her way of saying, leave me alone," Serena frowned as she backed up and we did the same.
We only waited for a good five more minutes until it was all over. Maghda had defeated all of the demons and cultists that were in her own coven and she looked quite drained from the experience, her body falling onto the ground as her wings looked like they were resting. "Um... can we talk now?" Serena asked her. "Hmph... might as well..." Maghda sighed as she simply sat on the ground and looked at us with a glare. Her makeup of white paint was smeared all over and it looked like she had been crying.
"When I confronted Belial about what you said to me... about him lying to me for my whole life... he said that it was not true... he said that your group was lying and that he would never lie to me... but this time... I knew the truth... he was lying straight through his bloody teeth! It was then that I knew that I had been living a life full of lies... and I deserve any punishment you wish to give me... give me death even... I don't deserve life after everything that's happened..." Maghda sobbed. SHE ACTUALLY SOBBED! Any way you look at it, this was certainly not part of the story of Diablo 3 at all!
"Mm..." I frowned as I simply placed my zombie hands on Maghda's temples, her eyes growing wide as I did so. "No one deserves death if they feel guilty, Maghda," I frowned as I simply used my own skill and siphoned every bit of magic inside of Maghda's body and absorbed it into my own, no pain happening at all as her wings fell to the ground and her body returned to that of a 50-year-old woman. "W-W-What...?" Maghda gasped as she looked at me with tears in her eyes. "I'm not murderous to people who know they did wrong," I frowned at her as I turned around.
"You may have hurt us all... you may have killed thousands of innocent lives... but you were blinded from reality, serving someone who spent his entire life lying to you to get his way. And when you finally realized the truth, you immediately did something right. You rescued many people from Alcarnus and defeated the evil that you created. That is why I spared you," I sighed as I began to walk away along with mom and Serena, a single hand going to my ankle and actually making it fall off, resulting in me falling on the ground.
"Uh..." Maghda gawked as I simply smiled at what had happened. "That's my fault there," I smirked as I took the foot that fell off of me and took out some sewing thread. "Being a zombie isn't as fun as you would think," I frowned at her as I began sewing my foot back on. "Sure, you can't die from anything except a busted skull, but your body parts just won't stay put and you need to keep on applying fresh sewing thread to each part that could fall off."
"Hmph..." Maghda frowned as she looked into my eyes with a look I didn't expect her to. It looked like one of remorse. "Um... Maghda? You doing okay?" Serena asked as she saw her eyes begin to tear up. Maghda then fell to the ground and placed her arms around my leg, sobbing right in front of us for the first time that I'd ever seen it. "I... I... I don't understand..." she cried into my leg. "Why are you treating me so kindly after I did so much to hurt you?! It doesn't make any sense!" Maghda actually bawled and began to cough into my green skin.
"Maghda... it's okay..." I smiled as I gave her something that she probably never experienced before. A hug. "I-I..." Maghda was about to retort until she felt the warmth of what the hug was doing to her. "T-Thank you... I owe you... the rest of my life..." Maghda finally smiled as she cried into my grasp. "You're welcome Maghda... you're welcome..." I smiled as I then returned all four of us, Maghda included, back to the hidden camp in Caldeum. And I knew that I would have to give a good hearty explanation to Tyreal about why this was going on. But it had to be quick, because we needed to rescue Leah from Emperor Hakan II. AKA, Belial in disguise.