Ch34: The Witch's Blood
"Are you sure you little girls want to come with us? It's dangerous," I asked the three female half-demons that were transformed into Flame Maidens as our group of me, them, Leah, Serena, and Lilith all headed out towards the Blood Marsh. "We're extremely powerful half-demons, so I'm sure we can do good," said the eldest of them, the one who was half Deceiver with a snake tail behind her. "And what are your names, if you're so strong?" Leah asked.
"Well, my name is Alma, and I'm actually half Mallet Demon," the youngest said. I was shocked to find out she was only 6 years old, because she was just as tall as me! I guess that was understandable with her being a half-breed of a demon species that was considered 2nd only to the 7 Evils. "I'm Nellie, and I'm part Deceiver, part human, all business," the eldest one said. "And I am known as Mona, and I'm actually part Succubus," the first one we rescued said with a small smirk.
"Well, if it gets too hot, just go back to town. Adria isn't a foe to be underestimated, and neither are the monsters of the Blood Marsh," Serena frowned. "Have you been to the Blood Marsh before, Serena?" Lilith asked her. "Yeah, and it is full of horrid beasts that range from the Boggits to the Screeching Horrors, to the Maggot Broods, everything in this area is disgusting vermin," Serena frowned. "And when did you visit the Blood Marsh again?" I asked her with a smile. "Well, Lisa, it was when I was an Oppressor. It was the time that I disobeyed Diablo and didn't kill one of his enemies... oddly enough, it was the one that would end up defeating him in the end," Serena smiled.
"Oookay... weird that you were once an Oppressor, and you disobeyed the Lord of Hell, but since you're so nice, we'll assume that it was because you didn't like him at all, right?" Alma asked with a smirk. "Maybe," Serena smiled back. It was at this point that we arrived at the Ruins of Corvus and we saw that the way down to the first part of it was able to be gotten into. "Couldn't be simpler," I smiled as I walked my group forward and we all entered the ruins.
When we did, however, Lilith stopped in place and Serena sniffed the air to try and find Adria. "U-Um... girls?... I can sense something full of evil in here..." Lilith gulped as she got extremely nervous. "What is it, Lil?" Leah asked her. "She's not kidding... I smell it. The stench of Blood Golems, creatures made by the forbidden art of Blood Magic, only able to be mastered by the strongest users of witchcraft," Serena frowned. "Then we best be careful... I read in a book once that Blood Golems are extremely strong," Mona frowned.
I listened intently and we continued onward, finding out that, for the first time, we were in a maze-like area, completely unlike the rest of our travels. "Stay close, girls. This place is like a maze," I said. "Yes, ma'am, miss Lisa," Nellie said. By the time we eventually found a door, we had already encountered a few Blood Golems and we saw that they were indeed dangerous. Even after I chopped them all down with both magic and blade, they still reformed themselves after every slice unless we washed the blood away with water before they respawned. "I can smell her... she's just a little ways ahead... time to say hello," Serena frowned as we went down some stairs and arrived in an area with a giant pool of demon blood in the center, Adria conjuring an image of what looked to be a fortress.
"Let's see where you've been hiding, Malthael..." Adria said mystically as she looked at the thing and then I made a single step forward, getting her attention. "So... you've finally come for me, have you Nephalem?" Adria frowned as she turned around with a frown. "You need to come with us, Adria. Diablo's dead, the Black Soulstone is gone forever, and the world is in danger of Malthael's evil. If you don't leave this place, I'm certain Malthael's reapers will be after you," I frowned at her.
Adria looked at Leah with a frown. "Do you really think the essence of Diablo is forever lost, Lisa Farthing?" Adria frowned as she pointed her fingers at Leah with a frown. "All I have to do is go into Leah's soul with my magic, and he will be resurrected in all his former glory. She should've given up his essence the moment you destroyed the stone," Adria frowned. "You wouldn't dare," Leah growled at her. "Like I said before: daughters are a cheap thing. And I never thought of you as a daughter, Leah. You and I both know this," Adria growled as she then tried to send a blast of her energy right at Leah.
I immediately jumped in the way of the magic ray and was immediately stunned that it went around my person and went right for Leah's heart! "LEAH! NO!" both myself and the demon children exclaimed in fear. Leah gasped loudly in pain as she clutched her chest from pain and I tried to move for Adria, only to find my feet were tethered to the ground by conjured blood hands. "Come forth, Diablo! Be reborn!" Adria exclaimed with fire in her eyes, which made me extremely desperate. I immediately sawed off the blood hands from my body and rushed at Adria, tackling her to the ground as Leah's body began to lift into the air. When I did so, Adria exclaimed loudly in pain at something that I never intended to do.
Her entire left arm was twisted backwards and it looked like I had broken her left leg as well. "GRAGH!" Leah exclaimed in pain as she fell to the ground and something left her chest. A dark red light. I didn't need to guess as to what it could be. It was Diablo's essence without a doubt. "D-Diablo! HELP ME!" Adria exclaimed in shock as I got off her and went towards the red light, finding that it was, in fact, Diablo's soul. But I could tell that it wasn't full of evil as I originally thought.
The soul then began to reform in front of us into something I never expected. Diablo's soul began to transform into what I could only assume to be a demonic version of Leah, complete with breasts, hair, demon horns, tail, and four arms. "Rgh..." Diablo groaned as he/she sat on the ground in pain, mimicking what Leah was doing. "Diablo! Help me!" Adria exclaimed again.
When Adria said this, Diablo looked in her direction and shook its head. "I hate you... monster..." it growled, its words shocking all of us greatly. "W-What?..." Adria asked as she winced in pain from her arm and leg having been busted. "I HATE YOU!" both Leah and the fake Diablo exclaimed as the female Diablo then rushed forward into the blood pool and reformed again. Only this time, it didn't look anything demonic-like at all. In fact, it looked like Diablo had intentionally turned himself into a complete opposite look of Leah!
Her hair was now long, blonde, and unkempt and her chest was large when compared to Leah's. She had freckles on her rough face, wore what looked to be BDSM bondage clothes, and was brown in skin color, much like myself. "D-Diablo?" Serena gulped as she hid behind Alma in fear and Alma did the same behind Lilith. "I am not Diablo... I am Hael," she sighed as she looked at Adria with a low growl and pointed at her. "Diablo is dead, mother. Live with that knowledge or die without it," Leah and Hael growled at the same time, which made me very curious.
Adria coughed a bit and I saw that she was having what looked to be a seizure of sorts. I laid her on the ground and simply cut off her bad arm and leg while she seized. She wouldn't need them anymore now that she wasn't going to see Diablo ever again. "That picture that she had in the blood pool... it was that of the Pandemonium Fortress... surely that will be Malthael's residence," Hael frowned as she warped away and I could sense with my magic that she went back to town. "Let's follow her I guess..." Leah gulped. "Y-Yeah..." Lilith gulped.