Chapter Five

The man in violet has just stopped Bruin and his group from leaving the camp, will the group be able to make it out of this one?

Bruin looked back at the two girls, " Remain calm, whatever you do, don't do anything that would give us away." Then Bruin turned to address the man in violet. "Is there something I can help you with?"

The man in violet eyed Bruin up and down, "I'm sure you already know this but only those who have proven their strength are allowed to leave camp. We wouldn't want any more of our troops to be killed." Bruin's eyes widened as he realized the troops the man was talking about were the ones he had disposed of. "So if you don't mind, I'd like to be the one to test your strength," the man in violet drew a dagger from his robe, holding it gently in his hand.

"You want to duel me? Right here?" Bruin asked surprised by the turn of events.

"Unless you have some problem with that, then yes. I'm assuming you know how these work, but on the off chance that you don't I'll explain. We both summon our most powerful familiar and let them fight, if your familiar can defeat mine, then you're free to go, if not you have to stay in camp. I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but it is the only way to make sure you're strong enough to survive out there."

Bruin blinked, confused by the rules of the duel, "But how does the strength of my familiar allow you to test my power?"

"Fool! have you forgotten our great lord Azmatan gives us our power by allowing us to form a pact with familiars giving us the power to summon them?" The violet robed man spat out in anger. "Enough talk! Summon your familiar and let us begin!" He took his dagger and slashed the palm of his hand, as the blood dripped down it created a pool beneath him, "Lord Azmatan give me strength! Arisu Gilathen!" At first, it appeared as if the summoning call would be unanswered, then Bruin noticed the pool of blood at his opponent's feet begin to boil. From the pool a large arm emerged and began to lift itself into the world, slowly it drew more of its body out revealing a gargantuan four armed figure. Its head was topped with black spiraling horns, down its back sharp bone rose out from its spine, red leathery, corrupted wings protruded from its muscled back, but perhaps the most horrifying feature of all were its eyes, or rather its lack of eyes. For in the place where its eyes should have been were two black bottomless pits that seemed to suck the life out of anyone who looked into them. Madylen and Genevieve looked on in horror at the red creature that stood before them. "You better hurry and summon you're familiar, Gilathen is not well known for his patience." The monster's master laughed manically.

Bruin shook his head, "I was hoping I would never have to summon it again, but it seems I'm left with no choice," he turned to Madylen and Genevieve, "Run from this place, and stay as far back as you can, this fight is unlikely to be pretty, and if you stay too close I can't guarantee your safety."

"What do you mean? Bruin, are you going to be okay? Can you even beat that, that... that thing?" Madylen looked into Bruin's eyes, her own filled with concern.

"Of course he's going to be alright, he hasn't let us down yet!" Genevieve tugged at Madylen's hand, "We need to move now Madylen, if we stay here we'll only be a hindrance for Bruin."

"Alright, be safe Bruin." Madylen continued to look back at him as Genevieve dragged her away.

"Everything is going to be alright, I promise," Bruin smiled weakly at the two girls. As they disappeared over the hill Bruin turned to face his opponent, "Let's not make a liar out of me. Arisu Lucidriel!" As soon as the words came off of Bruin's lips a blinding white light descended from the sky, then a thud was heard as something made impact with the ground, causing a tremor to be felt by all. As the light faded a figure in heavy armor that seemed to glow emerged. The figure had two feathery wings protruding from gaps in the back of its armor and wielded a vibrant glowing sword and kiteshield, both emitted a dazzling white light. To the average bystander, Lucidriel may have looked like an angel but Bruin knew better as the two blackened horns that emerged from its head gave away its true nature.

The figure turned to face Bruin, "Why have you summoned me, puny mortal. I thought we had come to an agreement, that if you ever summoned me again I would end your pathetic existence." The fallen angel took a step towards Bruin menacingly.

Bruin held his ground, "I summoned you because I believe that I have found a worthy opponent for you Lucidriel. Behind you stands Gilathen, one of Azmatan's strongest warriors. I need you to prove that you're still worth something to me, defeat Gilathen. You can continue your empty threats towards me once you have completed your task." Bruin pointed towards the hulking monstrosity, aiming to divert Lucidriel's fury.

"You're lucky I enjoy a good fight, otherwise I would kill you where you stand, but for now Gilathen will do." Lucidriel snickered as he turned confidently to face the monster that was three times his size.

"Kill him Gilathen," The man in violet gestured towards the angelic demon. The behemoth tensed up before pushing off the ground, exploding forward, leaving behind a wake of destruction, Lucidriel barely had time to raise his shield before a thundering fist came crashing down against it. The monster continued to unleash a flurry of blows down upon its helpless prey. Each blow was more powerful than the last, finally, Gilathen lifted all of its massive arms and brought them down in unison, the sound of the blow was deafening. The man in violet looked at Bruin triumphantly all but assured of his victory. Bruin caught his eyes and shook his head, for the fight was not yet over.

With a small struggle, Lucidriel stood up and began laughing, "I haven't felt this threatened in ages! This should be fun!" The angel suddenly changed gears and went on the offensive, lunging forward Lucidriel slashed at the behemoth, but his strike was slapped away by one of Gilathen's four hands while another one attempted to deliver a counter blow only to be blocked by Lucidriel's glowing shield. The two demons became locked in combat, their movements faster than the eye could see, each attack blocked by their opponent and followed with a counter. As the two demons tangled further they moved across the landscape destroying everything in their paths, leaving both Bruin and the man in Violet on the defensive as they desperately attempted to shield themselves from the power of their familiar's blows. Suddenly the two demons jumped apart from each other, "Look's like we're quite evenly matched," Lucidriel called out across the devastated landscape. Gilathen grunted in agreement. "What can you do when an unstoppable force meets with an immovable object? No Answer? Well its quite simple, you let yourself be moved." Bruin looked at Lucidriel puzzled by his cryptic words, as Lucidirle cast aside his golden shield and put both his hands on the golden hilt of his sword.  With a bellowing battle cry, Lucidriel burst forward with his sword low, caught off guard Gilathen was pierced through the heart. Lucidriel Laughed victoriously, "It appears you were a weaker foe than expected." Then his eyes suddenly grew wide as Gilathen wasn't done yet. Gilathen wrapped his massive arms around Lucidriel pulling him in close and began to crush the fallen angel against his body. Lucidriel flailed about trying desperately to break free of the bone-crushing grasp, but to no avail, there was no escaping it. Finally, Lucidriel's body went limp, then burst into a sparkling light as he dematerialized. It's victim gone, Gilathen slumped over before bursting into millions of dark spheres of light that brought him back to where he came from.

The man in Violet started clapping slowly, "What a glorious display of power, truly they were equals until the very end. You have passed my test, you may go now."

"What? Just like that? You're going to let us leave?" Bruin asked taken aback by the man's answer.

"Of course. As follower's of Azmatan, we must always keep our word, besides I've done my due diligence in testing you. You are free to go, as you can clearly defend yourself." The man smiled gently as he motioned Bruin to leave with a wave of his hand, before turning his back and walking back into the camp without another word. Bruin stood dumbfounded before turning and leaving after Madylen and Genevieve, as he caught up with them he was met with a mixed reaction.

"Bruin! Are you alright?" Madylen ran over to greet him and immediately began examining him for any wounds.

"Who cares if he's alright, I want answers! You told us that the cultists get their ability to summon by following Azmatan, but you just very clearly summoned a demon! Do you care to explain how it is that you did that, because I don't see a way, unless you're one of them!" Genevieve shouted at Bruin, pointing her index finger in his direction accusingly.

Madylen, visibly shocked by the sudden accusation of Bruin began to scold the small girl, "Genevieve! How could you? have you forgotten everything that he has done for us? He saved your life for goodness sake! Without him, we'd both be dead!" Genevieve shrunk away from the harsh words of Madylen.

Bruin lifted a hand in front of Madylen to stop the ongoing scolding, "No it's fine, she's right to be cautious." Bruin let out a heavy sigh, "You're right, the only way to summon a demon is to have some sort of connection with them, and while the typical way of doing that is by making a pact with Azmatan, my situation is a rather unusual one. You see I merely inherited a connection with Lucidriel from my mother, when my father gave me my mother's book of spells to study, I found one for summoning Lucidriel, but the last time I tried it, it didn't work out as I had imagined." Bruin looked down at the ground, "but that is the past, what matters right now is that you need to trust me so that we can get moving and make it to Ydrassil before the cultists."

"I guess I can accept that for now, but don't think you're off the hook just yet, that still doesn't explain why your mother knew how to summon Lucidriel." Genevieve conceded to Bruin. She turned her back and began walking off before looking back at a startled Bruin and Madylen,  "So let's get going, lead the way."

Author's Note

Tried to work on description of the two demons in this one, let me know if you could picture it.