Dark Souls Academy: The Sacrifice (Hell Dimension #4)

Chapter 36

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

M y third eye activated without me even thinking. I ordered the energy into Lilah’s mind. The pink magic zipped around gracefully, but slightly blurred at the edges from my frantic mood.

I closed my eyes as the flashes of Lilah’s mind settled into me. Her memories of this morning where she gave her virginity to Demarcus, and he demanded her allegiance. I could feel her love and willingness to please him. Her worry for Brandon because he had disappeared two days ago. Her uneasiness for me played in her mind like a movie, but her betrayal was clear to me. Without Brandon or me around Demarcus had gotten into Lilah’s head. She had chosen him.

The back of my eyes stung and the hands on me from my mates couldn’t hold them back. My heart shattered into pieces, turning into ash at my feet.

This is what he wants, mate. Please focus. Lucifer is a master manipulator. He’ll knock you off your feet to grab onto them to drag you away.

I knew Bones told the truth, but I couldn’t stop the emotional overload.

Turn it to hate, Dreamgirl. Let the emotion fuel your power not hinder it. This battle is happening whether you can or not. Trigger’s warning slipped through the chaos inside of me.

I pulled on my demon magic to help with my emotions. She would numb the hurt, so I would only feel the fury raging inside of my blood, boiling it.

That son of a bitch is dead. I’ll kill them all if I have to. The venom in my voice could make a lesser being drown in their own blood.

Good.

I linked with my faction. Everyone except Demarcus would feel my call. They knew not to say anything after I opened the link, or it would hurt me.

By now, most of you see that Demarcus has betrayed us, so it’s safe to say, our plans are not a surprise anymore. The question to all of you is, are you still willing to fight? Lucifer will know who is in my faction, so regardless of if you don’t, he’ll come for you eventually. You stand with me, or you stand alone. I wouldn’t blame you for running, if that’s what you choose, but I hope you’ll stay and fight for your freedom.

I paused to let everyone think. I couldn’t sense them through a bond like this. It’d be too much.

These cowards better not ? —

Bones. Don’t. This fight isn’t going to be easy. If any of them aren’t fully in the fight, we’re better off without them. The others were pissed. Their anger flared in the bond, lighting it up like a Christmas tree. They were the only ones I could feel, and they were already giving me a headache.

No one will get to the Haven. I’m staying to fight, Ark said, making me smile to hear him. They would know where the Haven was located now, so I was glad his group chose to stay.

A few minutes passed before another answered. The West group are with you, Ivy.

The desire to rub my temples was strong, but I held back and just glared at the council. I had too many people connected to me at once. Lucifer still gloated, and gleefully told the crowd how his own kids and future Queen were going against him. I blocked him out. My mates could keep an eye on things.

The next leader felt like scrunched up plastic bags rubbing against my brain. East side will fight for our freedom because running isn’t going to get us anywhere. Lucifer is too powerful. If we want any type of life, we need him gone.

Same for the North.

South lost a few demons, but we’re still good to stand tall with you, Ivy.

A wave of relief hit me. We couldn’t fight an army by ourselves, and, without Kain, we were sorely outnumbered. His shadows would have helped a great deal.

Even though the plan is ruined, let’s not lose hope. We’ll go in with all we have. East you’re closest to the stage. You need to come from behind. Focus on the council. North will back you up from the front, but they will be handling the guards. He has several more guards than planned, so South and West, I need you two to work together from the outside in. Me and my mates will focus on Lucifer. If you need us, we’ll slowly branch off to assist you. With any luck the rest of the school will join in our fight.

The others all processed what I said. I could hear faint mumbles from them in their hiding spots. Only North would be seen. The others hid in the trees. It was only a coincidence that people’s placements had changed this morning, and since no one could get a hold of Demarcus, he didn’t know.

Just as I thought about the placements of my faction, guards moved to those spots. They even dug a hole that was hidden by the plants while I was out. Way better than hiding behind the trees like kids playing hide and seek. Trigger was a better leader than he gave himself credit for.

Ivy, Dex’s whispered voice had my hackles rising.

My eyes focused back on the bitching Lucifer. His nostrils flared in irritation, but he had a smug expression giving him crazy eyes. He did another psychotic twirl before speaking, his gold suit flowing over him like silk.

Then, I noticed the body at his feet. I gasped. The Headmaster bled with a missing heart as Lucifer danced around him. No! My own heart felt like it left me. Fuck. I’m so sorry, old man. I should have been paying attention.

Don’t blame yourself. He knew this could be a possibility. He was happy to give up his prison sentence for the cause. Don’t let him die in vain, that’s all we can do. Trigger soothed over the rough edges of my guilt, but it still festered like a fungus in my gut. He’d deserved his freedom too.

“Kill all the traitors,” his voice boomed over the grounds. My heart skipped a few beats. My old instincts to run and hide flared, but I pushed those bitches down in the dirt where they belonged. Shit, we needed to do something. What? Ugh, where was Kain when I needed his overbearing ass.

Every one of my visible faction members began to glow like a streetlamp. “Oooh, it looks like it’s a game of hide and seek.”

I took a deep breath and channeled my inner Kain.

We need to attack now. Take him by surprise. Use the spells first. Give him a force to scare some of the Nati Demons before they go into blood lust. He’s expecting us to run and hide. My voice was a like the crack of a whip. The demand had the effect that was needed.

The old plan had been to sneak around to kill Lucifer’s forces and slowly take them out. The new approach would work because it was still a surprise.

People came from all directions. I waited for each team to attack, and like I thought, no one was ready for us to still fight. I couldn’t help but chuckle at all the surprised faces. Especially when Lucifer smugly pressed a button on a device and nothing happened. Thank you Trigger for unlinking our communicators to the school. Lucifer couldn’t electrocute us into submission now.

While he shouted at people to figure out what was wrong, my eyes took in the people who weren’t fighting. The students not in my faction had a panic expression on their scared faces as they turned and ran away. Some fought, but mostly to just protect themselves.

They needed to be directed. Lucifer had said all the right things today to get them on my side. No one wanted to be ruled by a dictator who didn’t even let them have their own faction.

Before everyone could run and hide, Trigger used his powers to amplify my voice. “No more hiding! We fight for our freedom! It’s time you fight for yours, before it’s too late.” The magic released my vocal cords.

“Short and sweet. I like it,” Trigger said. He kissed my cheek.

“And apparently so did they.” I turned around when Dex grabbed my shoulders, facing me toward the horde of Dimidium Demons swiftly moving our way. Tons of students were running back to the fight, not everyone, but more than half.

“Yaah!” With a battle cry, we charged into the fray.

Magic flying through the air and over people’s bodies. One of our newest members had the ability to turn into a metal shield. My demon was jealous, especially when a fireball grazed my shoulder. I cried out but didn’t stop.

My mates and I stalked toward Lucifer. He had jumped off the stage to meet us. His council members were engaged in a surprised attack from behind, but he didn’t even spare them a glance.

They had become complacent, never being attacked directly by people they believed were lesser than them. Two hit the ground before the yellow upside-down impostor did, even though, he should have been the weaker of all of them.

My demon got my attention by what felt like poking my intestines as I continued to throw magic at Lucifer while my mates did the same, using the shitload of potions we had on us. The shock on Lucifer’s face had me moving faster, all while I listened to my demon’s persistent message. I wished she could actually talk. Normally deciphering what she wanted was easy, but I was too distracted by the battle. Lucifer wasn’t just taking the attack with a smile, he threw magic right back at us, throwing potions that he seemed to pull out of his ass. I had to use water and wind to constantly shield my mates.

Trigger was focused on the attacking force. His spells had gotten really good. I was thoroughly impressed. He created a black acid fog around Lucifer’s body. The screams were beautiful, but we weren’t up against a mere demon. One of his fucking amulets magically melted into his flesh and sucked out the magic before the spell could do real damage. We needed to get close enough to get those amulets.

My demon’s message finally clicked. She wanted me to do a massive explosion of magic to distract our enemies and get the surprise back. I relayed the message to my mates, and they took care of telling the rest of the faction so I could focus. We did all of this while engaged in the fight.

Sweat dripped off my brow from the heat. The trees assisted us, sending wind swirling around and using their branches as weapons. They even grew tiny when dodging fireballs. Most of the people around us were Nati Demons, so we were doing well.

The last of the council fell except for Lucifer and Anton. Anton ran off when the others were defeated. Maybe because he thought he’d be a target, or he just wanted to leave. Either way, it was annoying. We could have used his help.

The only people left on the stage were my people and the traitors who spied on us, but most of them had run. A spike of worry for Lilah distracted me. I shoved the feeling down, growling at myself for caring.

Other demons came for me. I had to get closer to the stage, so I dodged their attacks. I didn’t want to put too much effort into a fight that wasn’t with Lucifer. The moment I got close to him, Lucifer’s fist went for my face.

I dodged but was hit with a power ball. The fucker could use energy and throw it around. I fell to the ground with blood trickling down my lip. My demon healed me, so I stood in seconds, not going back to him yet. My magic needed to be in order.

My faction’s battle lust and the pride coursing through them meant we were winning. We could do this. Just as that thought hit, my magic buildup was ready. Trigger flashed a bright light to blind Lucifer for a second as his warning signal to our people.

I let the building energy out in a massive wave. It destroyed the maze Lucifer had created and gave us more room to fight. My faction had dug their blades into the dirt, so they weren’t flung around like rag dolls. When I saw Lucifer flying through the air, I swear I pissed myself with excitement. We took the advantage, charging the nearest demons, killing them easily in their distracted state.

My mates and I fought with all our hatred and desire to end this once and for all, but Lucifer was a damn force. He moved and shot spells at us left and right. But if we could kill his army, all my faction would help us kill him. He was good, but a one-man army he was not.

A roar from one of my people gave me a boost of adrenaline. It was the signal for all clear. Lucifer’s last man had fallen!

I opened the bond with my faction and yelled, We fucking did it! Now, let’s focus all our wrath on Lucifer.

Cheers went up around us. The excitement filled me, but I couldn’t get distracted. The others were too happy to care. Some danced, others made out, and others screamed. There were smart people that got close to Lucifer, not willing to let him get away, but the cheerfulness filled the air. I’d celebrate fully when the Devil was gone to, but the first step got a big check mark next to it.

I was foaming at the mouth with my desire to kill the bastard. Lucifer’s forehead wrinkled as his eyes darted around. The first sign of fear on his pretty face. I smiled wickedly at him.

He took a step back, but as soon as victory seemed certain, Lucifer’s fear turned to humor. I paused and so did my mates. All the good feelings seeped out of me as if I’d sprung a leak.

“This was a cute effort. I don’t know how you disabled the shocking mechanisms in everyone’s communicators. Or how you got my brothers to betray me and go into hiding. He meant the Sins that were still alive. “However, since you played dirty, so will I.” He glanced toward the left, beyond the academy.

I could barely see but saw a shock of pink hair next to a male figure in the far distance. A small wave of relief that Lilah still lived smacked me in the face, making the hurt of her betrayal hit me again too. If she didn’t have pink hair, I wouldn’t have seen them. They were at the wall that surrounded the Academy.

I glanced away noticing how happy Lucifer was. I wanted to just keep fighting him, but the ace up his sleeve could be a killing curse or something. Trigger had spelled all of our clothes to deflect killing curses, but magic wasn’t infallible. Thankfully, curses were extremely difficult to make and doing so was a long process, so there hadn’t been many flying around. Lucifer had been too paranoid of who he could trust to have people make spells for him.

Lucifer giggled. Fucking giggled like a child. My throat went dry when I saw why. Slowly, the academy wall went incorporeal like it did to let new demons in, and there were a fuck ton waiting to come through. I stepped back and grabbed the closest of my mate’s hand.

Trigger squeezed my fingers.

With salivating grins, monstrous forms, and tar dripping from their fingers, they slowly stepped onto academy land. Their hungry eyes narrowed in on my people and picked up speed once the wall didn’t stop them. The ground shook as the army of both Potens and Nati Demons charged toward us. There were no more celebration noises.

Fear turned my limbs to ice. I couldn’t move even as I wanted to run away. Yet, gradually, I chipped at my restraints as my mates sent me their love through the bonds.

If we ran, we’d die anyway. There was no option but to fight. I lifted my middle finger to the two assholes who opened the door. The people I thought were my friends. My other finger faced Lucifer. His smile fell. Good let him know that he couldn’t shake me. I opened the bonds wide in my mind, even to Demarcus, so he could hear my fury.

“No mercy!” I yelled. The battlelust rising in me. I wanted their heads.

“For our freedom!”

“To the death!”

“Let’s kill these fuckers like we did the others .”

The words from my mates lifted the spirits of our fighters back up. This was going to be an unfair fight. The army kept pouring through the opened gates like a scene from my worst nightmare. All I knew was my faction wouldn’t last long now with the numbers and power like Lucifer had now. I had too many lowers. Yet, I knew what I had to do… Even if it meant I wouldn’t make it.

Break off and fight with the faction groups. At least one of you with each group. I ordered my mates. I’ll take on Lucifer. There was only a little time for us to move before the army overwhelmed us.

Not a fucking chance. They all said at the same time, making my brain ring as if they had screamed in my ears.

I growled at them before responding. We’re going to lose this fight if you don’t. Move now before it’s too late. They knew I was right, and we had come too far to lose now. Our people needed them.

Fuck! Bones stormed off without saying goodbye. His anger in our connection burned bright. Everyone moved after that. Dex’s eyes never left me.

Don’t you dare die, Dreamgirl. Trigger had already left to help the others, but hearing his voice made me smile. I didn’t plan on dying, but Lucifer couldn’t leave here alive, and I’d do anything to see him bleeding at my feet.

As I stood there alone, tears threatened to make an appearance, but I refused to let my emotions show. I turned to Lucifer, focusing on him. The rage boiled inside me the longer I stared.

Your reign is ending tonight, asshole.