Blackout

“Hello, Asmodeus. I suppose asking kindly to leave that body will not suffice, shall it?” Leone asked, even if he knew it was silly at least doing so would open up his intent not to fight this creature. He knew better, this was no ordinary monster in his presence.

Asmodeus the demon of lust and passion, the embodiment of one of the deadly seven sins. One of the head demons of the seven rings of hell as a result, Leone was far out of his league. Only the high ranking hunters had both the experience and the wisdom to take on a head demon but Leone had no tools or weapons for the job. Even if he still had his sword...

“Well, Noble hunter? Have I caught you by surprise? Aren’t you going to strike me now and strike me down until I am **** to rid of this body?” Leone shook his head much to the possessed elf’s delight who chuckled in return. “Oh? Have I caught fear within this man? What changed your mind so suddenly, hunter? When has your courage left you so quickly?”

He winced upon hearing the demon’s words. He was no coward, far from it he would argue he hadn’t felt fear in the longest of time that it’s become foreign to him. He was insulted, but he knew better than to take up arms against a head demon. No, he needed to buy time. At any point this monster could tear his body limb from limb, toy with his corpse or even just tear out his soul if he so desired. This battle had shifted, not of physical tactics but mental ones.

“Those markings on her flesh, if I’m not wrong they indicate a sit of possession yes? Like marking one’s territory.” The elf shook her head, her hand sliding slowly from her tummy to her breast. “These markings tell the world that this woman now belongs to me, flesh and soul. They are mine and I am free to toy with them as I see fit. They make a fantastic gateway to the outside world however, I think I’ll keep it for now.” He smiled before pinching her nipple, the engravings glowing red.

“That is her body, not yours.”

“It was...”

“Pray tell, how did you find it-her?” Leone asked, “Because no demon can enter a home uninvited. What trickery did you use to best this poor soul?”

“Ehehehehehehe.” She giggled gleefully before spinning around, rubbing and admiring her body. “Me? Trick a woman? I wouldn’t dare fall to such methods hunter. I am a source of lust and passion, my very existence is enough for a fair maiden to spread her legs or a man to enter me. In truth, I did nothing this woman didn’t ask for.”

So the rumors fall true, demons in hell have no gender, no sex. They can choose to be whomever the desire of any shape. A body to them is a shell, unlike us they can choose to alter their appearance however they see fit. They have no soul, they feed off of the sins of others. Entities of pure evil is what they truly are inside, pure demonic essence with no actual body to walk the earth upon. This is why head demons or pure demons are left as a myth, though there are many stories of them, none consist of these creatures being among us. At best they are observers, but never have they ever entered our world.

Until today.

Stepping lightly to his side, the injured hunter pressed forward with his hand reaching in his bag. “You’ve yet to answer my question, demon. How did you take her body from her?”

She snarled, fire circling her presence as she raised her voice. “Take? I was invited! This body was given to ME! She gave herself to ME! You are not here to save her hunter as she has no desire to be saved, she brought this to herself and welcomed ME!”

Leone threw a vial of holy water directly into the elf’s eyes, catching her off guard and blinding her temporarily. She screamed and cupped her face, granting him the opportunity to escape. Acting fast, he stood back up on his feet and ran down the cobblestone halls. Somewhere within this church, there had to be something to combat this thing. He searched the multiple rooms frantically before finding something different, a possible answer. This room was used for storage but now carried a large circular symbol painted onto the floor.

A summoning ritual.

Clearly something had gone wrong here, unless the elf welcomed the devil in her home than she had most likely committed a grave mistake through her magic. What was she trying to summon? He looked around searching frantically for a summoning book before finding it tossed onto the floor. Reaching in, he flipped through the pages before reading how to undo such. The hunter had no true knowledge he could count on regarding summonings, these were beyond his capabilities as he had not reached that rank of hunter to be shown these teachings. But he could adapt, in this time he needed to find another way. A wave of relief passed through him as he found what he was possibly looking for, how to undo a ritual.

“Did you know, hunter, that holy water does not harm us?”

He looked up only to be flung against the wall, hard. Coughing and catching his breath, he saw a bare foot step forward into the circle followed by another as the voice continued.

“Not to say they cannot hurt us, they burn our flesh but it isn’t enough to cause concern to us. Only to piss us off.”

The demon was in the circle, this was his one and only chance.

Reaching around the floor, his hand gripped a shard of glass that littered the floor before raising it and slicing his palm. Blood dripped onto the floor before he flicked it onto the circle, a few drops landing inside and on the demon’s foot. She glared at him upon guessing what his intentions were before he began drawing a casting symbol using his blood, something to stop her in her tracks.

Suddenly the floor beneath her grew hot.

Leaping at the hunter resulted in her crashing into thin air with a noticeable crack on what looked to be nothing. A look of confusion grew on her as the hunter sighed and laid down in relief. The elf slowly grazed her claws against the cracks, feeling a barrier around thin air that held her back before noticing the cracks shrink and disappear. He took advantage of the circle and used it as a substitution for a barrier seal, clever. Her lips raised into a smirk as she punched the air, forming another crack before observing it slowly shrink into nothing. Ten seconds, it took ten seconds for the barrier to repair itself.

“This cannot hold me, Hunter. You would be foolish to believe you’ve won.”

“I know.” He struggled to get back on his feet. “I just asked for some time to think, now I have time.” Noémie laughed in response as he took the book and ran back upstairs where he needed to go. Her demonic snorts echoed loudly as he retrieved his dagger and made his way up and back into the room with the nuns tied up. Opening the door, the nuns who were awake shrieked and struggled against their bonds when he raised his hands to calm them.

“No no no, I won’t cause harm to you-please calm yourselves! I just need a huge favor. Here.” He walked up to each bed, undoing their mouth gags and letting them breath and speak properly. Ten beds, ten nuns. “Alright, now do any of you... ahhh damn it all.” He rubbed the back of his head, still feeling wet from his previous blow. He’ll need resting after tonight. “Look,” he groaned, “Forgive me sisters for being so blunt, but are any of you virgins?” They all glared at him angrily with few of them scoffing. “How rude!” One replied.

“Look, that demon is still downstairs and she won’t be happy once she finds us. I only know of one spell that could be of use but to do so I require a virgin’s blood. For christ’s Same I’m not asking for a bloody sacrifice, I’m asking for a few drops of blood!”

The sisters covered their mouths and gasped as he shook his head. “Again, forgive me sisters. But we haven’t much time here. Now it looked as if the demon... had its way with you. I just need to know if any of you are still.. virgins.” One sister raised her hand, her arms covering her small A cup breasts as a few others used blankets to hide themselves. He nodded and looked around for becoming finding a small bowl and grabbing it. A large scream echoed through the church as the nuns gasped and ran towards the back of the room, holding each other. She broke loose at last.

Turning back to the younger nun, he kindly asked for her to extend her hand as he slit her palm quickly, turning her hand over to allow the blood to spill into the bowl. “Steady, just a bit of flow is required sister. Please forgive me for this.” She nodded. “Please young hunter, do as you please if it means ridding us of that demon.” The others nodded and held each other close once light began to shine from beyond the open doorway. She’s coming.

“There. What’s the sister’s name, the one being possessed?” Few voices shared the same response telling him it is Noémie. “Does she have a bracelet or a necklace or some sort of belonging I can use? Something large for me to draw a few markings on?” They all shook their heads when one sister, an older more mature one that appeared to be in her thirties, reached over and handed him a medallion. One look from every sister around and they all gasped.

“But mother, are you sure?”

“Mother, no.”

“Wait, maybe we can use something else?”

She shook her head and silenced them all. “Here, use this.” Upon holding it, the cool metal of the medallion began to burn his hand red. He flinched and let it go as more gasps occurred. The older sister looked at him with wide eyes and asked, “You’re not pure?” He rolled his eyes, perhaps bedding with a succubus wasn’t his brightest decision. Kneeling down, he drew the markings he needed onto the back of the medallion quickly when the torches at the doorway gave way and the room grew dark.

The girls began to scream and panic as the hunter stood up in front of them, holding back the pain his hand was feeling on holding the holy item. The door slammed shut hard locking them inside as the hunter drew his dagger out, the followers of the faith surrounding him, holding him close in fear and praying for protection. He pulled in the younger sister of whom gave him her blood and whispered something in her ear before dropping the medallion into her hand.

At last, from the shadows she emerged once more.

“Put that toy away, wouldn’t want to hurt yourself hunter, would you?”

He raised his arm urging the women to fall behind him for protection. “Noémie, can you still hear me? Is she still alive inside you?” The elder sister, the ones they called Mother, asked. “You can still fight it, Noémie. You can come back from this.” “Sister, you’re wasting your breath.” Leone replied. “Stand back and please, keep your sisters safe.” He looked back and winked against the younger one who nervously shook her head in response.

Facing the demon, Leone smiled and raised his dagger. “Well, have at thee!” He shouted. She chuckled and walked calmly towards him, taking her time. “You aren’t so pure, so you are undeserving of the word noble. You gave way to lust and allowed a succubus to have her way with you. I can see into your sexual history, Hunter. It is far from pure.” She smiled and looked at the crowd behind him. “Did you know he’s bedded lamia’s, harpy’s, and has a monthly thing with a dryad? That’s not even mentioning him having pleased a succubus yesterday hehe. You’re not a true hunter, you’re a pervert. A man driven by lust, fucking the monsters he should be killing and still getting some coin out of it. Our monster hunter.”

He shut his eyes upon hearing those words, they stung at him from the inside and she knew it. But still she kept on.

“Where is your sword, monster fucker? I’m willing to bet the order stripped you of your weapon and you’ve only stolen this armory back in return. Am I correct? Oh, and you wouldn’t believe what he has with that dryad-”

His eyes flared upon hearing her final word and he quickly reached out and pulled Noémie by the arm, forcing her to stumble forward as he hooked his arm around her neck and pulled her other arm against her back. “NOW!”

The demon stood still in shock as the younger sister ran up and locked the medallion around her neck before pressing it against her chest, between her breasts and speaking a Latin incantation. The metal began to turn red hot against the demon’s body, burning the hunter’s arms as he shut his eyes and shouted in pain. Noémie screamed and thrusted her head left and right, struggling to push Leone off before her eyes and mouth shot off a burning red glow.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Her scream changed from deep to light, her voice being restored back to normal as her horns disappeared into ash and she slumped down against the hunter’s arms. Quickly the other sisters came to his aid, helping Noémie onto a bed to rest. Everyone stood silently watching the marks on her body slowly fade away, the red changing back into flesh. “Cover her up.” The Mother said, one sister being quick to do so. “We should all... cover up.” She giggled as the other sisters laughed softly and nodded, being aware just now of their nakedness and blushing.

Leone smiled before collapsing onto the floor, his arms and chest suffering burns and the wound inflicted onto his head drawing too much blood for him to bare. All he could hear were voices and bare feet rushing towards him as his vision grew darker... and darker...

Until... nothing.