The Ritual.

Three days later. Uklag has used up much of the material to create the circle. All of the Zethyla and blessed Clay is gone, half of the Dragonbone had to be used as well. However he has left a lot of Orichalcum thanks to the Shelters continued search. The result is a gold-greenish mud like mixture that he has then filled the lines of the circles with. Afterwards he painted a pentagram of rat blood over it and placed candles all over the place. Lastly, he puts an Enchantment on his robes and used his last night to fuck the twins and Catherine.

The door of his bedroom opens and reveals the already awaiting crowd. Tienal, Droy, Meltzer, Celine, Zal and Alratha are standing in a half circle around the transmutation circle on the ground. Behind them stands, a crowd of either forcefully broken or pleasure addicted slaves.

Uklag steps out of the bedroom, both of his staffs in hand. Catherine in toe he walks into the circle. “This is it then, it took a bit but we made it.” Uklag muses as Catherine takes her place on the other side of the circle. “Indeed, here we are.” She says.

Droy looks around in confusion, “Where are the mistresses?” he asks. “They are here right now, don’t worry. I have reinforced their power a bit last night so they can do something for me during this ritual.” Uklag responds.

He extends his right hand, the one with the wooden staff. He holds the object vertically and looks at it with some regret. “Demons and their rules.” He mumbles and sighs. A few more moments go by. “Let us begin.” He says in a decisive voice and with a single gesture, the candles ignite.

“Jalkal!” He shouts into the void, his voice reinforced with magic and Catherine begins chanting. As it states in the pages of the ‘Book of Names’ they have to wait three hours but slowly the room fills with the presence of one more being. A being of great might, its presence hellish.

Uklag raises his hand and Catherine can finally stop her chanting. “First I give you my sacrifice, Demonlord of Asha. Souls of Humans.” Six of the mindbroken slaves walk into the circle. Their souls are ripped from them the second the set foot on the rat’s blood.

“I see you take my sacrifice. Second, I give to you an object of worth to me.” He raises the wooden staff to the ceiling. A moment later, it ignites and becomes ash. “I see your determination, warlock.” The Demonlords rumbling voice echoes through the cave. “Now show me your dominance. Which of these mortals is willing to sacrifice their souls for you?”

Catherine is the first to answer. “I am Catherine Karstenstein, I give my soul for my teacher.”, her voice is coars and she is barely conscious anymore, the summoning ritual has taken away most of her strength. Celine steps forth next, “I am Celine Turok, I give my soul for my mistresses husband.” Alratha walks into the circle with feather light steps, “Alratha is my name and I give my soul for my owner.” She says with a mad snicker. Lastly, Tienal walks into the circle. For a moment, she seems unwilling but a look at Uklag and his determination later she speaks. “I am Tienal, I give my soul to my breaker.” She says weakly.

“I see your domination, warlock. Their souls shall remain but their loyalty is the will that will pull me into this world.” Power seeps into the world. Power of such magnitude very few mortals could ever hope to achieve it. Might of such greatness that it crosses dimensions. Then he appears.

The energy converges into a single point and takes the outline of a humanoid. Feet materialize first, then legs with grey leathery skin that continues to spread upwards over the rest of the dark energy. After his whole body is covered in skin, flaming green runes appear on the demons hairless body. Horny claws emerge from the creatures hands and feet as its eyes open. In them burns the same green fire of the runes.

The bald being stands there for a moment, looking almost human. Then with an explosion of fire and brimstone his demonic features burst out of his body. Giant bat-like wings spread behind his back. The six black horns of different length around his head look almost like a crown. Finally a long tail a that looks like an extended, skinless and sharpened spine whips the ground.

“I am Jalkal.” A small bristle vibrates in his raspy voice, it sounds as if his throat itself is burning. The demon brushes back some of his long white hair. “I know.” Uklag says. “I am Uklag. In my authority as your summoner and you anchor in this world I unshackle you, may you do your own bidding as I do mine.”

The Demonlord laughs, it is a deep sound that makes the whole room vibrate. “How very amu-“ Jalkal looks down. Every bit of amusement is gone from his face, he has identified the circle under his feed. “You are one of those.” He snarls and stretches out his arm. Out of nowhere a giant two-handed battle-axe materializes in his hand. It is a cruel looking weapon with two blades, one of them giant and formed like a traditional axe, the other one small and pointy. The shaft looks like it is made from burned wood while the blades are a black metal that turns into a deep red at the edges through some demonic means.

“Another one for the slaughter.” Jalkal adds and takes the battle-axe into two hands before charging forward. The slaves spring into action. The mind-broken ones, with no regard of their own life, jump at the demon standing at almost twice their own height. Grabbing unto his neck, his shoulder, arms and legs. Hanging unto them they stab the demon with small iron daggers over and over again.

They barely pierce his skin. However the Demonlord is slowed down by the combined effort and every time his hands rip of one of the slaves another one takes its place. One corpse after another clashes against the stone walks of the underground complex. The strength of the Demonlord shatters bone and body.

Uklag studies the colourless lines of magic of the world. How they bend around and through Jalkal. How those lines connect to the circle and to how the circle connects to him. The he grasps the magic. The circle to his feet begins to glow with arcane might of insane proportions as the magic in the different materials used to make it unfold. Screams. The Demonlord has taken a successful swing with his axe and disembowelled three slaves in one stroke.

They might be many but their number is still limited and quickly dwindling as Jalkal mows them down as if a farmer does to corn. Uklag has to completely concentrate on the spell and is defenceless, best he can do is take small, slow steps, once the Demonlord reaches him it is over.

A mangled body flies directly at the warlock. Only Alratha’s sudden intervention saves him from the impacts. She kicks the flying body to the side. Smiling at her master she says, “Figured I might as well join the party.” And jumps at Jalkal with a scream half of joy and half of madness.

Using her high agility she dances around the Demonlord. Ramming one of the stilletos inside her opponent she makes a triumphant smile but the monstrosity doesn’t even care about the weapon or it’s electrifying enchantment. No, Jalkal simply takes an overhead swing at Alratha with absurd speed. The axe crashes into the ground where Alratha stood just a blink before. Stone splinted as the shockwave sends the assassin flying.

She crashes outside the stone floor and tumbles over a few times before coming to a halt. She isn’t getting up. Although the circle itself was saved due to the absurd power of its materials the mage using it is now wide open.

“Now to you!” Jalkal screams and charges at Uklag again. Zal, Meltzer and Droy who each have picked up a shortsword stop him. “Sorry, but he pays well.” Droy says and together they manage to block the incoming vertical strike. They clench their teeth as the **** behind the enormous axe forces them to their knees. They are engaged in a battle of pure physical strength that the trio can only lose. However, Jalkal doesn’t even have the patience to squash them this way, instead his tail hits them in the side and they too are sent flying.

Jalkal doesn’t even look after them, the warlock is coming ever closer to his ridiculous goal and he can’t allow that. On the other side the demon is also coming ever closer to the warlock. With a grin he closes the distance. A fireball hits the side of his face. Blinded for a moment from the smoke Jalkal shakes his head and identifies his attacker. Catherine, collapsed on the floor from the exhausting ritual, found enough strength for a few more spells.

“A minor annoyance.” Jalkal laughs at the puny fireballs that hit him. The smoke is mildly disturbing but otherwise he is not even harmed by the spells of the frail magistrix. He takes a few more steps and finally he stands in front of the warlock. Uklag is still channelling his spell and doesn’t even realize the doom that is about to befall him.

An earth shacking strike cleaves the warlock in two. “That is that. How often will you mortals try?” Jalkal sighs, “Thank you, Uklag. With the power you gave me I can roam around for another few days. I wonder how many lives I can destroy in that time…” He wants to turn around and kill the rest of the people in the room when a sudden flicker catches his eye. “WHAT?” The two halves of the warlock transform into Analea and Aelana. “Tricking a Demonlord, we have outdone ourselves, Sister.” Analea’s words trigger a weak smile on her sisters face.

“YOU WOULD BETRAY YOUR OWN KIND?!” Jalkal angrily screams at the the twins. “He is really interesting.” Aelana defends herself, “Also you are not seeing the bigger picture.” Analea adds with a wink. “Where us he then?” The Demonlord is looking around frantically. “Right behind you, big guy.” Jalkal runs around at the mocking voice. Uklag stands there, right where has been from the very start. All of his movements were an illusion created by the twins, possible through the constant distraction of fighting or the smokescreen. The warlock has his staff raised. the ritual is almost finished.

Revealing his position however was a huge mistake. The few moments that Jalkal had continued searching for him would have been enough to end this and Uklag thoroughly underestimated how quick a Demonlord can be if pushed to absolute desperation. A gust of winds blows through the tunnels as the Demonlord seemingly vanishes from view only to disappear in front of Uklag again. “DIE!” he screams, his axe already in postion to cleave him into two cleanly separated pieces. For real this time.

Uklag is shocked, the only thing he can do is try to block with his staff. The axe rushes downwards and collides with unbreakable glass of the staff. It cracks and shatters under the immense weight of the attack as it continues its path through Uklag. The **** move has broken Jalkal’s stance and the power carries him a few metres further but as he hears flesh hitting the ground behind him he is certain to have succeeded. “I win.” He exclaims and heave the giant axe on his shoulder before turning around.

“No.” The warlock still stands. Even though his staff was unable to block the strike it managed to bend its course enough so only his left arm was cut off at the shoulder. To everyone’s surprise, he doesn’t even seem fazed by the gaping wound. “How are you not screaming in torment right now?” Jalkal asks angrily. “I feel no pain.” Uklag laughs and nods towards his robe, “Aren’t enchantments the greatest thing? Now I think I need a new arm…”

The circle flares up as blinding light fills the room. “I WIN!” Uklag’s teeth glow in the arcane light as he shuts in triumph. A **** scream, Jalkal raises his axe again and swings at the warlock one final time. The light envelopes everything, floods the cave. Nothing can be seen, everyone still conscious holds their breath.