Chapter 30: Hero

But then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something just behind Legion’s legs: the portal.

Alex’s eyes widened. “Damn,” he muttered, cutting the mana flow immediately. “I almost destroyed my only way out of here.”

He activated the Fast Walker Boots again and darted to the side, barely making it out of the way before the massive fist struck, sending another shockwave through the shattered forest.

From the fist embedded in the ground, dozens of new tentacles burst outward, weaving through the forest in a frenzy, trying to grab, stab, and slice Alex. He darted between the trees, slicing through the ones that got too close while dodging the rest.

“Well, it looks like Onimaru is just wasting magic at this point,” Alex muttered, deflecting another tentacle. “As long as I stay among the trees, these things can’t do much.”

He quickly stowed Onimaru and drew Muramasa, the blade he was most familiar with since the start of this journey. The sword pulsed with dark energy as he charged it, the black aura flaring around the blade.

Alex swung, sending arcs of slicing energy toward Legion’s arm. Each strike cut deep, dark ichor splattering as the massive limb trembled from the assault. But even with Muramasa’s edge, it was not enough to sever the arm completely. Legion stood back up, towering above the treetops, the wounds closing almost instantly. The severed flesh knitted itself together, the arm fully restored within seconds.

He steadied his breathing. I can do this with Muramasa as long as I cut him down before he has time to regenerate. I can at least make him weaker until his body reattaches. A plan began to form. If I can set this up, I might be able to finish Legion once and for all.

“Well, if you’re so tough and strong, let’s see how you handle this, Legion,” Alex said. He charged Bunyan’s Axe to its absolute maximum. Pulling his arm back, he hurled it at Legion’s chest with all his strength as the axe spun through the air with tremendous force.

Legion sensed the danger immediately. Its body twisted as an opening formed in the center of its chest, and the axe flew straight through, passing out the back without making contact.

Behind Legion, a massive burst of air shot upward with a thunderous boom. When Legion turned to look, there was nothing there, no axe and no trail, only the sealed portal standing silently behind him.

Legion laughed darkly. “Well, Nephilim, it looks like you lost your axe. Your strongest weapon is gone.”

It mocked and sneered while looking down at Alex. But Alex said nothing. He simply readied Muramasa, flooding it with mana as his gaze drifted slightly upward, tracking something that had disappeared into the sky moments earlier.

Legion roared and charged, pulling its fist back before hurling it toward Alex. The ground cracked under the force. Alex jumped back just in time to evade the blow as it crashed into the ground where he had stood only moments before, then dashed forward, leaping onto Legion’s arm.

Channeling a surge of mana into Muramasa, he swung downward with all his strength. The blade cut clean through, severing Legion’s arm at the bicep. The dismembered limb stayed embedded where it had fallen, its hand anchoring it into the ground at an angle.

Legion recoiled, black blood pouring from the wound. It stumbled backward as Alex landed atop the severed arm, gripping Muramasa tightly, ready for the next move.

Alex touched the severed limb and activated his next spell. “Icy Hand of Death.” Ice poured over the massive arm, spreading quickly until it was frozen solid. He knew that when it shattered, it would break into a million icy fragments, making it impossible for Legion to reattach it instantly.

Legion roared in fury, extending its other hand as dozens of new tentacles erupted toward Alex. He jumped off the frozen limb and darted back through the forest as the writhing mass of tentacles chased him. Slashing down each one that got too close, he weaved between the trees with precision, buying himself time.

He looped in a half circle, racing back toward the frozen arm. As he ran, a new spell began to form in his mind. Come on, please work. If this doesn’t, I might be screwed.

He focused, channeling his mana into a new spell as he sprinted toward the icy limb. “Shoe Spikes!” he shouted. From the soles of his boots, sharp earthen spikes jutted out, gripping the surface of the frozen arm.

Using them for traction, Alex sprinted up the frozen limb toward Legion, each step crunching against the ice as he prepared for his next attack.

As he was running up the arm, Legion shot out another wave of tentacles. Alex did not try to avoid all of them. He cut down only the ones that would stop his movement and let the others slash and graze his body while he poured as much mana as he could into Muramasa. At the end of the limb, he leapt toward Legion’s chest. The moment before he swung, Legion did what it had done with Bunyan’s Axe and opened a gaping hole in its chest to avoid the attack.

“Stupid Nephilim,” Legion sneered. “Haven’t you learned anything?”

That was its mistake. The instant Alex passed into the cavity, he thrust his free hand down and called out the name of his other spell, giving it the last of his mana.

“Updraft!”

From the center of the cavity, a massive current of wind exploded upward, launching Alex straight from within Legion’s body. As he ascended, he thrust Muramasa upward, activating a dark thrust of magical energy that pierced clean through the chest, neck, and head. The blade tore through Legion’s true form, leaving a gaping wound straight through its chest.

Alex erupted out of the top of Legion’s head, bursting through and ascending high into the open sky.

The blow through Legion’s true body disoriented it. It staggered for a few moments, then became enraged. “Damn you, Nephilim. I will torture you before I assimilate you!”

As Alex climbed, he quickly stowed Muramasa. Falling from the sky straight above was Bunyan’s Axe, still spinning downward, completely full of the mana he had poured into it. When Alex rose high enough and the axe dropped low enough, he grabbed the handle and began his descent straight toward Legion.

Legion raged blindly and could not see Alex above. By the time Alex came into view, it was too late. Unlike the rest of its form, Legion’s true body could not separate to evade.

Alex swung Bunyan’s Axe straight toward Legion’s head. As the colossal being looked up, the last thing it saw was the blade coming for it and Alex’s smiling grin as the edge split its head in two.

“Gotcha.” The axe then split Legion from head to groin. The millions of bodies inside began to wail in pain, as if trying to flee in all directions. Arms, heads, and torsos jutted out from within, only to collapse into a puddle of flesh, bone, and black blood.

Each fragment of Legion, all of the demons within, began to explode one by one, triggering a violent eruption that blasted Alex backward. He tumbled through the air, crashed into the ground hard, and rolled across the torn earth until his body slammed against the fleshy portal that remained sealed shut.

He sat there bleeding, his left arm broken, smiling faintly as he watched Legion’s body detonate piece by piece. The explosions tore through the corrupted landscape until the entire mass was gone.

Then the crack Bunyan’s Axe had made when it hit the ground triggered a quake that ripped through the battlefield. The earth split apart in front of him, creating a fissure that stretched as far as the eye could see. The ground crumbled and collapsed inward, swallowing everything until even the horizon seemed to fall away before Alex’s eyes, like he had reached the end of the world.

Alex smiled as he slid Bunyan’s Axe back into his bag. The smile vanished. “Oh crap.” He realized the sealed portal was made up of some of Legion’s demons. They exploded, and the shock wave hurled Alex forward. He bounced across the ground and nearly fell into the massive chasm he had created.

“Crap, crap, crap,” he said as he clawed for anything to slow himself down. He caught the root of a tree while half his body hung over the endless abyss. Using all his strength, he slowly pulled himself onto the ledge.

He saw the explosion had caused the portal to distort. “Crap. If I don’t hurry, the portal may disappear because of the explosions.”

Alex used the absolute last of his mana to activate the Fast Walker Boots. They flared for barely a second, but that was enough to take one long step and dive into the portal.

He flew through, bursting out on the other side, startling Celeste. He crashed face first into the ground, the shard of wood still stabbing into his back, his body bloody and broken. Despite it all, Alex looked up at Celeste with blood running down his face, gave her a thumbs up with his bloodied hand, and said, “Legion won’t be bothering anyone anymore.” Then his hand and head slumped to the ground as he passed out. The last thing he heard was Celeste running toward him, shouting, “Alex, hang in there,” as she fell to her knees beside him. Behind them, the portal flickered, its glow fading as it destabilized, then collapsed in on itself and disappeared entirely.

The party’s long and brutal struggle was finally over as they reached the second layer of Hell. New, dangerous encounters and trials still lay ahead in their journey for survival as they continued toward the eighth layer of Hell, their final destination.