Chapter 12:

The Crimson Battle

Number#


“The Cambion’s ability is ignited from self-harm, Spade.”

I countered quickly with questions.

“Self-harm? Is that why he cut himself just now?”

Coal answered, “I believe so, but what I don’t know is why he cut himself more than once.”

The Cambion was still standing next to Sugu in front of the giant monument holding the blade that he caught from Coal’s throw. He tossed it towards a crimson tree to the right of him and put his hand on Sugu’s shoulder. He looked at the altar holding the ingredients, and then back at Sugu. The monster now had five distinct cuts on his right forearm, one relatively deep stab where his abdomen was, and a great bloody diagonal slash on his back from Coal’s spear. Blood was coming down from the wounds. He began speaking to the old man seriously but like he wasn’t feeling any pain at all anymore.

“My follower… these ingredients that you used to revive me…”

The old man looked at his God confusingly as The Cambion continued.

“You used… an arm of a man who’s never gained to bring me back. And that book… my book… it’s missing a significant amount of pages, isn’t it? Missing pages means deficient essence. I was wondering why I was only able to gain one ability after cutting myself five times. My ability was undoubtedly more potent in hell.”

The Cambion now looked to his forearm holding the cuts as he continued talking.

“I was supposed to gain five abilities, not just one… and… I’m far weaker than I should be. This resurrection was not complete. It seems… I’m only at about thirty percent .”

Coal butted into the conversation as he yelled out at The Cambion who looked up as he received Coal’s words.

“That stupid old man didn’t follow the steps correctly. My blade is still on the altar, and he spilled far too much blood. I’m surprised the resurrection even worked.”

The Cambion responded to Coal.

“No matter. Even if the resurrection is incomplete, it just means that I will regain my strength slowly through time. Listen, boys. I have no quarrel with you despite the defilement you’ve shown me. Leave now and I might consider sparing your lives on Judgement Day. And trust me. Now that I’m back… the time is near.”

Coal responded to the monster.

“I don’t care what you have to say. Your bad news. Who knows what would happen if we just left now. I think I’ll put you back to sleep.”

The Cambion took his hand off of Sugu’s shoulder and began slowly walking down the pedestal and towards me and Coal who were side-by-side. We initiated our battle stances immediately wary of the insane speed from before. The Cambion spoke as he walked towards us slowly through the crimson flower field. The wind flowed in front of The Cambion carrying crimson petals and flowers in the wind as the air grew warmer from every step the monster took.

“You abuse my generosity and leniency, you foolish children. I was so understanding that I even gave you a chance to live a while before Judgement Day, but it seems… that Judgement Day… is… today.”

The Cambion flapped his wings and lifted himself slightly off the ground as a surge of wind burst through our area. As he rose higher above us, he began to bring his left hand’s index finger to his right forearm holding the many cuts. He rapidly cut himself once more with his index finger’s nail while holding his serious expression. Blood trickled down onto the crimson grass below him, and the monster’s eyes sparkled as if he just reunited with a dear friend.

While The Cambion was floating in the air now looking at his wounds ecstatically, he spoke to himself.

“Yes, finally. It’s about time, and it only took one cut this time!”

All the wounds on his body hastily closed and healed, and without warning, he rushed straight for us from the air preparing his sharp claws. Coal looked at me shouting my name as he reached under his shirt pulling something out.

“Spade, catch!”

He instantaneously threw me a hatchet as soon as I turned toward him. I caught the weapon and began running rightwards as The Cambion rushed the spot where I was just at. He ignored my attempt to get away and decided to target Coal slashing him with his sharp claws. Coal swiftly blocked the laceration and using insane momentum ripped the spear into two pieces right from the middle. This allowed The Cambion to follow through with his attack as he tried to once more claw at Coal. Coal slightly crouched and spun like an acrobat now holding half a spear in each arm. He pivoted his left leg rotationally which wheeled his body like a ballerina as he forcefully stabbed his weapon right into the creature’s back, sending blood splattering onto the ground. The Cambion howled like a bear from the pain, but Coal continued his attack, letting go of the spear that just connected with the monster. Coal took the other piece of the spear that he still held in his other hand and swiftly attempted to impale it into the back of the fiend’s neck. Coal managed to connect his blow, but the spear shattered like glass upon impact as The Cambion’s neck seemed to harden like a rock. Coal looked shocked to see his half-spear break as one of the fragments from the shattered weapon slashed at his face sending slight blood trickling down. He jumped back to create space, abandoning the weapon that was still stabbed into the monster’s back. Coal yelled out as I began making my way back to the battle.

“Damn! He gets something different from every injury! Hardness this time?”

The Cambion, in complete pain and anger, wrinkled his nose and threw his head up screaming. I rushed straight past Coal, spinning my hatchet in one hand and clenching my other into a fist reaching the front of the devil’s back where Coal struck him. I jabbed him in the face with all my might sending wind and crimson grass flying around us. The monster’s screaming halted and turned into a frenzy. I twirled the hatchet and swung it straight toward the back of his head with my other hand aiming for a fatal blow, but in a ridiculously creepy fashion, the monster instantaneously spun his head completely around his body. The head turned like a monster’s from a horror film, and cracking several bones in his neck, he leered directly at me with his head now facing me. The Cambion dodged my slash, turning his head away from me. While his body was being held in this completely dysmorphic state, he grabbed my arm holding the weapon by stretching his arm out backward and flung me like a rag doll right into the crimson bark of a tree with tremendous strength. I yelped as I connected with the tree and let go of my weapon. He looked down at his back where the half-spear was still stabbed and pulled it out with his long arms as he reversibly stretched them behind his back and wings flexibly grabbing the blade. Tossing the blade to the side, he turned his head back to the position where it was supposed to reside. He turned around slowly as I noticed the hardening on his neck fracture. He began to leap towards me attempting to continue the battle but stopped himself as soon as the hardened part of his neck that he just “gained” from Coal’s stab broke like brittle sending tiny dirt-like skin falling down onto the crimson ground. He instantly re-initiated his assault angrily and without mercy.

I managed to get up, but with fierce speed, as The Cambion rushed me, he sliced his right quad and flexed his muscles aggressively. His already insanely buff crimson muscles expanded like balloons as his wings carried him towards me. The trees blew around him alongside the grass as he loomed near me at an insane speed. I couldn’t dodge or react fast enough. He shouted as he slammed his fist into my stomach powerfully. My eyes popped out upon impact and blood erupted out of my open mouth forcefully as the punch’s force sent me flying like a plane right through the tree that was behind me alongside several other trees. I noticed right when I got launched that Coal was closing in on the monster with what appeared to be a machete now.

I couldn’t stop my body from flying. The force and pain were too great. I crashed through tree after tree until I collided into one of the stones that resided in the area where Coal and l fought earlier. I could barely move from that ridiculous attack. I couldn't tell if my ribs were still intact after that, and my back was completely destroyed by the trees that I hit. I looked to my right and noticed the bag that I threw when I was fighting Coal. Using all the adrenaline that was flowing through me, I forced myself up through the ridiculous pain and grabbed at the bag pulling out the ladle that I obtained from my earlier fight with The Chef. I ran back towards the battle scene where I saw Coal fighting The Cambion in a one-on-one-like fashion. He was impressively dodging and countering the creature’s insane strikes with a machete. I noticed that he was avoiding using the sharp part of the machete every time he went for an attack. It was probably because he didn’t want to cut the fiend to grant him another ability. I waited a couple of seconds for an opening in their battle, and right after The Cambion missed a blow on Coal as he skidded through the crimson grass, I hurled myself while screaming, holding the ladle the same way The Chef did when he attacked me in the past.

I screamed at the top of my lungs through my bleeding teeth, “AHHHHHH!”

The Cambion didn’t notice me quick enough as I struck his head downwards and vertically sending blood flying onto my tank-top and white bandages. After striking the fiend, I just remembered that the ladle was like a blade because of The Chef’s sharpening. I just cut The Cambion and gave him another ability. Damn!

The Cambion levitated off the ground like a rocketship and forcefully swung his claws leftwards in front of me at the air where I was located. Instead of directly swiping at me, he swiped at the air aiming for me and missed. Even though he didn’t actually land a scratch on me physically, my entire tank-top and chest were clawed from his slash through the wind sending blood, tattered bandages, and pieces of my tank-top flying everywhere. My eyes were beginning to blank out as I fell backward letting go of the sharpened ladle. Trying to stop myself from losing consciousness, I maintained my ground and caught myself with my foot before I could fall. I painfully dashed rightwards to where Coal was and positioned myself side-by-side to him once more. I held at my newly acquired lacerations as I struggled to speak to Coal.

“We… we have to go for a fatal blow Coal. That’s the only way we can kill him. Even though he gains an ability every time we cut him, he still takes damage like a human. Which means he must still die like one too.”

The Cambion floated downwards back onto the floor and positioned himself in front of us, and I gasped for air as Coal responded quickly.

“Yea, I know. That’s hard to do. I use blades, remember? If I make even a small mistake, this freak will gain a new ability.”

I continued talking to Coal quickly as The Cambion slowly stepped towards us displaying his new bloody injury on his head. The tree branches and grass shifted like the wind was pushing them as The Cambion neared closer. With each step, The Cambion’s nose became more wrinkled as he ground his pitch-black teeth in anger.

“When he hardened his neck earlier, the skin broke like brittle seconds later. That means that… his abilities are definitely…”

I was breathing heavily trying my best to finish the sentence. I dropped my left knee onto the floor losing balance but quickly brought myself back up.

“...temporary. We need to go for physical attacks, so just ditch the blade.”

Coal listened and threw it back into its sheath where it resided earlier. I was so banged up… but Coal was barely scratched. What the hell?

Coal exclaimed, “You’re being too reckless with your attacks Spade. As a bounty hunter, you need to be more conservative. You're going to die if you keep acting like an idiot.”

He was right. I was getting weaker and weaker with every breath that I took, and I was forcefully trying to keep myself awake despite the underlying pain that I was feeling. Coal continued his speaking.

“Your punches are stronger than mine Spade. I know you're banged up right now, but you need to get yourself together because you're the key here to beating this guy.”

Me? The key? How? I looked at Coal oddly like I needed an explanation.

“Yes Spade. Remember what this monster said earlier? You're a rare one. You gained pure physical strength and stamina without killing a single person. Don’t look at me like an idiot… I mean seriously. You don’t actually think people can get up and keep fighting after being flung through twenty trees, do you?”

Physical strength. Okay. Yeah, I’m strong I guess, but that still doesn’t explain how I’m going to take this devil out. Cuts and slashes will only help him gain more, and my punches basically tickle him. Think Spade, think! I thought out loud.

“I know there’s a weakness somewhere! Damaging his body or slowing him down? No no, that won’t work, but wait. What about his revival? There has to be conditions!”

The Cambion spread his wings and readied his long arms and muscles as he grew closer. Coal grabbed my arm and looked at me, widening his eyes like he figured it out. Immediately he turned his head and glared straight at Sugu.

Coal snapped at me explaining speedily, “Spade, if something happens to the part of the caster’s body where he spilled blood for sacrifice, then the person resurrected should return back to his domain!”

I didn’t understand completely, but depending on what Coal does next, I think I know what I have to do. The Cambion closed in on us slowly as his one crimson human eye glimmered at us like a diamond.

“Rejoice my children. Your blood will be the foundation for my new world. My… crimson world. I died for your sins in the past… and now… YOU WILL DIE FOR MINE!”

Coal ripped the machete that he previously sheathed and zipped straight to Sugu like a madman. Sugu, who was still right beside the monument where the ritual took place, yelped like a dog. The Cambion turned his shoulder rapidly, halting his movement and yelling hoping that Coal wouldn’t do his worst.

“WAIT! NO! NO! DON’T!”

The Cambion took his left hand and clawed at his right arm repeatedly, countlessly shedding blood in every direction. He was screamingly helplessly as he put on his desperate face.

“I’M NOT GETTING MY SPEED! WHERE THE HELL IS MY SPEED! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!”

In one last desperate attempt, The Cambion began dashing at Coal fiercely. I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew I couldn’t let him get to Coal if he was acting this desperate. Without thinking and before he could even take two steps, I grabbed him from his back and held him with all my might and strength. I held him back, locking my arms at his armpits and wings holding him down as he struggled desperately to break loose. Holding him down was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. He was unbelievably strong. I felt the same power that I felt after my final gym session swelling inside me wildly as adrenaline took over. I knew right away that I was using what I gained. He kept pulling and struggling as I flexed my muscles with everything I had ignoring the pain from my previous injuries that I acquired. Coal was close to Sugu now, and both The Cambion and I were screaming at the top of our lungs as I tried to hold him and as he tried to break loose. He began wildly slashing at both of my arms and his own body desperately. His back hardened after one of his cuts which hit me like a bus, but I didn’t budge. I squeezed and squeezed his arms and shoulders with all my power and soul even beginning to crack his hardening skin, refusing to let go as we both howled deafeningly.

Coal finally reached Sugu as The Cambion began crying bloody tears and howling like he knew what Coal was about to do.

“PLEASE, NO! DON’T DO IT, PLEASE! I CAN’T GO BACK!”

Coal yelled at the top of his lungs, and Sugu did too as Coal raised his arm up holding the machete. The blade glistened in the air from the glaring sun. Coal slashed down aggressively and powerfully at Sugu’s bloody arm that he supposedly cut for ritual blood. The arm was completely severed and amputated off of Sugu’s body as if Coal just cut through butter. Blood flew everywhere as some noticeably reached Coal’s gritted teeth and angry face as well.

The Cambion was screeching like both a bat and a demon now wildly. Before I even realized it, I was falling backward on the ground. I couldn’t feel anything anymore. I couldn’t control a single bone or muscle in my body as I laid on the crimson grass numbly looking up to see what was going on. As soon as The Cambion was loose, he desperately fluttered his wings trying to reach for the sky, but a skeletal arm from the ground beneath us reached and grabbed his foot before he could launch himself upwards. He gazed at the hand continuing his screaming like he knew exactly what was happening. The old man was on his back screaming and holding his arm while Coal looked at where The Cambion and I were with both serious and collected eyes. He seemed to understand what was happening too.

The Cambion was frantically shouting, even looking at me to save him, “PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE I CAN’T GO BACK TO THE FIRE! I’LL DO ANYTHING PLE-”

Before he could finish his sentence, another three skeletal arms reached from the crimson ground aggressively and grabbed his other leg. The Cambion was truly freaking out now as he fluttered his wings trying to escape what looked like inevitable damnation. He clawed at his body parts spilling blood all over us desperately, but his abilities seemed to not be working anymore as he just left more and more lacerations on his red skin. The skeletal hands tugged at The Cambion downwards as the ground began to crack and break.

The Cambion was being dragged further and further quickly into the ground as about half of his body was now beneath the crimson ground. He flailed his arms and body like he was drowning. Before I knew it, Coal was right next to me as he quickly threw my arm over his shoulder and lifted me up, carrying me rapidly away from the scene. However, before we could get away, The Cambion stretched his long arm out and grabbed my leg pulling me towards him forcefully. I fell and began sliding towards both the fiend and the skeletal hands. While pulling me towards the pit, The Cambion used his other hand's nails, desperately raking at the dirt and grass attempting to escape. It was futile. Coal angrily ripped out his machete that he seemed to have re-sheathed after severing Sugu’s arm. He winded it upwards greatly while screaming like a madman and slammed it downwards

completely severing The Cambion’s arm from his body. The Cambion got dragged in even deeper after Coal cut his arm off as bloody tears ran down his face like rain while he screamed.

Coal carried me immediately like a knight would his princess and placed me at a crimson tree near us. He didn’t hesitate to look back at the scene as soon as he set me down. It seemed like he didn’t want to miss a single moment.

The Cambion turned to Sugu shouting like a lunatic both desperately and angrily.

“HELP ME! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! DON’T JUST SIT THERE AND WATCH! BRING ME THE BOOK! HOW COULD YOU ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN TO ME! DO SOMETHING! SAVE YOUR LORD! SAVE YOUR… SAVE YOUR GOD!”

Sugu gazed at the scene horrified with widened eyes. He was looking at it all like he couldn’t even comprehend the situation. He looked like he was losing himself.

“What? No, no, no. This isn’t possible… God? My Lord? GOD!”

His instincts seemed to kick in as he forcefully snatched the book with the pentagons off the altar and sprinted at his God stumbling through the flowers as blood spilled from his lost arm. He cried great tears as he dashed to save his Lord and began screaming as he closed in on The Cambion’s demise.

“AHHHHHHHH!”

Before the old man could hand his God the book, a skeletal arm popped out from beneath the ground and snatched Sugu’s right leg. He tripped when the arm grabbed him as he fell face-first onto the ground, dropping the book on the ground at least five feet from the Cambion’s hand. The Cambion screeched, witnessing what was his final chance of escape being tarnished right before his eyes.

“NOOOOOOOO!”

Both The Cambion and Sugu were dragged deeper and deeper into the ground as red-light-like particles flooded the area until there was nothing left but dirt, the book, crimson flowers, and blood. Coal and I just gazed at the scene with open eyes and mouths.

The wind was blowing, taking both crimson flowers and leaves off trees. Everything was quiet now, and peaceful… like before.