Book 2 - Chapter 37

Book 2 - Chapter 37
Chapter 37 – The Scythe-Wielding Queen



With a bird's-eye view now, Solene could properly examine the volcano's opening and it was oddly shaped. It was conical, yes, but it was sloping on one side to allow two elements to flow freely down the base: lava and water. It created a river system that Solene failed to see in her side of the arena. Subconsciously, she felt thankful she didn't need to traverse in this part of the volcano. She had her familiar now to take her directly to the volcano's mouth, and that's what exactly it did.

Closer, she was able to determine a safe landing area. This solid land was surrounded by the water—a safer one than the lava boiling two football fields away—but judging from the strong smell the liquid emitted, it contained large quantities of sulfur. Something she'd have to be cautious about, but what else was new in Gehenna?

The Oratongi lowered its heads, allowing Solene to disembark. She kept the dagger tucked behind her, covered by her hair, allowing her hands free to prepare for her scythe.

And that said scythe hovered just above one of the detached slab of rocks floating precariously in the lava lake.

"How creative..." she mumbled, addressing this mockery to the demon lord.

She waved a hand and instructed her familiar through telepathy. The Oratongi immediately flew to the lava lake and retrieved the scythe easily with one of its claws.

Solene was pleased with this. She could finally scratch this out of her list of priorities. Of course, there were still a lot of things to do, and finding Hope—wherever she was in Caym's castle—was on the top of her priority. Second was recovering her voice. Third was, obviously, delivering a final end to two of her most hated rivals—Caym and Zaraat.

The latter one needed to be done first. All she needed to do now was find him—wherever the hell he was inside the maze.

"That was fast." However, the voice that came with these words told Solene she didn't need to look further.

'How convenient...' she expressed in her mind as she turned around and faced him. He was out of his hiding place—a pile of volcano rocks some meters away from her—and he was holding the severed heads of the merman and the minotaur-like demon she saw during the party.

He tossed both heads towards her way. She dodged them easily. A wide grin greeted Solene then when her attention returned to him.

"I was hoping you'd get the scythe yourself so I could easily dump you in the lava," he stated while stretching his bloody fingers and cracking the joints there.

Solene scoffed. "What happened to skinning me alive?"

"Oh, so you could speak again now?" Zaraat arched a brow and grinned wider. "I knew Lord Caym would give you this advantage, but let me guess, it is only for a limited time, right?"

"Yes, but by then you'll be a corpse underneath me," she said with confidence just as she raised her hand and the Oratongi, which was hovering about four-story's high above her, released the scythe. The handle fell straight to her palm, and she gripped it tightly before swinging the lower blade down onto the ground.

"Ohooh ho!" Zaraat chortled. "Big words from my once-silent captive! I'll fucking enjoy killing you. I'll enjoy pulling out your tongue!" He pulled out two of his curved swords from the scabbard and pointed it to her.

"I'll enjoy it more," Solene murmured while giving him an angry glare.

Anger.

God knows just how much that emotion filled her heart. All she wanted was to pour it all out to this man, but remembering the lessons she received in the past...her mentor's words...she took in a long breath to cleanse her from this emotion. 

'Think of me as your most hated enemy.'

Solene replayed a certain memory in her head. She could see it clearly now, unlocked by her own subconscious the moment she was cleansed from the negative emotion.

'But I have none, Anklet.'

Anklet. That was her mentor's name. Finally. Progress. 

'Are you sure?' Anklet clarified while she stood opposite her on the other side of the field where they always spar. It was high noon then. The heat of the sun warmed the air that filled their lungs.

'My most hated enemy...' The past Solene muttered to herself, lowering her gaze to the fresh grass that surrounded her. Her mind wandered to the many demons and other entities that had plagued her life from childhood to the present. They caused her so much agony. She hated them, but they paled when compared to the one person she hated the most...

'Yes, I remember, I have one now,' she said as she pictured out the shadowed face of the dark blue-haired man.

Yes...Yes! The current Solene couldn't help but scoff in reality. She remembered it now, too. She used to really hate this dark blue-haired grim reaper whom turned out to be her husband. How silly was it for her to think he actually killed her father back then.

'Good. Then hold on to that anger and look at me, milady,' Anklet replied as the scene continued to play out. Magically, she turned into the said grim reaper, her hair a dark blue and her dress into a black robe. Her face though was covered in shadows, but to Solene, this apparition was more than enough to trigger her anger.

'You!' Her eyes glowed. Sense and reason left her and without delay, she attacked Anklet in her disguised form, throwing a punch that was more clumsy than powerful.

Anklet was able to body-swerve effortlessly. Then she grabbed Solene's hand and twisted her arm to the ground.

Solene cried out in pain and shot her a glare.

'Anger is a useful weapon to use during a fight, milady, if it's balanced with another emotion you have in your heart—compassion. Allow this anger uncheck and you will drown in it and fail your target, just like how you failed to wound me now.'

She released Solene, but did so after kicking her stomach. 'Learn to control your anger!'

Solene doubled over and coughed up blood. She looked up, still saw the dark blue-haired man in Anklet and cried out, 'Tell me how when all I want is to kill this man!'

Anklet returned to her original features. She sighed, kneeled on the ground, and gently touched her mistress' stomach. 'I just told you how, milady. If you balance anger with compassion, you'll get a moment of clarity. With this, you'll be able to know how to defeat your opponent...'

And Solene was successfully able to do just that in the next few spars they had. Returning to reality, she used this very lesson as she readied herself to fight Zaraat.

Compassion balanced her anger now. A compassion to grant this sick half-demon a swift, final death.

The clashing of their blades indicated the start of their fight. Zaraat held both of his swords in front of Solene while she used the upper half of her scythe to block it from chopping her head.

"Come now, conjurer bitch, give me some fun!" he taunted as he jumped up and thrust the sword towards her.

Solene jumped back and positioned her scythe behind her. The Oratongi, still hovering above them, growled loudly. She knew it wanted to help.

'No, stay there, Ori,' she stated through telepathy. 'This one is mine.'

She used her shield spell just as Zaraat's sword was inches away. Once the blade contacted, the energy in the shield burst out and threw him backward, sending him flying to the shoreline of the sulfuric lake.

"From darkness, there is light! Oh, Holy Cage of the Heavens, I invoke thee! Cage this man and judge his sins!" Solene chanted, making symbols in the air with her fingers.

A golden light appeared beneath Zaraat and before he could sprint away, golden bars emerged from the ground and turned into a cage, locking him in place. Electricity surrounded him then and sent him shouting in pain.

"Arghhh!"

"Yes, that's it, Zaraat. Learn to face your sins!" Solene shouted. She always wanted to use this spell the moment this was taught to her during her training.

"Bit—ch, yo—u a—re noth—ing with—out yo—ur sp—ells!" Zaraat managed to mock despite the pain all over his body. His pirate coat was torn into pieces, allowing full exposure of his scarred chest and back. Blood dripped from his mouth and ears, showing how his organs were slowly bursting.

This was an easy win for Solene, she was well aware of that, but then she abruptly terminated the spell.

"I don't need my spells or my voice to defeat you," she hissed as she brought her scythe in front of her. "Let's duel to your death then."