Book 2 - Chapter 50

Book 2 - Chapter 50
Chapter 50 – The Queen’s Surprise



A series of lightning crack above the castle spires and the formation of a storm cell in the sky heralded the return of the King of Sattus. Henri materialized on top of the tallest tower with his boot hitting the pointed roof.

With brows twisted, he surveyed his castle below. It was still untouched, good, but half of its surroundings were already in bad shape. There were no villages or souls on it, but the trees and the landscaped garden he created for Solene to welcome her stay in Sattus was all in ruins. There were rubbles everywhere from the pillars he erected in the garden, and most of the bushes and flowering plants were on fire. This angered him so.

"Your Majesty." Kelios appeared behind him and stated.

Henri remained his gaze on the garden, hands clenched, and said, "Kelios, speak."

"We have driven back Caym's army in Nirvana, Krusk, Bettina and Argelu, Your Majesty. We are currently engaging the last of the demons, malevolent spirits and elements in Tartarus."

By 'we,' Kelios meant the army of grim reapers, combat souls, and elementals Henri possessed under his command. They acted as Sattus' defense against situations like this, although there had never been a security breach ever since before the realms were first created.

"Is Caym with them?" Henri asked over his shoulder. His long dark blue hair moved gently with the wind, but there was nothing gentle with the way his expression hardened. He thought of Caym and how he could drive his scythe into his chest and make a barbecue out of him.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Kelios confirmed. "He is there supervising his army."

Henri's mouth tipped upward into a half smile. "I see," he muttered. "Then listen to my instructions, Kelios."

Jacob, who was silently watching them nearby, heard all of Henri's order. It was a solid plan for him, and a timely one even, considering their sly enemy.

"Your will, Your Majesty," Kelios lowered his head and agreed.

Henri faced Solene's father then and called, "Jacob."

The latter was quick to lower his head. "King Hein," he said, readying himself for whatever order his king would give.

"Cast a barrier spell on the fissure," was Henri's instruction. This made Jacob arch a brow and look at him with questions in his eyes.

"It is a temporary solution, I know,"—Henri raced to add—"but this is the best way forward while I find an answer."

'He has a point,' Jacob commented in his thoughts. With his conjurer power, he could do this easily, make a barrier and maintain it for months, even years, but he knew it would never be a permanent solution.

"I will do it, Your Majesty," he answered anyway, accepting this job.

"Good," Henri muttered. He nodded at both of them, silently confirming their responsibilities, and after that, they all disappeared from the tower.

Reappearing in Tartarus, the Land of Punishment and the closest section to Gehenna, Henri spotted Caym immediately, sitting inside an open-curtained palanquin on top of a hill. He wore his signature cape and that goddamn mask of his. Henri however knew the demon's attention was on him. Well, who wouldn't be when his great scythe's blade glinted with the internal fire of the land?

"Brothers!" Caym shouted as he threw his hands up in the hair. "There is the King of Sattus!"—he pointed to him and grinned—"there is your escape out of this place! Kill him and your souls will be forever free!"

'Surely no one would fall for that obvious trick, right?' Henri thought. But to Caym's army, it seemed it wasn't the case. They were eager to kill him, judging from the madness in their eyes.

Shouting a silly battle cry, they all pushed forward, barreling through the grim reapers and elementals standing on their way.

Those who were able to pass through met Henri's wrath. Using his great scythe, he created a mile-long invisible blade. All demons that passed through it met an instant death; their torso, chest or necks were cut clean from their bodies. If the sands of Tartarus were already sprinkled with demon blood, this time, it was bathed in it.

More idiots targeted Henri, and they received the same fate. Bored with this same situation, he teleported to the area where Caym was; appearing behind him and pointing the tip of the blade at his nape.

"You are one bold demon, Caym," he stated, his voice full of malice. Back in Gehenna, he had controlled himself from fighting him. Now, he could do so, break his bones, smash his organs, and dice him over and over again until there was nothing left of him.

"I have no time to dally around," he continued, pressing the blade against Caym's skin. "Let's end this stupid war now. Face me!"

"Uh uh, not so fast, King Hein," Caym stated with confidence, his face staying still. He waved his hand up and Mistress Nakti appeared meters away from the palanquin with Solene under her control.

"Henri!" she shouted with her eyes full of worry.

Henri's gray-greens widened. "Solene?" he muttered.

He examined her face, her build and the fire in her eyes and he confirmed it was truly her. However, her hands were tied up together behind her and there was a demon dagger pointed towards her right flank. This was possibly the same dagger used on her when she got killed.

"Do you honestly think we won't intercept her when she returns to Sattus?" Caym rose to his full height and faced Henri, flashing him an arrogant grin.

Henri, however, ignored him.

"You aren't supposed to be here!" he bellowed. She was supposed to be safe with her family back at the Rantzen Estate! Did she notice his absence that was why she followed him? Did she feel that Sattus was in danger?

"I want to help!" Solene shouted.

Caym chuckled and moved out of the palanquin. "Yes, yes, you are helping, Solene, but not him. Me!"

Just as Caym shouted it, energy blades of different shapes and sizes materialized around Henri and quickly stabbed him in all parts of his body. His pupils constricted, taken aback by the cowardly attack. He groaned in pain, staggered forward, and finally half-kneeled on the ground.

"No!" Solene screamed in horror. She wanted to run to him, comfort him, and heal him, but Mistress Nakti's energy chain on her tightened even more.

The stab wounds on Henri's flesh and organs were a bitch, but this didn't hinder him from moving his arms and soon, his scythe. However, before he could swing it, Caym raised his hand. Mistress Nakti automatically pressed the blade into Solene's skin. It drew out blood as a result.

"Ah ah ah,"—Caym clucked his tongue—"move and she'll get it."

Henri paused and hissed. He couldn't understand the situation he was in. His wife was skilled enough to take down the old woman. She could even incapacitate Caym with her spell and give him a few seconds of leverage to counterattack, but she didn't. It was as if something was holding her down.

"No, Henri, fight him! Don't worry about me! Just fight!" Solene cried out.

"Silence!" Caym threw her a glare past his mask. She instantly bit back her words and took deep breaths instead. Caym, seeing this, threw his head back and laughed.

"See now, King of Sattus?" he cackled. "I hold the trump card. I rule over both of you!" He grabbed Henri by the neck, took his great scythe from his hand and pointed the sharp end at his chest. "I know just how to kill you."

Henri snarled at him. It was common knowledge already that he was ageless, immortal, but every soul on Sattus and the other realms knew too that his great scythe could fatally wound and eventually kill him. But, despite that, nobody dared to steal the great scythe from him. Also, nobody contested his rule on Sattus until now.

"Now, stay still while I carve a hole in your heart!" Caym shouted, thrusting the blade forward into Henri's flesh.

"Nooo! Hen—ri!" Solene yelled again; her face a picture of agony. She was still hostaged, still under the enemy's control. Henri could stop Caym from further wounding him. He could do so easily, but one wrong move from him and his dear wife would meet the same death once more. He couldn't allow that. He just couldn't.

"Arghh..." he suppressed a groan as the blade inched deeper into his chest. He clenched his jaw and gave the demon a hateful look.

"HENRI!" He heard Solene scream on top of her lungs, but oddly enough, the voice came from the sky. It was echoic and full of rage and power. Potent power.

Despite his blurring eyesight, he looked up past the palanquin's gauzy roof and saw a second Solene hovering just above them, wearing a black semi-flowing battle outfit and holding a flaming double-bladed scythe. His brows furrowed harder as he tried to understand this development.

Why were there two Solenes in Sattus? If the second one was his real wife, then who was the first one who posed as her?

"YOU LET GO OF HIM!" He heard the second Solene say, and just like that, the palanquin was torn beam by beam and curtain by curtain, and Caym was hurled away from him. The great scythe fell on the ground. Henri picked it up in haste and tried to heal his wound, but it was far too deep for him to heal it on his own.

Grimacing, he watched as Solene and Caym fought in the distance. He wanted to help her, and he will after he gets to the bottom of this deception.

He raised his scythe and a glowing chain appeared around the unguarded Mistress Nakti, quickly tying her down and incapacitating her. The demon dagger dropped onto the sand. The first Solene was finally free, but who was she?

"Who are you?" Henri managed to ask despite his shallow breaths.

Suddenly, her face morphed into a different face; a face that Henri knew well.

"I am Clarita!" she huffed. "I helped you while you were in Gehenna, remember?" She pointed to Mistress Nakti bound and lying on the ground. "With her spies, she knew I supported you! Caym used his power on me to look like your wife and manipulate me into acting like her!"

Huh. No wonder she was useless earlier. No wonder she didn't have that much conviction he expected his wife would have.

Henri watched Solene and Caym fight again, this time in the sky with lightning bolts around them. It was painful to watch her do his job, but at the same time, pride filled his chest. He was sure she would win. He was sure she would overpower this demon general who had brought nothing but plague to him.

There was an explosion of light afterwards, enough that it covered all the sections of Sattus and even the inside of Gehenna. When this disappeared, Henri saw the real Solene float back to him with her double-bladed scythe, looking as badass as he remembered her to be.

"Henri!" she shouted and raced to support him and his wounded chest.

Henri gripped his great scythe and slowly shook his head. "No, I am not Henri, Your Highness," he said, showing her a crooked smile. "I am Kelios."

"What?" Solene blinked back in disbelief.

Kelios transformed back into his real appearance and stared into Solene's confused eyes. "Your Highness, King Hein told me to play as him in this war. This scythe is only a replica of his true scythe. He knew about Caym's power to manipulate the mind, manipulate people, and transform matter according to his will. He wanted to use this against him, so here I am."

The ochre sand beneath them received Solene's glare as she digested the information. "If you are Kelios, then...then where is my husband?"

Kelios grimaced briefly before he answered, "He is probably fighting with the real Caym right now, Your Highness."

Solene quickly lifted her lids up and met his gaze again. "What?! You mean the one I killed just now is not that damn demon?"

"He is Zoyahi, the Demon of Many Faces, my Queen," he answered. "He rules over the South Region of Gehenna and combined forces with Caym after the break in the barrier."

By the mention of it, Solene rose to her feet with her scythe in hand and looked up to see a tiny spark on the horizon. It could just be a star for some, but to Solene, she knew this was an anomaly. This was the broken barrier in Gehenna that needed fixing.

"I will do it," she muttered under her breath.

Kelios twisted his brows in confusion. "My queen?"

"I will stitch this barrier up and put an end to this war." She gripped her weapon and jetted off into the sky before Kelios could answer. She knew she was needed in this part of Sattus than in Henri's side. She knew he could handle Caym himself and that, in the end, they would emerge victorious together.