The Devil's Heir

Chapter Three: Duel of Desperation

Elias lay among the rubble, chest heaving, every breath sending fresh spikes of pain through his burned side. Blood matted his hair and dripped into his eyes. He wanted to crawl away, to disappear into the smoke and never look back, but his body refused to obey. All he could do was watch.

A new figure burst through the haze of battle like a storm.

Commander Romeo Vale moved with lethal precision. He was tall and broad-shouldered, his SDS armor scarred from countless previous engagements. A long black coat whipped behind him as he sprinted forward, dual-wielding a massive anti-demon revolver in one hand and a glowing energy blade in the other. His face was set in grim determination, jaw clenched tight.

Without hesitation, Romeo closed the distance on the towering demon. He leaped onto the hood of a burning car and fired point-blank into Kargoth’s wounded eye.

The shot cracked like thunder. The specialized round—packed with consecrated silver and explosive runes—detonated on impact. The demon roared in fury as black ichor sprayed from the socket.

Kargoth swung a massive claw, but Romeo was already moving. He rolled under the strike, came up firing again. Three more rounds slammed into the demon’s knee, staggering the giant. The commander didn’t waste the opening. He dashed in close and slashed upward with the energy blade, carving a deep, sizzling gash across Kargoth’s thigh.

“You picked the wrong city to invade!” Romeo snarled, voice carrying over the chaos.

Elias watched from the ground, transfixed. The man fought like he had nothing left to lose—like every officer who had already fallen fueled his rage. Around them, surviving SDS members provided what covering fire they could, but most were occupied with the swarms of lesser demons still pouring from the rifts.

Kargoth recovered quickly. The giant backhanded Romeo, sending him skidding across the street. The commander crashed into a lamppost, bending the metal, but he bounced back to his feet almost instantly, spitting blood.

“Come on then!” Romeo taunted, circling. He fired again, targeting joints and eyes, forcing the demon to turn and expose vulnerabilities.

The exchange was brutal and mesmerizing. Kargoth’s massive fists smashed craters into the pavement where Romeo had stood moments before. Romeo countered with acrobatic precision—vaulting over swings, sliding between the demon’s legs, and unloading rounds into its back. Each hit drew more ichor, but the demon’s wounds knit together with unnatural speed.

Elias tried to push himself up again. Pain flared white-hot across his ribs, and he collapsed back down with a groan. He could only observe as the two titans clashed. Romeo was buying time, drawing the demon’s full attention away from the fleeing civilians and the few remaining officers. But even a fighter as skilled as the commander looked small against Kargoth’s overwhelming size and power.

The demon laughed, a sound like grinding boulders. “You humans never learn. Your weapons are toys. Your courage is delusion.”

It unleashed a sweeping wave of hellfire from its claws. Romeo dove behind an overturned armored truck just as the flames washed over it, melting the reinforced plating. He rolled out the other side and emptied the rest of his revolver’s cylinder into the demon’s chest. The impacts staggered Kargoth backward a full step.

Romeo pressed the advantage. He dropped the empty revolver, drew a second one, and charged straight in. Blade and gunfire worked in deadly harmony. He scored another deep cut along the demon’s arm, then leaped high and drove the energy blade toward its throat.

Kargoth caught him mid-air.

The giant’s hand closed around Romeo’s torso like a vice. The commander gasped as the air was crushed from his lungs. He still managed to fire twice more directly into the demon’s face before Kargoth hurled him downward with terrifying force.

Romeo slammed into the street ten feet from Elias. The impact cratered the asphalt. His energy blade clattered away, flickering out. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he struggled to rise, armor cracked and dented.

Kargoth took one heavy step forward, then another. The ground trembled. Lesser demons circled closer, but the giant waved them back with a growl. Its focus had shifted.

Elias’s heart hammered wildly. He tried to crawl backward, but the rubble shifted under him and pain pinned him in place. Smoke stung his eyes. The heat from nearby fires baked the air.

The demon loomed over both men. Its remaining eye burned with cruel satisfaction. With casual contempt, it kicked Romeo aside like an afterthought. The commander rolled limply across the debris, unconscious or worse.

Then Kargoth’s massive clawed hand shot down and seized Elias by the throat.

Elias gasped as he was lifted effortlessly off the ground. The demon’s grip was like heated iron—unyielding, burning. His feet dangled uselessly. Black spots danced across his vision as the pressure cut off his air.

Kargoth brought Elias close to its monstrous face, studying him with grotesque fascination. The stench of sulfur and old blood washed over him.

“There you are,” the demon rumbled, voice low and intimate. “The Devil is already waiting for you.”

Elias clawed weakly at the massive fingers, his vision tunneling. The words sank into him like hooks, stirring that buried shadow until it roared in response. Power flickered at the edges of his awareness—wild, terrifying, and achingly familiar.

Around them, the battle continued in scattered bursts. Surviving officers shouted orders. Gunfire cracked. But for Elias, the world had narrowed to the burning eye of the creature holding him and the impossible truth in its words.

His ordinary life was burning down around him, and something ancient inside him was waking up to meet the flames.