Valkyrie's Lament

Chapter 4

Merry-Go-Round II

“Kahahahaha.” Kushiel’s voice rang out with joy. “Twenty minutes! Anyone still stuck in the Merry-go-round of death can not leave until the final twenty minutes is over!” She replied elated.

The door, that was barely opening, stopped moving and instead reversed its way shut.

“No. No. No!” Silver banged her hands against the wall. She turned her heads towards Kushiel in fury. How could she forget this damnable angel that made the game even harder near the end, especially the thirty minute mark, which made this game difficulty level climb up into a dangerous realm.

The small chance to take Jasper out of this death trap was gone and instead he was stuck with her. She did not foresee this happening so soon, nor planned to make him stay here to long. What she wanted was for him to leave the area, giving her more chance to hunt down the Imps through the last remaining minutes. Even still, for someone of her stature and size, she did immeasurably well against the Imps.

She was the only one out of the hundreds of people to killed the most Imps and ate the most crystals. Her power and stamina was now equal to a adult male, giving her a slight edge among females and males. Still this was not enough, this game pushed everyone to the extreme, causing many to fall over dead.

“Let’s make this game more fun shall we? I mean, it’s just the beginning. These Imps were just the appetizer. What do you think? The prize would be greater at the end who finishes. Though I must say there are quite a few people still running around. Let’s see.” Kushiel leaned over and started counting everyone who was still alive. “Twenty.” She whistled.

Silver pushed off the wall and started running, so she wouldn’t be squished against the wall.

“Wow, that’s a lot more than the last group. I mean this is the first time ever seeing so many still alive at the end.” Kushiel clapped her hand. “Now, I’ll deliver you the final part of the game!” She whistled out loud.

In the middle of the Merry-Go-Round, the ground trembled and shook. The walls in the middle came down, a goliath looking black creature with curly horns appeared out from the ground. Its wavy black fur covered half of its upper torso, it’s goat legs stamped madly in an doward force that caused the whole area to tremble.

The people who were outside the walls gasped in fear as they saw the monster shown above them on some kind of T.V. Even the people that were inside the Merry-Go-Round knew that death was beckoning them. Fear plastered on their faces at the monster ahead, and many tried to escape.

“Welcome the Baphomet! The lowest level demon in the history of Demonica!”

When the word Demonica was heard, Silver heart fluttered angrily. Her eyes were glazed over with the intent to kill and destroy.  Demonica, the creatures of night that constantly hounded humanity and shaved away their forces. Millions had died in their hands in the future to come, and they were always one step ahead of them in power, speed, physical endurance, and magic.

The little bit of stalemate that they had changed, when the Emperor took the lead, causing billions to die in waves. These creatures were not something that the Angel’s often worked hand in hand with unless through contracts, but were the ultimate antagonist of the many species out there.

“You think the Imps were bad, but this is their fearless leader. The monster that terrorize the world as the Goat Demon. I mean seriously? A goat demon? You humans really give it such a tasteless name.” Kushiel crossed her hands in front of her and shook her head. “Just like you puny humans, the Demoniacs are also living to survive. It’s their win if they wipe all of you guys out.”

When the people heard this, they held back their gasp.

“Oh, when I mean all of you guys, I mean the ones who are also out of the Merry-go-round as well. Do you think you’ll just get a freebie out of this thinking I’m glad that i’m not inside the Merry-Go-Round? Pft. You humans are such selfish creatures thinking that you all have avoided this fight for survival. Life just get harder the longer you survive you know. I mean, why not die in the hands of the Baphomet now and let me obliterate your souls. Opps, did I just say that out loud?” Kushiel chuckled. “Oh well, not my problem if you know what I mean. I’m just a reaper to come cleanse you vermin who have sinned. God had given you all a chance to redeem your feeble lives one last time, though I find this as a sick joke. I rather sweep you all in one go and have an end to this you know.”

Kushiel fluttered around over Baphomet’s head. The Baphomet screamed and pounded onto the ground. Shaking its mane, it huffed out a puff of hot breathe that seem to static like electricity. It looked up at Kushiel with an evil eye and reached upwards to grab onto Kushiel’s leg.

“Tch, you stupid Demons. Know your place.” With a flung of her foot, the Demon was zapped with electricity causing it, the Demonica, to shudder and cringe in pain. “Be glad I did not destroy you. You have a job to do and that is to kill the rest of the humans.”

The Baphomet was on all four with steam’s coming out of its back. He shuddered and slowly got up with weak feet.

“Well now, you stupid humans. It seems fate has favored you. The Baphomet’s power been cut down in half, though I personally believe that is still enough to wipe you all out. Have fun and enjoy the rampage.” Kushiel disappeared, leaving everyone completely speechless

“Is she wrong in the head?” Jasper spoke softly. He was the first one to snap out of the stupor. “How the heck is that an angel?”

The other surviving people were heading towards the outer wall in the hopes to escape the terror that was before them. All of a sudden, the conveyor belt stopped moving in a circular direction, this time it changed direction towards the Baphomet. The walls popped up to stop the momentum of the escaping people, and instead was forcing them to fight the conflict ahead. Even still, majority of the people ran in the opposite direction in the hopes to stay alive for a second longer.

“You wasted your chance to rest. Eat every little crystal that you have now.” Silver put away the sword for a moment and took out the last remaining red crystals. She quickly downed the rest of the crystals in a couple of gulps. Three-fourths of her strength and stamina was gained and she felt like she could survive the last twenty minutes.

Putting him down, Silver pulled out her sword once again. “Run, don’t follow me. Stay alive.”

“Are you going to go kill the Baphomet?” Jasper asked with his mouth agape. “That’s crazy!”

On the other hand, Silver was to focused that he did not hear Jasper last words. Instead, she was bee-lining towards the Baphomet with her sword drawn out. She had only one goal: to destroy the Baphomet.

Silver zipped away from Jasper leaving him behind. Her strides were quick, but she did not waste her energy in running full speed. Instead, she let the conveyor belt pull her towards her to the Baphomet.

On the right, a large group of Imp came rushing towards her. They were a total of six with their gaping jaws and black sharp claws. Every swing she made, she used as little energy as possible. Her stamina was not as vast as the sea, nor plentiful.

She dove to the right allowing the oncoming Imps to waste their strength by swinging haphazardly. They faltered, giving Silver a chance to slip through with her sword. With a quick momentum of the sword, she cut through. Some she was not able to cut the Imps precisely, making her lose a couple of the red crystals.

Honestly, she knew that she couldn’t get every single one perfectly. Right now with the meager amount of strength that she had, she was just barely able to control her fatigue. She ignored scraping through for possible red crystals and pushed forward. Swiveling in-between the oncoming Imps, her arms were getting heavy and her feet were getting numb.

“Roooar!” The Baphomet stomped around the ground causing a small earthquake. Black swirls of magic appeared from behind him and Imps stepped out from the black energy.

“Gahhhh!” A young female yelled out in fear. She was one of the few that survived and was desperately running away from the Baphomet. In seconds, she was scooped up from the ground by the Baphomet’s hand. “Nooooo!”

The horrifying shriek made everyone shudder in fear. With a chomp of the Baphomet’s mouth, he devoured one of her arms. She was being eaten alive by the Baphomet, while the small Imps ran around it causing havoc.

A group of five men ran forward in the hopes of killing the Baphomet. They quickly dealt a blow towards the rampaging Imps and slowly but surely clearing out the mess.

“Jason! To the right!” A man with a bushy beard stabbed at the Imp with his dagger.

“I know!” A skinny looking black toned man kicked the Imp squarely in the chest. He swung forward with his fist bashing the skull of the Imp into the ground.

“One. Two. Three!” Other lean looking teen with glasses was darting around without a fear in his eyes. Instead, he was ecstatic that he was fighting on the hordes of monsters and giving him an endorphin like feel. Each one that he jumped to the back of the Imp, he dislodged his dagger into their brain causing them to fall over dead.

The other two was moving around knocking out or killing their prey as if they were some martial arts expert. Silver could tell that they were no ordinary people, their skills were three times better than any normal human, and they knew perfectly well how to use their hands and feet. She rested, watching them fight.

Out before her, a couple of dead Imps made its way towards her. She used her sword to cut through the Imp’s heart with no problem at all. Bending down, she scooped up the red crystal in hand. She did not let such an easy collection of crystal go by. Instead, she used her time wisely to move towards the dead Imp’s on the floor.

Every crystal counted, especially her who was not the strongest or the quickest. She knew that the Baphomet in front of her were ten times more stronger than her, and every crystal that she ate gave her a small edge that she needed. Her mind worked quickly, and she continued to scavenged for more Imps that were lying on the ground. The thought of taking the crystals did not phase her at all, nobody was picking the dead body, and she knew that the crystals had a three hour life span after the death of the creature. All the bodies that were killed were already decomposing and disappearing without leaving a single trace of either the crystals or the Imps behind.

Jasper on the other hand saw what she was doing and followed. He also took his chance to cut up the Imps that were dead on the ground, that had not been touched. Even when there were straggling Imps that got past Silver, he made an effort to kill it with his own hands. He knew that Silver knew more than she showed, and his instinct screamed to follow her for the best chance of survival. For every action that she took, he carefully watched her like a hawk.

Silver was able to get a total of fifteen red crystals, and each one she ate it on the spot. For anyone who was watching her thought she was possibly eating the monster’s heart so they felt an revulsion towards her. They did not suspect that she was actually eating the red crystals in her hands.

Stomp! Stomp! Roar! Crash!

The Baphomet lowered its horn and rammed into the first person that got to close of the five males. The man with the bushy beard was skewered alive through the chest and was flung to the walls.

“Tim!” Jason called out in horror. He ran towards the Baphomet in the attempts to kill it.

A black claw came flying towards the side, and swiped Jason’s leg. He fell forward and screamed out in pain. His right leg was gone from the blow and the last surviving Imps ran towards him in a frenzy.  The Imps devoured the injured man, fighting over for the scrap of meat that they could get their black claws on.

The other two males were dispatched just as effortlessly from the Behemoth like the first and they both died horribly. Only surviving member of the five was the teen with curly hair, who did not seem phased at all. An manically grin, plastered on his face with glee. His clothes had a small slash on his shoulder to his waist, but no blood were present on his body.

The teen yelled with joy. “This is what I was looking forward too. No more do I need to live in a boring time, but instead in this sweet heart pounding time.”

The teen jumped backwards just in time before he got crushed by the Baphomet’s hand. Instead, he skimped backwards where he used the metal wall to block the second strike. A large dent was created from that blast of attack mixed in with the sound of crunching bones.

“Not bad you ugly piece of shit.”

The Baphomet raged from the self inflicted pain and stepped forward, but his legs were pushed backwards toward the middle spot making it difficult to just idly walk forward.

“Come on. Come on. I know you can do better than this.”

“Roar!” With seething fury, this time the Baphomet moved with quick steps. He pushed past the metal wall, and went after the teen without a hint of pain.

“Aww, did the baby goat demon hurt its hand?” the teen chuckled under his breathe as he taunted the Baphomet with excitement. The Baphomet once again smacked its hands against another wall, where the teen used as his own personal shield.

“This is child’s play. I mean seriously? Having these obstacles up and moving around like this just creates a hindrance to the enemy. Well, it doesn’t matter.” He shrugged and darted to the next metal wall.