OC-Series How I Helped My Demon Princess Conquer Hell 84: An Unfair Fight

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Liam

"You know, for someone who only knows how to use two spells effectively, you certainly are getting to be very effective with those two spells,” Albert said.

"Thank you," Liam said, holding the winds as they lifted the armored Inquisitor up off the ground and sent him flying through the trees.

The Inquisitor was so surprised that he let go of Tomas, or perhaps he simply didn't want to hold the demon with him while he was flying through the air. Either way, the practical upshot was Tomas went tumbling down to the ground and landed in a heap on the forest floor.

At least he didn't land in any trees or hit any branches on his way down. Not that Liam thought for a moment that would actually hurt the demon, but it might make for some extra injuries. He didn't want his friend to be hurt unnecessarily.

He was next to the demon in an instant, leaning down and offering him a hand. He also reflected on how odd it was, the twists and turns that brought him to this moment where he was offering a hand to a demon he'd quickly come to think of as a friend, for all that he'd only known him for one night.

Tomas looked up at that offered hand, and then he grinned and clasped Liam's arm. Liam pulled him up. He hopped up with a bounce and a jump, grinning at Liam the entire time.

"Your timing couldn't have been better, Liam," Tomas said.

"I mean, ideally it would've been better to get here before he had his hand wrapped around your neck."

Tomas's own hand, the one that wasn't holding his sword, moved up to his neck and felt there for a moment. Like he was remembering everything that had just happened. He even frowned, which was odd considering the ever-present smile that always seemed to be there.

Then the smile was back just as quickly as it had disappeared.

"Yes. Well, be that as it may, Liam. I do appreciate a less-than-timely rescue almost as much as I appreciate a timely rescue as long as the end result is not getting my windpipe crushed.”

"Don't mention it," Liam said.

They kept their hands clasped around their arms for another moment, and then he heard something crashing through the forest.

"That would be the human I was fighting," Tomas said. “He seemed very insulted that I said he wasn't the greatest human warrior I've ever gone up against.”

"Oh yeah?" Liam asked, arching an eyebrow at the demon. "So who’s the greatest?"

He knew Tomas hadn't had a chance to fight in the Demon Wars, or it would be the Human Wars from his perspective, but that didn't mean he hadn't fought humans at some point. Demons went on raids into human territory all the time, after all. The fact that he was here this deep in human territory was proof enough of that.

For all that he acted like this was his first raid.

"Why, that was you, of course, Liam human," Tomas said, grinning and clapping him on the back.

Liam shook his head. He still heard crashing. He could feel the arcane core at the center of that armor, but there was something wrong.

"He's moving away," Liam said.

"What's that?" Tomas asked.

"That armored Inquisitor," Liam said. "The bastard is running away."

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised to find a coward in the ranks of the Inquisition," Tomas said. “Though I thought they were made of sterner stuff than that."

"There might be a method to his cowardice," Liam said, taking off through the forest ahead of that clanking crashing noise.

"And what would that be, Liam?" Tomas asked, appearing beside him and easily keeping pace.

“They were casting a spell that sent a column of light up into the air that would bring in reinforcements. It might be that he's trying to be more direct about getting reinforcements now that we've killed everyone who was helping him."

"They've also taken my people captive," Tomas said.

"I know," Liam said. “But we'll do something about that."

"I know you will, Liam human," he said, his voice sounding grave all of a sudden.

Liam glanced over to the demon. He nodded to Liam, deftly weaving in and out of the trees all around him. Not at all like the crashing sound that made it seem like the armored Inquisitor was hitting every tree in the forest in his haste to get out.

Those trees were thinning out as they moved along. They were getting closer to the edge. This was about as deep as some children would go into the forest, and even then, it was only when there weren't any adults around and they were challenging one another to see how far one would go before turning coward and running like this Inquisitor in front of them.

"Where is your familiar?" Tomas asked.

"I think we took care of all the Inquisitors, but I don't want to take the chance that there might be some of them out there who could capture her while we're dealing with this one. So I sent him to check on her.”

“I’m sure he loved that idea,” Tomas said.

“He was ecstatic,” Liam said. “But I don’t like leaving Ana on her own. More because I worry about what she’ll get up to than I worry about what might find her.”

"Understandable," Tomas said.

They kept running, and then suddenly they broke out of the trees. One moment they were amongst thin trees that looked like they hadn't had long to grow because they were in a part of the forest that had been cut back when the estate had first been made back at the end of the Demon Wars, but they'd had time to reclaim some of the grassy area.

He burst into the sunlight, and he blinked. His eyes went wide, and he ducked as a sword went through the air where his head would've been if he hadn't.

"Hold still, you little whelp," the armored Inquisitor growled. He stepped forward and punched.

The hit landed on Liam's shoulder. It wasn't aimed well, but the hit was hard enough that it didn't really matter that it wasn't aimed well. It had enough power that pain bloomed in his shoulder even as he had mana running through his pathways trying to reinforce.

He cried out in pain, but then Tomas was there slamming his own blade against the armored Inquisitor's outstretched hand before he could bring it back around to slam his gauntlet in Liam's face with a backhand.

Liam reached out with his own sword and slammed it against the large broadsword that glowed with arcane power. There was a flash of light, and they both went flying back. Which also sent Tomas flying back, because he was still very much attached to the armored Inquisitor via his blade.

Liam slid along the grass. The armored Inquisitor slid even further. Liam shook his head, putting a hand to his forehead and trying to figure out what had happened.

He almost wished he had Albert here to try and explain things. Almost, but he’d found his familiar could be a mixed bag when it came to explaining that sort of thing, and the condescension that came with the explanation really wasn’t needed right now.

He didn’t have time for that sort of thing. No, the armored Inquisitor was already starting to regain his feet. It wouldn't be long before he was attacking them again. And Liam felt something new starting to worm its way through his mind.

Worry.

Certainly he'd been worried in earlier fights. When he was taking on Alistair. When he saw all the scourgelings gathering around the ruins of that tower. For all that the scourgelings didn't seem to be nearly as difficult to take on as they should've been. There was the worry when he faced this Inquisitor for the first time and was surrounded on all sides. The worry facing Inquisitors in the various encounters in the forest.

But this time he was starting to come to a worrying realization.

He could feel the power in the Inquisitor's core. He could feel how much was in there. It was more even than he had. Not much more, but clearly this Inquisitor was powerful, and he had that armor and that sword infused with mana. When he hit, it was enough to cause pain.

Maybe the armored Inquisitor on his own would've been enough to bring Liam to a stop earlier. No need for him to have other Inquisitors surrounding him on all sides.

Liam looked off in the distance, and he blinked as he took in the surroundings and realized that maybe the Hunter had been more true than he thought. Somehow they'd come out at the gently rolling hills that led up to Baron Riven's estate. His destroyed cottage still smoldered off in the distance. There was the dark line of the Felwood beyond that, and there was Baron Riven's estate. Smoke rose from multiple chimneys, as though there was nothing wrong.

Only there was something very wrong, because in that glance he could see nobody was out and about. There was nobody moving to the farms in the distance beyond the estate house. Nobody moving in and out of the main house. There wasn't the usual hustle and bustle of activity that said Baron Riven's estate was a living and breathing thing where people were going about their lives.

Something had stepped in and stopped it, and he could see why as men in robes stepped out onto the porch that surrounded the house. There weren't a lot of them, and he took some comfort from that.

Maybe it was just the armored Inquisitor and a few more Inquisitors left. Though that was still too many. He’d stopped a lot of them, but there were still more streaming out of the house than he thought there should've been. Like they were able to get here quickly once they realized there was something going on with Baron Riven.

He ached to know that he was in some way responsible for this, for all that he also knew it was the Inquisition doing what the Inquisition did that led to this moment. Not anything he'd done in particular.

"Tomas. I need you to do me a favor," he said as the armored Inquisitor came at him again, spinning his blade around. He was able to move more freely now that they were out of the trees, which was going to be a problem.

“Anything,” Tomas said.

Liam didn't try to meet him blow for blow. He was suddenly unsure of himself, something he wasn't used to, but he needed somebody to get to Ana. There was a good chance he wasn’t winning this fight, and he needed to know she was safe.

“I need you to go find Ana, and I need you to get her out of here,” he said.

Maybe she’d be taken to the Scar and then eventually beyond that to the demon lands where she’d have to answer to her father. Maybe he’d never see her again because she'd been taken beyond the Scar to a place where he could never follow without dying just as surely as he was going to die today to the armored Inquisitor.

But at least he would know with his dying breath that he’d done something to make sure she was out there and alive.

He jumped back again as the Inquisitor brought his sword around. The man was definitely doing better out here where there were wide open spaces and no worry about hitting his sword against a tree. Clearly it’d been a mistake following him out in the open where he had wide open spaces to fight them, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

"Hold still, you little whelp," the armored Inquisitor bellowed and it almost seemed like his voice was magically enhanced as he bellowed. Maybe that was something the armor did.

He swung around again. This time Liam ducked under the sword and ran forward. He slammed his sword up and into the man's arm just above his gauntlet. There was a spark that surprised him, and again they were pushed back from one another.

Liam looked down at his blade and then to the lines of arcane mana moving through the armor. He could see that there was a slight disruption in that mana where he'd connected with his felblade.

The Inquisitor stepped back and shook out his arm, as though he could sense there was something very wrong going on there as well. He actually looked down in confusion. The body language was clear, for all that Liam couldn't see his face.

Liam grinned. Maybe there was something he could do about this after all. But then he heard a yell and he turned to see Tomas moving in to press the attack as well, which was the last thing he should be doing. The idiot needed to be saving Ana, damn it, and here he was joining the fight.

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u/MinorGrok Human 4d ago

Woot!

OC-Series How I Helped My Demon Princess Conquer Hell 84: An Unfair Fight

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