Beelzebub’s Strength

Master Camble

Master Camble took deep, shuddering breaths. five in, ten out. After successfully calming himself, he walked back to his office, preparing himself for what he would have to do. His eyes were sharp enough to pierce the door and foresee what was awaiting him in the Room of Enlightenment. When he entered, two similarly dressed monks sat around the low table with downcast expressions. Master Camble steeled his resolve as he took his seat by the table. The monk on his right was a tall, almost but not quite lanky, woman with sharp features and dark green eyes, wearing light blue robes. The other monk was a heftier man, not plump but not as skinny as his company, with a red haired mustache, brown eyes, and wearing wood brown robes.

“I assume everyone here knows what we must do,” started the woman with a heavy tone.

“I refuse to do such a thing. He is still a boy, he may not turn out the same as Kangan,” argued the man.

“It is our duty as followers of The Way to smite this monster before it can grow. Your own morals need to be ignored,” the woman shot back.

“You are speaking as if we follow differing paths. The Way of Enlightenment would never force any monk’s hand,” The man denied. The woman took in a sizable quantity of air, but was interrupted before she could speak.

“Enough,” Master Camble put an end to their bickering. “Eliot is my discipulus and I intend to continue teaching him.”

“Have you gone mad!” the man and woman shouted in unison.

“I adamantly refuse to kill the boy, however, I am wholeheartedly against enabling him. I suggest that we stop the boy’s progress and keep him suppressed,” explained the man.

“You do not understand Eliot like I do, Brother Polle. He would rather choose death than live a life of stagnation,” said Master Camble.

“That is why we must kill him,” pressed the woman.

“I do not agree with Sister Lavern’s methods,” started Polle. “But something must be done.”

“Something will be done. I will pay more attention this time. I refuse to allow Eliot to follow the same path as Kangan,” Master Camble vowed.

“Oh, wake up! You are truly naive if you still hold such beliefs,” shouted Lavern.

“Please, Brother Camble, listen to reason,” Pleaded Polle.

“My decision is final,” stressed Master Camble. Lavern stood and started for the door.

“Sister Laver-” Polle tried.

“No! I refuse to listen to more of Marvin’s shit!” she seethed before throwing open the door and slamming it behind her. Master Camble and Polle recoiled at her vitriol. Master Camble knew it would be a long time before he could propitiate. Polle stood with a sigh.

“If you are truly dedicated to this path, do not stray. Follow through till the end,” were Polle’s passing words.

Master Camble nodded and said a barely audible, “I thank you.” before Polle left the room.

Ellulia

Ellulia lay flat on her back, against the roof of a relatively tall building, staring up at the clear sky. In the end, she wasn’t able to find Eliot anywhere. She traversed the entire Metropolis multiple times with no luck. Ellulia wallowed in despair. My life is over. Everyone is going to know that I’m Beelzebub and I’ll be chased out of the Metropolis with nothing but the clothes on my back. How am I supposed to live without my bed? Or my furs, or my private bath. How will I get food? Will I be forced to eat some...some beast?! The final thought that she couldn’t help but fixate on, despite hating it with every fiber of her being: Will I ever see Eliot again? Ellulia groaned in frustration and jumped to her feet. Fuck it! If my life is already over, I can atleast go on one last murder spree.

Ellulia stepped to the edge of the roof and eyed the bustling crowd full of living beings. The brumal scene looked out of place to Ellulia, who was used to the drab and stagnant gray of the castle walls. Most everyone was wearing a cloak to protect themselves from the elements, so Ellulia didn’t look out of place in her unordained blue cloak. Body parts that belong to non-sapien races were plentiful, along with a varying height of heads. Dwarves, gnomes, pygmy, ratmen, and many more low to the ground struggled for passage, while goliaths, wolfmen, Lizardfolk, and the like peered over the heads in front of them with no trouble. While racism was always present, the Metropolis was extremely racial tolerant when compared to the rest of the world.

Ellulia’s eyes shook, her breathing turned ragged, and her heart beat faster. She was already anticipating the high she would get from killing so many people. The next second, Beelzebub was directly above a man with sharp ears poking out from under his hood, daggers homing towards his neck. Shockingly, instead of sinking in the man’s flesh, her daggers pierced through a forcefield of red mana hastily erected to protect the man. Ellulia’s heart skipped a beat. This mana… it can’t be. Ellulia spun around in a start, her eyes narrowing when her thoughts were confirmed. What the abyss is Father doing here!? Floating three meters in the sky was a man with expansive wings composed of red mana and eyes that dimmed back to bright blue after briefly flashing red. He wore a white jacket with a double row of golden buttons embroidered on it, the top right half unbuttoned and folded in the opposite direction, and boots and leggings of a matching white. His sky blue eyes and golden hair marked him as nobility of the highest purity. The panicked shouts of the people turned to prayers of thanks that Klause Crucible, the king’s brother, second in line for the throne, and a seraphim of the Crucible Empire, had saved them from Beelzebub.

“So, you are the rat plaguing the streets of my brother’s glorious Metropolis. A swift rat indeed,” scrutinized Klause. Ellulia quickly averted her gaze and donned her engraved mask before staring up at him wide eyed. “While I would love to stay and play with you, I finally have time to spend with my beloved children for the first time in years. Why, they have no idea I am in the Metropolis, so please don’t ruin the surprise,” rambled Klause. Ellulia giggled at his antics. This was her dad alright, the one she loved and cherished. Unfortunately, she was Beelzebub right now. The Beelzebub that everyone knows killed Ellulia’s brother, the first prince, and the Beelzebub Klause Crucible abhors.

Ellulia dashed to her right, narrowly escaping the explosion that combusted in her previous spot. Boom! Boom! Boom! A steady stream of explosions resounded throughout the Metropolis, all of which Ellulia nimbly avoided. Thankfully, Klause was holding back a considerable amount of destructive force in fear of damaging the infrastructure or harming fleeing civilians. Ellulia felt pain in her chest, she knew what had to be done. He would learn that it was her under the mask, so maybe it was a mercy to kill him before he could be devastated by the news. Ellulia latched onto the flimsy excuse and used it to stay afloat as she mentally prepared to tap into her bloodline. Whenever she called upon the bloodline, her emotions would be completely suppressed. The problem was, Ellulia loved feeling things, well most things. She could do without the Eliot obsession. And, she couldn’t keep the bloodline active forever, her emotions would rear their ugly heads once she was done, and make her regret her actions, even if they were the most rational.

Ellulia skipped on the roof tops, jumping tens of meters with every step. Klause effortlessly pursued her, eyes flashing red for every explosion dropped from above. The explosions were getting faster and harder to dodge. From the start, Ellulia was dodging on sheer intuition, the explosion wouldn’t announce itself until it was too late. Unfortunately, Ellulia needed a few minutes of focus to tap into her bloodline and Klause refused to give her any free time. Fortunately, from extensive practice, she could use a small fraction of the blood line’s power without fully rousing it. Ellulia suddenly changed direction with a stomp, jumping from the roof to Klause. Rune’s flashed in front of the sneering Klause, he had already prepared a spell in advance. Ellulia grimaced under the mask as she mustered her courage. The daggers in Ellulia’s hands glinted in the sunlight as they practically followed a preset path out of her hands and into her sleeves. Ellulia reached forward with her left hand as if she was grabbing hold of something. Her hand flickered with shadows and a shattering sound stung their ears as Ellulia used a dispelling technique. Klause’s eyes bulged in his skull as he started the cast of another spell in panic. Ellulia reached out with her right hand, seeping with pitch black mana, and gently tapped Klause’s chest. The black mana entered Klause and Ellulia forcefully shoved him away. Klause screamed in pain as chains shot out of his chest and restrained him.

Ellulia blinked away the tears welling up in her eyes and focused on activating her bloodline, those chains were fairly weak and wouldn’t give her much time. In fact, if she tried advancing for the kill, Kluase would have any number of ways to thwart her efforts. An awkward pause where Ellulia stood with her head down and Klause struggled against the chains played out for a few minutes. Ellulia finally lifted her head, her eyes gleamed with cold precision under the mask. Klause shattered the chains around the same time and sent another barrage of explosions Ellulia’s way with a vengeance. Ellulia danced through the explosions with ease and followed a specific path while increasing her speed by such a large margin that Klause struggled to keep up with her.

Klause followed Ellulia at full tilt, arriving at Ellulia’s planned destination in seconds. The common buildings cut off and a chasm of street separated the regular and warped. On the warped side of the chasm, odd buildings of all shapes and sizes, with open air workshops, wooden balconies casually four or five stories high, hundreds upon hundreds of workers scampering about the labyrinth, and motley raw materials or half finished products strewn about in a cluttered mess blended together in a directionally challenged person’s worst nightmare. The roar of production along with the shouts of the workers over their tasks made a waterfall of constant noise.

Ellulia plunged into the mess that was the trade district with no hesitation, not slowing down at all. Klause paused for a split second before flying after her all the same, the least he needed to do was keep Beelzebub occupied until the others arrived, then the real extermination would begin. Klause’s Mage’s Armor dimmed as he burst through wood and stone alike and struggled to strafe through the tight airways, all the while ordering workers to evacuate the trade district and trying to keep sight of the blue blur that was Beelzebub. Beelzebub flipped, dived, and hopped through the trade district like a fish in water, her brain working overtime to process the haze of her surroundings and controlling her body with inhuman precision.

As Klause just barely kept sight of Beelzebub, he had a thought, “What a shame. If Beelzebub had chosen a different path, she could be renowned as a hero, and at such a young age. I wonder… why did this prodigy forsake all of their talent and become a measly serial killer? I pray that my children are wise enough not to follow the same path.”

Ellulia glanced behind her to see Klause lit up like a spot light, his wings looked like bonfires as he flew at top speed. Father is performing better than I predicted. I’ll set up an ambush to knock him unconscious. Killing him now would be excessive. Hmm, perhaps I could use Beelzebub as a distraction instead, that shouldn’t pose a problem. Ellulia focused, still speeding through the trade district untouched, before exploding in brilliant, raging red flames. Her mostly wooden surroundings effortlessly caught flame and spread with a vengeance. “Abyss!” exclaimed Klause as he boomed to a stop in front of the conflagration. “Beelzebub would go so far?” Ellulia fled faster than ever, positive that the fire would plunder Klause’s attention. Suddenly, something unbelievable solid collided with her midsection and she snapped to a halt. Blood forced its way up Ellulia’s throat and out her mouth, splashing against the inside of her mask and plopping onto the arm that was still buried in her stomach. Fortunately, she had control over her pain in this state, as well. Her daggers fell into her hands and she lashed out with a flurry of deep and precise cuts between the man’s heavier armor and into his arm. The man grimaced in pain as he recoiled and kicked her away, she reduced everything in her path to splinters before landing some twenty meters away. Ellulia shoved the rubble off of her as she stood and examined her level of injury. Damage is minimal, no grave wounds, and my ability to fight is not hindered. After, she lifted her head and took stock of her situation.

Twenty meters away, a giant man clad in a mix of light plate mail and chainmail, glistening a light blue hue in the sunlight, with a helmet covering his features nursed his now unusable arm. On his back was a massive two handed executioner's blade, held snug against his broad shoulders by a length of leather clasped just under the hilt. Ellulia practically disregarded the man, his only weapon was two handed, and even if he knew some hand-to-hand combat, his useless arm would ensure the most he could do was play the role of a meat shield. The raging fire already grew tens of meters high, and its mass licked against the easily ignitable surroundings. A figure dressed in darker clothing with a ridiculously tall and pointed hat flew just above the fire, deep blue runes glazed before them. An ocean’s worth of water engulfed gushed from the runes and engulfed the flames in a ravenous tornado. The water dissipated as quick as it came, leaving behind leaning, scorched husks of wood, ready to collapse with a slight breeze.

“How is your arm, Lobrin?” a voice announces its presence near the injured man from earlier.

“Wow.” Ellulia said in a board monotone, while giving her best attempt at fueling her words with emotion. The voice was Master Camble; with him, The Four Seraphim of the Crucible Empire gathered for nearly the first time in a century. This was an unprecedented event that most people couldn’t claim to have happen in their life times.

The Four Seraphim of the Crucible Empire can be traced back to the birth of the empire. It faced a brutal attack from the legendary dragon, Drugur. Drugur is a figure used in many fairy tales and children's stories; he is the incarnation of strength and fear. The legend says that the Four Seraphim of the Crucible Empire rose up and intrepidly fought against Drugur when he had attacked the budding empire. The four heroes were said to have wings and halos of different colors and designs, hence them being called seraphim. The heroes fought Drugur for three days and three nights, but prevailed in chasing Drugur off. After returning home injured, but victorious, they were hailed as saviours, the king at the time decided to make those positions permanent. Throughout the empire’s history, the four named as seraphim protected the empire from many tragedies. In modern times, the four are rarely called upon because the Crucible Empire is now known across the globe as the strongest nation, no one would dare raise a sword to the mighty Crucible Empire, except for a few that would be placated through non violent means. However, that does not mean that the requirements for being one of the four have lessened, they are all legends of unequaled strength. And, the positions are specific for different fighting styles to follow the fighting styles of the original four, two mage class fighters, and two front line fighters. The original four were a mage, a priestess, a paladin, and a monk.

The Four Seraphim of the Crucible Empire of today has: Klause Crucible as a Battle Mage, Master Camble as a monk, Lobrin biron as a warrior, and Celeste Chantelle as an Arcanist. The warrior is the most common close combat class because of its freedom and covers a wide expanse of fighting styles. Put simply, the warrior is a mix of the disciplined knight and reckless barbarian, a jack of all trades role. An arcanist, on the other hand, is an insanely rare mage specialization. Not to be confused with an Arcanologer who studies magic and the root of all magic, Arcana; an Arcanist is a mage that uses all types of magic. Some people make the mistake of calling it the specialization that doesn’t specialize; on the contrary, an Arcanist specializes in all things. That’s the main reason the specialization is almost never seen, the mage needs to be proficient in all types of spells and all types of elements, the two main spell classifications. Put simply, an Arcanist is a perfectionist with the talent of the gods.

The Four Seraphim stood side by side, sizing up Beelzebub. Ellulia did the same. Celeste Chantell, I need to get her out of the way first. Ellulia brandished her daggers and waited for them to come to her. Celeste Chantelle was dressed in black, outlandish attire. Along with her egregious hat, she wore a cape that brushed against the ground, forearm length gloves, and knee length boots. In her hand was a plain scepter with an eye catching blue crystal mounted on top. Master Camble and Celeste cast side long looks at Klause and Lobrin.

“Does this young girl really require the four of us?” asked Celeste.

Klause was quick to disprove their doubts, “I assure you she does. Beelzebub is no meer girl, she is a monster. Her physical feats are inhuman, I have my conjectures that she could even prevail against Camble in close combat. She has the ability to spontaneously combust into flames, as well.”

“Aye,” Lobrin immediately followed up, “I saw it for myself, the speed she was moving with her physical body alone was inconceivable. On top of that, she feels no pain. She slammed into my fist at that great speed, but immediately reacted, that’s how my arm got the way it is.” After hearing their explanation, Master Camble and Celeste looked at Ellulia differently. Celeste especially, her eyes glowed a prominent blue with the gathering of her mana and she saw into Ellulia’s spiritual body. Unexpectedly, Ellulia’s spiritual body was brightly lit and filled. Her mana pool was average for a non mage, and her soul was nothing special. Just far enough away, however, a giant mass of flames, vaguely resembling a human shape, were trapped in chains. The flames were constantly struggling and making a ruckus, but the chains showed no signs of giving way.

“I see… I supposed that is how she received her name, and why she can use flames,” muttered Celeste. The others inquired as to what she meant. “That girl is harboring an abyssal entity inside her, one with a name, as well as a title. One of the seven Abyssal Lords, Beelzebub.” The other three seraphim all recoiled at her words. Beelzebub the serial killer was named after that Beelzebub?

Beelzebub is a well known tyrant of the Abyss, whose been in power for countless centuries. The importance of having a name and a title can’t be ignored either. Names hold power, no matter what the name applies to, monster, inanimate object, or Martial Art. While humans have had names since what seems like the beginning of time and no distinct advantages have been documented, anything else given a name is greatly enhanced. A title is even more fearsome, it serves as a second name that increased the holder’s power depending on the level of importance or strength that the title implies. Titles can move up and down in power as they are held higher or lower in the minds of most beings. And, unlike names, titles work on humans, as well. The Four Seraphim of the Crucible Empire noticed substantial increases in their already legendary levels of strength after officially becoming a seraphim. Names work similarly, the more people hear the name, the stronger the name makes the bearer. It’s also speculated that things like names and titles are stored in the soul, but nothing concrete has been discovered yet.

Despite everything just shared, Lobrin smirked.

“If she has a monster like that under her control, does that mean she shares the same threat level?” asked Lobrin.

“No,” Celeste answered, “Combined with her physical feats, her threat level is even higher.”

“Are you saying that she is as dangerous as a dragon?” Master Camble chimed in. Celeste shook her head, she was unsure. They don’t have a specific threat hierarchy, only vague ideas like dragon level, which is synonymous with the highest threat possible.

“Regardless…” interrupted Kluase with a savage grin on his face as he stepped forward menacingly. “This means we are prohibited to use our full strength.” After he said that, Klause erupted in red mana, his wings and eyes burning a never before seen intensity. His presence alone put force on everything around him. The other Seraphim joined his display, erupting with their own colors, wings, and twist on the angel theme. Ellulia watched on with no change of inflection. It seems I’m in trouble.