The Damned Demon

Asher's teeth gnashed together, his frustration boiling over as he spat defiantly at Lori, "In your dreams, you crazy snake!" His voice echoed, filled with resolve and anger.

"You insolent brat! SSSHHHHKK!"

Lori's response was immediate and ferocious. With a hiss that vibrated the very air of the cavern, she lunged forward, her massive jaws gaping wide to end the confrontation with a single, crushing bite.

But as her maw clamped shut, Asher's figure vanished into thin air, leaving her biting nothing but the damp, cold cave air.

Her massive head recoiled in confusion, her dark purple eyes blinking rapidly as she scanned the area, wondering how he was able to simply vanish into thin air again, just like that, without leaving any trace behind.

He shouldn't have been able to teleport since she had locked him down with her aura.

"Come out, brat, before I wring you dry until I am bored. I won't be this kind always," she hissed venomously, her serpentine form undulating as she searched every shadow and corner for any sign of Asher.

Meanwhile, in the surreal safety of the Damned Dimension, Asher watched Lori's furious search through a damned mirror, his expression a mixture of relief and frustration. The mirror's surface rippled with each of Lori's frustrated movements, reflecting her anger and confusion back at him.

Asher sighed deeply, his hands running over his head as he considered his grim options, "I might not be able to escape without killing her. But how am I supposed to kill her when she has the home advantage, making her nearly unkillable?" he muttered to himself, the weight of the situation pressing down on him.

He also realized the limitations of his refuge: He can only escape one more time to this dimension, after which he can't.

Feeling cornered and with fewer options at his disposal, Asher reached for his Tome of the Fallen Souls.

He flipped through the ancient, whispering pages until he found the section dedicated to Lubac, the Harbinger of Agony, and depicted the figure of a monstrous, terrifying-looking serpent.

The page crackled with a dark energy, almost as if the harbinger's spirit was stirring from its slumber.

He knew the risks well. Engaging with the powers of the Fallen from the Tome always carried a chance of death, a gamble he had avoided for a while due to his royal duties.

But desperate times called for desperate measures, and he would have anyway tried to comprehend from this tome soon enough, "What better way to fight a serpent than to use the abilities of one itself?" he reasoned aloud, his voice steady but his heart pounding with anticipation and dread.

With a deep breath, Asher sat down, crossing his legs into a meditative pose. He allowed himself a few minutes to recover his mana by sacrificing his life force and then assumed a meditative pose.

As he prepared to delve into the depths of the tome and embrace the power of Lubac, he steeled himself for the transformation and the battle that would follow, knowing well that this decision could very well lead to his ultimate victory or his demise.

His mind suddenly recoiled, plunging him into an entirely different realm.

The transition was abrupt and disorienting, and his senses were momentarily overwhelmed by the shift.

He found himself standing in a desolate landscape that seemed to stretch into infinity, a world seemingly crafted from nightmares and despair.

The sky above was a tumultuous sea of swirling dark clouds, intermittently lit by flashes of eerie, blood-red lightning that cast a ghastly glow across the land.

Below, the ground was a cracked expanse of blackened earth and jagged rocks, emitting a faint, sinister red light as if the very ground were imbued with malevolence.

The air was thick with an oppressive heat and the acrid smell of sulfur, making each breath a labor.

In this nightmarish world, Asher felt an overwhelming sense of dread wash over him.

His eyes were drawn forward to the figure of a monstrous serpent whose size was so colossal that Asher couldn't discern the creature's full length.

Not even multiple Bloodburn Kingdoms put together on a straight line could match its length, nor could even the tallest mountain in the world match its height.

Its body stretched endlessly into the horizon, its scales a deep, glowing red that seemed to pulse with a life of their own.

The sight of it, with the shadow of its head perched high above on a neck that seemed to defy laws of nature, was enough to instill a deep, primal fear in even the bravest of souls.

The air around it crackled with raw, dark energy, and its eyes—blazing orbs of malevolent fire—fixed on Asher with a gaze that could curdle blood.

The creature's spine, lined with sharp, backward-curving spikes, cast long, twisted shadows that danced grotesquely as the lightning flashed.

Asher, feeling insignificant and vulnerable before such a spine-chilling aura, struggled to maintain his composure.

For some reason, standing before these devil spirits made him feel so mortal that they could decide his life and death with just a blink of their eyes.

But he refused to get crushed by whatever he was feeling and clenched his fists as he said aloud, "Lubac, I am here to undergo whatever trial you want me to go through to be worthy of your powers."

Finally, Lubac shifted his gaze towards Asher and spoke, its voice a deep, resonant rumble that seemed to echo from the depths of the earth itself, "Asher Drake...the mortal who dares to tap into powers he barely comprehends. How amusing that you ran from one place of death to another," Lubac's mouth curled into a sardonic smile, revealing rows of jagged, towering teeth that were several hundred meters long, just like its fangs upon lowering its head beneath the dark clouds.

The sight of its face emerging from the mist-shrouded depths struck a sense of mesmerizing dread into Asher's heart.

Its face was colossal and primordial, bearing the weight of eons, etched into its ancient scales that shimmered with an eerie, iridescent glow reminiscent of the dark, unfathomable lava surrounding it.

However, Asher refused to fall for its mockery and struggled to stand tall despite the overwhelming aura of Lubac crushing down him.

"Are you that arrogant to believe you can wield the agony that I command? Are you lusting for death that much?" Lubac taunted, its tone cocky and challenging. The massive serpent shifted, causing the ground beneath Asher to tremble with its movements.

Asher's response, though hesitant, carried the weight of his resolve, "I'm not here to play games, Lubac. I came for your power, and I intend to leave with it, no matter what it takes."

Lubac's laughter, dark and thunderous, echoed before he said, "Let's see if you can withstand even a fraction of my torment or end up as another molten statue in my collection."

The monstrous serpent's eyes flared with a malevolent glow, the red light suffusing the air with a sense of imminent peril.

"Look into my eyes, Asher Drake," Lubac commanded, its voice booming across the desolate landscape, "Face the depths of true agony."

Taking a deep breath, Asher lifted his gaze to meet Lubac's; the moment their eyes locked, Asher felt a visceral shockwave ripple through his being.

It was as if his soul had plunged into the molten lava within Lubac's eyes, his body seizing under the sudden assault.

The world around him twisted, and he was no longer in the barren landscape but transported into a realm of his deepest fears and darkest memories.

He found himself reliving the most painful moments of his life—

losses and failures magnified to an unbearable intensity.

Each memory twisted into a twisted caricature of reality, designed to inflict pain.

Asher's heart raced as he battled the rising tide of despair, each heartbeat a drum of war against the encroaching darkness.

"You cannot hide from your own mind, Asher," Lubac's voice echoed, a sinister whisper in the midst of the torment, "Your pain exists to consume you…to crush you under its weight."

Asher struggled to maintain his focus as the visions grew increasingly horrific.

From the beginning of the life he remembered, he saw his mother stabbing herself, her face twisting with pain and blood dripping down her mouth as she clutched his face and said, "You did this to me…If only you didn't exist…no demon would have ever bothered with me."

"No…no…I…" Asher fumbled, shocked to hear his mother saying such words through her usually kind face. But why did her words echo his deepest fears?

But before he could find his voice, the scene shifted and saw himself in his late teen years, cradling a dying woman on his lap.

But instead of the soft smile he remembered on her face, she was looking at him with resentment and pain as she clutched his neck and spitefully said, "Why…Why do you always make the people around you die? So many good people would have been alive if not for you."

"E-Elizabeth…I…"

"See…this is why I and the others betrayed you. We don't want a demon like you among us. Consider it good riddance."

Asher suddenly heard a familiar woman's voice and slowly looked up to see a radiant-eyed woman standing before him, followed by Derek, Lenny, Lena, and 22 other Hunters.

He gnashed his teeth as he muttered, "You are to blame!" He lunged forward to clutch her throat, but suddenly, her figure turned into mist before he could even touch her.

He then saw multiple figures appearing around him, ones who were dead but were once people he loved.

However, they all were looking at him with resentment and pain and began to slowly walk towards him while hurling words that only caused Asher's heart to writhe in agony.

Asher was taken aback to see his friends and family turning against him, hearing their accusations over and over again.

His body began to manifest the physical symptoms of the agony he experienced in his visions—his skin burning, muscles aching as if aflame, and his breaths coming in short, ragged gasps.

The intensity of the trial pushed Asher to the brink of his endurance.

He felt suffocated in the mental landscape, each breath heavier than the last, his strength waning as the barrage of emotional and physical pain continued unabated.

Just when he felt he could no longer bear the torment, his knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the illusory ground, gasping for air.

"I... I can't..." Asher managed to choke out, the words barely a whisper as he teetered on the edge of consciousness while his skin began to form molten layers.

The agony was relentless, and for a moment, he doubted his ability to withstand the trial. The shadow of Lubac loomed large, a specter waiting to claim him the moment he breaks.