The Demon Lord Pt. 1 - The Sin

The vast, sprawling edifice looms upon a high hill of green. Carefully tended gardens, lawns, and lovingly sculpted plant life giving a feel of the natural and the beautiful to a place that would otherwise be cold and austere. Great towering walls shoot skyward, rising up as flying buttresses swing outward and stand starkly down outside the great edifice. Each is adorned with a winged effigy, an Angel in guise of marble stone. Each one painstakingly hand carved by masters in the craft. Atop its pinnacle, grand and golden, the large ring of the sun shines down upon the Grand Cathedral of the Chief God of the world. Her name hidden and known only to the greatest of religious scholars, and the most true and devoted of her servants who call it forth in righteous anger against the Monsters who stand against her. She is simply 'God'. Mother. Protector. Cherished. Benevolent. She who leads mankind with her caring hand and guides them through the darkness. She who endows mankind with the power to stand against the Monsters that threaten their lives every day. She who brings forth the Heroes who are chosen and ordained to face the most terrible of that dark kind with all of their holy might.

It is here that two men, one old and wearing the robes of red that mark him one of the highest members of the Cardinals. The trappings and adornments of his vestments simple and direct. He is not a man who uses his powers in the church and that given to him by his beloved God to wrap himself in the worldly trappings of wealth. This is the pathway to Sin, he knows all too well. Once he had been the third son of a wealthy Duke, and watched as his family ruined themselves into painful and hideous decadence and evil. Consorting with the darkest of powers to further their greed, it was only he, the unremarked, unwelcome lateborn son who escaped what became of them. He entered the church and found faith and power with God. In serving her great works he became known as a battle priest of great skill, master of defeating the most evil of the Demonic spells unleashed upon humanity. His power was immense, and so was his piety. He led a simple life, holding little ambition save serving the church, yet he held no remorse for those who truck with demonic powers. Yet, by the urging of the man at his side, he had already set out to do so.

The other man was younger, if only by perhaps a decade, and had an air about him of calculated ambition. His hunger for power was naked in his actions and his pious words. He wears the clothing of an Archbishop, and one of the most vocal and, yes, one of the more powerful members of the Order. He was once a Paladin, a warrior in service to the Chief God, who fought to strike and destroy all of the demonic taint that threatened the world since time immemorial. So many battles had been fought, so much history lost in the terrible destructive wars with the uncounted legions of monster kind. He had risen quickly in the ranks, and his body still showed signs of his former profession his the broad wide of his shoulders and the muscle that moved him underneath his vestments. While injury had removed him from the ranks, he instead turned his attention to the training and education of the future Paladins. His skill and intellect allowed him to create one of the finest forces of Paladins to ever serve the God, and his pleasure in serving the God in this act was only exceeded by his the joy he found in the power he gained the higher and higher he rose within the church. He was not a cruel man, but exceedingly political. It was said that he was a strong candidate to be named to succeed the ailing Pope. And it could not please the Archbishop more.

Yet still, as they walked, their faces were grim. Another Kingdom had fallen to the advance of the brutal forces of the Demon Lord, bringing pressure and threat of incursion into the increasingly smaller human lands. Rumors of horror, death, and devastation abounded, as the terrible Lich who commanded the army sent forth unleashed an undead horde that overwhelmed the human population. A large contingent of Knights and Paladins sent by the Papacy, men who had been trained and served under the Archbishop, had been wiped out... leaving a large gap in the defensive wall of Order that guarded the humans from destruction. Monsters were the natural predators of mankind, in all their variety. Humanity were treated as herd animals and slaves in lands ruled by the Demon Lord, and the horrors they unleashed upon humanity was well recorded. This fact, and the most dire one yet... that the Hero had failed. The man sent to kill the Demon Lord at behest of the God, gifted by her blessing and her might... had died. It was said his statue, transformed by the Demon Lord's foul gaze, stood broken and almost completely shattered in the monster's throne room. Or so the propaganda spread by the agents of the Demon Lord had disseminated amongst the lands of mankind.

It would take decades to raise another Hero, to empower him with the force of his duty and his quest. Decades that, many in the Order felt, they did not have. The Archbishop was the foremost of this camp, and now to the Cardinal he pressed his case once more.

"It is the only way, Cardinal! Humanity is dying out. The Pope is dying and already he grows so weak he can barely maintain the barrier of faith that protects the core lands and keeps the Demon Lord's Lich from bringing his undead armies at bay! The only lands that truly stand against the darkness are being pressed on all sides! Drakkenwall is and its dragoons are keeping horrors in the mountains at bay. While our navy is barely keeping the seaborn forces of the Demon Lord in check. If not for the actions of a few brave Privateers, our main seaport would have been crushed by a Kraken! A Kraken! Such things haven't been seen or heard of in a thousand years! And the thing still got away, wounded as they left it."

The Cardinal nodded solemnly at the Archbishop's points, and closed his eyes, his voice was filled with sorrow, yet he still walked, still stood, still fought, "I know all this, my son. I know all this. But we can't afford what you are suggesting. If we truck with demons..."

"Your Eminence, right now we face a Demon Lord more terrible then any that has ever risen in the lost histories. Xarvan is a Gorgon, but not just any Gorgon. His mother was the Echidna, Lilaxa, herself! He holds much of her powers and his noble status allowed him to crush all the other contenders for the title of Demon Lord thirty years ago. I know. I was there when he used his gaze on an entire legion of soldiers. It did not matter if they looked away, it did not matter if they were shielding their eyes. Wherever he looked... everyone died! Flesh lifeless stone that no blessing or power of involved by the Priesthood could undo! We must do this, because there is no option left! We must use the Demoness!"

The Cardinal paused, turning his gaze to his junior and met the man's fever hot zealotry, and narrowed his eyes in cold antagonism. He raised his left hand... and even now the fist he raised was grey. Solid and unliving stone, it stuck from the end of his sleeve in the form of the fist he had formed long ago, "I /KNOW/ the dangers of a Gorgon, Bishop! No other better! It was that horror's father who did /this/ to me. Xarvan stands before us the center of the might and power of all Monster races. And you are suggesting we use that /thing/." The Cardinal smashed his stone fist into the side of the ornamental tree by which they walked. The crack of the tree's barker was loud, but the Cardinal's words were low and seethed with hate. "She is an abomination and should have been destroyed when we CAGED her!"

The Archbishop, who had faced more terrible things then even the Cardinal's wrath on the battlefield, stood undaunted by the older man's fury. He looked upon the Cardinal's stone fist with none of the horror others had on seeing it, only growing fury of his own. "Then you should know... she is /immune/ to the gaze of a Gorgon. All her kind are. Out of all the species of Monster, it is only they who can truly stand unchanged, beyond the undead. And they cannot be so easily chained! They stand outside his control for this very reason!"

The Cardinal, further angered, flared back, "And what would you have her do? I know you know the last time someone tried this, the Succubus broke free and stole the souls of a dozen young initiates before it was killed!"

In response, the Archbishop's smile grew ferocious, "Yes... but they did not have /you/. And they did not have /me/. They were weak. The bonds we can forge to hold her can be stronger then that fool Magician's. We have the power of the Chief God with us. You and I are two of the most powerful wielders of her Light to walk the face of this world, Cardinal. When the Pope dies, it will be up to either you, or me, or one of the other more powerful users to assume the mantle... and when it happens, all the power we have will go to Duty and nothing more. Before that happens, before either of us is shackled to the Light of God, we must give our people hope. If the Demon Lord presses at the right time, which I'm /sure/ he will... he will sweep in and take another kingdom! And we can't lose to afford even a single one!"

The Cardinal ground his teeth, closing his eyes, "...I know the position we are in, my son. But if we do this... are we no better then they are?"

His companion showed his own teeth in a ferocious battle-born smile, "/Yes/. For we do so in service to the God. By the time another Hero can be sent to face the Demon Lord, humanity will lose enough of its land, enough of its people, enough of its resources that there will be no hope left for us. If we do not do this, your eminence... we die. Humanity. Dies. And then no one will be left to venerate our beloved God."

In the moment of silence that the Cardinal considered the younger man's words... a soft golden light seemed to bloom around them both. Both men, full of hot anger and grief for what they had lost, felt the light enfold them like the loving arms of a mother. Together, both Cardinal and Archbishop, they bowed their heads and sank to their knees as they bathed in the radiance of God. For she had heard them... as she heard everything spoken in this place. This, the heart of her power and worship on the planet, was beloved by her. And all who walked its grounds could feel her benevolent love... and even as the masses gathered in the grand Cathedral every seven-day to receive benediction... they could feel the love of the creator Goddess who shielded Humanity and guided them through the darkness.

That was the difference between worship of the Chief God and worship of others. Her presence, her force, was a thing that could be felt directly. Some fishermen and sailors worshiped the sea goddess Poseidon. The witches and their cult worshiped darker powers, but also the Nature Goddess whom they all served in some way or another, a more primitive Goddess who represented fertility and fecundity and the love of the natural world. There were many other Gods, yet it was the Chief God alone who could truly make her power, her presence, felt on the world directly. And she was doing so now.

The voice that came was not Her voice. It was the voice of a being who formed from the gentle light and stood beside them with a sweet smile on her face. She was childlike in appearance, and mostly androgynous. Her body was swathed in white, and her wings gently swept through the air as she spoke with gentle solemnity.

"Let it be done."

Together, the Cardinal and the Archbishop raised their eyes to heaven. The light of God was so gentle they could look into it with eyes that shone with tears. For one man it was for gratitude and faith. For the other... grief and consolation. He would do as bidden, but he would not like it. The Chief God had ordained it through her messenger, who vanished into the light with a gentle inclination of her head to the two powerful men. They had nothing else they could do.

The Archbishop rose first, and gently helped the Cardinal to his feet, gently brushing the Cardinal's robes free of the fallen leaves.

"I'm sorry, your eminence. But it must be done."

The Cardinal sighed, accepting the empty apology for what it was. A consolation. If the man before him became Pope... He inhaled, and let it out.

"Take me too her. Let me see this Succubi you've managed to trap. ...We will have to hurry. She cannot be allowed to tempt her guards...," the Cardinal paused. The Archbishop was not, indeed, cruel. But he too knew what had to be done. "If you have reservations about doing what we must do to her... you may stand back. I will do it. I will break her."

The Archbishop nodded slowly, and ambition burned behind his eyes, "No. For this... I will not hold back. She may look like a woman, but she is a Demon. Neither you, nor I, can afford to be squeamish about what we must do to her. It will take all our power to expunge the Demonic Energy from her being. She /is/ strong. Very strong. Her taint is deep... but with our help, we can pour forth the power, and the love, of the True God into her."

The True God. It marked what faction the Archbishop was in. The faction that sought dreams of, after defeating the Demon Lord, of expanding the Order to begin hunting down the servants of all the Gods other then the Chief God. Of culling them from their society as efficiently as scalpel through flesh. The Cardinal knew what was to come, all too soon. The Inquisition, with this man at their head, would do things in the name of the Chief God that made even a pious man like the Cardinal sigh. There was such a thing as blind zealotry.

And this man before him was a Zealot.

How had it come to this?

Together, the two men strode from the garden. The Cells of the Inquistion were far below the Cathedral, and had been sealed until the aged Pope had succumbed to political pressure to reignite the Inquisition as the Monsters moved deeper and deeper into human lands.

There, within places of torment and torture, waited a woman. She was lovely, exquisitely so. Her hair was red, a deep, unholy red, cut short in a tomboyish style. Her pointed ears swept back short and looked entirely cute. Her eyes were golden orbs in white, and while her body was demure and lithe, her figure was entirely feminine. She gave off palpable aura. Sex and Lust and Need surrounded her, and the demonic energy she wielded pulsed through her body in invisible currents. Her figure was not very generous in some regards, her breasts were small and lacked the motherly curves of older members of her kind. For she was of a different kind.

A Succubus. Their breed was a breed of Monster who used mankind as food in a far different way then most other monsters. There were other kinds that functioned similarly, but they were few. Instead they seduced men and women, feasting on both their life force and the spiritual energy that lingered existed in every human. They did so through kisses, and through sex. They were licentious, lewd, and always hungry. They were a force outside of the control of the Demon Lord, whose tastes ran to those monsters who dealt out death directly, though he had no qualms about selling slaves to the Succubi to keep them complacent. The worst thing about the Succubi was a simple fact: Men desired them. The existed as beings that were the personified sin of Lust. And men gave themselves, often willingly, to their embrace... until they died. Sexual vampires, demons of great power, they existed for no other purpose.

Because of their demonic nature, they could be summoned through the use of ritual magic. And this one had been. She currently sat, dejected, in the middle of a summoning circle of such intricacy that it hurt her eyes to look at it. There was no flaw she could detect, and no escape. She could not leave the Circle until the summoner released her, or banished her. And to make matters worse... the summoner who had drawn her to this plane was a PRIEST!

Now, the Succubus enjoyed corrupting the faithful as much as any of her sisters... but her magic and abilities were greatly weakened against true devotees of the Human God. And because of this, she couldn't even make her summoner aroused when she came. That fact had truly disappointed her. She hadn't failed in her stalking of a human in over fifty years, since a Paladin had tried to bash her over the head rather then allow her to suck him off. He ended up underneath her in the end... but it was a terrible incident that still marked the Succubi's memory.

She hated the Order. Even if they were the only thing keeping her primary food source, humanity, alive.

Her tail lashed like an unhappy feline, while her wings fluttered softly. The elegant black horns upon her head gleamed. They all marked her as what she was. Something inhuman. Something demonic.

"I'm booooooored!," she complained loud enough for her guards to hear. Each was a Paladin, of the most elite order. They looked on her with cold, lustless eyes. Her summoner, sitting back in another chamber, knelt before a small altar and was praying softly to himself. From the pattern of his chants he was probably intoning some kind of request for absolution. It seemed to be the type. Say these words, repeat ad nauseum, and you would be forgiven for your sins. It all made her sick. Truly sick. The level of piety in the room was disgusting and painful to her senses, and she grumbled.

"I hope you don't mind if I finger myself while I'm in here... a girl has to find /something/ to do..."

The Paladin's expressions did not change.

"...Oh dead deities. You people are dickless aren't you? Why the hell did I have to be summoned by eunuchs?"

This Succubus was experienced, and old. She knew how to fight, she knew how to fuck, she knew how to survive. Accepting the summons was a game she and her kind played. It lead to such... sweet rewards. So often a hedge Sorcerer or Wizard summoned up a Succubi in search of a quick fuck and found that instead of graduating from virginity... they graduated to the grave instead. Still, some men thought death in a Succubi's arms worth it. She certainly thought it was. And she did everything she could to make sure the men she was with think so too. They were food. All just... so much food.

She hadn't always thought so. She had listened to tales of Succubi falling in love and taking husbands and transforming them into Incubi so they could fuck forever in Pandemonium. She had hoped for that herself in the past. They were beings of carnal lust, and most of the faithful thought beings like that couldn't fall in love. But they were wrong. Lust may be considered a sin by the Church, but it was merely a component of something greater. The Succubi knew this, even if she had denied it. Lust, what she was, was a desire for the body of someone. For the things they could make you feel, the curve of their breast in your hand, the touch of their firm muscles under your fingertips, and the feel of bodies pressing together in the most perfect union possible between two sexes. Yet there was another emotion, a virtue. Love. Love was desire not just for the body, but also for the heart, the mind, the very being of a person. About wanting them near you. About wanting to talk with them, to be with them, to simply enjoy being together.

The Succubi knew this. All of them did.

Lust was merely a component of Love, and both were desire. Pure or sinful, both had their place.

Only this Succubus... well, she gave up that dream long ago. Maybe one day. In a few hundred years. If she got out of this, that is...

Looking up from slowly sliding her finger in and out of her body as she cupped one of her petite breasts, she heard the great iron doors of this room open. So much power in this place. So much warding magic. Even if she could escape this circle it was unlikely she could escape this room.

The Succubus stretched languidly, and smiled, "Mmmm... more. Come. Bring them all in. I want to play..." She cooed to the Paladins, her words addressed to the entire room. "Ooooh... your cocks would love this pussy of mine. Look how its latching onto my finger? See? ...Mmmm... God, it feels so good when I /suck/." She pulled her finger out of her with a lewd pop, as some of the Paladins actually looked a little bit disturbed by her words and actions. Or perhaps it was for those who entered. They could see them, she could not.

"Leave us," intoned a gentle, aged voice. "Seal the doors. Let no one in or out. Full precautions." The Paladins, and the Succubi's summoner, departed the room without question.

The two old men who walked into the Succubi's field of view were not handsome. Or rather, they used to be when they were young. Age had given them distinguishment, but it also had left them... old.

The Succubi liked them young.

"Mmmm... Hello."

The Priest in Red, his arms behind him, looked upon her with disgust, and said simply, "You speak the name of God in that lustful voice, demon. Why?"

The Succubi smiled, "Its natural. 'Oh god!' sounds so... right when you're feeling so good. Because only a loving God could give the body this much pleasure... Mmmm... Let me out and I might even show you."

The taller man, the Priest in White, narrowed his eyes, "I'm afraid, little slut demon... that there will be no more feeding for you. Not ever."

The Succubi rolled back more onto her butt, kicking her legs up and posing with her heels to the ground and her knees bent up, her arms resting on them. In this position, her dripping sex was aimed at the old men like a weapon.

"Oh... going to kill me, Father? Have I been a /bad/ girl? Have I been naughty? ...my kind are just banished from this world when we die. Even if you kill me, I'll be back. And ooooh... when I do...," her words promised exquisite pleasure... and death. A clear threat.

The Priest in Red... didn't they call them something special? Red... bird? She didn't truly care. But he shook his head slowly, "...This will be the worst part... but we will have to hurry. For all he made this summoning circle well... it will erode the longer she is trapped inside it and the power of the Chief God is out here. The Spiritual Energy and her Demonic Energy struggling to reach one another."

The Succubus smiled, "Isn't that fascinating? Mmmm... Demonic Energy. Mana. Whatever the scholars call it. Every demon has it! And it makes us want to /consume/ the Spiritual Energy that completes it. ...But we cannot be filled for very long, can we? I mean, there is only so much of a person. And even we Succubi eat our men eventually. We just do it through another mouth~."

The Priest in White glowered, "Harlot! You will never feast on another man, no feel the fulfillment your body craves so much!" He moved across the room from the Priest in Red. Oh yes! Cardinal. That was the name they used. The Succubus looked over her shoulder and responded, "Mmm. I love being double penetrated. And my ass is just as good as my pussy, I promise..."

The Cardinal brought his hand forward, exposing the stone fist it was. The Succubi frowned on seeing it, then realization dawned, "Oooooh... its /you/. I've heard about you. I thought you were supposed to have died..." The Cardinal smiled a bit sadly, "Much of me did die on the day the current Demon Lord's father turned my friends to stone. But that didn't stop me from killing him. ...But after that day, I've been useless in the field." The Succubi giggled, "The Demon Lord has an immense bounty on your head, Father. An entire city worth of slaves for the Monster to bring you to him. He loved his father so..."

"ENOUGH!," the Priest in White snarled. "Your eminence... I am prepared."

The Cardinal didn't look in the least bit concerned about the Demon Lord's bounty, nor the Succubi's threat. She was about to face something that had only been theory before it was proven a few years ago by a rather... touched... member of the church.

"When we begin, we cannot stop. It must continue until every drop of Demonic Energy is removed from her body. If we leave even a trace... she will be able to escape the bonds we will place on her."

"I know. ...I am ready."

Rising now slowly, the Succubi paused, considering the Cardinal's words and looking between the two men, "...What are you doing?" There was a hint of worry in her voice. She didn't like what she didn't understand.

The Priest in White peeled his lips back in a rictus grin and spoke a single word.

"Redemption."

In turn, the Cardinal responded with a single word of his own.

"Purification."

They each raised their hands and closed their eyes. The stone fist of the Cardinal was held towards the Succubi, while the Priest in White did the same with his own flesh and blood hand. The Succubi blinked, suddenly growing very afraid. "Wait... what? Don't! You can't do this! Its... its one of your sins, isn't it? 'Thou shalt not Redeem the Monster?' ...I... I mean come on! Like it will even work!"

Ignoring her, the two old men spoke softly as one.

"Let her Light come forth."
"Let her Light come forth."

The Succubi was surrounded in pure light filling the symbol around her. There was no where to hide, no where to run.

The Succubus began to scream.