Diablo 3: Hell's Eclipse
Caldeum: The Lord of Lies
Previous ChapterNext ChapterWith the Black Soulstone in their possession, and given to Leah since she was the best one to keep it safe, the group quickly returned to the camp, where Adria seemed surprised that Kulle was still alive, while Tyrael seemed to be on guard, but both stopped when Leah held up their prize.
"As per the bargain, you now have the Black Soulstone... which holds the souls of the five slain Lords of Hell." Kulle stated, a fact that was followed by Tyrael raising an eyebrow as he considered what this meant, while Adria seemed unfazed by the information, something that both he and Luna noticed immediately, "Adria, you don't seem surprised. Did you know of this?"
"...Yes, I did. Twenty years ago Cain told me of your soulstone, so I left Leah and tracked the Lords of Hell to the places that they died in, making their souls in the process." Adria admitted, though that immediately caused Luna to consider things as everyone stood there, listening to her reveal information that she should have revealed in the beginning, especially since the arrival of the five souls had been a surprise to all of them, "I sacrificed much of my life, and a life I could have had, to make sure the Lords of Hell were sealed away in something so they could be banished forever... though I will admit, the Black Soulstone seems... different... from what Cain told me."
"Oh, that's because I added my lunar magic to it, in the form of a seven point seal to ensure the Lords of Hell stay quiet for a long time." Luna said, where she could see a look of shock appear on Adria's face, the type that was usually seen on those who had a plan and a piece of information had broken their plan, before she turned to Tyrael as the Valla's group joined up with them, "But now that we have the soulstone in our possession it's time for us to visit the 'Emperor' and track down Belial at long last... but be prepared, our foe will no doubt unleash Hell upon us to try and stop us."
Tyrael nodded before they descended into the city once more, where they found that the sky turned dark as small meteors fell from the sky, causing Luna to call for everyone to save the people of the city, to escort them into the sewers, and, sure enough, serpent demons came to attack them. The Captain of the Iron Wolves was there as well, her forces were attacking the demons as well, and her brief talk with Leah told her everything she needed to know, they were here to slay Belial and most of them would help her in keeping the people of the city safe. Sure enough there were people who didn't want to go down into the sewers, since it was filthy, but when the options were that or death most chose to head down into the sewers so they could live to see another day. Other than that Leah disobeyed her mother by joining in on the fight, using some of her normal flame arrows to pierce the demons and destroy them, before Luna found that the door leading into the palace was now enchanted to be unmovable.
Luna grinned as she saw that, because that was followed by her nodding to Leah as the girl held her hand towards the large gate and shattered it with her magic, something that caused Adria to pause, since she wasn't expecting her daughter to be this skilled, in fact Leah didn't need her mother's assistance.
Tyrael stayed back to aid the others in keeping the city safe, same as Valla's group, so Luna and the others tore through the army of serpent demons that were in front of them, those who had been guarding the area as royal guards, meaning Belial had changed out the entire guard without anyone noticing. While they fought Adria came to understand something, Leah was definitely in her element, she could use enchanted arrows to deal damage to her foes and even use her magic to form a barrier around her in case she felt that she was in danger. Add in the power to crush physical barriers with ease and that let her know that Leah's power was definitely stronger than she was expecting it to be, though for the time being Adria simply followed the group as they tore through Belial's various guards. Some of the serpent demons even tried to use illusions to stop them in their tracks, but the group cut through them as well and brought down their various barriers, allowing them to reach the edge of the Emperor's domain so Leah could crush the gate that was in their way.
Sure enough they discovered that the 'Emperor' was standing in the same area they had first encountered him in, with many guards to keep him safe, but this time around Luna could truly feel the demonic energy that was coming from the boy, which just confirmed what they already expected.
"Oh good, you've arrived just in time. Now, show me the..." the Emperor started to say, though in the next moment he and his guards found that the group stood at the ready, like they were expecting a battle to happen, and Leah had an arrow at the ready, one that looked like it was being aimed right at his forehead, "What are you doing?"
"You can drop the act, Belial. We had you figured out shortly after our first meeting." Luna stated, where she and the others found that the guards morphed into the serpent demons and attacked them, where she slashed through some while the rest of the group did the same thing, "Come, Lord of Lies, let us end this."
The 'Emperor' growled for a moment before shifting into a dark blue floating slender demon that seemed to be a master of illusions, befitting his position as the Lord of Lies, looking like a mage of some kind with no feet, though after his minions were slain Belial warped down to where they were standing. Luna found that she was immensely disappointed in Belial, as his powers seemed to involve summoning illusions of swarms of flies or swinging his arms at them, before he realized that this wasn't working at all, forcing him to use more of his powers against them. It seemed like Belial's powers involved trying to use their own minds against them, in an attempt to slow them down or even force one to kill the others, but he found that Luna was slashing her way through the illusions he sent her way. Belial even loosed a bolt of demonic energy into Luna's chest and found that it did nothing to her, she simply tanked the blow like it was nothing, though at the same time he found that Leah was definitely stronger as well, the two were moving in unison and attacking him like it was nothing.
It really didn't take them long to slash through Belial's defenses, cut down his reinforcements, and knocked him back up into the area that he had been standing in when he was the Emperor, causing him to huff for a moment as he looked down at all of them for a moment as he made up his mind.
"I CAST OFF THESE PETTY ILLUSIONS!" Belial shouted, where Luna found that the Lord of Lies sent out his power and made a dome around the area they were in, forming a barrier around this portion of Caldeum, before he transformed into a form that looked like a massive hulking version of his base form, positioned in the center of the area, while dark green energy just swirled around them, "Now you face the true power of a Lord of Hell!"
In the next moment Belial brought his thick bladed arm down on where Luna was standing, though Leah smiled as she and the others found that Luna had blocked the blow with her blade, as Ashbringer was more than enough to stop the attack in it's tracks, causing the Lord of Hell to pause.
"Seriously? Is this it? I know you're a Lesser Evil, but... this is just embarrassing, really." Luna remarked, as she expected to be pushed backwards and forced to use some of her stronger powers to stand up to this demon, but right now Luna was of the opinion that Twilight, as a unicorn, could crush Belial with ease, causing her to twist her arm and knock the bladed arm back for a moment, "Here, allow me to show you a fragment of my true power."
Leah knew Luna was being serious and it excited her, because Luna had a lot of spells and powers that they hadn't seen yet, though in the next moment she found a barrier going up around her and she called for everyone to gather around her, for it was one of Luna's, she could fell by how the magic felt. Once everyone was inside the barrier, which included Adria and Kulle since they had come to help take down Belial, Luna raised Ashbringer until it was level with the demon's head, before letting a smile appear on her face as silvery energy ignited all around the blade. It wasn't just a tiny bit of energy either, rather it was a large amount that seemed to be gathering around the weapon, and when Luna swung her blade in a diagonal manner they found that she loosed a crescent wave of energy without wasting even a single moment. Leah found that it was more like a torrent of Luna's energy, one that just cut through Belial, both his true form and the illusion he was using, while the wave just disappeared into the air, hence why she aimed at the air and not at the city, making her wonder what sort of damage it might have done had it connected with something physical.
In the following moment Belial's illusions faded away, restoring the area to it's pristine condition, as the Lord of Hell turned into a dark green swirling mass that had to be his soul, where Leah pulled out the Black Soulstone and channeled her power between the two, sealing the sixth Lord of Hell inside it in no time.
"It is done: Belial has joined his siblings in the Black Soulstone." Leah said, holding the black crystal close to her after the deed was done, where she could see that Luna's seal had pinned down Belial's soul has well, in the sixth point, leaving the last portion of the seal for Azmodan, and once all seven were inside it they would find a good place to shatter the stone to eliminate the Lords of Hell at long last.
"Good, now only one remains. Luna, what was that attack of yours?" Kulle inquired, because he hadn't seen anything like it during his many years, in fact he was sure none of the Lords of Hell had something like that in their arsenals, though at the same time he wondered how Luna would fair against one of the Greater Evils, if this was how quickly she took out one of the Lesser Evils.
"It is a condensed wave of magical energy, shaped like a crescent, while using my weapon as a starting point." Luna said, all while Adria seemed like she was going to have a mental breakdown, simply from trying to understand her and her powers, a fact that made her grateful that Pinkie hadn't come here, otherwise the witch would have gone insane by now, "It's pretty destructive, which is why I aimed it into the sky... makes me eager to see what sort of powers Azmodan has to offer, though we have no idea where he's currently hiding."
"We should focus on making sure the city is safe, before checking the archives for clues as to where he'd go... also, you and I need to have a training session, I feel ready for the next level." Leah stated, because with all of the magic she had used since arriving in Caldeum, and even utilizing new ways to use said magic, part of her realized that she was stronger than before and was eager to see what she could do against Luna's might, "Kulle, will you be joining us?"
"Yes. I made it my life's work to bring down the Lords of Hell and to save Sanctuary. Now that we're so close to succeeding I would be a fool to step aside." Kulle replied, though while he and Luna suspected that Adria was false, there was something about her that both of them didn't trust, he could see the light at the end of the tunnel, that all of his hard work was about to bare the greatest of fruit, before he turned to face Luna and Leah, "I would like for the two of you to travel with me later, as I am thinking of returning to the Greathall to reclaim the Loom... if we're going to fight Azmodan, the Lord of Sin and the one known as the greatest military general in all of Hell, we will need an army to fight him, and the Loom would be able to give us what we need."
Luna nodded her agreement to the plan, they would help Kulle, have a bit of a sparring match, and then figure out where in the world Azmodan was hiding, along with figuring out where they could shatter the Black Soulstone to permanently kill the Lords of Hell, but it only made her look forward to what the future held in store for them and the rest of Sanctuary.
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