Chapter 247: WENDIGO. Live fast, die young

Blood rained, and I laughed. Worthless humans ran like the worms they were. She’ll send them all to Hell, where its flames sort them on weak and strong.

Master sent me and my squad first—another show of trust. I only wished Sin could see it—then I’d be able to laugh in his face. But he still didn’t return from whatever hole Master threw him into, and that must’ve meant that he was finally sent to his reincarnation. If so, then that was a pity.

He was strong, after all. A worthy servant. His final death would’ve been a waste.

But these thoughts didn’t hold in my head for long, because I was going to the mortal realm!

It was everything we were told about and more. Clear air, warm, if terrifying, sun, food that simply grew under our feet. The temptation to stay where we ended up and simply let myself and my warriors enjoy ourselves was great, but the fear of my Master’s wrath cleared my head, cloudy with the scents of this place.

“Keep yourself in hand, maggots!” I shouted then at my soldiers. “We will celebrate when our job here is done. Now, we will march!”

By Master’s magic, we appeared at what must’ve been fields next to a human city. They were black and green, and the earth I picked up and ground between my fingers was wet and smelled almost edible. Even dirt in the mortal realm was special.

Following the plan, I divided my squad. A dozen of the most powerful and cunning demons spread in the area, where should’ve been smaller settlements—they will burn, destroy and pillage. I and the rest moved towards the city.

Master gave me a great honour—I will pretend to be him. For that, I had to bind and hide my chest and hips, but that was a sacrifice I barely noticed unless the clothes I had to wear restricted my movements.

I will challenge gods, and if I win, I will become stronger than Master. If not, then I will return to Hell knowing that I helped him.

My fingers reached for the shiny mirror in my pocket. That was another thing I had that no one else did. Master told me I must use it to contact him when the havoc begins, then throw it away. A strange order, but I didn’t ask—Master knew better. Though I had my guesses.

Either way, I knew to do what he said.

“They see us, I can tell from where we are, Master!” I told into the mirror’s surface. “Humans. The dozen I sent to the villages must’ve reached some already, too.”

“Great, Wendigo. You still remember your targets?”

“Yes, Master. I wouldn’t forget no matter what. A place full of music and pictures. We won’t miss it when we destroy everything! We will scream your name as mine!”

An arrow shot in my direction distracted me for a moment I needed to catch it and throw to the ground.

“They are coming! And so will we. I won’t let you down, Master—you’ll see!” I said and threw the mirror to the human who dared to shoot at me. It didn’t fly that far, but that didn’t matter—I soon followed, and the human stood no chance.

Other humans were no better.

It was the best kind of carnage—the carnage in the mortal realm. It felt weird, at first, to not have to kill your enemies several times, but we soon grew used to it. As for our own lives—we didn’t care much from the start.

With kicks and shouts, I separated my squad again, this time—to cover as much of the city as possible. It was huge and full of people, like Limbo, but I could see it all at once because there was no mist. Only screams and smoke when something burned.

It wasn’t long until adventurers I was warned against joined the fray. One of them was the one who lit a house up with his explosive magic—he tried to get me, but was too slow. I didn’t give him time for a second attempt.

That was one adventurer—there were more. One shot an arrow, faster than I could catch, and a demon who fought next to me fell with its shaft sticking out of his head. That adventurer was good—so good that I got an arrow myself into a shoulder before we surrounded and killed him. In the name of my Master, Devourer! Today it was my name too, and I screamed it and tasted the sweet human flesh, not tainted with the stench of Hell.

Besides adventurers, other human warriors couldn’t offer much resistance. They fell from a single strike and didn’t stand up, even those who wore heavy armour. What was the point of it when it bent from a hit of my fist? It just made them slower.

Not every human could even swing their weapons hard enough to break my skin!

Just like I promised, we found the building of music and paintings. It looked like a piece of art itself—weird. With too many useless bits attached. My fighters agreed and were full of enthusiasm when they began to break it apart. They laughed, throwing bits of stone into the people who ran from the inside. Then one offered to paint over the pictures inside with their blood, which I also found to be a great idea.

Red looked much better than all the colours these humans used for their craft. Red of the enemy’s blood meant my life. Red on this building’s walls meant my success.

The clothes of the person who entered the building were all colours except red, but that wasn’t the thing that made me think that the next dozen minutes won’t be pleasurable for me. No, it was that he appeared from the thin air, and that his presence was so powerful, I needed a second to remember how to breathe.

My fighters, all dozen that were with me here, had to remember how to stand. But we wouldn’t have been demons if we didn’t.

I knew that the strange man was a god from that aura he exuded. I knew from the chill burning in his eyes that, despite the otherwise calm face, he was beyond furious.

“Vermin. Worse than vermin. Vermins, at least, do not understand what they destroy—it’s all the same for them. But you!” He clenched his fists. “This couldn’t have been an accident. Your appearance here couldn’t have been an accident. You shouldn’t have appeared here in the first place! Why, when I had been so close to the end of everything, fate keeps throwing one obstacle over another at me?”

“You talk too much, god.” I bared my teeth at him and raised my claws.

“Thank you for the reminder. You…” He looked at me again, inspecting. “You seem like the leader of these swines. Could you be—”

I used that moment of the god’s distraction to attack, and others followed my lead without my order. I trained them well.

If that didn’t help them when the god used his magic—weird like this building and these arts—that was simply because they weren’t strong enough.

The god fought like no one else I saw. His magic was a song, an image in the air, a scent—it was beyond confusing, but it was as hurtful as any claw or fang or sword. A fighter fell, dead, with blood seeping from his ears. I felt something bursting in my head, too—a step before I reached the god.

But I was stronger than that. Even if my hands couldn’t hold me anymore, I still had enough strength to, at least, claw at his hand.

He kicked it away, looking at me like he was going to spit into my eye—but he didn’t. Weird people. Why he didn’t if he wanted to? He defeated me. I wasn’t strong enough for him… I wasn’t as strong as Master. If he was there…

The air opened, and another god stepped out. Only gods could do that—and Master, of course. A woman with a bow in hand. She faltered for a moment when she took in the surroundings. Then, her gaze rose to the singing god, then fell to me.

“This one is still alive. You want to interrogate it?”

“Somehow, I doubt it will give us any useful information… How are things in the rest of the city?”

“As well as here. Some demons ran away—I will have to track them.” She leaned towards me. “This was their leader? It was the strongest one, at least, to still live.”

“It appears to be this way. But if you are asking me if this is Devourer, I highly doubt so. Before you ask, Devourer is able to take many forms, but this demon simply wasn’t strong enough. Besides, there are more.”

“There are more. And someone has sent them here, so we will have to send them back.”

The singing god smiled without showing teeth—the same way Sin smiled when he was angry. “It will be my pleasure.”

Then he said a word, and I died.