Legends of Amacia Srandi: Last Bastion of the Caverias

Only when the door had completely opened did Hannibal relax somewhat. The sense of peril he’d felt when approaching the door all but vanished. Yet the call he felt remained, and seemed even more potent now the door was open. Moreover, a vague sense of growing unease still plagued his mind as he gazed into the void of darkness beyond the door. It was something dark, elusive, and dangerous he could not quite put his finger on that troubled him. Just as one peril had lifted, another one arose to immediate take its place. It immediately caused his guard to come back up, irking him as he stared silently into the darkness beyond that didn’t seem natural. Enoch walked up and patted him on the right shoulder, saying, “Well done, little brother; very well done. Now we can properly lay Thoth to rest.” He failed to notice Hannibal’s growing apprehension with the dark passage before them, nor the unnatural look of the darkness beyond.

“Yes,” Tau agreed, “Let us proceed and secure the tomb so we may lay your venerable ancestor to rest.”

Andrew stepped up on Hannibal’s left, staring with a bit of concern at the darkness beyond the door, noticing something was off. “Uncle, do you feel what I feel,” he asked anxiously with a far look in his eye, “Something’s not right in there. That shadow feels wrong. I can sense it. It’s so bizarre and unnatural.”

“What do you sense, son,” Enoch asked bluntly, knowing not to dismiss Andrew’s intuition, which was always uncannily accurate. “Is it dangerous?”

“I don’t know,” Andrew admitted distantly, “It’s so strange I can’t rightly get my mind around what I’m sensing. I just can’t find the words. Maybe it’s my lack of experience with sensing such things. I just can’t tell. However, the one thing I can sense clearly is that it’s alien to everything I know and it’s angry, but so tired. I don’t know if it even means us any harm. Tell me you feel it, Uncle. Please, tell me you know what this means for I’m stumped by it. I’m not even sure I’m just imagining it because of all the other strange things we’ve already uncovered in here.”

Hannibal’s danger meter ticked up significantly when the call became clearer, along with the growing unease he felt. “You’re not imagining things, Andrew,” he replied soberly, “I felt it the moment the door opened, but I don’t think it means us any harm. It just wants someone to come and let it rest.”

“Is it the same presence that been calling to you, milord,” Assad asked.

“I think it might be,” Hannibal admitted, “The presence that’s been calling to me definitely has an alien feel to it and is very angry, but weary at being confined for so long. It doesn’t want to hurt us, but to release it as we released Thoth’s spirit in the throne room. All it wants is to be allowed to rest in peace.” His face suddenly contorted with astonished puzzlement as the presence now felt so familiar to him.

“What is it,” Josephine asked, seeing his face filled with true bewilderment. “What are you sensing now? You’re obviously sensing something new now that’s got you mystified. It’s written all over your face.”

Hannibal looked at Josephine for a moment, unable to hide his perplexity before looking intently back at the open door before them. “You’re right, Jo,” he declared softly, stunned by what he was now sensing. “The presence Andrew felt is the one that’s been calling to me and what’s even more astonishing is this presence actually feels familiar, almost as if its family. I know this entity somehow. I know her! Oh my Lord, I know who it is!”

“Who is it?” Harry asked cautiously, seeing Hannibal’s instant excitement at the revelation.

“It’s Ariel,” Hannibal blurted out, “I swear it’s her! Who else would be calling me from this place of utmost security? The records say Thoth laid Ariel to rest in this very crypt, and now her spirit is calling to me just as Thoth’s spirit drew me in the throne room. She wants to be free of this place. That’s why Andrew felt the call as alien, angry, and weary. He was sensing Ariel’s spirit begging us to come and set her free as we set Thoth free. She must have been tied here just like Thoth was because of what the Emperor did to her.”

“Are you sure, little brother,” Enoch asked in stunned amazement. “Can you really know it’s Ariel’s spirit? Could it be some other spirit or demon trying to get us to drop our guard? After all, this place was destroyed and utterly contaminated by the old Emperor with all of his dark power.”

Hannibal shook his head, saying, “I don’t think so, Enoch. Because of my extensive exposure to the Darkness, I know when a spirit is trying to deceive me. I sense no deceit in this one. Furthermore, she feels so weak I don’t think she’d ever be a threat to us. Besides, this spirit feels like a Caverias, and even now knows Leila is here with us. She wants Leila to come to her. In fact, she wants all of us to come and set her free of this prison.”

Leila’s face lit up with great astonishment as she suddenly felt the entity’s call. “Ariel,” she blurted out grief-stricken excitement. “It’s Ariel! I can feel her now. She’s in there! I know it! We must go in, Hannibal.”

“I’d say that answers that question,” Assad declared soberly, “Of anyone here, Miss Leila would be able to identify her twin sister’s spirit, who has apparently remained tied to this place just as Thoth was tied to it. Neither of them is going to be able to truly rest in peace and be free until they are together again.”

“You’re right, Assad,” Hannibal concurred, “We owe it to both of them to do this. Ariel means us no harm, but just wishes us to free her of this limbo. After all, this is what we’re here to do, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Andrew replied softly, “I can now sense her much clearer now, Uncle. It’s as if she seems to be drawing strength from something or someone now that the door is open. I wonder if it’s you that she’s drawing strength from, Uncle.”

Hannibal’s eyebrow rose with surprise at the idea. “You may be right about that, Andrew,” he replied, smiling at the thought. “With all the power the Lord has given me, who is to say a righteous soul such as Ariel couldn’t draw strength from it. It wouldn’t be the craziest thing I’ve seen since coming to this cursed underworld. Come on, everyone; let’s go say hello to Ariel since she was kind enough to send us an invitation to see her. Hand me the scepter, Harry.”

“You got it,” Harry replied, handing the scepter to Hannibal. “But on the outside chance this is a trap, you go first.”

Hannibal heard the sarcasm in Harry’s last comment as he tapped the scepter against the floor, which caused the crystal spearhead to light up brightly. “Chicken,” he replied sarcastically with a wry grin.

“Better a live chicken than a dead duck you know,” Harry bantered back. “I just know how things have a nasty habit of going sideways with you, even when you’re not looking for trouble. It has a habit of finding you when you’re not expecting it.”

Hannibal cocked his head to the side as he glanced at Harry with a raised eyebrow. “Well, you got me there, bud,” he answered evenly. “I’ll not argue with that for it’s so true. Just follow me but not too close. If there is something bad in there, I want it to happen to me first. Besides, I think Andrew is right. Something in that shadow has me riled up. I don’t think Ariel is alone in there.”

“Are you sure?” Assad asked with growing concern, sensing something odd about the darkness too.

“To be honest, no,” Hannibal admitted, “It could just leftover jitters from what’s already happened, or it could be something else, something more...tangible. I can’t tell as of yet. If there is something lurking in there aside from Ariel’s ghost, then I should be able to identify it when I get closer. At the moment, whatever it is seems to be hiding in that odd-looking shadow just beyond the scepter’s light.”

“Then you should be very careful as you approach,” Assad warned, sniffing the air catching a malodorous fetor slowly oozing from the open door. “I’m starting to smell something new coming from that aperture and I do not like it. It’s the stench of putrefying death.”

“I’m starting to get a whiff of it too,” Tau agreed. “It’s an appalling odor that I’ve only smelled around rotting carcasses and whenever an Old One is nearby.”

“I don’t know about Old Ones, but I do know a fresh body-dump when I smell it,” Nemesis growled darkly, smelling the reek too, “...and that’s what starting to waft out of that passage. I can’t understand why we’d be smelling such a thing when we know everything in there has been dead since the 1st Age. Can’t you smell it, Hannibal?”

At that point, Hannibal started to smell the faint reek and his face fell with growing concern. He knew the reek that was greeting them for he’d encountered it before. His danger meter ticked up several more notches at the reek. “I can smell it,” he answered gravely, “This is not good. It has the stench of the Darkness all over it. However, I can’t get a sense of who or what it is yet. It’s doing a damned good job of hiding itself. Regardless, I should be able to get a sense of our dark intruder when I get closer to that door. The closer I am to the enemy, the easier it is for me to sense its identity and be able to deal with it when it attacks.”

“You think this thing wants to ambush us?” Enoch asked grimly.

“I do,” Hannibal growled. “But it may decide to leave without giving us any trouble because of what happened with Legion in the throne room earlier.”

“You don’t really believe that, do you Hannibal?” Harry asked bluntly, as he grimaced at the stink that now reached his nostrils. “When has any demon or dark power ever left you alone without at least confronting you?”

“You’re right, Harry,” Hannibal admitted, “Whoever or whatever is in there will at least test me to see if there’s any chance of taking me out. If it turns out to be minion of the Dark Powers, it will turn tail and run the moment it realizes it has no chance against me. On the other hand, if it’s something as powerful as an Old One, demon prince or lord, then we may be in for a tussle.”

“What if it is a powerful demon,” Samantha asked. “What do we do?”

“You and the rest of you do nothing except pray while I deal with it,” Hannibal said bluntly. “None of you have the capability of going against a demon prince or lord. I, on the other hand, have been forged by the Lord Himself to deal with these monsters. Together with the Lord at my side, we will clear the way and deal with it should it be a demon of any noticeable power.”

“Can you tell yet if it is a demon hiding in there?” Leila asked fearfully.

“Not as of yet,” Hannibal answered soberly, “But I will when I get closer. You needn’t be afraid of any demon with me around. The Lord and I will protect you and everyone else here from its vile touch.”

“But it won’t happen if you don’t confront it now,” Assad declared, “The longer you wait, the stronger it will become. You should proceed and ferret out the identity of this dark entity who dared to pollute the very heart of Srandi. Its vile influence must be purged from this holy place now before it can truly respond to our presence.”

“Indeed,” Hannibal agreed, turning back to the entrance, seeing the oily-looking darkness lurking just beyond the light of the scepter’s crystal spearhead. “I hoped we’d not encounter any contamination down here, but I was wrong. I guess it’s time I went to work and figured out exactly what’s waiting for us in there that’s not Ariel’s spirit.” His countenance turned grim and menacing as he looked into the darkness beyond.

“Do you want to go in alone, knowing what may be lurking in there,” Nemesis asked bluntly. “I don’t think it’s wise for you to step foot in there without some backup.”

“You’re right, Nemesis,” Hannibal stated, “It would be supremely stupid for me to go in there alone knowing something bad may be waiting for us. I’ll definitely take a small team in to back me up just in case.”

“Who do you want to accompany you?” Enoch queried.

“Nemesis, Andrew, Harry, and Samantha will follow me in,” Hannibal ordered. “We’ll deal with whatever’s making that terrible stench and then sweep the crypt to make sure no other nasty surprises are waiting for us in there. The rest of you need to wait here until called for. It shouldn’t take too long. Leila, how far is it to the main chamber of the crypt?”

“It’s fifty cubits to the main crypt through the entry passage,” Leila stated with a look of fearful eagerness on her face. “There shouldn’t be any traps in the passageway, unless Thoth set some when he changed the programming on the guardians. I pray he left it alone for we all considered everything beyond that door sacred ground, never to be tampered with or desecrated with lethal traps or machines. Furthermore, I pray you don’t encounter this dark presence you’re sensing. However, with everything we seen coming here, I’d advise caution in case Thoth did think to defile the interior of the crypt with antipersonnel traps or that thing you feel is stupid enough to pick a fight with you.”

“That sounds like good advice,” Nemesis rumbled. “We should proceed on the assumption it’s a trap just to be safe.”

“I agree,” Hannibal stated. “Nemesis, you may want to activate your passive scanners when we enter, just to be safe. Come on. Let’s do this. We shouldn’t keep Ariel or the thing waiting.” With that, he stepped towards the entrance to the darkness beyond with the scepter forward in a defensive posture and a look of grim determination in his eye. Nemesis followed on Hannibal’s left, fully alert to the unknown beyond. Andrew drew his sword and flanked Hannibal on the right, following Nemesis’ lead by keeping a couple of steps behind Hannibal. Samantha pulled her battle-axe from its place on her back, readying it for action following a few steps behind Nemesis and Andrew. Harry grunted and hefted his war hammer, flanking Samantha as they followed Hannibal, Andrew, and Nemesis to the passage beyond.

The scepter’s crystal spearhead cast more than enough light to drive back the darkness a full twenty feet as Hannibal stopped everyone before stepping into the passage itself, feeling something very off as he gazed into the inky void that seemed strangely tangible. His innate ability to sense danger ticked up several significant notches while he looked at the passage and the oily darkness beyond. A faint fetid odor he detected earlier became far more potent. It smelled of decaying death mixed with sulfur, oil, and feces as it wafted out of the door in a grim exhalation. A sour grim expression crossed his face, as he didn’t like what he sensed, or what he smelled, which was growing increasingly familiar to Hannibal. The hair on the back of his neck stood up while a sinister icy chill chased down his spine. Something dark and menacing lurked in the nearly solid looking darkness twenty feet into the passage. Spreading his arms wide, he said, “Hold on a minute; Andrew is right about something not being right in there, and now I know it. I sensed it the moment I looked into the passage when the door opened, and now I can clearly sense the thing standing here in the doorway.”

“What is it?” Selina called out while standing with the rest of the team. “Can you identify it?”

“No,” Hannibal growled, feeling his anger rising again at this new impediment to his progress. “I’m not sure what it is, but it feels and smells very familiar. It smells of the Dark Powers. Something very malicious lurks in the darkness there. Did any of you notice how odd that darkness looks in the passage and how it stinks of rotting death as Assad pointed out? It looks almost tangible, like it’s a living oily shadow.”

“I noticed that,” Enoch answered in a very concerned tone. “It almost looks like a black version of the portal membrane with a most intolerable stench that’s exactly what Assad and Lord Tau said they smelled. I don’t like the look of it at all. It’s unnatural.”

“I agree,” Assad concurred grimly, “It’s definitely unnatural and it smells of the Dark Powers. I’d say we undeniably have another demon on our hands, milord. Be very careful.”

“I plan to,” Hannibal answered soberly. “The only thing I can say for sure is it absolutely doesn’t like the light the scepter is giving off. It actually retreated from the light in a physical manner when I approached the entrance here. I saw it. I think the light actually hurts it. Just look at it. That thing looks like an enormous black...blob.” His expression fell with great dismay as he realized where he’d seen such an entity before. “Oh shit,” he swore, sensing a hypnotic luring call blasting from the thing in the passage. It tried to seep into his mind to corrode it, beckoning him to walk physically into the darkness without any light. The call was so seductive and tempting, yet Hannibal knew the taint of the Dark Powers from savage brutal experience. He pushed back against the siren’s song of the dark entity before it could ensnare him. Shaking off the lure of the entity’s dark seductive call, Hannibal instantly looked around, seeing every member of his team except for Nemesis, Josephine, Assad, and Tau with completely blank looks on their faces as if they were in a trance. They had no power against the dark entity’s siren song. When Hannibal turned his gaze to Nemesis, Josephine, Assad, and Tau, they were cringing, holding their heads with their hands.

“Hannibal, do something,” Nemesis snarled in pain, “It’s trying to override my cybernetics! What is this thing? How can it be doing this?” The others groaned and cried in agonizing pain as the thing tried to override their wills physically.

Hannibal turned back to the entity shrouded in the now liquid-looking darkness of the passage with an enraged look, his Berserker Battle Rage pegging into the nuclear range in less than two seconds. A menacing deep gurgling chuckle rumbled forth from the passage...a demoniac laugh Hannibal instantly recognized. “It seems I finally got your attention this time, you traitorous malignant human germ,” the deep demoniac voice gurgled viciously as the tangible shroud of darkness morphed into a colossal black blob of an oozing demon face Hannibal knew all too well.

A brilliant white aura instantly swirled around Hannibal as his eyes and hands arced with bluish-white lightning that the scepter drank up eagerly. In a tone as deadly as the demon foe he faced, Hannibal stepped into the passage and smacked the scepter’s pummel end against the floor, ordering, “Let them go NOW, Samhein, or you will find your blob ass in the Void with Lord Grimm! Let them go, NOW, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, son of the Almighty Lord of Hosts!”

An agonized demoniac shriek erupted from the black blob of Samhein when the scepter’s crystal spearhead blazed like a supernova in the darkness. The shock of the light from the activated scepter combined with the elemental assault of light from Hannibal and his command in the name of Jesus broke Samhein’s corroding influence on his team, freeing their minds of his deadly hypnotic summons. With a snarl, Hannibal pointed the blazing scepter at Samhein and demanded, “You have some gall desecrating this place with your vile presence, Samhein. Why the hell are you here? Answer me in the name of Jesus or I will have the Lord lock you up right next to Legion in the Deep of the Abyss! Answer me, damn it!”

The force of Hannibal’s divine righteous fury at the desecration of the Caverias Crypt caused Samhein to cower before Hannibal as he loomed threateningly with the scepter. Samhein morphed his colossal demon blob form into a smaller version of his squid/humanoid form he showed Hannibal outside of the Kartoom Gateway Temple. Lying on his back, Samhein held up his huge clawed hands fearfully in surrender to Hannibal as he crackled of divine light and elemental energy. “Please, don’t banish me, Beowulf. I yield!” the demon pleaded in a true panic.

“Like hell you yield,” Hannibal snapped back viciously, “You’ve never yielded to anyone, much less a human like me. I know you were Zeus’ handler before the Emperor killed him and robbed you of your host when I sent you back to that prick with my message. Now what the fuck are you doing here waiting in ambush for us in this sacred place like a goddamned demon spider? Surely, you knew I’d sniff you out. That appalling demon stench of yours is impossible to miss! Tell me now, in the name of Jesus!”

The very name of Jesus caused Samhein to hiss in excruciating pain. “You know damned well why I’m here, Beowulf,” he snarled venomously with fear, pain, and fury, “...so let’s cut the shit and get to the point. If you spare me, I will tell you why I invaded your precious crypt after watching you and Yahweh banish the Legion.”

“What do you want,” Hannibal said icily in a tone that truly unnerved Samhein. “Speak, and no lies or tricks, Samhein, or you will regret it.” He then moved in on Samhein, pushing the blazing crystal spearhead of the scepter in his face, stopping just a foot from his abominable head. “You get to the count of three to answer before I burn your pestilent blob body to ash and banish you to the Void. One, two....”

“Okay, okay; you win,” Samhein spat in fearful disgust and horrid pain at having the blazing crystal spearhead of Shadizar Kahn’s scepter pushed almost into his mouth. “I’m here to warn you.”

“About what, you demon prick,” Hannibal snarled viciously, barely able to control his rage, “...and don’t waste my time. I have too much to do to have to deal with the likes of you again. Why have you risked your very existence to ambush me here only to warn me about something I already know is coming?”

“I doubt you know this, Beowulf,” Samhein returned with fearful rage and hate.

“Stop wasting my time, you pestilent stinking demon shit,” Hannibal snapped, jabbing the point of the scepter’s crystal spearhead forward, briefly slashing what would have been Samhein’s cheek had he been human. The blazing crystal seared Samhein’s dark oozing flesh as it left a two-inch long gash that oozed sickly black liquid that stank of putrefying death. “Answer me now or I’ll do worse than nick you on the face, you festering pile of demon shit. What’s this all about?”

“You’ll pay for that, Beowulf,” Samhein snarled, barely able to restrain his wrath and swallow Hannibal whole in his gelatinous bulk.

“Put it on my bill, you putrid gelatinous pile of Grimm shit,” Hannibal countered with his eyes arcing violently with white lightning. “Now answer the question. What’s this warning you thought so important that you’d come here to tell me in person? No more stalling.”

Knowing Hannibal had him in checkmate, Samhein growled in dismal resignation, saying, “I just thought you’d like to know the Black Prince means to unleash the Azhidakar on you when he comes here to end you.”

The news surprised Hannibal and he backed off slightly, but kept Samhein covered with the scepter. “Go on,” he insisted grimly.

“You know several of them got away when you destroyed Kartoom,” Samhein reported, “I know you saw them before you got inside the city.”

“I did,” Hannibal answered sternly. “I saw three of them flying off towards the Black Fortress. The big one actually looked at me before it flew away. Why are you telling me this?”

“Did you know the big one is the alpha original who came to this planet back in the 1st Age,” Samhein queried with a smug tone and expression. “Your pestilent species came to call him the Destroyer of Worlds.”

Hannibal’s left eyebrow rose with genuine surprise as he admitted, “I did not know that. I’d heard from Horace about the Azhidakar and their alpha, but didn’t think he’d actually survived until now.”

“Well, he did,” Samhein crowed triumphantly, “...and now the Emperor will send him after you since you annihilated his entire brood when you obliterated Kartoom. If you know anything about drakens, especially the Azhidakar, they have a real thirst for vengeance when they have been wronged, and you have committed an atrocity on their kind. You practically wiped out their entire brood destroying Kartoom. Don’t think the Destroyer is going to let that pass. Your days are numbered. If the Black Prince doesn’t take you down, the Destroyer will. I just wanted to see your ugly ape face when I told you that. It makes my day knowing you now face one of the most devastating forces of destruction in the universe apart from the Black Prince. I look forward to seeing you incinerated and cast into Abyss where I’ll be waiting for you. We’re going to have all kinds of fun when you get there.”

Hannibal’s face went stony cold in fury at the taunt. Backing off with his eyes now glowing white like a god with bluish-white lightning arcing in his eyes and over his hands, charging both of the Draken Gauntlets and the scepter, he deliberately banged the scepter’s pummeled end on the floor, making it flash like a supernova again, searing Samhein’s dark oozing and putrid flesh. He then stretched out his free hand with his fingers open. When he closed his fingers as if grabbing something, Samhein roared in primal agony when an enormous ephemeral glowing white hand appeared and captured the demon, picking him up off the floor. The nauseating stench from his searing flesh became so appalling everyone had to retreat except Hannibal. The lethal fetor fazed him not in the least. Looking Samhein directly in his demon eyes, Hannibal hissed icily, “You have made a lethal mistake in underestimating me, Samhein. I’m not the same person who talked you into taking Zeus to his death when my team obliterated Kartoom. I’ve grown far beyond that now and you damned well know it. All the Dark Powers know how my power and abilities of the Light are growing exponentially, including you. I’ve faced Old Ones and Dark Titans since we met in the pits of Kartoom and have grown tremendously in power and wisdom because of it. Shit, I’ve even had a run-in with Lord Grimm in his latest attempt to breech our reality, which he failed to do thanks to the Lord’s intervention. I do none of these things in my own power. The Lord does this in order to confound you and your fallen rebellious ilk. You should have never rebelled against Him, Samhein. Now you’re paying the price of your arrogance, deceit, and rebellion.”

“You verminous half-evolved ape shit,” Samhein swore in protest. “You’ll pay for this. If I go, then I’m taking you with me.”

Hannibal’s eyes flashed menacingly as he slowly closed his fingers, making the giant glowing hand restraining Samhein squeeze him tighter. Samhein squalled in agony, completely helpless against Hannibal’s power. After a few moments, Hannibal relaxed his hand, causing the glowing hand to stop tormenting the demon. “I think not, you festering putrid blob of demon shit,” he snarled. “The Lord is in control here, not me and definitely not you. The only reason you’re not vaporized and sent into the Void is because the Lord is restraining me at this very moment. Were He not holding me back, I would have torched your sorry ass and sent you packing into the Void the moment I saw you, but no. That’s not what the Lord wants from me or you. Tempt Him further and He will let my rage destroy you.” Samhein was about to counter when Hannibal snapped, “In the name of Jesus, shut your vile demon mouth and listen carefully for I’m going to say this only once.” The order instantly silenced the demon, who managed a dark nod of his hideous misshapen head. “Good,” Hannibal hissed venomously, “You’re finally learning not to push me. Now listen up, you fetid blob of demon shit. Your plot to capture and destroy me has failed utterly. We sensed your vile presence the moment the guardian allowed the door open, so your hope of catching us by surprise crashed and burned. However the news about the Azhidakar and the Black Prince’s plans concerning them is useful to me so I will give you a choice instead of just sending your blob ass back into the Abyss or the Void as you deserve for this heinous violation of this sacred place.”

“What’s this choice,” Samhein asked in a defeated tone, knowing he had no way out.

“The choice is this,” Hannibal declared with all the grimness of an executioner about to land the killing blow, “Leave this place and these people now of your own will along with any minions you may have with you and never, ever come back, or face Legion’s fate. I know damned well you saw it since you were here waiting for me. In addition, you’re not to target anyone as you’re leaving. No infesting or possessing anyone on the way out as a way to get around is ultimatum. I’ll know if you pull any such shit so just don’t do it. I’m not going to tolerate it. This is the only chance the Lord is giving you. Refuse this order and you will be joining Legion in the Deep of the Abyss, chained until the end of time itself right next to him. It’s your choice. What will it be?”

“I know when I’m checkmated,” Samhein admitted, hate and disgust dripping from his words, “We’ll leave and not molest anyone on the way out, but know this, Beowulf. This isn’t over by any means. I will eventually catch you with your guard down and have my revenge.”

“Take a number, you stinking demon prick,” Hannibal scoffed boldly. “There are many other demon lords and princes who already want my head and soul, including Dezarcus and Lord Grimm himself. Are you willing to take their wrath by stealing their prize?” When Hannibal saw the concerned look cross Samhein’s hideous face, he cackled darkly, “I thought not. Just remember the agreement. Leave this place and these people now and never come back in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, son of the living God, the Almighty Ancient of Days. Now go!” Hannibal opened the fingers of his hand, causing the ghostly glowing hand restraining Samhein to open.

“Another time, Beowulf; that’s a promise,” Samhein hissed ominously in wrath as his hideous form seemed to disintegrate into nothingness before everyone’s eyes.

The moment Samhein vanished, the darkness in the passage beyond immediately looked natural and Hannibal immediately felt Samhein’s dark pall lift. “Any time, you demon prick,” he murmured icily as his rage slowly subsided. The level of lethal peril practically vanished at this point, allowing Hannibal to relax and compose himself.