Lord of the Hunt

"No—!" The Lord of Black Water struggled violently within the blurred, distorting space, as if dragged into a fathomless vortex from which there was no escape. With a mournful wail, the massive, pitch-black form grew increasingly translucent until it vanished entirely from the space of Avernus. Along with it, hundreds of thousands of heralds of rot dissolved into foul muck. "Long live Lord Bel!" "Invincible! Unconquerable!" "Only a lord as mighty, wise, and brilliant as Lord Bel could lead Avernus to victory! Only he could grind those demons back into the Abyss and ensure they never break free!" The devils cheered wildly, lavishing upon him the most sickeningly effusive praises their minds could muster. Bel raised his infernal sword high, basking in the adulation of his subordinates. He could feel the power of Avernus gathering within him—a planar boon granted exclusively to an Archduke of Hell! *Whoosh—!* Just then, an ear-splitting sonic boom pierced the sky. An arrow trailing an eerie, somber light ripped through the heavens, screaming straight for the pit fiend's heart. The arrow was roughly five meters long. Its head was forged from pitch-black metal, lethally sharp and gleaming with cold menace, its shaft engraved with intricate, chaotic runes. Even before the arrow arrived, Bel sensed it with his potent premonitory awareness. He snapped his massive wings, kicking up a violent tempest choked with sulfurous smoke in a desperate bid to dodge. Streams of magma erupted into midair around him, solidifying into hovering shields that interposed themselves directly along the arrow's flight path. Yet the arrow flew at terrifying speed. It punched clean through layer upon layer of his unholy aura, then shattered the magma barriers with a deafening crash, blasting stone fragments in all directions. *Riiiip—!* Grazing Bel's left shoulder, the arrow tore through the thick membrane of the devil's wing, ripping open a gruesome, jagged wound. The dim light clinging to the shaft coiled like twisting serpents, eating away at the flesh and blood of the wound while spewing a cloud of chaotic, poisonous vapor. Enraged, Bel roared toward the direction from which the arrow had come, "Who is it? Who dares?!" "Bel—" A raspy growl echoed from afar. At the far edge of the wasteland, accompanied by a gloomy mist that cloaked the earth, another towering figure slowly emerged before the eyes of all. It was a colossal monstrosity over forty meters tall, its entire form a leaden, somber gray. Its upper body was a humanoid torso, while its lower body was the powerful physique of a horse, resembling a centaur. Yet unlike ordinary centaurs, this creature's body was hideous, horrifying, and utterly grotesque. The humanoid torso was covered in gruesome scars leaking toxic fumes, while the equine lower half bristled with fine scales and protruding bone spurs, resembling a mutated hybrid born of lizard and stallion. Most terrifying of all were its eyes. Piercing through the darkness with a chilling gleam, they radiated ruthless murderous intent, looking as though they could lay bare the weakness of every living thing. The centaur wore light armor pieced together from the skins of over a thousand humanoids. In its hands, it held a longbow fashioned from the spine of a titanic beast. Slowly, it drew back the bowstring and notched an arrow. It was identical in every detail to the one that had just struck Bel. Meeting the centaur's gaze from across the distance, Bel felt a prickly chill down his spine, as if he were being hunted by the most terrifying predator in existence. "So it's you..." Even Cassius, watching from the ramparts in the distance, rose to his feet. He unfolded his wings and fixed his gaze upon the centaur-like monster. *What a formidable demon. Supremely dangerous—enough to threaten even my life...* *Tsk, tsk. Perhaps Bel will have no choice but to accept my terms and beg for my help after all.* A savage grin spread across Cassius's maw. No one needed to guess. The overwhelming pressure and the churning black mist had already revealed the centaur's identity—one of the three Abyssal lords invading Avernus: Mastiphal, the Lord of the Hunt! Bel tightened his grip on his infernal sword, slowly raising it as he said in a heavy voice, "Mastiphal, crawl out of Avernus! Otherwise, your fate will be far more miserable than that black fool's!" The centaur—Mastiphal—looked upon the devil from afar and responded evenly, "Heh. Bel, the cunning devil who usurped Avernus. "Speaking of which... I should probably thank you. You banished that fool Ixiniks, which leaves a far greater share of the spoils for me in this war." Bel sneered. "Do all you Abyssal bastards talk so big? Truly short-sighted, brainless brutes who can only see what lies right under your noses. "Who wins and who loses this war... has yet to be decided." The corners of Mastiphal's mouth curved upward as he licked his lips, revealing a chilling smile. His piercing eyes stayed locked on the devil, as if regarding prey. "Worry not, pit fiend. You are a rare quarry indeed. As repayment for banishing Ixiniks, once the hunt concludes, I shall preserve your corpse intact and turn it into my finest specimen." Suddenly, as if recalling something, he shook his head with mild regret. "It is a pity Zariel was slain by you. In my eyes, that beautiful, maddened fallen angel was a far more exquisite trophy." Before his voice had even faded, the Lord of the Hunt pulled the bowstring taut. Raising the bone bow, he aimed once more at Bel in the distance, his gaze sharp as needles, burning like torches. Vast, boundless Abyssal power surged forth, staining the arrow pitch-black. When the string was drawn into a full moon, the very world trembled faintly under the staggering murderous intent. Merely swept by that gaze, over a hundred devil soldiers plummeted from the sky, bleeding from all seven orifices, their faces pale with terror as they perished instantly. Bel, too, felt the horrifying killer intent aimed straight at him, and his heart quaked. If that arrow struck, he might truly die! Bel could clearly perceive that the arrowhead was imbued with the very essence of 'Death' derived from the Abyss, capable of extinguishing any life! And as an 'archduke' commanding only seventy percent of the realm's authority, Bel's soul had not yet fully bonded to Avernus. He was not truly immortal. At this moment, the Archduke of Hell finally understood where Mastiphal drew such absolute confidence. *By the Lord of the Nine Hells above! How can an obscure Abyssal lord who hasn't even reached demigod status possess such power?! This makes no magical sense at all!* "Ignorant, inferior creature..." As if discerning Bel's thoughts, Mastiphal rasped in his hoarse voice, "Ten thousand years ago, the God of the Gray Centaurs was hunted down by Malar, the God of the Hunt. Driven into a corner, he fled into the Abyss, yet in the end, he still died. "From the divine corpse gnawed upon by Malar, I was conceived—the great Mastiphal, Lord of the Hunt! "My arrival shall make the planes tremble, and you, young Lord of Hell, shall be the first quarry to fall after my emergence from the Abyss!" *Whoosh—!* Before the words fully faded, Mastiphal loosed the string. The pitch-black arrow ripped open the heavens, screaming straight for Bel. Bel beat his powerful bat wings with all his might, churning up a ferocious gale. He ascended thousands of meters in an instant, conjuring walls of roiling hellfire beneath him. Yet the terrifying arrow seemed anchored to the pit fiend. It punched straight through the flaming walls without pause, homing directly in on him. "You cannot kill me!" Bel roared through gritted teeth, "I am the great master of Avernus, Duke of Hell! I endured countless hardships and schemed for centuries to claim this supreme seat! How could I let you take my life so easily?!" The pit fiend swung his greatsword with everything he had, tearing intersecting dimensional rifts through the surrounding space and causing magma to pour through them. Bel darted through the spatial conduits, constantly shifting position in an attempt to launch an ambush against the Lord of the Hunt. Yet dense, chaotic black mist swirled around Mastiphal, disrupting Bel's teleportation spells and sending him crashing against planar resistance again and again. Against an opponent like the Lord of Black Water, Bel could set up an arcane array to banish him, or even wear him down until a countermeasure presented itself. Against Mastiphal, however, every arrow was lethally dangerous. A single misstep could cost him his life. "Bel, abandon your futile struggles! Your end was written from the start—to become my prey!" Watching the darting devil, Mastiphal gave a sinister sneer. He bent his bow once more and loosed over a dozen arrows in rapid succession. Trailing streams of black light, the projectiles crisscrossed the high heavens in chaotic, erratic trajectories. Bel unleashed the power of Avernus coursing through him. Surging hellfire billowed from his flesh, obliterating several arrows in succession, yet he could not completely extinguish the law of 'Death' they carried. Even as the arrowheads melted into molten iron and the shafts burned into ash, the remnants relentlessly pursued Bel's heart, refusing to stop until they found their mark. Unable to counter them all, Bel was pierced through by several arrows. Turbulent chaotic energy flooded his body, and he coughed up geysers of scalding fiendish blood. Finally, dragging his battered, heavily wounded body, the Archduke of Hell cast aside all dignity and bellowed desperately toward the Bronze Citadel: "Cassius, save me!" "Oh? Can't hold out any longer, can you?" The red dragon had been watching the spectacle with keen amusement. Upon hearing Bel's desperate cry for help, he snapped his wings, vaulting into the sky amid a blistering hurricane. *Whoosh—!* Brilliant flames of light vented from behind Cassius as he streaked across the sky like a falling star, arriving at the very front of the battlefield beside Bel in the blink of an eye. Bel spat a mouthful of tainted black blood. Breathing heavily, his expression tense, he growled, "Quickly, Cassius! Kill that damned gray centaur! It wields the power of death!" Yet the red dragon simply turned his head and asked in an even tone, "So—do you agree to my terms?" Bel said frantically, "I agree! Hurry and kill that gray centaur!!" *Swoosh—!* Several arrows blasted through the air, instantly shredding the space Bel had occupied moments before. Fortunately, the pit fiend had already fled to another location. Emerging from a dimensional fissure, Bel roared in fury, "Cassius! What in the Hells are you doing?!" To his astonishment, the red dragon leisurely pulled a scroll from between his scales and extended it toward him. "Bel, you did betray your former master, after all. I cannot take your word on faith. Sign this contract." "Damn it! Even at a time like this, you—" Another arrow whistled through the air, violently impaling the pit fiend's left wing and ripping open a massive hole, leaving the leathery limb utterly tattered. "How about now?" Cassius asked with a smile. As if finally steeling his resolve, Bel snatched the contract, imprinted his true name upon it, and ground out a single word through clenched teeth: "Fine." The moment the word fell, Cassius stepped in front of Bel, unfurling wings that blotted out the sky to reveal the brilliantly gleaming dragon crystal embedded in his chest. The red dragon parted his cavernous maw, blinding white radiance bursting from his throat. *BOOM—!* *Maximized Breath of Ordering!* Flames embodying absolute order poured forth from Cassius's maw, coalescing into an unblemished, straight pillar of silver-white fire, like a sacred pillar upholding the heavens. In an instant, the dozen or so arrows were swallowed in a sea of silver-white brilliance. Even the Abyssal death-essence clinging to them was utterly annihilated. This was Cassius's Flame of Order. After receiving multiple layers of empowerment, his breath had grown formidable enough to contend with divine power. "This is..." Bel stared wide-eyed at Cassius as the breath roared forth. Had he not personally witnessed how shameless and greedy this red dragon was, he might have believed this was an avatar of Bahamut walking the mortal realm. "By the Nine Hells, damn my eyes... I'm actually seeing an evil red dragon breathe flames purer than an angel's!" the pit fiend muttered in genuine disbelief. "Long live His Majesty Cassius!" "Long live the Empire!" "For the Cinder Emperor!" "Emperor Cass is invincible! Turn these demons into barbecue! Brother Cass's BBQ is unmatched under heaven!" Seeing Cassius take the field, the players across the battlefield erupted into delirious cheers, some even lamenting that the fun was ending too soon. "What a shame this war quest only lasts three days. Emperor Cass is already wrapping things up." "Hurry up and kill a few more demons! Who knows if we'll ever get another chance like this?" "Hey! That demon is ours! Stop kill-stealing! Have some shame!" In their eyes, the Cinder Emperor's arrival meant the battle was drawing to a close—or more precisely, marching straight toward victory. Far across the mist-shrouded wasteland, Mastiphal looked up, his gaze locked tightly onto the majestic dragon unleashing silver-white fire. An indescribable euphoria surged within his deep, sunken eyes. "I found it! I found it!" Mastiphal's expression turned manic, the hand gripping the bone longbow trembling slightly. Lost in mad ecstasy, the centaur murmured to himself like a fanatic, "What an incomparable form! To tear away those thick dragon scales, to pierce that beating draconic heart, to sever that majestic head—how magnificent that would be! "That dragon—he is the ultimate quarry! Far more precious than that pit fiend! He shall be the finest sacrifice I offer to the great Abyss!" Cassius's expression turned ferocious as he sneered coldly, "You want to make me your prey? Foolish centaur—I'm afraid you don't have what it takes!"