Legends of Amacia Attack on Tartarus
Chapter 33: Calling Out the Emperor

Six hours later in the throne room of the Black Fortress, the Emperor paced the dais, fuming over the loss of communication with Kartoom several hours before. The doors of the throne room clanged and opened as a soldier entered followed by Zeus. They approached and bowed. When the Emperor saw Zeus, he hissed, “I didn’t call for you, Zeus! Why are you here? You’re supposed to be in Kartoom opening the gate!” When he saw the bandage around Zeus’ neck, the gash across his face, a very swollen black eye, and the stern serious expression Zeus had, the Emperor instinctively knew bad news was forthcoming. Zeus rose, but the soldier stayed down before the Emperor on his hands and knees, not looking up. Intense fear covered the soldier’s face. “This better not be bad news!” the Emperor growled, glaring down at them.

Zeus held his ground, saying bluntly, “It’s not. It’s worse than you can even imagine.”

The Emperor’s eyes glowed as the Black Prince’s features began to show on the Emperor’s face. “What has happened?” he hissed venomously. “Does it have anything to do with the loss of contact with Kartoom?”

Zeus nodded, saying carefully, “Beowulf has struck again, milord. He caught us by surprise.”

The Emperor’s eyes grew wide with surprise and fury as he roared, “What! What did that malignant mutated bitch do now?”

“Beowulf is no longer a mutated bitch, milord, but now a man unlike any I’ve ever encountered before,” Zeus stated grimly, “His restoration back into a man has changed him somehow, making him a most formidable opponent. I saw it myself when he, a giant that was obviously a hybrid between a human giant and a Lynxian, and a formidable Cimmerian warrior intruded into the Gate Sanctuary and stopped our ritual at the worst possible time, killing my assistants and freeing the sacrifice.”

“How the fuck did they penetrate the Gate Sanctuary and interfere with the Ritual?” the Emperor hissed, his veins starting to protrude from his neck and forehead with his rising anger. “It’s in the heart of Kartoom on the same level as the core control room. It’s supposed to be impregnable.”

“I don’t know,” Zeus admitted, fear rising in his soul, “But they did, and to make matters worse, Beowulf was wearing the legendary Grimm’s Mask when he did it. It allowed him to strike incredible terror in us, and it greatly enhance his elemental attacks. We became paralyzed with fright when he came in there looking like a bipedal Grimm Draken with spiked draken-scale armor wielding the Caverias Sword. I was about to finish the ritual and kill the sacrifice when he intruded. He didn’t even sound human. His voice sounded like an enraged draken god or something. I literally froze with fright with the Atamé in the air ready to cut out the maiden’s heart. It’s something I’ve never seen before. No one has ever caused such fear in me before other than you, milord. It’s as if an invisible force reached out and subdued me. Even after my assistants broke free of his spell and fled, I still couldn’t move. His cursed companions fell on them, slaughtering them without mercy. After his companions killed my assistants, the guards swarmed the Sanctuary because of the intrusion and the killing of my assistants. Beowulf killed them all simultaneously with a powerful elemental lightning attack that channeled through the crystals of the circle by stabbing the floor with this sword. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s as if he tapped into the Circle’s power and used it against us. He blew them apart with a thought. I never believed he harbored such power. It’s now on par with your own power, milord. He’s somehow tapped a force more powerful than the Dark Gods we worship. How is this possible? He never exhibited this level of power when he was under my thrall. It baffles me.”

The Emperor’s rage built like a volcano about to erupt. The Black Prince started showing prominently in his features as he changed before Zeus’ eyes. Fangs sprouted in his mouth as his face became more demoniac, his eyes turning the color of blazing fire. His fingernails grew into razor-sharp claws three inches long. His skull elongated as he looked more and more like the Black Prince. He jumped down from the dais to the main floor where Zeus and the solider were with a snarl, his enlarging fists now the size of cantaloupes. In a second, he kicked the prostrate soldier across the throne room, crushing his chest and rupturing the poor man’s heart and lungs with the hit, killing him instantly. The soldier sailed like a punted football, crashing headfirst into the wall, crushing his skull and shattering his neck. Blood gushed from his mouth and crushed skull as he fell to the floor, his glazed eyes staring blankly into eternity. The Emperor snatched Zeus by the neck a fraction of a second after killing the soldier, picking him up completely off the ground. He pulled Zeus so close he could smell the Emperor’s infernal breath that now stank of decaying death. Yet the Emperor didn’t kill him outright.

“You dare bring me this report, you malignant pestilent piece of tarok shit?” the Emperor snarled, now having morphed into the Black Prince in shape, but not in size. “First, you tell me Beowulf has somehow miraculously removed the mutation I put on him; a mutation that should not have been reversible under any circumstances. Then you tell me he and a handful of rebels penetrated Kartoom just like they did here, reached the Gate Sanctuary where he and his pestilent followers decimated your assistant wizards and the guards while halting the sacrifice at the critical point? And to make matters worse, you claim he had Grimm’s Mask on while doing it? Grimm’s Mask hasn’t been seen since the Days of Grimm during the reign of the accursed Ragnar Caverias during the 1st Age. It was reputedly lost at the time Ragnar slew Lord Grimm, sending him back into the Void! Now, you’re saying Beowulf not only found it, but used it against you? Are you fucking bat-shit insane to bring this report to my attention? The next thing you’ll say is he destroyed Kartoom! Tell me, you filthy maggot. If Beowulf truly penetrated the Gate Sanctuary with Grimm’s Mask and stopped you from completing the Gate Ritual, then why in the name of all the Dark Gods are you still breathing? Answer me, you filthy putrid human germ!” The Emperor then slammed Zeus to the floor and let go. He stood up and stepped back, looking down at Zeus with all the rage and hate of Hell in his eyes. “Well, I’m waiting, you spineless worm,” the Emperor hissed venomously, glaring down like a hateful god at Zeus.

Zeus wheezed, slowly regaining his breath. “My Lord Emperor,” he replied between his gasps. “I’m alive because Beowulf wanted me to deliver a message to you. That’s the only reason I’m alive. Otherwise, he would have killed me the moment he came on us. I’m certain of that. I wished he had killed me since I know what you do to bearers of bad news.”

“Then why did you come here, you puss-filled protoplasmic sack of entrails?” the Emperor asked icily, stomping on Zeus’ chest and pressing down. “You know I don’t allow any disobedience or resistance to my will, much less abide anything that interferes with my plans. Incompetence will not be tolerated. I’ve killed messengers for far less than what you’ve told me! Now tell me, why come here to tell me this knowing I’d kill your repugnant human ass for even thinking of telling me such bad news. Tell me, you steaming pile of tarok shit!”

“Because I’m your most loyal servant, milord,” Zeus rasped as the Emperor pressed down on his ribs with his boot. “I owe everything to you, and believe fully in your cause. I had to warn you about Beowulf and his growing power. He has to be stopped, and you’re the only one who can do it now. No one else can do it. He bested me without thinking. You have to stop him, milord, or all is lost. We cannot let him upset your plans.”

“Stupid incompetent shit,” the Emperor growled, “He’s already done that. Answer me this before I crush the life from your body and eat your soul. Did he sabotage Kartoom? Is that why I’ve lost all contact with it? Answer me, you steaming pile of tarok shit!”

“He did,” Zeus answered in agonizing pain as he felt his ribs cracking under the Emperor’s boot. “While Beowulf was stopping me from opening the Gate, he had Nemesis, Anastasia Karac, and Horace breech the core and engage the self-destruct mechanism. I barely had time to escape. Samhein insisted I retreat and deliver Beowulf’s message to you rather than die in the blast and leave you without any intelligence on Beowulf’s actions or abilities.”

“I knew it!” the Emperor roared, releasing Zeus from his boot and again picking him up by the throat. “He’s doing it again, the lousy pestilent shit! It’s the 1st Age all over again, but this time, he’s not going to win. What’s his message, Zeus. Tell me, you fucking imbecilic shit! Tell me before I end your wretched existence and eat your soul myself!”

Gasping as the Emperor slowly crushed his windpipe, Zeus choked out, “He told me where he was operating from, milord!” This caught the Emperor’s attention and he relaxed his grip so Zeus could speak. “I’ve never heard such arrogance from anyone, sire. He insulted you and dared you to come after him,” Zeus wheezed. “It seems he wants you to know where he is at this point, the traitorous shit!”

“WHERE IS HE!” the Emperor demanded.

“Srandi!” Zeus gurgled. “He said he’s at Srandi and made it plain he’s expecting....” He never finished his statement as the Emperor throttled him until he turned purple.

The Emperor raised his face to the ceiling and howled with wrath, shaking Zeus violently by the neck while crushing his windpipe. In the blink of an eye, he threw Zeus seventy feet over to his arms display next to the wall. It consisted of dozens of massive spears, halberds, swords, and axes sitting vertically in a rack fastened to the wall stretching thirty feet in length and five feet wide. The fifteen-foot spears and halberds sat at an angle to the wall, pointing out into the room at thirty-degrees from the wall. Zeus tumbled haphazardly through the air from the Emperor’s throw, landing back down on eight spears that penetrated all the way through his torso. A muffled cry escaped his lips when he fell onto the spears. His weight caused him to slide two feet down on the spears until the spearheads had run him completely through. By some amazing coincidence, the spears didn’t penetrate his heart, but came very close. His head dangled without support, blood rising in his throat and spewing out his mouth. Agonizing, mind-numbing pain filled Zeus’ being as he hung there impaled on the spears, gurgling. Yet, he remained coherent enough to see the Emperor finish morphing completely into the Black Prince’s full twenty-five foot tall demon form.

The Emperor’s clothes split and fell off as he grew twelve-plus feet in seconds. His rippling muscular form seemed to be covered in a mixture of grey fur and reptilian scales. Three-foot curved horns sprouted from the Emperor’s head on each side of the temple, curving forward and upwards. His fists now were the size of watermelons with seven-inch claws. The Emperor’s howl became a soul-shattering roar that shook the throne room. When his roar ceased, the Emperor’s transformed face looked toward Zeus with a sneer as he lay impaled on the spears, his blood flowing freely down the spear shafts.

With his flaming scarlet eyes filled with utter hate and wrath, the Emperor bellowed, “Srandi! That pestilent piece of shit still dares to insult and challenge me! I am fucking eternal! I have had enough of this! This will be the last time these barely-conscious half-evolved shit-eating apes stand against me ever! I will eradicate them from the face of the whole Earth! No one will be fit to survive my coming, especially Beowulf and his fucking rebel minions! I don’t care if he did reverse the mutation! I will unleash the Old Ones myself and they will feed on this pestilent human species! I am the end of all that is! There will be no dawn for humanity! It’s time these worms learn the price of their rebellion!” By this time, the Emperor was the Black Prince fully, having morphed into a twenty-five foot demon. He stormed to Zeus as he hung dying on the spears. Zeus saw him coming. Blood dribbled from his mouth as the Black Prince glared at him with evil malevolence.

At that point as the felt his life slipping away, for the first time in his life Zeus genuinely feared for his soul and wondered what his life might have been if he had followed Beowulf’s example and turned his back on the Legions of Darkness. He knew it was over and Samhein raged inside him as the Black Prince’s eyes burned with the fires of hell. “I see through your plot, Samhein,” the Black Prince hissed, seeing Samhein raging behind Zeus’ weakening eyes. “You will not have my place. No one can topple me. Tell the others that if they continue to resist me, I will personally send them back to the Abyss. That includes you, you malignant pile of steaming rotting protoplasmic jelly. Now pay the price for your treason as I destroy your vessel and ban you from taking any more vessels in my domain. You will learn your place, Samhein, as all the others have. No one plots against me; no one.”

“I should have let Zeus fry in Kartoom,” Samhein snarled out of Zeus’ form. “Then you would not know what Beowulf is truly capable of. I’m going to get such pleasure watching him beat the shit out of you.”

“Don’t you get smart with me, you pile of gelatinous shit,” the Black Prince snapped back. “I’m fully aware of what that half-evolved ape is capable of. He will die at my hand and there’s no force in the multiverse that can prevent it.”

“You’re blinded by your rage and arrogance, Black Prince,” Samhein hissed from Zeus. “This Beowulf is not the feeble human who was brought to you in chains. He’s evolving at an accelerated rate, thanks to your fucking incompetence. Moreover, I have it on good authority that when he went into Acheron while still a mutated bitch, he bested Lord Baal, Dagos, and the Devourer in the Gateway City where he retrieved the Caverias Sword and Seal from your temple. He didn’t retrieve that sword and seal without besting our brothers, and you know it. You stupid shit, you’re the cause of this evolution in Beowulf. Had you not mutated him, the dormant genetics of the Caverias line would have remained locked away and dormant and not be the threat it is now. Now, he’s become a formidable force to be reckoned with. Your mutating him into a bitch unlocked those genes. Now, the restoration of his male form led to that Caverias genetic power being unleashed. He now has the silver sign of Ragnar Omicron in his eyes and is capable of harnessing the Elemental Earth by instinct. It’s undeniable. You’ve release the djinn within him and now it’s going to take you out! You foolish prick, you’ve unleashed the weapon the old prophets spoke of...the weapon of Light that will stop us in our tracks! You should have paid closer attention to the enemy’s prophecies. The Almighty doesn’t do anything without letting anyone know first. You fucking knew this, yet you ignored it to our peril. Now, there’s a real chance we may lose all because of your arrogance and short-sightedness. Your war with Beowulf in the 1st Age should have stayed there. Now, because of your own stupidity, we’re dealing with an awakening Guardian, for that’s what Beowulf is, you shit-faced feline fuck; a goddamned Guardian of the Light!”

“Enough!” the Black Prince raged in wrath, “I will not be lectured by the likes of you, you gelatinous blob of puss and shit! Go back to the Abyss, Samhein, and don’t return until you learn some manners for your betters!” With that, the Emperor literally ripped Zeus’ head off with his clawed hands and then crushed it between those hands. A dark festering cloud spewed from Zeus’ severed neck with his blood, rising up into air over the body, taking on Samhein’s form. The blood spurting from Zeus’ decapitated torso drenched the Black Prince.

“This isn’t finished, Black Prince,” Samhein rumbled from the cloud, “You can count on that!”

“It is for you,” the Black Prince hissed, generating plumes of hellfire from his demon hands targeting Samhein’s gaseous form. “No one defies me, least of all you!”

As Samhein’s gaseous form dissipated in the infernal firestorm launched from the Black Prince’s hands, he roared back, “We shall see, you malignant feline worm. We shall see when the Grimm start stirring again because of your incredible lunacy.” Maniacal laughter erupted from Samhein as the Black Prince’s infernal fire dissipated his form.

“That blob will not undermine what’s taken me over twelve thousand cycles to achieve,” the Black Prince hissed, “None of them will. This universe will be mine, as promised, or I’ll destroy it and them with it. No god, angel, human, fallen angel, demon, Old One, Dark Titan, or Grimm will take what I was promised. I’ll kill them all before that happens!” Seeing the blood still spurting from Zeus’ severed neck, he leaned down and drained the body of its remaining blood like a sadistic vampire before ripping the body to bits and feasting on it, throwing the bloody bones aside. He especially savored the heart. Once he had his fill, the Black Prince roared a roar that echoed through the Black Fortress and every person and thing that heard it shuddered in fear.