Page 53 of Liberating Water

When we reached campus, I saw more Elementi herding students away and blocking off the pathways to the quad where the chapel now used as an auditorium sat. It wasn’t lost on me that Ubel had picked the chapel for this stunt since it was the beginning of what this university had turned into. The first stand Ryevick made against evil to teach and train others to fight against them. Now, knowing what and who I am, I wasn’t at all surprised that I’d focused on that particular building to study when I first got here. It might have also been why Ubel was using it as his epic taunt towards me, knowing the history it represented.

Micah barely gave the guard time to pull the barrier out of our way as we sped through the walkways of the school, sliding to a stop in the middle of the quad. I stood in my seat, holding onto the roll cage of the Jeep and looking at the chapel in the glow of the setting sun. Tony and the others pulled in beside us moments later without all the screeching and smoking tires.

Up on the bell tower balcony, the doors were pulled open, and Ubel walked out. He didn’t look the same, but I knew it was him. How I didn’t see it before was shocking, but I’d only met the man once since the first time when I’d been delirious with demon venom running through my veins.

“Oh, I see you’ve finally connected the dots there, Synergy.” Ubel grinned, leaning on the railing, looking down at us from Mr. Creed’s face. “I have to admit, I was saddened that it was so easy to fool all of you. These so-called Knights should have known I wasn’t the real Mr. Creed. They’ve spent years taking lessons from him. Especially that brooding Fire Knight of yours… such a pity.”

Swearing and the sound of crumpling metal drew my attention down where Micah was wailing on the dash of the Jeep.

“That one would make an excellent vessel for Aeshma, the Greater Demon of Wrath, should he decide to awaken. Goodness, you might even be like me and just be blessed with one of the Greater Demons’ powers as their conduit,” Ubel chattered on.

“What do you want?” I called, unable to take his ramblings much longer.

Ubel’s face and body started to shift and change until he looked like the man I met at the pond. “The Dark Lord warned me that you were stubborn, but I think it might be because you are just too stupid to understand what’s going on. It’s not about what I want—no, it’s about what the Dark Lord needs. You see, your Spirit Knight was correct when he said that the Greater Demons were still sleeping and needed demonic energy to awaken and fulfil their work here on Earth. So how do we do that? Well, we take large groups of people and give them the serum, letting them welcome lesser demons into a new home. Oh! I almost forgot, I figured out a way to aerosolize it, giving us the ability to administer it to large amounts of people, much like this chapel full of students. For you, though, I think the old-fashioned way would be best—just think what it would be like if we injected you with the serum, being as powerful as you are? Would you be able to host one of our great Princes of Hell?”

All the dots started to connect. Each time the Dark Lord came to taunt me, he pushed me to see how much stronger I’d gotten since the last time we’d talked. When I proved that I could shield myself from him at least slightly, he’d left me alone and sent Ubel instead. The Dark Lord couldn’t test me further as he was; he needed someone in person who could push me to gain strength to be of better use to them. If I gave myself up and let them inject the serum into me, it would bring down the rest of the walls of my own self-doubt and reservations, freeing me to be at my most powerful state.

“By the look of terror on your face, I see you fully understand what I’m talking about. How delightful! So, what’s it going to be, Synergy? Am I going to take these two hundred innocent lives and turn them into the perfect vessels to feed our sleeping lords, or will you surrender to me?” Ubel questioned, giving me a smile that was more teeth than anything. “I’ll give you some time to think it over. If you decide to surrender, all you have to do is call out my name and it will be a done deal. Don’t take too long, though—I do get bored easily these days.”

In a swirl of green smoke he was gone, leaving me with an impossible choice.

Crumpling back into my seat, I curled up into a little ball, trying to find any way out of this other than the obvious one.