Nine Circles of Hell, Part 4

"Holy cow, Austin, what happened?!" Grover cries as he teleports to the ruins of the Temple of the Almighty Torch, seeing bloody corpses of Pro Slayers littered across the Jungle.

Austin doesn't reply. He has a deep, bloody hole in his chest.

"Austin!" Grover cries as he grabs Austin's shoulders and frantically shakes him. Again, nothing happens. "Austin…please…" Grover whimpers as he drops Austin's body to the ground, and presses his ear to Austin's chest, hearing a very faint heartbeat.

"Oh…goodie…" Grover lets out a sigh of relief as he falls backwards, before popping back up to his feet. "I better bring all of the survivors back to the Medical Slayers!" Grover exclaims as he gets to work.

***

"Don't worry Ella, we can do this!" Lily calls to Ella, a Slayer who helped Ella find her way on her first day at the Pro Slayer University.

"Unfortunately, not many people have healing-based Cursed Abilities like us," Ella sighs as she kneels down and heals another injured Slayer.

"Don't worry! That means that there are more people for us to heal! By the time this war is over, we'll be the heads of the Medical Branch!" Lily exclaims, causing Ella to flash her a small smile.

"You're right, Lily," Ella replies, before turning back to her patient.

"Are you…an Angel?" Ella's patent mumbles.

"Ahh! No…I'm just a girl!" Ella yelps as she blushes.

Other than Ella and Lily, there are a few other Medical Pro Slayers around but not nearly enough to the point where other Pro Slayers such as Grover are tasked with moving bodies and carrying supplies, doing whatever they can to support the medics. Stab wounds, gunshot wounds, and sicknesses. None of these injuries are what Ella is seeing. Instead, Ella is faced with all sorts of different injuries caused by Cursed Abilities. So many injuries that Ella didn't even know what she is healing, she just heals them. A lot of Slayers have claw and tooth marks covering their bodies from the savage attacks of the hordes of demons.

"This is...so cruel…" Ella whimpers.

"Ella!" Grover shouts as she teleports up to Ella.

"What happened?!" Ella cries as she turns to face Grover, seeing the unconscious bodies of Austin, Ralph, Kaze, and Suburassu slung over his shoulders.

"The Nine Circles appeared and attacked the Sniper Slayers Squadron!" Grover answers as she helps Ella lay the bodies down on stretchers. "These four…are the only survivors…"

Ella rushes over to Austin and begins healing him, while Lisa goes to heal the others.

"What…happened…?" Austin asks as -after a few minutes of Ella healing him- his eyes slowly flutter open. Ella turns away from Austin and doubles over, a rush of blood exploding from her nose. Mere hours into the war, and Ella is already suffering from the overuse of Cursed Power.

"I brought you to the infirmary," Grover answers. "You tell me what happened! You were almost dead when I found you!"

"The Fourth and Ninth Circles of Hell are here," Austin answers. "They…drained out Cursed Power and killed almost everyone…"

"Wait…Fourth and Ninth Circles?!" Grover cries.

"Yeah, why?" Austin asks.

"The Sensory Squadron only reported that the Fourth Circle is here!" Grover answers.

"What?! I have to tell them-" Austin cries as he attempts to sit up, and blood begins rushing from Austin's wounds.

"Austin, you have to stay still!" Ella shouts as she grabs Ausitn's shoulder and shoves him back onto his stretcher. "You aren't fully healed yet!"

"I need…to warn Jamie…" Austin weakly grunts

"You sit tight, I'll tell everyone!" Grover exclaims as he teleports away.

***

"The Nine Circles of Hell are he!" Grover cries as he barges into our room.

"Yeah, we already dispatched Daniel to take care of Greed," I reply.

"But it isn't just Greed, the Ninth Circle of Hell is here, too!" Grover explains, causing my dad's eyes to widen.

"WHAT?!" I cry as I jump to my feet. "How did Treachery slip through the Sensory Slayers?!"

"Treachery is a master of Cursed Power Hiding, but I didn't think that it would go this far!" My dad explains. "Treachery is the strongest of the Nine Circles of Hell, we need to go after Daniel."

"Where is Treachery?!" I ask.

"Where Greed it, outside of the portal to Hell and making their way to us," Grover answers.

"Alright, that's it, I'm going!" I shout as I rush out of the room.

"One of the strongest enemies is here, I'm coming too!" Grover exclaims.

"You're needed here, Grover, you should stay," my dad says as he pats Grover on the shoulder. "I'll go with Luis, don't worry."

"Right…" Grover replies as my dad rushes past him, dahsing after me. Grovers hands then ball into fists. "LUIS!" Grover shouts to me.

"Yeah?" I ask as I pause, then turn and look over my shoulder. peeking back at Grover.

"Do the Slayer Hachi Squad proud!" Grover exclaims as he flashes me a wide smile and a thumbs up.

I smirk and nod at Grover. "Got it!" I reply before I turn around again, and take off running for good.

***

"Adaptability: Rubber-Iron Gauntlet!" Jamie shouts as she punches her rubber-iron fists forwards, using them to smash through a few more demons.

The first Attacker Squadron's attempts to thwart the approaching demon hordes were going smoothly, that is; until two extra powerful demons appear at the end of the demon horde, causing Jamie's eye to widen.

"Look alive, people, that must be the Fourth Circle of Hell, Greed, that we were alerted about!" Slayer Haraki announces.

"But then who is that?!" Jamie cries as she points to Treachery.

"The Cursed Power of that demon is off the charts, but since the Slayer Organization didn't alert us about them, it must be nothing!" Haraki replies.

"Hear that, Treachery?" Greed asks as he peers up at the Ninth Circles of Hell. "They're underestimating you!"

"Well then perhaps I should prove them wrong," Treachery says as his ghost manifests beside him.

"What the heck is that thing?!" Haraki cries.

"The Ghost: Treacherous Hand!" Treachery shouts as his ghost flies towards Jamie, faster than Jamie can react.

"What the-" Jamie stammers as The Ghost appears before her. "Adaptability: Iron Gauntlet!" Jamie shouts as she turns her hands and wrists into iron, and launches an iron fist towards The Ghost, which returns fire with a punch of its own.

But before the two punches can collide, Daniel leaps out of Jamie's shadow before her, and sends a wave of Shadow Sickles flying towards The Ghost, which pierces it, and sends The Ghost flying backwards. "Shadow Sickles: Ghost Driver!" Daniel shouts.

"Daniel, why are you here?" Jamie cries.

"The Fourth Circle of Hell; Greed, has shown up," Daniel answers as he motions to the powerful demon standing a couple of dozen feet away. "I'm here to help you."

"And what's up with that other demon?" Jamie asks as she points to the demon which has The Ghost levitating around him.

"I…I'm not sure," Daniel answers as he narrows his eye lids at the demon. "But judging by his Cursed Power…he must be one of the Nine Circles. He's strong."

"The name's Treachery," Treachery announces, causing Daniel's eyes to widen. "Treachery the Ninth Circle of Hell." Treachery then turns to face Greed. "Greed, you deal with that half demon over there. I'll head to the city." Treachery orders.

"Yes, sir!" Greed smirks as he turns to face Daniel. "Hey, half demon!" Greed calls to Daniel, causing Daniel to perk up. "Yeah, I know what you are! We're fighting, you and I!"

"Daniel, want help with this guy?" Jamie asks as she takes a step forwards, but Daniel sticks his arm out, prohibiting Jamie from moving any more forwards.

"NO!" Jamie shouts, causing Jamie to flinch and stop in her tracks.

"What's the matter?" She asks.

"Sorry, but Greed's Cursed Ability allows him to drain the Cursed Power and life force out of his foes," Daniel explains. "The more people that are around Greed, the more Cursed Power he can drain, so the stronger he gets. I need to face him alone. Focus on the hordes of demons, please."

"Oh…okay…" Jamie sadly replies as she slinks backwards.

Meanwhile, Treachery attempts to take his leave, but he's interrupted when he's charged by Haraki, Haruku, and Jin.

"Don't let him leave! Go all out!" Haraki roars.

"Fools…" Treachery mutters to himself under his breath. "The Ghost: Treacherous Hand!" The Ghost then flies forwards, piercing the three Pro Slayers charging towards him in the chest with a powerful punch instantly. Haraki, Haruku, and Jin then limply fall to the ground, bloody holes in their chest.

Treachery killed them.

"NO!" Mercury cries.

"Someone call the Medical Squadron!" Jamie exclaims, as Treachery continues his path towards the city.

"Nothing but ants…" Treachery says to himself. "Greed will take care of them with ease.

"Alright," Greed smirks as he turns back to face Daniel. "Let's get this fight star-" Greed begins to say, but he's interrupted when Daniel dashes towards them, grabbing Greed's face with his palm. "EH?!" Greed snaps. "What are you doing?!"

"My ultimate technique," Daniel answers. "Shadow Sickles…"

"NIGHT ABYSS OF PURGATORY!"