Harry Potter, Hero of Legend, Stories and Elves Part 4

"How many demons can you bind?" Xander asked.

"Seventy two," Harry replied as he used his equipment page to equip his armor, not trusting his power to keep the captain from doing something stupid. "You should probably back up a bit and toss up some shields."

"If it starts casting, banish it," Tonk told him as she silently cast a shield charm.

Harry took ten steps forward as his friends tossed up their own shield charms then summoned the captain, causing a purple skinned demon with pointed teeth and black eyes to appear glaring hatefully at him.

"The demon lord will kill you!" the demon snarled, wishing he could rip the mortal's heart out but knowing that he couldn't attack him or do much of anything beyond stand there and be offensive without his new Master's permission.

"Where did you get the magical rings?" Harry asked, curious if he could get more.

"The-" the captain's head exploded, causing the demon to vanish before his body hit the ground.

Harry pulled his wand out of his inventory and hit his crystal visor with a cleaning spell to remove the blood and bits of demon he was trying not to think of.

"That's one way to make sure people don't talk," Xander mused.

"Was that a curse or some type of self destruct spell?" Hermione asked.

"I'm pretty sure he would have needed permission to cast anything so it was probably a curse, I should have checked," Harry chastised himself.

Hermione walked over and smacked him lightly in the back of the head. "Be less of a martyr. None of us are trained curse breakers." 

"Don't worry about it," Tonks added. "I don't think anyone was expecting him to have a death curse."

"Round two," Harry said and resummoned the captain, causing him to reappear in front of him and making a slight dent in Harry's mana pool for a second before it regenerated. "Ignore that last question."

"Understood," the demon replied with a smirk.

Harry used his Appraisal skill to check the demon for curses. 'Death curse: attempts to share information about Val'ari the Enchantress without her permission will cause Borgar's head to explode. So much for it only activating once.' He glanced at the other magical effect on the demon. 'Blessing of the Demon King: This 'blessing' gives the target exceptional luck, except against a divine hero. Unfortunately for the target of the blessing, it draws divine heroes to the target like a lightning rod. That probably explains why we ended up here.'

"You're not going to win," Borgar taunted, trying to get under his summoner's skin.

'Maybe but you'll be dead,' Harry promised, planning on sacrificing the demon's soul to get a new spell once he was done asking all of his questions. "Let's try something else. What were you planning on using the rings for?"

"I'm building a better army," Borgar replied smugly.

"How?" Harry asked.

"The rings provide random blessings and mutations on the children I create while wearing the rings. Every town I take results in thousands of demonic children and enough food to feed them until I reach the next town or army, it's a pretty nice system."

"Except the part where you're losing valuable blessings because you just toss children into combat," Tonks pointed out.

Borgar laughed at the looks of disgust on the heroes' faces. "Sometimes you have to crack some eggs and if they're not strong enough to survive, they're food for the rest."

"Ignoring any rings that might be in possession of the creator of the rings, how many similar rings do you know the location of or owner of?"

"Seven," Borgar replied with annoyance as he was forced to answer by the magic binding him.

Sirius apparated in behind the group and pointed his wand at the demon. "What's going on?"

"I'm trying to get information out of the demon," Harry replied, not taking his eyes off the demon. "Where can I find the rings that aren't held by their creator? Include the names of the demons that have them."

Borgar clenched his fists as the magic forced him to answer the question, "Gorgan the Undefeated has two rings, he should be three days to the Northwest. Narvalo the Squishy has a powerful ring, his army should be eating their way through Breezewood by now. Hexen the Mad should still have the ring I traded for the milking machine and Zara the Stormbringer's castle should be somewhere in the south, she has three."

"Should be?" Harry asked.

"It's a flying castle, it moves," Borgar replied smugly.

"Why would you trade a ring?" Harry asked, a touch surprised that he'd parted with the ring.

"The ring wasn't all that useful, it made the children permanently reek of rotten fish and only had a small chance of giving the children waterbreathing which was the only useful property I ever noticed."

"What does the milking machine do?" Harry asked, curious what the demon thought the machine did because he'd appraised it and was fairly sure he wouldn't actually use it if he knew what it actually did. 

Borgar smiled as he thought about the screaming that generally resulted from using the machine, his lips unconsciously twisting up in a smile. "The machine infuses breast milk with healing properties and it's exceptionally painful as it literally rips the life out of mortals, I just love the sound of their screaming."

"What do you know about the Demon King's plans for the world?" Harry asked, trying to ignore the demon's joker-like smirk.

"We're supposed to soften the elves up while we increase the number of demons so we can rip open more portals and flood the world with demons. Once we've taken the world, we'll strip mine it for a couple of centuries until the very world screams in pain, at which point the Demon King will consume it along with all of their gods!" Borgar explained, sounding particularly enthusiastic and deranged by the end.

"Does the Demon King have any weaknesses?" Harry asked.

"Yes, the Enchanter is-" the demon's head exploded, splattering Harry with more blood.

"What the fuck?" Sirius asked in confusion, surprised that the demon had intentionally blown his own head off.

"I forgot to tell him to avoid mentioning the enchanter of the rings. She cursed Borgar so that his head would explode every time he tried to reveal information about them," Harry explained.

"And he used it to avoid answering the question?" Sirius asked as he walked over to stand next to Tonks so he didn't have to raise his voice.

"I imagine that getting his head blown off is less traumatic than whatever the Demon King would do to him for betrayal," Xander suggested.

"Fun," Sirius muttered.

"Yeah, these guys don't seem like the fun type," Xander agreed.

Tonks let the shield drop that she'd tossed up. "Did you learn anything useful in town?"

"Yeah, there's apparently a prophecy," Sirius offered.

"Great," Harry grumbled. "What does it say?"

"In the realm's darkest hour, a group of heroes will appear, kill the demons and fuck all of the elven girls in the streets to create the next generation," Sirius offered.

Tonks shook her head. "Yeah, somehow I doubt that's the exact wording."

"I'm paraphrasing, I didn't actually hear the prophecy," Sirius admitted. "I just talked to a merchant and listened to some of the elves bitching about the demons and how they wished the Heroes of Legend would appear and how there was a prophecy. Apparently, the Demon King cursed all of the male elves in the world so they can't have children and so their equipment doesn't even work."

"That's one way to win," Xander mused, not particularly happy that they were up against someone that could curse an entire world.

"That explains the weird sex related perks," Hermione admitted, wishing the blue guy had mentioned that part of things upfront. "What were the elves like?"

"Like people," Sirius replied with a shrug. "They have merchants and taverns and sexy elven women that want to have sex in the middle of the street."

"Now I know you're joking," Tonks argued.

"I'm actually not," Sirius replied with a grin. "It's common enough that they have a standard penalty for it, you have to buy everyone in the area a round or two of ale at the nearest tavern for disturbing the peace and hope that a bunch of people don't show up."

Xander winced. "We should probably avoid that until we can afford the ale."

"The heroes are apparently exempt from that particular law," Sirius assured him.

"How do we get registered as heroes?" Xander asked thoughtfully.

Hermione turned and looked at Xander. "Seriously?"

"We're stuck here until the Demon King is dead and I got the feeling that we're the only humans running around, which means that some of the elves are probably going to assume we're demons unless we get ahead of things," Xander argued.

"Not to mention that the nobles have no reason to share information with a couple of random people with funny ears," Sirius argued.

Hermione sighed as she realized that they had a point. "While they'd have a lot of reasons to share information with the heroes of legend."

"Exactly," Xander agreed. "Do you have a notebook? We're going to need more details on the other commanders and the rings if we want a chance to repopulate the elves in a reasonable timeframe."

"Do you think we could use the milking machine on a demon to get health potions?" Hermione asked thoughtfully.

"Probably, but I'd have to fix the curse on it, someone added a subtle loyalty curse on it, anyone that drinks the potions will find themselves being more inclined to trust Hexen the Mad," Harry warned them.

"I wonder if he got the Mad title because he's actually sane?" Xander mused.

Tonks shook her head. "Probably not. Grab your notebook Hermione, we'll grab the details for where to find the demons then let's head to town."

"Do you have any ideas on how we're supposed to get around the death curse?" Harry asked as Hermione pulled her notebook out of her pocket along with a pen.

"I'd start by ordering him not to talk about the owner of the rings or even mention them unless directly asked so he can't dodge your questions by dying," Tonks suggested. 

"That's a good start," Xander agreed. "We should try asking about the locations of any rings that might be unaccounted for or items with similar powers that aren't rings."

"Or even just random charmed or enchanted magical items," Sirius suggested.

"Third time's the charm," Harry said and summoned the captain back, unwilling to let him avoid answering questions. "Don't say anything that will cause the curse to activate."

"Fine," Borgar replied, annoyed that he'd closed that particular loophole.

"What are the Demon King's weaknesses?" Harry asked.

"No clue," Borgar admitted with a smirk.

Harry glared at the demon, feeling the urge to stab him rising. "You said he had weaknesses, were you lying?"

"No," Borgar replied.

"Elaborate," Harry ordered.

"Just because everyone has weaknesses doesn't mean I happen to know them," Borgar explained. "Tell you what, if you let me eat one of your friends, I'll actually tell you everything you want to know without forcing you to drag it out of me."

"No," Harry replied without any hesitation.

"I'm going to need a gallon of holy water and a funnel," Xander said thoughtfully.

Borgar laughed at Xander. "Do you think I care what you do with my conjured body? You're a hero, do your worst."

"Okay," Xander replied with a smile then walked over and kicked the demon as hard as he could in the nuts without hesitation, lifting the captain off the ground and making him scream in agony.

Neville winced in sympathy. "We're supposed to be heroes."

"Most demons don't really pay attention unless you get their attention and I don't want to have to start singing The Song That Never Ends," Xander replied as he studied the captain that was on the ground clutching his groin.

"Song That Never Ends?" Neville asked warily.

"It's a cursed song that slips into your head and whispers when you're not paying attention, once you hear it you can never forget it," Xander told him, knowing the demon was paying attention despite the pain or because of the pain.

"You're going to die," Borgar told Xander, looking forward to breaking out of the bindings the child had placed on him so that he could torture the bastard to death.

"Everyone dies eventually," Xander replied with a shrug. "You're not particularly good at threatening people, my friend's little sister is far more terrifying."

"I'll rip your entrails out and…" Borgar trailed off when he realized that Xander was laughing at him. "What is your problem?"

"It's just hard to take you seriously," Xander told him, wanting him angry so that he'd slip up and reveal more information.

"Next question, tell me about Hexen the Mad," Harry ordered.

Borgar turned and glared at Harry. "Hexen is an engineer, he makes arcane tech and we buy from him because he's reliable and trustworthy."

'Reliable and trustworthy, right,' Harry thought, figuring Hexen had cursed him or at least influenced him since he didn't have a curse influencing his loyalty. "How many demons does he have under his control?"

"I don't know," Borgar replied with a smirk.

"Make your best guess and explain why it's reasonable," Harry ordered.

"He had over eight hundred minions the last time I saw him and that was three weeks ago, he should have at least ten times that amount now if he used the ring and took the village he was heading for," Borgar replied.

"Does he have something that functions like the rings or just the ring you traded?" Hermione asked.

"Answer her," Harry ordered when it looked like the demon was going to say something stupid.

"He should have something else but I'm not sure what he has, you should go check," Borgar suggested, trying to get them killed.

"Tell us how to get there and how to avoid his traps to the best of your knowledge," Harry ordered, causing Borgar to start talking as his magic forced the demon to spill secrets.

Hermione quickly copied the information down, slightly amused that he thought he could talk fast enough that she'd miss something.

0o0o0

"Delightful Association of Monster Nature?" Neville asked when he noticed the words at the top of Hermione's notebook. "Society Home Inspectors Trust, Foundation for the Unionization of Children for Kindness?"

Hermione glanced up from the crude map she was drawing of the area based on the demon's descriptions of the area. "I'm playing with names for the group to save the children."

"I doubt the elves are going to be willing to help," Neville warned her, not wanting a repeat of the Spew thing from last year.

"Minion Fifty Seven didn't seem that bad," Hermione argued, feeling like someone should at least look into the possibility despite how hopeless it seemed.

Xander barely managed to avoid snickering when he looked at the top of the page and saw everything written out. "Have you considered the Charity for the Undoing of Nephilim Trafficking?"

Hermione thought about the name for a couple of seconds then wrote it down next to the rest of her joke ideas. "I hadn't but it fits," she said, thinking about the demonic captain.

"Trafficking Inspectors of Terrible Solutions?" Xander suggested with amusement.

Neville shook his head, fairly sure Hermione was just trying to distract herself from the fact that they were trapped in another world.

"Because we're inspecting their terrible solutions and looking for trafficking?" Hermione mused as she wrote his suggestion down. "I guess that could work."

"Association for Special Solutions?" Xander suggested.

Hermione copied the suggestion down. "I'm not sure it's British enough, maybe the Association for Relocation Specialists Extraordinaire?" she asked as she wrote it in her notes under the rest.

"That could work," Xander agreed with amusement. "What about Better Inspectors Through Charity and Hope?"

"That's a good one," Hermione agreed as she wrote the phrase in her notes. "Do you think we'll be able to save the children?"

"Honestly? I doubt it," Xander admitted. "Even if we ignore the fact that most demons are inherently evil, we have limited resources and limited time. We can either focus on killing the demons and trying to save as many elves as we can or we can worry about saving demonic monsters that happen to look like children."

"It sucks," Hermione complained.

Xander glanced at the demonic captain. "It was probably intentional. You send a bunch of demonic children after people and then after the elves win, you have a shape shifter sneak into town and plant evidence or start a rumor that the demons were just mind controlled elven children so they'll hesitate next time."

"Where did you hear that?" Borgar demanded, having been listening to their conversation with amusement until the hero 'guessed' his plan.

"It just makes sense," Xander replied, having listened to enough of Anya's old stories to come up with some truly horrible ideas and ways to Foundation for the Unionization of Children for Kindness with people.

"Was that the plan?" Harry asked the demon.

"Yes," Borgar replied smugly. "I wasn't expecting to lose but there are always survivors and letting people escape to carry stories decreases morale."

"Let's get back to Squishy, why is he called Squishy?" Sirius asked.

"He's fat and he likes crushing people to death," Borgar replied with a shrug. "Gorgan the undefeated has his title because he's never lost a fight. His minions specialize in charging in and ripping people apart."

"And Zara? How did she get her title?" Harry asked.

Borgar shivered as he remembered the day she'd claimed her title and he'd watched an army die. "She earned the title when she called down a hundred thousand bolts of lightning and slaughtered Balganos' entire army after he tried to have her sister killed."

Harry stared at the demon, wondering how the fuck he was supposed to deal with someone that could unleash hell and wipe out an entire army at once. "Did she use an artifact or something?"

"No, she just called forth a storm of black clouds to turn day to night then she called down the lightning and his army died," Borgar explained.

"If she can destroy armies by herself, why haven't you already won?" Harry asked.

"She's not interested in killing elves, she's looking for something and the Demon King is content to let her wander around until he needs an army destroyed."

"What is she looking for?" Harry asked, wondering if he could bribe her to leave.

"No clue and I don't want to know," Borgar stated firmly. "She doesn't like me and I don't want to die permanently so I'm not asking."

"Die permanently?" Harry asked. "Explain."

"Most demons of sufficient power can be brought back from death by being summoned from the demon wastes. Balganos isn't alive and his soul is gone, which means that Zara managed to actually kill him, something I thought only the Demon King could do."

"What counts as sufficient power?" Harry asked.

"Anyone with a name and enough personal power to survive coming back, so just about any adult demon that isn't completely worthless," Borgar replied smugly. "Which is why you can't win."

'That explains why they had to summon a hero,' Harry mused, fairly sure his system consumed their souls when he used them to fuel his growth or sacrificed their souls for spells. He dismissed the captain, deciding that he needed a break before he did something drastic like turn his soul into a spell before he finished squeezing him for information.

"How are we supposed to fight someone that can destroy armies?" Tonks asked warily, feeling overwhelmed.

"I'm hoping I can bribe her to leave or that she'll ignore us until we build up enough power to fight her," Harry admitted. "I doubt I can talk her into helping with the Demon King but we might be able to send her on a wild goose chase or something by feeding her information on what she’s seeking."

"That's probably the best we can hope for," Xander agreed. "Let's head to town, I want a drink."

"Same," Sirius agreed as he started walking toward the town.

"We'll figure it out," Hermione told Harry as she walked over so they could walk together, not sure what else to say as the quest seemed more hopeless the more she learned about the demons.