Battle for the Ages is the sixth volume of The Spectral Chronicles.
One morning while having breakfast, the Champions of the Light receive a letter from a mysterious writer only known as "Seth," who wishes to celebrate their and the Red Knights' success over The Legions of Hell. Suspecting that it may be a trap, only a select few members of each time decide to investigate: Demetrios, Princess Lily, Max, Lynessa, Ashur and Darulai, Jason, Michelle and Pharaoh, and Emily. They find a mysterious dungeon, whereupon they meet the secretive Seth... who unveils himself to be the demon lord Astaroth! Not only that, the heroes have been roped into a tournament of Astaroth's own design to kill them all one by one. While they're fighting in his tournament, the demon lord's legions attack the city of Kinardas in their campaign to bring planet Earth into the empire of Pandemonium at very long last...
Tropes:
- The Alliance: The Stone Cutters' allies immediately come to their aid when Astaroth's legions attack Kinardas.
- And I Must Scream: Whoever loses in Astaroth's tournament becomes motionlessly trapped in a mirror of black magic.
- Back from the Dead: Four of the contestants in Astaroth's tournament are resurrected foes that the Champions of the Light and Red Knights have fought before: Maledict from Prelude to a Legend, two members of the Hands of Armageddon cult, Ramirez and Lilith, and the traitorous vampire Augustus.
- Bad Boss: Astaroth inflicts the same imprisonment in the mirrors to his own minions as he does to the heroes.
- Berserk Button: When Anne-Marie senses Lynessa becoming trapped in one of Astaroth's mirrors, she just loses it and thrashes through the Goetia's demons with all of her strongest spells in rapid succession, to the point of Heroic RRoD. Demetrios goes through the same thing when Lily becomes similarly trapped in the last round.
- Canon Immigrant: Three of the combatants in Astaroth's tournament are from Demetrios's past in the prequel story Prelude to a Legend: Maledict, the insane mass murderer who killed his family when he was mortal; Tirrotilam, the high elf that he met while escaping from hell; and Heather, his mother from the modern day.
- Combat Pragmatist: Astaroth's legions don't make any grand speeches before attacking like Berith did; they breach one of the city's walls and attack outright.
- Death-Activated Superpower: Lilith claims that becoming a necromancer has made her stronger than she was when the Champions of the Light previously fought her, up to and including controlling the shadow of death itself. Lily, however, still wins.
- Decapitated Army: Just like what happened with Berith, when Astaroth is defeated, his legions retreat back to hell.
- Everybody Hates Mathematics: Referenced when Astaroth introduces Lynessa's opponent as "a big blue trapezoid!"Demetrios: A big blue trapezoid? What, is he going to give her a math test or something?
Max: That would be scary.
(Everybody laughs, except Ashur, who Sweat Drops) - Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Astaroth. He forces Demetrios and Jason fight cheesy and underwhelming mooks (an imp and a Monster Clown respectively) while making them sound like vicious monsters and also makes a few bad puns here and there. When Lily defeats Ioxoixohn, however, his humor vanishes.
- Exiled to the Couch: Referenced:Lily: I knew this was a bad idea.
Demetrios: We can talk about me sleeping on the couch when we get home.
Astaroth: Oh, I don’t think you’ll even have a home to return to. - Good Versus Good: Ashur vs. Tirrotilam. They both have their reasons for wanting to get out (Ashur to help Leah and his friends and Tirrotilam to escape the cruel imprisonment of hell) and neither of them wants to lose.
- I Let You Win: When the tournament is over and the heroes trapped in the mirrors are freed, Astaroth turns out to be a fake when the heroes have a surprisingly easy time defeating him. The real one is stalking the battlefield around Kinardas City."Of course you won. Do you really think I’d foolishly leave myself out in the open like that? You have only destroyed a phantom."
- Jabba Table Manners: Astaroth refers to it after he traps Michelle and Pharaoh in his mirrors.
- Killer Rabbit: Astaroth's general, Ioxoixohn. He appears to be a big blue trapezoid (which is even how Astaroth introduces him), but it turns out he can fire antimatter beams and has very strong Goomba Stomps, as well as having impervious armor. And that's even before he unveils his true form...
- Leeroy Jenkins: When Ashur and Darulai become trapped in the mirrors, Emily goes nuts with anger and storms into the arena, demanding a fight with Astaroth. The Goetia simply traps her as well.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Ramirez gives one to Max, very nearly killing him. He wins (almost at the cost of his life), but is almost captured by Astaroth's mirror spell when Demetrios rushes into the arena to get him back.
- Oh, Crap!: Demetrios and the others have this reaction when they see Lynessa trapped in one of Astaroth's mirrors.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Astaroth (or his decoy clone in this case) describes Vuinohn as his "finest mount," although he's actually his only mount.
- Scaled Up: When he is confronted and almost defeated at Kinardas City, Astaroth turns into a demonic dragon.
- Speak of the Devil: Viacylia to Amare:"Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to say ‘what the hell.’ I can sense demons approaching!"
- Tournament Arc: Astaroth created a tournament specifically to destroy the Champions of the Light and the Red Knights.
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: Amare's proposing to Clara doesn't go quite as well as he planned thanks to Viacylia, but she gladly accepts it anyway.
- Wham Episode: The contestant in the last round is Heather, Demetrios's mother from the modern day.
- Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him?: When Demetrios sees his anticlimactic opponent (an imp named Krong, who Astaroth described as "vile and vicious"), he decides to quit and shoot Astaroth with one of Zasedis's revolvers right then and there. The demon just uses magic to shield himself from it, however.
- You Just Had to Say It:Heather: (while Demetrios is charging at Astaroth for a furious attack after what just happened to Lily) Look out, Demetrios! He’ll get you too!
Astaroth: Thanks for the idea!
