Chapter 2: From the strange to the Confusing
As Nelius slowly drifted off to sleep, slightly uncomfortable though he was, it was basically impossible for him to notice that he was being spied upon. From the fireplace an near-transparent gas floated down the chimney stack, eventually condensing into a solid form.
From the waist up, it appeared to be an attractive woman, dressed in a dark purple cloak and hat decorated with golden chains. The aforementioned hat pushed her violet hair forward, hiding her eyes from view. In her hands, she held an elaborate scythe, decorated with magenta and gold trimmings. However, from the waist down, she had a horse's body, the fur itself a matching violet, the hooves a deep black.
As he shifted in his sleep, trying to get comfortable, she silently stepped backwards, attempting to stay quiet. When he went still, she took a tentative step forward, waiting to make sure he was fully asleep. Positioning her scythe, she carefully sliced the air, opening a portal into his dreams. It was time to observe... and perhaps something else.
Within his dreams, Nelius found himself on a familiar structure from his own home Netherworld. It was a Rosen Queen shop, known throughout the known cosmos as being one of the largest marketing empires. Their slogan said it best: If we don't have it, it doesn't officially exist.
Looking up, he spied an all too familiar castle in the distance: The Overlord's castle. Just looking upon the castle made his blood boil, long-buried resentment surfacing.
'To think, you were actually a good Overlord, but now you're little better than a spoiled brat.' Standing up from his crouching position, he gripped his axe tightly. 'Guess there's only one way to knock some reality into you.' Letting his wings spread, he ran two steps forward before lifting into the air and soaring straight towards the castle. 'Hell, I owe it to everyone else who hasn't already managed to slip out from under your grasp.'
Meanwhile, the dream interloper, having assumed a quick disguise to blend in as she observed, watched closely as Nelius made a beeline for the castle. Silently, she followed, figuring that there was something within she could use to make her plan work. But she knew something was off; how was it she hadn't yet been able to manipulate his dream?
As he approached, he focused a blast of pure magical energy; his target was standing upon the upper balcony in the castle's front, which not only overlooked the small town, but also allowed for quick communication with the army. With sufficient energy formed, he launched the white sphere. The blast hit the balcony dead-on, throwing stone and smoke around everywhere.
However, this attracted the attention of the Overlord's personal army, and with intent to protect they prepared to return fire. Archers readied their bows, gunners loaded ammunition, and the spellcasters were already preparing their best spells.
"It doesn't matter how many you bring." Eye glowing with power, he dived, ready to rumble.
From a short distance away, on one of the castle walls, the interloper, still in her assumed disguise, watched with piqued curiosity as Nelius began his wholesale slaughter of his former employer's personal best.
'His hatred of this person is strong. It's going to make this plan much tougher than I imagined.' As she looked around, she knew she'd need a different disguise, one close to him... but it seemed he had no allies with him. 'If I cannot use an ally... maybe an enemy?' Her attention turned to the balcony, where the smoke had cleared, and her new target made itself known.
With a mighty swing of his axe, Nelius bisected three male Warriors at the hip, watching their looks of surprise turn to horror as they found themselves half of what they originally were. As two Gunners tried to snipe him, he dodged to his left and turned around, throwing a blast of ice their way, freezing them solid. From his right, a female Warrior aimed for his head with a spear, and was rewarded by having it yanked from her grip and shoved through one of her legs. Before she was allowed time to recover he delivered a solid punch to her face, sending her flying into another group.
Eye darting around the castle's exterior, he caught a glimpse of something slinking about. Then, all at once, the Stealth Unit, comprising of the best Ninja and Kunoichi around, appeared, ready to attack. Only a grin overcame Nelius' face as they closed in with incredible speed. He waited until they were within arms' distance, then sprang his trap.
From the shadows below them, dozens of murky hands reached up, grabbing hold of their ankles and rooting them to the spot. Trying to break free of their grip, they looked down to see the hands keeping them rooted, and then they felt themselves being dragged down. It was about five seconds later they all disappeared from view.
'Is that a product of his anger, or can he truly do that outside a dream?' Now disguised, for what she hoped would be the last time, the interloper watched as Nelius mopped up whatever ground units remained. 'I begin to imagine this was a horrible idea.' She was probably right; the brutal efficiency in which he was slicing through his foes meant that even if she'd a chance to put her plan into action, she'd possibly be cut down along the rest of them. 'What kind of Demon World is this?' She gave an involuntary shudder.
Taking to the air, he watched as several of the Overlord's pets, two of which headed her personal Aerial Unit, floated up and out of the castle. The first head, a human-sized black Dragon known as the Bahamut, flew forward to meet him. The second head, a Succubus, stayed back.
"Out of my way, lizard."
"I'm 'fraid not. Any business you have with the Overlord, you can take it up with me." Yellow eyes meet orange, daring him to advance.
"Fine by me. I'll turn you into a new set of boots!" With that, the two flew towards each other, gauntlet-covered fist meeting hardened talon. For anyone unaccustomed to seeing two demons in battle such as this, they'd have only seen momentary shock waves as the two clashed in midair again and again, each trying to gain an advantage over the other. Occasionally there was an indescribably short moment where the two combatants would be seen, the quick glimpse showing how the fight progressed.
In one flash, Nelius had thrown a punch towards the Bahamut, who'd blocked it by bringing his wings forward to act as a shield.
In another flash, the Dragon had attempted to bite, but Nelius held his mouth open, stopping him.
Then, without warning, a blast of fire brought down a chunk of the castle wall, scattering any recovering demons. Nelius briefly touched down, only to take flight again as the Bahamut crashed down onto the stone, chasing him. On and on, the battle raged on, neither willing to yield. Nelius, in blocking a blow, let himself drift far enough to strategize. However, his dream took an unexpected turn.
"To me!" The Dragon roared, and in an instant several others of the Aerial Unit gathered around. As the bodies of the others glowed, they began to merge with the Dragon, increasing his height.
"Shit! Demon Fusion!" By the time Nelius had fully absorbed the situation, the Dragon now stood somewhere close to 35 feet tall, one of its digits the same size as Nelius.
"Well? Still feeling cocky enough to take me on?"
"Bring it, Godzilla!" His wings, in response, shifted and morphed all around him, forming a pair of jet engines. With increased alacrity he shot forward, aiming for his enlarged target. The Bahamut opened his mouth and shot a gigantic fireball. In turn, Nelius outstretched both hands, taking a moment to stop the fireball before sending it back. The Dragon gave a simple flick of its tail, sending the ball back in a deadly game of Hot Potato. Back and forth the ball went, its power and size growing in intensity with each pass. Soon, one of the two was destined to slip up somewhere, and be engulfed by the flames.
With a growl fitting a enraged demon, Nelius gave the ball one fury-enhanced blow, aiming not for the Dragon's center, but its head. The Dragon brought its wings up to send it back, but as the angle of the shot was several degrees off, all it succeeded in doing was shielding its lower half from the explosion, which engulfed his head. The Bahamut toppled over backwards, his head scorched an even darker shade of black, rattling everyone within a four mile radius. It took him a moment to get back onto his feet, shaking off the shock of being hit with his own fireball.
"Impressive, child. However, do not expect it to work a second time."
"Unfortunately, your praise is wasted." Reaching up to the patch covering his left eye, he removed it, showing the hollow socket. From within, a deep, dark power flowed forth, beginning to coat his entire body. Before the Dragon had a chance to react, the Incubus demon flashed forward, and the Bahamut found his head severed from his body, and he disassembled into the various demons that combined with him, each one sporting their own injuries. Nelius touched down right before the castle's entrance itself, the darkness coating him retracting back into his eye socket as he reapplied the eyepatch. Casting a final gaze to the few demons that decided to hang back, he pushed the fifteen foot door open, and entered.
'Here he comes. This will work.' Watching from her new vantage point, she waited for the right time to strike.
"So you've come, nameless demon." Standing before the throne was his target, the Overlord he once served. This Overlord was female, a rarity back in his home dimension, but she'd made a name for herself. She stood close to fourteen inches shorter than Nelius, and had cobalt blue hair, a striking contradiction to her piercing red eyes. She was dressed for battle, in a custom-fitted Infernal Armor that allowed for moblity and protection. At her side sat her trusted weapon, the Dark Calibur. "For an annoyance like you to decimate my troops."
"Sorry for you, but I do have a name, one you ought to remember. Nelius." He walked up, fire in his eye. "It ring any bells?"
"Nelius? Oh, that scrawny little runt that slipped out sixteen years ago. I have to say, I wasn't expecting you to come crawling back."
"But I'm not here to reclaim my job, I'm here to kill you." Axe in hand, he stood ready to end this.
"Words are cheap, back them up with your actions." Drawing her sword, she dared him to attack.
"I couldn't agree more." The time for talk long since past, Nelius and his former boss rushed towards each other, weapons clashing. He swung his axe overhead, and she brought her sword to block. Undaunted, he went for a horizontal swing, only to meet her blade once more. She went to stab at him, only for him to bring the axe head downward, knocking the pointed edge out of its intended path. With her open, he momentarily released his hold on his axe to drive a fist into her face. She stumbled backwards, but recovered in time to dodge another blow. Her weapon glowing green with wind magic, she sliced the air, sending dozens of wind blades hurtling towards him. He brought his wings up, hardening them to withstand the blades. However, once he unfurled, she was already in his face, and delivered a kick.
Skidding backwards from the kick, Nelius readjusted his axe's grip, then ran back in. Again, their weapons met, neither one willing to give in. Sparks flew from the edges as they attempted to overpower one another. Breaking off, he threw several fire spells at her, three of which she blocked with her Dark Calibur.
"Come on, this can't be all you can muster." She taunted him, a uninterested expression across her face.
"I'm just getting started."
"I hope so. This is starting to bore me." Another fire spell made its way towards her. She blocked it, only to bring her weapon down and see Nelius was nowhere in sight. "Running away, are we?"
"Up here!" She looked skyward, only to get two feet to her face, slamming her head into the floor and sending them both downward into the basement.
The Overlord landed on the hard stone floor and quickly rolled to her feet as Nelius landed a short distance away. With a mighty swing he slammed the axe into the ground, sending a shockwave of debris racing towards her. In response, she took a reverse grip on her sword before taking a swing, sending a wind blade to cancel his attack.
The two attacks met in the middle of the room, kicking up a veritable storm of debris, which they both used to shoot forward, intent on getting the advantage. Once more, they met in the middle, weapons locked, trying to gain an opening. The Overlord made the first move, bringing a leg up to kick at his unguarded midsection, and in response, one of Nelius' wings came up to act as a shield, stopping her. He relented slightly.
"Oh, run out of steam?" She gave a predatory grin. "Well, guess I'll wrap this up. You'll make a fine pet."
Suddenly, Nelius' head shot forward, and with a resounding CRACK, his forehead met her face. Shocked, she pulled back to get her bearings, only for him to surge forward and knock her weapon out of her hands. Weaponless, she tried to reclaim it, but he was faster, already there and having it in his hands.
"Looking for this?" In a cruel act, he tossed the blade into the hole in the ceiling, then shot forward, delivering a haymaker to her side. Before she could recover, he threw his knee into her face, tossing her into a far wall. She got to her feet and flew back out, ready to continue.
Concentrating potent magical energy, he thought she was going to use it for a spell, and so got ready to defend. She instead focused it inward, using it to boost her power. She then surprised Nelius by shooting forward at speeds nearly unseen, nearly dropping him with a vicious bodyblow, then kicking him into the other wall, but she didn't stop there. The very second the wall crumbled behind him, she appeared in its place, booting him upstairs into the throne room once again. She jumped upwards, reclaiming her weapon before landing.
"And here I told myself I wasn't going to use this again..." Nelius got to his feet, his axe nowhere in sight as he shifted rubble everywhere. Above him, a chunk of the ceiling had been taken out when he hit.
"It doesn't matter what you decide to use. You're mine." She shot forward again.
"Maybe this'll change your mind." Grabbing the eyepatch, he ripped it off, letting the power contained behind it flow freely. A mere second before she would've impaled him on the end of her weapon, a hand shot out of nowhere and plowed straight into her gut, knocking the wind out of her. Blood spat out of her mouth as a hand twice the size of Nelius' own hands made of shadows retreated back into his shadow.
"The hell... the hell is this?" Trying to shrug off the pain, she nearly fell to one knee.
"The end." Walking to the other side of the room and reclaiming his axe, which had fallen behind the throne, he turned to face her.
"I'm not finished..." Now standing, she exuded more of the power she had used to empower herself. "But this will end it."
"Fine by me." Facing each other, they both knew they had enough power for one final strike. It was time to make it count.
Weapons at the ready, they raced towards one another, each intent on taking the other down. There was the sound of one large clash, before they each appeared on opposing sides, facing away from one another. As Nelius felt his power beginning to fade, he noticed what felt like a gash going across his chest. He turned to his former boss, only to see her collapse. Across her body, there were multiple slashes and a large bruise on one of her legs.
Nelius turned and went to leave, but felt something keeping him in place, almost as he felt obligated for some answers. Turning around once again, he approached the prone form of the Overlord, keeping a wary eye in case she did attempt anything. Now close enough, he tenatively kicked her Dark Calibur away before grabbing her by the back of her armor and hoisting her up. On wobbly legs she barely managed to stand.
"Start talking." He growled as he spun her around to face him. "You were someone I once looked up to. Why did you fall so far?" Silence. "Answer me!" Slowly, her head looked up to meet him, and it was then that Nelius noticed something was off.
Her eyes, once a sharp red, threatening to look straight into one's soul, were now much softer in color, as if her will had been broken. Only once had he ever seen her eyes take on such a tone, but it was long before she'd gone tyrannical for some unknown reason.
"Nelius..." Even her voice was much kinder, in a sharp contrast to earlier when she was trying to kill him. "Haha.. you did survive."
"Tell me, what the hell happened?"
"You already saw it, didn't you?" She winced, gathering breath before continuing. "That energy I used... it was highly potent, but it came with a nasty downside, which I'm sure you've seen already." The Overlord paused, calming herself down with a few deep breaths. "Regardless of that drama, I'm honestly glad to see you alive, though I wanted this to be under better circumstances."
"How so?" Something in the back of his mind was screaming at him, trying to desperately warn him that this dream was taking a dangerous turn, wake up!
"Well... this." And with that statement, she encircled her arms around his waist before hovering up and capturing his lips in a kiss. Needless to say, he was quite surprised; sure, a kiss feels nice, but getting one from the person you were just trying kill?
'Wai... what in the fucking hell? One minute we're fighting, next we're frenching? What next?' As his former boss' hand snaked its way down to his pants, his lone eye started to bug out. 'WHOA! My dreams don't normally go like this-'
"AWAKEN!" A booming voice in the back of his head shouted, shattering the illusion.
In reality, Nelius' eye shot open as his wings unfurled rather quickly. Both hands immediately went to his head as a piercingly strong headache surged through his skull.
"Aggh! Vile Magog below, that hurts!" So focused was he on swearing that he hadn't yet noticed that he startled his guest, until the scythe in her hands clattered to the ground. "Hey, who are you?" Getting to his feet, the Nightmare slowly backed up, already scared out of her wits, too scared to flee. 'Half-horse...and what's with the scythe?' As his gaze flicked downward to the scythe, he noticed it starting to phase into smoke. He looked up in time to see the Nightmare quickly phase into smoke and shoot up the chimney. "This shit's getting weirder and weirder."
Feeling the stinging sensation still passing through his skull, though lighter compared to when he was forcefully awoken, a hand went there again.
'Still, why does it feel like I've been hit with a Peta Star? Headaches aren't supposed to feel like this.' It was then that he remembered that dream. 'Still, frenching my old boss?' He shuddered; sure, for a demon she was rather attractive, but still, they were at war. You don't go from fighting to frenching, just like that!
Still feeling groggy, due to sleeping with one metaphorical eye open, Nelius pulled himself back off the floor and stretched. Popping a few joints back into place, he unfolded his jacket and put it on. Reclaiming his gear and making sure everything was in order, he slipped out of the shack, senses on alert as he decided to hike.
'That horse-chick must've been one of those Mamono I heard about. Was she messing with my dreams? Nothing about this place makes sense.' Not watching where he was going, he ended up stepping on something with a somewhat sickening crunch.
"EYOWCH!" A woman's shriek of pain alerted him to a new monster girl nearby.
From the waist up, it was a woman with tan skin, blonde hair and yellow eyes. Her top was a purple cloth held together by a ring, itself held up by a chain connection to a collar around her neck. However, from the waist down, she appeared to be a serpent of some kind, with deep brown scales.
"Hey, you didn't have to step on my tail!" Cradling the affected part of her tail, she gave a hatred-filled glare.
"Sorry, lady, but I didn't quite see your tail sticking out like that." Casting a quick apology, he then took in her physical features. "Say, what manner of being are you?"
"What the-" Stunned by his sudden question, she had to keep herself from falling over in shock. "You mean you've never seen a Lamia before?"
"Well, there's not exactly commonplace where I live." Hey, it was true. "Well, at least let me make up for this."
"How?" She cast him a dubious look.
"With this." Focusing on where he'd accidentally stepped on her tail, he channeled a Heal spell. "That feel any better?"
The Lamia gave a few tentative swings of her tail. Surprisingly, the pain had subsided quickly, though there was a slightly dull feeling. Her doubt changed to wonder as she felt that her tail was indeed healed.
"It is feeling better. What kind of magic was that?"
"It's a spell to accelerate the healing processes. Where I'm from, there's about five levels of how strong a Heal spell can go; the one I used is generally effective on minor injuries, cuts, bruises, that kind of stuff." Giving a friendly wave, he proceeded to leave. "Again, sorry about stepping on your tail."
'Such a strange human... he doesn't look like a member of the Order, and he was willing to make up for what he did.' The sound of foliage rustling broke her thoughts as she looked up, only to see that Nelius was already gone. "Hey, what in the- where'd he go?"
In flight, the out-of-place demon was trying to figure out what his next move would be.
'There should be a town somewhere around here where I can get some better information on these Mamono... a library would work.' So focused was he on his decision that he didn't quite realize he was headed into big trouble, until something he crashed into something feathery. There was a bit of cursing from both involved parties until they untangled themselves.
Hovering before him was what appeared to have been a woman with the wings and talons of a bird; the feathers and talons were a soft ebony, matching her hair, and she was adorned in what appeared a green yukata and a pink skirt of some kind; Nelius was never that good at identifying what types of clothes were which.
"Ouch, can't you watch where you're flying?" It seems Nelius has an uncanny way of running into people.
"Not my fault everything's so green around here. I prefer to not have my only remaining eye go out on me."
"And what manner of creature are you?" Crimson eyes peeked out from her hair, judging him.
"You took the words right out of my mouth. Still, you asked first... Name's Nelius. You could say that I'm not from around here. And yourself?"
"Yumi, Crow Tengu. Those wings you have... are you an Incubus?"
"Yeah, my mother was a Succubus, but I don't see what the big deal is." Had anybody else been around, he'd have been in serious trouble. "Anyway, do you know where I can find a library around here? I need a quick check on something that's been at the back of my mind for a while now."
'An unclaimed Incubus, especially one not from around here? Curious indeed.' It was then that she heard about his question. "About a good two clicks that way-" She gestured to her left with a wing, "-there's a large library there. The only problem is that the town surrounding it is under the Order's jurisdiction, which made it a real problem for me to get my studies done."
"That's the second time I've heard about this Order. From what I first gathered, they seemed like a decent sort." Her face scrunched into one of disgust.
"Decent is hardly the word I'd use. Perhaps about several hundred years ago, sure, but today?" She shook her head. "They're hardly better than fanatics, killing anyone who even so much as says a word in our favor, organizing hunts to exterminate anything not human. It got so bad around my homelands that we had to set up our own forces to keep them out."
"That bad?" 'Man, there's a whole section of history here I'm missing. This is way worse than the Fake Zenon incident.'
"That was understating the whole mess." Looking to the sky, she guessed it was closing in on noon. "I apologize, but I must be going." Giving a polite bow, she hovered up higher and took off.
Taking her advice into consideration, Nelius flew towards the town, reminding himself that he'd have to don an appropriate disguise when he landed.
Meanwhile, a good few clicks away from the town in question...
"Leader, I've some interesting news."
"Speak, Ariella."
"Roughly one quarter of an hour before noontime, an unclaimed Incubus was seen flying towards the Order town to the north."
"Unclaimed? I've never heard of such a thing happening before."
"If all guesses are appropriate, he will be landing there shortly. He may don a disguise to blend in with the humans, but his hair and missing eye may out him."
"I see. No doubt there may be others who also have their eyes trained on him."
"It is a likely estimation. Your orders?"
"We're close to the time for another hunt. Once the town's defenses go lax, we strike. Should he be found, capture him and bring him here. I wish to test this claim of his Incubus heritage."
"Understood."
Chapter 2: Complete