Disclaimer: see previous disclaimer dude.
"Fine you can have your counter rule… as for my third and final rule" While he was getting ready to state his next rule he saw Belladonna smile, that smile meant something and yet for the devilish life of him he couldn't figure out what that was "We will not use any powers we have acquired from the underworld" Red sounded like he was evening the playing field a bit.
The cloaked figure looked to Belladonna to see if she had anymore counter rules or any rules of her own and she sat there motionless with a bland look on her face, she expected that rule and quite frankly with what she was going to do it wouldn't matter, but it certainly would look like every rule would be broken if there wasn't several loop holes she's already exploited out of Red, but then again his no projectile attacks and using a Slasher Demon as a general would be generally what anyone would want in this situation… but she was pretty sure Bird could hold them off while she sets up her personal ace in the hole, one of which has huge consequences but it would be worth it if she could get that crystal from Red she'd go to any length even if it meant insanity and shortly after a painful death, she'd fight her way back to life for Bird if that happened she wouldn't be separated from her again but she needed that crystal, if she was right in believing what it was.
On the opposite side of the battle field a green crevasse opened up in the ground and out poured a bunch of small nasty red creatures called imps these thing usually wielded pitchforks and were quite impervious to fire and were quite strong for their size for something small and humanoid like a large rat, this was follow by less but more formidable floating skeletal versions called spirit imps as they were surrounded by a sickly green glow that was nothing like Bird's vibrant green glow when she used her energy for something.
An imp was small two feet in height at least, was red and had sharp claws, eyes glowing of a usually disturbing color and were vicious in large numbers, not something you'd want to fight more of in a close ranged affair or let drink blood in said affair.
Spirit imps were purely good at firing off deadly energy, but given that there is no projectiles in this fight it's understood why Red had them as physically hurting them without projecting energy was rather hard but not unheard of, but it was doable as long as they don't fire the energy and hold onto it while hitting the target with contact attacks but getting in close would be hard to do when they can fly, loophole being that they still could even after the rule of no underworld power.
Then the other general showed up, Donnie did not like the nasty creature as it had what passes for a torso, arms and legs, but it didn't have a neck, hands or feet and it was a solid grey mass of muscle and blood with several gleaming six foot blades stick out of its flesh where it constantly let it's putrid black blood onto the floor from where it would have had hands and feet this creature had sharp almost likely instant death and would become the most dangerous thing on the field of battle when it started, since the no underworld powers applied to this creature it wouldn't be a able to regenerate at an accelerated rate it usually could, it would become enraged and attack everything near it and getting close to an enraged Slasher would be the last thing anyone wanted to do.
Its mouth was visibly full of jagged sharp teeth which if anyone were to get a close look at without dying those were also blades and it was slobbering its own blood on the ground, Slasher Demons were entirely lethal up close but at a range they could be made harmless, its eyes were very small yet they were under a mound of grey mottled flesh, flesh that was armored by mounds of the roundish ugly creatures thick muscles and skin with blades sticking out of random places other than its forearms and legs to make up for the lack of feet and hands, if you attacked it the wrong way you were going to be skewered without a doubt.
The best answer in this situation was to make it or let it bleed to death, but it's blood would quickly change the battlefield into a slippery place and it's unaffected by its own blood when it comes to fighting and despite looking like a hulking garish monster that shouldn't be able to move all that fast, well it was far faster than anyone would believe especially when enraged and that would kill both Bird and her if they didn't watch it then they would be back where she started from but at least Bird would be there for her that is unless the reaper actually took them before Red did.
The Slasher slowly took up its position the center of the imps with the spirit imps floating around it, while in the back the big red kitty himself stayed well away from the front from his own grotesque general.
Belladonna considered the fact that imps like to feed on blood and that they would get a mouthful in this battle and that would improve their strength as that was not a underworld ability it was a natural thing that they had that just made this battle all that much harder, but if she is able to set herself off she'd be able to tear through them rather easily all she needed was time.
Red himself was as large as he was when he previously fought Charlie last time he was here that was his true form as a giant cat demon with deadly claws, and a physical presence that would have scared other people but Donnie didn't even twitch.
"What in the world is that thing…" Charlie said disgusted and frightened by the visage of the creature standing in the middle of all those imps bleeding everywhere and the battle hadn't even started.
"That Charles is Red's most devastating weapon in this battle… Belladonna will bring it down of that I have no doubt, if Bird doesn't do it first" Sasha looked between the normal looking yet purple whippet, the large bird and the large monstrous mound of flesh and blades backed by an army, what did Annabelle know that they didn't, because it certainly looks like a hopeless battle and those things were all horrid creatures how can Belladonna be so calm in the face of such a horrible mess, in fact Bird didn't seem to be doing much more then standing in front of her looking blankly ahead.
"I think… I think, I'm going to be sick Charlie" Itchy didn't like it here but Annabelle said they couldn't leave till all this was over, why did Belladonna want them to watch this, it was bound to be a horrifying massacre and he wasn't going to be disappointed but he wish he had been.
"I think I might be sick too Itch" Charlie said as his face turned green, Annabelle who was next to him and Sasha looked carefully at Belladonna's reserved nature as if… her eyes widened, she wouldn't… would she? After a moment Annabelle gave a sour thought that she would.
"Suck it up you two and hope that Belladonna knows what she's doing, because I certainly know and I don't like the looks of this…" Charlie looked to Annabelle surprised and he blinked owlishly at her, she knew something and she wasn't telling them, what was going on? She usually gave information up rather easily without needing to be asked, well there were occasions where she wouldn't give everything away but that was harmless stuff, usually.
The thing that was obviously a reaper looked to both sides getting acknowledgement that the battle is to proceed and it drops its arms and float back, as soon as it did that Belladonna quickly leapt backwards away from the imps and the charging Slasher while Bird stood her ground and the first imp that came close enough for Bird to attack was quickly skewered by the tips of her feathers running solidly straight through the imps torso, after that Bird was a whirling dervish of motion and constant movement, impaling imps left and right with her talons and crushing a few skulls while swinging her wings, which the feathers on them had taken a metallic sheen as they cut up any imp that dared to move closed enough, the demon finally came upon her and swung it's sharp metal blade down on Bird only for them to be deflect by her wings without damage and for the hulking grey monster to be knocked back two feet by a solid blow to the center of its body with a curled wing, while the distance wasn't that great the message was clear.
Red watched from the back in earnest interest as Belladonna's feathered friend put up an enormous show of dealing with the imps and knocking his general back, that creature despite appearances was far stronger then he had imagine, but what was more worrying was what Belladonna was doing, she wasn't participating in the fight yet and she stood away from her friend who was taking on an army with a viciousness that only a demon could be capable of and with feathers that seemed to be razor sharp if the blood of the imps she spilled was any sign.
Belladonna was sitting up back against the wall and her paws were clapped together, her eyes were closed and she was chanting under slowly under her breathe, the outside world was gone to her as long as she wasn't distracted in the next few minutes then she would unleash her unmitigated version of hell on Reds forces, Bird was to hold them off on her own as she had agreed to do so before the battle started in the cold metal prison walls of Alcatraz.
"Is… is Belladonna praying!" Charlie asked astonished that Belladonna would actually do something like that at a time like this, much less even pray at all, he expected her to go into the fight or stand her ground like Bird did and he had to admit he's never actually seen the wicked dog do anything quite like this.
"No… she's about to unleash her special power … she could have very well used it on you Charles, but be glad she never did or was willing to do so" Annabelle loathed to admit it, but she knew it was probably the best course of action for this situation as Belladonna was good at fighting but that was nothing more than long range assaults and maybe one on one close up encounters, that technique would be guaranteed to wreck her depending how long it lasted.
It would instantly mean a huge drop in Reds forces and in a reapers fight this was going to be a double edge sword, of course Annabelle wasn't going to explain any of this as she didn't want Charlie or anyone else to know exactly what was taking place here, it was better for their sanity anyway.
After going back to watching the battle Annabelle gasped as Bird was covered in blood, then again none of it was her own as she been bashing away at the swarming imps, each one clambering to get a purchase to weigh down and claw her up, that or slow her down enough for the Slasher to finish her off as her speed and ruthless efficiency was so far unmatched and Red was already down sixty imps the rest were drinking the Slasher's blood continually spilling on the floor to recover from their injuries and build up strength to continue assault Bird after taking a heavy clawed kick, a bone shattering slap or body eviscerating cut.
An imp managed to land on her back before it was smashed against the floor as Bird rolled backwards dodging a rushing stab from the bladed monstrosity whose blades went straight into the floor getting its right arm stuck there, not only did this squash the imp but it also led to her maneuvering herself near one of many open cell doors throughout the prison jumped slightly twirling as she swung her wing past a single bar twice, nothing visible happened until she twisted her wing around the bar and wrenched it free setting it straight into a twirling motion to bash away two imps who were instantly dead from the metal ripping through the space their bodies once occupied.
Red never set a no weapons rule, he just said no projectiles and Bird was taking full advantage of having a large metal pole with sharp ends as she mashed and stabbed her way through the swarming imps and leapt up onto the bladed demons stuck arm while the other one clawed wildly at the air not really caring what it hit taking out some of Red's imp battalion in its apparent blind rage.
Bird ran up the arm unconsciously digging her talons in as deep as she could, before she reached near the top of the beast she leapt up bringing her makeshift double ended spear into both wings and pulling it back above her head before jamming it straight down into the creature creating a fountain of blood on impact and it reacted by stabbing at Bird with its left arm only to miss, however as it swung it's left arm outward from its right should its blades connected with bird sending her flying into a wall leaving a small impact crater with a large deep cut from her right wing and down close to her left leg.
Red had smirked victoriously wondering why Belladonna was praying or what she was praying about, but it didn't matter that mild nuisance was out of the way he's now free to take Belladonna down, maybe he would mess with her a little before torturing the bitch only to be proven wrong in that the mild nuisance was getting back up if slowly as her body seemed to not be aware of the amount of pain it was in.
Bird was calculating her slow down to mean she was damaged she gave a quick check to her body, left leg, right leg, left wing, right wing were all mobile as the energy in them was still available, however there was major damage to her chest region and she already had spirit imps and regular imps bearing down on her, while the Slasher was still trying to figure out what to do about the new pain inducing ornament sticking out of the top of its body as it thrashed around and apparently it didn't need it's brain to function or live as it was still moving if erratically.
Bird wrapped her right wing over her wound and stabbed her left wing into the floor garnering a bright green glow to shoot up from her floored wing into her body and while this was happening the spirit imps that were about to swarm her suddenly perished without reason and the imps on the ground fell back after feeling sick for getting to close to the green energy coming off of Bird as they tried to press their advantage.
Red's eyes widened as he recognized what Bird was doing and he now knew he was going to have some problems as that creature would just render his spirit imps completely useless, as he made the thirty two that were left get away from her but one more straggler fell before becoming a inanimate pile of bones, damn that creature for being able to heal off of his own incompetence for not noticing earlier what that nearly soulless creature was capable of.
"Bird is using her Glamour or else she wouldn't be able to hold them off like that, but something's wrong she should be able to put out more than that" Annabelle said from the upper floor attracting the attention of the others watching to the pink furred angel dog as Birds injury started to rapidly vanish as quickly as the spirit imps that came near her did.
"Glamour… what does beauty have to do with anything that's going on here? This is horrible and Belladonna is leaving that poor creature to fend for herself" Charlie was just speaking his mind however the look Annabelle gave him froze him on the spot "She's not leaving her to fend for herself, Bird is giving Belladonna the time she needs… and Glamour is what you could call magic Charles, but now is not the time for that".
Hearing a loud thud sound Annabelle's head snapped back to what was going on below, apparently Bird was back in action and what's more she was using the smaller intestines of a imp she killed earlier as a lasso to pull a imp away from getting to Belladonna and it slammed to the floor from its mid air jump, she quickly reeled it in to rip it's throat out only to hear a sound causing Bird to turn and block a lazy swing from the Slasher Demon; that seemed to have gotten it's second wind now completely free of the floor, with her wing again, she deflected its blades and some of her feathers actually took damage but she remained relatively unharmed as she shook an imp off her right leg and ripped its head off with a quick movement before she had to roll away as several deadly blades passed above the space her body used to occupy.
Bird leapt back slapping away several imps that lunged at her trying to cling to her in hopes of maybe biting or clawing her, but it wasn't going so well with Bird having to dodge so many distractions at once and knock them off of herself in a rather violent manner, not only that Bird was getting covered from head to toe in black or dark red blood as she continue to stomp another imp out.
That's when it happened and Bird swiveled her head blankly towards the now glowing Belladonna, an eerie red blaze formed around the purple dog and slowly it started ramping up in power as it gave off massive amounts of heat, the imps actually became spooked and backed away from Birds defensive form and the Slasher Demon was now too confused about the pole in its head and the rapid loss of blood to the floor to actually give notice that the purple whippet was brimming with power, it continued trying to kill Bird not really coming close to doing as such.
"I've felt the hate rise up in me, kneel down and clear the stone of leaves, I wander out where you can't see, inside my shell I wait and bleed…" slowly Donnie started to disappear becoming transparent, then blood started to flow from out of empty air forming to Donnie's shape however there was no ponytail present and something was off about Donnie "and when I let the beast free, my power overcomes me... for I scream out... PSYCHO BURGUNDY!"
Belladonna's eyes flashed open revealing a dark golden glow and she was erupting with red energy that look like a wildfire in the way it shifted around her bloody form as she rushed forward and bit off the upper half of a imp and quickly swallowed before following it up by snapping two more imps into the air and then consuming them as they came down, she started attacking them at random or the thing closest to her, the imps were caught flat footed and the spirit imps are the only ones that seemed to be avoiding the fast moving dogs wrath as she continued to consume Reds forces.
"What, what is she…" Itchy stated trying to look away from the rapid gore fest Belladonna had turned into while mirroring Sasha's and Charlie's thoughts perfectly.
Annabelle kept a concentrated eye on the battlefield watching as Bird continued to fight and deal with a few more of the spirit imps by sheer presence of proximity making their number less than half which were entirely useless against her as she was absorbing all the energy from the undead creatures, Belladonna was a uncontrolled mass of death as to be expected from someone who'd be willing to use the 'burning blood' ability.
"A normal dog with extraordinary talent… especially considering I know how to use the sister ability" Annabelle direly mumbled that second part way under her breathe which made Charlie wonder what it was that Annabelle said, this was a sick and twisted battle especially considering Belladonna was actually eating those things.
"You call eating those things normal?" Sasha was trying to wrap her head around this trying to put things in perspective with how Belladonna was acting earlier to what she was now, a raging beast that was scaring imps which were posed to be demonic and fearless, which she didn't know whether or not they were demons but what she did know was that they were beginning to fear the bloody dog who despite all the blood streaming off her with every movement didn't leave any on the floor.
Bird bisected an imp vertically dropping a wing straight through it and then moved on to decapitate another one with a spinning slash, all the while Belladonna was zipping from one imp to the next consuming them too fast for them to fight her off, but there were several clinging to her body trying to claw at the bloody whippet ripping the head off another imp and making a sickening crunching noise as she swallowed its head and she finally just turned her head and bit the lower half off one of the imps trying to hurt her, the imps weren't very intelligent so they couldn't have known that whatever they were doing was fruitless as Belladonna couldn't be hurt anymore.
Red initially thought that Belladonna was praying now he knew what it was and why she had been staying out of battle, this dog just had to have that ability, even then the Psycho Burgundy uses up the users blood, causes them to feel continuous pain as if they were stabbed with a hundred knives repeatedly and not to mention their blood burns as it covers their body making them untouchable like a ghost but added more pain like being dipped in acid, she was no more intelligent than the Slasher at this point but she was eating his imps to replenish her lost blood from continuous use, who in turn had consumed the Slasher's blood.
Now what Red had to consider was what Belladonna exactly was in terms in comparison to his army, his imps were Sorcery based whereas the royal bitch was a Necromancer, a type of person reputed for being strong against beings of Sorcery and it finally dawned on Red why he had failed so much to overcome this mutt in the underworld, it was for this very reason and that his opponent was very crafty.
The bird was a Glamour type; but there was something wrong with its Glamour usage though, even so his spirit imps were nullified as she could feed off a spirit imp till they stopped moving, Belladonna had likely planned for it to go this way from the beginning, but even then she wouldn't last long under the strain and once she dropped from usage, easy pickings if he could defeat the Glamour user as two against two hundred would still leave them inevitably unable to battle.
It was no matter as he still hasn't fought either of them yet and he would be fresh for battle as Belladonna couldn't keep her ability going forever and the avian while powerful doesn't know it's limitations, he'd have to finish off the bird but she'd still be relatively fresh after taking down the last of the spirit imps, he had the size and strength advantage plus Belladonna was just about done for in this fight.
At this point the there was only less than thirty imps altogether and seventeen of them were spirit imps that were staying away from Bird and trying to figure out how to bring down the Bloody Belle from hell, when Belladonna launched herself at not a another target but Bird herself who was still busy dealing with normal imps still trying to pile on top of her.
Annabelle watched in fright as the world seemed to slow down to her, what looked like a sure end to Bird slowly unfolded before her eyes and Belladonna's blood thirsty form slowly moved towards her through the air in a lunge glowing in the namesake of a violent shifting burgundy leaving a vapor trail of blood, Annabelle focused on what happened next trying to figure out how that was even possible, because it was the absurd with the berserker rage; that Belladonna was in, that she could actually pull something like that off.
"SHE MISSED" Red yelled loudly as he watched what he assumed would be less opposition however the bloody dog had somehow rolled sideways in midair and slammed a nearby imp; bypassing the bird entirely, against a solid stone wall and then ripped its guts out with her teeth while rebounding off the wall and into the still confused and near dead Slasher Demon as she took to its left arm on the inside of its elbow with her teeth.
Bird quickly continued on with what was left of the imps and just avoided the spirit imps for the moment while Donnie was wrestling with the monstrous flesh pile with painful metal piercings, of which that of its right arm had subsequently pierced her doing negligible damage as the blades eroded from her body as she took a large chunk of its left arm and destroyed most of its blades on its right arm at the same time.
"How… how did, how did Belladonna… how did she survive that" Itchy said in panic having watched the blades that entered Belladonna were destroyed and the parts that stuck out of her other side just dropped to the floor as if her body consumed the blades that passed through most of her vital spots.
"She can practically survive anything… as long as she has enough blood to keep going, it burns out quicker the longer she's like that, but otherwise nothing can hurt her, only stall her till she stops it herself or…" Annabelle paused not wanting to say that Belladonna would go as far as die; users of this kind of ability could usually stop it before they died and is the only other option they are aware of other then dying as the body is kind of out of control, which was kind of being brought into question when she saw Belladonna flicker for a moment before hitting Bird.
The user is never in any shape to fight due to massive blood loss and having almost no energy left, but that wasn't the worst effect and that was what happens after the user wakes up if they lived through this… the side effects are quite horrendous for the temporary burst of power and semi invincibility, Belladonna used the long charged version to build up energy so that she'd last longer than a normal situation and in a normal situation it was better to use Psycho Burgundy in short burst attacks, it was still painful and draining though survivability was higher than the prolonged activity.
By this point there were hardly any imps left and Bird was mopping them up quite easily with a kick or just simply walking all over them in a literal sense, while Donnie was all busy wrestling something that was made of sharp metal and disgusting flesh, but it would be better termed as mauling the thing as it's left arm from the elbow was lying on the floor it's other arm missing to the shoulder and the right side of its torso was ripped out leaving only sharp pointy metallic bones visible as it started to groan loudly as it dies, the blazing dog had pretty much eaten half the entire thing before it finally gave up on living.
Belladonna started for Red but slowly started to… flicker… between the bloody visage and the normal purple fur that the dog was usually known for, she stumbled and slowly the flickering stopped leaving a weak and pale looking dog in its wake that instantly dropped into the quickly drying blood on the floor that belonged to the dead Slasher Demon, but a fresher source of the stuff was from Belladonna herself as her blood just slid off her form onto the floor.
Belladonna was down and more importantly within Red's striking distance this was his chance to take the bitch down, he quickly lashed out with his right arm only to be deflected by Bird diving in and blocking his attack at Belladonna's recently unguarded form with a swift kick to knock back his arm and she quickly rolled away taking the Belle's spent body with her as she leapt to an upper level to drop off Belladonna.
Red took a quick scan of the battlefield and saw only three imps were still in any shape for fighting the rest were already more than halfway gone and unsalvageable even with the extra blood from the Slasher Demon to feed them, mysteriously there were four spirit imps left untouched.
Belladonna had been so close and Red would not be denied now, he ordered all the imps to all out attack as best they could in such small numbers, but made a mental gesture to go after Belladonna and to leave the bird to him, as Belladonna wouldn't be putting up a fight any time soon and all he had to do was keep Bird away from her.
Red leapt up to the same level Bird did and surged forward to knock Bird away from Belladonna but she stood her ground and positioned her wing curved protectively in front of herself while standing in front of Donnie, as his fist rammed home Bird skidded backwards two centimeters and for a split second a shimmer of a half circle of solid energy appeared in front of Bird before disappearing.
Red narrowed his eyes, this creature was more then he previously thought if it could make barriers in such a state it's in and he was quite impressed, it was too bad he didn't like what Bird was doing now.
Bird took on a vibrant green glow and the last four spirit imps dropped to the ground as worthless piles of bone while Bird put a glowing wing next to the unconscious dogs form and a barrier erupted around the dog taking out most of her energy and disabling her stabilized state causing her to start slowly dying again. (She was stabilized by Belladonna in 'Home' to stop from dying so rapidly dude)
"What the… WHAT IS SHE DOING?" Annabelle finally noticed what was wrong with Bird and what exactly she just did to protect Belladonna, as she broke what seemed to be stabilizing her causing Annabelle to finally take notice of Birds true state and Belladonna was the only one who could have possibly put the stabilizer there, now Annabelle was getting anxious that Bird was slowly dying because she cast what amounts to protection spell in magic terms that broke the stabilization that honestly Annabelle did not know about until now.
The other dogs looked to Annabelle wondering what she meant, if it was Bird protecting Belladonna they considered that it would be cruel of an angel to leave a weak and helpless person in the lurch even if it was a notorious dog, they decided to question it later as they didn't know everything that was going on.
Bird flew backwards and skidded on the floor after taking a vicious kick she barely blocked with her wings and if it hurt she didn't feel any of it, but she was slowing down now and this was the only sign that she could tell that she was beginning to die again, it was apparent that she broke her stabilization trying to shield Donnie who must be defended at all cost in her logical mind.
The three imps that were left went on to attack the shield protecting Belladonna, but it would only hold for as long as Bird was still standing, so attacking it was like attacking her directly as it drained her energy for each time an imps claws or the single miniature pitchfork scraped the shield relentlessly, while she ducked and dodged around Reds attempt to kill her.
Red knew it was only a matter of time and his victory was going to be ever so sweet, he could already taste the chicken cacciatore already, he received a vicious blow across the face from a curled right winged hook, apparently his meal still had some fight left in it.