XI
The Demon's roar clued to another of its attack, burying the axe's blade deep into the stone floor, then driving it forcefully towards her, sending rocks the size of earthen jugs at her. She quickly lashed out as she continued dashing forward, breaking the stone projectiles into bits and pieces; this, however, was what the Demon has been counting upon. With the rocks serving as a distraction and the dust to slightly obscure her vision, it lunged forward swinging its weapon, with the intention of cutting her body in two from the hips down.
Fury cannot slightly see thanks to the dust, but her intuition kicked in at the last minute; she quickly slid under the axe's blade as it sallied forth, arching her body backward and keeping her head as low as possible while sliding underneath on her knees. She quickly rolled forward after the stop just in time to avoid the axe that was crashing down to her position. She twisted her body mid-roll and ended up on a crouching position facing the Demon. Seeing it starting to charge again, she quickly slammed her left palm to her shadow on the ground then raised it palm-up with both middle finger and pointer finger outstretched; then slamming it down again forward.
Mid-step on the charge, the Demon felt something restraining its lead hoof, but too late to react as it tripped and crashed with a growl. A shadow spike rose from the ground - from his own shadow - to meet it, solidifying then impaling it at the mid-section of its body. Getting on its hooves, it then snapped the spike then pulled it out of its body with a grunt. The spike then receded back to its shadow state after it was cast away. The rider narrowed her eyes when the Demon gave out an unearthly chuckle as it hoisted itself up with the help of its weapon.
"What's so funny?" She inquired in the language that both understand, her first tongue.
"You amuse me, Nephilim..." it replied. "To think that a hybrid, such as yourself, can think of besting me in combat."
"And what of it?" She retorted.
"Beginner's luck, that's what I call it."
"I don't believe in luck, Demon", she scoffed. "If I willed it, then it will be as I had willed it to be."
"Indeed..." It boomed out loud. "Then luck is on my side..."
"And why would that be? Pray tell..."
"Simple..." It ran a hand and scratched its chest, peeling of some of the black furs that covered it and revealing an identical pentagram sigil already there; it was cauterized, as if branded just a minute ago. "Because I am INVINCIBLE!" With that, the pentagram throbbed once again, pulsating in crimson glow. Spectral figures caught her eyes, before vanishing in a flash of crimson light, and to where is obvious.
"WHAT!?" She was surprised for a second but managed to recover quickly. She admitted that did surprised her. To think that it had a second pentagram, but when did it marked itself? She had no idea when and how it did, in all honesty.
"You seemed surprised?"
"In the least..."
"I knew that sooner or later, you would figure out my weakness, and that you did. Defacing my seal..."
"So, you read my mind..."
"Did you think you're the only one with a calculative mind-set? I too, have been observing you from the beginning and I must admit, you are a formidable opponent. Your proficiency in wielding your shadows is outstandi-"
"And did you know that we are adamant towards praises?" She cut off. "Don't stray from the main path, will you?" Irritation was now clear on her voice.
"No... I don't read minds."
"And?"
"It's what those Angels did to me! They destroyed my greatest strength by destroying my seal!" Its roar resonated once more across the vast chamber. "But not anymore..."
"What do you mean not anymore?"
"I knew that a day will come when an enemy will appear to use my weakness against me for the second time. And in order to do that, I devised a contingency plan for my own if it did happen. Even if I have to use a pathetic human's body to do it."
Now, she understood it all - the monk, the knights, and the ritual. All were just a part of an elaborate plan for the Demon's escape from its prison. She glimpsed the other souls from earlier, screaming and trying to flee only to be sucked back into the Demon's body. At first, its mouth was the only orifice for its food but now, the souls were greedily absorbed by its very skin; it had escalated. She gritted her teeth at the sight of its wounds healing up faster than minutes ago. More souls mean more energy, and to the point where it will return to its former strength before being imprisoned. It had to be stopped.
With hand motions, several pairs of ember-red eyes glowed in the shadows followed by low growling sounds. From the shadows emerged a pack of the furry black dogs and trotted forward around her, snarling and glaring at their prey. She held up a fist to signal their strike as the pack crouched in anticipation.
"You know what?" It spoke again.
"What now?" She paused a bit and stared at the Demon. She then noticed that the flow of souls had stopped, meaning it was finished replenishing itself.
"You really are a half-Angel thing..." It chuckled.
"Oh... did that surprised you to know?" She inquired sarcastically smirking a bit. In this battle of wits, the one who will lose their head will in fact lose one's head - literally.
"You had that fire of determination burning in your eyes, one that I so wished to stamp out any time soon. You had that same look as the Angel who fought and sealed me long ago. I do admit, I fell to his blade that day..."
Fury scoffed. "Well, pray you won't fall to mine either..."
"Ha! You think you can best me!?" It roared in maniacal laughter. "You spoke the very words that those pesky Angels said before I tore their puny bodies apart, what a coincidence is that?"
"But looking back, those peskyAngels still sealed you, didn't they?" She emphasized the words. "Wow, look at you... His butt handed back to him, funny coincidence right?"
"Shut your up that foul mouth of yours before I cut that insolent tongue for you, hybrid!" It exclaimed. She could practically see its blood boiling in its veins and its nose blowing off steam in anger. "Have you no idea who I really am!?"
"Don't know... Don't care..." She replied dryly. She was now quite irritated bay its incessant blabbering, more so when it laughed again.
"How amusing! I was sealed for so long but here I am, facing some idiot who still don't of my glory..."
"Care to share then?"
"I am Lord Baphometh, one of the Princes of He-"
"Blah blah blah..." Fury rolled her eyes. "Of course I knew your name! Just stop your self-righteous ranting will you?" She motioned her hand at last, glad that she did so, watching her pack dashed forward, their glowing eyes trailing a fine wavy line in the shadows.
"You still had no idea what I am capable of do you?"
It lifted the axe then threw it forcefully towards her, slicing a beast in the way. Bits of the ground flew in all direction when it embedded itself into the hard rock floor as the Rider jumped out of the way. She turned around to inspect her opponent, only to find it missing. A sound overhead made her look up, then dove-and-rolled out of the way as the Demon swooped down into an attack intending to stomp upon her from above. From the roll, she went into a backflip towards one of the stone columns; avoiding the axe and watched as steel collided with stone, cleaving a considerable large chunk of stone from it. She landed horizontally above with bent legs and a ready weapon, launched herself to it with a kick to the column then lashing out at its chest - only to be blocked by its wings.
She landed in a crouch behind it, mentally ordering the pack to encircle it then strike simultaneously. The first beast was impaled by the Demon's tails, the second swatted away by a back fist; the third caught then squeezed to pulp, and so on. Two others lunged simultaneously from each sides but collided midway when the Demon jumped up in mid-air, flexing both wings and flapped them vigorously. She let out a number of lashes but it simply dodged or flew out of range; capitalizing on its advantage of flight. It sucked in air then released it in a long and intense gout of Hellfire, quickly mopping out the remaining Shadow beasts.
"Catch me if you can, Nephilim!" It taunted as it flew out of the way from another lash from the Rider.
It raised both arms above its head as if holding its flames, then bought them down facing her. A fireball materializes at the palms then was shot at her in series. She evaded every fiery orb as she ran around with a chain of explosions at her heels, striking and destroying some that came too close for her comfort. She quickly dove behind one of the columns to bid her time to think of some strategies, feeling the tremor as the fiery balls hit then exploded against the stone behind her; the Demon intent on destroying the pillar instead just to get to her. Cracks then began to appear around the pillar from the continuous bombarding, the force eating at it slowly but surely.
"You can run, Nephilim, but you can't hide forever!"
Fury looked around and up, seeing only low-hanging Stalactites and some Stalagmites at the edges, and formulated her strategy. She motioned towards the Stalagmites on the floor ahead, the shadows racing to their individual bases and protruding a number of black tendrils. These tendrils then quickly wove themselves onto each other, forming a net of shadows, sturdy enough to hold one of the pillars in the chamber. She ran then leapt onto this net, jumping in the same time it propelled her upwards in break-neck speed, straightening her body on the way. Near the cavernous roof, she lashed out to the lowest-hanging Stalactite near the pillar, the whip winding around the tip; then pulled herself to it, swinging towards the said column as fast as she can. She let go of the Stalactite as she went into a corkscrew spin with her body, kicking the top of the stone pillar and toppling it off on top of the hovering Demon. The rock column gave way under her full weight combined with her momentum and speed, but its velocity toppling down was a slow one. A jingling of chains were heard as it suddenly stopped on its fall, the chains connected to the cage holding it in place and left it hanging by its chains in a 45 degree angle.
The Demon just laughed as it flew aside. "Nice plan, Nephilim... But it doesn't seem to be working!"
"Oh no, it worked VERY WELL just as expected..." She retorted, dashing up the hanging pillar. "You didn't think I could get this very near to you, did you?"
She then leapt towards the hovering Demon with weapon ready to strike.
A/N: I know, I sucked at the conversation... I didn't translated it because I also sucked at translations... And... Sorry if the next chapter will take long to be uploaded...
Eldar Wraithbone Singers had sung their melodies to Khaela Mensha Khaine in my head; their wraithbones had slowly engulfed my mind and no idea now seemed to grow out of it. Perhaps if I could just reverse the lyrics of their song, I could reverse the effects. Uh, in short, in short, I'm having a mental block right now...
... And the situation is dire here in the Philippines...