The Lilitu known as Vandia retracted its tentacles seamlessly as it glared at Reinhardt and Sylgja. She gave a hungry growl and walked on all fours like a beast as it paced back and forth over Misa's body. Despite its savage behaviour it still had the appearance of a human, except its haunting inhuman beauty and its unusually long forked tongue which it used to lick the dead Halfling's blood.
"Gods, does it have to look like me," groaned Sylgja with her sword and shield at the ready.
"Better you than one of my past memories," said Reinhardt. "It provoked me last time, and I'm not sure if I could reign myself in if it took the image of Amirah again."
Sylgja pointed at Vandia. "Well it's provoking me plenty right now. I mean just look at it. It's just a vulgar parody, its mocking me."
Reinhardt chuckled. "Oh, you two aren't that alike. Besides your bland cropped white hair, by the way do you bleach it? I'm sure you're much taller and bigger than her. There's a hardness about your general appearance, while I would definitely consider her softer. She also has a thinner physique and a much more regal looking nose. As well…"
"Enough, now you're mocking me!" snapped Sylgja. "So, why isn't she attacking, better yet, why isn't she talking. She was yapping non-stop last time we fought."
"Maybe her mind broke. She was being tortured after all," offered Reinhardt. "Given the shifting temporal nature of this tower, it could have been days or weeks she had to endure being in that tiny cage."
"Her mind broke? I thought she was a demon. I thought if anything could resist torture, it would be creatures like her."
Reinhardt shrugged."Immortals going insane are a more common occurrence than you can imagine. Due to their unnaturally tough bodies, they're mind breaks more often than their bodies. Given time their psyches heal, like everything else, but something will always be amiss. Imagine if you broke a clay mug and then glued it back together, it might resemble its original shape and might even serve its intended purpose but it can never be fully the same. Now imagine breaking and gluing it a dozen times over. Pretty soon, all you'll have is a mess. Which is sadly why most demons are so irrational."
"Hmmm…I always thought they were irrational because they are evil and seek to destroy and dominate."
"Well, that too, but I want to point out that my people are the ones that prioritize enslaving and dominating, their people seek to destroy and sow chaos. "
Sylgja paused as Vandia stopped. The creature resembling her crouched down, prompting the Paladin to ready her shield, but it simply began devouring Misa's corpse.
"Uggh. So….how many times have you had your mind broken. How crazy are you?"
Reinhardt considered her question and seemed to make a tally with his fingers."I pride myself on my mental fortitude, but it's suffice to say my mind has broken a few times in the past. "
"So did you go all feral as well?"
"Yes, but not in this manner. I did recover, and let's just say my insanity has given me a new outlook on life. You've probably noticed I behave different than most Infernals. "
"Yeah, I have noticed that," nodded Sylgja with a smirk. "But I always thought it was to put Rasmus and myself off guard so you can grab us and ferry us off to the Great Pit when we weren't expecting it."
"There's always that option," said Reinhardt returning the smirk.
"Wonderful….so what do we do now? Are we to pity her or do we put her down?"
"I prefer to cautiously watch her until she wanders off. She's still too dangerous to face directly."
"Yeah, sorry about your eye from the last fight."
"It's gotten better," said Reinhardt.
"So why are you still wearing that eyepatch?"
"I like the look."
Sylgja shook her head and deemed not to respond to the possibly insane shape shifted Ice Devil. "Let's just back up and take Rasmus with us."
"Agreed," said Reinhardt who attempted to wave Vandia off. "Shoo...Shoo..."
Sylgja stowed her shield as she bent down to the unconscious mage. He had just been stabbed in the heart, but the red potions she forced down his throat seemed to have stabilize that wound. He was still as thin as a skeleton, and Sylgja still didn't understand why he was still alive. Reinhardt and Misa both mentioned something about a shared soul, but she didn't follow. Whatever the reason, she reached down with her shield arm and hefted Rasmus atop her shoulder.
"Groowwwlll?"
Vandia stopped and pointed straight at Sylgja. It hissed like a great cat as its muscles tensed.
"Just back away slowly. It won't attack. I think," offered Reinhardt with spear at the ready.
Sylgja was immune to fear. It was a power granted to her by the Goddess Iomedae, but she felt her spirit waver when facing Vandia. Her special Paladin vision practically screamed danger when scanning the Lilitu, and even without her sight she could feel waves of terror and darkness emanating from her naked doppelganger.
Sylgja took a step back, and when Vandia didn't pounce, she took another one. The third step however proved a mistake….
"RAWWWWRRRR!"
It happened so fast, that even Sylgja's battle tested senses could barely follow.
Vandia leaped at the Paladin, in a manner of a great cat. Reinhardt jabbed his spear at her attacker's side, hoping to pierce her ribs. His form was perfect and his strike true, but somehow Vandia twisted midair to avoid the weapon's blow.
Vandia then slammed into Sylgja, knocking the wind out of her and sent her tumbling. Instead of falling back though, four tentacles erupted in a bloody fashion from the Lilitu's back. Falling, Sylgja channeled her holy energy into Hector's sword as she slashed the weapon in a wide defensive arc. The tentacles easily evaded her blow as they closed and sought out their targets. One bit into the floor behind Vandia, while three others ensnared Sylgja, entwining her legs, arms, and twisting all over her neck and face.
"No! Not like this," thought Sylgja as she recalled Vandia crushing Reinhardt's skull earlier. She struggled against the unholy appendages, but all it did was entangle her deeper with in them.
Instead of tearing her head and limbs off however, Vandia's tentacles made a grab at her cloak, yanking it from her immobilized body before the anchoring limb catapulted her out of reach as Reinhardt missed with another spear strike.
"Slippery little critter isn't she," said Reinhardt as he offered the Paladin a hand up.
To Sylgja's surprise, she had been released. A bit cut up and sticky but shockingly intact. She took a quick glance just to be sure she wasn't missing any body parts and saw that Vandia had taken her cloak. The one she took from Rasmus' conjured dressing room. Or more correctly it had taken back her own cloak.
Sylgja stared in surprise as the creature rubbed and hugged itself on the white furred coat. The very nice and expensive cloak seemed to give solace to the naked and tortured creature as its maddened look subsided a bit.
"Well, that was fortunate. I was growing fond of you , and didn't want your head burst open like she did to me," said Reinhardt as he pulled Sylgja and Rasmus away from the now appeased Vandia.
From a safe distance Sylgja looked back at, literally herself, hugging that white furred cloak. Though this creature was probably the most evil thing she had ever faced, she felt pity for it. Summoned forcibly into this world, her will bent by Leroung and Misa, and then forced into a small cage to be poked at by a Halfling for an indeterminate amount of time till her mind broke. It was hard to feel hatred for this poor broken creature.
"Let's get out of here, or at least far from her," suggested Reinhardt.
Sylgja nodded, but stopped. She instead took off her matching white furred gloves and turned to Vandia.
"I'm going to miss these, they felt so nice on my skin," she grumbled as she threw them at the Lilitu.
Vandia stopped as the gloves landed next to her. She sniffed them for a few seconds before something akin to a satisfied grin formed on her face. She then gathered up the gloves and cloak in her mouth and trotted away in the opposite direction. Before she vanished behind a book shelf, she turned and stared into Sylgja's eyes.
Sylgja tried to turn away, but the Lilitu held her gaze. While she couldn't see it, she felt dark profane energies pour through the creature and into her, but instead of feeling a maligned curse or a dark enchantment over her, the paladin felt oddly …blessed.
With that strange dark ritual done, Vandia scrambled out of sight leaving the trio alone in the Infirmary.
"Well that's a sight you don't see too often," said Reinhardt who continued to back away. Even though Vandia had left, he had no desire to stay if she returned.
"What just happened there?"
"If I'm not mistaken, you've been given a profane gift by a Lilitu of all things."
"A what? Is it infectious?"
"Let's just say, I'd avoid looking at myself in a mirror with your paladin vision if I were you."