Its been 3 months… Its my semester break once again so you can expect faster updates from me. I've made minor changes to the past 4 chapters… grammatical errors and such. There are many things within the story that has links/similarities or phrases from other imaginary universes (Eg: Steve is based on a certain character… an inept wizzard). See if you can spot them all. And there will be more action, less humour in this chapter, for variety's sake.
With a deft flicking motion, Perv activated the weird device on his wrist. A beam of concentrated light materialized and cut through his chains with ease. Perv straightened his attire and brushed some imaginary dust off it.
"Foul beast! If you don't release me I'll…"
"You'll do what dear lady?" Perv cut the boisterous rogue short. "But it has always been my pleasure to aid those in distress, especially one so pretty as yourself." He flashed a disarming smile and immediately used the magical item to free his fellow captives.
"Erm… maybe you shouldn't lead her on, I mean… You never know what might happen."
"Silly girl! I'm not THAT desperate… yet"
"Ahem… In any case, perhaps we should leave now BEFORE our host returns" Perv suggested forcefully.
"Foul beast! How do I know I can trust you? How do I know that you won't take advantage of us? You are after all a demon!" Rayna suddenly felt stupid for her actions, it was obvious that the demon could have killed them or worse instead of releasing them. "Ah… okie dokie, you win… so what's the plan?"
"The plan was to slowly torture you to death! But now, I guess I'll have to make do with just skewering you! Get them my minions!"
A dozen women of similar attire to the Countess swarmed into the torture chamber; their scimitars ready to slice the companions into minced meat. Steve was surprised when he found himself trying to defend the rogues with his bare hands. For his troubles, he was stabbed in his right shoulder, kicked in the groin and shoved aside. The rogues, having had little training in unarmed combat, were barely able to keep the blades from scoring as they dodged this way and that.
A saber whose blade was made of pure energy appeared in Perv's right hand. Seeing this, some of the minions rushed him, hoping to overwhelm him with pure numbers. Perv made a diagonal slash. The lead attacker tried to parry but the saber simply cut through her weapon and into her abdomen. She howled in agony but was quickly silenced when Perv chopped off her head. He succeeded in dispatching two more, but the third assailant's attack connected with his throat. Gurgling some blood, he collapsed on the floor.
The Countess was truly enjoying herself, the hopelessness of the rogues' situation was giving her an almost sexual pleasure. She gave a cruel grin that turned into an expression of pain as she felt something large hit her skull from behind. The impact sent her several feet forward into her lackeys. She immediately sprang back onto her feet.
"Ah… Noble paladin, how good of you to present yourself for my amusement… I shall enjoy torturing you very much… And not even that ridiculous golem by your side can stop me"
The demented woman then waved her arm and a wall of fire sprung into being at Tristan's exact location. He rolled forward and so escaped from the fire's searing heat. Pulp was not as quick and a large portion of him melted off before he could be free from the fiery spell. Even so, Pulp still had no problems in acquainting the Countess' friend's to his mighty fists. Within moments, the Countess was standing alone, fending off a determined Tristan. Her dead minions were hardly recognizable from the wanton abuse Pulp favoured them with.
By now, the Countess was beginning to feel fear. Perhaps she had underestimated these fools. No matter, she could easily dispose of them by herself. Thinking so, she unleashed a dazzling barrage of attacks on Tristan. Even with his skills, he found himself on the defensive, with many of the thrusts hitting their marks. Were it not for his armor, he would have been finished by now.
Pulp rushed to assist the warrior. Seeing this, the Countess used her remaining magical reserves to conjure a blazing barrier, separating them from everyone else in the chamber. "Now, its just us two darling, isn't it romantic?"
"Save your breath fiend, you'll need it for your death cry!"
"Surely you wouldn't hurt an unarmed woman now would you? I'll do anything you ask me to… Anything at all." She grinned seductively and threw away her scimitar. Swiftly closing the few yards between them, she placed her arms around his armored waist.
Tristan was at a loss. Another man would have easily reached the decision to just kill the whore, but the Code of Paladins forbid the killing of an unarmed combatant.
"Kill her Tristan! She's not a woman, she's not even human anymore!" Rayna shouted, trying to get some sense into the bewildered man.
He hesitated, the woman was breathtakingly beautiful up close… While he was distracted, the Countess was wasting no time in unlocking the clasps and bolts of his plate mail. With one swift yank, the whole suit came off, leaving Tristan extremely vulnerable.
Thankfully, years of training kicked in, and Tristan immediately realized her deception… but not before she snatched his long sword.
The duel began anew… This time, Tristan was left with only his shield and the treacherous woman was using his own long sword against him. Her dozen or so strikes were so fast that they seemed to be executed at the same time to the desperate Tristan. His best hope was to simply block her attacks and counter with his kite shield when the opportunity presented itself. The countess lunged, with Tristan backing away. After several more forced retreats, he realized that his back had hit a wall. Here, the countess abandoned all finesse and used brute force instead. She continually made overhead chops at the paladin. All too soon, he realized that she was tiring him out by forcing him to use his shield all the time. The impacts were also causing painful jolts to his arm.
The desperate nature of the situation gave him a brilliant idea and he thanked the heavens fervently. He tried to guess when the next attack would occur and readied himself. His judgment was true. He sidestepped just as the sword was about to hit his shield, spinning with the momentum, he brought the shield's edge onto her sword arm. She involuntarily released the weapon. Regaining her equilibrium almost instantly, she used her left hand and grabbed Tristan's shield hand and exerted force on the pressure point between his thumb and palm. The sudden pain made him lose his shield. In response, he swiftly placed a gauntleted fist into her jaw, causing her to stumble back. He attempted to reach for the fallen sword, but the Countess was there first and kicked it into the raging fire. She did the same to the shield.
"Now you will experience first hand why no mere man can defeat me… Hehe" She stretched languidly and cracked her fingers. When she came, Tristan had difficulty even determining her general position. One moment, she was in front of him moving as though to punch his face. By the time he realized the feint, she was already behind him, applying a brief choke hold to his neck, before kicking the back of his knees. On his knees now, Tristan was helpless… The relentless assault continued on his kidneys, neck, abdomen… almost every part of his body. He was not even pretending to block now, his arms limp at his side from too much pain… As a final insult, she rammed her feet into his crotch a dozen times in quick succession… The paladin fell forward without a sound.
Retrieving her scimitar, she placed it on the fallen paladin's jugular… But she decided that the self-righteous worm should not deserve a merciful end. Straddling the hapless man, she proceeded to randomly hit various parts of him as she saw fit. Every time he tried to push himself up, she would sit down heavily on his kidneys, foiling the attempt.
Steve, Pulp and the rogues could not see the outcome of the battle as the fires had obscured their view completely, and could only pray that the sudden silence on the other side meant victory for Tristan… But somehow Steve doubted it…
Is this the end for our unlikely heroes? Only one way to find out…
I realize that there may be some technical errors here as I'm not that familiar with medieval and unarmed combat, so I'll appreciate it if you could point those out. The subsequent chapters will have more humour than this one… I'm just writing this to gauge your reactions… Kindly feedback your views. Thanks!