Defeat
Lorian and Wynfrith were the last of the campaign's forces still in the tunnels, but they had found the Demon Prince. The creature was based in a labyrinth of ruins, far from any and all forms of civilization. Whatever the city had been prior to falling must have been incredible given the size and grandeur of what remained.
"Even if you defeat it, how are we going to get back out?" Wynfrith asked from where she sat perched on part of the ruins. She was dripping sweat, as was he; the heat generated by the magma that flowed through the area was unbearable. "It will take too long to get out the way we came from, and who knows how many more tunnels have collapsed since we first passed through them."
Lorian didn't answer. She was right of course. The only reason they could remain in the tunnels with the rest of the knights as long as they had was due to the fact that knights and scouts alike were constantly travelling through the tunnels to maintain a constant supply line. Now that they were gone, however, Lorian and his group were essentially trapped down here, even if victory was assured.
He glanced at her and watched as she swirled the waterskin in her hand, but didn't drink from it. "How much water remains?"
"This waterskin, three more in my pack, the four that Burchwen holds, and however many you have left I suppose." Wynfrith extended it towards him. "Here, you need this more than I do now. You'll be fighting it after all, not me. Unless-"
"No." Lorian cut her off, even as he took the waterskin from her. "If I fail, Lothric still needs to be informed. Regardless of the current exit strategy, you still stand a better chance at being able to return to tell him than I do."
"Send Burchwen. If you won't allow her to be involved in the fight even as the priestess assigned to remain and heal you, then what purpose does she serve? Allow her to be the messenger." Wynfrith wiped her brow absentmindedly as she spoke. "You already forbade her from coming this far. For all Burchwen knows, we may already be dead."
"Lothric gave you the command, did he not?" Lorian asked pointedly before drinking deeply from the waterskin.
"Yes." Wynfrith said and looked away.
"If the news comes from any other he will likely deny it. He has placed his trust entirely in you. Take Burchwen and see if either of you can find an alternate exit. You are correct that if we try to return the way we entered, none of us will be returning at all."
Lorian handed her the waterskin and stood up, taking a moment to straighten his armor. It was hot to the touch, just like everything else in the forsaken ruins. If the Demon Prince didn't kill them, the heat just might.
He placed a hand on Wynfrith's shoulder. "Go."
She stood up and saluted him. "I will find a way out. Good luck." Wynfrith turned to leave before turning back to him, digging around in her bag and pulling out a container. "Take this at least. It will help against the flames. Burchwen gave it to me earlier, but you'll need it more than me."
Lorian took it and walked past her and started heading toward the heart of the ruins where the Demon Prince sat waiting. After everything he had gone through to reach this point he knew it was pointless to believe there could be any sort of surprise attack involved. The Demon Prince clearly knew they were here and was waiting. If it was going to run it would have done so long before they managed to get so close.
It was a good place for a fight. The Demon Prince had decided to make its last stand in the center of what Lorian could only assume used to be a courtyard. There were various pits of magma that seemed to have bubbled up from beneath the stone flooring. At the center of the courtyard was the Demon Prince itself.
The Demon Prince was an impressive figure. It stood several heads taller than Lorian, it's body oozing magma and engulfed in flame. From its back stretched two monstrous wings, eclipsing the two horns that extended from its head.
A shiver made its way up Lorian's spine as he reached for his blade and stared down the demon. He was suddenly immensely thankful he had not allowed Wynfrith or Burchwen to follow him.
In front of him, the Demon Prince stood taller, stretching its massive wings. Tilting its head back, Lorian watched as a massive fireball began to form before it spit the fireball toward the sky, watching it for a moment before turning his attention back to the demon which was hurtling straight for him, a trail of fire in its wake.
Lorian rolled out of the way just in time, watching the demon crash into the courtyard wall when a fireball exploded on the ground beside him. Looking up, Lorian realized the demon was more strategic than he had initially thought as a volley of fireballs came crashing down around him, superheating the area, and the remaining flames licking at his armor.
The last of the fireballs crashed into the ground and Lorian moved to reposition himself closer to the demon. If the Demon Prince's ranged attacks were all as powerful as the fireball volley, then Lorian would have to deny him the opportunity to use them by staying close.
Moving closer, sword raised, Lorian aligned himself until he was strafing around the demon's left side. He waited for the demon to make an attack and when the creature reached for him with its giant clawed hand, Lorian dodged easily and followed through with a lunge, thrusting his sword into the demon's side, twisting the blade as magma oozed from between the plates on its body.
It was a solid strike and against any other demon would have been the end of the creature. But the Demon Prince was far out of the league of the other demons Lorian had encountered on his way here and it seemed largely unaffected. Lorian was forced to remove his blade as it began to heat from the oozing magma and was blindsided by the grasp by the demon as it closed its massive hand around Lorian and lifted him into the air.
By the time Lorian had started to try and carve his way out, the Demon Prince threw him across the courtyard. Lorian crashed into the ground and rolled a few times, the impact causing him to drop his sword. He struggled to his feet only to see the Demon Prince in the air, flying low towards him. Lorian looked off to the side and saw his sword several feet away and started sprinting for it, ignoring the pain in his right leg from where he had landed.
Thankfully it seemed it was difficult for the demon to maneuver mid-flight and it raked the ground where Lorian had just been with his claws. Where the stones were dislodged, magma bubbled up to the surface, now making another section of the courtyard dangerous to Lorian.
From where he had pierced its side, Lorian could see magma and blood dripping to the ground in a steady stream. So, it could bleed after all.
The demon held up its hand, a blazing fireball forming in the center; Lorian watched its arm in an attempt to anticipate where it would throw it. He moved his left leg as though taking a step to the side. The moment he did so, the demon flung the fireball to Lorian's left side allowing Lorian to double back to the right, safely out of the reach of the flames even as the fireball exploded on the ground.
They continued this dance between them of the Demon Prince building distance between them and Lorian utilizing the openings as it prepared for a destructive attack to close the distance and get a handful of attacks in before being pushed back on the defensive.
Soon the entire area burned in a slow smolder as fire covered nearly every surface that was able to burn. The flames and smoke surrounded Lorian, making it nearly insufferably hot and difficult to breathe.
Using an opening from one of the fireball attacks, Lorian sprinted forward, closing the gap between himself and the Demon Prince, placing himself right in front of it, sword raised as he plunged it towards the demon's midsection. The Demon Prince grabbed his sword after it connected, halting it from penetrating deeper before stretching its wings, flapping them in a directed motion.
The gust of wind from the motion was significant, and Lorian struggled to maintain his grip on his sword and remain upright. The Demon Prince continued the assault with its wings until Lorian finally lost his grip and was knocked several feet back. The Demon Prince used the opportunity to fly several feet away, recreating the initial distance between them and leaving Lorian weaponless.
It seemed to understand that without his sword and by maintaining distance, Lorian was helpless to do anything. From where he stood, Lorian could still see his sword lodged in the demon's midsection - it hadn't removed it yet. Did it not plan to?
Lorian moved automatically to try and avoid the next volley of attacks from the demon, dodging most of the fireballs except one that was a direct hit. He felt as though he was burning alive - and he supposed he was.
Eventually the flames dissipated and Lorian took a moment to recover before trying to move close once again. If he could get his hands on his sword, all he had to do was thrust it further in. By now the sword would likely be blistering hot. He remembered the container Wynfrith gave him and fumbled to pull it out and open it. It was a red paste of some sort - Lorian tried not to think of what was used to make it as he coated his palms with the substance.
He waited for the Demon Prince to throw its next volley of fireballs and used the opportunity to dash in close. Before it had an opportunity to react to him, Lorian gripped the sword hilt, the red paste helping slightly but at the temperature the sword had reached, the pain was still inconceivable.
This was likely his only chance, however, and if he let go now there would be no recovering. He placed all his strength into one final thrust, angling the blade upward as he did so to the point where most humanoid creature's hearts were located.
The Demon Prince bellowed a howl of pain, and Lorian knew he had struck his mark.
He wrenched his blade free and tried to back away and create space while the demon was still blinded with pain and rage, but he wasn't fast enough. As though possessed, it lunged for him. He tried to block the attacks, but they were occurring at such a pace and with such force that it was impossible. One mis-calculated dodge was all it took; the claws pierced through his armor as if it didn't even exist - ripping into Lorian's side and leg.
As the claws tore through his flesh and armor, Lorian struggled to stay upright, collapsing down on one knee as the world faded and darkness flooded his peripheral vision.
Everything slipped away in a cold rush and the world went black.
The Demon Prince grabbed for him, claws wrapping around his midsection as it lifted Lorian close, pulling him towards its face. A wave of strength flooded through him as heat coiled in his chest. Lorian forced himself to focus, forcing out the darkness, tightening his grip on his blade, and he stared as the beast looked down at him, blood bubbling from its mouth.
Agonizingly, the Demon Prince opened its mouth in a blood curdling howl, and the blood spilled downwards, crashing into Lorian's forehead as it burned a path across and down the sides of his head. Distantly, Lorian understood how intense the pain was, but his mind was a fog and his body reacted on its own as he thrust his sword forward, feeling it connect and the Demon Prince's grasp on him loosen as it dropped him to the floor. This time Lorian made sure to keep his grip on his sword as he went crashing to the ground.
Lorian rolled over onto his hands and knees, unable to even touch his face to rid himself of the scalding blood without obscuring his vision further since his hands were already coated with the red paste. He could hear the Demon Prince flailing around beside him, feeling the blows from its claws tearing into the ground around him.
He secured his grip on his blade as he stood again and lumbered towards where he heard most of the commotion and made another strike, this time his blade meeting resistance. But Lorian persisted, pressing forward, pushing past the pain from his hands and face where he could feel the skin beginning to bubble and blister.
With another strong push forward, Lorian was met with a loud cracking sound before his sword slid further and he heard the Demon Prince collapse to the ground, it's howl of pain turning into something more guttural and weak. But Lorian kept pushing forward, his blade like fire in his hands.
He blinked the blood out of his eyes, barely able to make out the sight of his sword embedded in the demon's throat, magma oozing out of it from every side as it lay unmoving. He pulled his sword out, tossing it on the ground beside him as he watched the metal glow as it remained encased in flame.
Lorian sat there for what felt like an eternity, feeling nothing. He watched the blood seep between the plates of his armor from the wounds the demon had inflicted on him. His armor, once brass, shining and beautiful, had been stained by the flames and smoke - a faded, dreary black.
"Lorian!" He heard a voice shout from behind him and then two sets of footsteps rushing towards him. Wynfrith kneeled in front of him, her eyes wide as she whispered incredulously, "you did it!"
"He is badly wounded, please step aside and allow me to tend to him," said Burchwen. The old woman ushered Wynfrith out of the way and took her place before Lorian. She clicked her tongue as she pushed the hair matted in blood and sweat away from his forehead, clearing his vision. "You can't feel the wounds? That's not a good sign, it means your body doesn't realize the danger has passed."
She turned her attention to his side where the Demon Prince's claws had dug in deeply and blood was rushing from the wounds. Her face was pale as she scrambled to pull out her chimes and began frantically casting a miracle. Lorian felt his side burn and his vision blurred with pain as he felt the miracle closing the wound and any other damage he had sustained.
He watched as Burchwen reached into the rucksack she was carrying, pulling more of the red paste he had used in the fight. She slathered the paste on his forehead which dulled the pain faintly.
"Where else were you burned?"
"Everywhere," he rasped, voice hoarse and throat raw. Had he screamed that much?
"Let me see your hands first then. Wynfrith, help him please."
Wynfrith shuffled until she was beside Lorian again, hissing at the heat of the metal as she helped to unclasp and remove his gauntlets revealing his severely burned hands underneath.
"You applied the paste to your gauntlets instead of your skin," Burchwen observed with a nod as she began coating his hands with more of the red paste. "The idea was correct, but it seems that the temperatures you were dealing with were too extreme. The paste should help the immediate pain but you will need continuous treatments. These were the most severe burns you sustained, yes?"
"Yes."
"Very good. Then I will stabilize your other wounds and will continue treatment once we are back at the surface." She placed the rest of the red paste aside and grabbed her chimes, chanting one of the many healing miracles all the priests and priestesses knew. His body felt colder, almost frozen, and the skin which had begun to bubble up now tightened. If anything, Lorian felt numb. He flexed his fingers, but the motion felt alien as he saw his fingers move but didn't feel it.
"The numbness is normal and temporary. It should be enough for us to get out of here." Burchwen stood and put her chimes back away. "Now Wynfrith, be a dear and take us to that path you found."
Wynfrith grabbed Lorian's arm, pulling him up before handing him his still burning sword. "I think I may have found another way out."
Lorian nodded. "Good work."
"You did the hardest part," she said with a glance at the Demon Prince's corpse that remained on the ground. Unlike the fire-based demons they had fought on the surface, the Demon Prince's flames had not cooled when it was defeated, but Lorian was certain it was dead. It remained motionless, no signs of life remaining, other than the smoldering flames that lingered on its corpse.
"Wait." Lorian said, shambling back to the corpse. "I will need proof."
"We can't lug the entire corpse out of here," said Burchwen curtly.
"Or even the head." Wynfrith said.
Lorian knelt by the creature's head, angling his sword to get a clean cut on one of its sets of horns. The material was tougher than he anticipated, but he managed to break both of the front horns free, leaving the larger ones that wrapped around its head untouched. Lorian held the horns in his hand, as he turned back to Burchwen and Wynfrith. "Lead the way."
Wynfrith took the lead, guiding them towards the back of the ruins until they reached a tunnel. The tunnel then led towards a giant ravine that was vaguely lit by what little sunlight was able to filter through from the opening at the top. A little ways ahead of them was a rickety wooden bridge that led into darkness on the other side. If they followed this path they would be doing so blindly.
But at least they could see sunlight.