Keke held up her unshackled wrists to inspect them. She couldn't believe the manacles fell off so easily, but the sudden surge of power in her body was undeniable.
Too long had the fury, rage, and blood lust pumped through her system, caged by those supposed 'Dragon Shackles' as Stille called them, she almost forgot how it felt. Profane powers to rival a god, to be the harbinger of death. She grinned at the other three who were busy making their escape and reviewed her options.
She could kill them with ease if she wanted. The short stocky woman with the boring armour had some interesting qualities to her smell but Keke could easily bound next to her and snap her neck with a sudden grab and jerk with simply one arm. The half fiend was a slightly more difficult matter. Despite not having obvious scales or leathery skin, Keke knew of the race's inherent toughness and she had alluded to some magical training. It might take four arms to dispatch her, one to cover her mouth to silence her, two to hold her in place, and one to tear out her throat or perhaps to pierce her heart.
While power poured through Keke, she hadn't grown overconfident, she knew that the man cloaked in darkness would require more than her last remaining arm. He somehow slipped past her vision, a rare feat accomplished only by the nimblest of Babau or Shadowdemons, implying he had reached the pinnacle of stealth training. Despite this, he was before her now and he couldn't simply slip from her sight, not while being under scrutiny of both of her true vision and snake scent. He would require the full length of her tail, a death crush that can even over power the mighty Pasurendra, and of course her own lethal fangs. Though she often refrained from biting her foe, it wasn't because she thought it barbaric or beneath her, but because she kept it in reserve as a surprise attack. This odd human that released her from those damned shackles had earned her fangs as a show of respect. She would immobilize then dispatch him quick with her gratitude.
All she had to do was to slip her guise. Drop the veil that Selexia had provided her and assume her true form to begin the carnage.
Keke wasn't sure how she was able to maintain this form after the Succubus' magic pin was taken from her by that snotty Prince and the man in yellow, but assumed it had to do something with the shackles. If they were made for a dragon, it seemed likely they could keep its prisoner in a weakened state for a prolonged amount of time, even if the original magic that powered the transformation had worn off. It would also explain how she couldn't break them. While Keke had never faced a dragon, though she began to suspect the old man in yellow was probably one, she had heard that the larger and older ones could rival Demon and Asura lords in their might and magic. If they could contain those mighty beasts it would make sense they could contain her. Not even her caged strength or Whelp's magic could break them.
Keke paused….Whelp. The Priestess knew what Keke was after rescuing her, but allowed her to live. If they would have met during the battle of the Holy Temple they would have been at each other's throat, but a chance meeting between them in the middle of the ocean had sparked a different result. Whelp said she stayed her spear because she saw some 'good' in her and here she was about to butcher her rescuers. The Priestess was obviously a poor judge of character.
Were the shackles responsible for the anomalous detection, or perhaps Whelp's magic was flawed? They were in the middle of the Alphatian sea after all, an area known for its strange magic sapping mists and other bizarre mystic phenomena. It wouldn't be unfathomable if either of those were responsible for Whelp's poor character judgement.
Keke was after all a demon. She was Kalikekeztra, a Marilith of the pale. A six armed snake bodied engine of destruction that has lead vast armies of demons to victory or defeat. Entire planes, both upper and lower, had been bathed in the blood of her foes or her followers as the song of carnage filled her veins. She might not have cultivated her fame like some preening lower planar personages, but those in the know feared and respected her.
It was obvious that Whelp had made a poor decision to let her live. To think that there was something other than violence and bloodshed in her soul. Only a fool could make that mistake. A fool like Eliaos.
Keke stopped and fell to her knees, choking on her bile as she threw up in her cell floor as memories of her beloved haunted her.
"Are..are you alright?" asked Stille.
"No…I'm not alright," croaked Keke as images of a golden haired Archon flooded her mind. "I wanted to..I almost…."
"Stay back," said Rina as she attempted to grab and yank Stille away from Keke. The lithe woman in the black dress however surprised the stocky girl and refused to budge.
"Look, look at her vomit," said Rina as she pointed at the black pool that Keke made. It was like oil, dark and reflective, except occasionally you could make out what looked like faces attempting to rise out of it. "She's a demon. I wouldn't have guessed it at first, given her unassuming guise, but you can practically feel the evil emanating from her."
Stille interposed herself between Rina and Keke even as the militia girl drew her blade. "Stay back, leave her alone. If travelling with a demon is too much for you to handle, then you can leave without us. We'll find a different path."
Rina looked shocked and glanced at Martinez who simply shrugged.
"Yeah, she's a demon. I smelled that right away, but …hic….if the Baroness is cool with it…I am too," said the haggard man. He then searched his clothing until he produced several small bottles and drank them in rapid succession.
Rina's jaw dropped even as she took a step back. "You of all people should be on my side. I thought you were a demon hunter. You know, a hunter of demons. Well there's a demon right there, and given where we are, she's probably a trap. Catch us with our guard down and then attack us by surprise…."
"Whoa whoa whoa," said Martinez as he walked up to Rina and placed a finger to her lips. Keke despite her wretchings watched in disbelief as the man 'flowed' across the room in one fluid motion. It appeared that he was simply walking but her true vision detected something greater with his movements, similar to those employed by the Kyton Warmasters, or even Rakshasa night stalkers, which of course would explain how he evaded her detection earlier.
"Stop with the talk about hidden assassins," continued Martinez. "This aint Ned Shakeshaft here, and we certainly aren't in Saltmarsh. No sinister secrets here ma'am. And as for me being a demon hunter, and not killing every demon in sight, well sorry to disappoint you honey, but I've let a lot of demons walk in my time, and I'll let a lot more I reckon before I go to the dead book. Demons are inherently bad, but I've learned to adopt a live and let live policy. If they aren't trying to killing me or up to no good, then I'm not killing them. I mean, who knows, one might help you out later."
While Martinez did not point or motion towards Stille to reveal her identity, the Baroness simply smiled and pulled back a tuff of blue hair to reveal a small spiral horn.
"That's a horrible policy. What if they attempt to appear innocent so as to commit a greater atrocity later? What if your laxness causes hundreds to die? What if…" stammered Rina before Martinez silenced her with a finger again.
"What if, what if? Shoulda coulda wouldhav. Blah, blah, blah," sighed Martinez. "By your reckoning we should kill every goblin and orc child we stumble on too. And you wonder why they are always raiding and making war on us."
"Wait..what? We should kill every goblin and orc child we come across. First off, I'm assuming we dispatched their parents and therefore it's a merciful killing. Secondly, they will grow up to raid, pillage, and murder, that's in their nature," protested Rina in disbelief.
"Enough," interrupted Stille. "Regardless of your mistrust for Keke and myself, can't you tell there's greater things in play here."
To emphasize her point, the walls of the prison conveniently shook as a greater rumbling up ahead could be heard. "The Asuras are starting some sort of Armageddon ritual, which is why I assume Martinez and yourself are here. You might not trust us, but you will need us when the time comes. Despite my Abyssal heritage, I have no desire to live under Asura rule, and I doubt Keke does either, which is the reason we are both in this prison."
Martinez nodded enthusiastically before finishing the last small bottle. He then staggered to the prison's exit as he waved the rest to follow him.
Rina's shoulder slumped and she nodded with a sigh.
"I suppose you are right. Despite my reservations, Martinez trusts you, and I've yet to find a way to rein him in. My tale is long over, it's no longer about me, his however is nearing its climax," she said cryptically, as she sheathed her blade and followed the haggard man.
Stille helped Keke to her feet, when she wobbled she supported her on her shoulder as they followed the pair. "Are you alright, you looked so happy, almost maniacal after you were freed, you look terrible now," she then fell into a whisper. "I know what those shackles are, and I wouldn't blame you if you shift into your true form and escape. Martinez would never hurt me, but I cannot vouch for that Rina girl. "
Keke looked at her unshackled wrists, she could feel the power just under her skin, ready to be unsealed at the drop of her guise. It would be so easy to unravel the enchantment, but could she? After her time with Whelp, and her memories of Eliaos restored. She still wasn't sure if her memories of the Archon were real, but they certainly felt 'real', and they still hurt more than any 'real' blade or claw had inflicted on her in 'real' life. They were real enough that she would never let them go, and something inside her knew that if she became Kalikekeztra once again, the true Kalikekeztra a part of those memories would slip away again.
It wasn't a matter of her holding onto her memories, but a matter of her nature. Rage, fury, violence were in her blood, and she wasn't sure if her love for an Archon she helped killed could hold up against those boiling emotions. She knew she couldn't maintain this form forever, either the spell will fade or it will be dispelled given that she no longer wore the shackles, but she simply wanted to treasure those emotions for just awhile longer.
With this in mind, some of her strength returned as she shifted her weight off Stille's shoulder. "Thank you and thanks to your friend Martinez for placing your trust in me. I will do my best to see it was not misplaced, " Keke said softly. She then began to pick up various makeshift weapons from the ground, clubs, manacles, chains, before following the rest of the group. They weren't the best of quality, and she still didn't have her full strength, but there was still a reckoning to be had with Pasurendra and Taraksun. She would not disappoint them, like she had with Eliaos.