Keke always had a soft spot for Nalfeshnees. The giant boar demons weren't all sneaky and cunning like their over rated supposedly 'mastermind' Glabrezu cousins, nor did they possess the terrible, end-the-conversation-now, stench of their Hezrou brothers, and they especially weren't serious militant minded like the warband loving Vrocks. They were simply giant pig demons that did a little soul barter dealing on the side and who happen to possess a healthy amount of face punching prowess. Most importantly they knew their place, and they rarely tried to supplant Marilth demons like herself which counted for a lot in Keke's books.
So it was with a heavy heart when they happened to encounter one in the tunnels of Coffin Island.
While Keke was technically a demon and not an Asura, her appearance ( six arms, snake eyes and torso) made her transition into either society a smooth one. This giant boar monster however was clearly a demon and was most likely a mercenary employed by either Pasurendra or Taraksun to bolster their forces for this final push into the Prime planes. Keke did not recall seeing him in the ranks previously when she possessed a high ranking position and guessed he was a new hire, but was not fully certain since she often paid little attention to her troops. Regardless, she respected that such a destructive and therefore highly employable creature would find their way into the Asura legions, when it could have easily found work under a dozen other demon lords back on the Abyss, and was almost loathe to have to put down such a kindred soul.
They encountered it when venturing deeper into the tunnels, just as they reach a fairly central junction. Considering it towered over fifteen feet tall fully erect it was astonishing that it managed to get the jump on their small group. It probably would have flatten that Rina girl if Martinez hadn't knocked her out of the way. Stille attempted some form of magic against it, but the creature was quicker as it uttered a quick spell of its own and placed her in some type of drooling daze, which of course brought it down on Keke's now mortal shoulders to finish this creature off.
Keke paused as she considered that thought, was she truly a mortal, a woman like Whelp or even Rina, that was subject to the trials of love, loss, and even death? Or was she still just a demon masquerading as a human like Selexia often did, and she was simply over complicating what was a very simple thing. Before she could inflect on the answer, the boar demon swung a massive fist towards her which snapped her back into the fight.
Keke easily ducked underneath than fist, and before her foe finished its swing she grabbed its wrist and pulled and flipped herself up onto its arm. From her new vantage point she swung one of her chains at its snout, stunning it briefly before smashing a club into the beast's left eye. Instinctively it howled as it protected its face, causing its arms to flail about widely, spoiling her platform, which was fine since she did a short leap and landed safely out of its reach.
Snorting madly, the great boar demon faced her and was about to charge. It could have attempted another mind draining spell like it did to Stille, but instead it was up for a pure physical contest, which suited Keke fine, since she wanted to test the limits of her 'new' body. Instead of thundering towards her however, it gave a surprised gurgling sound as its non swollen eye stared upwards before going blank, before it came crashing onto the ground.
"Hey, this blade's not bad," said Martinez as he appeared behind the monster, wiping black ichor from an oddly coloured grey and black knight's broadsword. Keke was impressed, while assassins were common in the Abyss, few could take down a full grown Nalfshnee so quickly with a single thrust. She would have preferred a straight up duel with the Nalfshnee, but knew there would be more fights to come. Rina however appeared to be furious.
"Don't use your blade so freely! It might break your mind before you face your destiny!" shouted the militia girl.
Martinez shrugged and mumbled something about 'it already being broken', before tending to Stille. The half fiend was sitting flat, hunched over chanting in a half mumbling half singing voice. Keke didn't recognize it at first, but realized she must have been hit with a feeblemind spell, an enchantment geared specifically to incapacitate spell casters. Martinez frowned before digging through his pockets, and produced a dull looking stone.
Keke wasn't sure what it was but felt a draining aura emanating from it, she cautiously retreated even as the old rogue rubbed it gently on Stille's forehead. The Baroness' eyes quickly lit up , and after a brief look of embarrassment quickly stood up and dusted herself off.
"We should push forward," commented Rina, recovering from her brief hysterics earlier. "The tremors in the tunnels seem to be growing."
Martinez held up a finger as he took another swig from his flask but Stille nodded. "Aye, all the prophecies about Armageddon and the end of days appear to be on us. We should at least make an effort to play our part in stopping it."
Keke had no opinion on the matter, so with the matter settled they group pushed ahead again. While Martinez lead them before, the rogue appeared to be growing more and more inebriated as time passed, and after wandering in a circle at least twice, Rina decided to take over on point.
"Shouldn't you save your drink till later," commented a very unimpressed Stille. "I know that's your 'thing', your outlet Martin, but I don't think now is the time."
Keke disagreed. "Some warriors have different rituals to ready their minds for battle. Some bathe in the blood of their enemies, some offer words or offerings to their gods, others even engage in rituals from comical to outright murderous, if Martinez here needs some liquid courage to fight, I don't see the harm in that. After that last battle, I can vouch for his skills. "
Martinez looked a bit confused as he wobbled in place, but finally bobbed his head in agreement. "Yeah…what she said."
"Do not attempt to take any of his spirits away, or attempt to ration the amount he imbues. He just has more impossibly stashed away somewhere hidden on his body," sighed Rina from upfront. "Besides, he needs it. He can not, under any circumstances, go sober on us now. "
" I don't care for his legendary drinking exploits. I've witnessed them first hand. However, he'll die if he keeps drinking like this," protested Stille.
Martinez stopped and stared at the Baroness who was clearly flustered at all of this. "I know I will die, regardless if you can magically regrow my liver or whatever. I'll be seeing xs in my eyes, most likely very soon, but it's the only way," he said before he drew and examined his strange black and grey blade. Keke noticed that it was more black than grey now and hummed with a slight power. Her eyes focused in on it, and she was shocked to see the aura of some form of minor artifact, one of the last things she would have expected to find on a drunk. "This sword is one of the deadliest blades around, and believe me, I've seen a few. The guardian blade Greyiron. On par with Galatea, the Black Blade of Kalidor, or even Gnome Mercy. It can kill a god, however ….it is insane, murderously so. Everytime I hold it, it demands I kill everyone in sight, present company included. I don't know how Jimmy found it, but it's in my hands now. Fortunately, regardless of the sword's powers, it can't hold its booze, not like I can. It's a feather weight at the tavern. I can feel it calling me to do terrible things to Rina and myself, and it screams at me to do absolutely unspeakable things to you and Keke there, but I won't let it. At least not while I've drunk it under the table. "
Everyone remained silent for an awkward amount of time.
"Your entire plan is to have a drunk strike down an Asura lord?" asked Stille finally, shocked and disappointed.
Rina shrugged. "Not my first plan, but when the end of the world is nigh, what other option do I have?"
With that settled, the group ventured deeper, all the while the walls and floors shook as if to herald their arrival.
"So I'm guessing that's a demon slaying sword and you're a demon slayer, do you plan on using it on me eventually?" asked Keke with a cocky grin.
"Lady, right now I've drank so much I have the equivalent of goldfish memory," slurred Martinez. "I don't plan on doing anything other than my next fight or my next piss. If you are concerned then your best bet is to duck around the corner and leave some ales, cuz I'll most likely get distracted and forget all about you."
Keke chuckled. She wasn't sure how much of it was jest but he like this man's style.
She was about to fall back and talk to Stille about her thoughts of the situation, but the half fiend smoothly took her place besides Martinez. The pair shared a laugh, before Stille rested her head on the man's shoulders.
Keke respected their privacy but her senses were too honed. Reluctantly she overheard some of their conversation.
"So were you serious, are you truly dying or was this just dramatics for my sake?"
"Afraid so darling," shrugged Martinez. "And don't blame Rina, I was dying long before I met her or Jimmy. It's that damn scroll I found ages ago after I struck dead that cat man, its cursed me in an awful way. My drinking is half of my problem, that scroll is the other half, its power is worse than the sword actually. Still, it could be worse. I don't want to brag, but if a lesser man held both the scroll and this blade, then you'd be fighting him right now to stop the end of the world, and not some generic Asura big shot. "
"You..you could have gotten some help. Despite our past, you could have come to me. I could have done something, or someone from my church, or even my father…"
Martinez silenced her with a finger to her lip. "Blame my pride. I thought I had everything under control, but clearly I didn't. Also, there was no way I was going to come to you after what I did to you and Jose. I made my bed, and well…I decided to lie in it, nails and spikes and all."
"It's not all bad though. I thought I was going to die alone, but Rina and Jimmy came along and made things even more complicated. Truth be told however, I'm glad they came into my life, simple can be a bit boring, I need a bit of complicated now and then."
Stille shook her head. "After this we'll beat this together. We'll break your curse together."
Martinez brought her close and lightly kissed her on the forehead. "Of course we will darling."
Keke wasn't sure what to make of this. Obviously this was the mortal interaction she was craving, but it sounded so final, so short, so unhappy. Did she throw away her immortality, just for this? An unhappy ending? All the pain she held for the loss of Eliaos might have simply delayed a disappointing result to their relationship.
Still, despite her reservation, she did feel a stirring watching the pair lean on each other. Good or bad, she did feel a bit of jealousness towards the pair. They were clearly a couple or at least had been. They shared and suffered together before growing apart, and somehow years later, in the literal bowels of the earth, they found some peace together, which was still more than what Keke ever had.
As Keke watched Martinez and Stille, Rina suddenly stopped ahead.
"The tremors, they seem to be coming from beyond this wall," commented the militia girl as she stared at a large section stone. Thunder shook the stone as wisps of violet smoke seeped out of growing cracks.
"A secret passage?" asked Stille though Keke's snake vision didn't detect anything of the sort.
"Sounds like I'm up," said Martinez as he walked towards Rina. However, before he could take two steps, the wall shattered and caved in on top of them.
Keke barely had time to leap back as the rest of her group was crushed. She waited to see if more sections of the roof would collapse but stopped when she saw a massive shadow fighting a much smaller foe through the dust.
Even without her vision she could make out who the silhouettes belonged to. Pasurendra and Whelp. Her greatest rival was fighting her closest friend, and it didn't look good for her friend.
Without hesitation, she summoned the fury in her blood and charged through the dust and debris.