Keke charged through the rubble and debris. While the dust was thick and the flooring unstable, her truesight guided her steps and soon she was atop of Whelp and Pasurendra before they even knew she was there.
As the giant Asura and the warrior priestess were getting their bearings from the settling dust, Keke simply hopped high into the air, did a double flip for flair, before stabbing her makeshift blade into Pasurendra's forehead.
The golden clad Asura howled in pain as it reached out to swat her away, but Keke simply did another hop, landed on his flailing arm before doing another somersault out of reach.
Though her blade stabbed through Pasurendra's skull, it seemed to do little damage to the giant Asura, it simply snorted in anger until his eyes focused on her, and then its fury simply faded.
"Hey Passy," smirked Keke as she drew another jagged blade to go with her makeshift club. "I bet you didn't expect to see me again."
"Keke? " asked Whelp in an equally surprised tone as her opponent.
"Hey Whelp. I can handle this guy, you however might want to help your friends out of the rubble," said Keke as she nodded her head towards the fallen wall. Though she had expected her new companions to to all have been buried she was a bit surprised to see Martinez still standing and digging them up. She wasn't sure if they were actually friends or not, but they were at least humans or humanoids and that was probably a closer bond than she shared with them. Also, she wanted Whelp out of the way, this was her fight.
Whelp eyed Pasurendra cautiously, but when Keke gave her a reassuring nod she withdrew to Martinez's aid.
Keke then turned towards Pasurendra who had once again shapechanged to that of a youth with golden hair and armour. This time however, he had none of that cockiness about him. He wasn't leaning back, straight and tall, he was hunched over and wounded. He even sported some wounds about his body including a nasty very recent looking gouge to his fore head.
"I thought our fight was over when you stabbed me through earlier," coughed Pasurendra. "Little did I know my last desperate thrashings that brought down the roof would lay you low."
"You should have killed me when you had the chance," smiled Keke as she circled the wounded youth. "Or are you still holding on to that fool notion that I would be your concubine."
Pasurendra managed a wide smile on his bloody face and pointed his chin to his groin. "As enticing as that would be, I doubt that will ever happen after what you did to my manhood, which is a shame. While our true forms are clearly incompatible, these humanoid ones are…well I've found them very flexible. Their weakness is alien to me, but I also find strength in it. Something I'm sure you've discovered for yourself given your strange penchant in staying in that form. I can't complain though, you bested me in that form, though given the incident with that roof, it proved to be your down fall as well."
"Enough," yawned Keke. "Let's finish this. "
"Wait," said Pasurendra as he held out a hand, even as his other braced himself on the nearby wall. He wasn't a match for her at the best of times, and after going what looked like ten rounds with Whelp, he did not look like he was in the best shape to fight. While he was clearly winning it was not without cost. Whelp however was a priestess, and that meant she could revive herself repeatedly while he clearly did not have that option."Don't you want to know why I spared you?"
Keke rolled her eyes. She felt an insanely powerful presence nearby and suspected this to be a simple delaying tactic, but something in Pasurendra's tone and eyes made her curious. "If you must, but make it quick."
Pasurendra grinned. "When I was cast into the torture pits of Abaddon, I begged, pleaded, and traded whatever clout and influence I still had. Remarkably, to my surprise, it worked. Not only did it work, but it seemed standard practice there. The rich and powerful live in relative comfort, while the poor and downtrodden get the whip, like every other plane on the Great Wheel. I wondered why you didn't get a similar reprieve, or were you simply lying to everyone about your time in the pits to gain some respect."
Keke paused puzzled by his statement. All she could recall from her experiences in the torture pit was…well torture. Endless torture until she forgot everything, even who she was.
"… I was given free reign of the place. Even its records, though poorly kept. Of course, I couldn't help myself and began digging up ….let's say 'leverageable information' about my rivals and allies. Given our immortal lifespans, it seemed many have found their way into the pit, some several times, since the coming of the Horsemen and the great Pact. "
"Hurry this up…" warned Keke impatiently. Though the presence she felt seemed to be preoccupied, and Whelp and Martinez appeared to have their rescue efforts in hand, she was simply getting tired of hearing Pasurendra's human voice. It was subtle, treacherous, and deceptive. The more she heard it, the more she longed for his primal bellowings and grunting.
"…Let's just say I found something about your little case file. Let's say the reason you spent so much time in the pits wasn't because it was the Pit's job to punish you, but somebody verp specific wanted to punish you. "
"I know…Pazrael. The lord of Torremor. I remember that much at least."
Pasurendra shook his head. "No…not just Pazrael. Someone unusual,a Celestial noblewoman. It seemed you took something from her and she wanted to make you suffer for it. While demons and Asura are known for our wrath, it comes and go like the wind. Anything can set us off, and we rail uncontrollably but it eventually subsides till we have a new target. Celestials however….well…it seems like they can hold grudge for a long time…even longer than Lord Pazrael."
Keke already knew the name. Lady Raziel, the Grand Crusader of Mertion. She almost shattered the upper realms of the Abyss during Mount Celestia's last holy expedition. She never saw her directly, but recalled her unnaturally calm and betrayed voice. Was she still angry over Eliaos' betrayal, or perhaps Eliaos was more to her than a simple subordinate. Regardless, there was little she could do against such a creature.
"Is that all? Can I kill you now."
"I could attempt a time stop, but I doubt it would work against you. That priestess…I detect something about her that can even negate my magic, even from over here. I don't know how, but I think she's Holy Sampada's equivalent in this realm. However, before we cross blades once again, did you know that some of the more powerful lower planar creatures were once Celestials of some sort, especially the demi gods and the ancient Warlords. Adimarchus, Dispater, Geryon, Suziel , the whore queens of Hell, Moloch, and….oh…even our lord and master Taraksun."
Keke stopped.
"Oh, maybe not all his heads. I'm sure most of them were derived from nascent Asura lords, murderers or butchers, but a few of them were fallen Celestials. You know…the ones that give in to hate. The one's that had something they treasured so much that they went insane when it was stolen from them…."
Keke's mind spun. Raziel was Taraksun? Or at least a fragment of him? That would explain why she wasn't outright killed, he wanted to torture her some more, make her suffer. She would probably still be under its thumb, where it not for the unexpected Selexia. And it would also explain why she was specifically drafted into his retinue, and placed into positions of failure. That was insane…how could anyone hold a grudge for ….
Keke stopped.
Except this time it wasn't of her own volition. She was literally frozen in place and powerless to do anything about it.
Pasurendra smiled as he straightened, his wounds which weighed so heavily on him earlier seemed like nothing to the golden armoured youth. "That was my ace, my trump. However I wasn't going to use my timestop unless I knew it was absolutely going to work on someone like you."
Keke raged futilely at her foolishness. She should have killed him when she had the chance.
"You are one of the few creatures fast enough to evade my spell, and I still don't trust that priestess over yonder, so I had to wait until we were out of her range, or at least to the best of approximations, which as it so happens to turn out, I am correct about," he said as he drove his great sword into the ground and calmly walked behind Keke. He then disarmed her and her weapons before placing his armoured gauntlets on both sides of her head.
"As you know, I can't affect you under my temporal stasis spell, however just before it runs out or I end it, I will grow to my giant form and proceed to crush your skull with my vastly superior strength. You won't be able to dodge or even change to your natural form, not that it would make much of a difference. I've crushed an armoured Gelugon's skull and even snapped a proud Balor's neck using this little trick. It's sort of a last resort, but I know my limits. I would have used it on you, but I suspect you're a bit too quick and slippery for that . You've beaten me twice, and only a chance boulder to the head let me survive our last encounter, you however won't be so lucky this time."
Keke wound herself up, ready to spring into action when Pasurendra's spell dropped. He was right, if she was already in her half snake form she was sure he could beat his strength with her speed, but she was in her mortal form and she doubt she could change shape and evade his hands before they crush her. She wasn't actually sure how long it took to drop her present guise, since she never done so before though she had a feeling inside she possessed that ability. Regardless she readied herself, for her slim opportunity to strike.
The blow never came however as Pasurendra's hands withdrew. Keke instantly dipped low, spun around, grabbed her club and blade, and prepared to pounce.
She however was greeted with a strange sight, as a bewildered Pasurendra held up his hands, now adorned with heavy iron manacles.
"What…what are these….why can't I change," he wailed.
"Those are dragon shackles," said a haggard looking man suddenly appearing behind the golden armoured youth, before he yanked him back while simultaneously kicking him in the ass, sending the youth sprawling to the ground. "Also, you shouldn't talk too much, especially in combat. You tend to miss things, like some old drunk slipping shackles on your wrists while you're not looking."
Martinez then turned to Keke. "I would have killed him myself, but it sounds like you two have some history. So, I'll save that little treat for you."
Keke smiled to the drunk and then prepared to administer the death blow, when suddenly the entire chamber shook once again, bringing down more walls and sections of the roof around them. She easily dodged the large fragments plummeting her way, and though she lost track of the drunk, she had a good suspicion he evaded them as well.
When the ground stopped shaking, she could still smell Pasurendra nearby, but the deadly presence she felt earlier was also close. Impossibly near.
Kalikekeztra could feel her heart quickening, her palms sweating, and could even taste the anticipation in the air. She wasn't nervous, far from it, but was simply awaiting the prospect of the coming battle.