DEVOUR!"
That word. His instincts went haywire as he quickly gazed up, and saw it. Death. Velvet Crowe fiercely glared from up above, her sickening appendage raised high above her in a cloud of violent miasma. The daemonic claw crackled and tensed, before she lunged downwards with a curdling roar and a fierce explosion of wind. Willing all the energy that resided within himself, Oscar scrambled to the side in desperate evasion as it struck.
SMASH!
The dock rumbled and shook.
Centered stone cracked and crumbled, while pooling water jolted and formed tiny streams as they entered the deformation that scarred the architecture. Velvet's devastating limb webbed cracks around its entry point, as the thorned talons dug into the rocky floor. The ferocious storm whipped and shied away from the sudden force of nature, groaning as it's winds burst away from the crouched beast. The daemon's hair flailed in the feral winds, while Seres and Sarid guarded against the overwhelming pressure.
As the wild whirlwind calmed and Velvet rose from her devastating strike, she zeroed in on the exhausted praetor that had retreated to the end of the dock. Oscar's lungs burned as he stared at the monster; horrid claw pulsing in tandem with her drawn out breath. "W-What kind of daemon are you?" he barked, trying to staunch his trembling shoulder matted with blood. Suddenly, two flashes flew out of his body, and a pair of average malakhim appeared from the sparks. He groaned and cursed as they rushed over, a pleasant green hum taking over his form. Oscar glared as he caught the shattered shape of his faithful weapon in pieces among the crater. He spluttered behind his hand, "You're skilled. I'll have to expend a malak or two for this."
The daemon stood still, with her arms crossed and claw bound once again. Mocking him for his weakness.
With a harsh grunt, the exorcist clambered up from his position, and cast a disgruntled look over the two healing him. The malakhim stepped forward, until one cast its hand openly; and a wave of energy erupted in droves across the ground. As the arte split the ground, the group dived out of the way of the danger. But, as the daemon's vision rose again, the other malak leapt forward a caught her by the arms; restraining her desperately as another arte formed in the distance. Sighting this, Velvet snarled and ripped her hands from its grip. Her bootblade slipping out again, she sliced deep into its abdomen before pouncing onto the malak and springing away. The dark manifesting magic collided harshly against the grounded malakhim, its screams bellowing out as a strange miasma siezed it.
"What are you doing!?" Seres fiercely yelled out at the praetor. Oscar didn't even flinch at the harrowing shouting from his malak, and waved over his second to disrupt Velvet's charge.
"Control your feelings to control the tide of battle!" he confidently quoted, as orbs of azure liquid formed in his malak's hands; casting them towards the bounding wolf. The daemoness scowled at his naive preaching, and pounced right between the oceanic artes. With a fierce cry, her left arm firmly grasped the leg of the foolish malak, and whipped it away from the two.
"More of your vaunted reason?!" she snidely taunted, and suddenly sprang at the defenseless exorcist. Catching Oscar's head in a firm hold, she flipped over him and, with a crude shout, slammed him into the cracked rubble. Racked with a paralysing pain, the praetor gasped roughly as his body cried out from the brunt force. He had never felt such cold abuse in his whole service. An iron liquid began pooling in his mouth mich to his distaste, until it was violently spat out as boot smashed right into his injured back without mercy. "I'll show you where your reason gets you," Velvet darkly threatened.
Suddenly, a blood-curdling shriek echoed over the dockyard, catching everyone's attention. The malak struck with the arte crumbled to its knees, head pounding with an unnatural force as something ominous pulled at its insides. A violet energy trailed out of its trembling body, as a strange tremor rocked its mystical figure.
Thwoosh!
In her moment of uncaring, a wind arte created by the downed Oscar sent her spiralling backwards and away from him. Velvet growled with a sneer as she reoriented her body, and her claw tore into the ground to force a gradual stop. Another scream ripped its way from the malak's throat, as it reached its breaking point.
"No!" Seres yelled out, knowing of the situation.
"Such darkness, is it happening now!?" Sarid evaluated in recollection.
"A malak... with daemonblight?" the daemoness questioned, baffled at such a phenomenon. The malak felt a dark force grip its mind, and a searing pain tore away its skin. In an dreadful explosion of violent miasma, a completely new creature contorted out from the human-sized figure. Copper- coloured scales lined its reptilian back, as giant wings beat away the veil of dark mana. It snarled and gnashed its dagger-like teeth - plumes of smoke puffing out of its muscled throat - and eyes of an evil crimson glared out venomously.
Oscar shifted up painfully with the help of his malak as he scanned the situation. "Ugh! It's lost control!" With an animalistic roar, the dragon took flight and bore down on the blonde exorcist. With a fierce whip of its wings, a cyclone of destructive wind rose and blew away the pair that forced its creation; sending them careening into the furious waters. With an irritated huff, Velvet readied herself as the dragon swooped in her direction at immense speeds. Her eyes widened as its claws poised in preparation within milliseconds.
"Velvet!"
Blood sailed through the heavy atmosphere again, but not for their success this time. Three wide claw marks carved deep into Seres' open back as she dove in front of the daemoness. In a last ditch effort, the powerful malak thrust a great ball of fire right into the feral beast; blowing it back down into the battered docks with a snarl of pain. Seres felt her legs fail her, but before she could collapse against the rocky ground - a pair of arms caught her weakened form in a flash.
Kunai in hand, Sarid cast a grim look into the abyssal mask that shielded her eyes as he gently laid her down. "I wasn't fast enough..." Ivory alreasy leaked from her mouth, as she shook her head with a mild smile.
A rushed storm of footsteps approached them. "Seres!" Velvet abruptly slid down next to her downed comrade, an uncharacteristically attentive look cast over her wounds.
Growl!
Already, the unyielding beast rose from its position, shaking off the harsh fire arte that knocked it down and locked a hungry look on the trio. The half-malak heaved a despairing sigh, before catching them both with a kind smile. "Take care of her, alright?" Not giving the daemon a chance to respond, he leapt up from his crouch and faced the ferocious beast. Rummaging into his pouch, he drew his second kunai and flipped it around in the air. Feeling two questioning eyes on him, he just put a thumbs up to the side. "I'll be right back," Sarid seriously stated. Drawing his blade back, it flew forth towards the imminent danger.
Like a flash of lightning.
Bringing her attention back to the wounded that now lay in her arms, Velvet delicately laid her palm over the gouges slashed into the malak's back. Seres brought her hand up shakily, noticing it already stained with her own blood. "My wounds are fatal," she grimly whimpered. "I have only two requests..." she slowly faced the daemon, a deathly nausea pulling on her eyelids. "F-First, keep that man with you, he is of upmost importance, I can tell."
Velvet frowned at the strange request, already preparing to deny it. "How is he important at all?" she urgently demanded. "He's just a stranger, too kind for his own good," Velvet darkly assumed; her hand unknowingly tightening on the poor girl's arm.
Seres barely shook her head at the woman's denial, "You must. Please, he is no ordinary malak, one you may be able to figure out," she painfully begged. Her body was becoming paler by the second, and the three openings in her back began to pool vermillion around the two.
"...If he gets in my way, or becomes a nuisance, he dies."
The malak weakly chuckled at the answer, "That's the best I'm going to get." Staring deep into the daemon's hollow stare, her last request shook the foundation of Velvet's icy chamber within. "As for my final request, please... consume me."
The daemon's gaze was hard.
"My form is bound by an oath whose price is my life. The time has come to pay," Seres sadly announced. "Feeding in my form will grant you strength, strength to press on. I ask only that you devour me."
The ravenette questioningly peered at the woman as blood began to leak from Seres' mouth, her unfathomable words striking a chord long thought lost from within the daemon. "...Why would you go so far?" she simply asked, forcing her emotion back down her throat.
"A flame burns in my heart, too. One I cannot quench, no matter how hard I try. Just like you, Velvet." At her aching words, she brought out an antique object of lavish gold; a comb.
At its reveal, a hint of light returned to her eyes as she scanned its unblemished handle, gasping out in shock. "This was Laphi's!" The girl hesitated on grabbing it, her bandaged arm hovering just shy of its teeth.
"That is why I cannot abide it... This frozen world... these frozen people..." A violent splutter racked her throat, as a spatter shot onto the stone. "I'm just... that stubborn of a woman." A yell of pain and a rough impact occurred not far from them, as Sarid rolled across the beaten dock; covered in marks and mild scratches. The dragon roared viciously, not safe from adorning its own set of irritating wounds. However, the half-malak's breath raced vigorously, sharp and harsh intakes leapt too and from his open mouth. As another jolt of exhaustion tried to clamp Seres' eyes shut, she pulled herself forward urgently. "Hurry! Before my life fades! Do it now!"
Velvet's mind spun from the turn of events, but one part told her a simple thing; feed. With a mild grimace, her daemonic claw ripped out of its vestiges once again, pleased to be made use of. Hungrily, it wrapped around the malak's head, gripping forcefully. As she did so, the daemon tried to lull her dark beating heart back into place. Casting a fierce and cold look over the hanging malak, she spoke with dispassion. "I offer no apology or thanks." The pulsing limb was twitching from the intense pressure being applied.
Even as her skull was grasped with hostile intent, Seres' tone was wistful. "I need neither. Our wishes..." With a crackle and shatter of glass, her mask broke in the daemons unrelenting grip; revealing a pair of beautiful and warm rosey eyes, stained with tears. "... are one... and the same." Velvet's eyes widened with ghastly familiarity. The malak's hands gently held the beastly appendage that was soon to kill her. "I treasured those days..."
Ba-dump
Velvet reeled her head downwards, teeth clenched with unbridled emotion as she forced her claw to tighten its grip even further.
"When you and I..." The daemon's lips quivered while her mind quaked with wrath, burrowing the goodness of her heart deep into her new dark soul; bound with thorned vines and chilling flames. But she couldn't hold back the quiet whimpers of a ruined family girl that lost it all in just one night. "...and Arthur were... together." A powerful tear that held all the sincerity the malak could possibly muster trailed down the horrendous claw, gracefully falling onto the ground.
Velvet screamed in anguish.
Crunch!
Seres' body fell limp in her grasp. In a manifestation of colourful fire, her very essence slipped into the pounding veins of her appendage; a fulfilling energy pumping through her form. But, the woman didn't feel it, as the immense mana was absorbed, flashes of the life Seres had lived sifted through her vision. All the times she spent with Arthur, Laphicet, Velvet; even when they had trouble seeing her. The times when Arthur was at his lowest. The time where Arthur died, and Artorias was all there was left in his soulless gaze.
From the remnants of the mystical energy, formed a blazing rune - the object that would help Velvet see her path through. A ring hovered in place, holding unimaginable power beneath its shiny metal hue. With a swift grab, the daemon ripped the item out of the air; as leftover embers danced among her mane of darkness. Unwavering conviction present in her boiling golden pupils, as she held the last piece of her brother over one with a slight tremble.
Back in the fierce duet of man and beast, Sarid leapt back from a monumental wave of gnashing wind and grit his teeth. His hands weaved in front of him; practiced signs and their simple meanings flashing in his mind as he flew. Landing swiftly, he took a deep breath despite his heaving lungs, and blew. A wave of fire sprouted from his lips, taking the shape of a great orb of flame that glided towards its target. Suddenly, the dragon burst forth from the arte unaffected, and beelined straight towards him; wing span extended to slice him in two. With a flick of his kunai, the half-malak vanished and appeared above the diving beast. Speed too great to catch, he let himself fall into a crouch as the dragon swooped right past him, casting a fearsome stare with a snarl while it spun back around.
ROAR!
A bellow easily mistaken for anger was disrupted, when a pulsating limb tore right into its back as she pounced over, the claw hungrily gulping down the stolen essence. Sarid looked thankful of Velvet's sudden assistance - puffing heavily as he lost his composed form - and let a sheepish smile twitch at the corner of his lips. "A bit trickier than I thought," he awkwardly chuckled and welcomed this brief moment of rest.
The daemon eventually gave her own evaluative glance, paired bluntly with a roll of her eyes and a scoff as the man stumbled to the ground in a heaving bunch. "Just stay out of my way... or I'll eat you!" she wildly threatened, pupils sinking in fury at the writhing reptile. With a savage cry, her unnatural limb drilled into the floor with daemonblight seeping into it, until she tensed the claw under the rubble; tearing it violently from weathered stone. Spikes of ominous black unearthed from the destroyed rock, stabbing outwards in the culmination of seething blight. The dock rumbled as the shards overwhelmingly gouged the furious beast - tearing and stabbing at its shrieking husk - as it sank in a heap of dispersing miasma.
Her heart struck against her ribcage in agitated rhythms, unnatural cells pumping at violent, inorganic speeds to cycle oxygen into her blackened lungs. Velvet had no time to rest however, as a spiral of wind assaulted her vulnerable figure - knocking her right off her feet - as she collapsed to the harsh floor. Oscar proudly stepped across the battered and beaten dockyard, soaked head to toe, and roughly cut and bludgeoned; causing him to wince through his strong posture and angered gaze, as he glared at the ring over her middle finger. "...You truly are without a heart, using your comrades for your own well-being. I'm afraid I can't let a nasty daemon like you loose upon the world, can I?" the praetor pridefully taunted, the rune deconstructing from his malak's outstretched hands.
As another arte began to bind without mercy, a striking flash materialised next to the daemon's struggling form, as it suddenly vanished from thin air. Oscar's brows furrowed in frustration, until he spotted a pair perched at the side of the dragon's presumably slumbering corpse. Sarid took his hand off Velvet's shoulder - kunai in hand - as sweat adorning his forehead mixed with the assaulting storm from such successive evasion. Turning back to cast a shadowed glare at the irritated exorcist, the half-malak grit his teeth fiercely at the situation; especially with no Seres in sight.
Oscar turned his head up with a disappointed sneer, "You're becoming a bit of a pest, traitor. Conforming with a daemon? How low a malak such as yourself has fallen," he deprecatingly mocked with a thrash of his hand. His personal malak stood at the ready for any growing offensive.
Sarid stumbled to his feet with a flip of his weapon, his thoughts a minute whirlwind crashing around in his head. Challenging the judgemental eyes of the praetor, the half-malak pulled up his head to stare him down. "I have no idea of how the world has changed while I've been gone, but unlikely friends are formed in the most dire of times. I am not on the side of daemon, nor exorcist; I am here for humanity," he confidently expressed. Glancing at the daemon amassed with painful wounds, his vision simmered as he looked past the barbed shell. "And if even a little remains in any creature on this planet, I will not hesitate."
The praetor almost grunted out a scoff at his speech, "This place has made you delusional. Maybe throwing you back in that cell is for the best," he seethed with a frown. Sarid managed to pull together a mild smirk, as his armed hand reeled back for a throw to send him into danger.
"I have been in one for far longer than you know." As the kunai almost slipped from his fingers, a firm hand siezed his wrist harshly. Shooting his sight back to the assumed, boiling pupils shrunken in rage stared right back, before the figure ripped his arm back and sent him stumbling away. Massaging his aching wrist, Sarid watched as Velvet sauntered forth; barely showing any discomfort in the injuries she dealt with.
"...Velvet." Oscar stepped back in confusion, as orbs of fire blazed through overcast strands of darkness. "My name. Send my regards to Artorias," she coldly ordered. Without even giving a single glance at the withering beast, her daemonic claw burst out with a squelch! Sickening miasma already crept towards its devouring pull.
Growl...
The woman didn't flinch or move as the daemonic dragon huffed out in irrational wrath, its gigantic claws slamming into the ground vigorously as it caught the powerful scent of its attempted killer. Recovering from its typical fate, it let out a bellowing roar, its slabs of bone for teeth gnashing savagely together for one final charge.
Until, its valiant last stand was cut short as talons of horrendous flesh burrowed into its throat, stealing its breath as it contorted in tearing pain - sickle-like serrations rendering its anterior muscle into gore. With an unbridled war cry, the daemon wrestled the great dragon to the ground with a feral leap; pressuring its neck with a surreal, unnatural garrote. It's insurmountable strength pulsing through her veins, she manically growled as convulsions of ominous black mana leaked from the deathly orphice.
Shink!
A magical blade of crackling thunder penetrated deep into her shoulder as she fed, sending a harsh shock through her system. Oscar's confident visage faltered, as Velvet radiated a glare bored with daggers that shattered his resolve. While the sparking arte stayed lodged deep within the daemon's skin, her furious desire melded her resilience; applying even more pressure onto the scrambling beast under her hold. "I am Velvet Crowe. And I will devour daemon, malak, and exorcist alike..." As she hissed in anguish and underlying conviction, searing ivory erupted onto her face; a glint of harrowing crimson present in her ever steely eyes.
"I am a monster. I am a THERION!"
Circulating funnels of vermillion miasma flared from around the daemoness, a gradual heat building in the pit of the dragon's throat. In a overwhelming rush of energy, Oscar paled in shock while Sarid hurriedly disappeared once again, as it exploded out violently and decimated the surrounding dock. A plume of ash and smoke rose high into an ominous shadow cast over the prison. Breathing heavily, but invigorated by the fulfilling power that coursed through her bones, Velvet calmed her burning nerves and regained concentrated thought.
As the billowing remains cleared, and the daze in her mind dissipated, she got a clear view of the destruction she had wrought. The surroundings were alike the moon that shined in the sky with its stolen glow; grand craters of drowning cobblestone dotted the landscape, now steadily filling in the stormy hail. Egregious debris and still crumbling rubble was blown off into the lapping waves that seeped into the numerous cracks, encroaching upon the decimated prison front where the great gates no longer remained. Only splinters as a reminder they were there. The violent rainstorm raged on, echoing clashes and cracks of thunder across the dimly lit sky; funneling winds spiralling into aggressive cyclones in the distance. It was if the world had burst open again, and Hell's crooked teeth grinned behind a veil of innocent moonlight, watching, waiting. The underworld's emblematic symbol soon to throw everything they know into unforgettable turmoil.
All that remained of the Abbey's presence here, was the still fresh bodies Sarid had dispatched earlier.
In a flash, the half-malak appeared next to her, planted right into the scratching surface. His body inwardly shuddered in her presence, reacting minutely to her shifting smog held back by a fleshy cage. Meeting her smoldering stare, he slowly tried to pull himself up from his exhausted place; before a hand suddenly gripped his collar and yanked him upwards. Almost tripping over, a cold shove left him to flail without a stable rest. Recovering soon after, he finally managed to find his words shoved deep in his throat. "Velvet... Where is Seres?" Sarid seriously questioned, straightening his form as best he could.
"...I ate her." His eyes widened in shock. "I needed to be stronger, and she was just enough to defeat that praetor," she dispassionately stated, gesturing coldly to the vast devastation. "And still, he got away," she rumbled fiercely. Even through the observation, the half-malak couldn't even come to terms with her first words - but as he opened his mouth for answers - she silenced him with a threatening clench of her left fist. "I'm a daemon. It's what I do, and..." Her stern visage faltered for only a blink, "...don't you dare refer to me with such words ever again, or I'll tear you apart, limb from limb," she angrily berated. Sarid couldn't catch a single glimpse of her pupils through her shaggy hair; backing off at the unnatural shake of her bandaged arm. "They are wasted on me," Velvet grimly surmised, turning away from the frowning man. As she did so, the daemon unveiled what kept her resolve strong in the first place, holding Laphi's comb close to her still beating heart.
"Oho! Finally, someplace that may not be a death-trap!"
A cheerfully irritating voice snaked out from the furroring fog, much to the annoyance of the pair who stood at uncomfortable positions with eachother. "When we tumbled from the tower, I thought, this is it, Magilou, this is the end!" As Ms. Whatever-her-name-was rambled on about useless circumstances, the Eastern swordsman in tow with her grumbled in similar agitation.
"Well, things would have been less risky if you hadn't suddenly appeared and jumped on my back," the male daemon fiercely scolded, her immaturity evident as Magilou hopped around dramatically as he spoke. Turning dreadfully, he perked up as a monochrome duet of hair waved in his cone of vision. "Oh, hey, it's you two!" Hurriedly jogging over, he stopped right before the ravenette bearing a strong conviction. "It's thanks to you, that stormhowl is back in my care," he thanked with a slight reveal of his mysterious blade. The stranger bowed his head ceremoniously, "Rokurou Rangetsu at your service," he stated with a proud cross of his arms. "This blade is my life. I owe you a great debt, one I vow to repay--"
"YES, yes, she's a peach and model citizen," the circus witch crudely interjected with a distracting hop, "Can we get a move on?! I think they're just done massacring the rioters." Magilou finished her rude interruption with a strange wriggle, frankly making the uncouth daemon's mood even sourer; something Sarid wasn't too interested in dealing with for the time-being.
Velvet chose to write off the colourful cast amassed in front of her, "The docks are just ahead. Give me a hand," she sternly ordered, departing with the repetitive clinking of chains.
As the rough ravenette stalked off to the abandoned ship once belonging to the retreating praetor, the half-malak gained the attention of the two new arrivals. Rokurou spoke first, "Good to see you're still alive!" he cheered with a smack of the malak's shoulder. "That must have been a fierce battle, I could hear it from inside the prison." The samurai grinned at him expectedly, hoping to hear about their intense duel against the great exorcist. Unfortunately, the optimistic daemon was rewarded with an uncomfortable shuffle and sweat drop. While he obviously bore no hostile intent, Sarid's mild worry in building a band of humanity's worst enemies was at the forefront of his mind. While he wasn't originally opposed to travelling with the brooding, bossy daemon; the circumstances at the time were dire. He wasn't too interested in such a development.
However, a look of understanding bloomed on the young man's battle-torn face, his toothy smile dying to a welcoming gaze of kindness. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that," he chuckled with a scratch of his head. "Malak, right?" Rokurou asked with another mild pat. "Well, I'd say 'better get used to it'. I have a feeling we may get dragged around with your mean friend over there," the samurai whispered, gesturing over at the befuddled Velvet, as she silently attempted to figure out how the ship operated while standing in the hazing storm.
Eventually, Sarid built up some words in his mind, as the discomforting feeling gradually died down. "You may be right. I apologise for my rudeness, this isn't really what I expected," he sincerely explained with an idle scratch of his cheek.
With another bellowing laugh, the samurai wolfishly smirked, "There we go! See? We're not all bad. Besides, the quicker you get used to it, the sooner we can spar!" After a final jab to his arm, Rokurou stepped off to oversee his fellow daemon's quiet contemplation. Much to the half-malak's chagrin, the leftover stranger slid in with an arm around his shoulders and an aloof grin. He could already smell the mischief in her breath.
"Soooo..." Magilou drawled, "What's a little half-malak like you hanging around with someone like her?" Ignoring the man's surprised look, she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, her message clear through the awkward silence.
"No, it's nothing like that," Sarid answered sternly and concisely, immediately birthing a disappointed expression on the witch's features. "You can feel it too, can't you? This daemon... isn't so ordinary." Even as his words passed through the dense rainy skies, Magilou was still caught up in her disheartened mumblings; apparently not too joyful about being stuck with 'a buncha bland baffoons'. Even so, he could feel the thought he had planted in her head roll over her downcast expression.
"Sarid." A cold but strict tone snapped his name through the shrill skies, instantly drawing his attention. Velvet seemed to growl through the hurtling rain at the half-malak, "Help Rokurou with the boat," she ordered. He made sure to hide his irritated sigh, looking back to Magilou for a brief moment.
"Oh, well!" The witch leapt up with sudden energy. "You all are my ticket out of here, so its best we get stepping before we're fish food, hmm?" She danced around comically, before prancing off towards the two daemons in the thundering rain. As the trio approached the pensive woman, they watched as crackling lightning arced across billowing skies infected with blackened clouds. In a dramatic fashion, Magilou collapsed onto the slicked cobblestone. "Guess the weather's feeling as crummy as I am!"
Uncaring of the witch's act, the two man stepped up to the domineering woman, who whipped her head at them, "Are either of you sailors?"
The samurai was first in answering, "No. But I do know the difference between a sail and a rudder." Her gaze switched to Sarid's, boring a little further than the moment before, akin to a glare.
"I wouldn't call myself one, but I did used to sail one before this ordeal. Unfortunately, it was only a large one-man boat, I have no idea how to work one designed for a whole crew."
Velvet let a nasty sigh easily escape her lips, obviously disappointed at the inmates' capabilities, but nodded nonetheless. "I'll take what I can get. Do what you can." With a swift nod, the pair made their way towards the behemoth of a ship for only four; the volatile storm making their survival appear quite improbable.
Magilou rose from her sitting position as her eyes closed in disbelief. "So, it's rot in a jail cell, or rot in a fish tummy. Welp, guess its your lucky day fishies!" the woman sang with strange positivity as she made her way towards the vessel.
However, still remaining outside the warmth of the pristeen ship that softly swayed in the violent waves, was the daemoness herself. Velvet stilled in the savage coiling winds, and barrelling of water; even as her loosely banded hair and soaked black coat flailed harshly in its song. Despite the rocking vessel for her escape, she was locked on a set of figures that gathered nature's nurturing in silence.
Velvet slowly approaching the slumbering bodies of the leftover exorcists, as the scent of blood spoke sweetly to her mind. Her claw seemed to yearn, as it instinctively writhed in its bound form, begging to be released. She knew - even through Sarid's clean but effective attacks - a few still lived. They slept soundlessly in the harrowing storm, perhaps dreaming of family, perhaps dreaming of the monster that possibly could've tore them apart... it didn't matter. Nothing else did. Their essence still seemed so captivating; and she despised it.
The winds howled even more feverish than before, waves roaring in mass hysteria as the rain shrieked. Crimson smothered the docks, engrained in the scars of stone, and webbed craters. Strewn about the devastation, were what remained of all that opposed her vengeance. That praetor never got away, and she relished in the wallowing fear he displayed as she crushed him; rendering him into simple energy for her to consume. That was all they were, stepping stones for a daemon born from humanity's sins.
So, her claw lay free. Free of any vestiges to withhold its true appearance, her true self. Let them fear her, for no one named 'Velvet Crowe' remained that night.
The daemon let the rain wash her past self away, staring straight up into the expanding smog. As she felt the power burrow deep and pump through her veins, she let her inner emotions boil over. A fanged smile swept over her features, betraying all leftover innocence that could've remained. All that was left, was a malevolent gaze, surrounding by delicious vermillion.
Shaking her mind free of the blightful pull, Velvet began sauntering over to the dotted corpses and unconscious forms. A sudden pair of eyes drilled into her back, and she knew immediately who watched. With a fiendish glance, she held the malak's vacant look with an expression of indifference.
Sarid Barloc looked on in pained realization, completely aware of her intention. But, deep within himself, he questioned everything that his mind had known. No matter how he it mixed and swirled, he could not shake the ruby glint seething in her pupils as the storm washed away the dousing ivory over her form. The miraculous vision that was just gifted to him, stuck to his thoughts like a bloodstain, as he watched her bathe in the deathly air.
Nevertheless, a daemon was still a daemon. And Velvet Crowe would do anything, just to see that man dead at her feet. She sneered savagely as the fire within grew, and she let her unnatural instincts twist the control from her frozen heart.
Squelch!
The flavour of human flesh was too sweet, compared to the daemon's bitter scowl.