Screech!
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Hands, claws, paws, tendrils, and a multitude of savage limbs cracked and splintered through the windows and door, their relentless assault threatening to overwhelm the house. Only Amity's abomination magic, straining to its limit, held the grotesque invaders at bay.
"STRINGBEAN!" Luz shouted, her voice tight with desperation. Her palisman responded with a frantic warble, understanding the urgency in her tone.
"Come into my house uninvited, do you!?" Eda snarled, her eyes flashing with predatory fury. With a guttural shriek, she transformed into her owl beast form, her feathers bristling with rage.
Two of the creatures, humanoid monstrosities with pallid, unpigmented skin, flat upturned noses, and grotesque funnel-shaped ears, squeezed through the window. They lunged, their movements jerky and unnatural. Eda, a whirlwind of feathers and fury, taloned one, slamming it into the floor with bone-jarring force, while Luz, with a burst of wild magic, sent the other hurtling back into the writhing mass of abominations. The force of the blow echoed ominously.
"What in the Titan's name are these things!?" Amity spat, gritting her teeth. Her abomination magic surged, battling against the monstrous horde. "They look nothing like any demon I've ever seen!" The creatures were a twisted mockery of life: a skinless quadruped with a disturbingly human-like head and grotesque tusks, a spindly, fleshy humanoid with a gaping maw in its chest and eyes embedded in the palms of its hands, a nightmarish anglerfish with human limbs and an elongated, tooth-filled maw containing a smaller, disfigured human head. An one-eyed humanoid with too many bony protrusions across its body and head, and many creatures each one more grotesque than the other that puts the Demons of Boiling Isle to shame. Each one seemed designed to inspire primal terror.
"I don't know… vampires, maybe!?" Luz guessed, blasting a pair of pale, emaciated creatures with bat-like ears and razor-sharp teeth and claws with a burst of light. The creatures shrieked, recoiling from the sudden illumination. But her victory was short-lived. Another abomination, a crooked, emaciated humanoid with razor-sharp mantis-like claws, lunged at her, forcing her to dodge with a yelp. She retaliated with an ice spell, encasing its claws in a fragile prison of ice, but as it closed the distance, it opened its maw impossibly wide, revealing a nest of writhing, barbed tentacles. Luz recoiled in disgust and terror as King, with a well-timed sonic shriek, sent the creature staggering backward, crashing into its allies.
"Well, they're clearly not very friendly!" King declared, puffing out his chest. "Hey, Owlbert!" He called to his palisman, who swooped through the chaos, conjuring spells that vaporized a few of the Cronenbergian horrors, though their numbers seemed endless.
"I knew I shouldn't have let Hooty come with Lilith's stupid excavation!" Eda snarled, struggling against a grotesque creature that appeared to be a human warped beyond recognition, with too many arms, owl-like eyes, and a venomous stinger poised to strike. She dodged its attacks with practiced ease, until finally, with a powerful sweep of her wing, she sent the creature crashing into the carpet, a tangled mess of limbs and fury.
One of the creatures, a six-limbed hybrid of lizard and mammal, scrabbled towards the scepter, its eyes gleaming with malevolent intent. Luz and Amity reacted instantly, kicking the creature away, a blast of light magic blinding its six eyes. Amity's abomination magic snared one of its legs, and with a powerful heave, she hurled the creature into a cluster of vampire-like abominations just as another one tried to ambush Luz.
"Thanks, Mittens- BEHIND YOU!" Luz shouted, firing a fireball on instinct. A sickly pale humanoid with five spindly arms and four legs, each hand tipped with wickedly sharp nails, was inches away from tearing Amity apart. The fireball engulfed the creature, sending it into a screeching, flailing frenzy. It ran blindly, setting several of its comrades ablaze.
"Thanks, Batata!" Amity said, kissing Luz on the cheek as a thank you for saving her, causing Luz to flush scarlet.
Eda, surveying the scene of utter devastation, her eyes narrowed with fury. The mattress was on fire, her furniture was smashed to pieces. Enough was enough.
"Oh, DAMMIT!" Eda roared, her voice echoing with unbridled rage. "Do you screw-faced mongrels have ANY idea how much all of this ruckus is going to cost!? STOP RUINING MY HOUSE!" With a powerful flap of her wings, she unleashed a shockwave of wind, extinguishing the flames and sending the remaining creatures staggering backward.
Eda stalked out of the house, a whirlwind of fury. Behind her, King, Owlbert, Luz, and Amity emerged, King clutching the scepter, his expression a mixture of relief and inexplicable discomfort.
"Okay, asshats!" Eda roared, her voice echoing with raw power. "Who dared to come to my house uninvited and do property damage!? You better have the snails for it, or there'll be hell to pay!" Her feathers bristled with irritation, and she bared her sharp fangs, demanding that whoever had sent these monsters to her house reveal themselves.
The creatures, as if responding to a silent command, began to disperse, their movements oddly coordinated. A moment later, the sound of mocking applause drifted from the edge of the woods.
"My apologies," a male voice drawled, laced with arrogant amusement. "I wasn't aware that the glorified shack you call a house was so… expensive!" A man and woman stepped out of the shadows, their figures framed by the trees.
The woman was Eastern European, with a slender figure and long, dark brown hair that cascaded down her back. Her skin was deathly pale, and her eyes possessed a striking amber hue. She was dressed in what appeared to be Neopagan garb, adding to her unsettling aura.
The man, of Hungarian descent, sported dark hair and wore lavish, aristocratic clothing – black with silver trim, a slime overcoat, and a regal collar accented with a touch of red.
Luz couldn't help but feel a morbid fascination; the two looked like stereotypical regal vampires, although that only did very little to abate her rising fear. She glanced at Amity, noticing that she too had caught the detail: their ears weren't pointy, well except for the man's which were shaped like bat wings. The implications sent a shiver down Luz's spine.
"Who the heck are you?" Eda demanded, her tone laced with venom as she readied her talons.
The woman offered a mocking bow, her voice icy. "I'm Karcist Vivian Durant-Croÿ, and this is my husband, Alexander Croÿ."
Alexander waved a hand in greeting, his smile dripping with malicious amusement. "Pleasure meeting you, finally. Quite the pleasure. We've come for something that belongs to us… then we're going to devour the last living Titan. But before that? We're here to end your miserable lives!" He flashed his sharp canine teeth, then let out a piercing whistle. A fresh wave of abominations surged from the woods, but this time, two colossal, four-meter-tall humanoids lumbered to the front. They possessed no eyes, only gaping maws filled with dagger-like teeth.
The grotesque monsters charged, Luz showering them with spells as she fought to defend herself.
Eda took to the air, her powerful wings carrying her into battle against the behemoths. One of the creatures snarled, its fetid breath washing over her.
"Sheesh! You're ugly and stinky!" Eda wrinkled her nose in disgust. She dove down, raking her talons across its flesh, but was forced to dodge repeatedly to avoid the creature's flailing claws and snapping jaws.
Alex, with a burst of blinding speed, joined the fray, her movements a blur as she lunged at Amity. Amity, in response, encased herself in a towering purple abomination golem.
"That's Abomination Magic? Nothing but fancy golem thaumaturgy!" Alexander sneered.
"Like you have anything to say about it!" Amity snapped back, her voice echoing from within the golem.
"Nothing but a pale imitation of true abomination!" Alexander hissed. To Amity's shock, his body began to warp and swell, transforming into a monstrous humanoid form. Chitinous armor plates erupted across his skin, and his face became a nightmarish skull-like mask with a beetle-like horn protruding from his forehead. Empty sockets housed invisible eyes that somehow saw with perfect clarity, and his lipless mouth revealed rows of needle-sharp teeth. His clothing seemed to melt into the armor, becoming a part of his terrifying new form. He capitalized on her surprise, slamming his head into the golem with brutal force, shattering the purple armor and sending Amity staggering backward.
Luz momentarily ceased her fire, her eyes wide with stunned disbelief at Alexander's transformation. Then, a forgotten memory surfaced – a story she'd read in the library just that afternoon about shapeshifting monsters. "Goreblights…!" she whispered, recalling the tales of the Demon Realm's most terrifying boogeymen.
Vivian raised an eyebrow at the term.
Eda, briefly distracted, narrowly dodged an attack from one of the behemoths.
Amity, now behind a makeshift shield, blinked in disbelief, unable to process that she was facing a monster from her childhood nightmares.
King, attempting to use his magic, suddenly felt weak and dizzy, as if the scepter itself was draining his strength.
"Guys? The bony staff-thing is giving me funny feelings!" The scepter seemed to possess a will of its own, and it clearly didn't like being wielded by King. Owlbert flew closer, hooting urgently, urging him to put it down. King did so, clutching his head as a migraine threatened to overwhelm him. One of the creatures leaped toward him, and he yelped, unleashing a sonic shriek that sent it flying backward. Owlbert, meanwhile, blasted a ball of light at the eyeless face of a vampire-like creature, sending it screeching away.
"Move!" Eda yelled, just before she was swatted aside by one of the Behemoth's massive hands.
"Eda!" Luz cried, but had to quickly summon a purple shield with Stringbean when Vivian moved so fast she almost couldn't keep up as she came with clawed hands to eviscerate her.. Then, a scorpion-like tail erupted from her back, poised to strike. Only Luz's quick reflexes saved her from a deadly blow.
Vivian's front body split open to reveal many insectoid legs with sharp ends trying to grab and plunge at her.
"TOOMANYLEGS! TOOMANYLEGS! EW! EW! EW!" Luz shrieked, putting as much distance as possible between herself and the monster, desperate to avoid being touched by any of its writhing limbs. This was definitely going to fuel her nightmares.
To Amity's shock, Alexander suddenly reverted back to his human form, his clothes reforming as if they were an extension of his own being. He began dodging her attacks with effortless ease, a smug grin twisting his features, as if this were nothing more than a game. The taunting was making Amity's blood boil.
"So, this is what 'Abomination Magic' is supposed to be?" he drawled, his voice dripping with condescension. "Where's the homunculus? The abominable horrors? The dark ritual? This is nothing but good magic with a misleading PG brand made for amateur teenage mages back on Earth. I have to say, it's quite disappointing."
Amity gritted her teeth, summoning a barrage of purple arrows to rain down on him, but he evaded them all with infuriating ease. "I'll have you know, my father runs a company that makes Abomination tech richer than everyone on the Boiling Isles!"
Alexander feigned a look of condescending surprise, placing a hand dramatically on his chest. "Wow, making machines that run on goo. I'm sure Mekhane is shaking proudly for making mud-drive techies."
"What are you even talking about? Mekhane? Earth mages? There's no magic on Earth!" Amity snapped, her patience wearing thin.
"Then how do you explain… THIS!" With a flick of his fingers, several of the monstrosities froze mid-attack, their bodies contorting in unnatural ways. He manipulated them like puppets, their movements jerky and disturbingly fast, and sent them hurtling toward Amity. One of them, a grotesque hybrid of armadillo and beetle, spun into a defensive position, deflecting Amity's purple arrows with its armored shell. It then charged at her, forcing her to duck and summon Stringbean to lift her into the air. A winged vampire-like creature swooped in pursuit, Alex's mocking laughter echoing through the chaos.
Vivian, meanwhile, sculpted her own flesh with an unnerving fluidity that reminded Luz of her first, chilling encounter with Belos. Was there a connection between Belos and the Goreblights? Why, other than Belos, had she never encountered fleshcrafters on the Boiling Isles? She pushed the thought aside; she could ponder those questions later, if she survived.
With a flick of her wrist, Vivian lashed out with a whip-like tendril of flesh, slamming into Luz and sending her sprawling. Vivian then lunged towards the weakened King, who was too feeble to resist. Before Owlbert could intervene, she swatted the palisman aside and touched the scepter.
The moment her fingers brushed against the bone, Vivian recoiled with a pained growl, clutching her hand. The staff seemed to burn her flesh. If the scepter disliked King, it outright despised Vivian.
"Not done with me! Carmilla knockoff!" Luz shouted, rushing back into the fray with a magical blast. The fight resumed, a whirlwind of spells and monstrous forms.
Eda, reaching her limit, unleashed an ear-splitting owl screech and dove toward one of the behemoths. It swiped at her with its needle-like fingers, while another tried to bite her, but instead, it bit the other's neck. The first one's fangs sank into the flesh of the second, causing both to roar in agony as blood gushed from their wounds. In their frantic attempts to escape, they only widened the gashes, tearing vital organs. Both monstrosities collapsed in a tangled heap, their lifeblood staining the ground.
The last behemoth, bellowing in rage, charged toward Eda, seeking vengeance for its fallen brethren. But Eda, agile as ever, dodged its attack, spinning around and plunging her talons deep into its throat, ripping out a chunk of flesh. The behemoth choked, blood spraying from its mouth as it clawed at its throat in a desperate attempt to stem the bleeding. It crashed to the ground with a deafening thud.
"SURPRISE HARPY!" Alexander's voice rang out, laced with savage glee. He had scaled a nearby tree with unnatural speed, and from his perch, he slammed into Eda with such force that she was sent flying. He landed on top of her, sinking his teeth into one of her wings, tearing away a piece of flesh and devouring it.
"ARCH! Did you just bite me?!" Eda hissed, clutching her injured wing.
Alexander wiped the blood from his lips and leered. "Don't flatter yourself, you taste like expired chicken wings. I only did it to copy your ability."
Two grotesque, bony wings erupted from Alexander's back with terrifying violence, the feathers sickly and misshapen, a disturbing parody of the Owl Lady's own. Eda gasped in surprise, giving Alexander the opening he needed. He launched himself at her, talons extended, forcing her to defend herself against the flying Sarkic.
As they grappled in the air, Alexander's mouth opened unnaturally wide, and a screeching white worm emerged, its maw ringed with yellow, needle-sharp teeth.
Screech!
"THE HECK!?" Eda shrieked, frantically dodging the worm's snapping jaws. The creature retreated back into its host.
"My Akuloth said hi!" Alexander taunted, then headbutted her.
Meanwhile, Amity was besieged by creatures with vertical mouths that stretched the length of their faces. Their spindly fingers ended in talons half a meter long. Their bodies were partially protected by white, chitinous carapaces, with the dark red flesh beneath visible at their joints. These are the Smilies, monsters with teeths and claws ready. One of the creatures managed to break through her defenses, slashing across her left arm. Amity cried out in pain, but her abomination golem retaliated, slamming the Smiley into its brethren, using it as a makeshift club. Amity ripped a strip of fabric from her sleeve and bound the wound before summoning a blade to fend off the remaining attackers.
Alexander and Edalyn clashed in mid-air, a furious ballet of talons and wings. They circled each other like birds of prey, vying for dominance, diving from above the trees in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Just as Eda seemed to gain the upper hand, several winged abominations swarmed to Alexander's aid. He made strange, puppeteer-like gestures with his arms, and the creatures obeyed his unspoken commands.
Eda found herself fending off two creatures resembling giant, dinosaur-like bats and a horrifying fusion of fly and bee, complete with a venomous stinger. She slashed at the insect's face, blinding it, causing it to buzz erratically before plummeting to the ground. The bats, however, clawed and battered her, leaving a trail of bruises in their wake. With a powerful burst of wing-force, she managed to shove them away. "Why, you brought a big bee as well? That's cute," Eda sneered, only for Alexander to dive on her, seizing her throat and slamming her against a tree with such force that cracks splintered across its trunk. Branches rained down around them.
Alexander, his sharp teeth bared in a savage grin, declared, "This was cute and all, but it's time to die."
Eda, struggling against his grip, saw Amity becoming overwhelmed, while Luz was beginning to lose ground against Vivian, hampered by her inexperience in dealing with a highly adaptive Karcist-level Sarkite. The two girls shouted each other's names in desperation, while Owlbert tended to the ashen-faced King on the ground, surrounded by a growing throng of vampires and Smilies.
They were losing.
"No!" Eda cried, clawing at Alexander, but he dodged her attack and prepared to sink his teeth into her neck—
Slam!
A boulder struck him from the side, sending him flying.
The very earth beneath their feet seemed to awaken, trapping and constricting the abominations with a symphony of music that washed over Amity, bolstering her own magic.
Luz, seeing Vivian momentarily distracted, seized the opportunity to blast her with a burst of fire magic, forcing the Karcist to leap back to avoid being burned.
The source of the music was revealed to be Raine Whispers, holding a violin, accompanied by their crew, the BATs, instruments at the ready.
"You alright, Eda?" Raine knelt beside Eda, who was now sitting on the ground.
"My hero," the Owl Lady replied teasingly.
The boulder shifted, and a snarling Alexander emerged. "Bard Magic!? Is this the Demon Realm or a Fantasy Board Game Realm?!" he mocked.
"Fiends! They are friends of the CATs!"
"Yeah! You mess with them, you mess with all of us!" Amber confirmed, brandishing her recorder.
The Sarkic duo simply stared, tilting their heads slightly, while Eda muttered something about the name 'CATs'.
"...That's a stupid name," Alexander said bluntly, then growled and lunged toward Raine, who immediately responded, manipulating the environment to defend themselves.
Derwin used his bassoon to create a smokescreen, disorienting the abominations and giving Amity the advantage. She slammed them with her abomination magic, offering Derwin a quick, "Thanks!"
Amber played her recorder, summoning water from a nearby stream that coalesced into shards of ice, which then shot out like tendrils, impaling the Sarkic creations.
Katya used her tambourine to aid Luz against Vivian, manipulating the earth to try and swallow the Karcist, but Vivian leaped away, her legs momentarily taking on a digitigrade form.
"Mind sharing what's going on? Who're these posers?" Katya asked, helping Luz to her feet.
"I wish I could say," Luz responded with a short chuckle, still reeling from the fact that she had just met a cyborg.
Eda and Raine teamed up against Alexander, seamlessly alternating attacks and defenses, each complimenting the other's moves.
Eda dodged an incoming attack, grinning at Raine. "Looking good out there, Raine! But your tempo's a little off. Need a bit more oomph!" A moment later, she was struck in the stomach by a stone hurled with incredible force by Alexander. He moved to tear her apart with his claws, only to be stopped by a protective spell from Raine.
"I'm doing my best, Eda! Maybe if you weren't attracting all the attention…" Raine retorted, struggling to maintain the protective barrier.
Eda winked, catching a vampire and tossing it into the others with the force of a slingshot. "Jealous, are we? Don't worry, plenty of attention to go around. Especially for my favorite bard."
"Focus, Eda! We can flirt later, after we've, you know, survived," Raine scoffed, though a playful smile tugged at their lips.
"Why? You both a couple too? Where's my manners? We would have set you in a double date with you both as the main course!" Alexander spat venom, then unleashed a powerful thrust with his wings, sending both Raine and Eda hurtling backward.
"What just happened…?" Raine, briefly disoriented, looked down to see that his instrument was broken. "Crap."
Alexander seized the opportunity, delivering a brutal knee strike that sent Raine flying into a nearby bush.
"Rain!" Eda cried, rushing to their side.
"Keep them busy!" Alexander hissed, commanding a few Sarkic abominations to attack.
Katya, bruised across the cheek from Vivian's relentless attacks, felt her feet lose contact with the earth as she was swept off her feet. She landed hard, the air driven from her lungs.
She hacked and wheezed, spitting out dirt. As she reached for her instrument, she realized it had been broken in the attack. She looked up to see the menacing Vivian approaching. "I like making fanfiction about vegetables, how about you?" Katya asked out of nowhere, trying to mask her fear.
"Not vegan, my dear, I'm a carnivore!" Vivian's mouth, filled with jagged teeth, opened wide, ready to tear into Katya's face.
But Luz intervened, blocking the attack and summoning pillars of ice to strike Vivian. Although Vivian was hit by one of the pillars, she quickly recovered and lashed out with a scorpion-like tail, which was blocked by Amity's abomination magic.
The tail seemed stuck, but Vivian simply smiled. Corrosive acid began to melt through the purple goo, and despite Amity's best efforts to block it, a drop of the acid splashed onto the right side of her left arm.
"Amity!" Luz cried, rushing to her side.
"I'm okay! The acid only—" Before Amity could finish her sentence, her throat constricted in horror. She saw Vivian healing two hostages by the throat.
"None of you mongrels do anything, or I kill these things!" Vivian threatened, holding Owlbert tightly, the palisman writhing in pain. King, who had just begun to recover from his disorientation, struggled futilely. That alone was enough to halt the witches and their Sarkic monster allies.
"Who are you!? What do you want!?" Luz demanded, holding her palisman at the ready.
"Put your toys away and give us the Scepter, or fuzzball is food!" Vivian's nails plunged slightly into King's skin, drawing blue blood, causing him to cry out. Eda instinctively lunged forward in anger but stopped when Vivian opened her mouth, revealing two spider-like appendages used for feeding, hovering menacingly near the squirming King. "And I assure you…I've been dying to know what a living titan tastes like!"
"Don't do it, Luz—ACK!" King tried to sound defiant, but choked as Vivian tightened her grip on his throat.
Luz and Amity glared, and even Eda's face was twisted with fury. The BATs put down their instruments, and Amity and Luz dismissed their palismen, the golem melting back into goo. Alexander grinned wickedly.
"And that includes you turning back, blood-tainted harpy," Vivian sneered at Eda, who let out an owlish growl and reverted to her human form. "Good. Now, give the scepter to the big guy." She gestured toward the behemoth that lumbered closer.
Luz, hesitant, took the scepter and began to approach the behemoth, but then she recalled how Vivian had been burned by the staff. She exchanged a quick glance with Amity, an understanding passing between them. Acting on instinct, Luz threw the scepter with all her might, channeling Amity's abomination goo to propel it faster toward Vivian.
Caught off guard, Vivian instinctively dropped Owlbert and reached for the scepter, crying out in agony as it seared her flesh. King seized the opportunity and bit her hand, causing her to drop him.
Alexander rushed to his wife's aid, but Eda transformed in a flash, seizing him with her talons and, with a powerful swing, hurled him at Vivian. Amity used her abomination magic to grab the scepter, King, and Owlbert, pulling them to safety.
The Sarkic couple tried to rise, but they were met with the glowing eyes of Luz and Amity's palismen, weapons leveled. "It's over!" Amity declared.
Vivian glared scornfully at them, but then she glanced down at her nails, which were stained with King's black blood. A slight smirk crept across her face.
BOOM!
A sudden explosion rocked the area. Luz and the others turned in horror toward the source of the blast as Vivian and Alexander grinned savagely.
"It's too late… the Scourge of Iron already got it." Vivian stated victoriously. Before anyone could react, Alexander grabbed her and with a powerful flap of his wings, rocketed into the sky, leaving behind a momentary distortion in the air. Their abominations followed.
"They're getting away!" Katya yelled.
"The explosion… it came from Hexside School of Magic and Demonics!" Raine said in dread, confirming the origin of the smoke billowing in the distance.
"We can find those snobs later! We have to go there!" Amity commented.
Rain then looked back "Amber and Derwin go help Katya and get somewhere safe! The rest we have to go!"
"We can find those snobs later! We have to go there!" Amity urged, fear etched on her face.
Raine looked back at the others. "Amber and Derwin, help Katya and get somewhere safe! The rest of us have to go!"
"I'll carry King and the scepter; that asshole couple may return!" Eda said, hoisting the sickly King and Owlbert in one arm. She didn't want to risk them falling into the couple's hands again. Besides, she knew they likely considered King a target beyond just the scepter, judging by the way Vivian had looked at her nails covered in Titan blood.
"No, the scepter makes King feel unwell; I'll carry it!" Luz countered, gently taking the scepter.
"We can help, too, boss!" Derwin objected.
"You barely held off against them, and Katya is hurt and needs help!" Raine countered, pointing out that Katya was still groaning, clearly in pain from a likely broken rib after being tossed around by Alexander.
"Your violin is broken; I'm sorry, Raine, but you'd be putting yourself in danger," Eda added, glancing at the shattered instrument.
"That's okay; I'll stay with them," Raine said, then called out to Eda as she prepared to take flight. "And Eda, Kick their asses!"
Eda smirked. Then, together with Luz and Amity, she soared into the sky, heading toward the smoke-filled horizon where Hexside now stood.
Notes:
I did not made up all the Sarkic creatures as you can find /YorickEldritch/status/1541616491455463427?s=19
And SCP-2191-1 are the vampire looking creatures.
Since as far as I know there is no description on Vivian and Alex's appearances I took the liberty and was inspired by Vladimir and Leblanc from League of Legends's Welcome to Noxus designs and also a bit of Resident Evil as it has plenty of body horror williams with antique clothings.