The Demoness of Gold pressed forward, attacking Nivlek the best "She" could.
Nivlek met "Her" attacks with focus, parrying each blow with precision. "His" greatsword hissed against "Her" silver dagger, flames roaring then sputtering with every clash.
After Nivlek had prohibited the Unaging's Blink, the 'Demoness of Gold' increased her attacks ferociously, to not give "Him" any leeway.
In between deflections, Nivlek's thoughts sharpened. My connection with Emory and Alistair was cut off. Something's wrong.
A sharp inhale through clenched teeth.The Sect is also raiding the outpost, in hopes of rescuing the 'Demoness of Purple'... Not that surprising.
With a growl, "He" whipped "His" free hand, conjuring a wide swath of fire, a curtain of azure-violet heat that forced the Demoness to step back. Before "She" could press again, Nivlek ripped the greatsword free from "His" grip, coating it in compressed fire, and launched it like a blazing lance.
"She" twisted to evade, but not far enough.
The blade exploded mid-air, a concussive bloom of heat that tore through "Her" side, blasting "Her" into mirror shards, the sound of shattering glass echoing down the empty streets of Mesrin.
Without any pause, Nivlek's body blurred as "He" moved, rocketing between collapsing roofs and bloodied pavement, "His" flames trailing behind like a comet.
"He" reached the others just as Unaging dodged into a new position.
With a gesture, a cage of fire erupted, its bars jagged and curling.. It trapped her instantly, halting "her mid-step, while she coiled violently within the cage.
The Demoness of Gold reappeared through a Mirror Substitution, landing not ten meters away, frantic, "Her" hair half-singed, breathing sharp and fast. "Her" blade rose for another lunge-
Nivlek's gaze snapped to "Her", eyes gleaming with a bright light.
"God says it's ineffective here!"
"Her" movements slightly stuttered, the divine weight of the sun pressing down on "Her" for a brief moment, weakening "Her" momentum.
"He" moved first. The sky cracked open.
From the heavens above Mesrin, clouds spun in rapid succession, forming a roaring cyclone of air that reached down like the fingers of a deity. The hurricane-force winds crashed through the city, lifting debris, smoke, blood and both demonesses.
Chains of azure flame lashed out from the burning cage, binding both women mid-air like celestial harpoons.
Nivlek rose with them, lifted by the winds, surrounded by stormlight and the azure-violet fire, a figure of elemental retribution. The square below became a blur of ruins and scattered embers.
Briefly in mid-ascent, "His" voice rang through the Chain of Command.
"Seraphon, Claive and Fenien. Regroup, recuperate yourselves and assess damage. I'll handle the rest." Then "He" vanished into the storm, dragging "His" enemies toward the forest.
A few kilometers away, the forest erupted in a blast of thunder and flame.
Lightning split the treetops, fireballs scorched the underbrush, and the two Demonesses came crashing down, impacting earth like fallen stars, rolling through dirt and root as branches cracked and burned around them.
The Demoness of Gold was the first to rise.
"Her" cloak whipped around "Her" as she pivoted, golden hair stained with soot, eyes sharp and predatory. "She" scanned the dark woods with instinct, but found nothing. It was an inhabited area of the forest.
"Fuck."Then "She" turned, eyes landing the Unaging. She was still trapped and burning by the cages' flaming bars.
The Unaging, suspended in her fiery cage, grit her teeth, skin blistering where the flames licked too close. She tried using Mirror Substitution, but was of no use within her situation.
The Demoness of Gold's pupils dilated. The cage was frozen in an instant. The jagged bars of the cage turned sharp, then "She" gave a swift strike, breaking the cage into thin shards of ice.
The Unaging fell, coughing, with various burn marks. She barely had a breath before-
A thunderous impact shook the ground. Trees buckled and the soil erupted upwards.
Nivlek descended from the storm above like a meteor, crashing into the clearing with a roar of divine heat and force. The earth cracked beneath "Him". Smoke billowed outward in thick rings.
"He" stood slowly from the crater's center, brushing soot from "His" armor, eyes cutting through the haze. "He" quickly found "His" targets.
"He" cracked "His" neck once. Good.
The Demoness of Gold had already moved a few meters back. The Unaging, still regaining her breath, stepped beside her, having used a Mirror Substitution to avoid the Angel's arrival, as her wounds healed, using one of the 'recorded abilities' present in her Wander bracelet artifact.
"Well, well," the Demoness of Gold sneered, "Her" voice dripping with venom. "Such a caring General. Running off to play in the woods while his city bleeds. Do you trust your men that much, or are you just... incompetent?"
Nivlek's gaze didn't flinch. "He" rolled "His" shoulder once, absently cracking "His" knuckles.
"No," "He" said. "I just wanted somewhere roomier."
Snap.
A whip of azure-violet fire formed in "His" right hand. "He" flicked it once. It cracked like a cannonblast, the sound nearly rupturing the air.
The Demoness of Gold winced, "Her" eye twitching despite herself.
Nivlek smirked.
"Let's play properly now."
The two Demonesses lunged.
The Demoness of Gold dashed with incredible speed, "Her" silver dagger flashing like moonlight, aimed for the neck, the heart, the head. "Her" off-hand, laced with death, sought to graze "Him" with the cursed bone necklace's draining power.
Simultaneously, the Unaging vanished into after-images.
Her body blurred between trees, rocks, and mirages, Blinking across the battlefield.. Removed from the range of Nivlek's earlier prohibition, she once more fully activated her Wanderer artifact, and the entire terrain changed, as though reflections overlapped and bent.
But Nivlek was already in motion.
The whip cracked, and the very air screamed.
Its tip flicked toward the Demoness of Gold with surgical speed. "She" dodged once, then again, then again, a dozen, two dozen times, but the whip followed "Her" relentlessly, bursts of sonic booms exploding around "Her" with every pass. The concussive force shredded branches, tore bark from trees, and left the air saturated in heat and pressure.
Neither one of them could approach "Him" without risk.
Instead, the Demonesses exhaled. Fog poured from their bodies. It slithered forward like a plague.
The Unaging's was laced with various poisons and petrifying pathogens.
The Demoness of Gold's was filled with something worse, deathless toxins, the kind that gnawed at cognition and soul.
Nivlek smirked.
Red fog coiled from "Him" in return, dense, roiling, and smelling of blood and fire.
The fog of war met their pathogens in midair, and "He" snapped "His" fingers.
The fire caught instantly.
A chain-reaction of explosions blasted through the fog. The night ignited in a dome of searing heat. And when the explosions faded…
Sunlight fell.
Not from the sky, but from every direction. The trees, the dirt, even the air itself glowed with a purifying radiance. It pressed against the Demonesses like a divine weight.
The Unshadowed Domain had returned, flared through the General by "His" Chain of Command to Seraphon. Its influence weakened the demoness's fog, dissolved the poisons.
The Unaging snarled, flicking her wrist.
The Domain warped.
Its light twisted sideways, drawn into a spiral, away from them. They slipped from its grasp by an inch, retreating into the shadows. This was "Distortion", recorded upon the artifact.
Now free again, she vanished. Blinked. Afterimages shot across the forest, as she moved to entrap the General and giving the 'Demoness of Gold' an opportunity.
But Nivlek's gaze was already on the Catastrophe.
The Demoness of Gold raised "Her" head, and "Her" form began to twist.
"Her" skin cracked, "Her" hair writhed. Dozens of serpent heads burst forth, each with an eye, half white, half black, watching in perfect silence. "Her" limbs became heavier, wrapped in coils of symbol-marked scales, and "Her" eyes glowed with the full power of a gorgon.
"She" turned to the Unaging and hissed through sharpened teeth.
"Finish off Mesrin. I'll handle him."
The temperature dropped.
The forest ground began to freeze over, and the once-bright Unshadowed Domain flickered, fading in and out like a dying candle.
The Demoness's body exhaled age itself, an ice age, curling from her in waves, turning soil to stone and water to jagged frost.
But Nivlek was already moving.
"Afraid, are we?" "His" voice was a growl. "A real hunter doesn't let prey run."
"He" slashed "His" wrist with the steel of "His" fingers, drawing "His" own blood.
The forest floor erupted in fire, heat so violent it pushed the frost back, the ice burning at the edges. A ring of flame circled around "Him".
"His" eyes gleamed. A symbol, dark red and pulsing, emerged from between "His" brows. "His" voice thundered:
"Essence of War. I sacrifice to You."
The earth shook. "His" body swelled, twisted, then transformed.
A moment later, a towering figure stood in "His" place:
A Calamity Giant, 6 meters tall, it's form a skeleton of iron-black metal, flame-chained joints glowing with majestic purple fire. Each movement sparked pressure waves. "His" skull-face was crowned with floating cinders, and every flame it emitted curled in symbols of destruction.
Above, the sky darkened. Cumulonimbus clouds gathered, summoned by his command. Lightning began to pulse in them, ready to be called.
The Demonesses flinched.
But before either could retreat, Nivlek roared, a thunderous, soul-rattling war cry that tore through the forest like a falling sky.
The air shook. Trees cracked. The very atmosphere bent beneath the sheer pressure of it.
Both Demonesses froze for a moment, stunned, instincts screaming, their senses locking up under the weight of conquest.
Nivlek's voice followed, sharp as a blade: "Prey never changes. Always whining, always running. Always hiding with your tails between your legs."
"His" eyes flared behind the inferno. "So come on. Run again. Prove me right."
Their expressions twisted, not with fear, but fury.
The Demoness of Gold grit "Her" teeth, serpents hissing wildly from "Her" head. The Unaging vanished in a flicker, reappearing a dozen times over, teleporting with increasing speed until afterimages filled the burning trees.
She avoided looking directly at the Angel's new form, skirting the edges of vision, instincts guiding her away from the oppressive presence of two Mythical Creatures.
But the Demoness of Gold did not look away. "She" met him head-on.
Weapons of solid ice formed in "Her" hands, a glaive, and a curve-edged sword. "Her" cursed left hand surged with bone-chilling death, and "Her" silver dagger gleamed like moonlight between blood.
"She" charged.
Nivlek snapped "His" whip, sending out a shockwave as "He" met "Her" approach. Fire cracked across the air, then "His" second arm moved.
"He" lifted "His" hand and then brought it down, as fierce lightning strikes wrought down on the demoness.
Ice met fire. Catastrophe met destruction.
The forest detonated around them, blades clashing, flames erupting, storm clouds above splitting in anticipation. Trees burst into cinders. The air shimmered with heat and pressure, as if reality itself struggled to contain them.
And the storm above began to crack.
A ripple passed through Nivlek's mind. Through "His" Chain of Command, Emory and Alistair's presence returned.
Nivlek chuckled. The plan moved along quite nicely, it seems. Then, "His" aura surged.
A brilliant halo reappeared behind "His" head, casting down searing radiance that cut through the smog and the wave of ice.
The forest brightened.
The Demoness of Gold hissed, "Her" lips curling into a snarl as the halo's light weakened "Her". The serpents in "Her" hair writhed in discomfort, and the oppressive aura of "Her" impending catastrophe waned.
In retaliation, "She" raised "Her" silver dagger high. With it, "She" conjured catastrophic spears of jagged ice wrapped in black fire, each one a spell of withering and rot. They screamed through the air toward Nivlek at frightening speeds.
"He" cracked his whip, slicing through the first wave. The second met a wall of violet fire conjured before "Him", vaporizing in midair.
Then, whip still burning, "He" lunged forward, igniting the earth beneath "His" steps as "He" prepared to close the distance.
But before "He" could strike
"Slow!"
The voice was ancient and cruel, a gnarled tone like grinding stone.
Nivlek's limbs dragged, "His" movements bogged down as if something tried to pressure "Him" still. A foreign force clutched "His" bones.
"His" spiritual intuition flared.
Without hesitation, "He" cast a swath of fire around "Himself", forming a protective ring, but even that betrayed "Him".
The flames twisted inwards, wrapping around "His" limbs like serpents, pulling taut like chains.
Turning around, "He" saw the newcomers. Two new figures emerged through the smoke:
Priscilla, the Demoness of Purple, her posture calm and dangerous, violet eyes gleaming. And beside her, an Unaging, blood running down her face from an obsidian tiara, the artifact's dark spikes embedded deeper than before.
"So the bitch returned to the flock," Nivlek muttered, "His" voice tight with disdain as "His" eyes locked on Priscilla.
"You should've chained me harder." Priscilla smiled as she answered with clear pettiness.
Seeing the opening, the Demoness of Gold rushed in, ice weapon in hand, this one exuding death.. "She" slammed it into Nivlek's side, piercing between layers of flame and armor.
Boom!
Nivlek exploded with blazing heat, a burst of fire detonating across the battlefield like a supernova. The trees incinerated and the air screamed.
The Unaging moved instantly, blinking around the eruption in a flurry of constant after-images. Her Wanderer bracelet glowed as she yanked the Demoness of Gold out of the blast's range
Then she snatched Priscilla and the other Unaging, blinking again,and again, never staying in one location long enough for a counterstrike.
Flames still consumed the clearing.
Nivlek stood alone in the inferno, blood dripping, breathing ragged.
But "His" fire still burned. And the storm above began to roar.
As Nivlek's inferno faded, the scorched clearing unveiled the regrouped Demonesses, scarred but breathing, their figures shimmering amid dissipating smoke and ash.
The Unaging, her tiara bleeding faintly into her temple, turned sharply toward the Demoness of Gold.
"We have what we came for," she barked, her voice taut. "Let's leave, now!"
Priscilla said nothing, only hearing very closely towards both of them.
The Demoness of Gold, however, trembled. "Her" face twitched, warped in fury. "No!" "Her" voice was jagged, uneven. "That thing ruined everything with his meaningless campaign. I'm not leaving without his head!"
Across the clearing, Nivlek straightened, the last of "His" flames coiling behind "Him" like a war banner. Despite the wounds on "His" body, he let out a deep, low laugh.
"Is that all?" "He" called, voice booming like thunder. "I was told Demonesses were dangerous. But you? You flail like poisoned rats."
"His" flaming whip cracked, crackling beside "Him" with a sonic boom.
"He" turned his attention directly to the Demoness of Gold.
"You call that a Mythical Creature? I've seen street whores with more bite."
Then, eyes narrowing, "He" glanced to Priscilla. "And you… what a decision. Instead of walking away with your life, you ran straight back to your leash. Still dreaming of felling the warmongering tyrant?" "His" grin sharpened. "Delusion suits you."
With a shriek of rage, the Demoness of Gold lunged. The others followed, but "She" led the charge, unrelenting and reckless.
The whip moved first.
Nivlek's arm flicked, and the flaming weapon carved arcs through the air. The Unaging with the tiara darted sideways, desperately distorting space to soften the whip's edge.
But then
Boom.
A delayed explosion triggered at the whip's tip, catching her by surprise. Her figure shattered into mirror shards, scattering into the trees like broken glass.
The others faltered, Priscilla included, their momentum checked by the sudden counter.
But not the Demoness of Gold. Ice encased "Her" form mid-charge. Layers of frozen armor protected "Her" against the searing blasts, and "She" drove forward through the firestorm unbothered
"Her" silver dagger gleamed. "Her" cursed hand reached, but
A blade of obsidian lava and poison burst through "Her" chest from behind.
"She" turned "Her" head slowly,shocked, betrayed and saw "Her" perpetrator.
Priscilla.
Drenched in bruises, the Demoness of Purple stood frozen, her grip tight on the molten hilt. But her eyes were focused. Cold and unflinching, as she was staring elsewhere, avoiding gazing towards the Angels, tearing up blood.
The Demoness of Gold gasped. "Her" figure dissolved into air and ash, disintegrating in a shriek of rage.
Although "She" perished, it was not the end. This ancient demoness clearly had hidden mirror selves to resurrect.
Priscilla staggered, dazed, as the flames burned around the surrounding clearing
Nivlek raised one hand.
Fire surged, encasing her all at once. With a single commanding gaze, "He" conquered the demoness. Her anger fell still. Her body slumped and her eyes closed.
She crumpled in the ring of fire, unconscious.
Nivlek turned, surveying the remains of the battlefield. The other two Demonesses were gone,either fled or perished. However, they would also return through their Mirror Selves as well.
Before "His" Calamity Giant form faded, Nivlek erupted into flames, scooping Priscilla as "He" soared into the storm-split sky.
…
The air inside the outpost was thick with smoke and curses.
Emory's breathing grew ragged, his hands blistered from the tree-staff artifact gnawing up his arms like a living root. Alistair, opposite him, was hunched over, blood trickling from his temple, his blades shaking under the weight of curses. The room pulsed with unrestrained indulgence. The Ancient Bane artifact had awakened.
Its form loomed, half-bent wreathed in living chains, each one slowly cracking out. The Demoness of Despair's capture had pushed it past the threshold, what once obeyed had begun to hunt.
And now, it was turning on them both.
The puppet lunged, strings of chain spiraling outward like serpents, targeting their limbs, throats and hearts, when suddenly
A blazing fireball split the night.
The inferno crashed into the clearing outside the outpost, the sheer pressure forcing both Emory and Alistair to shield their eyes and brace for impact. The blast rocked the earth beneath them, windows shattering inward, heat rushing like a solar wind.
The flames cleared.
Towering. Wreathed in regal azure-violet flames, iron-black bones, Nivlek, the Calamity Giant, had returned.
"He" turned without hesitation, "His" gaze locking onto the Shackled Marionette, which trembled and twitched as if in anticipation of defiance.
Nivlek's voice layered through the burning air, deep, resonant, utterly commanding:
"Stop."
The chains froze. The puppet staggered, its limbs twitching uncontrollably before collapsing to the ground. The chains snapped inward, reforming into a cage around its frame like prison bars reforging themselves under divine order.
It fell still, silent. Dormant, for now.
Emory and Alistair slumped in near-disbelief, relief etched into their bloodied faces. Their weapons remained raised for a moment longer… until it was clear.
Nivlek turned next to the rampant plant growth inside the building. The tree-staff, still pulsing beside Emory, twisted with wild vines and root arms stretching across the walls.
"He" reached toward the staff, and "His" flames surged.
The forest patch that had overtaken the outpost ignited at once, burning with surgical precision. The vines recoiled, curling in on themselves and then crumbling to ash. The staff groaned, shrank, and then, shrunk back into a dark splinter of wood, clinking to the floor beside Emory's foot.
All fell quiet. The smoke thinned, the air cooled, and the pressure lifted.
Nivlek's form diminished, the towering iron bones fading as "He" returned to human form, "His" red cloak fluttering behind him. "He" glanced once at the sealed puppet, once at the charred staff. Once at "His" soldiers. Then, as "He" carried Priscilla on "His" shoulders, "He" gave a small nod.
"Great work boys. Let's assess the damage."