*20 minutes before*
Shiva was thinking of what to do next.
Chase had just punched a giant abomination out of the tent and was being held up by Damian
Looking at damian, she remembered.
"You said they were looking to slaughter everyone
Like cattle at the town square right?"
"Yeah, maybe's hes there, trying to turn everyone into puppets" Damian replied. Chase was looking better now, able to stand on his own.
Shiva was still so shocked. 'So much is happening so fast, how did this slip from under me so long, where is avery!?'
Donny interrupted her thoughts. "Its best of we get moving now however, or they will really take over this town."
"Yeah…lets move"
Exiting the tent, there was chaos, but it was managed. This was the heart of the barktown guard after all. She saw sir ofnir, He was An elemental brawler, also in the top 5 strongest individuals the guard had to offer.
His entire body was covered in a rock armor.
He hit a monster so hard their upper half simply ceased to exist. "Come on, show me a real fight!"
Every punch that connected created shockeaves that she could feel while being over 20 feet away.
Looking at Sir Ofnir fight, she spotted the rest of the elites scattered about. Each one of them was holding their own against the chaos unfolding.
As he turned to her, sir ofnir grabbed a monster by the skull. It was trying and failing to claw through his rock armor. "Hey its shivy!"
With a sickening crunch, he squeezed, popping the creature's head like an overripe fruit. "Whats got ya all twisted up? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Shiva didn't waste time. "The Skin Grafter's in town. Avery's compromised. We need to move."
Sir ofnir shrugged his shoulders. "If any place is safe its where the fighters are. Is this not our base?
Get outta here if you must leave, we'll handle this."
It was seemingly under control at the base. They had less and less reasons to stay.
'I really have to have a bit more faith in my men'
She thought. But more importantly, why didn't he notice that Chase and Damian were obviously demons.
'Then again hes not the type to care either'
Shiva exhaled sharply through her nose, watching as Sir Ofnir casually punted a shambling horror into a group of its kin, sending them sprawling like ninepins. The man had always been more brawn than brains—useful in a fight, less so for spotting subterfuge.
Damian rested his axes on his shoulders. "They clearly got this."
Chase spat blood onto the trampled grass, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Yeah, let's not waste time."
Sir ofnir turned around once more.
"And tell that sissy Hendrick or whatever his name is, to get ready for a rematch the moment things settle"
Andrew was behind them, now that his mask was in his robe, he didn't have to worry about his red face anymore. These people clearly had bigger fish to fry. "Lets get moving"
Shiva wasted no time and began running towards the town square.
square.
*Now*
The moment Shiva's boots hit the cobblestones, everything changed. The air itself seemed to shudder—not from her arrival, but from the three figures looming behind her. Their shadows stretched unnaturally long, clawing at the ground like living things.
Looking at sir Hendrickson, Shiva spoke "Your off fighting duty, please do keep the small fries from killing as much people as you can."
Chase was surprised. When he first walked into the village to accept the quest, he thought it was because the guard was a bunch of pushovers who couldn't do their job.
'They just got unlucky, whatever this thing that orchestrated all this is, The town just wasn't prepared.'
Avery's blade twitched, his smile frozen in place as his eyes flicked between Shiva and the demons flanking her. The black veins around his iris pulsed visibly. "Oh? Bringing strays to a slaughter?" His voice dripped with mock amusement, but his stance shifted—subtly defensive.
Andrew began siphoning blood from all the dead monsters, creating a bunch of swords and spears, Sending them flying at avery. "Lets see if his body is as fast as his mouth"
The black sword blurred, intercepting each projectile with eerie precision—until Chase blurred forward, fist already cocked. Avery barely twisted in time, but the demon's knuckles still grazed his jaw. The impact sent him stumbling, his left ear now a mangled ruin.
Shiva didn't wait. She lunged, her blade singing as it carved toward Avery's ribs. He parried, but Damian's axes came down from behind, shearing through his shoulder blades with a wet crunch. Black ichor sprayed, yet Avery *laughed*, his wounds knitting shut before their eyes.
Yet as that happened none of them were shocked.
Damian looked at chase in particular. "You kbow what the plan is."
"This guy"
Chase sighed before activating the (hellfire) ability.
Damian also imbued fire into his axes, pillars of flame erupted from them as they both walked towards avery with murderous intent.
Avery's grin faltered as Chase's fists ignited—not with ordinary fire, but something darker, hungrier. The flames licked up his arms like living serpents, casting writhing shadows across his scarred knuckles. Damian's axes followed suit, the metal glowing white-hot as runes along the blades flared to life. The stench of charred flesh and molten steel filled the air, mingling with the rot.
As that happened, daryl realized this was the perfect time to quickly kill the small fry and get everyone to the safety of the granary. "EVERYBODY MOVE!" He screamed, pushing people towards the granary.
Avery couldn't do anything, Even if he wanted to, Shiva's sword was already slicing towards him, forcing him to focus.
Hendrickson couldn't hold back anymore—anything that lurched toward the fleeing civilians met a gale-force gust, hurling them back like ragdolls. The wind tore at his sleeves, his hair whipping wildly as he pivoted on his heel, staff carving arcs through the air. A creature with distended jaws lunged—he flicked his wrist, and its skull imploded with a wet *pop*.
Daryl didn't waste the opening. He snatched a fallen spear from the cobblestones, driving it through the spine of a hunched horror mid-leap. The thing spasmed, its claws scraping his forearm before going limp. He kicked it off the spear's shaft, panting. Around them, the surviving guards formed a ragged perimeter, shields locked as they funneled stragglers toward the granary's gaping door.
Avery was trying to keep everyone off of him, glowing blue energy emitted from his hand before a blast was sent out, that Chase and Damian dodged. Andrew used do of the remaining blood as a shield.
Shiva was unaffected however, she was already mid swing. Avery barely managed to block, but the force of the attack pushed him back, sliding across the cobblestone.
Chase didn't wait for him to recover. He surged forward, fist wreathed in hellfire—but Avery twisted at the last second, swinging his blade in a wide arc that forced Chase to abort his attack. The demon barely rolled aside as the black sword cleaved through the air where his ribs had been, the sheer wind pressure tearing a gash through his shirt.
Shiva saw the opening. Her blade flashed silver as she lunged—not toward Avery, but toward the cobblestones at his feet. The impact sent a shockwave rippling through the ground, destabilizing Avery's stance just as Damian's axes came down in a cross-strike.
Black ichor sprayed as the blades bit deep into Avery's collarbones. For a fraction of a second, Shiva saw genuine surprise flicker across his warped features—then Chase's hellfire-engulfed fist plowed into his solar plexus. The explosion of flame sent Avery skidding backward, his uniform charring away to reveal pulsating black veins beneath the skin.
"Now!" Shiva barked.
Andrew's fingers twitched. The spilled blood pooling around Avery's boots *moved*—snaking up his legs in crimson tendrils that hardened instantly into jagged spikes. Avery snarled as they pierced through his thighs, pinning him to the cobblestones like a butterfly speared to a board. His black sword clattered to the ground, twitching like a dying serpent.
Chase didn't hesitate. His fist drove into Avery's jaw with a *crack* that sent teeth skittering across stone. The man's head snapped back, neck tendons straining grotesquely—but then the laughter started. It bubbled up from his ruptured throat, wet and gurgling.
"Good," Avery choked out. His remaining eye rolled wildly, iris flickering between blue and void-black. "But you'll need—" Damian's axe silenced him, cleaving through his skull with a sickening *thunk*.
The body slumped. Then twitched.
Avery's fingers curled into the cobblestones, tendons snapping audibly as blackened nails splintered against stone. The axe embedded in his skull *hissed*, the metal bubbling where it touched his spreading veins. Chase recoiled as the man's ribcage split open with a wet tear—not from Damian's strike, but from something *inside* pushing outward.
It was his core. Black and and ugly, chase first though to destroy it. 'But what if I could use it to Increase my evolution points?' He thought to himself.
"Nah, too risky." His hands pulsed with hellfire before he closed his hands around the core, crushing it.
The reaction was instantaneous—Avery's body arched off the ground like a hooked fish, veins rupturing in geysers of black ichor. His scream wasn't human. It was a wet, guttural tearing, like metal shearing through bone. Then silence.
Chase wiped his hands on his pants, the stench of burnt flesh clinging to his knuckles. "That's one way to handle it."
"Harolds brain is gonna explode when we inform him of this." Donny said.
The granary doors groaned as the last stragglers barricaded themselves inside. Daryl leaned against the blood-slick stone, watching Shiva wipe her blade clean with a torn scrap of fabric. Her hands trembled—just slightly—before she sheathed it. Behind her, the three demons stood amidst the carnage, their unnatural stillness more unsettling than the corpses.
Mr hendrickson looked at the demons. 'They aren't hostile so i guess they're fine' he thought.
"How did you meet them. He asked shiva.
"Funny enough, they showed up looking like regular humans on a quest to figure out the disappearance issue. Shit hit the fan and the showed their true forms."
Looking at the floor, sir hendrickson smiled "A boon, no doubt. After all, you were able to trust them more than your second in command in the end."
Shiva's grip tightened on her sword hilt. The words stung—not because they were wrong, but because they were true. She'd missed the rot festering right under her nose. Avery's betrayal festered like an open wound, his final transformation replaying behind her eyelids every time she blinked.
"Funny enough, if it wasn't for Harold and his dumb ideas, this town would have gone under."
"We should go check on Harold as well"
Chase said after hearing Shiva. "I'll tell him you said thanks."
"No you will not." She replied.
"Yeah, it's not happening" Donnie's said in his uncaring tone. "Because I'm doing it first."
He then dashed to Harold's estate.
Everyone followed him.
Shiva sighed before getting up. "I'll go check on him too, If a thanks is what he'll get, he'll get it personally.
She too then dashed off, to Harold's estate.