by Max Jager
The orb shot through the air like a bullet and slammed into the ground next to the machine. As it struck the ground it exploded and destroyed the machine, although the demon was too late to stop it from closing the rift, it had taken too long to charge. As the orb exploded it fired thousands of tiny black needles in all directions, these needles stabbed into the backs of the scientists as they ran. Esyll just barely made it behind the ice in time to avoid the needles. Then, every needle suddenly burst into a small but powerful explosion. All the scientists were torn to pieces and killed, Cora's wooden dome was blown apart and Cora's arm was badly injured in one explosion that slipped through. The tree was badly damaged, but the cocoon was as strong as metal and did not sustain much damage.
The attack left the entire battlefield scorched and destroyed. If Suki hadn't warned them, they all would've met the same fate as the scientists. The demon looked around, noticing that it had failed to protect the rift. It let out a roar of frustration, and turned to the next best option. Kill everyone here and hope they are the only ones who know how to build the machines.
Suki rushed out of the broken wooden dome straight for the Pure Demon "I thought you said it would hatch in thirty seconds!" She called out.
"Do you really think I can keep an accurate track of time right now?" Cora snapped back. "Should be any second now."
The demon roared out and stomped on the ground, sending a wave of flames across the ground in all directions. Seeing the fire Suki jumped over it, but as soon as she did the pure demon sprinted forwards and swung its arm out to grab her.
Suki threw her sword at the demon's face, then jerked her hand to the side and used her telekinesis to push herself away from the demon's arm. The demon dodged her sword as Suki landed back on the ground a few feet away, then with another jerk of her arm her sword spun around and slashed at the demon's head from the side. The beast attempted to dodge but was not fast enough, the blade sliced into the side of its head, but the wound was shallow and non-fatal. As Suki sent the sword in for another attack the demon turned its head and spat on the sword, and in an instant the sword was encased in a block of ice and was no longer sharp enough to damage the demon. The block of ice struck the demon on the side of the head and did nothing. The demon then turned and threw a massive fireball at Suki, seeing her as the only threat out of the people surrounding it.
Suki threw her shield onto the ground and jumped on top of it, then used her telekinesis to lift the shield, and herself, off the ground. She quickly rose high up into the air to dodge the fireball and barely got out of the way as the fireball exploded. She noticed that the cocoon was starting to crack and threw herself and her shield at the tree.
Mendelen and Kaden were remaining behind the tree, they knew they didn't stand a chance against this beast and were trying to stay out of the way. Zanath was behind the ice wall, taking aim at the demon and waiting for that perfect shot to present itself. The cocoon started to crack and Suki landed beside it, picking up her shield and turning back to the pure demon.
The demon took in a deep breath and bellowed out a huge wall of flames at Suki and the cocoon, but suki focused on her shield and the shield expanded to a massive size to block the flames.
While Suki held back the flames with her shield, the cocoon burst open and Estellese fell out of it. She was fully healed and good as new, but she was different now. Her skin had a green tint, her body was covered in sharp thorns, she now had sharp claws, and she had butterfly-like wings sprouting from her back. She landed on her knees but stood up and curiously looked over her arms, then wiggled her wings and glanced over her shoulder at them. "Okay, what happened?" She asked.
Kaden and Mendelen just shrugged.
"Human" Suki stated. When she saw Kaden, Mendelen, Estellese, and Zanath all look over at her she sighed and shook her head. "Pink human. That one." She said pointing at Estellese. "We have one hell of a monster here and I can't kill this thing alone. Cora's signet has given you these new abilities and physical traits. You can move at three times your natural speed, have triple your natural strength, those thorns and claws are as strong as steel, and the wings do allow flight." She explained. "Now you have thirty seconds to help me kill this damn thing before all these powers run out and you go back to normal. If you can't kill it in thirty seconds, we all die. I know you humans aren't capable of much, so just back me up. Keep it off me and I might be able to get it."
Estellese stood up and took a deep breath. "Don't underestimate me." She stated. "I may not understand their magical attacks, but I can fight. Just tell me if there is something dangerous I need to look out for. Like if something's gonna explode or something."
"Human, don't be stupid. Your race can't handle combat of this skill tier." Suki stated, but Estellese ignored her.
Estellese took a moment to test her wings and hovered a few inches off the ground, as she did the demon slammed a fist into the shield and Suki stumbled back a few feet. Estellese looked up at Suki and knew she couldn't waste any more time, "Let's go."
Suki nodded and her shield returned to its normal size, revealing the pure demon that had been standing behind it. "Take the left, I'm going around the right." Suki ordered.
"Estellese, we will help however we can. But there isn't much we can do here." Mendelen called out.
"Thank you. But make sure you stay safe." Estellese called back before following Suki's orders. She ran to the left, mirroring Suki. The demon still saw Suki as the only threat, it stomped its foot on the ground sending out another wave of flames across the ground. Both Estellese and Suki jumped over the wave, and as they jumped the demon sprinted after Suki firing another fireball at her.
Suki used her telekinesis to push herself out of the way of the flames, while Estellese rushed after the demon with her new enhanced speed. The beast was almost twice her height but she wasn't letting its size intimidate her. She saw the demon preparing to blitz Suki and grabbed its leg, yanking it backwards right as it went to run. The pure demon was knocked off balance and fell to the ground.
"Estellese! Axe!" Mendelen called out. Estellese turned to him to see him throw her axe towards her. The axe landed on the ground a couple feet away.
As Estellese rushed to grab her axe the demon started standing back up. Lillith, Esyll, and Zanath all took this moment to open fire on the demon. Esyll and Lillith let loose a hail of bullets and arrows, while Zanath took several shots at the demon's head with his rifle. The demon covered its head with one of its arms but roared out in pain as it was struck with many bullets and arrows. Its metallic skin greatly lessened the damage of the attacks.
Estellese grabbed her axe then her and Suki rushed in to try and finish it off but they were not fast enough, the demon sprang back onto its feet and moved back, away from everyone. It had to reassess the situation, Suki was no longer the only threat and it knew it had to stop focusing her out.
"That worked! Flank it again!" Suki ordered as she rushed around the right side, and Estellese rushed around the left.
The pure demon had other plans, it sprinted at super speeds right past Estellese and Suki, straight for Zanath and Esyll. A fireball appeared in one of its upper arms and rapidly grew in size as it sprinted for them, and as it got close it threw the fireball at their ice wall.
Zanath and Esyll were forced to dive away from their ice wall. Once the fireball struck the wall it exploded and the ice was destroyed, they barely escaped the explosion. The demon continued closing in on them incredibly fast with Estellese and Suki chasing right behind it, but suddenly it felt something sharp stab into its leg.
"Estellese! The chain!" Mendelen called out as he attached the chain hook to his armor. He had thrown the hook end into the demon's left leg, and not a moment later he was being dragged behind the demon. He didn't have the strength to pull it back and instead the demon was just pulling him along.
Estellese grabbed the chain as she ran past it and braced herself, with her strength the demon couldn't move its leg forwa
rds and was tripped again. As the demon fell to the ground Suki ran up alongside it and telekinetically pulled one of the swords the fallen lesser demons dropped into her hand as she prepared to kill it. But the demon was expecting to be tripped this time. It slammed a fist into the ground and burst into a massive fiery explosion. Forcing Suki to jump backwards to avoid getting burnt.
Estellese was not afraid of the fire though, she didn't care about the explosion and ran straight into it. She screamed out in pain but slammed her axe down at the demon's head. The demon threw its arm up to block her axe, and roared out in pain as she cleaved its arm off. The demon spat out a sharp ice spike straight at Estellese. Estellese ignored the spike, she roared out in pain as the spike stabbed through her stomach and she slammed her axe down at its head again. The demon threw another arm in front of the axe to block it, and screeched out in pain as it lost another arm. It felt arrows and bullets sinking into its sides and body again and it's resistant skin could only do so much to protect it from these attacks, it looked up to see Estellese, biting back her pain, as she relentlessly slammed her axe down at its head again.
Suddenly the pure demon disappeared in a burst of black flames, Estellese's axe slammed into the ground and she was burnt by the flames. Lillith rushed to Estellese to try and quickly patch her up. Then the demon reappeared in another burst of black flames behind Esyll and Zanath. Esyll screamed and Zanath shouted as it grabbed both of them, one in each of its remaining hands, and went to slam them together with inhuman strength. Intending to crush them both.
Kaden suddenly appeared in front of the demon, he had moved there and turned invisible while it was distracted by Estellese. He jumped up and slashed his sword through the arm that was holding Zanath, cleaving yet another of the demon's arms clean off with his sword enchantment. The demon roared out in pain as Zanath, and it's severed arm, were thrown off to the side. Zanath was badly injured by being thrown but him and Esyll were saved from being crushed.
Kaden turned to Esyll, he jumped again and slashed his sword at the demon's other arm to try and free her as well. The demon was reeling back in pain but it maintained focus and blew out an icy wind at Kaden, freezing his sword and preventing it from dealing any damage. The demon then kicked Kaden with its hoof and sent the man flying backwards several feet with a loud bone-cracking snap. Kaden hit the ground and did not get back up.
Suki was closing in on the demon fast, while Estellese was partially healed and following not far behind. As the two girls closed in Suki raced for the demon's arm to try and free Esyll, but before she could get close enough to strike it a red aura appeared around the pure demon and it slammed Esyll into the ground then stomped its hoof down onto her, crushing her entire torso into the dirt.
"Esyll!" Lillith shouted, and for a moment the three elves froze. The loss of Esyll hit Lillith hard, but the grief could be seen in Cora and Suki's eyes as well. It was like a chill had shot through the three of them.
The demon stood up tall as the lifestealing spell went into effect. All of its arms grew back, all of its wounds healed. Then, as a result of using a blood magic spell, one deep slash appeared on its chest. It let out an enraged roar and looked over the battlefield. Three out of eight opponents were down, it had wasted time on the pink girl's buff, and it was unharmed. The demon smirked.
It didn't have any time left to think, Estellese was already in its face and moving in to attack. Estellese jumped at its head and used her wings to give her a boost, slashing her axe directly for its face again. The demon blew on her axe and turned it to ice, like it had done to Kaden, but Estellese didn't care. She slammed the ice-cube into the side of the demon's head with her now enhanced strength and sent the demon stumbling backwards. Estellese flew straight at its head again as it stumbled back and the demon retaliated by spitting a fireball at her, but she didn't care, she flew straight through the fireball and slammed the icecube-axe into the demon's head again. As she struck Suki moved in and stabbed her sword into the demon's knee. The demon hissed in pain and jumped backwards a few feet, as it landed on the ground it fell to one knee and was unable to stand on its wounded leg. It slammed a fist into the ground and created a massive ice wall between itself and Estellese. Estellese flew upwards to try and get over the wall but as she rose higher the top of the wall shattered and all the incredibly sharp ice-shards were rapidly fired at her.
"Down!" Suki called out, grabbing Estellese with her telekinesis and yanking her down out of the air to pull her away from the spikes. She caught Estellese and quickly put the other woman down on the ground beside her, then Suki held up her shield and the shield expanded to a massive size again to block the incoming ice shards.
"The demon is using too much magic, it's starting to use weaker and weaker magical attacks it must be running out of stamina." Suki informed.
Estellese looked over at Suki "You lifted me like nothing." She said in surprise.
"Of course, I have super strength." Suki replied. "How the hell are you still standing with that spike in your stomach? Nevermind fighting."
"You do? I have an idea." Estellese said, ignoring the question on her condition. "Pick me up, and as soon as he comes out of hiding throw me at it. Mendelen I'll need you to distract it with the hook before I'm thrown."
"Are you insane!" Suki questioned.
"Yes I am." Estellese replied with a smirk. She stood up straight but then winced and hunched over again as her injuries sent another surge of pain through her. "The thirty seconds must be almost up. You will have to trust me, if I can get my hands on it I can take it down."
Suki paused and gave Estellese a distrusting look.
"Guys! Ice wall is down!" Mendelen called out as he rushed forwards, around their shield, and threw his hook at the demon's face.
"Trust me." Estellese insisted as she threw her frozen axe to the ground and moved closer to Suki.
Suki hesitated and bit her lip, listening as the demon turned on Mendelen. Then she dropped her shield and sword and lifted Estellese. Her shield returned to its normal size and gave her vision of the demon again, and as soon as she saw it she flung Estellese at the demon as hard as she could.
The demon rushed at Mendelen and slammed a fist into the ground, sending a shockwave of flames at Mendelen. The man quickly lept to the side to get out of the way but as he jumped the demon summoned an ice javelin and threw it at his chest. Mendelen was quick to block the ice with his shield but it knocked him to the ground. The demon then noticed the giant shield go down and turned to the girls that had been behind it, but the second it turned to face them it saw Estellese closing in incredibly fast. Suki had thrown her so hard she was hurtling towards the demon far too fast for it to react in time, Estellese crashed into it and slammed the demon into the ground, landing on top of it. Like a snake striking its prey her arm snapped forwards with lightning fast speeds as she jabbed her clawed thumb into one of the demon's eyes and two of her clawed fingers into the other, blinding the creature. She immediately grabbed the demon by its head and slammed its head hard into the ground with her enhanced strength. The demon bellowed out a blast of searing hot fire at her, but she let the fire hit her. She screamed out in pain as she just started slamming her fists and claws down into its head over and over and over, leaving deep cuts on the demon with every blow.
The demon went to grab her but Estellese stopped hitting it and shoved the two arms that tried to grab her away, using her enhanced strength to almost match the demon's. But she could only hold back two arms, the other two grabbed onto her and she started struggling to get out of the beast's grip. A red aura appeared around the demon as it began squeezing her within its grip, crushing her torso and breaking her ribs with its sheer strength. Estellese would have screamed out in pain, but her lungs were also being crushed and she could not breathe. It lifted her into the air to slam her into the ground but suddenly went limp and dropped her. Estellese fell onto the ground with a breathless whimper and her body went mostly limp.
; Suki pulled her sword out of the fallen demon's head and put it back in its sheath. She looked around at what was left, Lillith, Cora, Herself, and Mendelen. Of course, three of the four humans were taken down by just one of these things she thought to herself. She looked at Cora, the woman was on her knees and her entire body was trembling as she fought to stay conscious, she fought to keep the walls up and keep the demons out. Suki knew they were surrounded, what now? How were they going to get out of here?
Lillith rushed over to Estellese and immediately started trying to heal her wounds again. As Estellese looked up at the blue haired woman she noticed that Lillith was crying and shaking. It was clear that she was trying very hard to hold herself together, but she was struggling and breaking down.
Mendelen cringed as he saw Estellese's condition "Estell… I will never understand how you can take such a beating and keep fighting. Nor how you can let yourself be wounded like this so easily." He shook his head but was impressed. "How smart are these demons?" He asked.
