The Castle (IC) [M] {04}

[Boog]

Meanwhile, a good couple bajillion feet over several pools of lava deep in the bowels of hell.

The floor excused itself from the proceedings. This kinda sucked for Jeremiah.
Weightlessness overtook him, and the frog tumbled through crumbling mortar and stone no softer for its being in midair. He didn't have time to yelp as they hit him, because the sight that met his gaze below was far more attention grabbing.
A chasm. If the gate he'd tumbled through was the mouth of hell, this was almost certainly its gullet. The single point of red on the bottom didn't bode well either.
He tumbled through the air, profanity after profanity tragically cut short by mid-air bludgeonings until he grabbed hold of one of the falling crates, bracing his knees against it and stabalizing himself as he plummeted downward. Eyes bugging at the drop that he could now consistently see below him there was but one proper reply.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

[Aisha deCabre]

The depths of Aisha's frustration couldn't be measured.  As they fought, the beast kept disappearing from her sight and reappearing to catch her off-guard.  Even with the use of the speed amulet to make the dizzying blurs even more pronounced, her blows were coming away empty.  No blood, or flesh, only wisps of gray smoke.  Deep down she knew that the...things... that she and Gareeku were facing weren't real.

But while they couldn't touch their opponents, their opponents could hurt them.  How was that even possible?

"Augh!" she grunted, trying to twist herself in midair while she was slammed away so that she wouldn't land on her bandaged side.  But with the debris lying around on the chapel's floor, her wrappings were becoming damaged, and cuts and bruises appeared on her body; injuries that couldn't be healed fast enough with the bracer she still wore.  The air was knocked out of the panthress as she skidded, the sword landing beside her.

"Absolutely pathetic..." Aisha heard Asal growling, nearly hissing, as she tried to pick herself up.  "You couldn't beat me with two arms, so what makes you think you have a chance with just one?"

The panthress shook with rage.  "I did beat you with one arm...you were burned to a crisp.  I can remember it."

"And yet you don't know how..." the demon snorted.  "You're even weaker than your pathetic father, if you can't even fight properly!  With your power!"

"I'm not weak!" Aisha snarled, rising quickly and grabbing her sword to swing up at him.

But once again he disappeared in a thick cloud with a laugh.  "If you are not, then can you still save someone?" the voice crowed.  Looking around, she couldn't find any sign of Asal...but she could see the wolf's plight, the demonic reptile holding him up by the neck, against the cracked column.

Aisha's eyes widened.  "Gareeku!" she snarled, momentarily forgetting her own trouble as she took her boomerang and aimed to impale it in Tilun's back.  The demon however, seemed to notice what was happening, and disappeared into a fog...instead letting go and putting Gareeku himself in the way of the blade.

"No!" the panthress gasped and flung her arm back, also calling back the boomerang just in time.  She let it fly past her, not catching it, but she put her hand up to her mouth...in absolute horror of what she had almost done.

"BAH!"  Scoffed Asal from behind as he tackled Aisha, pinning her to the floor by her remaining arm while his dagger glimmered in the subtle light.  "Fight your own fight, Cabre bitch!  Just as I thought, you can't save anyone.  You couldn't save your father, or your village."

The jaguaress sneered back with wide jaws and teeth.  "I was too young to do anything.  I had to run!"

"Run, run, run, like the sniveling little child you still are," the black feline crowed, raising his dagger.  Aisha, her rage getting the better of her mind once again, had her claws outstretched and palm glowing...at which point, suddenly, the eyes of the apparition finally held something akin to hesitance...

Tilun had reappeared behind Gareeku after he dropped the wolf, once again kicking him away like one more stone.  "What's the matter, puppy?  Useless without your blade?  Can't you face me?  Too afraid?"  He kicked him again.  "Is that all?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The floor dissociating itself from acquaintance with her feet didn't provoke a yell from Mel. As a flying creature the feeling of dropping through air was too familiar to discomfort her. Being caught in a hail of bricks and other debris and losing sight of the person she had come to find did provoke several archaic but ladylike curses from the dragon. First she threw out a shielding spell to keep from ending up more injured by debris. The bumps and bruises already accumulated were nothing compared to what would happen if hit by a brick once it achieved velocity. Relatively safe from a broken wing she spread them enough to slow her fall and get above the falling junk pile. Then she tried to locate where amongst the mess the frog's shouts were coming from. At least the volume of sound assured her he wasn't badly hurt yet.

[Gareeku]

As he fought to breathe under the demon's tight grip, Gareeku's eyes started to roll back as he slowly suffocated, trying his hardest to push the demon away, but only meeting air as he struggled. Suddenly, however, Tilun disappeared once more, causing the white wolf to collapse to his knees, gasping and coughing violently as air was allowed back into his lungs.

Looking up, Gareeku's eyes went wide as he saw what was in front of him. Floating there for a second, barely two inches from his face, was Aisha's blade, having nearly flown into him rather than it's intended target, watching the weapon fly away again.

"Aisha!" the wolf cried out as he saw Asal reappear and tackle her from behind. However, before he could do anything, Gareeku felt a hard blow to his ribs, causing him to yell out slightly as his body was sent skidding along the floor thanks to a kick from his demonic foe.

"What's the matter, puppy? Useless without your blade? Can't you face me? Too afraid?" Gareeku heard Tilun gloat, his voice getting nearer as the wolf tried to pick himself up off the floor, before feeling another hard blow, this time to his head as Tilun kicked him once more, again sending the wolf skidding along the floor.

"Is that all?"

"No..." Gareeku growled, getting back to his feet, renewed energy beginning to flow through his aching and bleeding body as he looked Tilun square in the eye. "It sure as hell isn't."

Noticing this, Tilun stopped in his tracks, looking Gareeku in the eye as well. Hesitance was evident in the demon's face. He could see the hatred in the wolf's eyes, only this time, there was no fear.


Looking at Aisha as he had her pinned down, watching her glowing hands, Asal showed hesitance. Not only that, but he began to back away.
"What is this..." he muttered, before seemingly getting a hold of himself, snarling angrily. "Stupid little wretch! That won't save you!!"

[Stygian]

As he dove after the jackal, some unseen force propelling him faster down to catch up with her, Stygian barely growled at Keaton. This sneaking around and stealthy business had turned into something messy and farcical. Probably like the old man had wanted from the very start. By then, he wondered why he hadn't just kept them all from going down in the first place. Even in the worst case I could have died down here in relative peace and taken down this Hellscape with me...
   Catching up to Keaton was not a problem. Catching up to the others, or stopping in time if they had somehow managed to break fall might have been. But things appeared pretty much ruined anyway, why he didn't care too much. And it wasn't the hardest of tasks for someone - something - like him.
   In the thickening clouds of mist and ash and cinder, he almost missed them. But the moment he spotted the two ragged yet familiar shapes on the outcropping, Stygian hooked an arm around the flailing and screaming Keaton, spreading wings wider than his length many times over, and breaking their fall. Nearly yanking the Succubus up with him, he shot forward toward the cliff, and turned upward in a sharp hook, letting the jackal go so that she was carried just over the edge and then fell together in a heap a little past it. His wings then folded in, their tremendous size almost disappearing, and his feet slammed down into the rock as he landed carelessly, a scowl already on his more and more ghastly face.
   'Cog. Where?' were his first words.

[Aisha deCabre]

Right then, it was as if a light had gone on in both of the warriors' minds and spirits...and thus the room had started to cease its spinning and blurring.  Their foes looked less and less like the menacing things that they had once been in life.  To defeat the body was victory over the demons.  To defeat the soul, or the memory, was victory over their own fears.

Aisha had been surprised to see the glow on her hand.  But when it caused Asal to suddenly back away, when it seemed he had his prey right in his sight, the understanding clicked.  I knew it.  Damn it all back to Hell, I knew it.

The panthress stood up slowly as she heard the feline Creature's words.  "Stupid little wretch!" he had snarled.  "That won't save you!"

She just watched as the glow faded.  But her resolve hadn't gone with it.  Summoning a growl from deep in her throat, her red eyes locked onto his ghastly, pupil-less green.  He was nothing.  The huntress beat him once...she could do it again.

"Oh, yes it will, you piece of filth," she said with a level voice.  Then, before the apparition knew what was coming, she had rolled to the side, grabbed the Dragonblade from its place on the floor, and leaped into the air towards him all in one fluid movement.

With a snarl, Asal used his own familiar incomprehensible speed to dodge away from the enraged panthress, with only an inch of air between himself and the sword's tip.  "Hah!  I still have the upper hand.  Old Luc wasn't much faster either," he gloated, still trying to hold on to his bravado and to use it as a weapon against her spirit...but now it almost seemed a futile effort.  He came at her in a counterattack...

And his dagger caught nothing but air.  Aisha reappeared in just a millisecond...and with the flash of metal, it had actually gone through the thing's side, causing a slight wound as if he were really made of flesh.  Though there wasn't as much power in a swing with just one arm, instead of blood, there leaked a black, oily fog.  He hissed and roughly pushed her away...but now it was impossible to deter the determined adventurer.  She could finally fight back.

Aisha ran to Asal's side and came at him again, the sword coming up in a horizontal arc...


The wolf's eyes...there was something different.  Something stronger, in the countenance that hid behind the scar on his brow.  The satisfaction that the now-paling Tilun had gotten from managing to inflict his pain on Gareeku was starting to wane as the hatred made itself present.  That same hatred...but a different energy.

"Ha-h...don't hide it, you Manoko pest," the reptile snarled...for a second he looked almost as if he stuttered...as he raised his bloody claws.  "Just because you can fight doesn't mean that I still can't hurt you!  I made a fur coat and meat out of your father, and I'm gonna do the same to YOU!"

Tilun's feet flew, and his claws flashed, in an attempt to attack...

[Angel]

Ketefe watched, like a deer in the face of an oncoming car, feeling helpless yet again. Keaton fell through the misty, soot-laden air like a screaming, panicking rag doll, the feline powerless to save her ...

And then a familiar-looking figure plunged down after her. Keaton was caught and saved by ... was that ... Stygian? I'm sure all this will make sense if I live.

Stygian spread out wings unlike any Ketefe had ever seen, even on dragons, swooped up towards her and Sal, dropped Keaton in a stunned pile on the edge of the cliff, and landed roughly, his face darker than half of what Ketefe had seen that night and his wings folding in neatly.

The cat's gold eyes were wide and uncomprehending. For a moment, she was quiet, a little too shocked at the display to respond to the bat's question at first. Then she blinked, gathered a few of her wits, and pointed off and down the cliff, into the abyss. "He - he fell..." she stuttered out, every muscle tensed in fear.

[Stygian]

The 'bat's' pallid, deathly visage turned toward Ketefe as the feline spoke up, but only for a moment. The next, Sal sprang up as if she had been shot from a cannon, claws out and snarling. She only managed to nick Stygian's arm though, before he struck it out, and a piece of the darkness still floating behind him stabbed out. The spider was nailed to the wall, a spear of gleaming black shunted through her shoulder, just under her clavical bone. The spider gasped and gritted her teeth, moaning in pain.
   'She says he fell. That means that you didn't throw him. Which is the only thing keeping me from killing you right now', Stygian said harshly, black eyes fixed on the spider, a tiny green gleam to the empty holes they appeared as. I the terror that struck Ketefe didn't seem to affect Salticia nearly as much though.
   'T-the only reason... I'm not fighting you unti... until you do...' she rasped out, and then forced a smile through sharp, clenched teeth, '...is because I know you're way worse off.' She hissed, a sound almost like a bitter laugh, and then made as if to move again. The bat preceded her though, stepping closer.
   'Yeah. Sure', he said, even more bitterly. 'Goodnight.' A swift, clean twist brought that dark spear back, falling in with the rest of his darkness, and then he kicked the spider in the head. She jerked to the side and slumped, unconscious, to the ground.

[Sunblink]

Keaton was almost prepared to die. Well, almost. She hadn't quite formulated something akin to silent resolution amidst her hysterical caterwauling. In the middle of her plunge, behind the blind darkness of her sealed eyelids, she felt someone's arms wrap around her and felt her heart balloon maddeningly in her chest, inflating until she was nearly choking on her stifled screams. In the next moment, she was lifted in the same motion and carried over to the outcropping of rock, unceremoniously deposited in a safe spot. Keaton almost thought that she had somehow hit the bottom of the cavern, only for that theory to be dispelled when she opened her eyes. Stygian was menacing the spider bitch, leaving Keaton somewhat stunned, her hair disarrayed and her face cadaverously pale.

Then, Stygian knocked the spider unconscious by kicking her in the head. Keaton was too nauseous and ruminating on her vestigial panic to feel satisfied at the swift output of pain the spider issued. Nervously, Keaton remained plastered to the ground, her pupils pinpricked and her mind emitting nothing more than a terrified equivalent of an output of static in place of rational thought. She still hadn't quite grasped the fact that she was alive, judging by the way Keaton's pallid fingers curled inward as they gripped the disrupted soil and stone beneath her.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Angel]

Ketefe shivered a bit in Stygian's momentary gaze, then winced as he started to fight Sal. For once in her life, she was sick of violence. The feline turned her attention to Keaton; the succubus seemed to be in a bad way. Now that she could say from experience that falling off a cliff was not a fun experience - and seemed to be worsened by sudden stops, even if they were life-saving - she understood.

The swordswoman slowly walked over to Keaton and crouched down. "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice quiet, partly from her own shock, and partly so as not to distress the jackal any more.

[Sunblink]

Keaton only seemed to be half-aware of Ketefe talking to her when the masked feline approached her. The Succubus was still shaking a little bit and struggling to register her surroundings, as though she was still maintaining the mental illusion of descent and was finding it hard to believe that her environment was remaining in the same place. Up until Ketefe crouched beside her, Keaton stayed this way, after which she blinked and stared quizzically at the orchid-striped feline. She seemed a little bereft of speech.

"M-Me?" Keaton asked. She then blurted with genuine concern, "What are you asking me for? You're the one who got abducted by that spider bitch! Are you alright?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Angel]

Ketefe was almost surprised by Keaton's concern... and then she remembered that the jackal had watched her get shoved off a cliff and Cog dive after her.

"I'm not hurt that bad, just a little scratched up," she assured the jackal. "But... Cog ... " she paused for a moment, a lump rising in her throat.

"We were about to fall in... and she saved us - " at this she gestured to the uncoscious spider - " - but Cog... he'd lost his foot. It got scraped off by the cliff when he summoned that tornado to get us out. Then he cut the web and..." She couldn't go any further than that. The memory had robbed her of her voice. She bit her lip and looked at the dirt, afraid of how Keaton would react.

[Boog]

Far above
The crate he was braced against shattered against the cavern wall in a shower of splinters and knicknacks contained within, sending the frog careening across open air. He briefly wondered why all the bricks HURT so much when he was falling WITH them. Then again, just because I'm moving under the same amount of acceleration wouldn't exactly mean that I'm moving under the same amount of energy. The terminal velocity of a furrae body is less than that of a brick, isn't i- And then a piece of masonry smashed his jaw as it went by. "AULGH!" Jeremiah tumbled onward end over end, his profanities now intermixed with blood. And all he could think was So many other people could deal with this better.
Oh, not this pity me shit again.
Bal...
... You didn't reply with a shaddap.
We're fucked. All of us, well and truly fucked. We're dead because I'm a fucking clutz. 'Whoop, sorry, fell into hell!' Just thump.
You need not feel guilty for all our deaths, sir. Although if you only listened to me more-
I don't feel guilty about all our deaths. Hell, I've pretty much been looking for ways to kill you lot for a while. My death's going to suck though.
No.
You don't think it will, Nex? I dunno, high velocity impact sounds pretty awful. I hit and this pencil neck's gonna snap, I'm gonna get to find out if a head actually does stay alive for eleven seconds-
Not waiting for Jeremiah to get it, Nex fired up. A woman of blue fire, falling alongside the frog. Then just the art teacher wreathed in blue flames.
In and the Lunacy exchanged a Look.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel, her wings flapping gently to keep her descent above the debris field, tried to locate Jeremiah. This wasn't as simple as it would seem as the moving mass also contained all the stuffed toys from storage room. Eventually it was the screams that betrayed his position. She was just flipping herself over into a dive to catch up with him when he burst into flames. Staying back she tried to think of some way to stop his plunge without actually coming into contact with the fire. A half-remembered  childhood spell tried to surface. She cast it at the frog, hoping her memory of it was accurate. It was supposed to slow and cushion a fall, a safety spell for young dragons just learning to fly. But the spell was never intended for a crash from such heights and she rather doubted that frogs had the same crash tolerance as dragons so she had to keep thinking.

[Stygian]

Something, a blue flame, flickered in the dark, and Stygian's face turned, his white hair flowing around his face as if immersed in water. Looking up, he narrowed his eyes, and growled beneath his breath, before returning his gaze to the two girls in front of him.
   'We must continue. Down', he said, voice steely cold and hard. In its chill, his look seemed almost contemptuous as he stared the two women down, as if somehow blaming them for not being able to fly down on their own. Whether if this was the case or not, there was no way to tell. 'If you stay and cower here, you will die.'
   Turning on his heel, his wings sweeping a thin gust against them, Stygian moved toward the edge.

[Sunblink]

Under Stygian's accusatory glare, Keaton withered palpably, her shoulders crumpling inward pathetically and her ears wilting. She shook; water seeming to swell into her vision momentarily, as though she somehow wholeheartedly embraced the brunt of the blame Stygian distributed. After a moment, she felt irrational rage swell in her again, and she grit her teeth, suddenly feeling spiteful toward the bat. If he was so fucking powerful, why didn't he come and help them to begin with instead of pinning the blame on the poor, weak little INSECTS!? Bastard! She -

It wasn't my fault, you piece of shit, Keaton thought miserably, then stood up, folding her arms over her bosom. Catastrophe was still gripped in her hand, and Rynkura's staff was tucked in Catastrophe's holster on her back.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Angel]

The brief relapse into her guilt was interrupted by Stygian. She looked up at him, her face mostly blank, but fear still in her eyes. It was getting to be too much; she'd only wanted to stay in the castle long enough to figure out what was going on two nights ago, not get dragged into Hell itself. No, that wasn't the worst part; she'd walked in willingly, and all she'd really managed to do so far was get possessed and cause a comrade to fall to his death.

The quasi-hateful look in Stygian's eyes wasn't really helping either, but after a beat, she stopped dwelling on it and stood, albeit shakily. "Okay," she said, almost whispering, and took a small, unsure step toward Stygian.

[Stygian]

Watching down into the depths a bit, Stygian raised his eyes, and peered upward next. There was that blue flicker, yes... And he could feel the ward that he had laid earlier coming closer. So he waited for a bit, focusing, collecting his thoughts and blocking out the heat as well as he could. He felt as bad as Keaton and Ketefe looked, both scraped and torn up and looking as if they could use both a shower and perhaps a splint or two. And then there was Sal. As a last measure, he turned, and conjured up some darkness that wrapped itself tight around the spider's form, taking the shape of chains. He left it at that. He doubted those were going to hold her too.
   The pallid blue light above at last came into such range that it was visible for both of the girls, and they understood at last what Stygian had been looking at, though not really what it was. The bat though, seemed to take this as a sign, watching the burning thing storming downward, about to pass them in just a few seconds. Turning to Ketefe, he looked down at the feline.
   'What do you prefer? Freefall or that I hold you?' he asked. He didn't give her any real time to answer though. As soon as he finished the sentence, he swept his wings back, and they extended with a rush of air and dust. Placing a hand on Ketefe's back, he pulled her to him, and then did the same with Keaton, except with his wing rather than his hand because of teh distance. A quick push toward the edge, and they were plunged off the side of the cliff, plummeting downward again.

[Angel]

Ketefe said nothing for the most part, just looked up at Stygian expectantly. A few drips of sweat trickled down her body, but because they somehow avoided the cuts and scrapes all over her, she didn't mind. She was acting a bit more unresponsive than usual, looking at her surroundings without really taking much in. It had been a long time since she'd felt powerless. This was different from simply knowing she wasn't strong enough to take on an enemy... this was an odd sense of helplessness that typically only children understood. She looked with detached interest at the dark chains holding Sal before something shiny worked its way into the corner of her eye.

She turned her head and saw the blue flames falling through the air. It was getting closer by the minute, but somehow the feline didn't think this was Hell's doing... She looked back at Stygian quickly when he asked his question, but before she could so much as take in a breath to answer, she felt a hand on her back and realized she didn't have a choice in the matter. She and Keaton were pulled over to Stygian and then found themselves both plummeting into Hell for the second time that night.

Ketefe reached out quickly to grab Keaton's arm, grit her teeth shut almost painfully and tried to twist her head up towards the cliff face that was getting smaller by the second. She was sick of screaming; it made her throat hurt and it didn't solve anything. And Stygian's question, pointless even if it was the polite thing to do, revealed to her that he didn't intend for them to fall to their deaths. Meaning he'd be following shortly... right? Right?

[Sunblink]

Surprisingly, Keaton didn't resist or scream after Stygian threw her off the cliff again, considering he had given her fair warning, and she was within his range with the assistance of his wing. There was just a short exclamation on her part as she was thrown off, bluntly tapering away into immediate silence as Stygian used his wing to shepherd her to his body. Whether or not she actually screamed, however, did not determine Keaton's fear. Clutching Catastrophe tighter and squeezing her eyes shut, Keaton tried to keep herself from flailing pathetically in mid-air, attempting to regain some semblance of direction even when falling. Hopefully, she thought, the bat would follow both her and Ketefe.

Keaton felt Ketefe's hand grab her arm and her eyes shot open. Pupils pinpricking, she felt one of her hyperventilations catch in her throat and balloon painfully, to the point her throat ached. Admittedly, having Ketefe hold her arm came of some relief, as embarrassing as admitting such a thing was, because at least it reassured her that she wasn't being thrown to her death.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

Already moving after the women, Stygian cast one quick look at that burning blue torch, falling through the black around them, and then folded his wings in, stepping over the ledge and falling after the jackal and the feline. He immediately struck out with his darkness, using it to defy the greater drag that his clothes and larger form imparted, and to propel himself downward to catch them both in flight. When almost level with them though, he spun mid-air, and turned his gaze upward to watch the blue fire, which was getting closer somehow. From the start, he had anticipated that someone might come down after them, but not a single person. And blue fire was not something that he immediately associated with anyone out of the people who had entered the castle. Thus, whatever it was that was closing with them, it might have to be destroyed...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The further into the pit they dropped the darker it got. Soon Mel was having trouble staying away from the falling debris and the walls of the abyss. The only things she could see were the blue flames around Jeremiah and spots of orange in the distance that she had the alarmed idea were lava. She angled her wings to slow her descent. A river of fire was a nightmare. If Jeremiah fell into that there was no rescue. She had better start thinking of ways to stop the plunge.

[Gareeku]

As he stood there, staring at his demonic foe with that mixed look of hatred and determination, Gareeku listened as the apparition spoke once more, only this time it seemed as though the creature stuttered.

"Ha-h...don't hide it, you Manoko pest," the reptile had snarled. "Just because you can fight doesn't mean that I still can't hurt you!  I made a fur coat and meat out of your father, and I'm gonna do the same to YOU!"

As soon as the demon had finished, he was fast approaching, his claws were ready to do damage, stained with the wolf's blood as the creature moved in for an attack.

"No..." Gareeku stated firmly, before his hands were suddenly surrounded by bright magical energy. "...you won't."

Hearing this only enraged the demon, and roared as he swiped at the wolf with his razor-sharp claws. However, the attempted attack was clumsy due to Tilun's rage, and Gareeku was able to dodge to the side, seeing that the demon had left his midsection exposed. Lifting his leg as hard as he could, the wolf sent his knee crashing into Tilun's midsection, burying itself into the demon's gut as his foe gasped for air, having had it completely knocked out of him.

No sooner had his knee struck his foe, the wolf then sent a glowing fist crashing into Tilun's jaw, before quickly opening his hand and letting fly a bolt of magic, the force of which caused the demon's body to fly back a few metres. Getting back onto his feet, Tilun snarled with rage, furious that he had been floored by his lupine foe.
"You WORM!!" the demon roared with fury, his "blood" seeping from the corner of his mouth in the form of black fog. "How DARE you!!"

"What the matter? Afraid from a few hits from a 'weakling' like me?" Gareeku replied in a firm level voice, standing there with his eyes fixed on the demon as his hands continued to glow. "How embarassing for you."


Snarling, Asal watched as Aisha began to make another attack. Quickly stepping back, the demon watched as the blade missed him by less than an inch, feeling the disturbance in the air the weapon made as it moved. Frustration was beginning to grow more and more within him; frustration over how someone like her could be this formidable.

"Time to say goodnight!" Asal roared as he made a counter attack, bringing his dagger and claws in towards the pantheress' throat as he looked to end the battle.

[Aisha deCabre]

An adrenaline-soaked Aisha was only vaguely aware of the bruises she had gotten from the battle, as was Gareeku, their focus having returned.  The room was returning back to its normal state, a decrepit and destroyed chapel with these damnable ghosts...spirits...demons...whatever they were, starting to lose their powers over the warriors' minds.  But though they had started to bleed black fog, there was still a little bit of fight left in them.  Whoever sent them after the two, they certainly made sure of it.

Aisha's sword was a blur as it came down with great speed, but only half the force...the last move made no dent in the creature's "flesh".  Instead, Asal felt the wind from the shining blade as it barely reached him.  He saw an opening as the panthress stumbled.  She was exposed, and couldn't easily speed out of it.

"Time to say goodnight!" the other feline declared, his claws and dagger just a mere few steps away from tasting blood.  It was almost like slow-motion for them both all of a sudden.  She couldn't run...

But she could duck.  And that's just what she did, his dagger just an inch from slicing her scalp as it came in.  At the same time, she jammed her sword back and up into his stomach as he flew over.

She was showered with the blood that came of it, and her ears rang with his scream.  Though the entity wasn't truly living, he had another shot...which came with his dagger driving itself part-way into her leg.  Then it was her turn to cry out in pain, both of them shoving each other away.

Facing her, Asal held his open midsection, and Aisha's trouser leg was beginning to rapidly stain.  "Aren't you going to give up yet, adventurer?"  He scowled.  "Aren't you feeling the sting?"

Aisha drew in a harsh breath.  Yes, she was.  But that didn't mean she was out.  She held her arm, still holding the sword, outstretched.  "No, but you will."  Then, in a fluid motion, brought it back again.  When she sidestepped, he could barely hear the boomerang whizzing from where it lay behind him, about to embed itself in his back...


Just like Asal, Tilun couldn't understand it.  He thought had the wolf.  HAD him!  Had his mind right in his clutches only to have it melt right out.  But the demonic lizard was far too determined for his own good, and the wolf stood there, brazen and defiant...foolish...

He tried to ignore his own blood as he got back up on shaky limbs after that attack of magic, and started to laugh.  "How dare you embarrass me,"  he hissed.  "I'll pay you back.  I'm always going to be there in your nightmares.  Never to be rid of.  What's more, I'll give you TEN more scars like the one on your head, before the night's through!"

The beast licked his teeth, ready to taste blood, and dashed towards Gareeku with a good amount of speed...leaping into a kick with one clawed foot, ready to eviscerate his foe...

[Gareeku]

As stood there, Gareeku listened to what Tilun said; declarin how he would always remain in the wolf's nightmares, how he was going to give him ten more scars like the one on his forehead before the night was through.
"Back up your words, demon!" Gareeku roared in defiance. "Come and get me!"

And so Tilun advanced, dashing forward before bringing into a kick, the razor-sharp claws on his foot ready to deal out maximum damage. Gareeku, however, had other ideas. Barely managing to get out of the way of the kick, the wolf would then be taken by painful surprise as the claws on Tilun's claws caught his face, tearing the flesh and leaving him with three very painful-looking gashes on the side of his face as he was sent crashing to the floor. Breathing in sharply from the pain, the wolf brought his hand to his face as his demonic foe looked on with a smirk.

"You see? You can show all the bravado you want, be defiant all you like..." The demon sneered beginning to walk towards the downed wolf as Tilun's hand dripped with his blood. "But you will NEVER be rid of me...I will always be there, laughing at you, and you will always know that you are nothing more than a pathetic weakling. Just like your father."

Now standing over Gareeku, Tilun looked down and smirked, raising his clawed hand for the final blow.
"Any last words, weakling?" The reptilian demon asked mockingly, snickering as he held his clawed hand ready.

"This weakling..." Gareeku growled, raising his head to look Tilun square in the eye; hatred and defiance evident in his face. "...will END YOU!!"

Watching in surprise as the white wolf suddenly sprang foward, Tilun suddenly realised where his foe had landed; right next to his katana. With a roar of defiance and anger, Gareeku gripped the weapon firmly in his hand and drove it right into the demon's thigh, creating a wound that caused the black fog-like 'blood' to spill out in abundance, before swiping the sword to one side and then to the side, completely severing the leg from the body and causing even more 'blood' to spew forth.

Crying out in pain, Tilun tried to step back, but instead fell to the floor, clutching what remained of his leg as he hissed in pain and rage.
"You little shit..." the reptilian demon hissed with demon as he looked up at Gareeku, both of their eyes filled with hatred for one another.

"This ends now!" the wolf roared, holding his blade above his head before bringing it down for a finishing blow. However, much to his surprise, Gareeku found that Tilun still had more than plenty of fight left in him, managing to dodge Gareeku's attemped stike and getting back onto his remaining foot, before lunging forward at the adventurer in an all-or-nothing attack.

It all happened so fast...a flash of metal...the swipe of claws...

"It's over..." Gareeku muttered, holding his blade steady as he looked Tilun in the eye, who's face was inches away. The wolf had reacted swiftly to the reptilian demon's attempted attack, and stuck his katana out so that Tilun impaled himself on it thanks to the momentum he had created in his attempted attack. A look of pure shock was on the demon's face, looking down at the sword, which was inside him, before looking back up at Gareeku; a look of steady hatred on his face.

"No...NO!"

In one swift movement, Gareeku brought his sword up in a powerful upwards slash, causing Tilun to scream in pain as the blade sliced vertically right through his body, cutting the demon almost clean in half, before bringing down the blade in an equally powerful downwards vertical slash, ensuring that his foe was sliced completely in two... as his midsection became a pool of crimson...falling to the floor...

"...Be gone from my nightmares..."




The look of anger on Asal's face turned to one of slight confusion when he heard pantheress speak of him feeling the sting.
"Not likely, Cabre bitch." the demon snarled angrily. However, it would be then that Asal's face would turn to one of shock and agony, screaming in pain and stumbling backwards as Aisha's boomerang hit home, slicing into his back. The black fog-like 'blood' was now gushing from both his back and his midsection.

"You...BITCH!! the demon roared in fury. His anger had finally gotten the better of them, and in his rage and desire to kill the pantheress, Asal charged at his foe, razor-sharp claws ready and looking to end the battle there and then....

[Aisha deCabre]

As the Tilun apparition faded from existence, his final thoughts were nothing but curses...wondering how this weakling of a wolf could have bested him...but all that could come out was a garbled scream as the black foggy "blood" engulfed the space and he started to be swallowed into the air in front of Gareeku, slowly out of existence.  With one of them dead, the nightmarish atmosphere started to fade...

The boomerang hit its mark, to Aisha's brief but eternal relief, causing Asal to stumble.  The panthress had been waiting for the look on his face to turn into one of agonizing pain...and to show the fear that came from knowing that he was about to be bested.  Fog was pouring forth from both sides of his body.  He looked ragged and weak, more like a feral demon and less of the eloquent, smooth-talking bastard that he once was.

His expression then turned to one of rage, and she braced herself...he wasn't down and out yet, but he was quickly getting there.  The huntress had to end it, and soon.

"You...BITCH!!!"  He roared, his ghastly voice fiery and venomous, as he brandished his claws and charged for Aisha.  The panthress could barely register his speed as he flew at her...all she could do was dodge by ducking to the side...which caused his claws to dig into the uncovered skin of her left side and leave prominent scratch marks.

The momentum of the blow caused her to be tossed off to the side, landing hard on her back.  Bleeding and in pain, a little too much for her bracer to fix quickly, Aisha looked up to see a harshly-breathing Asal approaching her from the shadows.  He looked insane, mad with rage, poisonous eyes glowing.  "You're gonna pay for that...I'll be tasting YOUR heart while you're still alive!"  The demon raised his claws...

Snarling, Aisha summoned the strength to hold her hand out again, fingers clenched.  Asal paused, feeling the boomerang moving in his spine.

"I got a better idea," Aisha simply answered, and pulled her arm back.  With a sickening lurch, the bladed tip embedded itself further in his spine, its magic enchantment answering the call to come back to her.  Then, before he could attack, something moved...

The flash of the Dragonblade filled the air...and the demon found himself down one limb.  A cloud of fog poured out from where his left arm was once attached.  The scream that followed was more out of shock than pain.  He reared back, facing a grinning panthress with wide green eyes.

"You little insect!  What have you DONE!?  I'll KILL you, insignificant little beast of a Being, I'll KILL...AUGH!"

He was interrupted when her sword drove itself through his neck...his words turning into incomprehensible gargles instead.  His other arm went lax and limp.  That fear finally crossed his eyes.  Aisha could smell the "blood", but she was far from caring anymore.  Her blood-red eyes were up close to the demon's, dark and fueled with vengeance.

"I'm through with you.  Go to hell, and don't come back."

Then in one swift movement, she twisted the sword and sliced through the demon's neck, severing his head.  The black foggy blood showered from his wound and covered the ground as the apparition fell to its knees, and then to the ground.  The scream it released was ear-shattering, echoing through the warped air of the chapel and hurting both warriors' ears.

Slowly, too slowly, the screams from both of the demons faded.  It soon became quiet again...the nightmarish world was almost gone, turned back into the real, worn-out chapel with Hell's gate still guarded at the altar.

Aisha, breathing harshly, watched her foe turn into dust before her eyes, a smirk crossing her pained and sweating face.  "It's gone...they're gone...idiot demons, what'd they think they were...ugh, shit..."

The panthress briefly dropped to her knees, exhausted.  Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, the reality of her injuries came back.  She glanced back towards Gareeku, hoping that he was faring better.

[Gareeku]

As Gareeku watched Asal and Tilun disappear, their screams of agony piercing through the air, the wolf closed his eyes as the nightmarish environment faded into what it was before.
"It is finished..." the warrior muttered quietly. "...Gone back to where he came from..."

Gareeku slowly one step back, then two. His sword dropped from his hand to the floor.

"...Be gone...from my nightmares..."

The wolf's legs then gave away, causing him to fall to the floor, his midsection and his hand covered it stained red.

[Aisha deCabre]

As soon as she had turned to look, hearing Gareeku mutter and his sword clatter on the ground, Aisha's eyes widened in shock as her friend collapsed to the floor...covered in blood.  Real blood.

"Oh no...no, Gareeku!"  The panthress cried, instantly forgetting her own injuries as she stood and half-ran, half-hobbled to the wolf's aid.  Urgency swept through her mind and a curse kept itself on her tongue.  She couldn't let him be hurt, and certainly not in this place.  The chapel was quiet...but by now it was learned that quiet could be deceptive.  Aisha hoped and prayed that for the next few moments they would have peace and solace.

"Gareeku, are you alright?"  She practically fell on her knees next to him, breathing fiercely from a mix of her exhaustion and pain, looking him over and shaking her head as she gently removed his hand from his midsection to look it over.

"Gods, this is one of those times I wish one of the healers would've stayed behind..." she muttered and looked around quickly.  Aisha was supposed to know something about healing, certainly there was something to help...  "How hurt are you?  Can you sit up?" Aisha asked, looking down at his face with worry in her tone and concern in her eyes.  She spotted his cloak, and strained to reach and grab it, and see if any bleeding needed to be stemmed.

[Gareeku]

Breathing heavily, Gareeku's eyes were shut. It felt like his whole body was on fire. The damage caused by the recent battle had just caught with him, and dear Gods did it hurt, especially his midsection, which was now well and truely stained a deep crimson colour.

When Aisha asked her first question, the wolf only groaned softly as she gently lifted the hand covered his midsection. When she did so, blood poured more from the deep gash now present in Gareeku's midsection for a couple of seconds, before the lupine warrior clamped his hand back over the wound again.

"How...hurt am I...?" Gareeku managed to utter, he teeth bared as he grimaced in pain. "Take a...wild guess..."
When Aisha asked if he could sit up, the wolf attempted to do so, only for him to growl loudly in pain when he tried to do so. Rolling over, Gareeku managed to bring himself to his hands and knees, his limbs shaking weakly as he did so. "Are...you ok...?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha watched Gareeku while she took his cloak, and gritted her teeth herself upon seeing him in such pain.  She could definitely guess, from the look on his face and his voice, that it was more than agonizing.  But she could breathe a sigh of relief that he was indeed alive...and she was going to help keep it that way.

"Hold still..." she softly muttered, carefully wrapping the cloak around his midsection.  Hearing his voice, Aisha smiled.  "Don't worry about me...I just got a few...erg..." she winced once, shifting her injured limb, easily seen with the blood on her trouser leg.  "...A few scratches and a pinprick.  It's you I'm more worried about.  I'm just glad you're alive."  Carefully she tied the fabric around him, tightly like a large bandage.

When she finished, her hands too were stained.  "There...and here, you'll need this more than I do right now..." Aisha said as she tried with a bit of difficulty to open the healing bracer with her teeth.  As it fell from her wrist, her eyes squinted as the magic was fading from her, the pain of her own injuries more apparent.  But if it helped him, then she didn't care.

"Your pain will be lessened.  A lot.  And it protects from infection..." she said, and offered it to him to snap it on.  "And...you just relax," she said, managing a smile on her battered features.