Malvvosia spun through the air dramatically and landed gently on a crenulation, the strength in her legs able to support her weight and absorb the force of the landing with such ease it appeared as though she was landing in slow motion. She cackled and leaped to another crenulation, her anticipation waiting for a possible fight had made her somewhat giddy and she had no qualms with others seeing it. Preparing to jump once more Malvvosia suddenly stopped and stood up straight, holding herself stiff but for the hand that held her gun which began to spasm and shake erratically.
At the same time, the hound turned his head, gaze fixing to a point far in the distance. Its nostrils flared, and a deep, rumbling growl reverberated from within its chest as it bared its teeth.
“Do you smell that Cerberus? Oooh, you simply must with a nose that big. It's on the wind, can you not smell it?” Malvvosia’s entire body began to shake, her smile grew massive and her human appearance began to undulate and ripple as she struggled to maintain the facade. Though she had described the sensation she felt as smell, in reality it was something no other being could experience in the same way as her. She could feel the rage inside all beings at all times, feel it as though it was a part of her being. ”Ohhh what rage this is, like a horde of insane men driven into a frenzy! It is thick in the air, like the al’mighty asshole himself poured syrup over the world. Can you smell it?!” A piercing cry echoed through the clearing, Malvvosia turned her head towards the sound a moment after the horde of demons broke from the forest and charged the wall. The gleeful demon cackled loudly as she observed the approach of the horde, more amused by the unnatural hunger and ravenousness of the group than concerned by it. “Look at them! Smell them! Oh the unfettered hunger, the rage! Let us take our fill of the battle my friend, and once the horde is suitably crushed we shall have to find who, or whatever, was able to do this so that I may shake their hand! If they even have a hand that is.” Malvvosia looked back over her shoulder at the massive dog behind her “Coming?” The question was asked with the lighthearted unconcern normally reserved for requesting to walk to the store, or through a peaceful park.
The threat in the dog’s stance stood in deep contrast to the demoness’s casual tone. It could even be said to be excessive for the opposition they faced. Which made his next question seem even stranger. “You claimed you wished to protect these humans?”
A rare moment of seriousness took over Malvvosia and she turned away from the approaching danger to properly face her ally. “Yes,” was all she said in response to the beast.
The demon huffed. “Then I shall leave you to that,” he said, a moment before leaping off the ramparts towards the charging enemy.
It took a moment for Malvvosia to realize the implications of the demon hounds words, that he would not be joining her in the fight. Excited as she was at the fight she was moments away from partaking in, she still held off long enough to call after the charging beast “And just where do you think you’re going, Cerberus?!”
Had she called out after another, the words may have been lost in the wind, but the dog had sharp ears. When the question reached them, the beast let out a bark of laughter. “Is it not obvious, Crone?” He roared.
“To shake hands!”
Unbeknownst to Malvvosia, the hound had recently found himself in a similar situation during the battle for the previous seal, charging heedless into a demonic mob in search of one of the keys that would lead to their goal. While back then some of the demons had had enough sense in them to scramble out of the way, the horde racing towards the city was madenned beyond fear. In that last outing, however, the hound himself had been under orders to keep his fire in check.
No such command had been given to him this time.
Before crashing into the vanguard, the beast drew breath, the space between his scales emitting a threatening glow. A torrent of fire erupted from the hound’s maw, swallowing the demons in front of him even as he charged headlong into the enemy.
And then he was in the midst of the horde. Those engulfed by the flame shrieked, too blind by either the pain or the light to do more than be trampled underfoot. A few others parted from his path, a primal instinct directing them away from the tongue of fire. Most simply leapt forward at the hound’s passing in an attempt to clamber on to him.
Those who managed to find purchase on his hide soon found their grasping limbs bursting into flames, the heat emanating from the scales searing the unprotected flesh until they slipped off. Those who stubbornly held on even then screamed as scalding metal chains wrapped around their bodies, carelessly tossing them at the surrounding mob. And still the hound spewed fire to clear the path before it.
He had almost cleared the mob when the gout of flame sputtered. The final ranks of creatures contracted in a last-ditch effort to contain the giant that had plunged into their midst, but at the last moment, the hound leapt into the air, prodigious strength carrying his large body well past the remaining rearguard.
A few loping strides further, and he disappeared into the treeline with a crunch of splintering wood.
As for the horde of berserk demons, those simply surged forwards, their numbers closing and trampling over the wounded in their rush to reach the walls. Soon, the only visible remainder of the hound’s incursion was a streak of charred and broken bodies left forgotten in the mob’s advance.
*********************************************************************************
Malvvosia leapt from atop the wall and plummeted towards the ground, her form changing along the way while she fired her gun into the charging horde. Once her clawed feet hit the ground she immediately pushed off, aiming herself towards her prey. As she soared across the ground she saw a large boulder ahead of her she was about to pass and had a sudden burst of inspiration. Her whip manifested in her hand and as she passed the large rock her whip came alive and coiled itself around it. Malvvosia continued to travel a little longer, her unnatural whip growing in length all the while. When she began to lose momentum from her initial push off she slammed her feet into the ground and heaved with her whp arm, adding the last remnants of her momentum into her swing. The large boulder popped free of the earth creating a shower of dirt and pebbles. It arked through the air with great speed, flying past the demoness that had freed it and through several dozen members of the ravenousness horde before returning to its place in the ground. Taking advantage of the path she had just cleared Malvvosia pushed off from the ground again and landed upon the boulder, now in the middle of the enraged army.
Being the closest target now that Fenn had left the area the majority of demons turned inwards and rushed towards the demoness, clawing and climbing over each other in an attempt to be the first to sink their teeth into the shadowy form of their foe. Rather pleased with the whole situation Malvvosia put her gun away, deciding that matters required a hands on approach. With one clawed hand balled into a tight fist, and the other hand tightly gripping her whip, the demoness wadded into the fight. Each punch that landed would shatter bones (if the thing being hit even had any that is) and send the crippled corpse flying backwards or into the air. As she attacked she also kept moving, slipping through openings or making her own so that she could move to a new place on the battlefield. As she moved around her whip grew in length and trailed behind her creating a barbed lead one could follow to track her path through the crowd. Like a deranged seamstress, Malvvosia weaved her way through the throng, her whip as her thread and her fists as her needle.
As her whip neared the limit of its growth Malvvosia leapt into the air away from the horde and landed between it and the wall, an area that was becoming increasingly smaller even with both her and the gunners efforts. Malvvosia dug her claws into the ground, stiffened her legs so that she became like a pillar of stone, and with both hands pulled her whip. Countless demons were grabbed by barbs, or caught in loops created by the whip, and all were pulled together into a massive ball held together by the deadly tendril. The demoness continued to pull and her whip dug into the bodies it had ensnared. With one final mighty heave the whip sliced through the bodies, the hundreds of barbs acting like saw teeth, and left a pile of eviscerated corpses on the ground.
Malvvosia made to wade back into the fight but noticed some of the horde had made it to the wall and were beginning to climb it. As her whip was still at its maximum length Malvvosia willed it to wrap and ensnare the group that fell upon their eviscerated allies. Once again the demoness pulled, forcing the caught demons into a ball, but instead of killing them as she had the last group unlucky enough to become caught in her barbs, she heaved and swung the group through the air like a wrecking ball. The demon ball slammed into the demons climbing the wall with such force that even those who were not hit directly were still thrown from the wall. Under normal circumstances Malvvosia would have immediately gone back to battle once the wall was clear of prey, she would have charged back in as she cackled with glee and slaughtered her way through the seemingly endless buffet of enemies. But she was there to protect the humans, so instead she took a moment to observe the battlefield and determine if her usual preference for fighting would actually help or hinder. Though she had managed to keep the majority of the horde away from the section of wall she had been fighting in front of, the rest of the wall was still in great danger. The impressive turrets atop the wall were powerful, but because of their angle they could only shoot a relatively small section of demons at a time. The guns were slaughtering countless demons, but the sheer numbers were clearly winning out. Had the turrets been at ground level they would have easily sliced through the entire army before it even made it halfway to the wall. It was then that Malvvosia had another sudden burst of inspiration: she swung her demon wrecking ball through some of the horde that had gotten too close for comfort while she was thinking then retracted her whip back to it’s normal size, the action mixed with the barbs acted like a chainsaw and cut up the demon ball. Malvvosia pushed off from the ground and landed back on the crenulations she had been dancing upon a little while ago. She quickly made her way to the closest turret and gently plucked the human manning it off, placing them carefully off to the side. She then grabbed ahold of the turret and began to pull, trying to rip it free from the wall. The sheer weight of the machine coupled with how secure it was to the wall made it almost impossible even for Malvvosia. The demoness quickly glanced at the horde, they would be at the wall any moment and she did not have the luxury to take too waste time. Though she was not happy about it, she realized her true form would be required for the task.
Malvvosia’s shadowy form collapsed inwards, her shadows solidifying, creating a blackened glassy seed floating in the air. The seed pulsated and new limbs pushed their way outward, stretching the skin of the seed. Once her transformation was complete Malvvosia’s true form was revealed to those atop the wall. The upper half of her body was that of a four armed woman with hair that wistfully defied gravity as if in water, and her lower half belonged to the form of a monstrous spider covered in massive spines. From within the spines on her back came a powerful heat that caused the humans nearby to back away if they had not already. Malvvosia grabbed the turret once more, this time with four arms, and dug all eight of her pointed legs into the stone of the wall. With one sharp tug the turret came free and with a push from all eight legs that turned the stone beneath her into rubble both the demoness and the turret flew into the air. The demon spider, turret in hands, landed in the midst of the swarm, the force of the fall crushing any who were unfortunate enough to find themselves beneath her. Wasting no time Malvvosia once more dug her legs into the ground and began to fire the massive turret. As expected, the rounds from the mighty gun tore through the demons with ease and would only slow after they had pierced several dozen bodies.
The recoil of the gun was fierce without the strength of the wall to counteract it; Malvvosia was more than strong enough to aim the massive firearm, but the dirt she had planted herself in was not as suited for the task and the demoness found herself being pushed backwards. Normally being forced back was something to be avoided, but under the circumstances it proved helpful as the demons behind her who did not move out of the way would be pierced by the massive spines on her back. As the displaced turret took care of the army in front of her, her spiny abdomen took care of those behind her. When the bodies impaled on her spines became too much she would vigorously shake her backend, sending the impaled bodies flying off as well as shredding any creature that stood too close. In addition to her spiny defences, the scorching heat that emanated from Malvvosia proved to be just as dangerous for her attackers. Her mere presence scorched the immediate area around her, igniting stray plants and weeds; a fate shared by those who foolish enough to get too close.
The attacking force quickly decreased in size, what was once a massive horde that emanated rage so powerfully it made the air feel thick with it, was rapidly becoming a pitiful and impotent thing that stood no chance at breaching the wall.
At the same time, the hound turned his head, gaze fixing to a point far in the distance. Its nostrils flared, and a deep, rumbling growl reverberated from within its chest as it bared its teeth.
“Do you smell that Cerberus? Oooh, you simply must with a nose that big. It's on the wind, can you not smell it?” Malvvosia’s entire body began to shake, her smile grew massive and her human appearance began to undulate and ripple as she struggled to maintain the facade. Though she had described the sensation she felt as smell, in reality it was something no other being could experience in the same way as her. She could feel the rage inside all beings at all times, feel it as though it was a part of her being. ”Ohhh what rage this is, like a horde of insane men driven into a frenzy! It is thick in the air, like the al’mighty asshole himself poured syrup over the world. Can you smell it?!” A piercing cry echoed through the clearing, Malvvosia turned her head towards the sound a moment after the horde of demons broke from the forest and charged the wall. The gleeful demon cackled loudly as she observed the approach of the horde, more amused by the unnatural hunger and ravenousness of the group than concerned by it. “Look at them! Smell them! Oh the unfettered hunger, the rage! Let us take our fill of the battle my friend, and once the horde is suitably crushed we shall have to find who, or whatever, was able to do this so that I may shake their hand! If they even have a hand that is.” Malvvosia looked back over her shoulder at the massive dog behind her “Coming?” The question was asked with the lighthearted unconcern normally reserved for requesting to walk to the store, or through a peaceful park.
The threat in the dog’s stance stood in deep contrast to the demoness’s casual tone. It could even be said to be excessive for the opposition they faced. Which made his next question seem even stranger. “You claimed you wished to protect these humans?”
A rare moment of seriousness took over Malvvosia and she turned away from the approaching danger to properly face her ally. “Yes,” was all she said in response to the beast.
The demon huffed. “Then I shall leave you to that,” he said, a moment before leaping off the ramparts towards the charging enemy.
It took a moment for Malvvosia to realize the implications of the demon hounds words, that he would not be joining her in the fight. Excited as she was at the fight she was moments away from partaking in, she still held off long enough to call after the charging beast “And just where do you think you’re going, Cerberus?!”
Had she called out after another, the words may have been lost in the wind, but the dog had sharp ears. When the question reached them, the beast let out a bark of laughter. “Is it not obvious, Crone?” He roared.
“To shake hands!”
Unbeknownst to Malvvosia, the hound had recently found himself in a similar situation during the battle for the previous seal, charging heedless into a demonic mob in search of one of the keys that would lead to their goal. While back then some of the demons had had enough sense in them to scramble out of the way, the horde racing towards the city was madenned beyond fear. In that last outing, however, the hound himself had been under orders to keep his fire in check.
No such command had been given to him this time.
Before crashing into the vanguard, the beast drew breath, the space between his scales emitting a threatening glow. A torrent of fire erupted from the hound’s maw, swallowing the demons in front of him even as he charged headlong into the enemy.
And then he was in the midst of the horde. Those engulfed by the flame shrieked, too blind by either the pain or the light to do more than be trampled underfoot. A few others parted from his path, a primal instinct directing them away from the tongue of fire. Most simply leapt forward at the hound’s passing in an attempt to clamber on to him.
Those who managed to find purchase on his hide soon found their grasping limbs bursting into flames, the heat emanating from the scales searing the unprotected flesh until they slipped off. Those who stubbornly held on even then screamed as scalding metal chains wrapped around their bodies, carelessly tossing them at the surrounding mob. And still the hound spewed fire to clear the path before it.
He had almost cleared the mob when the gout of flame sputtered. The final ranks of creatures contracted in a last-ditch effort to contain the giant that had plunged into their midst, but at the last moment, the hound leapt into the air, prodigious strength carrying his large body well past the remaining rearguard.
A few loping strides further, and he disappeared into the treeline with a crunch of splintering wood.
As for the horde of berserk demons, those simply surged forwards, their numbers closing and trampling over the wounded in their rush to reach the walls. Soon, the only visible remainder of the hound’s incursion was a streak of charred and broken bodies left forgotten in the mob’s advance.
*********************************************************************************
Malvvosia leapt from atop the wall and plummeted towards the ground, her form changing along the way while she fired her gun into the charging horde. Once her clawed feet hit the ground she immediately pushed off, aiming herself towards her prey. As she soared across the ground she saw a large boulder ahead of her she was about to pass and had a sudden burst of inspiration. Her whip manifested in her hand and as she passed the large rock her whip came alive and coiled itself around it. Malvvosia continued to travel a little longer, her unnatural whip growing in length all the while. When she began to lose momentum from her initial push off she slammed her feet into the ground and heaved with her whp arm, adding the last remnants of her momentum into her swing. The large boulder popped free of the earth creating a shower of dirt and pebbles. It arked through the air with great speed, flying past the demoness that had freed it and through several dozen members of the ravenousness horde before returning to its place in the ground. Taking advantage of the path she had just cleared Malvvosia pushed off from the ground again and landed upon the boulder, now in the middle of the enraged army.
Being the closest target now that Fenn had left the area the majority of demons turned inwards and rushed towards the demoness, clawing and climbing over each other in an attempt to be the first to sink their teeth into the shadowy form of their foe. Rather pleased with the whole situation Malvvosia put her gun away, deciding that matters required a hands on approach. With one clawed hand balled into a tight fist, and the other hand tightly gripping her whip, the demoness wadded into the fight. Each punch that landed would shatter bones (if the thing being hit even had any that is) and send the crippled corpse flying backwards or into the air. As she attacked she also kept moving, slipping through openings or making her own so that she could move to a new place on the battlefield. As she moved around her whip grew in length and trailed behind her creating a barbed lead one could follow to track her path through the crowd. Like a deranged seamstress, Malvvosia weaved her way through the throng, her whip as her thread and her fists as her needle.
As her whip neared the limit of its growth Malvvosia leapt into the air away from the horde and landed between it and the wall, an area that was becoming increasingly smaller even with both her and the gunners efforts. Malvvosia dug her claws into the ground, stiffened her legs so that she became like a pillar of stone, and with both hands pulled her whip. Countless demons were grabbed by barbs, or caught in loops created by the whip, and all were pulled together into a massive ball held together by the deadly tendril. The demoness continued to pull and her whip dug into the bodies it had ensnared. With one final mighty heave the whip sliced through the bodies, the hundreds of barbs acting like saw teeth, and left a pile of eviscerated corpses on the ground.
Malvvosia made to wade back into the fight but noticed some of the horde had made it to the wall and were beginning to climb it. As her whip was still at its maximum length Malvvosia willed it to wrap and ensnare the group that fell upon their eviscerated allies. Once again the demoness pulled, forcing the caught demons into a ball, but instead of killing them as she had the last group unlucky enough to become caught in her barbs, she heaved and swung the group through the air like a wrecking ball. The demon ball slammed into the demons climbing the wall with such force that even those who were not hit directly were still thrown from the wall. Under normal circumstances Malvvosia would have immediately gone back to battle once the wall was clear of prey, she would have charged back in as she cackled with glee and slaughtered her way through the seemingly endless buffet of enemies. But she was there to protect the humans, so instead she took a moment to observe the battlefield and determine if her usual preference for fighting would actually help or hinder. Though she had managed to keep the majority of the horde away from the section of wall she had been fighting in front of, the rest of the wall was still in great danger. The impressive turrets atop the wall were powerful, but because of their angle they could only shoot a relatively small section of demons at a time. The guns were slaughtering countless demons, but the sheer numbers were clearly winning out. Had the turrets been at ground level they would have easily sliced through the entire army before it even made it halfway to the wall. It was then that Malvvosia had another sudden burst of inspiration: she swung her demon wrecking ball through some of the horde that had gotten too close for comfort while she was thinking then retracted her whip back to it’s normal size, the action mixed with the barbs acted like a chainsaw and cut up the demon ball. Malvvosia pushed off from the ground and landed back on the crenulations she had been dancing upon a little while ago. She quickly made her way to the closest turret and gently plucked the human manning it off, placing them carefully off to the side. She then grabbed ahold of the turret and began to pull, trying to rip it free from the wall. The sheer weight of the machine coupled with how secure it was to the wall made it almost impossible even for Malvvosia. The demoness quickly glanced at the horde, they would be at the wall any moment and she did not have the luxury to take too waste time. Though she was not happy about it, she realized her true form would be required for the task.
Malvvosia’s shadowy form collapsed inwards, her shadows solidifying, creating a blackened glassy seed floating in the air. The seed pulsated and new limbs pushed their way outward, stretching the skin of the seed. Once her transformation was complete Malvvosia’s true form was revealed to those atop the wall. The upper half of her body was that of a four armed woman with hair that wistfully defied gravity as if in water, and her lower half belonged to the form of a monstrous spider covered in massive spines. From within the spines on her back came a powerful heat that caused the humans nearby to back away if they had not already. Malvvosia grabbed the turret once more, this time with four arms, and dug all eight of her pointed legs into the stone of the wall. With one sharp tug the turret came free and with a push from all eight legs that turned the stone beneath her into rubble both the demoness and the turret flew into the air. The demon spider, turret in hands, landed in the midst of the swarm, the force of the fall crushing any who were unfortunate enough to find themselves beneath her. Wasting no time Malvvosia once more dug her legs into the ground and began to fire the massive turret. As expected, the rounds from the mighty gun tore through the demons with ease and would only slow after they had pierced several dozen bodies.
The recoil of the gun was fierce without the strength of the wall to counteract it; Malvvosia was more than strong enough to aim the massive firearm, but the dirt she had planted herself in was not as suited for the task and the demoness found herself being pushed backwards. Normally being forced back was something to be avoided, but under the circumstances it proved helpful as the demons behind her who did not move out of the way would be pierced by the massive spines on her back. As the displaced turret took care of the army in front of her, her spiny abdomen took care of those behind her. When the bodies impaled on her spines became too much she would vigorously shake her backend, sending the impaled bodies flying off as well as shredding any creature that stood too close. In addition to her spiny defences, the scorching heat that emanated from Malvvosia proved to be just as dangerous for her attackers. Her mere presence scorched the immediate area around her, igniting stray plants and weeds; a fate shared by those who foolish enough to get too close.
The attacking force quickly decreased in size, what was once a massive horde that emanated rage so powerfully it made the air feel thick with it, was rapidly becoming a pitiful and impotent thing that stood no chance at breaching the wall.