Inquisitors; Rulers Of Past

End of Pride 3

Candy stood in front of the daemon, her injured body telling her that she couldn't go on. But she had already made up her mind. She would rather die fighting than rest, even if meant teaming up with Barry.

She wanted to throw up already. The thought of teaming up with an inquisitor was unsettling enough. She hardly fought alongside her own friends let alone a complete stranger. If anything, she would have teamed up with her boss, Gerald Tason. That would have been the most uplifting thing in the world.

Well, things do not always go as planned. She told herself. Here she was, facing what may be her last daemon she might ever kill, surrounding by people she did not know. Maybe May was right. She was too proud for her own good.

Barry stood still, the aura spears aimed at the daemon. Like Candy, his whole body ached. And it was not just from the daemon. Who knew that being used as a boost was frightening. His shoulders were killing him, like someone dropped an anvil was dropped on each of them. No wonder she was that proud; no one had dared challenge that absurd strength of hers. He watched as she stood directly in front of the now calm daemon. They had to kill it now. Sooner or later, the daemon might decide to return to its own world, or worse unveil the dome and just cause as much destruction as possible, revenge for its eye probably. They needed to buy more time for those outside to get help. The injured guy with Reynolds could die, but then he signed up for this. As much as Barry didn't want to accept it, there wasn't much of a choice here.

A sliver of a memory passed through his mind, the image of Garm dying right before his eyes. He closed his eyes. It's all in the past now, he told himself, all in the past.

"Now!" He shouted. The daemon turned in the direction of his voice only to be struck by Candy's whip. The daemon shrieked, shooting it tentacles at where it was hit from while charging up a vestorer. Barry hit his spear on the ground again, firing the volley of spears at it. One of the aura spears hit the vestorer, causing an explosion which shot the daemon down to the ground. Candy jumped on it, stabbing its core. The dagger however only left a scratch on the thing. Barry rushed to her, slashing of the incoming tentacles aimed at her. Candy moved the daemon and with stab it in its bloodshot eye. The daemon shrieked, but was cut short when Candy stomped its face into the ground. Candy back flipped to Barry side, letting go of her dagger and with her other, slashed at the daemon with her whip. The daemon began to thrash around in a fit of rage, flailing its tentacles in a haphazard manner.

It isn't experienced, Barry realized, it's a new born white phase. Maybe we could...Barry cut himself short. It wasn't impossible, but they could kill it. But then again, they were both in bad shape. The chances were slim.

"Candy, take the right, I'll take the left." Barry ordered. Candy obeyed, rushing to the right. Barry dashed to the left.

"Now!" Barry exclaimed. Like two bullets, the two dashed at the daemon, impaling it in the torso. The two pulled out their weapons to defend themselves from the tentacles, rolling to the sides.

"The dome!" Candy exclaimed. The dome had begun to slowly dissolve revealing the night sky. Through the openings, Barry could see the crowd that had gathered, the Shield agents and...

"WATCH OUT!" Candy cried.

Barry turned his attention back to the daemon. He turned to slash the tentacle that was aimed for him. But then, that was exactly what the daemon had wanted.

The vestorer tore through Barry, missing his internal organs by only a centimeter but spraying a fountain of blood. Three tentacles pierced Barry, one in the thigh and the other two in his left shoulder, raising him in the air as he screamed in pain and threw him to the ground, but not before catching a glimpse of the daemon, which had sent shivers down his spine. Their consistent attacks at its torso had not caused it much damage but rather broken it free from its cocoon. It was now standing on a pair of two legs, have sprouted arms two more eyes on the side of the original one that Candy had damaged. The tentacles slowly joined together, spinning and weaving into four long and sharp tails. Then it dawned on him.

The random attacks around the city were never random. They were calculated. The daemon needed strong and rich licht energy to evolve, not some miniature kind. It had specifically targeted daemon hunters to bring them all in the dome to feed it.

"Ru...n!" He tried to say but he couldn't. The words couldn't come out of his mouth. He struggled to stand but only fell back to the ground.

Candy looked at the monstrosity in horror, now filled with renewed fear. She slowly took a step back, her hands shaking even more than the first time she saw it. She looked over at Barry and their eyes met. They both knew that it wasn't going to end well.

But then, she couldn't give up. Candy run at the daemon, avoiding the swipes it made with its tail, sliding under its feet and stabbing it in the ankles. She rolled on her side, avoiding its other two tails and back flipped, slashing it in the arm. She then dashed to the right, avoiding the ray of energy that the daemon fired from its mouth. She ducked, avoiding its tail and rolled, now at Barry's side. Grabbing his spear, she threw it at the daemon's chest. The daemon cried in agony, trying to remove the spear from it chest with one arm. Its lack of attention to Candy caused it to suffer, receiving a knee to the face only seeing the girl perform a spectacular roll as she expertly maneuvered the tails. She landed and charged again, stabbing the knee, thigh and foot in a rapid succession and rolling out of the way before the daemon could reach her. Before the daemon could charge up a vestorer, a beam of energy fired from the spear. It didn't go completely through the daemon's chest but it was enough to partly reveal its core.

Candy, with a smile, jumped on the dazed daemon's chest and pierced its core, cracking it further. The four tails buried themselves in Candy's back. She cried out in pain, but she didn't stop, relentlessly stabbing again and again. After her seventh stab, she stopped, having lost too much blood. The daemon lifted her high up, charging up a vestorer to finish her off. Barry could only helplessly look on, letting out a feeble cry, before blacking out.