The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Revenge - Wickedness

They all stood there, ready to fight. Tora twitched her lips just enough to say some protective spells. Nano ran through his memory of True Tongue for the words that might help him most. Svetra gripped her halberd tighter and tighter, running through what to expect in her head. Jasper had his bow drawn and ready to fire. Rhet tore off the sleeves from his shirt to reveal glowing tattoos. Had Nano seen them he would know that they were key to fighting the Demoness, but he would have to see later.

"Watch your step everybody, don't engage first." Nano slowly widened his stance and pulled out the short sword that hung on his hip.

"Boo, don't you want to play? I can tell by looking at you that you love figuring out how things tick. Why don't you jump at the opportunity now?" The Demoness moved closer to her prey. She step as though dancing a slow ballet routine. The grace and strength in her step was not only frightening, but every other step she took her body violently shook, turned inside out, twisted, convulsed into itself, and restored itself all under a second. "I mean, don't you want to be able to play and figure out all of this?" She hissed as she moved her hands over her body provocatively.

"Fuck you." Said Nano, before he threw his sword towards the Demoness. The aim was perfect and the tip nearly landed into the body of the Demoness but what she did in response made the rest of the team sick to their stomach.

The Demoness's body split apart and created a hole in the center of its being rimmed with teeth. The sword passed through harmlessly.

"Tch, you'll have to try harder than that, love." To the Demoness's surprise Nano only smiled in response.

"Qal!" And the sword that had found its way into the earth hurled itself back towards the Demoness. It stabbed right through her neck and stuck there. "You would do well not to underestimate me, Demoness."

"Well then," she spoke with the mouth in her center. "Looks like we have a real talented man here. I love my men to be talented." As she finished her sentence the sword in her neck snapped in half and fell to reveal another mouth full with teeth. "I sure do know how to pick them." She giggled.

Jasper had let an arrow loose, he was sick to his stomach seeing the Demoness's brand of body horror. Before the arrow could reach her she plucked it out of the air with just two fingers. "Hasn't your mother taught you not to shoot beautiful women?" She brought it to her lips to kiss it.

"Mon!" Shouted Nano. The arrow grew in size until it turned into a spear in between her fingers. It shot through her face and a scream unlike anything the group had heard before was let out. As she pulled the enlarged arrow out of her head her face contorted and swallowed itself and changed to someone else's face. It was a mystery as to who this was except for one.

"The best way to not feel pain is to focus on what is most important, right? Rhet?" Said the new face with tears flowing down her cheeks. The voice was different this time. Rather than the sweet, alluring evil that the voice embodied before, it was a scared, trembling human voice. A voice that sounded pained by mere existence.

"Master?" But before he could comprehend what was happening the Demoness answered.

"You'll need to remember your lessons soon, runt!" The face of the Demoness returned, though her mouth was much wider and couldn't close fully anymore. "Who of you is a Chosen?"

"Why don't you find out?" Taunted Svetra.

"Let's try you first then, you look like my type of woman. Strong, and broken." Bone sprouted from the Demoness's wrists and shaped themselves like blades. The process let loose a torrent of blood, new and old. On her palms opened up endless mouths full of teeth sharper than knives. She rushed toward Svetra with such speed that Rhet could barely react to what was happening. Yet to Svetra, this speed was comparable to that of Seilan. Fast, but without the Seilan's genius behind the movements she could read the Demoness like a book.

"The only one who is broken is you!" Boasted Svetra. Before the Demoness could get Svetra in her reach she was stabbed through the neck once again. Another scream. Blood poured out of the Demoness's maw as she let loose her pain. The metal burned her flesh and her pale skin grew a few shades of red. The Demoness yanked the halberd away from her and threw it towards ocean.

"That hurt you unloved orphan!" Screamed the Demoness as she charged Svetra. Svetra only had time to pull out a small knife from her boot.

Svetra danced a dance of mortal consequence. Had she failed to keep tempo, step on her partner's toes, or hogged the spotlight she would have been slain then and there. As she switched between being on the offensive and the defensive she thought of only one thing: what would Seilan do in this fight? It was very much the biggest factor in keeping the Demoness at bay.

"Shoot her!" Yelled Rhet. He was keeping as much distance between him and the Demoness as possible backing away from her skirmish with Svetra.

"I can't get a good shot!" Barked Jasper. "They're moving too fast!" The dance between the Demoness and Svetra looped, spun, vaulted, ducked, and charge around their imaginary stage.

"Teyüt kor wert!" As the Demoness lunged to stab Svetra with one of the bones protruding from her wrists her legs were snagged by the earth itself as it tried to tie her down. Ropes of stone and dirt wrapped themselves around the Demoness as she struggled. "Take them now!"

Jasper let an arrow loose. The arrow flew straight and true, directly to her head. Even so, it didn't reach its mark. From out of her forehead a hand erupted to catch the arrow. The hand was matted in old blood. With a breath from the Demoness the new hand snapped the arrow in half. They all stood petrified as the Demoness started to laugh.

"Break!" Yelled the Demoness. With those words the trap she was laid in exploded and shrapnel from the force blew in every direction. With Svetra so close she suffered heavily from the blast. Pointy shards of earth found their way into Svetra's arms and her torso as she tried to protect her face. Her legs were littered with tiny open wounds where her armor failed to protect her. Not to mention she was knocked back from the force of it all.

"I think she was seeing what we could do till now." Shuddered Jasper

"I'm glad you figured it out. Too bad and so sad, but I think you guys had a little too much fun. It's my turn now."