The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Revenge - Prophecy Complete

"Kor'riv!" As the words erupted from Nano's mouth a ring of fire sprung up from around the Demoness's immediate area.

"Do you think that a little fire will stop me?" Sung the Demoness's voice from within the orange flames. One leg poked through the ring of fire and the flames around it turned a cold blue. The skin of the Demoness burned and charred, but she didn't scream or show pain. As she continued through the rest of the ring of fire turned the same cold blue and dissipated. "I don't think you've ever been with a woman quite like me, boy."

"Teyüt purt!" Yelled Noromac. "Vō!"

"What was that spell supposed to do?" As the Demoness asked her question bones started to slowly poke out of her forearms. The bones were pointed, sharp, and hollow. A thick black fluid leaked from the insides of the needles. Before the Demoness could lunge at Nano she was attacked and her left forearm was cleaved in a silvery flash.

"This!" Yelled Svetra. The Demoness's forearm twitched and shriveled up in moments. Before Svetra could get away from the Demoness an arm protruded from her hip with a slick, wet sound and grabbed Svetra by her throat.

"Good girls know when to be submissive." The arm slid up the Demoness's body and moved towards the bloody stump where her previous arm was. As the arm connected and became whole again she lifted up and hung Svetra in the air. "But you know, I always did have a soft spot for bad girls."

As the Demoness was about to stab Svetra with her right arm the halberd the Demoness threw impaled through her wicked pale form. The Demoness let out a piercing shriek. She let go of Svetra, and Svetra returned to attacking. Tears of blood poured from the Demoness's eyes. Svetra cut, stabbed, shredded, sliced and cleaved everything she could. Once she felt that she had done sufficient damage with her knife she backed off.

"Fire now!" Commanded Svetra. Jasper let loose arrow after arrow towards the Demoness. Though her limbs were torn and cut to rags of flesh they still moved with strength and precision. She had caught and snapped all but one that hit her right through her chest. As it pierced her flesh she let out an equally piercing scream of pain.

"Alright!" Yelled Rhet, "Hold your fire!" It wouldn't have made any difference if he had commanded Jasper to stop or not. There were no more arrows to fire tipped with Tora's blood. He started to walk towards the Demoness. As he stepped closer the tattoos on his arm glowed brighter and the color whitened.

Svetra stepped in front of him. Her eyes spoke of terrible possibilities that might befall him. None of which would be carried out fast or with mercy. He understood that before he started to make his way to her. He knew he would die today, it was part of the prophecy his master told him. His master talked about meeting this fate with bravery, that he was bound to die in some other fashion if not in this way. An inevitable outcome. No one man could escape death.

"I am going to free you." Spoke Rhet. The Demoness laid on the ground. A bloody, pulpy, naked mess of a human. It brought him shame and guilt to see how she, who looked so much like his master and was his master, was so damaged and that he could prevent it. Before the Rhet could speak again the Demoness cried a plea with a young girl's voice.

"Please sir! I want the hurt to go away. I want to see my mommy and daddy again." When the Demoness looked up it had the face of a young girl. She couldn't have been older than ten. "She's making me hurt so much. That lady with the yellow skin...she's so mean!"

Rhet was taken aback by what he saw. He, for just a moment, felt unsure of himself. The Demoness's ploy worked. That moment's hesitation was all that she needed. An arm reformed to its original shape and ran through Rhet. Directly through his heart. He looked shocked.

"But," his vision blurred. He felt unsteady. His master's words rang clear through his mind. In conviction lies bravery, in bravery lies strength, in strength lies possibilities. "I was brave."

"Being brave wasn't enough, boy." The face was now of a man with a blind eye, and little scars littered about it. "You needed conviction." The voice was deep, suede, and had many years behind it. This was someone else the Demoness must have killed. As the arm slid out of Rhet the lighted tattoos dimmed to a faint glow like that of cold embers.

"Now you all die!" The Demoness's first face resurfaced. She grabbed the halberd with her reformed arm and stuck it deep into the earth. Grounding it for a while. As the Halberd slid out of her body her form became stronger, fuller, more complete. Spikes stabbed out of every inch of her body and spewed a red mist around her that hung in the air. "Think fast!"

She charged Svetra and landed a kick square in her stomach. She was sent a few meters back and started to bleed from the new holes in her body.

"Svetra!" Cried Tora.

"You're next, muscles!" In a blinding flash the Demoness charged towards Tora and lunged to hit her with her shoulders. Feet before she could make contact a wall of earth erupted before her. As she smashed into the mixture of dirt, rock, root, and stone the bones in her body smashed and snapped. The Demoness paid no mind to this and started to tear through it.

"Just barely" sighed Nano. Tora looked to him for answers. He quickly motion as though pulling back an arrow. Tora has no idea what he meant. He rolled his eyes and got to work on the next spell. "Volta!"

As the action played out Jasper quickly and quietly gathered some of the arrows that he had fired. Even though they were snapped he knew what he needed to do. He grabbed a handful and stuck them into a pocket on his side. He then threw a yellow bottle at the Demoness's feet. The bottle smashed against the dirt and exploded with a force that blew most of the Demoness's body apart. As the Demoness gathered herself she was then stabbed again with the halberd she stuck into the earth. This time it pinned her into the wall of earth she was trying to break through.

"Brats!" She yelled. Before she could grow another arm to pull out the halberd Jasper stabbed arrow after arrow into her body. He himself opened up some holes in his hands from not being careful.

"Move everyone!" Yelled Tora. "Shoot arrow!" Tora aimed with palms toward her target. After a moment an arrow, or rather bolt from a ballista, fired through the wall and through the Demoness.

"Tora! Amazing!" Yelled Nano. "Go heal Svetra!" Nano ran towards the Demoness and was ready to capture her. "Kor!" Yelled Nano. Black chains with golden cracks shot out of the earth. They wrapped around the body of the Demoness and stood her upright to face Nano. "I have you now." Nano walked towards the Demoness. The Demoness was now nothing more than a head, shoulders, and a few ribs at this point. Even so Nano held his wits about him.

"You think you can kill me?" The Demoness looked smug. As smug as one could look with most of your face missing. As Nano got close enough to place his hands on the chains a black spike shot out of the Demoness's mouth and through Nano's neck. He looked surprised. More shocked than pained or angry. "Try saying your spells now boy."

Nano grabbed the spike with one hand and reached for Rhett's body. This time it was the Demoness's turn to be surprised. Rhet's body flew towards the both of them and collided with the chains that trapped the Demoness. The arms then jerked to wrap themselves around the chains. As they did the Demoness started to scream and deteriorate. The spike pulled out of Nano's neck and he clasped his hands around his throat to start to heal it.

"Conviction. I like it. Thank you." The woman who first spoke to Rhet surfaced. She sounded at peace. "I'll have to tell Rhet what happened when I see him."