A King's Legacy Ch. 20-21

"THE LARGER TWO ARE LOWER DEMONS. THEY WILL KEEP HEALING, WATCH YOURSELVES!" The demon charged at the bull with its mouth gnashing hungrily, impatient for a taste of beef. Captain Rix darted to the right at the last second, burying his great axe into the side of the creature with a swing brimming with the full strength of his might. The bull cut an impressive slash along the creature before his axe cleaved itself free. The demon turned on the bull immediately, stepping forward to charge the beast again, but stopped abruptly as Sir Corper snatched a hold of a back leg and gave it a rough twist.

The knee broke from the socket with a grotesque pop as the demon let out another squeal in pain. The bull rushed forward to land another blow, but the flailing tongue from the first mouth shot out suddenly, and wrapped the tendril around his left arm. The demon would've taken it off completely had Oust not reached out just in time to cut the bull loose with his sharpened claws. The demon withdrew its flailing, severed tongue, and kicked with its good back leg, forcing Sir Corper to bring his arms up and release the broken leg as he blocked the attack. The bear was knocked backwards from the force of the sudden strike, doing a flip as he rolled onto his back, over his head, and back onto his knees, his powerful claws digging in the earth to brace himself and to stop his trajectory. The bear stood dusting himself off and grunted as the fiend's leg spasmed back into place with a crunch and the gash on the side sealed itself up. The demon put a small bit of distance between it and the warriors briefly. Sir Corper spoke as calmly as ever.

"This is getting us nowhere. We need a decisive strike before we find ourselves its dinner." Captain Rix grunted, pulling the amputated tongue free from his wrist as he answered.

"IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, I'M ALL EARS!" As the bull shouted his response, the demon charged at a nearby orc with the fewest marks on his skin. The orc turned to flee, never facing such a gruesome opponent before, but tripped over himself in his panic, falling to his knees. The demon barreled over him, never slowing as the mouth on its underbelly opened up wide, and the tendril of intestines shot out and grabbed a hold of the orc. The demon drew the screaming orc into its mouth, and clamped shut around him with a squelch of blood squirting from between the teeth, leaving a trail of dripping, bloodied mud in its wake as it slowed its charge to choose its next target. Oust was horrified by the sight, but steeled his resolve and thoughts for a moment, remaining calm as Sir Corper had been. That was when he realized it always attacked by charging.

The tiger looked to where the first orc victim had been devoured, and saw the metal spear lying in the dirt. Oust thought back to a trick he had seen the human use to stop a heavy opponent during their training, and made a quick decision. The tiger sprinted off with lightning speed, rapidly closing the distance to crouch down and snatch a hold of the spear before changing course back towards the fiend. Oust barreled towards the creature just as the demon chose him as its next course. The creature screeched loudly, and charged towards the tiger in turn, the two running directly at each other as the gap between them shrunk at an astounding rate. Oust braced the spear with both hands, and held it forward as he advanced.

Just as the demon's upper mouth started unfolding once more to latch onto the tiger's head, Oust lunged forward, thrust the back of the spear into the earth below, and leaned back with it, bracing with everything he had as it pierced into the charging demon's chest between the two mouths raggedly on impact. The demon's front half lifted off of the ground and over the tiger a bit as the rod sharply bowed under the weight. The bottom mouth opened up once more as the demon screeched over the tiger, its jagged teeth spewing globs of orc blood and slime upon him as the intestines shot out, and snatched a hold of his leg. Oust had underestimated the creature's reach. He had missed his mark, and the jaws of the monster were closing in around him.

As Oust felt the tendril tighten up in attempt to draw him in, Captain Rix collided with the side of the creature in a full on charge. His head was lowered, resulting in his ebony horns goring into the demon with ferocious impact, knocking the fiend onto its side mere milliseconds before Oust became its next meal. Oust heard a sharp cracking sound on impact, and his captain was flung a short ways away after the fiend sharply rolled with the bull's horns still stuck inside of it.

The tiger released the spear, and quickly reached down to slice off the tendril gripping his leg with a quick swipe of his claws. As the demon went to open its upper mouth to counterattack, Sir Corper rushed in, and swung a hefty arm over the base of the bloom before locking his hands together and leaning back against the body, doing his part to keep it pinned. The bear was barely managing the headlock, but the mouth was forced closed. The barbed tongue caught on the petals of flesh, and wouldn't let it extend more than a few inches. Oust quickly realized his teachers had given their all to keep him alive, and make him another opening. The tiger would not waste it, he would likely not get another.

Oust quickly went to work, finally getting a chance to accurately rend at the flesh beneath the demon's neck. The tiger made passes with his claws as quickly as possible, tearing through corded tendons and spurting veins as entire muscles were sliced apart with ease by his ivory tips bearing down with the force of his overpowering strength. Oust felt a larger bone against his grasp, and jerked back hard, snapping open access to the ribcage through the clavicle. The fiend squirmed in attempt to stand, but the tiger reached over with his left arm, and struck the spear sticking out from its chest roughly, making the demon squeal in pain as it writhed and lost the footing it had been trying to regain. Oust turned back towards the hole he had torn though its throat, reached a pointed right hand back, and jabbed forward as hard as he could into the wound of the beast, piercing through the chest cavity as he felt around for the heart amidst the black blood flowing out around his arm.

The larger mouth on the belly started to open again, the tendril having healed since the tiger had last cut it off. Right before the demon could strike with the regrown, fleshy tongue, Captain Rixator, having recovered from being thrown, leapt atop the demon, forcing its larger jaws shut with his great weight just long enough to swing his axe forward and sink it into the crease of the lower mouth, pinning it closed around the troublesome tentacle. The bull was shouting before Oust had even realized that he needed saving.

"YOU WANT TO HURRY IT THE FUCK UP HERE TIGER?" Oust was frantically reaching around inside of the creature, desperately seeking the heart. He was already buried shoulder deep, almost half of his body coated by the gushing, black blood when he finally felt a pulse brush against his claw. He slashed at it, but couldn't get quite deep enough to get a grip. He snarled out to the bull.

"IT'S JUST BARELY TOO FAR... I CAN'T REACH..." Oust saw the captain hand him something from the corner of his eye, and got a real look at the bull for the first time since the charge. Captain Rixator had a broken horn about halfway down his left side, and he was bleeding from that wound. The tiger felt odd shuddering at the sight considering where his arm was as the moment, but he couldn't help it. The bull was holding out his own, broken off horn to the tiger as a weapon while he held a demon down with only his firmly planted axe, and the sheer force of his weight. Oust couldn't help but think it... The captain really was a badass.

Oust snatched a hold of the broken horn with his left arm, and withdrew his right. He plunged back into the body with the horn in his fist, noting that the monster was already trying to heal up the wound. He shifted his arm upwards to where he felt the pulse before, moved his hand to grip the horn like a spike against his palm, and thrust forward as deeply as he could, forcing a torrential gush of black blood to flow out against his fur in heavy, dark clots. The demon gave one final ear splitting squeal as it tensed up its entire body, spasmed for a split second, and simply went limp as it quickly hardened into brittle ash, disintegrating entirely at last and releasing all three warriors from their draining roles. Sir Corper took a single step forward, shaking off a good bit of blood from his arm where it had splashed over him as he spoke in a clearly annoyed tone.

"Little messy there young one... But good work." The captain chimed in shortly as he stood, surprising the tiger by not yelling towards him for the first time ever.

"A little messy? That was a bloodbath. Not a bad kill for your first demon though." The bull strutted over, and gave the tiger a hefty slap on the back before he finished his statement with a smirk. "But next time, I'm bringing the wolf too." The tiger turned and gave his captain another look, glancing up at the broken, bleeding horn his teacher had sacrificed to save him. The tiger clenched the piece in his hand tightly, and offered it back to the bull in respect and gratitude as he made a small bow.

"I am sorry... Will it grow back?" Captain Rixator reached out, and took a hold of the broken horn coated with the black blood. He shook it off a bit, and tucked it into his waistband with a long and heavy exhale through his snout before he answered gruffly.

"No." The bull rolled his shoulders once, gripped his axe firmly, let out a huff, and started towards the battlefield on the other side of the wall with determination. He called back to the tiger, the bear, and the remaining orcs with him in that usual, commanding boom that he called a voice.

"I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU LOT, BUT THESE FIENDS HAVE REALLY PISSED ME THE FUCK OFF." The great bull charged ever forward, a lack of rest, nor the great shame of a broken horn for a bull of his stature enough to slow that drive of his in that moment. Not a warrior there hesitated to follow his lead.

===

By the time the bull's team had downed the first demon, about a quarter of the smaller fiends had been dispatched by the front line fighters. The orc and beast army had taken minimal losses up to that point, and it showed no signs of changing anytime soon.

Stahl dove at the nearest target, cutting through the fiend with ease. The wolf noticed something coming towards him from the corner of his eye, and turned just in time to see Chief Crag swat the leaping fiend away midair with a hefty swing of his club. The orc turned and gave the wolf a smug grin. Stahl grunted before he tossed his words at the orc, driving his longer sword through the center of the squirming mass of another fiend.

"I had it." The chief laughed once before he answered, crushing a longer bodied one with a mighty swing as if it were an afterthought.

"Unity, remember?" Just as the orc finished his statement, the wolf felt a light rumbling beneath his paws on the earth, but it faded just a moment after. The wolf paused at the sensation briefly, but quickly had to resume his battling without delay as he cut through another mindless, charging enemy with skilled and practiced precision. Stahl glanced down at the ground beneath him warily after, certain he had felt something that unsettled his instincts greatly. The wolf had no time to worry about it in his current position though, and turned his attention back towards the battle at hand.

Another boom of thunder rocked over the battlefield, signaling that Mollis was preparing to activate his second rune. Stahl jumped back a few paces, and slowly began back stepping alongside his allies, fending off any advancing fiends as they did so. They were putting a bit of distance between themselves, and the spears of stone which now held back a large mass of the fiends as they climbed over one another to find passage through the narrow spaces. The demon captured on the spines was still squirming as it flailed against the piercing stone through its lower half briefly. The second rune was to bury all of them.

Stahl felt that rumble beneath his paws again, only this time, it steadily became stronger, causing visible vibrations around the battlefield as the smaller stones bounced against the earth below. The most unsettling clicking sound filled the landscape as the pebbles danced for their ascending visitor. Just as the second rune lit up to activate a short ways in front of the wolf, something burst from the ground near the pillars, shattering the glowing circle from the impact as the shining white light of the concentrated magic turned a violent red color.

===

Midway through speaking the second key, Mollis stopped abruptly as his trigger sharply changed colors. The hare's eyes widened in fear, and Mollis turned as quickly as he could, already shouting, praying the human would be fast enough.

"Aste-" The trigger rune flashed brightly three times, and exploded with the most consuming light, cutting the hare off before he had even managed to get his name out. Aster had a shield over the rabbit by the moment the first strobe ended. He had a second shield over Prince Tyfin just as the third flash finished... And suddenly, Aster was falling, or at least, he thought he was. His vision had been stolen by the flare, his ears were ringing from the sudden and drastic shift in pressure, and his breath had been claimed by the crushing force of the exploding rune rocking into him. All the human knew for certain was the familiar feeling of his shields still holding steady. He didn't know if it had been enough to spare the two beasts with him, but the light of those shields didn't fade until the earth below also stole his consciousness from him upon his abrupt impact. The boy's stubbornness could truly rival that of Captain Rix when it came to making sure that shield held for his friends at any cost.

===

Stahl covered his eyes as the dust before him swirled into the air, leaving a hazy smokescreen of dirt lingering over the center of the battlefield. The wolf squinted towards the place the new enemy had disrupted the magic circle, and his eyes slowly registered the shape rising higher and higher into the air. The last traces of light faded from the background, taking with it what seemed like their last traces of hope as the figure became more and more clear through the haze.

It had an incredibly large serpent like body, its scales made of the same rocky, black obsidian substance as the rest of the greater demons. The creature had glowing, wispy red eyes that shone brightly through the darkness, offering a looming gaze down at the orc and beast army gathered in defiance. The mouth on the creature was intimidatingly large, a circle of teeth that came to a meeting point at the center forming a cone like spear on the end of the massive frame. The serpent had to be holding itself nearly twenty feet in the air, with an unknown amount of length still buried beneath the earth. The serpent let out a roar that sounded oddly glassy, and pointed its mouth towards the nearest group of stunned orcs. The spiked teeth tilted backwards against the flesh, revealing a hole in the center around three feet wide. The serpent reared back just the slightest bit, and roared once more down at the orcs, shooting a blast of sand down at them with blinding speed.

Stahl heard the agonizing screams of the orcs unlucky enough to find themselves before such a demon as the sand cannon shredded their skin to pieces. As the dust settled, the wolf looked back to where the victims lay, and found himself truly repulsed by the sight of their skin stripped, bloodied corpses covered in a heavy layer of mud. The most disturbing part of the sight was the way their partially absent eyes bled, as if the tears of blood were the final act their body managed before meeting such a painful end. The serpent reared back again, and dove atop the bodies, catching several within it's crushing jaws as it burrowed back beneath the earth, causing light quakes to rock the area mercilessly. Stahl shuddered as his senses returned, realizing how much trouble they were in.

There was no mistaking it, this was the Earthwyrm, a nickname given to the mighty greater demon that ruled over the Crimson Sands. Many expeditions had been led to slay the demon in the last fifty years since the monster first made its appearance, but all had ended with decimated forces, and a few broken survivors deemed the lucky ones. Eventually, it was declared easier to simply avoid the creature. The Earthwyrm usually stayed near the southern part of the wastelands, and the prince's party had carefully mapped their travels to avoid going anywhere near its lair, but it seemed the demon had decided otherwise.

The Earthwyrm disappeared back into the craggy earth below with a grinding sound coming from its tunneling. The rumble only amplified for a moment before finally, Stahl realized exactly why it had waited to make its appearance. The demon had been busy burrowing crisscrossed tunnels a few meters below the surface, tunnels that began collapsing all around the battlefield, dropping rows of orc soldiers, beasts, and fiends alike into the ditches left behind, decimating their formation. Many soldiers were fully or partially buried, leaving them defenseless as the smaller fiends writhed free, and began leaping atop the victims, sinking their nasty teeth into their satisfyingly fleshy opponents while they devoured the less fortunate soldiers as they could only scream on helplessly. Stahl felt the earth below himself quiver, and suddenly, a falling sensation overtook him as the ground beneath his paws gave way, aiming to bury the wolf as well.

As the battlefield imploded, the spears of stone that had stifled the flow of the fiends shattered and collapsed into a trench. A moment later, the lesser demon that had been speared by the stone climbed out free, snarling viciously as the gaping wound in its hindquarters closed up rapidly. The demon looked much like a feral cat of sorts, standing at seven feet tall with sharp, vicious claws on its four legs. The demon's long, fidgeting tail split into three then, and each one took with it a piece of the pointed, bonelike tooth on the end. The tails bobbed and flicked their narrow, pointed tips dangerously in the air as a trickle of fiends began quickly popping out of the trench near it. Soon a flood of monsters found themselves without the barricades to hold them back. The catlike demon led the fiends as they crashed into the center of the disparaged front lines. The fiends began rapidly swarming the soldiers with their sheer numbers as all chaos erupted through the orc army. Within seconds, disarray overtook the allied forces, and the tides of the battle took a harrowing turn.

===

Prince Tyfin couldn't see a thing, still blinded by the trigger rune's explosion. Mollis had his back turned to the impact, and knew to close his eyes, sparing his vision as the shield absorbed all the force behind the blast, even as he watched while the one that had saved him was thrown from the pillar. Neither beast could hear more than muffled speech over the ringing in their ears, making whatever Mollis was screaming to the prince inaudible. The young lion was about to call out his reply, letting the rabbit know he couldn't hear what he was saying, when he suddenly felt a rumble beneath him, and the sense they were leaning, falling quickly as the great pillar they perched atop tipped further and further over. What the prince hadn't been able to see was the Earthwyrm barreling towards the source of the explosion near the surface. It left behind a trail of upheaved soil, disrupting the foundation of the heavy pillar easily, and forcing it to collapse into the tunnel sharply carved beneath it.