Blasphemia II: Deus Vult Pt. 02

Filia pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "Oh God, that is the saddest thing I've ever heard of in my life," she muttered.

"Stow it!" Judith roared. She lunged at Filia, swinging Celerity like an axe.

The succubus sidestepped, bare feet crunching on the grass as she tapped her temples. "See, I could write a book on all the legitimate reasons you Catholics are the worst. But I know it's not your fault. You're all conditioned from birth to be obedient drones and never do anything fun." She made an exasperated face. "But for them to deny you Lucio Fulci is borderline cruelty."

"Enough talk! You being here can't be a coincidence!" Judith levelled Celerity at Filia. "What have you done to Rome?"

"What have I done?" Filia put a hand over where her heart would be. "You wound me. I'm here to help you, believe it or not. Are the little ash piles around you not a clue?"

Judith's eyes flicked down to the remains of the zombies around her. "On whose orders?"

"Satan himself."

Her fingers tightened around Celerity. "To make sure his work is done?"

Filia made a face. "Ash piles, hello?"

"Why would I trust the word of the one who keeps tormenting me in my dreams?"

A cheshire grin turned up the corners of Filia's mouth. "Tormenting is hardly the word I'd use for what you go through when you sleep."

The sneer in her voice struck a raw nerve in Judith's soul, the part of her that knew deep down she enjoyed what the succubus put her through on the nightly. Judith had been trained to respond to such things with aggression, to cut down the source. She lunged at Filia, leading with her sword again.

Filia spun out of the way, and with a clink of metal a length of shadowy chain wrapped around Judith's throat. She was yanked backward until a strong foot dug into the small of her back. "Fine. If you want to play a little, I'll indulge you," Filia's voice hissed in her ear.

Celerity sheared through the chain, then Judith spun and slashed, aiming for Filia's midriff. The succubus danced around her attacks, then shook her arm once. A shadowy chain detached itself from her veil of shadows to hang loose by her hand. Judith kept an eye on it.

When Filia's attack came, it was like a viper lunging from a hole. Her hand closed around the chain, and a nanosecond later it was whistling through the air at Judith's side. She closed her hand around Celerity's blade and jerked it to the side. The chain wrapped around the sword blade, consecrated steel turning shadow construct molten. Judith's moment of satisfaction was cut short as Filia booted her in the stomach with her foot, then uppercut her ten feet in the air with a mighty blow to the chest. Only Judith's inhuman resilience kept her collarbone in one piece instead of shattering like a dropped mosaic.

She landed hard, then kipped back up to her feet. Celerity thumped back into her hand after a moment. Filia stood by idly, twirling a chain in her hand like a bullwhip, her hip hitched to emphasize the curve. Succubi weren't born, they were designed, formed of a lustful soul nestled inside a construct of ash. Their bodies were made to appeal to the desires buried deep in the hearts of men, and no small amount of women either. Every inch of Filia's body was model-perfect, her skin soft and unblemished, yet she was strong enough to bend steel and punch through walls with her bare hands. She knew it too, her posture oozing confidence and sex appeal, from the way she distributed her weight to show off the curve of her wide hips to the arch in her back that thrust out her large, luscious...

Judith shook her head, then set the blade of Celerity against the back of her hand and pressed down. Icy pain slithered up her arm, chasing her lustful thoughts away.

Filia arched an eyebrow. "I'm normally not one for that kind of kinky shit, but if that's what you want-"

"Shut. Up." Judith thrust out her left palm. Her arm blazed with light, and a blinding white blast shot from her hand and bowled Filia over.

The succubus rolled through the impact, coming up on her feet. Her armor was blackened at the chest from the mote of faith. She raised her head, eyes flashing. "Alright, that one was new."

"You're going to love this one then." Judith touched her hand to Celerity's blade, infusing the sword with holy power and extending the length of the blade. She held it out to her side, feeling warm blood run down the back of her hand and drip onto the grass as holy fire licked upwards from the steel. "You may have hold of me in my dreams, Infernal, but here, I am in control. And once I finish what we started a year ago, I'm going to the city. I will cut down all who stand in my way to free all of the faithful who still survive."

Filia looked over her shoulder at the floating, chaotic nightmare that Rome had become. Then she looked back, eyebrow raised. "Kind of a tall order, that."

Judith scowled, then went on the attack again, running low and fast. Filia put her hands up, chains materializing around her forearms. Judith let Celerity fall from her hand and shifted her weight. She fell onto her rear and slid along the grass, right between the succubi's spread legs. Filia cursed and turned to face her, then made a face as she realized what was about to happen.

Celerity whistled through the air, faith-charged point aimed right at the small of her back. At the same time, Judith surged upward, drilling Filia in the side. The succubus grunted. A chain whipped down at Judith. She went one way, and Filia dove the other. The change in orientation made Celerity whistle right past Filia's side, the holy blade an inch from goring her right in the hip.

Judith wasn't about to let Filia get her footing. Blade in hand, she attacked, using the charged blade's newfound range to her advantage. She kept Filia on her toes, the succubi's face a mask of concentration as she tried to extend her chains. Despite her best efforts however, Filia was still too quick for Judith to get a good hit in. She ducked and sidestepped Judith's slashes and stabs as if she knew where they were aimed before Judith herself did.

Then all at once things changed. Filia drilled Judith in the gut with a knee strike faster than the Templar could blink. Chains clattered out of her shadows and wrapped tight around Judith's midriff. She flailed with Celerity, trying to find a link to sever, by Filia manipulated the chains with experienced dexterity, keeping them out of Judith's range as they looped tighter and tighter. The next lash pinned Judith's arms to her sides, leaving her unable to swing her sword. Her balance thrown off completely, she flopped onto the ground with an undignified curse.

Filia set her foot against the small of Judith's back. "Now then, are you going to play nice, or do I have to tickle you to make you behave?" Another chain clinked in front of Judith's face, brushing against the tip of her nose.

"How would that even work?" Judith grunted, struggling against her bonds. "Tickling doesn't cause pain. There's no incentive to stop."

"Somebody hasn't been subjected to a succubus femdom session then."

Judith lifted her head to see more of the reanimated corpses shambling towards them, mouths agape and arms outstretched. "So this is how you're going to leave me? To be devoured by the dead?"

Filia snorted. "As if."

To Judith's surprise the foot on her back disappeared, and a moment later, so did the chains, turning to black motes that swirled back to their mistress to form new, thicker lengths around her arms. Judith called Celerity to her and surged to her feet, looking back between the walking dead and Filia. "What?"

"If you're going to be devoured by anyone, it should be someone cute slash hunky with their head between your legs." Judith felt the succubi's power spike. Broad bat-like wings flared from the Infernal's back, and she let the chains dangle loose by her sides. "Which ain't going to happen if you get chomped on by these shambling shitheads. Look, Templar. Much as it kills me to admit it, I need your help."

"To do what?"

The chains clinked as Filia dropped into a fighting crouch. "To save the Pope."

Judith reeled like she'd been slapped. "Wait, what?"

"Kill these things now, explain later!" Filia said. She grunted and swung her chains in a wide arc, the superheated lengths sizzling through putrid flesh as they immolated the dead. The succubus was off like a shot, cleaving swathes through the horde.

Judith looked down at Celerity in her hand. No part of her was willing to trust the succubus at all. But by her estimate Filia had opened several chances to kill her, and hadn't taken them. For whatever reason. She wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

So she followed in Filia's wake, picking off the stragglers with her sword. She made sure to aim for the head, as that seemed to be what put the dead back to rest for good. Every careful thrust and stab reduced another revenant to ash, and now that she knew how to kill them, they were far less of a threat. Every so often she had to Consecrate the area around her to make space, but she managed.

Filia was like a ballet dancer, except instead of streamers to accentuate her motions she was adorned with Infernal chains that seemed to defy laws of motion in where they snapped and clattered. They seemed more beholden to Filia's will than the laws of physics, darting down and snapping back like live power lines just as a corpse was about to dig gnarled fingers into Filia's back. She was a whirlwind, blazing fast, yet precise and impactful. There was a sexual twist to every motion, her body often ending up in poses that thrust her butt or chest out or otherwise accentuated her figure. Judith felt a blush creeping up her face at the sight, then turned and skewered another zombie, putting more force behind the stab than was probably necessary.

Within a minute they'd cleared the graveyard of the dead. Judith put a hand over her heart and murmured a prayer for their souls before crossing herself. Then she whirled to face Filia. "Okay - you're here to do what with the Pope?"

Filia sighed. "I was sent here to-"

A massive tremor shook the graveyard, making both women stagger for a moment before finding their balance. A loud, shrieking roar sounded from inside one of the open graves. "What the fuck was that?" Filia whispered.

The ground quaked again, and with rumble of collapsing earth a nearby grave imploded. A plume of dirt and gravel geysered up. As it rained down, a massive thing emerged from underground. It was the size of an elephant, bipedal and hunched over, like a human being with the proportions all wrong. It's flesh was black and oily, bulging like massive tumors. What head it had to speak of was small and beady, two orange eyes burning with malice as it looked at them.

Filia scoffed. "Get a load of this roided-up thing."

The human Nightmare promptly grabbed a nearby statue off a crypt and hurled it at the succubus. It whistled as it split the air, smashing into Filia with an ugly crunching noise before either her and Judith could blink. Filia was flattened, her body imprinted into the ground from the force of the blow. Her neck was bent at an awkward angle, her chest concave.

Judith made a strangled noise. She turned just in time to see the Nightmare roar and bull-rush her. She sprinted away across the graveyard, trying to put as much distance between her and the behemoth as she could. The thing's feet thundered against the ground, the tolling of a clock tower signalling her doom. If it could deal such a blow to Filia, Judith stood no chance.

With a hiss of superheated air thick chains wound their way around the Nightmare's legs. It tripped and fell to the ground with a mighty crash. Filia pulled herself free of the indent in the ground, her neck snapping back into place with wince-inducing pops. "That hurt, asshole." She yanked on the chains, dragging the thing back towards her. Judith questioned why the succubus would want the thing that had pulverized her to be closer rather than as far away as humanly possible.

With a guttural roar the Nightmare heaved itself upright. It grabbed the chains and pulled on them, heedless of it's palms sizzling against their molten lengths. Filia cursed as she was yanked through the air and back into the thing's reach. She twisted in midair, catching the things berserk punch on her arm rather than her midriff. The blow still made the succubi's arm rupture as if it had been shot. Filia seemed more irritated than anything by the grievous injury. She slid around the thing, then leaped over another wild swipe of it's arm. "Oy, Templar!" she yelled. "Help a girl out, would you?"

Judith knew she should just leave. Either the Nightmare would kill Filia or Filia would be too injured in the fight to chase after her. But her body refused to move. It was not her place to help the demonic. But it was her place to smite all enemies of the faithful, and this thing qualified.

So Judith turned and moved towards the Nightmare. As she drew close, the thing took notice of her, beady eyes burning with hatred as it turned. Judith scowled at it, letting her contempt show clearly in the sneer of her lip. She moved into it's guard and swung Celerity with all the force she could put behind it. The blade skittered along the thing's black skin before biting a little, drawing a tiny cut across it's bicep.

For the meager injury, Judith almost lost her head. Only her speed saved her from having her head pulverized like an overripe peach as the Nightmare's fist whooshed over her head.

"Great start!" Filia snarked, hopping up on the thing's back. She'd regenerated her pulverized arm, and yanked on the chains still embedding in the Nightmare's hide. Her mighty strength made the creature list to and fro, growing and snarling as it tried to bat her off. "Just hit it with a couple hundred more of those and we might stand a chance!"

"Do you want my help or not?" Judith retorted, taking a few steps back to search for a weak point. These things always had one somewhere... there! Off-center from the Nightmare's bloated collarbone was a single point where all it's contorted muscles converged. "Keep it still!" she yelled.

"Bit of a tall order!" Filia grunted, searing one of the Nightmare's arms with a blast of hellfire from her mouth as it tried to grab her ankle.

Judith moved close again, shrinking the blade of Celerity down with a flicker of thought. Though she lost reach, the concentration of faith's power around the blade was more dense in this shape, and would penetrate the Nightmare's armored hide better. She bobbed and weaved as Filia yanked hard to keep the Nightmare facing her. "Any time would be great!" the succubus yelled, gritting her teeth.

Judith waited another heartbeat, picked her moment, then lunged. Celerity struck true, digging deep into the meat of the thing's chest as she put all her weight and strength behind the stab. "Deus vult!" she intoned, venting all the power in the sword into the Nightmare's hide.

Filia leaped clear as the thing staggered backwards, roaring in agony. Judith ripped Celerity free and got clear. Light burst from the thing's chest, splitting it wide. Bones cracked and muscle split as the power Judith had jammed into it burst free like a geyser. The force brought the Nightmare to its knees, a great gaping hole in it's chest. Judith saw a swollen, blackened heart beating there in a gnarled, cancerous ribcage.

Yet still the Nightmare wasn't dead. It's head snapped up towards them, eyes wild with pain and rage. "How?" Judith said in a strangled voice.

Filia stepped forward, shaking out her chains. "Allow me." With a furious cry she whipped the chains through the air at the Nightmare. Judith saw pointed blades on the ends as they slammed into the gaping wound she'd created. The Nightmare howled in pain, staggering towards them.

"Hee, bitchl." Filia's eyes burned as she lifted her arms and brought them down in a quick motion. Motes of hellfire streaked from her arms down the lengths of chain, carried by the motion. They plunged into the Nightmare's body, and a moment later, the thing exploded from the inside out in a massive plume of gore that pelted the area around them.

With a flick of her wrist Filia called up a barrier of twisting fire that reduced the ichor to ash before it splattered all over them. "Gross," she said.

"That one was new," Judith said, rolling her shoulders. "Usually they take animal form. Never seen one look human." She looked at Filia warily. "Now, what were you saying about His Holiness?"

Filia drew her chains back into herself, her wings folding neatly against her back. "I'm not going to pretend I know the why, if that's what you're interested in. But when Satan himself asks you to do something personally, you do it, no matter how strange it seems. And his request was I come here to save the Pope." She shrugged one shoulder.

"And you need my help to do it how?"

"Well, I might be able to do it all on my own," Filia said. "But I figure it might help to have someone around who knows the lay of the land."

Judith arched an eyebrow. They both glanced at the floating, topsy-turvy city in the distance.

"Okay, who knew the layout of the land beforehand and might be able to approximate things based on such knowledge," Filia said. She reached out and pinched Judith's cheek. "Also I just missed your cute face."

Judith slapped her hand away, trying to ignore the instinctive reaction her body had to the succubi's touch that made her skin tingle and her neck flush. "This is no game," she said. "And give me one good reason why I should trust you."

"Look if all this was an Infernal's doing, why did that thing try to beat me until I was tenderized?" Filia said, gesturing the remains of the Nightmare. "These things aren't my kind's doing. Too brutish, too chaotic." Her face darkened. "You know where they're really from."

Judith thought of the book in her belt pouch. "The Before Gods."

Filia turned towards Rome. "If I had to guess, I'd say this is their doing. Don't know how, don't know why. All I know is that I have a job to do, and I'm going to get it done." She looked back over her shoulder. "If you want to help, then follow me. You don't trust me, I know. If I were you I wouldn't trust me either." She grinned lazily, tail snaking back and forth above her rump. "But if I had to make a guess you won't last more than an hour on your own. Stick with me, and we make it though. Simple as that."

Every instinct screamed at Judith to run the smug succubus through and be done with it. However, after watching Filia get up from a blow like the one the Nightmare had dealt her, she wasn't sure she could do anything to hurt Filia. Pragmatism dictated she have such a powerful ally in her corner. If she was going to save the Archbishop, Luca, and anyone else she could, she'd need all the power she could get to combat the horrors that awaited.

Plus, as the saying went, better the devil you know. And she could always try to kill Filia later, maybe after the succubus had been ground down by more battles.

"There are others I need to save," Judith said, slowly returning Celerity to it's sheath. "The head of the Templars likely still lives, and is powerful in his own right. We should seek him out if we can."

"Works for me. More experienced killers, the better." Filia shook out her wings.

A thought occurred to Judith. "Speaking of which, where's your companion? The demon? And Lilith?"