Blazing Glory Ch. 11

Rae nearly screamed in pain as tendons and ligaments were torn throughout her left shoulder and arm as she stopped the powerful strike. Her right hand shot forward to grip the face of the demon. She was not going to die tonight or any night as long as he lived... as long as he needed her. As long as she needed.....

"VITH," Rae screamed, "DOOOOOSSSS!!!!!!!!!"

Black fire sparked at her fingertips before bursting forth into an inferno from the Abyss itself. The demon's head was fully engulfed instantly by the dark flames as they exploded forward into a giant column of fire. The devastating blast sent the long white silvery hair of the drowess flailing wildly behind her as she poured every ounce of magical strength she had into the blast as it slammed into and obliterated the front half of Fathi's compound before roaring over the lake. When the last of her strength was gone, the flames faded to reveal that the head of the demon was gone as well.

As the headless corpse dropped to the ground, Rae fell backwards as her vision narrowed to a pinpoint. She had never put forth so much magical energy at once and even then she hadn't been sure that would be enough. The drowess felt strong arms seize her before the hard ground could. Blinking and looking up, she looked into the concerned yet smiling face of the gargoyle.

"By the gods, Rae... any more power into that blast and you would have obliterated everything in its path for seven leagues!" She laughed.

The drowess glanced to what Tyra was talking about and could only stare at the burnt wasteland that lead up to the large lake. Everything had been completely consumed by the flames and obliterated from this world. She knew she was among the most powerful drow sorcerers, but she couldn't have done that much damage. Had she aimed the other way, she would have destroyed half the city! By the Abyss... where had the power come from?

"What was that that you gave me?" Tyra asked, drawing back the troubled assassin's gaze. "On the dagger?"

"Lolth's Kiss," she whispered weakly, "The only weapon mortals have against immortals short of cutting off their heads or causing massive trauma to their brains. One little knick into their bloodstream, mortal or immortal, and you're dead within seconds..."

Rae felt the gargoyle shiver from the chill that must have run up Tyra's spine with the realization of having handled such a dangerous weapon. Shaking her head of the grogginess, she cursed herself angrily. This was no time for weakness!

"I'll go find and help Kendra," Rae growled as she pushed herself out of Tyra's arms. "You go find Nadine and we'll regroup to help Blaze. I can still sense my Patron and he is fine at the moment, but we must hurry. Something isn't right."

The gargoyle nodded and ran back into the large garden in search of the catwoman. Rae looked after the guardian silently for a moment before limping as swiftly as her weakened state could allow. She couldn't sense it before when she was dealing with the demon, but now she could. A growing powerful darkness that made her knees tremble. Something wasn't right as she moved towards its source.

It was leading her out of Fathi's compound...

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Dear spirits be with him, Blaze silently prayed to himself as he looked upon the monstrosity before him. The squat little rat that had been Fathi was now replaced by an eight foot, four armed being with muscles that looked ready to crush anything before it. The face no longer resembled the ugliness of Fathi but rather serene stone-like visage of a demigod. But beneath those slanted narrow eyes, he could still see the murderous intent of the scoundrel.

Blaze swiftly backed away from the figure to gauge what action he could take as Fathi kneeled down and picked up a sword from his fallen guards with each hand. Swallowing nervously, he was overpowered in weaponry now with two swords against four! Though it looked like he was incapable of speech with those unmoving lips, Blaze could still imagine they would be curved into a sneer if they could move.

Fathi moved forward steadily now to engage his would be killer, the muscular massive form shaking the ground slightly with each step. His lower right arm swung across to cleave Blaze in half. The young warrior gasped as he was caught off guard and barely managed to get one of his blades up in time to blocking the killing blow. The power behind it still had enough force to send his smaller body flying across the room. Crashing brutally into a wall, Blaze felt the air rush out of him before the back of his head smacked painfully into wall. Dropping the ground in near unconsciousness, he fought to stay awake.

The thuds of Fathi's approaching steps shook the floor beneath him as he tried to regain his breath. When those footsteps stopped, Blaze heaved his body with all his might to the side. The floor exploded where he had been as four swords crushed the stone with the power of Fathi. Pain exploded too through his body as he rolled away frantically. He was already in bad shape this soon? Damn it all, what the hell was this monster Fathi had turned himself into?

More so, how could he let this thing get the better of him. Hero? Heroes never let any being get the better of them, no matter how big or powerful they may be. If you really want to become one as you've always dreamed, get up on your damn feet and fight, he berated himself.

Growling in anger and through the pain, he rose to his feet to see Fathi rising from his attack blow. No matter how powerful he'd become, there had to be a weakness to him. Wiping the flowing blood from his eyes, he started walking forward steadily towards Fathi before coming up with his swords to attack. Fathi met both blades with two of his own and was already coming down upon Blaze with his top two sword arms.

Blaze swung to the side to dodge the cutting blows that would have easily split him in two. But having to move he had freed up Fathi's other arms and they were already attacking. Blaze swore to himself under his breath as he ducked and weaved throughout the sword assault from all four arms, unable to press an attack himself. Trapped in front of Fathi, he observed the metal of the blades coming close to his body with each attack before he moved.

The young warrior leapt backwards out of sword reach of Fathi as it finally occurred to him. Fathi was no warrior and it was clearly so with how he had been swinging his swords. The attacks had come at a furor, but nothing that Blaze hadn't been able to dodge with ease even though his body was sore. Even more obvious was how the attacks had the speed of an overly muscled brute. Powerful? Yes. Quick? No! And having four arms to attack with, one had to be careful lest you cut one of your own arms off.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out as Fathi approached once more, he realized he would have to live up his nickname once more even though his body ached painfully. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Blaze launched himself forward into the approaching monster. Fathi reeled backwards in surprise at the sight of Blaze rushing him suddenly.

Capitalizing on the stunned Fathi, Blaze dashed in and sidestepped around the monster as his blade sliced across its belly with a great ark of black blood. The ill-disciplined Fathi had not been ready as a warrior would have nor did he know how to react properly as he turned about with both right arms to slash to the smaller man.

Blaze was already moving fast enough to be on the other side of the four armed monster as he cut both blades down the vulnerable backside. Even though the blades cut deep and blood sprayed out, Fathi's hide was thick enough that it hurt his arms. It almost felt like he was trying to cut stone! At this rate, he was unsure of who would give out first; Fathi's bleeding body or his wrenched arms.

Staggering back and tense with the unexpected pain, Blaze ducked aside a panicked swing of another sword. The small warrior and massive monster moved about the room in a deadly dance of their combat. The massive brute continued swing as much as it could at its smaller opponent whom wove about its large form swiftly with biting lightning strikes.

Within minutes, Blaze ran backwards a few steps to regain his breath. His arms felt as much as on fire as his legs did from moving around at the breakneck pace he had been at. Fathi's body was tensed angrily and fearfully at the same time. The monster's body was covered in slashes from his blades and bleeding heavily. Still, it looked like Fathi was not significantly affected yet. Even so he had to continue to press the attack while he still saw the panic in Fathi's eyes. The little rat was not used to pain let alone how to handle it.

Roaring with a surge of strength past all of the pain he felt, Blaze dashed forward in a final assault with everything he had bent on this attack. Fathi brought both top arms up and brought those two swords down upon the smaller man charging recklessly towards him.

As the blades came down upon him as he reached Fathi, Blaze raised both blades above him crisscrossed. A small prayer for both strength of steel and body flashed through his mind before the impact. White blinding pain exploded through him that made him scream in sheer agony through grit teeth. The blades held their strength before Fathi's might but the force drove him down to one knee. Through the sheer torture of the pain rippling throughout his entire upper body, he felt his arms hold their ground in their trembling state.

Forcing his eyes to stay open through the pain, he saw Fathi take the move his was waiting for. Both lower arms were coming in from the sides to cleave his body apart. Summoning every last bit of will he had into his arms and legs, Blaze screamed wildly with rage.

Both upper arms were thrown backwards by the upward throwing force from the young warrior. He rose from his kneeling position with that rising force to jump into the air. Both blades of the lower arms came together in a metallic crash where his body had been. Feet landing upon those swords as a platform, Blaze brought both his swords inwards with his draining strength from each side much as Fathi had tried to do to him. Shock filled the eyes of that emotionless face of Fathi as both blades cut into each side of the monster's neck.

Instead of Blaze's form being cut in half, Fathi's head now flew off and away from his body with the force of the beheading in a great gout of black blood. Blaze gasped as all strength left him. The blades beneath his feet went limp, he fell forward unable to brace himself as he'd completely wrenched both arms out of their sockets with that final attack. Both bodies crashed into the table and darkness embraced him...

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Kendra crashed into the side of the sand dune with enough force that it left a sizable crater. In the center of it, the succubus lay there coughing and trying to regain her breath. Leaning over onto her side, the pain seized her stomach and she coughed this time with blood spitting out of her mouth. Wiping the red blood from her lush vanilla lips, she quietly willed her demonic energy to hurriedly repair the damage to her internal organs. The blow that hurt her so much had sent her flying quite a distance and she had time before the dark demon caught up.

The sand quietly settled in about her as she took her breath in the moment to strategize. Clearly, this demon knew she was the most powerful and had come immediately for her. Judging by the power she had felt in those beginning minutes as the other demons attacked her friends, it was clear that this was the leader. It intended to finish her off before going to assist killing the other easier targets.

This was one of the most difficult battles she's faced in such a long time. She was trading blow for blow with this demon on equal footing. Whereas she was getting hurt, the demon wasn't fazed physically by the punishment she was giving it. She finally understood what kind of demon it was. One of the highest class of the undead demons, a lich.

Although this one confounded her, normally lichs were magical wielders after having been powerful sorcerers or kings in the past. Animating their bodies into these corpses to cheat death. But those lichs often were distance combatants, using their magic rather than physical combat. This demon leader must have been a powerful desert raider that knew combat in its past life, but somehow learned magic powerful enough to turn his form and those of his comrades. Thus with it knowing both combat and some magic, this was a very dangerous scenario.

And she seriously doubted it carried its phylactery on itself so she could destroy it and therefore its soul. No lich was ever that foolish. The best she could do was somehow destroy its body. By the time it regenerated itself, they would be long gone and no longer any of its concern. Gasping through the pain, she pushed herself up out of the sand. A footstep drew her attention, her eyes snapping instantly on the dark form standing at the rim of the large sand crater her fall had created. Curse it all, it was already here! And her body hadn't had a chance to heal itself fully yet!

The lich jumped from the edge down into the crater as it pulled back its gauntlet encased fist. The succubus rolled aside as sand exploded from the impact where she had been sitting. Springing to her feet, the undead warrior was already upon her as it lashed out with its fist in lightning fast jabs and viscous hooks.

Even though her body screamed in pain from the injuries she'd already sustained, the blonde beauty was a flurry of motion as she ducked and weaved about in inhuman motion between the speed of all those attacks. The two demonic powers worked all about the bottom of the sand crater in this fist fight. Kendra growled to herself in frustration as it was hard to find any opening as they danced about in their deadly battle. This lich knew how to fight to be sure, but she was growing tired of constantly being on the defensive.

She made a snap decision and ducked to the outside of the lich's left punch rather than inside. Her elbow came crashing down upon its shoulder, caving it inwards. Catching her opponent off guard with its back to her now, her hands snatched the extended arm powerfully. Spinning underneath that arm with a swift motion, she could hear the tendons snapping and muscles ripping with the sharp twisting. The lich warrior reeled backwards from the sudden onslaught throwing it off balance.

The succubus released the arm and brought her foot down upon its right knee to fill the air with the sound of bone exploding. Planting that foot down, she raised her other leg to crush her knee into its face as it fell forward. All of this within the matter of moments and the desert demon was sent flying backwards with its broken limbs. Kendra gasped for breath from the assault she'd just given as her intense emerald eyes looked at where the lich now lay a good distance from her.

As the sand settled and the air quieted, her brows furrowed as she heard something she didn't expect. It sounded like clicking and fabric being stretched to its limit. Eyes narrowing upon its form, the demoness blinked as she saw its shattered limbs twitching and convulsing about. The damn lich was able to heal its body quicker than she expected! Within the time she had managed to catch her breath, the lich had fully restored its mobility and leapt to its feet.

Sand erupted behind it as it sprinted into a charge that caught her off guard this time. Her vision went white as searing pain erupted throughout her entire body from her stomach. She would have screamed in agony from the pain if she could have gained the breath that had left her. Her body flew clear out of the crater high into the air from the severe impact before she landed little more than a mile away with another jarring impact.

Her vision started coming back to her hazily as she pushed herself up onto her knees. Agony seized her middle once again as her arms instinctively cradled it. Dear gods the pain! She bent over as wheezing coughs racked her body and blood poured out of her mouth into the desert sand. She couldn't.... She just couldn't beat this thing as it was even though she had to. The others wouldn't stand a chance if she was getting thrashed as badly as this. Regaining her breath, she slowly stood up with her stomach cradled in one arm. Her green eyes narrowed on the small dark figure in the distance coming fast.

Even though the first time had been brief and uncontrolled, this would undoubtedly let them know...

But there was no choice now...

Sand was sent flying thousands of feet into the air as a thunderous explosion echoed through the desert. The power of the wind escaping the explosion sent the lich crashing backwards as sand flew past its form into the distance. Its dark head looked up as sand rained down in a fine gritty mist everywhere. From where it lay, it saw a feminine figure approaching encased in an aura of red flames. Out of those flames green eyes from the Abyss itself peered out. The sand finally cleared the air as the aura died around the figure.

Standing before the lich warrior was a demoness with a red barbed tail and massive black wings that seemed to swallow up the night itself. Glowing green eyes looked down upon its figure coldly, the demoness running her tongue along her elongated fangs.

"Get up," she hissed softly with murderous intent.

The lich actually seemed to hesitate for a moment as it lay there before it swiftly jumped to its feet. The black-veiled demon immediately lashed out with its gauntlet encased fist. A meaty explosion of metal crushing into flesh resounded in the desert's cool night air much as it had when it had sent the succubus flying before.

Those yellow eyes blinked in the only emotion it has shown this entire time. Those eyes looked on in sheer disbelief as its fist had been stopped by Kendra's hand as an adult would a small child. The desert demon quickly lashed out with its other fist, watching with its eyes as that fist closed in on her right cheek. A blur came up to catch that fist instantly just inches shy of her face. Both fists caught in a vice like grip, the demoness laughed softly to herself. Her pale lips curved slightly in a chilling smirk.

"Nice try, but I've received better than that little dead man...."

The lich reared its head back in a pained shriek with the grinding of metal and crushing of bones. Kendra hissed with pleasure as she crushed those metal encased fists as easily as egg. Her laughter echoed in the night with its shrieks of further pain as she ripped those arms right off its body. The evil sensations of delight in its suffering surged through her body as she heard its screams fill the night. Tossing the arms aside, she caught the thrashing demon by the throat. Her hand squeezed and crushed its vocal cords, silencing the bone-chilling screams from the air.

"Enough whimpering," She purred softly, savoring its agony, "at least be defeated with some dignity intact worthy of a demon."

Disgusted with the trouble this being had caused her, Kendra flung the body up hundreds of feet into the sky like a toy.

"Ashes to ashes...."

Her right palm raised upward, red and black hellfire screaming forth into the sky to fully encase the desert demon. The combination of conflicting dark magics lit the sky with a blinding explosion as its body was incinerated.

"Dust to dust," she whispered, walking through the falling ash remains of her opponent back towards the city.

When Kendra's vision cleared of the falling dust, she came to a stop as her glowing green eyes saw a frozen figure in front of her. Her heart leapt into her throat as soon as she realized who it was. Rae!