Everything went silent as Tenebrosia slammed Chateau Scapegrace at the balcony. It was futile as Taralon evaded the lethal attack and retaliated with her own blast of magic. The Maiden quickly blocked the assault and rushed in, swinging her heavy weapon with such grace. Alongside this, a flurry of kicks and punches were followed trying to intercept the opponent before her. However, Taralon countered this with her own whirlwind of power, both magic and her physical strength.
"Come now, Tenebrosia. Do you not see? Everything and everyone will die, regardless of your choices now. I see this as utterly foolish of you… delaying the imminent." Taralon taunted her as the two were suspended in the air, clashing with each other's own prowess and magic. A violent storm of magic from opposing sides blasted; its forces encompassing the massive balcony, leaving rubble everywhere and further more damage to the edifice.
"What dared you to decide that?" Tenebrosia sneered back, before playing dirty and punching Taralon right to her face unexpectedly, causing the latter to momentarily stagger and be taken aback, hence breaking the even clash. "Uh…! How dare…" Taralon's gray hair swayed rapidly from the strong wind. The atmosphere was still crimson; the clouds above were gray and swirling around like gunpowder in the air. Beneath the shadows of Taralon's face was a malicious smile for what is to come.
—
At the same time, in the midst of the chaos in Windstrew's ruined streets, Sekai, Aiwa, and Khanih flee through the tight alleyways just to seek safety. "This alley's a langer… blocked," the Paragos whispered under his breath, ushering Sekai with Aiwa perched on his shoulder to an alternative way. "I've got to tell ye, lad, I do not know where we are. The place has gone all shite." Some of the terrains were raised, and some sunk to the ground. It was evident the familiar streets of the city had become a labyrinth for the Paragos who lived here for years.
Aiwa's ears perked up, and distant screeches from above were heard. "Mister…" Sekai whispered under his breath, clutching his staff tightly. "It's the craic spawns! Run, you eejits!" Khanih tapped Sekai's shoulder and the three began trying desperately to find any exit, or at least a safe haven to hide from the legion of enemies that came rushing in the tight alleyways. The three of them ran as fast as they could, however, one giant demon trailed quickly and pinned down Khanih, who was behind Sekai and Aiwa.
The demon looked feline in nature and had a horrifying snarl with breath reeking of rotting flesh; essentially, of death. Its teeth are disgustingly yellow and its saliva dripped everywhere. It snarled and attempted to clamp down its massive jaws onto the old Paragos. "Yer a lickarse!" Khanih roared before firing one of his concoctions down the abomination's throat, causing its inner mouth to burst into flames. The demon stumbled back and roared as smoke and fire began spewing from its mouth.
Khanih regained his footing once the demon stumbled away, sprinting once more with Sekai and Aiwa. A gargantuan fallen gate with its walls still attached, which seemed to previously be of a manor, was right ahead. On the other side was an open space. The three of them went right through it before Sekai blasted the iron doors shut with a surge of light projecting through the tip of his staff. The demon that pinned Khanih down returned, scratching and gurgling and screaming behind the heavy, all-copper gate. Soon, similar demons were heard behind the closed gates, roaring and scratching on it. The place they ended up in was an elevated part of Windstrew, more than a hundred feet above the streets below. The wind howled furiously; cold and unforgiving.
Both Khanih and Sekai were breathing heavily as they exhausted a great part of their stamina as they faced the closed gates. However, behind them, the sounds of a rift opening alongside a booming masculine voice interrupts them. "Halt, you pests! Don't you two puny flesh-bags dare move from your place!" The crack of a whip echoed throughout, and as they turned around, a giant, putrid, rotund man with a disfigured pig for a head wearing a mix of leather and pieces of armor poorly placed around his body. His round stomach was exposed and some of his arms with boiled bubbles of pus and blood on his exposed body parts; veins popping, skin looking forever blistered and burned, and a massive jagged spike protruding from his left shoulder. On his right hand was a whip embroidered with thorns as demons that look like the hellspawns that chased Sekai and Khanih appeared beside him.
—
THE SCROLLS OF REVELATIONS
[Swine Lord]
In folklore, Swine Lords were believed to be rich, extremely greedy, and pompous men in life, who always wanted more and left the needy to starve.
After dying from a heart attack due to the countless feasts they've indulged themselves in, they were dragged to hell to repay for their evilness in a new monstrous form.
Forever cursed to lead a feline-looking abominable species called the 'Infercalis', manifestations of each sin these men have committed, a Swine Lord and his pact of Infercalis are one. They are truly never separated, and each would feel each other's sorrow and eternal pain.
Due to their inherent and inseparable selfishness, they are impossible to form a pact with and would rather attack its summoner than discuss the terms.
—
"The lady promises me sweet, sweet slop if I kill the beast-child!" The demon licks the area around his lips and even his cheeks with his long and disgusting mangled tongue; saliva trickled down from his boiled, swollen skin and rashes. "Step away from the boy, you ancient cur! 'Lest you want to be squashed down to a puddle of fucking mush and blood," the Swine Lord said, cracking his whip. Sekai and Aiwa looked at it with both terror and disgust. However, Khanih clicked his lips. "Eat my shit if yer starving that much, ye fat langer!" This sentence alone caused the ego of the demon to shatter. "What did you say…?! You insolent little shit! FUCK YOU!"
The Swine-Lord roared and lashed his whip directed at the party. "Oi! Fuck ye, too, you lardy bastard!" The old Paragos roared in return as he got his flamethrower on the ready. The Infercalis growled and rushed to attack Sekai and Khanih, however, the latter threw one of his concoctions and set the three rushing beasts ablaze. The Infercalis roared and backed away as fire consumed their entire frame. Their master loudly and horrifyingly squealed in different octaves at once in pain. "Aurgh! Slut-spawns!" The skin of the demon boiled even further, with new burning marks being imprinted everywhere on its body before being regenerated immediately as the burning Infercalis were thrown off the cliff from their own confusion through the fire.
"I'll fuck your whoring mothers in hell! Turn them into the bearers of my brood! Letting your pathetic fathers watch! And tell them that their disgusting, wasted seed was worth nothing as the dust on my foot!" Sekai covered his ears out of the shattering squealing of the pig that stood before them with Aiwa curling deeper into the crook of his neck. However, Khanih remained silent before spitting in front of the demon. "Yer too foul, even for me mother, you pigshit!" The old Paragos suddenly yelled as he and the Swine Lord engaged in a fight. The demon lashed his whip with Khanih barely evading it before firing his flamethrower right into the pig's large, exposed abdomen.
Sekai uncovered his ears, recovering from the piercing squeals, when he felt rumblings beneath his feet. A shadow appeared behind him and it was the Swine Lord about to snare him with his whip. "I'm famished! Die, you fucking dog!" The pig squealed, however, Sekai instinctively pointed his staff at his wrist, firing a magenta ray of light that scorched the flesh. The demon dropped its whip and squealed in pain, followed by Khanih firing his flamethrower directly at his face causing the Swine Lord to flail in confusion, screaming intense profanities out of his wrath. "UARGHHHHHH!!! You seeds of shit! You putrid sons of whores!"
As the demon twirled and flailed backwards, the Swine Lord backed harshly onto a rigid wall while continuing his attempt to extinguish the flames that spread throughout his entire upper abdomen. The ruins that the demon hit began to crumble rapidly with visible, large cracks beginning to grow longer and bigger. Its foundations were already broken, and so, the building had crashed into the Swine Lord, swallowing him into a giant heap of large debris. The Infercalis that surrounded Sekai and Khanih cowered and whined demonically, and flailed in pain.
However, slow rumbles were heard from the supposed-tomb of the demon and suddenly, it burst out in a frenzied and shrieking squeal, causing the Padomas boy and the old Paragos to cover their ears momentarily. As it stopped, the scorched and burned mark on his wrist was healed with a new patch of boiled skin. The Swine Lord began salivating more and snorted. "Urf… I'll maw on your bastard-bodies and vomit on your remains! I'm getting more and more famished! You two would be my appetizers! A suited end for you two cunt-mongrels!" The demon opened his disgusting maw and tried biting Sekai; the scent of rotting flesh and death trailed down his mouth.
The Padomas boy reacted with quick precision, striking the abomination in the eye with his staff, pulsing with intense energies driven from the talisman's reservoir of power. This caused the Swine Lord to back away again squealing in pain. However, an Infercalis, who was flailing its swift claws in confusion from the phantom pain it felt from its master's injury, unintentionally slashed Sekai by his left arm.
"Lad!" Khanih yelled as he was fending off the other feline-beasts. Aiwa squealed and growled lightly at the surrounding Infercalis that rounded itself around Sekai. The boy grunted and winced at the large bleeding slash at his arm. The old Padomas struggled against the surrounding Infercalis, pushing against them and hitting their large, red eyes and their vulnerable stomachs with the blunt side of his flamethrower. The Swine Lord is still recovering. The beasts continued to surround Sekai, yet his heart says two things at once: these feline-looking demons remind him of the wildlife and animals he cherished, however, they are defiled mimics of their appearances. A conflict arises in his heart, but survival is his priority, and it was. Ignoring the pain, Sekai spinned around with his staff and roared. The tip of the staff suddenly burst into purple flames once more, and it scorched the surrounding Infercalis.
This caused the Swine Lord to squeal further; its demonic octaves were enough to cause a small vibration on the ground. Khanih, Sekai, and Aiwa immediately covered their ears in defense. Out of rage, the Swine Lord swiped his whip from the floor and his intention was to brutally scourge the Padomas boy out of offending the demon's ego. Everything seemed to slow down as the whip began trailing its way to Sekai.
Without a word, Khanih pushed Sekai and Aiwa away. The whip instead lashed the small and old Paragos harshly, cutting his skin and flesh deeply from the attack. Khanih yelped from the attack, hissing through his sharp canine teeth. Blood dripped from the deep wound; a crimson crevice that had thick red drips of blood flowing slowly from it. The demon grinned devilishly with no remorse, even licking his lips in the process. "Flesh blood!" He exclaimed, sniffing the air in the process. "Oh, that familiar smell of bloodied fucks. The beast-men I've feasted upon were exquisite, what taste would you be like?!" The Swine Lord lashed his whip once more, attempting to snare Khanih and as it seems, to devour the old and gray Paragos.
Sekai clutched his bleeding wound; it continued to spill blood that stained through the surrounding clothes of the wound, hissing through the pain. He was about to shed a tear, but as he saw a pack of the large Infercalis surrounding him and Aiwa, the boy wanted to fulfill his promise of protecting the Dunwaku perched on his shoulder. Enduring the throbbing pain, Sekai held his staff tightly as the group of the feline-beasts drew their claws and prepared themselves to pounce on the Padomas and his pet. At the corner of his eye, he saw Khanih being pulled by the salivating and frenzied Swine Lord. However, an Infercalis blocked the path towards the old Paragos who struggled against his tied arm, still being pulled by the hungry man-pig.
With no available path to help Khanih against the maw of the Swine Lord, Sekai was forced to face the Infercalis first if he wishes to assist the old Paragos. But time was ticking, and it seemed like the fate of the weaponsmith was imminent of being devoured whole. Sekai was too occupied in combat with the Infercalis, and their numbers continued to increase each time one was subdued by Sekai using the power of the talisman.
As the struggling Khanih got closer to the Swine Lord's reach and knowing the demon is just going to regenerate its skin without letting go of the whip due to its frenzied state, Khanih resorted to a final and desperate attempt to escape from being eaten alive. "If yer so fuckin' hungry, you fat disgusting lard, then yer arse is going to stay hungry!" The old Paragos gripped his flamethrower tightly, and before the Swine Lord could retaliate with his foul profanity, Khanih pointed the nozzle towards his coiled arm and fired it through. Khanih roared through the agonizing pain as he continued to pull himself backwards from the demon's reach.
The pain was agonizing; his flesh and bone rapidly burned from the high heat as Khanih continued to pull himself away. Not willing to wait, the Swine Lord roared and pulled the rest of the whip's length towards him. Before he could, Khanih's flesh was already loosened and the Paragos pulled away with one final tug. His own charred and blistering arm severed from the grip that held him; the weaponsmith was finally free from the tight binds of the thorned, inflammable whip. At the end, he was missing an arm. Blood gushed rapidly from his gory, limbless left-side. Crimson fluids showers and even bits of cooked and raw Paragos flesh fell from the marrow-deep injury; the cut was asymmetrical as the flamethrower unevenly charred his limb. It was horrendous. The adrenaline within Khanih's body numbed the agonizing, fiery pain within his bloodied, amputated arm.
The smell of the blood further frenzied the Swine Lord, groaning in an almost sadistic and sexually gratifying tone. "Oh! Blood, blood, blood!" He squeals in absolute and uncanny delight. The demon snared the amputated arm and immediately reeled the limb in its mouth, chewing it. The furry limb crushed and gushed inside the maw of the hungry pig, savoring the flesh and bones that he proceeded to gulp down after crushing it with his yellow teeth with hues of green and red.
Khanih tore a piece of his cloth and began to put pressure on the injury he inflicted himself, tying and covering the entire stump with the cloth he tore. The blood stained through regardless, but it was enough to slow the bleeding and to have it clot. Sekai saw the entire thing, and he was left feeling disturbed how comfort is a luxury one could not afford at the face of death, and survival and instincts are often trump cards against the reap of fate.
Squeals and snorts only came from the Swine Lord, as bloodlust slowly began to creep its mind after consuming fresh bloody flesh and bone. The horrid profanities this monstrosity would throw was gone, replaced only by the concoction of animalistic instincts and almost a glimpse of humanity though perverse from the curse of inferno's fire. The demon got into all fours as the eyes of the gluttonous beast turned black and it suddenly exhausted charcoal-colored smoke from its eyes. "SLOOOOOPPPP!" he boomed, charging at Khanih, who was still regaining his posture.
Khanih rolled away with flamethrower in hand and his bottles of his special concoctions still in his person, barely evading the charging pig-beast that ended up crashing into a ruined edifice. A gargantuan smoke of debris followed after the crash, and the Swine Lord slowly turned around as the swirling clouds of rubble slowly disappeared. His head mashed, his tusks broken, and blood dripped from his forehead, trickling down like a slow waterfall down his pig face. Soon, the Infercalis followed their master's frenzied state and resorted to their own bloodlusted state. The large feline-beasts round themselves near their master, as if the Swine Lord has hounded them by doing nothing at all. Joining their 'lord' in all fours, the Infercalis growled far more furiously and far more savagely.
"Mister!" Sekai and Aiwa rushed towards Khanih's side. His bandaged stump was stained from so much blood that it seemed like the entire atmosphere smelled of metals, and it felt overwhelming for both Sekai and Aiwa's sensitive senses. The smell made Sekai almost nauseous, and Aiwa already covered her nose with her own small paws. However, the boy sucked in as a slight sweat appeared at the side of his head. "You're badly hurt, please, stay back–" the old Paragos interrupted Sekai with a defiant and stubborn tone. "Bah! Let hell rain loose, I've lived long enough, lad! This arse-cock forced me to tear my arm apart, and so I must force this langer to do something to its bloody self!" Sekai wanted to protest, however, he knew he couldn't convince the prideful Paragos.
The boy quietly prepared his staff as he pointed it to the opponents in front of him; Sekai was shaking as fear still existed deep within the crevices of his own heart and soul. But the circumstances were nigh, and hesitance means defeat. A defeat he could not afford as it cost the price of his life, Aiwa's, and Khanih. "Their master just makes new flesh each strike we do to him, restoring his vigor too. Mister, what should we do?" Khanih grumbled, and looked over the edge of the cliff. "Make 'em jump off," he said. "Eh?" "MAKE 'EM JUMP!" Khanih yelled, before the bloodlusted Swine Lord charged at them once more as his Infercalis soon followed, charging at them and squealing in a frenzy. "GIVE ME SLOP, YOU BUNCH OF FUCKS!" The demon yelled with rage and desperation, the intention to turn the three of them into a pile of unrecognizable, edible piles of flesh and bones and blood.
Khanih rolled to the side and Sekai and Aiwa jumped away to the opposite, having the Swine Lord charge at a wall. Before more could happen, a pack of Infercalis immediately pounced on Sekai before he retaliated with a powerful explosion from magic that blasted the beasts away. On the other side, a group of Infercalis charged at Khanih. Even with only one operating arm, the Paragos grabbed one of the concoctions from his belt and threw it to the charging pack, causing all of them to be set ablaze. The fire was like a swallowing fury; swirls of orange and auburn destruction covered the beasts, having them twirl and run in loops of confusion. In their own oblivion, some of the Infercalis fell off the cliff and resulted in their own demise.
The frenzied Swine Lord squealed in pain as he felt the destruction and the extreme agony his snarling Infercalis felt. In a fit of blind rage, the demon charged at Sekai who was positioned right at the edge of the cliff, with Aiwa perched on his shoulder. At the split second, the Padomas boy alongside the Dunwaku slid beneath the giant demon before pointing his staff directly at its rear, firing magic and pushing the fat demon to fall.
Sekai panted; his heart pounding in his small chest as he held the staff tightly. Before more could happen, Aiwa turned her head around and squeaked in panic. As Sekai turned around, a charging and blind-in-confusion Infercalis grabbed Sekai by the waist, sending him to fall down the cliff as well. Aiwa was left behind as she was tossed away.
"Lad!" Khanih yelled in a panic followed by the Dunwaku. As they looked over the cliff, Sekai was hanging by a rod, missing his staff that fell down, with the Infercalis digging its claws deep into the boy's right foot. This boot that Tenebrosia bought was thick enough that its claws did not reach Sekai's bare foot though the Padomas definitely felt the bump of the nail within his soles. "Help!" The boy yelped in terror. Khanih was too short and he would likely fall too just by reaching his hand to help Sekai, who was hanging just a few feet away from him. "Shake off your boot, boy!" Khanih ordered. The Infercalis looked at Sekai with deathly intent; its yellow pupils were nothing short of horrifying as it hanged. Sekai tried gently shaking his foot, only to be met with a growl.
A loud thud was heard down below; the Swine Lord had fallen through as a large cloud of dust was seen long down. This caused the Infercalis to feel immeasurable pain, letting go of the Padomas boy. But in a last attempt, it tried to claw the boy with its other pair, but it could only leave a slight scratch on his leg. However, it ripped his talisman, causing the paper to tear and split into half. The boy gasped as the talisman glowed one last time before turning lackluster. Purple sparks of magic appeared as it drifted rapidly through the wind and the red atmosphere of the sky. Without a second thought, Sekai looked up. Free from the weight of the heavy Infercalis, the boy clamped both his hands in the rod and quickly pulled himself up, before being helped by Khanih, lifting him up to the edge of the cliff. Somehow, Sekai felt like he lost a part of himself losing that talisman. He felt nothing short but physically drained. And then he knew, the power probably came back to Tenebrosia already.
—
Tenebrosia and Taralon continued their fight, with the former completely being on the offensive, attacking and switching places to attack her opponent. From the front, to the flanks, to the rear, Tenebrosia was relentless. Taralon on the other hand was struggling and bloodied; her arms, which radiated of Sombreian magic, were raised to barely block each attack that came her way. Struggling groans were heard for each strike Tenebrosia landed on her pitiful defense.
When Tenebrosia halted her attacks as she slid just a dozen feet away from Taralon, a surge of her own power rushed into Tenebrosia's body. She froze, and Tenebrosia looked back momentarily. The talisman was broken, and it was a horrific sign that Sekai might not be safe. She dreaded what would happen to the Padomas. At that moment, when Tenebrosia was caught off-guard, Taralon charged it. Her nails turned into charcoal-colored claws that flowed of magic. Before the Maiden could even react,
Taralon's claws pierced deep into her abdomen; Tenebrosia's eye was shaking in terror as she dropped Chateau Scapegrace. It landed with a heavy crash on the marbled floor as blood came dripping from the penetration in her stomach. Taralon plunged it deeper as she rested her chin on Tenebrosia's shoulder. In her aged dry and cracked lips, Taralon whispered coldly in her ear, "I told you, you should've just given up. And now, I'm going to take control of your body once you're at the brink of death, use you like a puppet for the rites to birth this world's new history… and that child would be gone by the hour the earth is reborn."
The cruel woman pulled her claws harshly, as streaks of velvet droplets coated them. They were as if veins crawling around the shape of the sharp nails. Tenebrosia dropped to the ground and laid on her left-side, clutching her abdomen and groaning weakly, yet some sort of fury began to ignite within her. "You should've listened to me. However, your attachment to the boy blinded you– constrained you, made you weak." Taralon coldly said, her tone was cold and sarcastic pity to the woman under her feet. Taralon moved slightly backwards to see Tenebrosia's entirety. "Calling me weak…? Ha!" Tenebrosia laughed, hand still in her abdomen and applying pressure to stop the bleeding. "You ambushed me, but this whole time… I've been beating your arse I thought you would've broken a hip trying to defend yourself. Getting too frail to fight, you debilitated, ancient hag?" Tenebrosia weakly laughed. This caused Taralon's wrinkly grin to slowly jerk into a frown as her eyebrows lowered and her eyes twitching. "Enough of your mouth," she growled before extending her arm and gripping the air roughly.
This caused Tenebrosia to wail in pain as corrupting magic flowed through her abdomen and into her internal parts. "This is our clan's forbidden magic. I never would've thought we had abandoned such… devastating yet effective techniques of the ancient past." As Taralon's extended arm continued to grip the air and slowly turn Tenebrosia to end up just like the other abominations, she looked at the atmosphere. The reincarnated Hydra, the serpent, has already slaughtered many and wreaked mayhem everywhere. It screeched towards the red sky and heaven has split open as the angels boom their trumpets, and several more portals to the underworld began appearing more frequently, with demons crawling everywhere and causing more terror to the alliance. "Look at it, Tenebrosia! Splendor at the delight of a rewritten history!" She gleefully laughed.
But for Tenebrosia, her consciousness is slowly going into a blur and everything in her body is feeling nothing but overall physical agony. But determination fueled her to keep herself alive, and it was only Sekai that was in her mind. Fury rushed within her brain, cutting all logic, driven to pure instinct. The Maiden got up and rushed at Taralon, who was looking at the horrifying show that began to further consume Windstrew. Before Taralon could even react, Tenebrosia had already rushed in front of her. Time had seemingly slowed down around them. Taralon looked at her with such terror and surprise, and Tenebrosia's pupils had gotten smaller. Before the former could even scream or defend herself, Tenebrosia coated her right fist with powerful magenta flames and punched it deep into Taralon's face.
A clean assault; the flaming fist went through, instantly killing Taralon. Tenebrosia created a hole on Taralon's face that completely consumed her eyes, nose, and forehead. The blood and organic material that tried to coat her clutch were instantly burnt to ashes from the fire that wrapped around the Maiden's fist. Taralon's body dropped with a pathetic thud when Tenebrosia's fist came out of her skull. The other half of the Unenlightened Seer's power began to swirl out of her lifeless body, and the Maiden simply looked down on Taralon's corpse with cold apathy. Tenebrosia's clothes had already stained with her own blood from the injury in her abdomen.
The power that was swaying in the wind forced itself to Tenebrosia, causing the Maiden to suddenly back away as extreme physical and psychological pain began to surge through her body. The halves of the Unenlightened Seer fused into one within the soul of the woman, making Tenebrosia the sole inheritor of the god's power. Suddenly, a massive pillar of violent and brilliant magenta colored light burst from Tenebrosia, consuming both heaven and earth with its reach.