“You think a couple of fancy swords will kill me? My brothers were weak…”
Before the demon even finishes, Elina forms a pure ball of energy and shoots it into the gaping mouth. The impact detonates, lighting the whole side of the mountain in a bright flash of pure light. She stands at the center surrounded in amber colored flames with what’s left of the demon, watching it burn to ash.
Blocking his eyes from the explosion Jake turns back to the demons still fighting and doubles his efforts to destroy them all.
The death of their leader has slowed the demons because of the confusion from the blast. The reprieve lasts a few moments when a low howl erupts from their ranks.
Jake and his brethren are attacked with even more intensity. Demons fling themselves at their battle line desperate to reach the Keeper who destroyed their Leader. The humans fight, beat, sever, club, and brawl to deny the wave of evil that falls upon them.
Jakes body begins to slow from the effort and multiple wounds. He had lost his whip earlier in the fight and now battles with his military combat knife which is always with him from his days in the service. Its black blade is now covered in the gore of the numerous kills he has made. Exhaustion feels like it is just around the corner looking at him, but he still he fights on. His brothers in arms fight with all their souls to not allow the demons to gain any ground.
When it looks like they have no more energy to even stand Jake hears a battle cry from behind the line of monsters opposing him and he sees a serrated toothed club take the head of the demon standing in front of him. A spray of dark blood and the dead creature falls to the ground. Standing behind it is Makaio with death showing in his eyes.
“I see you saved some for us. Well fought Jake, now let’s finish this!” With that, he turns and jumps into the fray with his brother Lau and Kale.
“Hot Damn! The cavalry just arrived! Let’s go!” Jake yells to the men fighting beside him with renewed vigor.
Makaio and his brethren Lua, having made their way down the mountain side and slams into the backs of the unsuspecting demons. Their weapons had been blessed and anointed with Holy Power before beginning this hunt, so the creatures do not stand a chance against the Lua’s small force. They just don’t know it, yet.
Attacked from the rear the demons turn to meet the new threat and howl with hunger for fresh blood, thinking these humans easier prey than the Keepers at their front.
The monsters leap forward to attack the fresh meat only to have the front runners of the pack incinerated by the Lua’s shark toothed battle clubs and volcanic glass blades.
Jake and his brothers watch as the horde shift to face the Lua and use the short time to reload and clear their weapons of debris from the battle.
With a second to think, Jake searches for Elina to see if she needs help. All he sees is a burnt crater and blasted trees where she had been standing. Worrying, he quickly looks for her thread while he reloads his pistol with his last remaining clip of ammo. In his mind’s eye he sees the golden threads of the keepers but no trace of Elina, she must be blocking her thread. With a look at his men and a sigh he starts running up the mountain side with them to clean up the rest the demons with the Lua.
After the flare of the explosion died down, Elina stands looking at the remains of the creature she had slain. She feels drained.
“Another of his sons killed. How many of these monstrosities do I have to burn before this is done?”
She turns and hears the noise of battle further up the mountain. Bending down, she sifts through the ash looking for her swords, all she finds is the melted hilts.
“Well, I won’t be using those again,” With a flash she ports towards the battle still raging, hoping to finish it and save the lives of the brave warriors who are fighting it.
Elina drops in at the edge of the battle, intending to fight her way towards the center and kill as many demon spawn as she can on the way. She listens and begins moving in the direction of the loudest fighting. As she stalks through the forest, she sees piles of ash and gore everywhere. There are clumps of demon bodies scattered around that are still smoking from the grievous wounds they had suffered.
She breaks through the low brush into a clearing. She sees the battle she was hearing before. Makaio and his Lua are fighting a much larger horde of monsters.
She watches for a moment and hope dawns in her eyes. Judging by the smoking dead and dismembered demons she crossed on the way to this clearing, the Lua are the source of all the carnage!
With every strike of a war club or shark toothed sword, a demon falls screaming in pain. Some of the Lau are using only their hands to smash in the creature’s faces and jaws. Others are just snapping arms and legs with hard strikes that can be heard as the bones break. They leave the writhing bodies on the ground behind them for the heads to be taken by sword as they move forward in a mass of bodies and claws.
Elina is awestruck by the show of determination and ferocity of the Lua as they fight. She knew they were skilled warriors, but she was not expecting to see so few bring the demons to their knees and destroy them.
Makaio is a righteous force unto himself. With every strike there is a
