Thal

Amy

In the mid darkness of the night, disgust flared in her heart, her frowning face shadowed by the giant’s conifer.

She gazed down at the village of wood and thatch surrounded by walls of brick. A ziggurat dotted the center as a place of worship. Demon worship. Her face wrinkled upon seeing that blasphemous place. The village was absent of hope and life. She heard Alistair’s hands flex and crack, agreeing with her sentiment. He spat down, shearing a tree branch free to crash to the ground. Her eyes widened at seeing his ridiculous display.

“Don’t make too much noise, you’ll give us away!” she chastised with a raspy whisper.

Alistair briefly glanced back to her before resuming his brooding.

“Don’t like demons.”

She used her angelic sight beyond sight, viewing the ziggurat’s rectangular pyramidal structure. Stairs and ramps crisscrossed up the facade to the shrine above.

That means they believe there's only 'one way', but many paths to get there. Lucifer’s is better; one large pathway to her! It's tall, putting them on high. About as subtle as the brick it's made from!

She spotted the glistening blood staining the altar, seeing it had flowed down the ramp, almost reaching the bottom. It was difficult to tell how fresh it was; blood acted differently in this new reality compared to the old world.

Blood sacrifice for appeasement or atonement. How awful!

The only thing she could divine was that the ziggurat saw frequent use.

“Never understood why they do this,” he spoke up, interrupting her theories.

“Well Ali, they do this-”

“Alistair.”

“Nyeh! Alistair- OK? Well, Alistair, they do this because demons are parasitic. They absorb the spiritual energies released from different acts. Emotions, particularly strong emotions are like a feast for them. They feed and get stronger. It’s so busted if you think about it! Even Faithful Ones don’t have that!”

“No, just feel better after,” he replied.

“Right! Because Faithful Ones feel rejuvenated mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically after eating! Although in the old world, humans had to eat… Anyways, if a person made something and put his heart and soul into it, creating a masterpiece, a demon could feast on the radiating energies of that item!”

“But why all of this?” he gestured to the village’s bloodied ziggurat.

Amy’s face crumpled revealing the worst of it.

“Because there is no higher energy to feast upon for a demon than bloodshed and anguish. Combined with other emotions or acts, disperses far more energy than the sum of its parts. Mix sacrifice with fear, heightened aggression, and even… copulation- ulkgh-...” she gagged. She hated even thinking about it.

Alistair’s face twisted briefly, showing her those stern eyes from before.

He experienced it. Either himself or witnessing another being sacrificed… Those scars...

She felt a pang of sympathy for the boy, he was just like her-

Nyeh! Don’t fraternize with the enemy! He’s still a bully and I won’t have feelings towards him- no way!

“Let’s go.”

The boy looked down off of their summoned platform, hiding amongst the outlying treetops of the giant conifers. He appeared anxious, as if heights were no friend to him.

“Wait, we can’t just go in! We need a plan,” she grasped the boy’s blue rags.

He turned, giving her that intense look that had flustered her during their duel.

“Fire with fire?”

“Exactly! I’m going to summon my demons hordes and we’ll let them do the fighting!”

“Hordes? Why didn’t you use them during our fight?”

The boy’s question cut deep into a wound she didn’t enjoy having poked. She growled back at him.

“Because I- nyeh! I don’t do well in the heat of the moment! OK!? When we fought, I was frozen- OK!? You scared me and I couldn’t think!”

“Was scared, too.”

“What!? No that’s- that’s not true at all!”

She felt the boy was without guile, his truth shone clearly to her soul. She sputtered and stammered.

“Trained a lot. Became second nature. You need to train more.”

She felt a kick in her gut at his assessment. She didn’t need more training! She was the best! And yet… a boy had beaten her. Other angels had beaten her. She thought back, realizing she had only ever won fights against lesser demons since her release from Gehenna. Other angels used her for their own pleasure. She was powerless.

“Abezethibou…”

“Huh?” the boy raised his eyebrows at the unknown word.

“This must have been why Lucifer sent me. She knew I am weak. She wants me to be stronger…”

“Lucifer?”

Amy perked up, unable to contain speaking of her god.

"Lucifer is amazing! She's the god of all! She loves everyone and is so kind and amazing and-"

"Thought Adonai was God of everything."

Amy sputtered and stammered at the mention of that name.

"W-w-what!? Don't say that name I won't stand for it! No sir!"

"Why? Gave me this, too."

She glanced down at his left hand as he unraveled the tightly wrapped rag. She thought it was because he fought with his fists, but kicked herself when she remembered his flesh was like steel.

Upon the boy’s left dorsum was a mark more akin to a black tattoo. Amy’s soul trembled upon seeing it. She burned and ached with guilt and shame of ages past. A lifetime ago before the war of heaven. The name of her betrayer.

The symbol was:

יהוה

“No… It can’t be…”

She backed up as the boy eyed her with worry.

“He branded you with the Tetragrammaton! How could He!? Does Adonai not respect anyone!?”

The boy raised his brows, blinking back at her.

“That’s what it’s called. Te-truh-gram-ah-tun. Uh, and He asked. I said ‘yeah’. Gave it to me after I rescued my parents. Said it would help.”

“Help? Help!? If that dummy were here right now!”

“Why? Want one too?”

“NO! I don’t want-” she caught the boy giving her a sly look, “hey, don’t be a big idiot!"

He shrugged, smirking at her.

"Touchy subject?"

Amy folded her arms, huffing back at the boy. She had no time for arguing.

"Yeah, it is! Look- I'm trying to get Thrones, powerful artifacts- you're trying to punch demons. Let's help each other and leave it at that!"

He let out a grunt, gazing down off of the platform.

"Don't like being off the ground…"

"What? Afraid of heights?" she began to tease.

"Nah. Lose some powers."

"Powers? Like what?"

"Oh. Strength of the Golem. Really good."

Oh my, Lucy, he has that!? A strength multiplier if his feet are ground-bound?

"Goes well with Samson's Strength," he swept back his long pristine hair.

This- this lug head is unbelievable. Two major abilities and the Tetragrammaton- I mean as long as he keeps to the ground and never cuts his hair… But still- those two plus a Faithful One's natural strength is overkill! Nyeh! Focus! Stop admiring your enemy! He's super bad and working for Adonai too! But… It doesn't sound like he really knows what's going on. He’s not that smart either… Kehehehe, like putty between my fingers!

She glanced down at the Seal.

“So… What does it do?”

“Don’t know. It’ll come to me.”

She blinked vacantly. Adonai was always cunning in his schemes.

"OK! So the plan is I summon tons of demons, we overwhelm them and smash the village to pieces. We keep the head honcho alive enough to tell us everything and then you can punch him!"

"Only get to punch head poncho? Doesn't sound fun anymore."

Amy went deadpan. She rubbed at her temple, trying to comprehend the boy.

He really is a big idiot… How did I lose to him, again?

"Of course you punch everything that gets in my way! Keep them off me so I can cast magic! And that's head honcho- not poncho! The chieftain! The big cheese! Big kahuna! The leader! I cast magic, you punch things! Got it?”

He nodded with a shrug. She began lowering the magical platform to the ground, clicking her silver stave against the glassy floor.

“Kehehehe! Let’s begin the attack!”

“Oh. Alright.”

The boy sprang and lept, vanishing with a snap towards the village. Amy just stood there, dumbfounded. The cries of night animals rang out as a gentle breeze swept her robes. She slumped, unable to process the boy’s impetuousness. And idiocy.

“Oh, dear! Nyeh! Hurry, hurry, hurry!”

Amy canceled the platform, leaping to the ground. She stuck the landing for a brief second before her tangled robes caught her legs, tripping her to the forest floor.

“Oof… Oh, come on!”

She got back to her feet, calling her three demons back into existence.

Gup, Henry, and Revent all appeared in pillars of black light. Revent got down on his knees, head bowed.

“Amy, my lord, I have failed you-”

“No time, Revent! Go and protect Alistair- that big idiot!”

The taller demon shot to his feet, gathering up Gup and Henry before flowing away in the dark shadows of the night. She sighed, hoping it would be enough. She cracked her fingers. It had been ages since she did actual invasions. She grasped the deep power inside herself, molding it into what she desired.

First, the core, to bring the army into being.

A violet crystal sphere materialized into being, her very will calling it into existence.

Second, the demons, called by the crystal sphere.

She chose a mix of different demons. Her special trifecta of imp brawlers for brute force, imp crawlers for sneaky attackers, and imp rakes for ranged support.

Finally, lash in place, feeding off dark matter.

She cut the connection to the sphere, forcing it to draw power from dark matter instead. It would keep running until deactivated or destroyed. Fifty pillars of violet light blossomed beneath the thrumming sphere. The mob was split evenly between brawlers, crawlers, and rakes.

The brawlers were all cookie-cutter from the one at the tea party earlier. The crawlers skittered on all fours, thin, and covered in that black rubbery flesh. It sported long-clawed tri-fingered hands, narrow eyes and a mesh of hanging flesh where it's mouth should have been. The rake was more human in mannerisms than the previous demons. Wrapped in black rubbery robes that ended with a pointed cowl, they gazed on with a large glowing red eye. They sported foot long blades peeking out from their robe sleeves, capable of firing them as projectiles.

"Alright! Go attack that village. If anyone resists, end them! If there are no more threats, defend me! Oh, and Alistair too!"

The imps marched off towards the village with the crawlers rushing ahead, breaking away from the main body.

Another fifty pillars of light flashed out, revealing another mob. They marched off behind, keeping to her previous orders. The sphere knew her will.

She began her own preparations, glancing to the village only upon hearing the thundercrack boom. Alistair Vaughn was wrecking it already.

That big idiot better not beat up the leader too much!

More demons materialized, given life by the crystal sphere. It would eventually reach critical mass, making a long traffic jam to the front line.

"Angel's Might."

Amy glowed with golden light for a brief second.

Doubles my strength.

"Wall of Nehemiah."

Three phantom brick walls rushed circles around her before vanishing.

Three, one-time use, invulnerable walls.

"Defensive Autocast: Rith Step!"

A fae spell, it’ll keep me mobile against threats.

"Offensive Autocast: Gatling Missile!"

A basic attack spell to keep sneaks and spooks away!

She nodded, feeling the powers rush through her like new limbs. She needn’t speak the words, but it felt right for buffs, keeping her mind in order. Another fifty demons materialized and she shuffled behind them for protection. She could hear the bedlam skirmish in the village beyond. The brick wall had already crumbled. The demon mob poured in, fearless and savage. There were some humans scrambling to the remains of the fortification, firing down with crude weaponry. Flash, crackle and smoke, all signs of powder weaponry. Demons began to drop, riddled with holes.

One of the humans spotted her. She didn’t know how they did, between her bright colors and silver stave, she should have been obscure!

One opened fire, the canon of a gun blasting at her. She exited reality, entering back into the current dimension several feet away from where a crater remained of where she stood before.

“Big mistake, you big idiot!”

A blue sphere with a triangular barrel appeared, shrieking out a long line of flowing yellow bolts, rushing off to the human atop the walls within a split second. He only had time to gasp as the rounds detonated into him, shattering the wall in a wave of fragmented explosions. The sphere traced a long line across the wall, sweeping it completely. Demon and humans were reduced to a fine mist as the fortifications broke up to high-velocity shrapnel.

Oh. Might have been too big of a spell. I got forty of my own demons… Oh, dear!

She spotted three golden soul motes. Humans. She focused her will, trying to gather them. They rushed away, traveling to something else in the village.

“Nyeh! Someone else took my souls! I won’t stand for it- no sir!”

She shuffled up to the remains of the wall’s cornerstone, spotting a still standing watchtower.

Rith step.

She only thought the words and it was done. She had long ago learned the truth of magic. She still verbalized from time to time, but wasn’t restricted by it. She blinked in and out of existence inside the watchtower. She spotted her second Faithful One up close. Except he looked too drained, too twisted and corpse-like for anyone to mistake it for a human. The man was aiming down, firing into the demon horde inside the village square.

“Hey, you big idiot!” she swung her silver stave down, shattering the man’s right shoulder and gun arm. He cried out and wailed as he turned, showing her white eyes mixed with fear and rage. He took a brief second to sniff at her, his tattered hair and gaunt face more akin to a beast than a person. All the results of demon worship. You were either a leader in charge of demons or food for them. He let out a shrieking wail as he charged her, good arm clawed to grasp her.

“Be quiet and listen!”

She slapped the main, the side of his head collapsed, his neck snapped at an odd angle, and he barreled over, going still. She blinked vacantly.

That was a Faithful One? Was Alistair unique?? Wah! I slew him…

She kicked at the body, which remained unresponsive to her nagging.

“Hey- you big idiot get up, I need to ask you a few questions! Oh, come on!”

She bent down, touching the body with her hand. She felt a pang of guilt. It was probably for the best.

Disintegrating Hand.

She touched the body and a wave of charring energy passed through it, reducing the twisted and ruined human to dust. She grasped the soul mote in her hand. It suddenly snapped away again somewhere in the village.

“Oh, come on! Wah! My soul!”

She stamped her feet at seeing the mote flow off to the ziggurat. She was mad. More demons poured through the shattered wall. Cries of anguish and shouts of rage rang out. She spotted Alistair in the village square dueling a larger demon, surrounded on all sides by the clash of both forces. He was struggling. Her demons aided him, keeping back as support. At least they were somewhat smart.

“Alistair! That big idiot!”

She sprouted her tiny crow wings and flapped them madly as she rushed to his aid.

“Armor of the Righteous!”

Alistair glowed with magic as the larger demon he battled swiped with large clawed hands. The boy blocked, pressed back by the attack. The demon itself was close to nine feet, hunched over and wrapped in chains hooked into its flesh. It appeared to be a major growth variant of a brawler. Its skull-shaped head sported crooked teeth, an empty skull nose, and the all too familiar bug eyes of its ancestry.

Kehehehe! Now, this- this is a demon!

A spear of shadow shot from the ground, glancing off of the greater brawler’s hide. The larger demon gave a raspy, death rattle laugh, eyes focused on the smaller assassin demon.

She touched down near Gup, seeing the thief demon prowling low, waiting for an opening that would never come.

“Master- Amy. Uh. Master! We are helping protect boy!”

She rolled her eyes at Gup. he was flustered. Alistair ran to the demon’s side, suddenly changing directions and dashing into the greater brawler’s leg. The boy wrapped his scrawny arms around the ankle and heaved.

The demon rasped a laugh as it jumped skyward. Alistair, let go, tumbling to the ground as he rolled to recover. Alistair look up and scrambled. The boy grasped a handful of stones, tossing them skyward in a panic as he focused on dodging the rain of chains. The attached hooks slammed into the ground, aiming for Alistair. The demon dropped, impacting against the ground, sending most of the forces on both sides stumbling. The chains retracted back into the demon’s body. It grinned, cocking its head at the group.

“Demon’s strong,” Alistair muttered.

“Right? Next time wait for me, you big idiot!”

Lava Splash.

She sent a gout of molten magma at a group of strange scarecrow looking demons that had broken through, incinerating them and cordoning off the right flank. The lava bubbled and flowed, spreading fast.

The demon spoke, interrupting them. His voice was raspy, like the dying last words of a doomed man.

“A cultist? Why ruin the good truce we had?”

Amy was confused until she remembered Alistair had also mistaken her for one of those mysterious cultists. It’s because red was the best color! She rolled with it.

“A truce is temporary. Power is eternal!”

The boy looked back at her, nonplussed by her words.

“I’m not good at improv!” she mouthed back.

She turned to the demon, clutching her stave.

“Oh well, forget it- Supremacy!”

The demon’s face contorted in pain as it writhed under the spell’s immense pressure. It buckled to his knees.

Kehehehe! All mine!

It shook free of her spell, its face twisting in a sudden knowledge and fear. It then turned and lept in rush, bounding and shooting a large hooked chain to the ziggurat before retreating.

“What!? No one can resist that spell!”

“Really?” Alistair shot back.

“No! Not unless he’s… Oh. He already has an owner! Wah!”

She glanced around, seeing her own forces were beginning to fall. The strange mummified demons were fighting as a coordinated team using farming tools to fight back, with many grouping up to take down individual demons. One on one, they appeared to fall like any other.

“Supremacy!”

Three of the mummified scarecrow demons snapped to, marching them through the front line of her brawlers meet them.

“Oh! That’s a new one! Look, Alistair, it’s an imp serf! The demon is actually three in one! They perform menial labor and work, but can fight savagely in teams!”

“So?”

Amy stared daggers at him for not understanding why demons were so cool. The boy pried a large cobblestone free, spinning and chucking it towards the oncoming mob of serfs. The village square erupted as the cannon blast thundered out, kicking up swirling dust as the stone crashed through the center of the mob, sending limbs and bodies flying. The rock skipped along the road, impacting the blacksmithy at the corner. The building lurched and collapsed in a heap. Long streaks of black blood and gore were all that remained from the strike.

She counted thirty-some-odd slain and even more damaged. She felt her little thief demon leap onto her back, grasping her with his trembling form.

“Gup, get off me!”

She gripped his lizard head and slammed him to the ground. He let out a raspy winded whine. She turned to her rat king as he gazed back at her with a squeak.

“You! Henry! Go find a place to hide, and then hit them with everything!”

“Skreeee?”

“Everything!!”

The rat jumped at her shout, scurrying away into a nearby building.

“Revent, guard us!”

Revent bowed, melting down into her shadow.

“And Gup? You know what? Go check the houses for stuff! Steal anything and everything you can!”

The thief perked up, rolling to all fours as he grinned.

“Uh! Yes!”

He scampered off towards the backline.

“Hmph! That’ll keep that little thief busy.”

She felt Henry was in place. He began doing what all rat kings do best, emitting their degrading and debilitating aura, sapping the life ever so slowly from everything in the surrounding area. In this case, the demon serfs and the now reinforcing humans. She saw the demons slow, suddenly lethargic. Three were cut down by the shooting blades of a single rake.

Gup was defeated.

“Oh, come on!”

Amy stamped her foot at Gup’s death. Again. Not ten seconds into getting her orders. It would take about three times as long to resummon the big idiot. Her eyes went wide at spotting the humans rolling in the heavy artillery. An anti-personal gun emplacement.

“Oh no, you don’t!”

She pointed her stave and cast her spell.

“Fireball!”

Grapeshot.

She had flustered up her spell. Casting a grapeshot spell when she intended to incinerate the twisted humans. The modern artillery of a spell cracked forward as a large fast moving cloud of steel. Serfs and humans alike were shredded to paste and mist, the artillery cracked and buckled to pieces as many dove for cover.

“Oh. Well.”

Amy’s mind expanded with sudden possibilities at her mistake. Alistair stared back at her, cocking an eyebrow, his hands full of loose rocks.

“Uh. What was that?”

Amy smiled, laughing at her breakthrough.

“Kehehehe! It’s one of my many tricks!”

She did it again.

“Shadow Lances!”

Fireball.

The fireball grew to the size of a wagon, rushing off the tip of her staff as it skipped along the ground, detonating each time it struck. Buildings burned, demons crumbled to ash and twisted Humans cried out as they caught fire. The eastern village square was ablaze, as the fireball detonated into the collapsed blacksmithery. Her forces rushed through the gaps crashing down atop the resisters. Many of the twisted and broken humans halted, cowering in fear, their damaged and drains mind snapped under the pressure.

“Kehehehe! Look at this Alistair! I’m the best!”

His eyes were wide at her sudden destruction. The initiative was theirs. More of her horde poured through the ruins, crawling, smashing, and shooting their way through. The bodies of the serf imps crumbled to piles of ashes. She shuffled along, making her way to the bloodied ziggurat.

She spotted the large demon atop the ziggurat. It bellowed a challenge. She felt a large magical release. Serf imps piled out of the buildings, alleys and even the water well.

"A reinforcement spell… That's really good!"

Alistair gripped another cobblestone, tossing it at one of the pouring entrances. The imps splattered to pieces, the building shuddered and then gave a final groaning cry before collapsing.

"Surrounded," he glanced around, see Amy's demon horde being pushed back. They were now the front line.

Amy nodded. The greater demon waited at the right time to use his spell. But so did she.

"OK! Hey Alistair, watch this! Feast of Ashes!"

The mounds of ash populating the village began to billow and flow, creating a dust storm. She began feeding it into her demon horde, amplifying their power. Going from an imp to a demon was a large jump in power. Sentience was a powerful thing.

She watched as her brawlers sprouted blades and armor from their bodies, the crawlers bristled with spikes, the rakes gained dozens of bladed limbs to fire. The serf push halted as the newcomers were quickly cut down. The storm of ash subsided, leaving the village bereft of the demon remnants.

The mob of serfs rushed at them intending to skewer them with farming tools. Alistair prepared to rush in, but Amy gently gripped his shoulder.

"Allow me!"

Her blue sphere appeared again, the triangular barrel poked out, shrieking a volley yellow tracer rounds of death. A serf took a single round to the chest, the explosive round blasted him in half, splattering his comrades with black blood. The sphere swept a long line, cutting down the first, second, and third lines of imps. The village square was all but emptied of enemies due to Amy's strike, leaving her now buffed up mob of demons to push freely. Buildings began to collapse, mayhem was had, and many of the remaining twisted humans were herded to the center. The demon atop the ziggurat bellowed a challenge. She felt nothing but anger and frustration from the evolved brawler.

Winner, winner, chicken's get dinner.

She didn't understand the butchered saying, but it rhymed at least.

She glanced to the three serfs of her own, each waiting for her orders. She didn't have time for these stooges.

She summoned Gup again with a black pillar of light announcing his return. He plopped on his rump, rolling to his back before he scurried to his feet, hefting his sack.

"I tried," he announced.

Amy rolled her eyes at his excuse, pointing to the serfs. They shrunk down into a combined idol and rattled to the cracked cobblestone. She looked down to the demon thief and he gazed back, blinking vacantly at her. She gave him a good bonk for not reading her thoughts. It wasn't like he could- Gup should just know these things!

Her demon whined, rubbing his poor assaulted skull.

"Store the new guys, you big idiot!"

Gup scrambled and collected the small demon idol, depositing it in the sack. He looked back, giving her a dumb proud grin.

"Gup… You just picked something up and put it in a bag. You'll need to do more than that to get praise from me, mister!"

Gup wagged his tail at her 'praise'. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. The battle began to die down, the last of the imp serfs were being torn to pieces, the twisted humans were being rounded up like shivering, starving beasts. There were a good twenty or so people all in various states of injury. They were thin, emaciated, barely sentient, closer to broken animals. She felt an anger blossom. These were Lucifer's people; all of humanity was. To see them mistreated and slain in such a cruel fashion pricked her heart. She looked to the ziggurat to see the demon waiting above. She sensed the presence of two up there. One was a greater, the other an elder.

She looked to Alistair, catching his stern look. She matched it with her own.

"Come on, Alistair, let's go punch some demons."

He cracked his knuckles, wiping away the blood on his brow. They all marched behind her as she shuffled to the ziggurat, taking her time to build up a force to surround it. She halted at the ramp, looking up at the night sky. The sun was beginning to rise. No doubt others would sense the commotion and investigate. She had little time left.

Gup trailed behind, eyes bugging out at the size of the temple.

"It's big!"

"Yeah, Gup, it is. When we're done, no brick will be left- no sir!"

"Let's go," Alistair replied, beginning his ascent up the ramp.

"Alright you demons, keep searching for others!"

Her demon horde scattered, searching and pillaging the buildings. They were close to a thousand in number now. She sensed deep, searching for the crystal sphere. There was confusion in the minds of the most current wave of demons inside the dark woods.

It was gone.

"What!?"

She turned to Gup, seeing the demon grinning at her. She gave him a good bonk, emitting a loud whine from the poor demon.

"Gup! Did you steal my summoning crystal?"

"Uh. No- master, I did nothing, except dying and pain!" he whined back.

She gripped her silver stave hard, frustration building at the sudden complication.

Forget about that now. Focus. Get those two demons!

They marched up the ramp. Henry was still hiding somewhere, emitting its draining aura. Gup scurried behind and Revent hid in her shadow. She'd figure out the survivors, remnants, and missing crystal sphere only after she dealt with the two idiots at the top. Amy and Alistair kept to the sides of the ramp, avoiding the raw blood. The strongest of her demon horde were advancing up the winding stairs to support.

I'm going to reduce this trash heap to a crater as a testament to Lucifer's wrath!

They reached the shrine, seeing the greater brawler off to the side, glancing from them to the elder demon. It paced the edge of the ziggurat, its chains jingling a torturous tune. Its eyes darted in what she could guess was concern. She looked to the elder demon, the owner of this village, the focus of all of the sacrifices. Alistair flexed his hands, the sound straining flesh a telegraphed intent. She gave the elder one single glance before voicing her thoughts.

"Oh, dear…"