We had been fighting for the last two hours nonstop. The demons and their dogs soon became a flood and my group with the two old hunters were eventually separated from Keeg’s group with the rest of the party. Still, the pair never slowed their rate of fire until a point where they indicated they were once again in need of ammo. At that point I tossed Henry the rest of the drums for the heavy plasma machine gun and lent Albert my AK. He frowned at the weapon, but took it nonetheless. Heh, definitely doesn’t like the ole’ commies. I spared a moment to chuckle inwardly.

Slowly the flood became a trickle and then the sound of hooves and claws on concrete receded into the darkness, the snarls of our enemies had ceased and all that remained were the moans of the tortured and dying that echoed from deeper within the former home improvement store. The demons’ rancid and sulfurous bodies were stacked haphazardly around us and climbing over them was not something I was interested in doing.

“KARL!” Keeg’s voice rang out from where we had left the other half of our group. “DO YOU AND MY HUNTER FRIENDS STILL DRAW BREATH!”

“YEAH! WE’RE HERE! A BIT BEAT UP BUT STILL FIGHTING!” I called back to the man.

“DO YOU WISH US TO JOIN YOU!?”

I looked at the stack of bodies and shook my head, “NAH! LET’S REGROUP FURTHER IN. I’M BETTING ALL PATHS LEAD TO THE BOSS!”

“INDEED! THAT IS ALWAYS THE CASE! MEET YOU THERE!”

With that settled we began our careful exploration of the only corridor we had access to without climbing bodies. We checked all the cages we could reach; they were stacked all the way to the ceiling. There were even some hanging from the rafters, limp arms and legs hanging listlessly through the gaps in the bars. The ones that we did check all held a human or dark elf in varying states of torture, all dead.

As we moved deeper into the complex the sounds of the yet living increased in volume, the occasional shriek of pain sent shivers down our spines and raised goosebumps across exposed flesh. We passed an aisle intersection and waited a moment and saw Keeg and his half of the party appear a dozen aisles away. They made to rejoin us and I stopped them with an upraised hand, The boss would be at the center of this madness, there might yet be people to save before that point, and we’d cover more ground in our current groups. With a quick swishing motion, Keeg caught on to my intent and continued on with my party further into the macabre aisles.

We did the same, occasionally checking a cage, then moving on without much preamble. It was clear the hunters weren’t taking this affront to humanity well. They lingered over the occasional caged dead, possibly recognizing the poor soul within, though never speaking of it out loud. We reached the back wall of the shopping area, human and dark elf skin was stretched at odd angles, piles of salt dotted the floor beneath the skins. We stared at the grotesque tapestry for a long moment before Albert broke the silence, “Tanning our hides.”

Keeg and the rest of my party rounded the aisles and halted before the skin wall, then turned to join us. We met in front of a swinging double door that would take us into the stock area. Orange light reached under the door from the other side, ominous and foreboding. I stepped back from the door and looked at Keeg, with a nod he stepped up next to me and at the same time we lunged forward with legs extended in front of us. With a loud crack and the sound of bolts sheering from wood, the doors tumbled noisily into the next room.

A pair of demons stood guard on either side of the doors which we quickly dispatched, taking advantage of their momentary shock to remove their heads before they could respond. After dispatching the guards, I looked out into an open-air storage area that had drastically changed since the demons took up residence.

The back of the building and roof was completely removed, lumber piles had been replaced with more cages where the only living people cowered in fear. In front of each cluster of cages was a demon and his work area, tables with various devices attached to them to restrain their victims so they could work on them with varying torturous implements. In the center of the area was a coal filled pit that stretched maybe fifty meters across.

At the center of the pit was a throne made of charred flesh and broken bone. The bodies fused together and contorted in such a way to create a tall seat back with armrests. The top adorned with the three charred and mutilated heads, all women, one dark elf and the others human. The armrests were capped in bony fists, the ivory color contrasting with the largely charred and fleshy atrocity.

Sitting upon the throne was the Great Demon, Ashoka, Torturer of the Damned. Ashoka largely presented himself in the popular biblical form, that of a half goat half man amalgamation of horror. His skin was bright red, the kind that results from third degree burns. Like the lesser demons we had faced he was naked from head to toe, nor did he wear armor. His fingers ended in thick black claws that looked as if they could rend steel. His feet ended in thick black hooves. His legs were covered in thick dark fur which ended mid-thigh. Curiously he didn’t have the head of a goat, rather he appeared human save for the fact his mouth and jaw were elongated to fit a double row of pointy yellowed teeth. His yellow goat eyes glared at me with unrestrained malice.

For a long tense moment no one on either side moved, both sides transfixed by the intrusion. Then Ashoka barked orders in a guttural harsh language to the demon torturers and they all sprang into action, charging from their work stations, careful to avoid running across the hot coals that surrounded the Greater Demon.

“Everyone knows what to do!” I barked my own order and a hasty defensive line was formed with myself and Keeg at the front, the hunters behind and to our flanks, and Carly and Stephen behind them with Courtney in the middle.

Nearly a dozen of the lesser demons rounded the space only to be met with a hail of plasma, lead, ice and physics based magics. Albert had quickly adjusted to the AK I had lent him and emptied a full magazine into the lead demon. It stumbled and slid face first across the ground streaking steaming and bubbling blood in its wake, a massive hole in its chest where Albert’s accurate and controlled fire tore it to shreds.

Henry similarly reduced the next two demons to steaming piles of glowing goo with a non-stop barrage of plasma. He smiled at the carnage he inflicted and calmly reloaded the weapon before repositioning to the side of the group while Carly and Stephen’s attacks came next.

An explosion of ice threw fragments across the massed group of demons who roared in pain and anger. Her attack was shortly followed by a dark beam of energy that speared out from Stephen’s outstretched hands and carved of limbs and flesh as it passed through the already stalled demon assault. Carly quickly followed with a spell I hadn’t seen her use before, [Black Ice], which layered the ground beneath the demons in a layer of nearly invisible smooth ice.

The remaining demons hadn’t time to halt their advance and when they tried, they found themselves sliding straight into Keeg’s sword and my axes. We quickly dismantled the lesser demons at that point, taking very little damage ourselves, all of which was quickly recovered by Courtney’s prodigious healing ability.

Ashoka stood as the last of his subordinates died to Keeg’s blade. He roared his fury, four meters of heavily muscled demon stalked forward across the hot coals, platforms of thick granite forming under his feet and then disappearing as needed. He reached down and pulled up a thick steel chain, blackened by fire, with a pair of large hooks on each end, as he stalked towards our position and lazily began twirling one end at his side.

“We got a big one here.” I muttered as Ashoka approached, fire in his eyes.

“And he’s now got some reach.” Keeg added the obvious assessment moments before Ashoka swung his chain in a wide arc.

The chain soared harmlessly over Henry and Albert’s heads as they had already taken up prone firing positions on each side of the room. It continued its violent path over their heads and bore down on the trio of Carly, Courtney, and Stephen. Courtney stumbled gracelessly to the concrete, and Carly roll backwards away from the vicious looking curved implements on its end.

Stephen was less lucky, as he had already been charging up a [Solar Flare] he was unable to move in time to stop the chain from smashing the bones in his left arm. His cry of pain was cut short when the pair of hooks pierced his flesh, sinking deep into the gaps between his ribs. Courtney cried out to her lover and instantly began channeling a heal into his body as blood began bubbling from his mouth.

Before we could move to aid Stephen the other half of the chain came whistling towards Keeg and myself. Keeg spun forward and braced his shield in front of swinging chain with the clatter of metal on metal. Before it could wrap around the tall dark elf, I dropped my axes and snatched the end out of the air and allowed it to wrap me up. One of the hooks slid harmlessly off my armor, while the other sank shallowly into my thigh. I grunted my displeasure then tightened my grip on the steel links as I felt Ashoka attempt to wrench it back.

“I don’t think so, asshole!” A violent game of tug o’ war began between me as the pair of hunters opened fire on the enraged demon. It flinched in annoyance, but the weapons had little effect on the hellish monster. “Keeg, unhook Stephen, I’ll keep this fucker busy!”

Keeg, who had joined in the impromptu match of tug ‘o war released his grip on the chain and moved to aid Stephen, “On it!”

Ashoka didn’t seem to like that idea and with a thought, fire rose up from the hot coals behind him and landed between Keeg and Stephen, blocking him from reaching the beleaguered young man. He hissed in frustration, then Carly was in motion again and allowed the full extent of her power to flare to life, quickly smothering the flames that had started to grow around the group. “GO! I’ll distract!” She barked at Keeg, who once again moved to free Stephen from his plight.

I wrenched hard on the chain on my end despite the pain in my leg and caused the Greater Demon to stumble. Carly began to hover in the dense air she created by virtue of her class, a pair of large spikes of ice hovering above each hand. Then she flicked her right, then left wrists and the huge projectiles shot forth with significant force. Ashoka released his grip on the end of the chain that held Stephen in time to only catch one of the projectiles in his shoulder. I yanked on my end of the chain as he tried to dodge the next projectile and was rewarded with an instant slackening in tension as the icy lance tore through his arm and removed it just below the shoulder.

I seized the opportunity to remove his weapon and began reeling it in to my position, he roared in pain and glared at Carly with venom in his eyes. He waved his remaining hand in front of him and a pillar of fire reached out from behind him and wormed its way towards the ice clad girl. She quickly erected a barrier of ice, unfortunately it didn’t have time to solidify as the pillar of fire condensed down into a spike and drove easily through her ice to splash across her chest. She was flung limply backwards through the room, trailing hot steam to slump unconscious against the back wall.

Keeg had just finished freeing Stephen who slumped in the overwhelmed arms of Courtney, who then immediately went to healing him. When Carly flew past them, she hooked an arm under Stephen's shoulder and quickly pulled him out of the fight so she could check on the other girl. Her [Battle Carry] skill was getting a workout in this fight. Keeg spun with shield raised and muttered a chant that ended in the release of an intense wave of holy energy lashing against the Greater Demon.

Ashoka roared his displeasure, then scooped up his severed arm and proceeded to reattach the limb right before our eyes. We watched in shock as first bone, then muscle and skin melded back together in less than a second. Ashoka flashed a hideous grin and clenched his fist a few times to ensure proper function then leaned forward and roared at us again.

The sound of the .50 caliber rifle drowned out the demon’s roar and caused him to flinch as a large chunk of his face was removed by the offending bullet. He looked with baleful eyes towards Albert who proceeded to fire another round which the demon ate with the shattering of grotesque teeth. Somehow this didn’t kill him, his teeth just strong enough to deflect the bullet. His head snapped back and he raised his arm to protect his face that was slowly healing.

“WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO OVERWHELM HIS HEALING! COURTNEY! HOW ARE THE KIDS!?!?” I yelled back to the girl tending to the two young mages.

“CARLY’S STILL UNCONCIOUS, STEPHEN NEEDS ANOTHER MINUTE!” She yelled back as Keeg charged to engage the demon at melee. His sword glowed white with holy energy that made Ashoka hesitant to engage, where his weapon cut, the demon didn’t heal. Henry aided the fight with timed bursts of plasma, while Albert attempted several times to place more .50 caliber rounds in the demon’s head.

I flanked to the side firing my 20mm Hand Cannon, the large slugs smashed into the Greater Demon’s body causing him to flinch repeatedly. Keeg capitalized on the distraction and cut large gouges across his guts. Ashoka didn’t take the abuse lightly; his claws were just as deadly as the hooked chain was and only Keeg’s durable armor and holy magic affinity kept him from taking mortal damage.

I [Mag Dump]ed the hand cannon into Ashoka’s guts, further opening the holy wounds Keeg had caused. In response we were both backhanded away from the demon. Pillars of fire rose up from the coals once again and attempted to consume the four of us that remained in the fight. I rolled back as the hot flames danced at my side and narrowly avoided his attack, Keeg doing something similar closed on the demon again. Meanwhile, Albert and Henry were scrambling not to get cooked.

CLAAAAAAAAAANG!

Ashoka met Keeg’s attack head on and the pair rebuffed each other. Ashoka moved to claw at Keeg’s neck, but the Dark Elf activated an ability that caused his shield to glow with holy light, he feinted to his right and Ashoka bought the bait. Keeg spun hard to his left and smashed a large chunk of the demon’s teeth from his mouth. Ashoka landed on his back and squirmed to get to his feet, Keeg jumped high into the air with his sword raised above his head. I charged to join the attack when Ashoka brought both legs up to mule kick Keeg’s falling form away.

As Keeg soared backwards through the air I activated [Reaper’s Fluid Grace] and slid into melee with the bloody demon. Ashoka sprang to his feet and swept his right hand at me. I ducked under the attack and activated [Cheap Shot], swinging my axe between his legs, splitting his massive red member down the center.

He stumbled back in shock, failing to defend against the [Brutal Strike] I aimed at his knee. To my surprise his leg came off at the point I struck it and he began to wobble where he stood, still in shock from the damage I had done to his manhood, the missing leg didn’t even register.

Keeg was by my side again swiping out for Ashoka’s other leg. His sword, infused with holy energy cut clean through his furry leg mid-thigh and the demon finished falling backwards, legless. “Let’s chop him to pieces!” I bared my teeth at Keeg in a grim smile.

“Indeed, lets.” Keeg responded as he batted Ashoka’s left arm a side, the demon was still trying to fight back, but the look in his eyes revealed he knew his defeat was imminent.

I casually walked up and kicked his right arm when he took a swipe at me and pinned his forearm to the ground. A quick activation of [Reaper’s Cleave] saw his arm flopping limply free of his shoulder. At the same time two quick slashes from Keeg’s empowered sword removed Ashoka’s other arm.

We kicked the offending limbs into the burning pit of coals then stood over the squirming demon who glared at us mercilessly. “He’s all yours.” I said as I turned to see to the rest of my party. The demon released a ground shaking roar that was cut short at its climax when Keeg chopped its head off.