Rebirth of the Nephilim

Syd leapt over streets and alleyways, her powerful legs propelling her forward as she chased after the two figures heading for Kastoria’s harbor. With every crunching landing, she drew closer to catching up to Noll and the Demon who was chasing him, but by the same token, each moment was accompanied by an increase in demonic activity. The crack of thunder echoed continually to the north, indicating that the line of impenetrable domes were casting their lightning spells; since Wilhelm and his companions were meant to create a distraction there once the fires started, Jadis could only assume that their approach had been spotted. That, or some greater opportunity for weakening the enemy had presented itself and Wilhelm had altered the plan to take it.

Glancing down as she flew across the gap between two buildings, Syd saw hundreds of Demons swarming out into the street below. They were all scrambling over each other in their haste to rush northward, the chaotic fervor clogging up the road. Such a condition wouldn’t last; Jadis had made many aerial attacks against the city, and she had seen how quickly the Demons reacted. The smaller Demons were always the first to swarm, but their movement was negligible. Soon, the charybdis would be crawling out of their hiding places and the acid sacks would be launched, while the Demons capable of flight would take to the skies, hunting for their enemies.

“Fuck,” Dys cursed as she rushed with Maeve up to the top floor of the mayor’s manor. “The flying Demons are going to leave their roost. They’ll be out before the runes go off!”

“Nothing we can do about it,” Maeve replied as she moved to look out the window. “Just focus on the main target.”

Together, they crowded the window of one of the rooms on the fourth floor that faced the south, overlooking the building that the Erinyes had claimed as her garden. They did not hide in the hidden smuggler’s room, even though its window had a better view; if possible, they wanted the tunnel system to go undiscovered, perhaps to be used again in the future. Besides, the next part of the plan wasn’t going to involve much stealth.

“I don’t see her,” Jay said as she watched the Erinyes’ garden. “She might stay inside.”

The Demons that were swarming out of some of the nearby buildings rushed past the corpse-filled structure, but none exited from the garden directly. With the walls and windows wide open, Jay had a view into some of the despoiled rooms, in which she could see some movement, but nothing that she could definitively claim was the Erinyes.

“I see her!” Maeve called out, pointing at the roof of the three-story structure. “West corner!”

Jay’s eyes flew to the spot, all her focus on the tall, slim figure that stood on the peak of the tiled roof. Her jaw tightened as a shiver ran down her spine. This was the Erinyes, the cultist who had attacked Soteria’s grove, destroyed their land, and murdered Meli’s brother. This was the monster that was using blood and corpses to fuel who knew what sort of awful, corrupting plagues that were being spread across Volto. This was the woman they had come to Kastoria to kill.

She looked even worse than Jadis had imagined.

Dark hair wound and matted together hung limply down to the small of her back. The stained robe wrapped around her shoulders looked something like a loose-fitting yukata, with sleeves that ended at the elbow and a wide cloth belt around the waist. The once blue material had been splattered and soaked in red blood, turning it a murky color where it had dried, though fresh red was visible on the cuffs and hem. Her hands were disproportionate to the rest of her, with fingers far too long, tipped with black, razor-sharp claws. Her feet were animalistic, similar to Noct’s when she was transformed, but with talons that curved viciously. The torso and legs of her robes had strange strips of white cloth pinned to them, and while Jay could not see clearly at her distance, she knew from Maeve’s description that the cloths were covered in strange scrollwork, not unlike the design of rune enchantments.

What Jay could see without any issue were the Erinyes’ eyes.

Huge and unsettlingly round, the cultist’s wide eyes reminded Jadis of an owl, except where black pupils should have been were shining white discs. The red of her irises was almost an afterthought compared to the horror of those pale, round orbs. Jadis couldn’t put words to the reason, but just looking at the Erinyes’ eyes sent a chill down her spine, then right back up again. They were disturbing in a primal way, as though some ancient part of her brain was warning her to flee from a predator before it heard her heart beating and focused those terrible eyes on her.

But Jadis wasn’t some prey animal hiding from a predator. She was the predator hiding in ambush. And the time had come for her to strike.

“Get ready,” Jay told Maeve as she mentally dismissed the minification spell.

“Already am,” the Fetch replied.

“Good,” Dys growled, clutching her axe in hand, eyes locked onto the Erinyes. “Because here—”

“—we go,” Jay finished before activating Knight’s Daring Charge.

The brick and stone of the building’s wall exploded around her as Jay and Dys rocketed towards lone cultists standing on the rooftop. Time almost seemed to slow as the distance between them closed to mere feet in only a moment. As her two bodies neared the Erinyes, weapons raised and ready to deal a killing blow, those baleful white eyes snapped onto her.

Then the roof exploded.

Shattered tile and splintered stone flew everywhere as Syd landed heavily on the roof of a harbor-side warehouse. Ahead of her was Noll and the figure pursuing him, only a hundred yards away. She had closed the distance chasing them, and she could see that man chasing her mentor was no Demon. It was possible that he was possessed, she supposed, but whether that was the case or not didn’t matter. The man was a threat, one serious enough that Noll had fled rather than fight.

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Not that Noll running meant that the one chasing him was the stronger of the two; Jadis had a hard time envisioning anyone in Kastoria being so strong that they would make the savage wolf flee in fear. More likely the man was simply too strong for Noll to finish quickly, which meant that for the sake of the mission, he had led the assailant away from their main target. However, if the armored figure was that strong, then it meant he was a valuable asset to the Demons, which further meant that killing him as well would be an additional blow to their enemy’s strength.

If the opportunity presented itself, then why not kill two birds with one stone?

Having just increased to her normal size, Syd quickly pulled one of the three hurlbats Sabina’s father had made for her from her belt. Without her sword staff, Syd was relying on the large handaxe she carried as a backup weapon, but she also had the three axe-shaped steel throwing weapons to use. Pushing off the roof just as she activated Knight’s Daring Charge, Syd used the sudden increase in momentum to hurl the throwing axe forward with even greater might than normal, aiming for the back of the unnamed figure that was leaping through the sky in pursuit of Noll.

By the time the hurlbat had reached her target, Syd had closed the distance even further, the power and speed of her leap putting her a mere few yards behind the projectile she had thrown. With battleaxe ready to strike, she was prepared to slam down onto the fucker that had stolen her sword staff the instant after her thrown weapon struck.

Except the hurlbat never struck its target.

Spinning around in midair, the man slapped the projectile that Syd had thrown with all of her strength to the side. He did not dodge. He did not parry. He slapped the hurlbat with a backhand like it was no more than an annoying fly. And as his spin carried him around, Syd got her first good look at the man who dared to pursue Noll.

He was a therion. The shape of his helmeted head told the story as much as his form, though there were notable features lacking. No tail. No horns. Just spikes. The man’s dark, rusty armor was covered in sharp, jagged spikes. Every part of the reticulated plate was spiked, so that that there was no part of him that could be touched with a bare hand that would not result in cut flesh. Jadis couldn’t imagine how he ever took the armor off or got it back on. Then again, looking at the state of the armor, she wasn’t sure that the therion ever removed it at all.

The spiked knight carried her sword staff in his left hand, but it was not his only weapon. A long, curved sword was sheathed as his side, and a flanged mace dangled off his other hip. There were daggers strapped to his arms and legs as well, as though he was prepared to pull a weapon from any part of himself at any moment. The man looked like a creature of war, an image only enhanced by his helm appearing as a snarling visage of a dragon.

As the distance between them shrank, Syd heard a rumbling growl of laughter come from the spiked knight.

“Bienvenue, chiot pale,” the man said before jabbing the stolen sword staff forward.

Jay and Dys crashed into a wall of vines and branches that exploded up out of the roof of the desecrated restaurant. Jay’s hammer crushed the unexpected shield of dark foliage, while Dys’ axe cut through with greater ease. Still, her aim was thrown and her charge deflected, giving the Erinyes the split-second opportunity to dodge, leaping away to land on the roof peak on the other side of the structure’s courtyard. Before the two of Jadis had even fully extracted their weapons from the tangle of flora, the cultist had launched forward in an attack.

Dark claws swiped at Jay’s helmet, sparking against her armor. She was forced to kick off the roof, backing away as each slash of the Erinyes’ hands left behind a cloud of toxic spores that burned her eyes and nose. Swinging her hammer up to parry an attack that followed her, Jay cursed at the sudden feeling of sluggishness that fell over her, slowing her movements down and making it far more difficult to handle the Erinyes’ rapid attacks.

Spinning to one side and using her left hand to jab with the pommel of her maul, Jay forced the cultist to duck back, skittering a few feet back across the roof. The maneuver was no more than a feint, however, as the Erinyes’ dodge forced her directly into the path of Dys’ axe. Swinging with all the power she had in her, she aimed to lop the robed woman’s head straight off of her shoulders.

Once again, the awful, unexpected sluggishness that was weighing her bodies down meant that her cutting attack was far slower than it would have been normally. She was still moving far faster than any common warrior would have been able to, but against an elite cultist like the Erinyes, her handicapped speed wasn’t enough. The woman bent forward, ducking below the cutting blow while simultaneously lashing out with one clawed foot in a mule kick that was aimed for Dys’ right knee. It would have been a crippling blow, but for the fact that Jadis’ defenses were undiminished.

Foot bouncing off of Dys’ knee to no effect, the Erinyes used her momentum to roll forward, dodging directly under Jay’s overhead attack. As the Demon bone war hammer slammed through the roof, the cultist rolled through her legs in an acrobatic tumble that brought her to her feet behind Jay. Of course, with her supernatural coordination, Dys was already leaping ahead, vaulting over her other self as she swung her axe again in a diagonal slice.

Again, the Erinyes dodged, spinning out of the way by a hair’s breadth. Following along with Jay and Dys’ movement, the fetid woman put her foot on Jay’s back, letting her own movement lift her after Dys, putting her in a position where she had grabbed onto Dys’ backpack. As Jay turned to see what was happening, she caught the glimpse of the Erinyes aiming her claws for the gap between her other self’s helmet and armor on the back of her neck.

The screech of pain that echoed in the air along with the rumble of spellcast thunder brought a small smile to Jadis’ lips.

Maeve’s hand twisted vindictively as she shoved the soul-attacking dagger into the cultist’s belly, dragging it upward as she went. The Erinyes immediately leapt away, pulling out in a panicked tumble from the Fetch who had been hiding inside Dys’ backpack. Maeve held onto her, ripping off a chunk of her arm flesh as the woman fled. The fact that she had been able to literally tear meat from bone with a bare hand meant that Meave had been able to activate her Strength boost for the sneak attack, though the fact that the Erinyes was still alive was a testament to her defenses, whatever they were.

Faltering in a stumbling gait as she tried to put distance between them, the deranged cultist threw her uninjured arm into the air as Jay and Dys turned to pursue. Another wall of vines and branches crashed upwards, sending debris everywhere as the barrier did its job of protecting its maker from another attack. As Jay leapt to the side, circling to the left around the foliage, Dys ran to the right, aiming to cut the Erinyes off from any escape. As she ran, Maeve’s voice called out in her ear.

“Why are you so fucking slow all of a sudden? Did she do something to you?”

“No,” Dys replied as she rounded the wall of thorns to see the gasping Erinyes clutching her bloody arm. “It isn’t her. It’s him.”

“Him? Him who?”

If she could have, Syd would have replied with some clever retort to Maeve’s question, despite there being at least a half-mile distance between them. Such a response did not find its way to her lips, however. She was preoccupied. Removing one’s own sword staff that had been shoved into one’s stomach was, frankly, the bigger focus.

The problem was, how to remove said blade when an insanely strong homicidal knight was holding the other end?