The Veteran (Midnight)

The night was dark, almost pitch black thanks to the young moon being obscured by cloud. Few would travel in wilderness on a night like this, certainly not without torches, but Lycan eyesight was unrivaled in the dark. A single feral brown eye shone in the low light, it's owner hunched in the dirt amidst some trees. A single clawed finger traced a shape imprinted in the mud, a footprint of some sort but unlike anything natural. The figure bent down, going so far as to sniff the track, producing a low growl.

The man straightened up, the sound of metal on metal clinking ever so softly as scale armour shifted. His eyes narrowed and he sniffed the air. It would be easy for most people to mistake the old Lycan for some sort of beast when he was hunting, his focus was so honed into tracking down his prey. The stench of demon was unmistakable on the air and his hand was already reaching for the massive six foot axe strapped to his back.

He strode forwards through the undergrowth, not silently but stealthier than one would expect for a creature of his size. there were demons not far from here, he could tell that much. What confused him were other tracks he had found that appeard humanoid in shape and a strange scent on the wind, not demon but unlike anything he had smelt even on the battlefield. It was something to investigate, but it did not scare or worry him unduly. The axe was in his hands now, and he ran a finger over some runes carved into the haft.

Deathsong would drink blood tonight.

Three inquisitors were tracking the demon. How such a powerful demon had come to be here so quickly miffed them, but for now they would have to focus on slaying the creature, answers were unlikely to be given anyway. The demon was of Greater Demon designation, this meant it was akin to a low to mid class of immortal, an old angel or a young archangel. These demons were meant to lead the demon armies, yet this one was here alone and cutting a fiery path through the wilderness as if it was after something specific, acting on orders even. But such a demon acting as an agent was rare, normally they would use a low class smoke demon because of its ability to take a host and blend, or if the task was particularly important an archdemon of some kind.

Of the three inquisitors one of them was an angel carrying a rather ornate spear and seemed to be the one in charge, the other was a melaer refugee who had come to join Midnight by strange means and she was carrying a sword and advanced pistol weapon, the final one was a blind girl with a black sash wrapped around her face, she was not immortal but seemed capable of running without bumping into anything, her weapons of choice were two medium length daggers of a curved arabian design. The trio were moving swiftly to follow the path of the demon and eventually managed to corner it against a steep embankment, the demon was almost as tall as the embankment, fiery with a massive flaming sword and the lower body of some four-legged demonic beast like a lion, the upper body was more humanoid and his two fiery wings stretched out threateningly behind him.

“Inquisitors!” The demon’s voice boomed out into the immediate area, the hellfire that consumed it flaring dangerously. “Go home and I will grant you the benefit of mercy!”

The trio looked at each other, well the blind girl turned her head but it was fairly obviously meant to share a look. They had never faced a demon of this kind that sought to avoid a fight, whatever it was after must be very important indeed if it was going out of its way not to partake in battle. But the inquisitors weren’t going to listen, before the demon could say anything more the angel leapt at it, spear in hand stroking a blow with a burst of brilliant white light following as the angel’s power coursed through the spear to the point to create cause maximum damage. The demon’s massive blade came up to parry the blow, causing to angel to plant his feet on the flat of the fiery blade and push off to land back with his two comrades.

This was going to be difficult, and the landscape likely wasn’t going to do well in the course of the fight. There was of course another element that hadn’t joined the fight yet in the form of the old veteran Lycan, tracking the same demon as the inquisitors and only a short distance behind them now.

Mordenn was but a few seconds out of sight of the group when the fighting started but his sharp senses had already alerted him to their presence. From the prints he had seen before he knew the demon was larger than he was accustomed to and so before coming into sight he made an effort to flank the creature as much as the embankment would allow, approaching from the side. When he finally caught sight of the creature, he paused momentarily despite himself. He had killed a great many powerful demons before but never one this large and he couldn't help but feel a stab of fear. He gripped his weapon a little more tightly and murmured a short prayer almost inaudibly, before finally charging into the fray.

It may have been his first time fighting anything quite so large but he had experience of similarly formed demons in the past. In a test of pure strength, the unholy creature would undoubtedly win with little effort, but that knowledge often made them arrogant. The trick, he had found, was to use that pride against them and cripple them while they underestimated their opponent. Hamstrung or missing an arm, the fight became a much more level playing field.

He made no sound as he charged, seeking to use the element of surprise to catch the demon. He approached from it's right side and kept running until he reached the left, aiming two powerful slashes at it's forelegs; at best, the strikes would sever tendons and make moving far more difficult for it. At the very least it should make it too painful for it to risk swiping with it's claws, of course a demon of this power may be resistant to the blows, he had no way to be sure. He spun round to face the creature once more, ready to dive to the side should an attack come. He spared a brief moment to glance at the others present- they looked human but seemed armed and prepared for the beast. Likely the only way any of them would leave here alive would be by working together. He noticed one of them held a strange device which judging from how she was pointing it, was some sort of ranged weapon. He cried out in the human tongue, his voice deep and sounding almost like a growl "Shoot the face! We need it distracted!"

Not waiting to see if he was understood, he focussed once more on the monster. The arm was his next target, remove the weapon from play if possible. He tensed his body, and yelled,practically howled a warcry at the beast. He wanted it to swing, was prepared to leap to the side, his plan to leap onto the massive arm and hack at the muscle. Risky to be sure, but he saw little better tactic.

The trio shared another look when this Lycan warrior leapt into the fray, going for the legs of the demon which reared up in response to the assault, about as surprised as the three inquisitors by this old Lycan’s sudden assault. The axe cut deep and made the beast cry out in a mixture of anger and pain, but cutting tendons it certainly did not, this creature was powerful enough to fight immortals and the axe was a curiosity that it could hurt him at all. But it was a boon the three weren’t going to simply send away because the wielder wasn’t an inquisitor, besides he seemed perfectly capable and he was even bellowing tactical advice, clearly a veteran of battles.

“I’ve got the face!” The melaer woman called for the benefit of all three who now fought with her, then raised her pistol and fired. Bolts of white energy shot toward the face of the greater demon, causing it to stumble in surprise with its blade raised to swipe at the time, the blade came thudding to the ground blindly causing the three inquisitors to have to scatter rather than Mordenn. As they leapt aside from the blow, the demon seemed momentarily dazed and blinded, shaking its massive head to try force the sensation away.

Sumi, the blind girl, took the opportunity to leap with agility up the rock face just behind the demon, aiming to land on its back using her twin blades to latch on as it inevitably reared up feeling her do so. She was on the beastly lower portion of its back, she crawled along it using her daggers to hang on. In the meanwhile, the demon seemed to regain its vision and swiped down toward Mordenn this time, its massive fiery blade colliding with the ground in a shower of dirt and melted rock when the hellfire touched the earth below.

“Distract it!” Eremial ordered, suddenly sprouting two brilliant white wings that seemed to momentarily dazzle the demon from the sheer light of them, almost as if it was trying to shy away from the apparently divine light. The archangel took off with a powerful beat of his wings, creating distance and obviously aiming to throw his spear at the demon, but he would need a clear short at its chest first to make sure he pierced its heart. The melaer woman began to fire on it again from a distance, her pistol doing a fair bit of damage as the blue glowing runes on the surface of the weapon glowed with each shot.

Meanwhile, Sumi had moved close enough to thrust her daggers through the creature’s back and stomach, they weren’t long enough to pierce all the way but they did make it rear and start to swing from side to side trying to get her to let go as the arm not holding its sword reached back to try and grab for her. The runes across the surface of her blades activated a short moment after piercing the demon’s flesh, making it howl in pain and rage, which unfortunately only served to make it flail more violently which considering its size was actually more of a danger than it attacking with a measure of control if you got too close.

Sumi naturally held on for dear life for a while, only to end up throw off its back with her daggers in tow, flipping in the air and landing half-fallen with one hand keeping her from hitting the ground as she skid along it and stood back up. She’d fought too many demons to die to this one, not that easily anyway.

The old warrior let out a grunt of durprise at the lights flickering out of the woman's weapon. He assumed it to be magical in origin, something he was never comfortable with, but he was distracted only a moment and was ready for the beast's next swipe. He leapt to one side with a feral strength before literally pouncing onto it's arm before it had the chance to lift it, swinging his huge weapon overhead before bringing it down heavily into it's forearm.

He suddenly became aware of a bright light behind him and turned his head to look, his eyes widening in surprise at what he saw. Obviously he had never seen an immortal and Lycan beliefs did not typically include angels, but he did hold a firm belief in spirits, and so what else could this being be? In his surprise, he lingered longer than he should have on the creature and so risked being thrown off when it started to flail. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, he wrenched his axe out of it's flesh and leapt to the ground, rolling backwards before landing on his feet and spinning around to face it once more.

His latest revelation would have to wait. He saw that the "spirit" was aiming at the demon's heart and quickly reached a decision. He gave a sudden yell, charging into the fray once more and clearly not caring for his own safety. He jumped on to one of it's forepaws and began to hack at it at an absurd speed for such a heavy weapon, doing everything he could to distract the creature long enough for the angel to take his shot.
"Come on! Come ON! Kill me beast, kill me if you think you can!!"

The demon must have thought Mordenn was just a little crazy, now that Sumi was off its back it was able to focus again and began to swing the massive, flaming sword down toward Mordenn with guttural growls that boomed through the immediate area from its massive maw of a mouth. Every Time it seemed to breathe there was a jet of superheated air that blurred the sky above them, but didn’t seem to phase Eremial as he continued to take aim with his spear. He needed to find the perfect moment to strike, if he missed them this was going to be prolonged more than it should be and a demon of this size could do some genuine damage to the forest that he could only presume some people must rely on to live.

Sumi and the melaer, who has been lovingly named Aelin by her lazy writer, decided to join Mordenn in the front assault to distract the demon. Aelin fired her pistol up at the demon, continuing to aim mainly for the face, but with it swinging at them now it was harder to get a clear strike in, so she holstered the pistol and drew her nano-sword before plunging it into one of the demon’s front legs the constantly vibrating nanites that made up the deceptively normal looking blade cutting into the demon’s leg like it was a hot knife going through butter. The melaer may be a thousand years dead, but their technology was still greater than many races in the universe still about today.

“Come on, you sulfur addled bastard!” Aelin yelled, grinning just a bit as though she was enjoying the challenge, Sumi just gave a look as though she might be rolling her eyes if she had any under her sash to roll.

Finally, Eremial took his chance. With a might throw the spear literally seemed to sing through the air, as the greater demon raised its blade to swing again its body twisted and revealed its chest to the attack. The demon knew it was coming too as its fiery eyes visibly widened, then the spear pierced its chest and made it cry out in sheer agony. It was unlikely Mordenn would ever have heard a demon make such a sound, as the power from the spear coursed through it a white light began to spark through the cracks in its skin where previously hellfire had spewed forth. Its eyes suddenly exploded in white flames, as a jet of divine white fire spewed up from its mouth into the air before it crumpled to the floor.

Eremial landed and folded his wings away, both of them vanishing from sight as he walked toward the demon, which continuing to spark slightly with the same white light until the spear was pulled from its chest. Once the spear was gone, the giant being turned to a cloud of black ash before vanishing into the air. Eremial rested the end of the spear on the ground, then rounded on Mordenn with a smile. Most mortals who decided to try and get involved in fighting such beasts just got in the way, but this Lycan had proved very effective and he’d be remiss if he didn’t show gratitude.

“You fought well,” he said, bowing his head to Mordenn and both Sumi and Aelin seemed to agree. “My name is Eremial, these are Sumi and Aelin.”

As ash drifted past him the Lycan could only stand and stare at the Inquisitors for several moments, gasping for breath. Now that the adrenaline was fading his exertion was beginning to take it's toll on him, for strong as he was he was still old for his species. He covered his weakness by focussing on these strangers, his one good eye jumping between them as he examined them as a hunter would. When he had recovered enough, he returned his axe to his back and bowed his head deeply, crossing his fists across his chest in the traditional salute of his people.

"Well met Eremial, Sumi, Aelin.” He nodded to each individual in turn before turning his attention to the angel, whom he assumed was the leader of the group judging on how the others reacted to him. "I am named Mordenn Demonaxe. It was an honour to fight alongside a spirit. You are greater warriors than I have ever seen." He bowed once more before straightening to his full height, though his gaze stayed on the angel, his expression one of mixed respect, awe, and even a touch of fear. "I have fought many of the beasts in the past but never one so large. Nor have I seen one in such agony at it's death..." He glanced at the other two Inquisitors once more, curiosity creeping into his voice. "You are not ordinary humans, are you...?"