"I'm glad you have enjoyed the entertainment tonight ladies and eh, whatever the hell you all are. Just so you know it has made me sick having any of you near my beloved castle, but unfortunately I depend on you, just as you all depend on me. Never forget that. If I were ever deposed, this part of these ghastly woods would fall into absolute anarchy and you'd all be tearing at each others throats!" Tyresian said to the massive crowd of Demons, and other abominations that stood before him.
In all fairness to Tyresian, the monsters had absolutely trashed the main hall of the place. Slime and puss from the numerous species dripped down the walls, and covered the floors, whilst entrails, and bones from the humans who had been served up as snacks were splattered everywhere. All of the furniture and artwork that had adorned the walls had been destroyed too. In fact one of Tyresian's butlers, (a statue brought to life through magic.) Lay in five different pieces, with his head being kicked around by two Demons at the back for fun.
Again however Tyresian didn't actually mind the look of the place in this state at all. If anything he preferred it, but it was just the idea that the Demons thought they could get away with trashing his palace that infuriated him. Still it wasn't just practicality as to why he didn't let his anger get the better of him. Deep down despite how much they repulsed him, Tyresian had a strange fondness for these creatures. Largely it was due to the dark magics that had corrupted him into a similar creature of evil. Demons were really the only life forms who would even come close to serving him willingly. Still he had been served by many different species over the centuries, but Demons. despite their treachery, he found refreshing in that unlike other races he never had any high expectations from them.
"I know that many of you hate living in the black woods. Too many Demons, and not enough people to eat, apart from at this annual celebration. Well fortunately I finally have the answer to our problems." Tyresian said as Fisricas brought the Tyrannosaurus Al on stage.
"This creature here. The pride of Dynamos will be our salvation. " He shouted to a confused crowd.
"One baby Dinosaur against a city?" One of the Demons, a twelve foot tall, six armed woman with black eyes like a shark, slime in place of hair that simply dripped from the top of her head, and overlapping fangs laughed.
"I have heard of the ferocity of the Tyrannosaurus Al. I've even lost many of my men to those mutants, but Dynamos has an army of them. What can you possibly hope to do with that admittedly quite cute little thing up there." The Demon continued before making what she thought was a funny gesture to the Al, who responded with a roar.
"For the past few decades I have been studying the darkest magics that created this forest in the first place and turned many of the animals that roam here into the abominations like the Terrible One." Tyresian said. The mere mention of the Terrible One was enough to make even the most fearsome looking Demons in the crowd shiver in horror. "No one has dared to tamper with them before, mostly because any human or Demon who did was consumed by them. However not to toot my own horn, my experiences have allowed me to master some control over them. Well a tiny portion of the dark magics in this area. Still that will be enough now that I have the Al in my possession. I can fuse the power of the black woods with the strongest of the city of Dynamos magics, that fused the very original Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus specimens together to create this, wonderful hybrid species. Even though it has been diluted by centuries, that magic is still there in this little creatures DNA. The fusion of them both together will create the ultimate creature. One that will obey my commands. It won't just stop there however. With its power we can march to Dynamos and claim it as our own. Then we can fuse this power with their army of Als and other Dinosaurs they have created and develop an army." Tyresian said to cheers from the crowd.
"The world will be ours." Another Demon from the crowd piped up, only to be met with a scornful look from Tyresian.
"Why would we want to do that? Everywhere we go we use it up and turn it into, well somewhere like this? I know we didn't create this place, but we might as well. You really want the entire world to be reduced to being like that slimy, dark, dank hellhole out there? I'd rather let this Al eat me right now. Dynamos will become our new home and we will benefit from their riches. We will sell their Dinosaurs to other nations with a few, eh magical enhancements, though none of the Als. They must remain our exclusive weapons. Once we have used Dynamos up, we will make a new city our home." Tyresian said to further applause from the crowd.
"To think all this time we thought you were just content to sit in these horrible woods." One of the Demons said.
"I allowed my enemies to think that. As if I would be content just to rot in this dung heap. No offense. Unlike those foolish Wereraptors who think they can take everywhere by force. I knew that even with all our resources we could never just invade Dynamos. I had to rely on those stupid bandits to sneak in. At the very least if they failed, Dynamos would not know what I wanted with the Al. Still now that we have one, all that is needed is to complete his transformation." Tyresian said as he walked over to the Dinosaur.
The Al however became very agitated when Tyresian got within a few feet. It could sense the dark magics that had burrowed deep within his soul, but even beyond that the little creature was getting scared and missing its "mother" Shelly most of all.
The Tyrannosaurus Al reached out and bit into Tyresians arm. Were it not for his magics, it would have crushed his arm into nothing but paste. Even then however the poison from the Al's bite could still have be enough to kill him, and so Tyresian conjured a flaming sword out of nothing and used it to slice off the arm the Al held in its jaws. Within a few seconds he regrew the arm.
"If you weren't so valuable I'd use this to take your head off." Tyresian said.
Suddenly the Witch King started to feel faint. He had long eliminated the need to sleep from himself using magics, and so the feeling of being drowsy and tired was actually quite frightening.
"It can't be." He said. He assumed that he hadn't got all of the Al's poison, and began to panic, but as he looked around he saw all of the Demons begin to faint as well. It was actually a relief, as the Al's poison even as an infant was very hard to counteract.
The only person or thing rather in the room not be affected was Fisricas who started to laugh at the Witch King's predicament.
"What is the meaning of this? I allowed you to live in my castle. You shared in my wealth. How could you do this?" The Witch said as he used his sword to keep himself steady.
"As we have told you many times before. You are not our master." Fisricas said as he morphed into a Raptor.
Tyresian was briefly given a boost from his rage and hatred of the Wereraptors and tried to strike his former servant, but his attack was still slow and clumsy, and the Raptor was easily able to trip him using its tail.
Unfortunately for it the Raptor did not have the power to kill Tyresian, even in his weakened state. That wasn't what it was here for however. The magical Dinosaur let out a massive roar to signal his ally, and within a few seconds a giant Harpy came smashing through the window and scooped both the Wereraptor in its claws and the Al using a spell which created a special kind of magical bubble around it.
The Al still struggled, but nevertheless the Harpy was strong enough to carry both away (with the bubble being carried by its mind) and out of the castle. Outside the Harpy was able to fly without any interference as all of Tyresian's guards had been drugged too. (Though it wouldn't last for long.)
Tyresians Demonic Dinosaurs meanwhile stood guard over the castle, but none of them wanted to attack out of fear of damaging the Al, which the Harpy held up in front of it like a shield.
Within a few minutes Tyresian had recovered from the poison as had all of his Demons and guards. The Wereraptors certainly couldn't have brewed up anything strong enough to kill them. Overall despite their claims, the Wereraptors were losing the war with Tyresian for control of this part of the black woods. Nevertheless thanks to the help of a treacherous Harpy. (Who chose to side with her Dinosaurian brothers rather than the Witch King.) They were able to sneak an agent into Tyresian's base, who not only leaked the information about the planned capture of the Al to the rest of the Wereraptors, but was also able to monitor its progress. Fisricas hated having to blow his cover, but not only was it worth it to save the Al, there also wasn't really anything else he could have done. Tyresian would have figured out he was responsible as Fisricas managed all of the food and drink for the evening. (A most disgusting task even for a Wereraptor that he was happy he wouldn't have to do again.)
"A traitor in our midst! I can't believe it. Those Wereraptors were always too scared of a fair fight. Always relying on sneaky, dirty underhanded." The Witch King fumed.
"I shall command the Harpies to find them at once my lord." One of Tyresian's sycophants, a Troglodyte creature said as it bowed.
"No! I want to do this myself. I've been far too lenient on the Wereraptors. I hoped they would see things my way and come round, but now they have gone too far. I have to send a message." The Witch King continued, before leaving his palace.
Outside Tyresian performed a spell which summoned forth a large, Demonic Dinosaur from under the earth.
The creature was over 90 feet long and weighed over 100 tons. It had once been a Sauropod, a Brontosaurus specifically, but the dark magics of this forest had twisted its body into an almost unrecognizable Demonic form. The Brontosaurus now had three long necks, and two gigantic wings spreading out of either side of its back.
Its skin meanwhile looked as though it was made out of stone, whilst the beast eyes had no pupils and were gold. Finally its teeth were also much sharper than a real life Sauropods.
"Bring me the Al. It must be taken alive, but destroy any Wereraptor, or any other creature that gets in your way." Tyresian commanded.
All three of the Brontosaurus' heads roared and breathed fire to signal their obedience after which the monster sunk back into the earth.
The Terrible One had at last finished its prolonged and gruesome meal. It had taken it an hour to torture, cook, kill and devour the former bandit in front of a horrified and repulsed audience.
After cooking him alive for close to half an hour, the Terrible One had then started to tear his flesh and break his bones, in much the same way a human would devour a chicken wing. Worse still the victim had remained alive, even after being cooked!
The others had obviously tried to intervene. Even Mukinsa at one point tried to stop the monster, but the Skeletons almost always overpowered them.
The monster then tossed what was left of its victim into the field. Once the last of the victims flesh rotted away, then his bones would be absorbed into the earth and the magic would turn him into one of the Terrible One's skeleton minions who would search for new humans, both within and outside of the woods for its master to torture and feed on. (The magic would also repair and replace the bones that had been broken off and even devoured by the Terrible One itself.)
The skeletons began to march the prisoners towards the large mountain up ahead where the Terrible One lived. Its first kill of the evening had merely been an appetizer. The full extent of the horrors it intended to inflict on its unfortunate victims would only be possible with the dark magics in its home.
"If only we hadn't accepted the Witch King's offer." Mukinsa said to herself.
"You mean if only you and your worthless family hadn't been so greedy." Shelly fired back. Even in the little time they had known her, Diassa, Jade and even Mukinsa all knew that it was most unlike Shelly to be so aggressive.
"Me and my sister would both still be in Dynamos now if you hadn't been so greedy, incompetent, and" Shelly didn't even finish. Instead she jumped on Mukinsa. In a fair fight the bandit would easily beat Shelly, but again counter to her normal nature, Shelly fought dirty and went for Mukinsa's already broken arm, and then repeatedly punch Mukinsa in the face.
The Terrible One didn't like to see his prey fighting among themselves and reached his hand out, grabbing Shelly by the face with his horrible slug fingers, he lifted her over the others. Again Diassa tried to interject, but the skeletons pushed he and Jade forward along with the rest.
Shelly kicked and screamed as she tried to struggle free from the monsters disgusting grasp. The Terrible One had no intention of simply eating her here. It actually now wanted her fate to be the worst of anyone in the group for having caused it even the most minor trouble.
As they reached the entrance to the cave the prisoners could all hear screams coming from within. Again some tried to flee back the way, only for the Terrible One to breath fire in their direction. Suddenly however a large Troglodyte creature emerged from the cave. It was the same size as the Terrible One, whilst its skin was scaly and bright blue. It had a single horn on the top of its head, whilst its face was human looking. It even had a thick head of red hair.
The monster was also carrying a massive club that was covered in spikes which it instantly swung at the Terrible One.
Unfortunately however the toad headed monster managed to block the club with its skewer. The Terrible One then threw Shelly twenty or so feet to the side, breaking several of her ribs in the process, before releasing another skewer from the palm of its other hand which it then tried to strike the Troglodyte with. The blue skinned giant was barely able to deflect it with his club and the Terrible One continued to strike furiously with both of its skewers at the Troglodyte who though managing to block them, was pushed back deeper into the field by its adversary.
The Terrible One however soon let its anger get the better of it and became more careless, allowing the Troglodyte to land a blow on its head. The force knocked the monster on its face down onto the burnt, barren earth below. The Troglodyte then wasting no time continued to strike at the Terrible One whilst it was down, which caused the skeletons to begin to collapse.
The prisoners ran as fast as they could in the other direction, with Jade picking Kelina's body up with her tail, just as before. Unfortunately however as the Troglodyte seemed ready to finish the Terrible One, the monster raised the skewer on its right hand and stabbed it into the Troglodytes stomach. The Terrible One roared in the Troglodytes face, spraying it with a hideous green stinking slime in the process.
The Terrible One then slashed the creature across the chest again, knocking it backwards.
Diassa felt compelled to help the Troglodyte, but unfortunately there was nothing he could do for the creature. Furthermore he wasn't even sure if it was a friend or foe. The fact that it lived in these woods suggested the latter.
Jade meanwhile had to stop fleeing as the blue light on her hand began to cover her body again. She was forced to throw Kelina back to the earth to make sure she wouldn't be consumed by the blue light as well. Shelly meanwhile ran to try and help her sister, despite her injuries, whilst Diassa followed.
The Troglodyte made another futile gesture against its Demonic attacker, and hurled itself at the brute which managed to send them both tumbling across the field.
The Terrible One however was able to overpower its enemy and pinned the Troglodyte to the ground. In truth the ghastly Toad headed abomination was actually disappointed. It had hoped for at least some kind of fight from the new monster. (Hence why it didn't just use its fire breath right away.)
The Troglodyte had managed a few genuine hits against the Terrible One which had briefly caused the abomination to lose control of its skeletons. Now however on its feet again, more skeletons began to burst out of the earth in front of Diassa and the others. Fortunately however before the undead monsters could act, the Terrible One was suddenly beset by several energy blasts.
Diassa and the others looked around to see several men and women dressed in strange magical garments emerge from the Terrible One's cave. They were firing energy rays from guns, rather than their hands. It was obvious that they had not mastered magic themselves and were simply relying on magical weapons.
The Terrible One this time did not lose control of its skeleton army and actually commanded them to fight the intruders. The new magical soldiers guns were able to blast the skeletons into dust, but the monsters were able to instantly reform. The soldiers were soon overwhelmed by the army, but help would come in the form of Jade, who having now been consumed by the blue light began to attack the skeleton army. Not only was she able to overpower them, but when she smashed the undead monsters to pieces, they stayed dead!
The Terrible One soon turned its attention to her and Diassa tried to intervene, even hoping he could just distract the brute. As soon as he got within ten feet of the monster however it spotted the Wizard and impaled Diassa on its massive skewer.