Throwing his fist outward, Toukei began pounding against the Ice Barrier that was slowly fading around Kuzunoha's position. Wu Hai looked at the ground and noticed Mike, he instantly flashed to his side and fed him a potion to dispel the poison he had taken in. Mike's face was flush but he was able to get up and move out of the way.
The World Tree Foil Vipers had a few tricks themselves, Zhan barked an order.
Khan Ni's spikes covered the ground within a kilometer's distance and the purification fog was rising, the young Vipers encircled Toukei and charged their beams in unison.
"{Not enough!}" Toukei pulsed a wave of force, throwing the Foil Vipers into the forest.
Kuzunoha watched as Wu Hai helped Mike recover. "I'm going to help." She yelled at Khan Ni and Zhan with anger in her eyes. Kuzunoha threw out the Sacred Scroll and began chanting immediately. Toukei froze and began to convulse under the exorcism. "Its a Devil, Right?"
"{Yes, Toukei the Poisoner}" Vira stood beside Kuzunoha and tightened the Gate formation to cut off his escape. "Do it now." The Gate would hold him for at least a few blows but it wouldn't last forever against an opponent of strength.
Vira chanted with Kuzunoha, she didn't follow Kuzunoha's, instead she cast her own spell. Half a Dozen Altars appeared around her, then, a black cauldron. She slit her wrist, dripped it in and watched it boil.
The entire thing happened relatively quickly, Zhan was doing an excellent job of cutting Toukei's regeneration down with relentless attacks and Khan Ni's Exorcism was tearing Toukei's spirit from Darkwing's body.
Each time there was another ripple from their combined attacks, Toukei would lose focus and the healing effect of his regeneration lessened its intensity.
Khan Ni's Sacred Scroll tightened around Toukei and he was flailing his head. He started to chant. Mike watched Zhan tear the tongue from Toukei's mouth and evaporate under the purification light. The Leader of the World Tree Foil Vipers charged his beam and watched the body of Darkwing fall to the floor, still writhing and smoking from Toukei's possession. He was poisoned heavily, flows of rot spread throughout his body.
"NOW THAT ITS JUST YOU.. DIE" Zhan fired as Darkwing looked up, there was a sadness on his face.
Darkwing opened his mouth to speak but was unable. He closed his eyes, accepting the fate he had been dealt. There was no avoiding it, whether it was his weakness in front of his opponent or just his own desire to be involved, he was guilty of their deaths and so many others.
A Black Beam covered Darkwing's body, washing it in curses. He swelled and boiled inside, then, he burst like a cheap balloon. Five Devils exploded from Darkwing's body, bits flew out and the Five Devils darted toward the Hellmouth while fragments of Darkwing's body rained down to the soil.
Zhan had lost his grip due to the explosion and now there were more enemies.
The Gates of Naen were still active, the Five Devils crashed into it and turned back around to face the incoming attacks. A rain of purification needles forced them all to the ground and Wu Hai gave up on letting Zhan have all the revenge. Mike had been seriously injured and could have died, luckily he recovered and been waiting for the opportunity.
He froze the ground beneath the Devils.
They stood motionless for a moment.
The moment ended quickly but groups' attacks had already arrived. Together with the World Tree Foil Vipers, the path of retreat was blocked by Vira. Two of the Five had their cores shatter and piles of dead flesh fell to the ground.
Kuzunoha sent the sacred scroll to detain the one giving orders. Zhan charged toward one with Khan Ni and Mike kept the last one frozen. As Kuzunoha started to perform the purification rituals, she saw Mike pull out a large white hammer. "Back away!"
Mike slammed the white bone hammer against his frozen opponent, it was made form the flat edge of the White Dragon's Claw, carved with a stuttering formation on one end and a break formation on the other. The Hammer itself had been used a few times, the nicks in its blunt edge were sign enough of that.
Zhan and Khan Ni wrapped themselves around their target and devoured it. Ferser kept his mouth shut.
The White Hammer struck the frozen Devil and shattered it. Its Core rolled onto a pile of busted flesh, the remains of its former associate and began to fuse together with the leftover parts..
Wu Hai threw a communication stone into the heap covertly. The mound of meat took a shape and flew away.
"Why did you let it escape?" Mike asked.
"Because we still don't know where the girls were taken.. Wahchung. Tell me when that Devil stops." Wu Hai took one look at the bodies on the ground and swept them into his storage ring, then he saw Zhan returning to Darkwing's mangled remains.
He pulverized them and kept attacking the ground where the bits began to mix with dirt and turn to mush. His fists beat the ground until they themselves were broken open. Zhan's claws healed over quickly, it only infuriated him more and he gave off a great howl.
The young vipers returned from the forest, heeding their Progenitor's call.
"Wu Hai, our paths diverged a long time ago." Zhan gave his brother a serious tone "Bring Vilfaga's clones here and we will seal the breach. This is goodbye, Dear Brother, take care of my Son." A scale was ripped from his body, healing instantly. Zhan threw it to the Emperor and turned to leave.
"CHILDREN! FOLLOW ME!" Zhan gave an order and flew off with Khan Ni and their young.
Wu Hai saw his brother leave and wanted to call out, but it was useless. Zhan always had his own way of doing things and it wouldn't change now, he led them all in a march around the edge of the Hellmouth, they were destroying everything that moved.
"Kuzunoha." Wu Hai tossed the Red Compass over. "I'll be right back." he disappeared and came back within two minutes. Five World Tree Clones, no larger than Zhan followed behind the Emperor.
Creaks came from their bodies as they approached the edge of the Hellmouth. The seal would require them to be evenly spaced out across its perimeter. Emperor Zao helped move each of them into position, saving time.
"He's stopped." Wahchung gave out the signal that the Devil had stopped moving and Wu Hai grabbed the other three members of his party. "We don't have time to wait, lets go." He focused on the communication stone, flicked his finger into the channeled spell circle and transported the group away.
The Devil had been forced to flee, struggling to maintain its form. The Core had just enough reserve energy to get some distance between itself and the group of people trying to destroy it.
There was only one place to hide neaby, the processing chamber.
Of the Ten Great Devils, he was by far the weakest. He was also the only one to survive, that knew of the processing chamber's location. Stopping only when it was convinced that the group wasn't following him, it eventually went to their workshop.
Tables covered in gore surrounded him and fresh body parts were scattered in stacks. Using a salvaged arm, the devil tried to search for a similarly shaped replacement among the pile.
A black dot appeared and four figures emerged. It happened fast, faster than even the Emperor had predicted.
When the Devil noticed the expanding black sphere, he threw out several explosive balls and ducked to the other side of the room. He turned quickly and tried to lift his foot. It was frozen in place, then the white scroll twisted itself around his body.
"You're not going anywhere. Where are the girls!?" Kuzunoha screamed in its face.
"{#$&%&^*&$*}" The Devil's words were caught in its throat and muffled by the scroll that covered its face. Kuzunoha knew he was trying to curse her.
The scroll tightened and she continued to chant. White light began to consume the Devil, his screams of abject pain were little consolation.
"Over here!" Vira called out in common. Breaking Kuzunoha's train of through. It was for the best, the Devil had long since been purified, the small bits that remained all splattered against the floor and were swept into a storage ring for disposal.
Vira shattered a wall with a punch, revealing a passageway that was behind a hidden door. "{They never think you'll find it. The Qilin never learn.}"
"Qilin? I thought this was the work of the Devils." Wu Hai asked and led the way down the dark hallway.
"{Do you think the Qilin are blind? Its impossible for them to have missed the Hellmouth outside. This is something they've chosen to involve themselves in. Why do you think that Dragon outside is exterminating them?}" Vira took a deep breath and then blew a cone of fire in front of her. Nearly a hundred spiders came crashing down from the ceiling.
'These are excellent spiders, its too bad none of the survived.' Mike gathered all that he could as the group passed through the halls and into a much larger room.
"What?" Emperor Zao was at a loss.
In front of everyone was a large cage-like machine. Inside, body parts, organs from the girls, their skins and bones had all been separated and stocked like a closet. A vat of blood, the blood of the innocent stood near the wall.
Kuzunoha threw up. 'So Cruel.'
Mike had a hardened stomach but it was a terrible sight. "Burn this place."
There was no objection, Wu Hai looked at the formations and runes that covered the room and expanded the white fire on his wings, inverting his core. A Purifying fire rushed into every crevasse of the room and deep into the stones underneath.
He incinerated everything.
"This doesn't feel like a Victory. Lets go see how the World Tree Clones are doing on the breach and figure it out from there. I still have matters to take care of in the Demon Kingdom and my mother needs to hear the events of these past few days from my mouth directly." Wu Hai turned to everyone and teleported back to the Hellmouth's location.
From the Air, they could see a vast netting of branches, close to the formation that the Emperor had laid down temporarily, taking shape. The five clones were working together and growing a crown over the breach. 'This might work, for a while.' Kuzunoha didn't like guesses but Vilfaga was powerful enough to make her believe.
"{Judging from the rate those things are working, they should be successful but I can't give an estimate as to how long it will take to mend the dimensional tear.}" Vira nodded in approval, her distaste and hatred of the Devils was becoming easier to spot the more she shared.
Wu Hai took one more look around, making sure that he didn't miss anything. In the distance, he could see hundreds of blasts tearing across the forest and a cacophony of death. 'If the Qilin are indeed part of what has happened, then they deserve everything that's coming.' "Lets go." He held out his hand and waited for the others.
A black light glinted, and then no one was there.
Zhan felt his brother leave the area and felt some relief. He spun sideways and perforated the landscape, leaving a tract of purification spikes in his wake. Khan Ni did the same, poisoning and piercing all things present.
The Two Great World Tree Foil Vipers began to savagely dismantle the region with the help of their brood.