A giant silhouette slithered in the forest. He didn't do much to conceal his appearance or his presence. He wanted to make himself known to his prey.
"Tweet tweet tweet!"
The flock of birds resting on the branches of a spruce tree scattered away in the skies after a bear covered in moss clashed against the trunk. Her stomach was profusely bleeding from the puncture made from a unicorn's horn. Her babies were cowering in the corner, just waiting for their turn after their mother.
"It's morning! It's morning! The sun is wide awake."
His long and elongated body wrapped around the bear cadaver, squeezing out more blood from his fresh kill. He didn't like his meal too juicy to the point that it felt like he was eating porridge.
"Make my bed, wash my face, it's time to earn my keep."
The bones of the mother bear snapped in half. Her tongue was out on display.
"The sun is shining, Elysians are coming, the Sheols won't dare to peek!"
He smiled widely from the amount of blood he managed to wring. The green bear cubs got onto their fours, escaping the same fate they might end up with if they remained.
"Oi, don't run away!" the predator called out before clicking his tongue. "Meh, I'll find you later."
He hummed the tune engraved permanently in his memory and continued singing.
"Line up! Line up!
With the knights she's here to pick.
Who is next? Basil is next,
Say bye bye to the nuns."
Despite the strong metallic odor that Basil had extorted from his prey, his nose was hauled up to face the brightening skies. He was close to the Capital of Canaan, Hiraeth. Creatures of Sheols wouldn't be able to get near to the walls because of the barrier cast around the city. There were farms outside of the city and the farmers were smart and wise enough to have priests put a protective spell on their area. The spells weren't because of animals or beasts lurking around to destroy their crops, but mostly because the farmers might become the food stuck between the attackers' teeth.
The source of the stench was close by. There was a stream near there. It smelled like blood from a human but something was mixed with it. Basil shrugged his shoulders.
"Good night good night
It will be a scary night.
Did my chores, had my supper, it's time to hide from them!
The moon is full, the sky is dark, no child should be awake."
From afar, a man crawled over the shallow rivulet. Clear water turned bright red as soon as the water flowed past him. He had kept calling for help. He had kept telling her to stop. He was defiled as a man. A monster was growing inside of him. He could feel its malicious heartbeat. It was devouring him alive from the inside as he sensed his organs shifting.
"Ding dong! Ding dong!
With claws they come to play.
Who's next? Who's next?
The nuns will stay and watch.
Close your eyes, cover your ears, you'll be just okay."
The sky over Hiraeth abruptly darkened which caught Basil's eyes. It was surely not nature's own doing. The pink color of the electrical discharges were familiar but he didn't want to believe that Kou was there. It would be suicide to come inside a human's territory. Basil had faith that Kou could manage, but he recently heard that the viels who were captured partnered up with their tamers and worked with them.
"It would be dumb of General Kou if he wound up there."
Hopefully it was just another being who had the same skills as Kou.
King Lycus couldn't believe that Salem would use his name as a king to summon Behemoth. It was beyond insanity. Behemoth was a creature created by the Elysian God. It was living in the desert while waiting for the end of times. During the great war centuries ago, he came out and relinquished a powerful and menacing growl to frighten the animals and make hunting easier for humans. It was only because he felt bad for humankind since they were caught in the crossfire of heaven and hell. But he promised himself that he would never lend a hand to the humans again after their betrayal to the Elysians. The only way the humans could summon him again was if a creature from Sheol and a creature from Elysia suddenly had a love child and that child's blood was offered to him."
He was confident when he said centuries ago that: "It would never happen. Not in a million years. Not even after many world endings. There would be no man born with an Elysian or a Sheol blood running through his veins. I'll bet my left ball sac."
Behemoth struggled through the crevice created by the summoning spell. His bones were pillars of bronze. His limbs were made of iron. His steel horns curled atop his head. His face originated from an ox with jaws strengthened and teeth sharpened to chew on the hardest of stones. The fur running down from his head down to his neck was dark gray and grassy in nature. His skin was ashen gray; claws and feet were weaponized with razor sharp yellow nails, and the tip of his tail was flat with deadly fins in between the webbed exterior of the tail's outline. There was a frayed piece of cloth tied around his waist, covering his sacred jewels.
The divine beast crawled out of the hole, steam of hot air blowing from his nostrils. His eyes burned like a furnace, glaring at his summoner with confusion, anger, and probably fear because his left ball sac was on the line based on the history books.
"Impossible. Impossible!" he growled.
The audience who weren't quick enough to escape clawed and banged on the invisible blockade that had two white and glowing chains crossed to each other.
Behemoth stood on the battleground, running his nails over the blood circle that Salem drew. He brought his nails near to his nose, smelling and then snarling at Salem.
"This isn't purely from a demon and an angel. You dare fool me, human?!"
Salem wasn't at all petrified. "A deal is a deal, Behemoth. You're here which means the blood used is acceptable."
The puny humans who kept screaming added to Behemoth's frustration. His towering height surpassed that of the coliseum to a few meters so of course the audience would pee on their pants and shake like leaves.
The beast bent down, glaring at the ant-like humans cowering. He took a deep breath of air, causing them to almost get sucked into his inhalation, a few of them falling over.
"SILENCE!!!"
From the coliseum that usually had spectators rooting for bloodshed it became a place of people kneeling to do fervent prayers. Behemoth sighed, averting his gaze from the mass of people and focusing on Salem.
"What do you need help with? You reek of dishonor, human, but I keep my word."
Does he really keep his word? Salem thought he'd renege on his own gamble.
"I want you to reveal the devil with us. It shouldn't be hard."
The beast smirked. "And how would a human know if a devil is present? Do you think the seven devils ruling hell will give their scent off that easily?"
Salem brought out samples of bronze strands of hair from the square. "A lesser demon would have their identity easily revealed. You know who it is, am I right?"
Behemoth scoffed. He lifted his hand, raising four fingers. "I can sense the power of four devils, but since you only noticed one, I'll only tell you one. Fair enough?"
Rorik had his hammer gripped tightly from the start. He felt uneasy and now knowing that the divine beast could tell that there were FOUR DEVILS in Hiraeth? Why, they should have made this city their headquarters already! Where were the rest of them?
Three of Behemoth's fingers bent, leaving his index finger standing. He slowly brought his arm down until the finger was pointing directly at the royal box of the coliseum where the royal family was still staying along with the pope and the cardinals. Demetrius was pale and sweating. Queen Briar was embracing Eros who was still upset and teary-eyed about how Soleil destroyed his pet's face. Theo was grasping his father's sleeve. The king was racked with cough, tasting blood on his tongue.
"Asmodeus, Devil of Lust, how long are you going to suck the life out of the king?"
Abort abort. The plan backfired.
Karma and Soleil basically carried Kou in between them through the rampage. The knight was no longer walking. The tip of his toes continuously grazed the floor.
"Hurry up! That thing is going to eat us alive!" Jinx screamed, waving his arm for Soleil and Karma to see where he was from the crowd. He was quite far ahead.
"Go ahead, you'll give that thing food poisoning if you let him catch you!" Karma drawled.
The three of them stumbled back when Soleil was pulled and hindered from moving further. They looked at the chain that appeared around her ankle that connected right back to where Salem was.
"The seal is not letting me create more distance from my tamer."
Karma lifted his eyebrow when Soleil fell in deep thought. "Well? Time is ticking lady, if we wait for you we'll end up dumping Kou once we get outside because he's already dead from waiting too long. He'll probably be at the late stage of decomposition when you decide."
The young boy frowned at the city knight leaning cooly against the wall as if it was his lunch time. His arms were crossed against his chest; the front of his helmet was facing them. He didn't look like he would attempt to stop them even with Kou.
"Be quick, chicken lady."
Soleil's face scrunched with resoluteness. She abruptly pulled her leg forward, breaking the chain that linked her with the convict. They proceeded to run outside, not stopping until they reached the outer gates of the city.
Jinx was out of breath, obviously out of shape. "Should we wait for Master Salem?" he panted.
Soleil tensed. "Wait, something is coming!"
The spruce trees from their left side were knocked away by a mammoth-sized beast charging ahead.
"EYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Jinx ran behind Karma when Basil slithered out of the forest with wide eyes. There was still blood dripping from his chin; his lips were smeared with red.
"What the hell happened with General Kou?!"