"Blood Horn Bulls, Rock Bees, a Tantabus, and now that Dullahan! I can't believe all that happened while I was gone! Had I been there, I would have helped you. All of us would. Right, guys?", Marigold exclaimed in shock while asking her team, who weren't paying attention. So she half yelled, "I said, RIGHT guys!?"
"Uh yeah!", chirped the cleric with her toast.
"Sure.", the warlock half-heartedly replied into her eggs.
"Yep yep.", the bard agreed while stacking his meal into some strange object.
"Absolutely.", the paladin wholeheartedly agreed while raising his glass of milk.
"We would?", asked the rogue before the barbarian bonked him on the head, not looking up from his plate stacked high with meat.
Despite trying to rob Basil, the adventuring party was allowed to stay the night and morning. Basil even gave breakfast free of charge. Teto and Wrinkles also aided in making food for such a large group of people, but only to keep a close eye on the Halfling rogue. Who they watched like hawks with stink eyes. Yet the rogue seemed unperturbed by such actions as he shamelessly asked for a second and third helping.
Now, they were sitting at the dining table that Basil had to create with his skills to compensate for such a large crowd and set up in his very own bakery. Between cups of tea, milk, and coffee gifted by the mayor, Basil recounted his adventures since they last met. And boy, was there much to say! Even still, Basil was glad that at least some of them understood his many plights.
"I'm glad to hear you say that.", he said with a tired smile.
"I just can't believe you actually kept….that, even after all he did." Marigold shoots a thumb at Wrinkles, who stares down the unbothered Halfling.
"Marigold!", Basil half yelled in an insult, making the woman jump. "Wrinkles has a name! And you should have enough tact to call him that!", he told her off, making the woman look at him with a mix of surprise and embarrassment. "Besides. If not for him, I wouldn't be alive right now. He knew about the Baku, which ate the Tantabus. He's proved himself more than trustworthy!", Basil explained, making the woman look guilty.
He then took a lower tone and whispered to her while cupping one hand, "Plus, I did kinda kill his whole family, and now he sees me as his master."
"Is it another Lizard Men situation?", Marigold whispered back, poking her poached egg.
"Thankfully, no.", Basil answered with relief.
This was when Wrinkles spoke out while bringing out a platter of sausage and eggs, "Kobolds need to serve someone, whether it be Kobold, Dragon, or…other. Doth now Wrinkles in the eternal services of Master Basil!"
Every one of the adventures stared weirdly at the little lizard's strange speech, so they ignored him as the paladin brought up, sipping his milk, "Are we forgetting about who's been constantly besetting you with all these monsters?"
"Tis it we shall agree that the Master has a stalker looking for thine head.", Wrinkles interjects while bringing a large plate of fresh pancakes into the table.
"What he say?", the warlock asked.
"I have a stalker, and they want me dead. For what reason, you got me.", Basil translated, slurping down his coffee.
"I guess it doesn't help that everything that's tried to kill you so far either can't or won't speak," the bard says, grabbing a pancake and wrapping a hard-boiled egg and sausage around it.
"That would make things easier, but I'm sure if any of them could, they wouldn't blab.", Basil agreed, shoving a sausage into his mouth in frustration.
Silence fell over the table once again as Broomy came to clean up any dirty plates, and the cleric fed Teto from the table like a dog. Then Marigold remembered something and asked Basil, "Can't you talk to animals?"
A look of shock came across his face, and with his mouth still half full and chewing, he slapped his own forehead in anger. He could've asked the Rock Bee Queen where she came from if he had just remembered that. Since there was no way she just happened to pass by. Or try to trick the Dullahan's horse into talking. If the specter could speak, surely its screaming steed could as well!
But before he could get to the queen for any information she may have, a loud explosion was heard and felt from outside, violently shaking his whole house! After everyone managed to steady themselves from such a shock, they all immediately wanted to know what in the world was that!
Which sorta answered itself in the form of a loud voice yelling, "BASIL THE BAKER!"
"Oh, what now?", Basil complains, already dreading what's to come.
He and the heroes all ran out of the building and into the back, where the explosion was heard. After a bit of running, they came across the Small Torah village up in flames, with the small sheep creatures all screaming and running for their lives! As the heroes went to try to put out the fires or save the sheep, Basil looked around for the source of all this chaos!
Suddenly, another explosion hit nearby, and after ducking for cover, Basil looked up to see a devilishly handsome man in a three-piece suit flying above him on black leathery wings.
Standing before the man, Basil yells, "Hey! Cut that out! You're burning the Small Torah village!"
The barbarian, who was carrying a massive ball of Small Torah in his arms, said to him, "I'm sorry. What did you just call the Lambies?"
"Not now, please!", Basil half yells at him, making the huge man run off to put the sheep somewhere safe.
"Oh, I'll stop after you bring me the Baker known as Basil!", the devilish man demanded.
Basil stood firm and tall before the man and said, "Speaking, and who are you?"
The man smiles a devious grin while bowing mid-flight and says, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Acolyte. I come as an emissary of my mistress, who seeks to remain anonymous until you meet with her."
"Meeting? And just why would I even consider that?", Basil countered while crossing his arms.
Acolyte snickers and replies, "I don't think you quite understand the position you're in. You're going to come with me of your own free will, or I will destroy this whole place, Ash End, and kill every living thing!", he hisses in a threatening tone, a forked tongue dancing between his lips.
Just then, Marigold came between them and said over her shoulder, "Don't listen to him; he's lying."
"Devils will only do as they say unless a deal is made.", the warlock added while coming to his side, pulling out her spell book.
"I find that hard to believe, especially after my last deal.", Basil griped under his breath.
"Dragons and devils are totally different.", the warlock informed him.
This made Basil think for a minute, trying to weigh his options. Eventually, he was cut off when Acolyte exclaimed, "Ahem! I'm waiting for my answer."
Basil thought fast, shook his head, and stated, "No dice, you demonic boot licker!"
"Yeah! Now go crawl back to your mistress and tell her to shove it up her coochie!", Marigold yelled at the devil.
Acolyte cackled at her demand, throwing his head back as he laughed, giving a sense of unease around the whole area in a dead silence. As he laughed wholeheartedly, the adventurers collected themselves into a group, ready to face off whatever happened next while standing in front of Basil like a protective shield!
After stopping, he threw his head forward, glared up at them from above, and said with a sinister smile, "That was your last mistake."
Looking down at the party of the heroes ready for a fight, he smiled and said, "But first."
The devil then cast a spell upon the group, and with little time to act, Basil managed to grab Marigold out of the way! They both fell to the ground as an otherworldly sound echoed behind them. When they quickly stood up to look back at what happened, they saw the other heroes alive and well but trapped inside a strange-looking, multicolored cube. At first, they tried to bust it open, but when they tried to break or move the object, they found it far sturdier than it looked.
Acolyte bellowed in laughter at this sight and exclaimed, "Do you like my dimensional cube? It's perfectly unbreakable unless by an even stronger counter spell, which I'm sure none of you can do. Though it only lasts a few minutes, that's more time than what most of you have left to live! If you don't suffocate first."
Hearing this, the adventurers stopped trying with everything they had, and Marigold ran up to the cub and told them, "Guys! Just keep calm and try not to use your oxygen too much."
"Oh, and what will you do, little girl?", Acolyte vexed her with a flicker of his tongue.
She marched towards him while taking out her sword and threatened, "I'm gonna shove my sword up whatever demon holes you have!"
Acolyte's eyes turned red as his hair, and he yelled while diving at her with flaming claws, "I'm a devil!"
Even though Marigold looked ready to take him on, his energy and presence were so massive that diving fast knocked her clean off her feet, leaving the devil with an opening! However, Basil jumped in without thinking and tried to block the monster with his arms spread and eyes closed! Seeing this, the devil veered off to the side and hit the ground a distance from them.
After the pressure from the impact subsided, the first thing said between the two adults was from Marigold, who asked, "Why didn't he hit you?"
"No clue.", Basil answered.
Acolyte got up from the crater he created, and looking over his shoulder, he said with annoyance, "I can't kill you on the order of the mistress."
"And there's the clue.", Basil said softly, and for a moment, he thought he could somehow use this to his advantage.
Until the devil smiled and continued saying, "But just because I can't kill you, doesn't mean I can't beat you within an inch of your life."
"Aw crap.", Basil squeaked in anxiety.
The devil made his move, coming at them aggressively with flaming claws! Basil actually thought this time and put up a shield to block it. Even still, the attacks were so powerful that they caused the man to get slammed into the woman behind him, and then both slammed backward into the dimensional cube. But the devil was persistent and kept advancing with his attacks on the magic shield, pushing against them with such force that it nearly sandwiched the two people. But Basil managed to push back enough for them not to get squished, with Marigold pushing against his back with her feet on the cube.
This annoyed Acolyte, so he stopped holding back and smashed the magic shield with one hand! But Basil quickly kept erecting one shield after the other, making the devil more and more enraged, breaking the shields with increasing viciousness! Until the devil got fed up with this game and exuded his power out of his body like an explosion! It radiated like fire and flowed like maple syrup, spreading for miles!
The exertion of such energy not only shook the very air around their lungs but caused the earth to tremble deep, deep down from within! It nearly knocked them off their feet and even cracked the seemingly indestructible dimensional cube! Luckily, Basil managed to stay firmly planted on his feet as he tried to think up a solution. So he threw a fireball at the devil, only for him to absorb it and smile maliciously at him.
He should've expected a devil of all things to be immune to fire. So he changed tactics and used his Earth magic to erect a plethora of stone spikes from the earth to impale the monster! Unsurprisingly, the devil evaded the attack and flew back into the air. Though he did sustain a few cuts to his suit, they mended themselves in seconds.
After regaining his footing and some breathing room, Basil grumbled, "Dang it! This guy is so strong! What even is he?", and tried to appraise him.
Devil Marquee: this kind of devil is-.
Suddenly, the window was cut off, and something like whiplash hit his brain as he cried out, "Ack! What the heck!?"
"Uh uh uh! No peeking!", Acolyte vexed him.
He wondered what had happened for a moment until his Hindsight kicked in and told him. So he yelled aloud in shock, "He can block my appraisal!?"
"I can, and you can't!", the devil told him, his eyes glazed over as he stared at the young man.
Basil felt a strange sensation come over him. It was like he was being spied on but from within. It made him feel violated and sick! When it stopped, the devil laughed and stared in jeer, "You got some not-bad skills and magic but nothing in compassion to me!"
"So that's what that feels like?", he asked before shivering and complaining, "So creepy!"
So, in return, Basil threw a lightning spell at the monster, who allowed it to hit him! When the attack landed, it absorbed his body and formed a pattern of lightning marks across his suit. Basil watched in awe and quickly realized that this guy was a Deviant, and he just powered him up!
Then, without warning, Acolyte pointed his finger and shot the lightning attack back at him! Basil put up a stone wall and leaned against it to breathe. As he did this, he heard the devil boasting.
"Why don't you give up already! I'm far stronger than you and that damn knight the mistress sent after you.", Acolyte yelled with messy hair, fixing it back before saying in a calmer tone, "I'm actually surprised you beat him. He's never faltered before, but I guess that's what happens when you become the best. You become sloppy! It's such a waste to give such power and a sword away. But I'm not a waste or sloppy, and I'll prove it to the mistress!", he yelled before smashing the wall with his bare hands.
As Basil was flung back, Marigold caught and held him up as the devil generated a black aura around his body that was pooling out from black markings across his body. Once he charged up, he released the energy and gave it a complete blast on Basil, and the man quickly put up a magic shield to block it! As Basil fought against the onslaught of power, his shield cracking, threatening to break, his feet began to skid back!
Luckily, Marigold was there to try to hold him, but even she found herself sliding back no matter how hard she tried. In desperation, she cried out, "Basil!"
"I'm trying!", he cried as the cracks grew and his mind became fuzzy.
Acolyte smiles at this, knowing he will knock the man out with the black magic he absorbed from Charlotte. Once the man is on the brink of collapse, he boasts, "Say goodbye to-."
But before he could finish that, though, he felt something long and sharp run straight through his back and out his chest! The action was so fast and powerful that it knocked out his concentration and caused him to lose whatever dark energy he had previously stockpiled. He looked down and saw a long, sharp, slightly curved…something colored pink.
"What?", he asked in confusion.
Only to be lifted up into the air and slammed down multiple times with devastating force! After that, heavy feet attached to an even heavier body slammed into Acolyte numerous times until the very Stone beneath the being cracked and rose like spikes as the devil turned into puree on the ground! After a severe beating for a few minutes, the attacker finally stopped.
As this happened, Basil could finally take a breather as Marigold tried to keep him up and conscious. When she realized they had been saved, she looked to their savior and found a huge pink unicorn standing where the devil was now nothing but paste.
"Gossamer!", she exclaimed in joy.
"Thank God you're here!", Basil wheezed out in relief.
"I sensed you were in danger, so I teleported to you.", Gossamer regarded them.
"You can teleport!?", Basil inquired, fixating on that one point of the statement.
"We can discuss this later.", Gossamer said firmly.
"Hey! I'm here too, ya know!", a voice from above called out.
Looking at the sky, they saw what looked like a flaming motorcycle with someone riding it. The blazing hot rod flew in a circle before landing between the group, showing itself far more demonic and terrifying than anything Basil had seen in his previous life. Sitting upon that bike was the hag spawned himself in his human disguise.
"You know, if it weren't for me, that shield wouldn't have lasted half as long as it did.", the disguised hag griped while swinging his leg over the bike.
"Hagson.", Gossamer regarded the hag, malicious lacing his tone.
"Gossamer.", Hagson regarded the unicorn, malice and a bit of nervousness lacing his tone.
All while Basil stared at the modern but highly terrifying motorbike his friend rode in on. After trying to understand it, he asked, "I'm sorry, what time period is this supposed to be?"
"I'll explain the intricacies of infernal engines another time.", Hagson told him while slapping the back of the bike and making it ride off automatically into the sky.
"Basil, why did your weirdly tall friend just come in on an infernally driven construct?", Marigold asked him, equally starstruck as him.
"May we focus on the task at hand?", Gossamer interjected while slamming his hoof onto the back of the mushed devil.
"Yeah, it reeks of devil around here.", Hagson said, pointing his nose into the air and sniffing.
Before anything else could happen, the body underneath Gossamer's hooves emanated a dark light that caused the unicorn to jump away! The light shot into a massive column in the air as the devil Acolyte burst out and screamed in fury! He looked a bit worse for wear after being pierced and then slammed under the hooves of a nearly elephant-sized creature, but all his imperfections began to melt and mend off his body.
"How dare you do that to me, you-.", Acolyte began to yell until he saw who had done that to him. Changing his tone and posture, he cooed sinisterly, "Well, well, well. The one and only Gossamer himself. I knew Basil had a unicorn; I had no idea it was you. And I didn't know you would lower yourself to working with a human.", he vexed him.
Gossamer snorted his nostrils at the devil and said, "You have no right to speak of such things, infernal beast."
Acolyte next turned his gaze to the tall and hunched-over man, where he vexed in his sickeningly sweet tone, "And the son of Mommy Fortunato. Are you working with him too? I expected you to have higher self-worth."
"As if I'd tell you my reasoning.", Hagson glared up at the winged thing.
"Mommy Fortunato. Then that means-!", Marigold began to speak until Hagson cut her off and confirmed her suspicion.
"I'm a Hag Spawn. Surprise, surprise.", the male hag told her while dropping his human disguise.
Marigold opened her mouth to retort but stopped as she admitted, "In hindsight, I probably should have figured that out."
Gossamer asked the group, "What kind of devil is he? He's surprisingly resilient."
"A Devil Marquee or something like that.", Basil informed him.
Hagson sniffed in the area of the devil and commented, "Are you sure he's a Marquee? He reeks of imp.", then a lightbulb went off in his head, and he asked, "Wait, were you recently prompted?"
"Jealous?", the pompous devil arrogantly showed off.
Hagson made a humph sound in his throat and replied, "Curious. What higher devil would promote you so far and from an imp of all things?"
Acolyte giggled at the question and proudly professed, "My mistress gave me a vital quest to bring that baker to her alive. And I don't intend to fail!"
"So this mistress of yours has been sending all these monsters one after the other, eh?", Gossamer questions, getting infuriated by the thought.
The devil happily confirms with a nod and boasts, "Indeed. And it'll take more than a swordswoman, a unicorn, and a male hag to challenge me!", all while inflaming his eyes in hellfire accompanied by an evil toothy grin.
"I'm here too.", Basil softly says in an insulted tone.
But before their fight could go down right then and there, another voice called out, "Then how bout wes!"
Looking to the source, they were all surprised to see Burr, alongside all the Bugbear warriors, Hobgoblin fighters, and Goblin sneakers, gathered together with their weapons raised and shouting a massive warcry!
"And us!", came another voice.
Looking over to see Pythor and the man Lizard Men all gathered and ready to fight with their crudely made weapons.
Suddenly, something slammed into the flying devil and knocked him off balance, injecting him with a green substance. Next, a clear string grabbed hold of his body before pulling him to the ground and sticking his wings to it. Finally, a sea of small ropes fell over and trapped him on the ground, where they tightened and pinned him down further.
"Hisssssss!", hissed Myeon as she swung down from the roof of the house, baring her fangs.
"Screeeeech!", screeched Melon as she flew down from the sky, rattling her dripping tail.
"Baaaaaaa!", cried the small Torah as they nailed down the ropes pinning the devil.
"Oh, oh! We're here, too! We're here too!", called another familiar voice. Looking out to see Bow and Ball running over while the boy waved his hand and called happily, "Hi, Basil!"
Then, three small bodies came into Basil's view and showed themselves as the winded fairy triplets. After catching their breaths, Slow said, "We also came."
"Sorry for being late.", Moe apologized.
"Whenever Gossamer gets like this, he disappears.", Flo explained.
"Wrinkles and Teto and Broom are here as well, Master.", Wrinkles announced at Basil's feet, as the Kobold Kenu and magic broom stood at his defense with whatever way of defending themselves that they could.
"We also came, sir Basil!", called the nervous voice of Hopkins, followed closely by all the other Halflings, only for him to backtrack and follow up by offering, "For moral support and first aid.", as the Halflings held up a mixture of medical supplies and handmade signs that encouraged victory.
As this happened, the devil quickly became fed up with the introduction or reintroduction spiel and quickly broke free of his restraints while exerting his aura to push the Small Torah away! After shaking himself off, he looked around at the sudden army of monsters and laughed! He laughed so much that he was brought down to his knees, where he choked.
After calming down enough to speak, he said to Basil and his crew, "Are you kidding me? Goblins, Lizard Men, a greater demon spider, some fairies, lambies, halflings, and a Shepard druid. That's what you have to throw at me!? Are you trying to make me laugh?", he demands while trying to hold back even more laughter.
"No, we're trying to make you dead.", Bow told him.
Acolyte's eye twitched with anger at the response, but instead of exploding, he retained his rage and said with a growling sigh, "I suppose I could have a bit of fun before I take my prize. Well then, as the knights of old used to say." He said, turning his hands into demonic claws, "Have at you!"
The battle started, and Acolyte attacked the young druid first! He raked his claws across the young man but managed to block the attack with his Shepherd staff! He shot a fireball at him, but the attack was absorbed. Then he tried water, wind, and lighting, but each attack was absorbed as the devil advanced!
Bow then summoned a spectacular sheep and kicked it with his foot, tripping the devil and allowing him to strike him with his staff from an underhand! The attack cracked into his face and sent him up into the air! Unfortunately, Acolyte used the momentum to spread his wings, twirl in the air, and kick Bow with enough force in the gut to send him flying!
Acolyte tried to attack Ball but stopped mid-attack as he saw the sheep. He froze like a statue and moved back until he tripped and tried crawling away! Fear was strewn on his face as Ball slowly advanced on him.
Only for the devil to mutter out, "You are-! But how are you-? Why are you-?! No, no, no! Stay back!"
But before Ball could do…whatever he was going to, the Bugbears and other goblins all trampled the sheep in a sea of their feet as they charged at the fiend! With weapons raised, they sounded the monster, and all tried to climb over one another to beat the beast to death with their clubs, fails, and other weapons! But the devil quickly got tired of this and exerted a force of lightning that made the Bugbears halt long enough for him to fly out of range. Unfortunately, this left him open to the goblins, allowing him to fly up into the air and ready for another magic attack to take them out!
Only for a volley of arrows and spears to be thrown at him mid-flight, all thrown by the hobgoblins! Only a few managed to scratch or pierce him as he blocked the rest by hardening his skin or smacking them with wings or claws. Then, long hook ropes were thrown and attached to him, where dozens of crazed goblins began to climb up, yelling and cackling with glee! Kicking them off before they got there was easy enough for the devil, but removing several dozen was much more challenging, and before he knew it, he was swarmed and poked with sharpened stones and knives!
This made the devil let loose an area of attack spell using the fire he absorbed earlier. This caused the goblins swarming him to be thrown off, breaking the ropes and covering many of them in a fire! Many goblins burned to death, but some were put out by the hobgoblins, which gave the devil a chance to counter. He flew to the ground at high speed and crash-landed between the ranks before going apeshit by tearing through the armed and armored goblins like tin foil! Many Hobgoblins tried to attack the devil, but his claws and strength outmatched any of them, leaving a trail of death, blood, and corpses in his wake!
When the Bugbears managed to shake off the lightning spell that paralyzed them, they saw the Hobgoblins and goblins getting torn apart! So with a war cry from Burr, they all advanced on the devil. Acolyte stopped his blood bath when he heard the roar of the Bugbears and turned to face them with sinister zeal at their arrival. One particularly large and fast Bugbear took the front and jumped into the air to land a devastating attack against the fiend! Unfortunately, Acolyte saw this coming from a mile away and simply stood there until the Bugbear fell to him. There, he racked his claws through the bugbear's chest and stomach, where blood and his innards fell out, leaving the beastly goblin to flop to the ground in his own entrails.
The other Bugbears stopped their charge as they watched in shock, all gasping at the sight! Very rarely had the Bugbears bore witness to the sight of one of these own having their blood spilled. Typically, death was due to other things, but to have their highly regarded and tough flesh broken was something that rarely happened! Even still, Burr prompted them forward with a roar, and the others joined in! They swamped the devil, but like with the first, he cut through their ranks, but with far less ease than before since it took more than one hit to bring them down, and Acolyte had to actually start fighting to prevent himself getting his bones and organs crushed by there massive strength coupled with crushing implements.
Then Burr finally came back to the front, and with all his strength, he whacked the monster with all his strength and his spiked club! The club broke into splinters across his face and caved in his head, allowing Burr to spew his honey over the stunned devil. This was quickly followed by all the other Bugbears, who immersed the fiend in their honey until he looked like a mosquito trapped in Amber.
Then the beastly goblins fled from the spot as the honey quickly changed colors and exploded on red! The explosion was so powerful that anyone within several yards was knocked off their feet or heat burnt!
Acolyte flew several hundred feet into the air before crash-landing on the ground in a broken mess! Even still, this wasn't enough to kill him, and after several seconds of lying on the ground, he started to heal and get back up slowly.
Seeing this, Gossamer told the fairies and Hagson, "While he's distracted, let's hit him with a combined magic attack!"
Seeing absolutely no reason to quibble, Hagson wordlessly agreed with the fairies, and then all gathered their magic at a focal point. Gossamer generating magic from his horn, Hagson muttered an unknown language, and the fairies fluttered around it in a sphere. Once It reached its precipice, they fired it at the downed devil!
Basil saw what was happening and tried intervening by yelling, "No! Don't! I think he's a-!"
But it was too late as the mixed magic blasted at the monster, where it appeared to explode at first. Only to be quickly proven wrong when the devil's body absorbed the magical ball, causing all his injuries to heal instantly and all vigor to return.
Causing Basil to suck air between his teeth and finish saying, "Deviant."
Acolyte smiles and laughs at the fae creatures and tells them, "Thanks for the power boost!"
With the new power coursing around his body, he lets it loose as an area of attack, knocking back and knocking out all Bugbears, Hobgoblins, and goblins left alive in the battle! This caused the Halflings to rush in and take them away for medical aid. Acolyte then shot a beam of the mixed magic at the fae creatures, and they all had to produce a magic shield together to survive! Even though the shield hung out, it deflected the attack in several directions, causing the army to take cover!
Until one of the stray blasts veered off and hit Basil's Bakery, which exploded in a fiery display of destruction that sent debris and other things hurtling everywhere! Basil looked on in distress, fell to his knees, and yelled, "My house!"
"Oh, don't worry, I intend to take far more than that!", Acolyte jeered while swirling the water magic he previously absorbed and formed it into blades.
Before Basil could try and act against the monster, Marigold called to him. He turned and saw her trying to break the dimensional cube holding her party. It looked like it lasted longer than a few minutes, and the heroes started looking pale. Should he help Marigold's party, defend against Acolyte, or use his magic to heal the injured goblins? Basil had no idea what to do first!?
Luckily, one of those things was taken care of when the lizard men joined the fight! Seeing this, he tells Hagson to aid the lizard men, the fairies to stick close to himself, and Gossamer to try to open that dimensional cube. Now, he had to figure out how to put this devil down for good. Physical attacks only appeared to hinder him, and he could absorb any magic thrown at him, so what could be done to kill this monster? No matter how often he used his appraisal or anything similar to finding a weak spot, the devil had some magic firewall protecting his identity.
Back at the fight, the lizards camouflaged into the area, something Basil had no idea they could do, where they appeared out of nowhere only to strike fast and go into hiding again quickly. A plethora of spears, claws, teeth, and barbed extendable tongues came from the high grass around him, and Acolyte was none the wiser about what or where they came from. He tried to send blades of water and wind all around the area but always came up with nothing!
Apart from cutting the many fruits and berry bushes leading up to Basil's home. Knowing lizard men, he only managed to get a few severed limbs, which was less than an inconvenience for a race that could regrow just about any external body part. Acolyte instead tried to rely on his senses, but he soon found that they were being snuffed out for some reason, leaving him vulnerable to any number of attacks. So he used his skill, Magical Sense, to find this block's origin.
Soon, he saw it--it was faint, but it was there. A thread of magic attached to him and siphoned his vigor, dulling his senses. So, on fast feet, he followed the thread, dodging all the lizard men who tried to attack him. He came across a single tree emanating the magic, but Acolyte knew this was no tree.
So he grabbed the tree and ended up catching the neck of a lone and old lizard man! It was Pythor who was chanting something to weaken the devil. Unfortunately, with the throat closed, his spell was ended, and all of Acolyte's hellish senses returned. It is enforced even more when he senses a lizard man who tries to jump him from behind! Acolyte pulled out his tail and sliced the lizard in half!
He turns his attention back to the choking Pythor. He holds him off his feet while saying, "You were smart, old man, real smart. But not crafty. Staying far away and dulling my senses to let your underling take shots at me till I croak, was smart.", He then narrows his eyes while thinking aloud, "A bit too smart for your kind. Even still, I don't appreciate being made a fool, so you'll pay for it. With your soul!"
Acolyte then unhinged his mouth, showing teeth sticking out of the sides, top, and bottom of his mouth as a fine mist began to pool out of the old Lizard man's eyes. Many more Lizard Men tried to defend their elder, but they only got shredded or impaled by the devil's fast tail! Pythor grew weaker and weaker, unable to fight back as his body appeared to deflate!
When things looked terrible for the Lizard Men Shamen, a knife flew through the air and cleanly sliced off the devil's arms, holding up the lizard. Pythor fell to the ground, and Acolyte looked at his severed arm stumps in confusion. Turning his head, he saw Hagson nearby in a throwing stance, the one who had thrown the knife.
He smiled wickedly at the hag spawn and casually walked towards him while boasting, "A hag who helps his food. How ironically sad. You must be such a disappointment to your mother. No wonder she abandoned you to a green hag of all monsters. Not only are you male and have no magic of your own, but you have no brains in that tiny-.", he began to say while approaching.
"Little.", he said as Hagson began to straighten up.
"Mind.", The devil fell off when he saw Hagson stand at his total seven feet tall over the devil's nearly five foot ten inches.
Acolyte gulped dryly and stumbled off his pride trip, muttering, "... your um, you're much bigger than I expected."
Only for Hagson to wordlessly respond with his hand-cranked back, balled up tight, and then thrown into his face with a massively powerful punch with such enthusiasm behind it that it sent the devil flying straight through several trees before finally crashing and cracking one last big one that fell over from the massive debt in its trunk! Acolyte's whole face had been caved in alongside nearly all the skin removed, his jaw hanging by a thread, and one of his eyes popped from the socket! He sputtered and gagged, trying to form words past the lack of jaw and blood filling his lungs.
But eventually, he managed to heal his face enough to say aloud, "And much stronger. Fuck!"
"And once a sniveling little imp, always a sniveling little imp.", Hagson quipped back. He then opened his leather coat, showing off a collection of different knives and saying musically, "And all good imps are dead imps!"
Hason laughed in a crazed tone as the knives flew out from him and began to fly toward the monster! The devil used the wind magic he absorbed to push the knives away long enough to heal. Unfortunately, the kindest was magically given life, and after being blown away, they recontinued their course to the devil, who spread his wings and flew off. No matter how high, far, or what turns he tried, the knives never lost track of the monster!
So he implored some strategy and flew back around to the Hag Spawn, and in a quick flash of the moment, Acolyte grabbed and flipped the male witch around, using him as a shield as the knives all implanted into him! Hagson cried out in pain but kept trying to fight! Only for the devil to turn him around and use the mixed fae magic on him, implanting it directly into his head!
Hagson cried out like he was being electrocuted and eventually slumped over, unmoving! Acolyte dropped him with his half-reformed hands and sensed the immediate arrival of the remaining Lizard Men. With what little faa magic he had left, he pushed it into his aura and expelled it out in a wave that caused any too close to evaporate and all others to go unconscious.
Using his Keen Sight to look for Basil, he saw him, Marigold, and Gossamer trying and succeeding at breaking his dimensional cube. So he quickly reformed his missing parts and flew off to catch them by surprise! Just as he was about to catch them, a sea of stones was flung at him!
Usually, this would be nothing, but one hit his eye, and he couldn't have it! So he stopped, which was a mistake, as an even larger slew of stones were flung at him! Using his wings as a shield, he saw the rocks thrown by the Small Torah, which all had leather sling shots!
Peep, the leader, was calling out commands in his sheepish tongue as the other Small Torah picked up rocks and threw them with surprising accuracy and power! Seeing no reason to exert himself over such a menial force, he exerted his aura and knocked away the delicate sheep creatures. Their souls would be less than a snack for him, so it wasn't worth cutting them all down.
Just before he flew off, he suddenly felt woozy and fell to the ground on his knees. After making sure he wouldn't vomit, he tried to figure out what was making him so sick. Then he felt something wet on his body.
He knew it wasn't blood since the rocks barely bruised him. So it was something on the rocks. He picked one up and licked it, only to immediately spot it out as he realized it was venom! Lammies had no venom of their own, so where did they get it? And why was it strong enough to make him feel woozy?
Then the answer to all his questions came to him in the form of something significant, bombing him from the sky and shattering his spine! Acolyte felt long, sharp objects sink into his back, and a set of what felt like a mouth of teeth grabbed and started crushing his skull! Acolyte had to act; otherwise, he would be dead!
So he used his tail to slash at whatever was above him, but it refused to let go! But then he remembered his ability to possess others, so he turned into a thick fog and tried to enter the body of whoever was on top of him. Only to be rejected by the body and find it to be the wyvern, Melon.
Acolyte knew that devils couldn't possess unintelligent creatures, even if she would've been helpful. He floated above her and reformed back to a physical form, knowing he couldn't hold the other one for long. He prepared to fall upon her back and rip out her spine, just like she did to him, only for something to crash into him and knock him off course.
Rolling off to the side and getting into an aggressive stance, Acolyte saw that Myeon knocked him away from the unsuspecting Wyvern. She hissed at him and showed her hidden fangs with her mouth open wide as a fire cooked from within. Then Melon soon joined her, and now it was two-on-one, which was actually a difficult challenge!
Still, Acolyte tried to boast, saying to the spider, "So the inbred demon thinks it can beat me with an unevolved dragon. I have to say you're the most inbred one I've met. You look like what happened when the humans domesticated wolves. Is that what you are? An inbred demon dog?"
Myeon only hisses in response and jumps into the air while shooting several strands of the web to try and trap the devil. But Acolyte sliced them up with his tail, only for Melon to jump in and try to run him down! Luckily, he dodged before her teeth could pierce his skull again, only for the dragon to swing her hips and try to pierce him with her tail!
Luckily, he hardened his arms and blocked it, only for several fireballs to be thrown at him.
Dodging with several flips, he maneuvers out of the way quickly enough to see Myeon spewing fire at him. He smiles, and as she spews another, he tries to catch and absorb it. Only for the fire to painfully set his arm ablaze and Melon to jump on her tail and kick him with her venomous talons!
Rolling back from the kick's power, he quickly put out the fire, removed the venom from his body, and closed his wounds.
"I should've known an inbred like you can no longer breathe magical fire. It's natural. So that means when I kill you, you won't go back to the Hallow. I'll enjoy torturing your soul.", he jeers the monster while returning to his feet.
Melon then flew up to her wings, grabbing the spider in her claws. At first, Acolyte was confused by this, thinking they were fleeing. But he was once again proven wrong when the wyvern spewed venom from her tail or fangs, only for Myeon to ignite them and cause a massive explosion to follow! Acolyte tried his best to roll out of the way, but each ball of explosive venom came faster than the first! It was even more problematic when Melon sprayed venom from her fangs, and Myeon ignited it into a deadly flamethrower!
When Acolyte tried to fly up, Melon flew fast and whacked him with her wing while Myeon quickly webbed his wings together--causing the devil to fall back to the ground where he was a sitting duck! He ran as fast as possible, but the two monsters were far quicker! He had to find a way to get up in the sky and quickly found a way to do it.
Finding a large boulder, he threw it at the pair, causing them to veer off while Acolyte flew behind it and readied an attack! Only Myeon was far more intelligent than she looked. She had Melon throw her onto the boulder, where she crawled around it before shooting and sticking a web to the devil. She swung around him until she was above him and fell straight on top of him!
Using her massive weight and grabbing his wings, they both plummeted to the ground, where Myeon threw up something that looked like liquid fire below him, and the devil fell right on top of it, right as Myeon wrapped him up in her web. She jumped away, and then Melon dive-bombed from above, once again sinking her talons into his back and kicking him with them!
Just as the devil seemed unconscious, Melon raised her tail above her head, ready to strike it into his skull! But just as she struck with a speed faster than the naked eye, Acolyte vanished, and Melon got her tail stuck in the ground! Acolyte teleported right next to the monster, grabbed her tail, and flung her around like a flail before using her as one! Myeon didn't know what to do since she didn't want to hurt Melon, but her indecision cost her as the devil used the wyvern to bash the spider repeatedly until it remained unmoving!
After tossing the wyvern aside, he looked back at his prize to see that the dimensional cube had been broken! Now, Acolyte was done playing. He had torn through just about everything Basil could throw. Now, he just had to snag him and leave! After rapidly healing his injuries, something that didn't do his body any favors, he raced off with blinding speed on food with a crazed look on his face!
Gossamer sensed the devil's arrival and ran out while saying, "It seems it's up to me to stop this monster. You have to stay back."
As Gossamer ran off to fight the fiend, Marigold defended Basil as the fairies hid behind his head. Basil asked the woman, "Marigold, what are you doing?"
"But before he could finish that thought, the woman cut him off and said, "Basil. You've done enough fighting for a long while. Let us and I fight at least one of your battles."
Hearing this, Basil was speechless but also thankful and worried. Seeing her conviction, the fairies flew around her head, ready to help however they could. Back at the fight, Gossamer and Acolyte raced towards one another and eventually came to blows in a flash that caused a crater and shock wave to form!
A flurry of claws and horns clashed against one another in a display of sparks and raw power; despite his size, Gossamer easily kept pace with the much smaller and agile-looking opponent. After trying to attack each other in a fury, they finally came to a clashing stalemate, with Gossamer's horn locked with Acolyte's claws. Staring down one another, they converted to try and demoralize one another.
"Can't help but notice that you, a mighty unicorn, naturally born in the arcane arts, are refusing to use magic.", Acolyte jeered at him.
"As if I'm going to give you another power boost.", Gossamer angrily snorted.
"Aren't you afraid I'll beat you? Even without magic.", Acolyte exclaimed while pushing into him.
Gossamer narrows his eyes and replies, "As if magic is the only trick I know.", Suddenly, Acolyte feels power growing behind the unicorn as he says, "And as if a unicorn is nothing but their magic!", Before he knows it, he's being pushed back. In contrast, the unicorn stands at full height, pushing down on him, threatening, "It's impossible to believe that you could beat me in any conceivable way!"