The ominous mutterings of Hell's woods were drowned by the heartbeats of warriors set for battle. Gunjo, his blood now a conduit of destructive fury, stood before the gargantuan demon bunny, the Infernal Lepus Colossus. Both beings bristled with the raw power of their respective domains — one borne from the abyssal infernos, the other an avatar of primal bestial force.
'Use the two skills effectively, dodge blows and attacks. The snake skin should help a little if I take damage, but not too much damage.'
[Objective: Survive against Yaien for 5 minutes, The demon bunny. Rewards: 50 XP points, 10 skill points.]
'Great. The window stalker is telling me what to do now? Shit. Let's do this then. I'm surprised it didn't tell me to win, like it knows I don't stand a chance. I just can't let the bastard hit me over and over. From Sevyn's punch earlier, The snake skin withstood that, but too many of those definitely would've ruined the hide of snake armor.'
"I've been waiting for this!" The demon bunny Yaien exclaimed arrogantly, dashing forward.
Gunjo's scythe, an extension of the hellish energy brewing within, thirsted for the fray. With a deliberate motion, he swung the blade, and a crescent of red aura screamed through the air, seeking the flesh of his colossal adversary. The air, laden with the scent of brimstone, shivered as the energy cleaved through it.
The Infernal Lepus Colossus, however, was not bereft of its own deadly dance. It uncoiled its massive legs and vaulted, the grace of its movement belied by its monstrous form. The Thunder Thump ability contracted in its sinews as it prepared its own reprisal; upon touch down, it would send devastating shockwaves through the earth beneath them.
'Move!' Gunjo thought. He launched himself sideways, just as the bunny's feet struck the ground. The resulting tremor sent serrations racing through the terrain, spewing clumps of wicked soil and shattered stone skyward. The shockwave got ahold of Gunjo's body, and he shook violently.
'Dammit! Stop shaking! Move!'
Not relenting, the demon bunny transitioned into its Speed Ball form, engulfing its massive body in a protective and destructive flaming sphere. It hurtled towards Gunjo at an astounding velocity, the underbrush igniting in its wake, leaving a conflagration trail through the woods.
Gunjo, with reflexes hardened by countless battles, summoned his Scalding Onset ability. He realized he was bleeding from cracks of his bones. As the blazing orb bore down on him, the air shimmered with the heat of his blood which began to boil within his veins. With a roar that echoed the chaos of Hell itself, his blood turned to searing liquid fire.
The scythe in his hands became a wreath of red and gold, as the infernal energy surged through the weapon. As the demon bunny approached, Gunjo met it with a countermove, driving his scythe into the ground. The resulting burst of scalding blood erupted from the earth, targeting the fiery sphere's trajectory, burning the demon bunny slightly.
An explosion of force and flame collided, and for a moment, the woods were illuminated like the day of reckoning. Trees splintered, the fire spreading like a malignancy through their ancient trunks, and the wildlife of Hell scattered from the battle's epicenter.
'Oh? He used his ability to stab the ground to allow that burning blood to scorch me..' The demon bunny Yaien thought.
When the clearing smoke and debris allowed sight once more, both adversaries stood, marked by the conflict but unbroken. The demon bunny reverted to its original form, burnt fur reeking of sulfur and char.
Gunjo advanced, the scythe's aura pulsating erratically with each step. The forest seemed to contract around them, dark spectators to their strife. Here, the Passive Aggressive Skill: Scalding Vitality, flared like a warning beacon. Should the bunny dare to close the distance and clamp its jaws onto Gunjo, it would find its mouth scorched by the fiery blood that pulsed in the demon king's veins.
"Tch! Not bad, skeleton!"
The bunny reared, its hind legs betraying the tension before the impending leap. It soared, the woods just a blur beneath its vaulting form. Gunjo twisted, scythe raised as a barrier, an adamant shield bathed in an inferno's glow.
Yet, as the bunny descended with outstretched claws, Gunjo sidestepped deftly, scythe swinging in an upward arc. A red lash streaked through the air, aimed to shear but meeting only vestiges of afterimages — the beast's agility had saved it once more, a split second decision that brought it to Gunjo's flank.
Gunjo thought, 'Crap. I almost had him with the feint dodge to the side step. That leaping ability of his, I have to time it perfectly to where I can land a clean hit to cut his fucking head off…'
The demon bunny thought, 'He faked a block to pull me in closer, side stepping to try and scratch me. Even though this brat is a weak skeleton, he still has his skill from when he was a demon king, but without the power needed.'
With the surroundings playing to no clear advantage, the raw might and skill of each again became the focal point of their dance. Scythe met sinew, flame met fury, each strike and counterstrike a testament to their relentless drive.
Gunjo carved glyphs of destruction with each swing, the aura tangible in its intent to rend and tear. The demon bunny countered with ferocity, never yielding an inch, its every lunge a portrait of predatory instinct.
The woods cried out, their centuries-old lives extinguished in the wake of their battle. Trees fell, the fire spread unchecked, but amidst the smoke and the embers, two figures remained locked in an endless cycle of attack and reprisal, master and beast each other's crucible, in the unforgiving crucible of Hell.
The demon bunny smacked the ground fast with his feet, and Gunjo leaped to not get caught by the shockwaves.
'I've figured that out. That skill only affects those around him when they're touching the ground but not in the air—.'
KATHOOM!
The demon bunny used his speed to zip above Gunjo, and smashed both of his legs down on him, pinning him to the ground.
The demon bunny laughed, "HAHA! You think you've got me all figured out, don't you?"
Gunjo replied, "You're so annoying."
'I wasn't paying attention!'
The demon bunny leaped again to perform another attack, but Gunjo rolled out of the way as the bunny's feet hit the ground, destroying it around him. Gunjo slid back, stabbing his scythe in the ground to catch himself from flying away.
"Agh!"
'I'm getting tired now. Before I got a little stronger, I would've fallen apart over and over.'
[Snake skin armor : 30% remaining.]
'30 percent, huh? That's pretty damn low. I have to do something, if this keeps up, I'll lose. I'm so used to fighting without any worries, I never had to try so hard. Never really using strategy or anything. This is all new for me, I was so gifted, the Demonic Order had given me magic that was more than the other demon monarchs, demon lords, and demon kings. I can't lose here, not yet. I don't know my own limits to death, if I fall apart, how many times do my bones come back again? I don't wanna find out, it's like a gamble; a gamble I never had to think about it while I was in the Order.'
As the sanguine fury of battle raged on, the once tranquil purgatory of the woods twisted into a roaring cacophony. Gunjo, his form bathed in the red glow of hellfire, pivoted with the grace of a demon prince, his scythe an extension of his will. Each swing unleashed waves of red aura that carved through the air, seeking the vulnerable flesh of his adversary with relentless precision.
The Infernal Lepus Colossus, a demon bunny of colossal stature and feral instinct, countered the onslaught with its own formidable arsenal. Its eyes, alight with the fury of a thousand storms, focused intently on the former demon king. Its powerful muscles coiled and released with explosive speed, its every leap and dash a blur that defied the weight of its massive body.
Enraged by Gunjo's tenacious assault, the bunny harnessed the tempest within its form, a precursor to unleashing its Thunder Thump. In an instant, its hind legs smashed against the pocked surface of Hell's earth, sending a shockwave of kinetic energy pulsing outward, fissures racing towards Gunjo like serpents of impending doom.
'He's doing it again?!'
Anticipating the unavoidable attack, Gunjo channeled the tumult within his blood into his next evasive maneuver. With his Scalding Onset activated, the demon king leaped skyward, his ascent marked by a trail of incendiary blood droplets that ignominiously burned the already scorched earth below.
As Gunjo reached the apex of his leap, the demon bunny transitioned into its dangerous Speed Ball form. Igniting its fur into an armor of flame, it converted its body into a meteoric sphere of destruction, hell-bent on turning Gunjo's aerial advantage into a fiery grave.
Gunjo, eyes ablaze, gauged the trajectory of the incoming fiery dreadnought. With a calculated twist of his body, he aligned the descent of his scythe with the path of the combustive comet, summoning the blood-fueled energy to coat the blade.
Claws of flame extended from the rolling inferno as the demon bunny anticipated colliding with its target. But mere moments before impact, Gunjo's descent hastened, his scythe cleaving the air with a bloodcurdling scream. The weapon, now a red arc of vengeance, met the Speed Ball in a cataclysmic conjunction.
The collision sent a detonation of hellish energy across the woods, the shockwave leveling ancient trees, as if the forest itself was suffering the torments of damnation. Smoldering debris filled the atmosphere with ash; shadows danced wildly as the fires consumed all in their path.
Gunjo and the demon bunny thought at the same time:
'He predicted me!'
As the debris settled, the outline of two indomitable figures stood amidst the devastation. Gunjo, his weary snake skin armor singed and his aura flickering wildly, faced the demon bunny, its Speed Ball form dissipating like a nightmare at dawn, revealing its singed and smoldering fur.
The demon bunny Yaien smiled, "You're starting to really piss me off."
"I can say the same thing, rat."
"Rat? That's the best you've got? I'm a bunny."
"I said that because it's supposed to be a disrespectful line towards you—."
"—I'm not stupid!"
The air crackled with residual power, the soil a mosaic of fire and embers. The passive ability, Scalding Vitality, simmered beneath Gunjo's skin, its promise of retribution for any who dared to wound him remained as certain as the dark fates that governed Hell itself.
[Snake skin armor: 15% remaining]
[Toughness boost depleting]
'So the snakeskin gave me some sort of boost, adding into my own 1,000 point toughness stat. Interestingly weird. But it's badass.'
Gunjo advanced, each step measured, each breath a billow of scorching air. The scythe swayed in his grip, its arc responding to his every beck and call, a deadly pendulum poised to reap the soul of this fearsome beast.
The demon bunny, undeterred, prepared to lash out once more. Its body, though burnt, was a reservoir of raw might and agility. It feigned left before bounding to the right, its powerful limbs tearing trenches into the ground with their strength.
'He's trying to throw me off guard, drifting all over the place so I can't predict where he'll be next. It's working, but I have to not give into it. Surround myself with my own power.'
Gunjo, not fooled by the subterfuge, rotated, his body a whirlwind of diabolical energy. His scythe extended, daring the bunny to come within striking distance, the red arcs humming with the promise of searing pain.
'He's creating a man-made typhoon around him to keep me from coming close. Haha! What an annoying pest!' The demon bunny Yaien thinks to himself, blood and ash and flames dripping from his body.
Suddenly, the once predictable battle took an unexpected turn. The demon bunny, utilizing its unparalleled speed, darted forward, its form becoming a blur, an apparition that even the flames seemed wary to touch.
'Did he get faster?! I'm tiring myself out doing this, I might have to throw the scythe.' Gunjo believed in his thoughts. 'I'll let him land a blow, and then I'll activate the Scalding Vitality skill.'
The demon bunny thought, 'if I can dismember him before he can activate any skill, then victory is mine!'
Gunjo reacted, but the demon bunny was faster, its teeth baring down on him, seeking the bone beneath the infernal exterior. As the teeth sunk into Gunjo's shoulder, the bunny's victory was short-lived; Scalding Vitality activated with a vengeance, enveloping the creature's mouth with burning blood, a painful reminder that to harm Gunjo was to court one's own destruction.
Gunjo had already planted the curved arc in the blade of his scythe around the bunnies neck, holding his head there.
Gunjo, with blood flying everywhere, exclaimed, "You like that?! You rat!"
"This isn't enough to beat me!"
'I wasn't fast enough. I haven't lost though!' The demon bunny Yaien thinks.
The bunny lifted Gunjo in the air with its teeth, leaped at least 40 feet ahead, and bashed Gunjo straight through a large obsidian rock. Pieces flew everywhere, and Gunjo was deep inside the rock, with half of his body destroyed, but his scythe was in his other hand.
'Ow…that's not good..'
The demon bunny laughed, "You like that, now?! It was pretty fun, I'll give you that. But even you know you can't lift that scythe up with one hand."
[Snake-skin armor: 0% remaining]
[Toughness buff depleted fully]
As the bunny reared up for another and final Thunder Thump, his bones easily made their way back to him, connecting to his body, and Gunjo grinned as he started to sit up. His final step synchronized with the bunny's impact, and the scythe dove into the soil, channeling his Scalding Onset's fiery blood through the ground just as the shockwaves were unleashed.
"AGHHHH!" The demon bunny screamed as he was engulfed with heat.
The undermining heat coursed through the earth, meeting the shockwave in a crescendo of fire and force. The demon bunny, caught off-guard, was thrown off balance, its form momentarily vulnerable, a mere painting of a ferocious god flickering in the intense heat of the ensuing maelstrom.
'Tch! He faked being cripple to perform that skill the exact moment I landed, he was waiting for that all along!'
Seizing the moment, Gunjo lunged, his scythe cutting an arc bathed in vermilion light, aiming for the demon bunny's underbelly. But the colossus, its reflexes honed in the forges of Hell, contorted in mid-air, evading a mortal blow. The sharp air of the scythe's path grazed its fur, a warning incision that spoke of near-death.
Gunjo smirked, "I've taken into account that you've never seen me put myself back together. And using that, you thought I was done for. Yeah, I did need two hands to lift the scythe, but it paid off. I had to time your jump specifically with my skill. I knew that every time I hit you, you would damn near brush it off. So I came to the conclusion that if I just kept hitting you, you might eventually fall."
"Hmmm. You're interesting…but I still hate you at the same time. This entire time, you've been trying to do that tactic, but you'd have to time your dodge and skill activation at the perfect moment."
"Failed over and over, and now I landed it."
The fray pressed on with each contender bearing the testament of their struggle. Gunjo, his torso adorned with the singed marks from the bunny's fiery assault, breathed deep, his chest rising and falling with the cadence of the hellish bellows that fueled him. His scythe, though notched and partly molten from battle's fervor, remained as lethal as ever.
The vortex of churning winds encircled the two beings, the very air resonating with the intensity of their energy. Amidst the furor, Gunjo's now glowing red eyes locked onto the colossal demon bunny, his monstrous opponent known as Yaien, who seemed to swell with the storm they had spawned, their silhouettes stark against the raw devastation.
Both adversaries were moments away, the finality of their next moves hanging in the tension of the whirlwind. Gunjo brandished his scythe, the red aura around it flaring violently, an omen of the reckoning he sought to deliver. Yaien's colossal form crouched, thunderous energy pulsating within, ready to release its catastrophic might.
The ground itself seemed to groan, pleading for mercy as death loomed in their hands. But it was in that precipice of chaos, where fate's cruel hands were about to clap in thunderous applause, that a new presence entered the fray.
She loomed at the edge of the crumbling battlefield, a figure draped in the humility of sackcloth, her face an enigmatic mystery beneath a spectral veil. With each measured step, her presence commanded the winds, her soft murmur slicing through the cyclone as she pronounced a single, powerful word: "Yaien."
In an instant, the unbridled fury that swelled the air began to dissipate, as if reality itself was bending around her utterance. Yaien, the dread inferno of fur and fangs, shifted impossibly. The beast's hulking frame shrank, the fires dying, the wind receding, leaving a small, innocuous rabbit blushing beneath the shock of its transformation.
"I'm sorry I wandered off," the bunny's voice was disarmingly tender, a soft, endearing tone rippling through the clearing. Yaien's eyes shimmered with an earnest innocence, his entire demeanor a stark contrast to the ferocious demon moments before. "This skeleton tried to kill me," he protested with a cherubic pout, "I wasn't even fighting him back."
Gunjo, disbelief etched upon his visage of bone, could only retort in a thunderous outcry, "HUH?! HE'S LYING!"
But the small demon bunny merely shifted bashfully, its ears flopping in a candid dance. "No I'm not," Yaien replied, his voice timbre that of a serene confession, accompanied by a sly twinkle in his eyes and a blossoming smile that softened even the ashen remnants of the battlefield. "Violence is never the answer."
Amidst the revealed charade, the woman's veil gently flapped with a residual wisp of the departing storm. She stepped toward Gunjo, her presence assertive yet unfathomable. "Gunjo... it's you," she spoke, her words drifting through the turmoil like a ghostly caress.
In her voice, there was a depth of recognition that seemed to echo from the very pits of eternity, a knowing that transcended the present squall. The words seemed wrought from histories untold, and though her face remained concealed, there was an undeniable familiarity in her utterance that wove together past and future, a link binding their destinies in the enigmatic tapestry of Hell's own lore.
Around them, the remnants of the woodland whispered, the fires hissed their dying breaths, and a somber hush fell across the scarred earth. Even the winds hushed their howling, as if in reverence to the turn of events that the fates had spun upon that unforeseen reunion.
They stood in silence, and Yaien said, "Uhh, mistress, do you know this attacker who tried to attack me? A cute adorable bunny like me?"
Gunjo thought, 'Yeah, do I even know her? Her face is covered, and her voice, based on the patterns of her verbatim and small shifts in the sound of her speech, is very human-like.'
The woman removed the veil from her face.
Gunjo gasped, seeing that it was an old human woman with gray hair behind the black veil.
"Oh my goodness…." Gunjo in shock spoke. "…Who are you?"
Yaien exclaimed, "You acted all shocked to see her, having me think you knew her, and you did all of that to say WHO SHE IS?!"
Gunjo replied, "Die somewhere, rat!"
'What's a full human doing here? In her human form? Unless…'
"Are you that woman..? That woman rumored to be the Demon's Elixir?"
Yaien whispered to the woman, "He's been stalking us, we just run away now while we have the chance. He has a few tricks up his sleeve."
[Quest completed: Survive against Yaien for 5 minutes. 50 XP gained, 10 skill points earned.]
[Current stats]
Level : 2 (50/100) (XP)
SP : 10 [Skill Points]
Strength: 250 /10000
Speed: 250:10000
Magic : 250/10000
Dexterity: 250/10000
Constitution: 250/10000
Intelligence: 250/10000
Wisdom: 250/10000
Charisma: 250/10000
Toughness : 1,000/10000
Gunjo thought, 'So I gained two new attributes. Speed and magic. Why the hell didn't you give me that when you first saw me? It's like I had to earn that. But at the same time, it feels like I did earn it. It actually feels good..'
The old woman said, "I am Elma. The Demon Elixir, The Witch of Sorrow. Made a horrible deal back in my days on earth, and now used by the Order to concoct magic elixirs for demons here, whatever they wanted. I failed to do what they told me, and now..I'm here."
"I've heard of you..from the Order. Said something like you didn't use a demon spell to strip the awakened humans of their power back on earth before the invasion, even with the borrowed power."
"I couldn't. I couldn't bear casting the spell. It was too horrific. I'd have to show you what I saw."
"You need me, don't you?"
"Everyone has been talking about what happened to you, how you were stripped of your power in front of the entire congregation. We are similar. I can help you. But I'm exchange I need your help."
Gunjo got excited, "You'll help me?!"
"It's not as easy as you think. I can craft an elixir for you, that will allow you consume the energy of those you kill, turning it into your own power. But it's going to take finding the ingredients for the elixir for my spell."
Gunjo thought, 'I can't trust anyone, especially a human. But she's a human that I know for a fact was doomed. I never came to her before because I felt like I didn't need some stupid elixir, I had all the power I wanted and more. But if she's going to craft me an elixir, I know I'll have to do something crazy to help her in return, besides the fact she's gonna want me to grab the ingredients for it. What choice do I have? Right now, it's only me and Sevyn. I hope she's okay too.'
Gunjo nodded, "I'll help you."
Elma responded with a slight smile, "Thank you."
'That response..for some reason I felt her passion behind it. It almost made me vomit, human passion.'
Yaien exclaimed, "UGHHHH! No! We don't need his help! You have me!"
Elma replied, "You are amazing Yaien, you can still stick around, for I still have things I'm working on for you. Be nice."
"Tch."
Yaien and Gunjo gave each other malicious glances.
At that moment, the ground was rumbling, and from all sides around them, hordes of demon armies were approaching, yelling:
"The impact was around here!"
"Our scouts spotted Gunjo!"
"Search everywhere!"
Gunjo thought, 'Shit!'
"The demon monarchs…the lesser ranked members of the Order, they command the armies and legions within each area of hell. In my current state, I can't win."
Yaien grinned, "Let me get them!"
Elma said softly, "No. The monarchs and their armies are unpredictable. If they know you were here, Gunjo, and if they saw me here alone, they would torture me and question me, maybe even lead to killing. We'll sneak past them."
"How?" Gunjo asked.
Charrog, the Infernal Duke, led the vanguard, his molten visage like a carving from brimstone itself. Flames danced lazily across his skin, draping him in a cloak of ceaseless ember. Garnished in armor crafted from smoldering obsidian, the crimson glow of his eyes cast a baleful light, each step a smoldering testament to his dominion over fire.
Tammon, the Lady of Serpents, slithered behind with her gruesome cortège, her skin a mosaic of iridescent scales that glistened with venomous intent. Her coiling appendages supplanted limbs, and her tongue flicked the miasma with sensory precision. A crown of writhing vipers took the place of hair, each one hissing the promise of agonizing death.
Charrog said, "My scouts better not be wrong again, I'm gonna step on their faces brutally."
Tammon replied with a seductive tone, "My my dear…invite me to a watch at least."
Around them, the air thickened with the oppressive weight of malevolence, as rank upon rank of lesser demons assembled with the order and purpose of an unholy crusade.
Elma, cloaked in calm determination, produced a pair of humble herbs from within the folds of her sackcloth attire. Their leaves shimmered faintly, pulsating with a light that seemed to draw the very essence of concealment from the air itself.
"Take this," she commanded softly, pressing the sprigs into the hands of Gunjo and Yaien. "Hold it close, and tread lightly. They must not see you."
With the grace of their near-invisibility, the herb's magic cloaking them like a veil thinner than spider's silk, Gunjo and Yaien begun their spectral journey. Each cautious step was a defiance of the reality that may devour them should they falter. The demonic regiments, with their clamor and clangor, were a tempest surrounding them, any drop of suspicion capable of becoming a maelstrom of revelation.
[Quest : Get past the demonic army without being seen. Rewards - 2 skill points, 20 XP]
Barely daring to breathe, casting no shadow, making no impression upon the earth, they drifted like ghosts through the throngs of hellspawn. Heartbeats became a dangerous percussion in the silence of their passing, as they wove their way between lumbering brutes and skittering fiends.
Each sighting of the demon commanders spiked their veins with ice, their nefarious energies like beacons of peril. The air, thick with the stench of sulfur and brimstone, seemed to claw at them, demanding their very substance and soul.
Squeezed between beats of eternity, they navigated the quagmire of potential doom; each demon's breath a gale that could unravel their delicate guise. The malignant entities grasped and gestured, boasting of their strength, ignorant of the phantoms in their midst—blades of salvation and destruction sheathed in invisibility.
'Nice and steady…nice and steady..' Gunjo thought.
Closer and closer, they inched towards the enemy, having close calls to where they almost touched them.
"Hm?" A demon said, looking Gunjo's way.
Gunjo almost yelled, but he held his mouth shut, looking into the eyes of the demon, hesitating, fearing he was going to be caught. Their eyes seemed to meet, but the demon looked away, continuing to walk forward.
'Thank goodness…that was fucking close..'
Yaien watched, thinking, 'Knowing how this brat is, I'm surprised he didn't blow our cover. I gotta worry about myself too, I'm almost stepping on leaves and branches. I have to edge closer to my group..'
And then, with sighs laden with the weight of the abyss, they crossed the boundary of the horde, the edges of the demonic legion bleeding away into the darkness behind them. A momentary pause allowed them a breath, and a quiet, collective solace blossomed in the triumph of their imperceptible traverse.
However, Elma, the herald of their ghostly passage, halted. She stood, resolute and solitary, between Charrog and Tammon. The gargantuan fiends flanked her, her frail form a stark juxtaposition to their demonic splendor. Her veil, now more than ever, seemed a barrier between worlds, a sentinel of secrets against the tidal forces of darkness converging upon her.
Charrog's voice rumbled like the smoldering core of a volcano, each word dripping with disdain as he addressed his serpentine counterpart. "That Elma….thinking she can just wander out of her little corner."
Tammon's laugh was a series of seductive hisses that weaved through the stagnant air. "Indeed. The Demon's Elixir, our little key to the mortal realm. Quite the precious resource, is she not? I can almost taste the chaos we'll spread."
"I could not care less for her supposed 'preciousness,'" Charrog sneered, a thick cloud of smoke puffing from his nostrils. "Once she brews that potion, we gain passage to Earth, lay it to waste once more, and then she's disposable. To the hall of the fallen with her. I'll be the one to shred her apart."
"Foolish woman, appointed by the Demonic Order to never stray, caught frolicking around with that skeleton," Tammon drawled with a smirk. "And now she'll pay the ultimate price for her little adventure."
"Gunjo," Charrog spat the name like it was poison, "that puny bag of bones. Stripped of his title mere hours ago, and look at him now, crawling to The Demon's Elixir for help. Pathetic. Such an arrogant child, I wanna see him dead."
Tammon's laugh slithered again through the darkness, "Our little fallen king. So arrogant, so brazen. He thought himself above us all, and now, look how low he has sunk."
"The fool probably believes Elma will aid him. As if her frail potions could restore his lost glory," Charrog sneered. "I'd like to see him try. I wanna gut his face open."
"Oh, but they are not without their uses," Tammon purred, "especially to those who know how to exploit their offerings. A touch of darkness here, a pinch of despair there. We weavers of fate hold the true power."
Charrog's eyes glowed brighter with malicious intent. "Not that it will save either of them. They are insects, and we are the inferno ready to engulf them."
"Precisely," Charrog growled lowly. "A debt repaid in blood and servitude. The Order's will is absolute, her defiance is her undoing."
"The All Mother will be pleased with our devotion," Tammon said, the word 'pleased' rolling off her tongue like a caress. "The glory of the Demonic Order will be unmatched when we tread upon Earth once more."
"And with every broken body, every crushed spirit," Charrog's voice was edged with a dark glee, "our reign will be an inescapable nightmare. This world will rue the day it defied the depths of Hell."
Tammon smirked, "But first, let us find The Demon's Elixir. She cannot hide forever, and her potions will be the bridge for our grand assault."
"The Five Thrones forbid us from doing this, but if we are to be taken seriously…"
"We do what we must."
In their ignorance, the demon monarchs remained blind to Elma's presence, their plotting a macabre symphony echoing through the hellish tableau. The fate of their conversation unknown to them was like a whisper in the wind, unheard yet ever-present, a secret harbinger of a future yet to unfold.