FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 20, part 3

Azgal finally managed to kill the last of his attackers, yet he sustained substantial damage to his own body. It wasn't surprising, considering the fact that he was fighting with other fifth circle demons, with him winning only because of experience and training. He owed them to those he trained with long before he met the group. Even if he was a wrath demon, a warrior-born demon, and proficient if fights even after being born, Azgal still needed training. He may be a wrath demon, but he wasn't a prideful one, unlike most of his peers.

A stinging pain on his shoulder reminded him of the deep gash of a fellow satyr's cloven hoof's kick, but he could patch it up without the need of the necromancer, since goat demons had exceptionally high regeneration rate of their bodies.

Azgal found out that the hell reptiles, both the dragons and wyverns, had finally invaded the surface world and laying waste on the barren wasteland. The demons from the sixth circle were cumbersome at best, since they were beasts of ancients and not a negotiating type, except for a select few.

The goat demon walked aimlessly, trying to find an open space where he could find a place to look out of dangers. After a while, he managed to reach the main square, where the fights were still going on, but had started to finish. There, he found Nergora, Ifrit's brother, unconscious while being tended to by a feline humanoid with a figure tied beside him, also unconscious. When Azgal approached them, the feline suddenly turned and hissed to him, in whom he said, "I'm not an adversary to your problems, cat."

"And I'm not trying to pick a fight with a wrath demon, including the one with a weird way to talk such as you are," said the catsith. "So, what's your problem? It's rare to find satyrs with different perspective as you are."

"You've known the answer quite well yourself, cat," said Azgal with a laugh. "This is not the dog's problem anymore. We're all drawn into it."

"Yeah...they know nothing of the real problem at hand.... So, when do you plan to patch that gash up?"

"Tis' but a scratch."

"You're not a black knight, okay? You're a black-furred goat, so get on with closing that wound up. Even your regenerative body won't be able to combat the surface infection. Oh, while you're at it, get to a warehouse on the next road. You'll find your allies there, fiddling with your technology."

"I will immediately find the place, provided if you're not lying to me."

The catsith stayed silent for a while, before saying, "Then if I'm wrong, you can kill me. I'll be waiting right here, guarding this sleeping beauty and that frosty hound. This is the least I can do without dropping my name unnecessarily."

"Hmph, bold move, I must say," said Azgal. "I don't care less. It's the choice you've chosen."

"Just go already."

Azgal couldn't believe the catsith; she was facing a wrath demon, but she was calm and collected, not sweating or panting slightly, trying to hide any form of fear. She was deceptive, and that fearless attitude was what worried Azgal. Yet, he didn't mind anything about it. If she was ready to throw her life like it was trash, then at least he found a little trust in her.

It didn't need time for the goat demon to find the warehouse the catsith was talking about. The gash had started to heal, but the pain was still there. Azgal knew that the catsith was correct in advising him, so he improvised with an armor produced by the blood from the wound, hopeful that it would stop the blood.

He opened the door, and as he saw the interior, he made a smile for himself.

"Well, well, quite a find," said Azgal to himself. "For her to know some fucking control room hidden in a warehouse is quite remarkable. It's been a long time since I've seen these monitors. Maybe this can help Ifrit and the others..."

Azgal suddenly felt a killing intention from behind him, and using his senses, he could determine where it would land, which he dodged it before it cut his head. Taking a nearby bloodied sword from a dismembered hand (which somehow was there), he tried to retaliate by cutting his attacker back, which was deflected by a spectral sword that cut through the sword he was carrying, breaking it into pieces.

Yet Azgal could see who used the sword, and he made a sigh of relief.

"Ifrit, that fucking sneak attack is not good enough to cut my head," said Azgal with a raised tone. "Next time, think before you attack."

"Sorry, Azgal, but there are many black-furred goat demons out there, so I can't be so sure," replied Ifrit. He then walked to a nearby machine and said, "That catsith told me that this is a fifth circle technology. Is it true?"

"She's not lying. Monitors are common in my circle. The problem is, how do we inform the others without making this place exposed? Three demons against a horde of mixed circle demons won't be the same as killing possessed humans."

"Wait, three? How do you know there's another one here?"

"You mean I would fail to notice your blind friend trying to read blind codes on some of the machines? I admit, there's an electronic blind code transmitter for blind ones like that black jackal over there, but it's not written in Hordo or even English, how could you..."

"I don't know why, but I can read your language or speak it. As for Ani..."

"Blind code is designed for universal use," said Anubis. "No matter where you come from, it will be written in any language, whether it's English or Hordo."

"Then it doesn't matter. First off, we must find out what those rebels plan to use this technology for. Using a fifth circle technology can be considered overkill if it's just for surface domination. You don't need to muster that big of a..."

When Azgal caught Ifrit frowning on his comment, he said, "I'm just kidding, though I understand this is not the right time. Okay, then. I'm in a data bank. There should be a data somewhere that tells us of this current situation."

Azgal put in the words from the keys in front of him, clicking them each with his five nimble fingers despite of the long claws. The screen then went into a 'standby' state, which was shown to the two of them as the screen popped a window out that read 'loading'.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just calm down, Ifrit. The data bank is searching for my inquiry. Just let it do its job. Jackal, what's your status?"

"It says about the amount of weapon shipments they are making, in and around a city called Havenblack. It's some pretty science fiction thing in these specifications, and I can't understand most of it."

"I don't expect you dogs to understand any of it, but those shipments intrigue me. Why the usage of weapons that can destroy more than reap? There's a weird pattern here, but once the data is out...

The monitor in front of Azgal suddenly made a blink sound, then the next moment, the screen was riddled with words and numbers that was seemingly formed from surface alphabets. The background rendered the screen black, yet Ifrit was more worried when Azgal was surprised and started to have a panicked look on his face, which was something that Ifrit hardly seen since meeting the goat demon, both in his possessed body and his current form.

"(Bastardos...)" was the thing Ifrit could understand from Azgal, which was unique given that he rarely used his own language.

"Is it bad?" asked Ifrit.

Azgal turned to face Ifrit, his face grim. "We are going to get into a very big trouble, and this data is the proof.

While the three of them contemplated of their discovery, the rest of the group was still struggling to fight the opposition. With only limited manpower and backup, Arbal would be overrun pretty quick. Despite of that, because of Angelus and Azureath's help, the rebels were prevented from taking over the town. In fact, they were pushed back. It was all because of the fact that the dragons weren't concerned of destroying the town. The civilians were cleared before they attack, and the humans were convinced that an immediate danger was in front of their eyes. The damages to the buildings were ignored, giving the two dragons a freedom to wreak havoc.

The focus of this part, by the way, was the battle between the mysterious hellhound and Rhynsa, which had become a stalemate. Rhynsa still managed to keep his rifle with him despite of the close combat, and the hellhound was still cloaked and fighting the bat-hound with the same speed and strength as the bat-hound had.

Rhynsa kicked the hellhound before the other one managed to bite his neck when their hands were locked to each other. It knocked the hellhound back, and it gave Rhynsa a chance to unload his rifle, now that it had given him a point-blank range. Yet, the hellhound was quick to recover, and he moved the rifle just moments before it could fire, sending the bullet to the side of his head and hitting the wall behind him. Despite of that, it couldn't protect him from the rubbles created from the sheer force of the bullet, and it momentarily blinded him. Rhynsa took this chance to reposition his rifle so he could bash the hellhound's skull to pieces. Unfortunately for him, the hellhound could sense the attack and dodged before it could hit him.

"(What's up, old hound? Gettin' sloppy?)" taunted the hellhound.

"(Just what do you think you are, huh? Just because I didn't give you what you want doesn't mean you can take a rebel's position! I thought you want to give all you have for Hynorsi, not becoming his enemy!)"

"(I did what I have to do, and that is not to be allies with someone so weak as the Schelkz family! Just look at their heir! He hesitates to even end his friend's life while he is clearly trying to kill that black furred bastard. His hesitation almost cost his brother's life!)"

"(You never change, haven't you, Artios? Like I said before, this world is not made only of blood and carnage!)"

"(I trusted you as my mentor! You're supposed to lead the hellhounds to total glory, not destroying it!)"

"(And here I am trying to lecture you again)."

Rhynsa pulled his rifle before Artios could grab it again, but while pulling, he drew something out from under his robe. In just a split second, another gunshot was fired, which was Rhynsa's revolver from under his robe. It almost hit Artios' face, yet Rhynsa missed.

Still thinking quick enough, Rhynsa opened his wings and flew to the sky. Artios could see what Rhynsa was thinking and started running. With that, the bat-hound threw some small grenades to him, destroying the flat roof he was on. Artios was running away from Rhynsa, but being a seasoned fighter, the bat-hound knew the hellhound had something up his sleeve.

Artios suddenly vanished, and Rhynsa knew his cloaking device was operational again. Rhynsa tried to avoid any tall structure so Artios couldn't jump to him, yet he didn't have a split second decision when a bullet pierced his wing, and he realized that Artios was shooting him from a position.

"(Shit, he's trying to force me to land)," thought Rhynsa. "(But he made a very big mistake)."

Rhynsa readied his gun and quickly found the muzzle flash from Artios' rifle. He managed to shoot that position and the bullet found its mark when he could see blood gushing out from the position. The cloaking device failed, and Rhynsa could see Artios kneeling because of the wound made from Rhynsa's bullet.

"(Artios, no sniper can hide their muzzle flash, and it's up to you to exploit it or not)" said Rhynsa while aiming. "(I won't hesitate, after all the years we have been through)."

But at that moment of vulnerability, Rhynsa failed to notice Artios' dirty trick. From under the robe, Artios produced a gun of his own, but Rhynsa realized, to his horror, what it was. As Artios shot it to Rhynsa, the bat-hound managed to dodge it, but he touched the rope, which sent electrical current to his body as he fell. Despite of dodging the hook, he didn't think about it before. He hit the ground and started to move uncontrollably, a side effect of electric shock. Artios moved closer and closer to Rhynsa, and the bat-hound tried his best to recover before he became the one getting killed. The problem was, the shock muddled his mind.

"(Yes, I won't hesitate, old master)," said Artios while readying his gun. "(For you to really be down like this in front of me give me such a great satisfaction. For a bonus, I guess I'll shoot you in your heart, so you can see the one who killed you, watching you die slowly. Just...seconds before you lose your heart function. Any last words?)"

Right at this moment, Rhynsa managed to move his left hand, and making a grunt, he moved his hand quick enough to divert the rifle in front of his heart to hit his wing behind him, evading serious injury. He then made this chance to draw a gun to Artios, and without hesitating, shot him on his injured side. He could see Artios coughed blood, which made him smile and said, "(Rules of being a sniper. Don't get cocky, kiddo)."

At first, Rhynsa thought Artios died over him, since Rhynsa shot it with an angle to hit his heart, but then, to his horror, Artios' eyes were still moving. He thought the shot missed again and tried to make another move, but Artios' hand was quicker than him. It was then Rhynsa realized that Artios hadn't shown everything he had when his hand was crushed under Artios's hand, in which the surprised Rhynsa made a howl of pain.

"(You goddamn son of a bitch)," said Artios with a smile. "(For you to be this relentless to force me to show you my dirtiest trick yet)."

By this point Rhynsa had regained most of his motoric functions, and he struggled to put Artios away from him, but Artios just hold his other hand with ease and started crushing it, too, making him howl in pain again. Not only that, Artios pinned Rhynsa down with his legs, and suddenly, he raised his leg and dropped it down to Rhynsa's thighs. A sheer force of pain suddenly came to his head, just at the same moment when Artios took the chance to move both of his hand to Rhynsa's arm and made a twist. Another cracking sound, and this time was far louder than the one Rhynsa was feeling now. He momentarily lost every function in his brains, trying to understand the pain, but he quickly recover, and the next moment he realized, he was shouting as hard as he could, to the point his pitch started to get higher.

"(You feel that, huh? That's the sensation of your bones breaking)," said Artios with a sadistic smile. "(Never had one of those painful moments when your bones are fractured into tiny little pieces?)"

Artios put an immense pressure on Rhynsa. The bat-hound was like being crushed by a giant boulder and this Artios was very much different. How did he get the supernatural strength at first? Did he made a pact with a stronger demon? While it was still possible, considering the low rank of the hellhounds, Artios shouldn't be able to control his consciousness.

"(H-How?)" said Rhynsa amidst the pain, with Artios answering by punching his stomach, cutting the wind out of him and made him threw out blood. The pain of something stabbing him indicated that he broke some ribs. Then Artios grabbed his hand and ripped his skin off, which made Rhynsa wide-eyed in surprise, despite of his completely black eyes.

Artios's right hand was completely metallic, but it moved like a normal limb. It was made with fine metal that could only be found deep inside the bowels of earth, near the core where the sixth to eight circles resided. It was heavier than steel, and Rhynsa got to feel it the first time.

"(So you've discarded your own limbs for these...these shitty nutjob? You've gone past insane, Artios)."

"(The rebels have many connections and many allies that spanned through the inner circles)," said Artios. "(The light-reflecting cloak and these cybernetic limbs are from the sixth circle's forge, and it's special in its own rights)."

"(The rebels...are making a connection...with the circles?)"

"(It's what you royal supporters don't know. The hellhounds taking part in the rebellion have a mutual goal with an old demon only our leader would know. We all want to rule the world, and the surface world is the main example. As our realm is very limited to the size of this continent, we want to conquer the surface world so we can see the world and take everything as a slave to us)."

"(This world is far more dangerous than you might think, Artios)."

Without talking anymore, Artios suddenly grabbed the nearest rifle, which coincidently Rhynsa's rifle. With a downward stroke, Artios struck the rifle to Rhynsa's leg, breaking yet another bone and giving a blood-curling shriek out of Rhynsa's mouth. The pain was far more than he could imagined, and by this point he was so in pain that he started to black out. Artios suddenly put the rifle over Rhynsa's head and preparing to bash his skull.

"(Shit...so this is how it ends, huh?)"

"(We are the forces of hell itself, Rhynsa Vantwork. The surface world is merely a small speck of dust compared to what you've known)."

Rhynsa closed his eyes, knowing that this was the end. He could hear the rifle started to go down to him, and he prepared for death. But he then heard a thud. At first, he thought that was his head being destroyed, but he slowly opened his eyes, and Artios was gone.

Yet, he couldn't keep up. He depleted the energy he had for the pain, and he let himself slip into unconsciousness, hoping to die or to live on.

In fact, Artios was tackled by Hans, who had been running to Rhynsa's aid. He readied his special sword to fight Artios, which was taken as a mockery to the hellhound.

"You're such a charming werewolf, trying to fight me with those swords," said Artios. "You've seen it, right, how these limbs break those bones easily?"

"Yeah, I've known about body augmentations before, mate," said Hans. "There's a legendary dragon long before my time with those kind of body, and I've known his evil twin...not that evil, though. But still, you can never beat me."

"Wanna try?"

"Don't go crying to your mom if you lose your arm or leg."

Artios started to run to Hans. The cybernetic legs helped him run faster and jumped higher. Artios started to kick Hans with a full force of the limbs, but Hans managed to dodge it and started to cut Artios. The hellhound managed to guard himself, but he realized that the sword started to cut through, and he backed off.

"What? How did you...?" said Artios in surprise. "It's forged in the depths of hell! There's nothing that can cut through!"

"Oh, so that's made from the metals in the earth's core? I admit, that's the hardest thing that can be cut by these blades."

"What in bloody hell are those made of?!"

"This? It's a special sword called a dragon sword. Richard Andaluvia once had a sword just like this with some different functions, or so I read in the history books. It's the form of a dragon's soul being sealed inside a rusted blade, yet only some can actually talk with the soul inside, provided it hasn't died like this one. Each sword has different properties, and Agwahr here is special in its own rights. It becomes sharper every time it cut something, as it will always cut everything."

"That's just unfair."

"Says someone who used augmentation. This sword had cut through a hard dragon's scales, and it's halfway through your augmentation. One more cut and you'll need a new hand."

Hans could see that Artios started to hesitate in trying to retaliate, but then, after a while, Artios relented and said, "You win this time, werewolf, but next time, I'm going to break that fancy sword of yours."

"It will be my pleasure."

After that, he turned and covered himself in the cloak, vanishing in thin air. Hans then dropped his defense. If that hellhound attacked him, he could sense it with his ears and nose, but the most important thing was, it would seem that Artios had taken the bluff.

"Well, he really takes it as real," thought Hans. "If he would think awhile, he might know something's wrong with the sentences just now. I never mentioned Agwahr can REMEMBER being sharp. It's just sharpened by magic, and it's a stacking effect. I happen to be able to cut it halfway after absorbing the sharpness of claws and swords flying at me. At least he's gone, and I won't get the same chance again."

He then turned to Rhynsa. "Well now, this one's new. A flying hellhound. Guess he is an ally for trying to protect the unconscious hellhounds. That augmented hellhound broke some of his bones. It is unwise to leave him alone like this. I have to find a place to rest and heal him."

And thus, after Hans managed to save Rhynsa, he called Azureath down, followed by Angelus beside her. The dravern was shocked to see Rhynsa in such condition, but nevertheless, she said, "You did well, young one. It seems that the possession of that sword helps you greatly. It's in the same vein as Engrak did many years ago."

"Angelus, can I ask you something?"

"Ask away."

"The history books mention the battle of Pol Hain, and you're listed as one of the casualties. How do you survive?"

"I actually didn't, but because of the open portal between hell and the surface, I can pass to the living again, but I won't stay for long. Why do you ask, Hans Rezmirn?"

"It's just...there's a dragon waiting for you to come back to him. He knew you'll be walking the earth someday again."

Hans could see Angelus smiled a little with his face. She then moved her head closer to Hans and said, "He will get what he wanted."

At the other side of town, the fighting was still going on, with the remaining demonic forces still trying to overtake the town. It wasn't a very big army, but the problem was, the group trying to defend them had no adequate ability to fend them off, since it was consisted of surface races, including Lilac and Jo.

Both frantically tried to defend Mizarka who was injured after a bullet grazed her shoulder and couldn't wield her weapon properly. The barricade they made couldn't hold much longer, and it had become worse after Anenka jumped inside and said, "We need to fall back! If we stay behind these wagons we will be overrun! How's Miza doing?"

"I can still fight, goddamn it, why do I need to stay down with only a graze?!" "It's a sniper shot, Miza. I've taken care of the shooter, but you're now the only sniper we got here, and you can't use both hands. We need all the help we can get."

"Anenka, I can use one-handed weapons, too! I can still use a pistol!"

"Just be reasonable, Mizarka! If you waste everything on those we cannot truly defeat, we'll be overrun in no time! Right now, we must find a way to get to that dragon before we die. Lilac, Jo, follow me. Thotha, protect Miza at all cost with Vlantus."

Both Jo and Lilac nodded and ran to follow Anenka. Due to the digitigrades, the wolves managed to reach the place sooner than Jo, who was running as fast as she could. They took a cover behind a wall just beside the alley leading to where the demons attack.

Anenka then peered out a little to determine if they weren't noticing. After a while, he returned and said, "Jo, I want you to make some explosives strong enough to break their formation and force them to retreat. Do you have the necessary ingredients?"

"That's my problem, Anenka. I only have the powders necessary to produce very small distracting crackers, and one other for flashbangs. For the one that you want, I need to find an armory or any weaponsmith or gunsmiths in this town."

` "Shit...but that will suffice. Okay, while Jo made those explosives, Lilac will help me guard the alley in case a demon slips and move into this alley. If that happens, Lilac, you have to kill him silently. I'll help you on the other side."

"Understood."

"Jo, whatever you do, take your time and give Lilac the bombs once they're ready."

But when Anenka moved to his position, Jo said, "Wait. Why me? You know very well that I've expend my arsenal, but you still ask me to make distractions. Just why?"

"What good are you if you insist of staying at the barricade if you're out of bombs? You're our demolition expert, so you need to stay out of the front line. Just stay there and..."

"(Oi, I've got those sneaky bastards here! They're ambushing us from this alley!)"

That voice and exclaim quickly took the attention of the other hellhounds, who quickly turn around to their position and smiled. Anenka made a sigh and said, "The thing is, Jocelyn...we're trying to distract them here."

"So what's the point taking me with you?!"

"Jo, return to them now! We'll distract them here. Use that time to escape!"

Jo nodded and started running back to where the group stayed. Both Lilac and Anenka nodded to each other and started running to different alleys, with Lilac running with Jo, who said, "Are you an idiot?! You'll take them to us!"

"That's what Anenka planned. Those demons, when seeing two weak surface dwellers, would just let their guards down and run with us in fewer number than the ones chasing Anenka, who was a formidable general. That way, we can dispatch them with your remaining mines."

Jo made a surprised expression, but then smiled and said, "So you've known my secret."

"It's a secret between women. Anenka doesn't know of this."

Both Lilac and Jo ran toward the opening where the group actually stayed, to the surprise of the others. But then, Jo, who had booby-trapped the alleyway after they went in, shouted, "Jump!" and Lilac jumped as high as she could with her wolf legs. Jo herself intentionally tripped the thin wire and ran toward the wagons when the alleyway exploded in fire, blowing up the less fortunate hellhound to pieces and trapping the rest behind the collapsing wall. Yet, they still had time to shoot bullets from their guns before the wall collapsed in front of them, yet it was a vain effort...or was it?

Lilac managed to take a little breath, in which Mizarka said, "Now what?"

"We run while they're distracted. They must've been shaken with the sudden explosion. They can't even see behind these wagons, so we gotta..."

A grunt snapped Lilac back to where he left Jo behind, and she gasped. Aside from the injury she got from a stray gunshot, there was another attack from behind her, which was a sword jutting out from her chest. Jo was too surprised she couldn't speak, in which she drew blood and said, "S-sorry...Lily. I...messed..."

She didn't have time to finish her sentence when the sword was pulled from her, where she fell because of gravity and lay in her own pool of blood with eyes blank. Lilac couldn't even understand what actually happened, but she saw Jo's killer behind her body, cleaning his sword and putting it inside its sheath.

"And thus, another life is gone," said the figure, who was a hellhound.

"W-when did you even..."

Before Lilac could finish her sentences, the hellhound moved closer to her and said, "Hush..." and punched her in the stomach, strong enough for the Lycan to cough out blood and dropped, fainted. Vlantus and Mizarka couldn't even believe if it actually happened.

"I'll be taking her away. I won't hold her hostage, so I won't know what will happen to her," said the hellhound while licking her mouth and smiled. "Just imagine how much fun for you to find this unimportant player in our war."

"So then why Lilac?! We are still here, you motherfucker!"

"I've known that this werewolf is the love of Ifrit Schelkz. He may be smart enough to try to stay away from this, and his loved one might fall into an agony."

"What's your play in this?"

"My play? My play is to make all of you feel despair. Jocelyn Weatherby is killed by my hands, Rhynsa Vantwork lost his body functions, and this werewolf is in my custody. Just imagine how much despair will come if you're dispatched one by one by me."

The hellhound suddenly threw something in the air and the scenery became so bright it blinded the rest of them momentarily. After it was gone, so did the hellhound and Lilac, leaving only Jo's body behind.

Just then, Anubis and Ifrit ran from another side of the road, and seeing the state of the group, Anubis said, "Shit...we're too late."