Nightmare Part 2
Chapter 14: Nightmare Part 2
Just as Oliver spoke those ominous words, the rubble from the collapsed tower began to shift and churn. A low, rumbling growl seemed to emanate from the very earth itself.
Suddenly, a massive rent opened in the ground, tearing through the courtyard. Foul, sulfurous fumes billowed forth from the gaping maw as if the very gates of hell had cracked open before them.
Cedric and Oliver instinctively backpedaled, Nora and Camilla still cradled in the butler's arms. The air grew superheated and thick with a overwhelming stench of brimstone.
From the depths of the fiery pit, monstrous forms began to emerge - twisted, grotesque demons pulled themselves free of the portal's hellish grasp. Their bodies were a nightmarish fusion of man and beast, with horns, fangs, and claws capable of shredding flesh from bone. Rank hides covered in oozing pustules stretched taut over bulging muscles and protruding spines.
The demons raised their misshapen heads, milky eyes fixing upon their prey as forked tongues flicked out to taste the air. Guttural roars tore from their throats, shaking the very ground.
But the worst was yet to come. Within the ruins of the tower, the dark crimson cocoon pulsed and convulsed violently. Hairline fractures spread across its surface as something began clawing its way out from the inside.
With a sickening wet tearing sound, the cocoon split open, disgorging even more grotesque demons into the world. These new horrors were even larger than the first wave, standing Stories tall with gaping maws and whip-like tails that cracked the air.
Cedric backpedaled, his sword trembling in his hand as he took in the hellish horde arrayed before them. "By all the gods..." he choked out, paralyzed by stark terror.
The demons closed in, hungering for slaughter, the way back cut off by the roiling portal. Escape seemed impossible against such overwhelming forces of darkness.
The first wave of demons that emerged from the hellish portal numbered well over a hundred. Their twisted, grotesque forms oozed forth like a putrid tide of darkness, filling the courtyard with their foul presence. Roars and guttural snarls shook the very air as the horde fixed their milky, soulless eyes upon their prey.
Cedric swallowed hard, his hands shaking as he brandished his sword defensively before him. As a noble of the prestigious Vier House, he had received combat training befitting his station - but it paled in comparison to the unholy might arrayed against them.
A cold sweat broke out on his brow as he realized their predicament. Each of these demonic beasts radiated power equivalent to a Fifth Circle mage - a terrifying force that would require an elite Arch Mages(Sixth Circle) working in concert to defeat just one. The knights of House Vier only ranged from the Third to Sixth Class mages.
There was a beat of tense silence as the knights positioned themselves in defensive formations around Oliver and the unconscious Nora and Camilla. Though badly outnumbered, they would sell their lives dearly before allowing harm to come to their charges.
Sir Markus, a grizzled veteran of the Sixth Circle, was the first to act. With a bellowed war cry, he charged headlong into the demonic ranks, his ancestral greatsword cleaving through the air. The argent blade bit deep into the first demon's putrid flesh, smashing through bone and sinew with a sound like a butcher's cleaver.
His bold strike was the signal for the rest of the knights to join the fray. Spells, blades, and unholy claws crossed in a whirlwind of magic and violence as the uneven battle was joined.
Though sorely overmatched, the knights fought with the desperation of cornered animals. Elemental bolts and gouts of flame lashed out, however demons has a naturally high resistance against magic only dealing little damage to the demon. The relentless horde simply weathered the knights' assault with ease, and overwhelming numbers.
One by one, the battered defenders fell. Sir Markus bellowed in anguish as wicked talons rent his flesh and snapped bones like kindling despite his prodigious skill. Even the most potent spells the mages could muster did little more than slightly singe the demons' hides before they were batted aside like ragdolls.
Within minutes, the knights of House Vier lay broken and dying among the stony rubble, overwhelmed by the infinite malice of the demon horde. Only Cedric remained standing alongside Oliver, surrounded by an ever-tightening circle of gnashing fangs and insatiable hunger.
A woman dressed in all black drifted above the sky, her wings crafted from shadows.
"An unholy entity of sinister origins has dared to infiltrate our domain," she said, her gaze fixed upon the source of the corrupted energy - the eastern tower of the Vier Mansion.
She descended towards the mansion, her wings whispering a melody in the air. Her eyes burning like twin embers, a fire of fury stoked by the defilement of her sacred ground.
Cassandra Talia Levasti, the enigmatic Shadow Queen of the esteemed Levasti House, surveyed the hellish scene unfolding at the Vier Mansion with a stoic calm that belied the burning fury within. As an Eighth Circle Master Arcanist, her command over the shadowy arts was unparalleled.
With a subtle flick of her obsidian-clad fingers, thrumming with the power of her Umbral Veil arcana, living tendrils of darkness unfurled from her form. They slithered forward with preternatural speed, lancing through the first ranks of the grotesque demon horde with cold precision.
"Defilers," she intoned, her melodic voice reverberating with power. "You besmirch the sanctity of these hallowed grounds with your festering taint."
The shadows at her command transformed into wicked blades that sliced through demonic flesh as effortlessly as a hot knife through butter. Howls of rage and pain rent the air as the demons turned their collective malice upon this new threat.
But Cassandra was untouchable, a mistress of the infinite black that cloaked her very being. She flowed like liquid night itself, phasing in and out of reality to appear behind the lumbering behemoths. Her Umbral Blades found every chink, every weakness, punishing the demons with a storm of shadowy annihilation.
"Your foul incursion ends here, by blade and darkness given form," she stated flatly as another massive demon fell, cleaved into ethereal ribbons by her onslaught.
Despite their overwhelming numbers, the demons proved feeble against Cassandra's utter mastery of the shadows. Her Veil of Deception turned their senses into a bewildering labyrinth, leaving them to flail uselessly at illusions while her killstrikes slipped through their defenses with preternatural ease.
Within moments, the courtyard ran black with the ichor of the slain, the demonic horde cut to pieces by the inexorable onslaught. Cassandra brushed an errant lock of raven hair from her eyes, her expression as unreadable as ever.
"The taint has been purged," she stated simply, her dark gaze turning towards the broken forms of Cedric, Oliver, and the others. "Though the cost was higher than anticipated..."