level one fights back, literally

Andrea pov...

my initial horror from watching my brother being tortured by sentient plant life quickly changed to extreme terror as his eyes opened, taking a void black I had seen before, but unlike before his eyes were covered in expanding roots, their spiked tendrils snaking and shifting as blood fell down his face like tears.

"this one is empty, perfect for my purposes, this one feeds us, grows us, we will keep this one, it is ours now."(Jake) said in a distorted voice, his usual deep voice occupied by odd changes to high pitch and squeaks before returning to its usual depth at the ending of his sentence.

"well, things went from worse to fucked, the entire level has just occupied his body, and probably have access to his strength and abilities."(angel) said, her voice grim, serious.

"that one knows what happened, she has power and knowledge, but she's not a good fit, neither is the fresh meat beside her, no, dragon no taste good, but dragon girls feeeel gooooood."(level) cooed in my brother's voice, creeping me out and sending shudders down my spine.

"this one is perfect, body is mine now."(level) declared as the roots changed form, quickly becoming a tail rooting Jake to the ground while his coat took a more floral design, that was if flowers were covered in spikes and thorns, each dripping in dark liquid, poison.

and before we could even formulate a plan the once rooted tail ripped from the ground and whipped our way, smacking me square in the sternum, my ribs cracking as I sailed through tree after tree, landing hard on the ground as even more ribs cracked, a harsh cough escaping my lips alongside a few drops of blood.

I couldn't even stand up before Jake was on me again, his expression crazed as his metal clawed hand made a mad swipe for me, only barely blocked in time by the angel, her body instantly crashing to her knees as the ground beneath her cracked and cratered, a grunt echoing from her.

"this one's strength is growing, some wall is coming down, power is flowing free!"(level) yelled as shadows exploded from its hands, coating the thorned vines growing from his palms, they were whips.

"OH C'MON!"(angel) roared as she sent a punch to his chest, which was quickly caught, his fingers slowly increasing the strength in their grip, her teeth clamping down as she winced, cracking echoing as her hand was crushed in a sick splat and crunch, a disturbing smile on his face.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!"(angel) screamed in pain as she yanked her mutilated hand free, clutching it desperately as if it would stop the pain, the personified level of hell turning his attention to me, an unsettling grin growing on his lips.

"thanks for freeing up my power asshole."(Granularr) spoke, his voice normal as the grin became more of a smirk.

it was then that my heart finally descended from the ledge it had been forced to, my chest no longer throbbing in pain from my heartbeat alone.

"what.......took you.......so long?"(angel) half said half groaned, in obvious pain, still clutching a mess of a hand.

"had to wait until it did me a favor, after that I figured I'd take my time, toy with it during its fights until it was weak enough for me to consume it rather than outright kill it."(Granularr) Informed the angel as he moved and flexed his arms, the veins bulging as if strained, his arm movement seeming so fluid yet so odd at the same time.

"its still fighting for control, how cute."(Granularr) said as the veins in his eyes burst into black and white flame, making his already ominous eyes look even more intimidating, and it wasn't long before his entire body was covered in the same flame, a cold breeze coming off of it, confusing me.

"its necrotic flame, it consumes the living and adds them to one of my undead summons, this sentient plant thing will make an excellent soldier, of course there is the downside of total level collapse as it is the consciousness of this level, so we need to leave, like NOW."(Granularr) said as he scooped up the angel and I, one under each arm.

as soon as he had a decent grip he took off at full sprint, still covered in the cold flame.

"this shit is annoying, why now all of a sudden? the fire is supposed to be hot, not cold, I'm fucking freezing!"(Granularr) complained as he ran, causing the angel to burst out laughing.

"its a necrotic flame, we're in hell, we're surrounded by souls of the dead, no shit it's cold!"(angel) laughed, having to hold her sides as Jake grit his teeth, tempted to just drop her.

something I knew he wasn't doing because I was here, I mean, its progress, I'll take it.

CRACK

RUMBLE

QUAKE

THUNDER

the sudden sounds halted us in our tracks, forcing my eyes to where I thought its source to be while Jake simply kept his head forwards, his brow starting to gain small droplets of sweat as the flames started to dissipate, becoming nothing more than a few small wisps here and there.

"HaHAhaHAhahHAHAhHAHAHhHAHAHhAHHAhaaahHAHAHAHAHhahaAHHAHA!"(voice) cackled suddenly, the noise echoing throughout the entire forest.

"you absorbed a piece of the level! how amusing, too sad hell has returned to draining you."(voice) laughed as its source seemed to be rapidly growing closer, yet no footsteps were ever heard.

I looked up at Jake for answers but instead of finding my brothers face I seemed to have missed entirely, my eyes landing on the tree line, observing thousands of glowing eyes just beyond the shadows.

the sounds from earlier, this must be their source!

"ah how quaint, one of you figured it out, yes girlie, I brought thousands of demons here to fight you, everything level one has to offer, and I do mean everything."(voice) exclaimed with a slight cackle and cough at the end.

"now is the time to do something!"(angel) urged, grabbing and shaking Jake's arm, her expression full of urgency.

yet that seemed to have no effect as my brother remained motionless, still staring ahead, unblinking.

then he dropped to his knees, just purely out of nowhere, blood spurting from his eyes and nose as he coughed violently, the ground staining red as the clouds above began twisting like a forming storm, barreling down straight to us, enveloping the angel and I before we could even react, the swirling wind remaining for a moment or two before it vanished, revealing an entirely different landscape than what we had seen just moments ago.

"that idiot!"(angel) shouted as she charged over the nearest hill, her actions prompting me to follow, my view instantly halting me as I crested the hill.

before us was a massive man, easily hundreds of feet tall, his scarred glowing body bound in chains, attaching him to some mountain with massive weapons stabbed into it, the man's massive eyes gazing directly into my soul.

"he sent us to the last level! to face the condemned! FUCK!"(angel) cursed as she began pacing.

---

with them now gone I was unable to hide my exhaustion, my limbs flopping limp, my body crashing to the dust, my vision blurring and refocusing over and over again as my hearing began detecting odd drones of high-pitched ringing.

"you fool, spending that much power in a place that's actively milking you for what you got is practically suicide!"(voice) echoed, this time much closer than before.

"the reason hell is milking me for what I got, IS BECAUSE ITS AFRAID OF ME!"(Granularr) I roared as I shoved myself to my feet, the ground under me cracking as small craters exploded into existence, shadows wisping and then bursting forth from my entire body, spreading and interacting with the darkness around, feeding me.

"hell is smart, it knows when someone is a threat to it, even now it's fighting its survival instincts in order to buy itself some time."(Granularr) I spoke as I appeared behind the humanoid, my void eyes meeting its as it whirled around to face me, my body bent down as my eyes were mere inches from its own, their body frozen in fear as I grinned.

"you fucked up, you brought along shadow demons, they tasted very sweet, I wonder HOW WILL YOU TASTE?"(Granularr) I boomed as my arm moved faster than its eyes could follow, blood spurting and spraying as it clutched the stump that was its arm.

I raised the severed limb to my mouth before tearing off a massive chunk with my teeth, the flesh sliding down my throat effortlessly as its odd colored blood stained my chin and neck, its eyes widening in horror.

"I HAVEN'T TASTED DEMON IN SO LONG, YES! FEEEEED MEEEE!"(Granularr) my inhuman voice screeched as my fangs grew in, tearing into the humanoid as demons began charging from the tree line, fleeing in terror.

no matter, I will hunt them all down, I. NEED. TO. FEEED!