In furious rage, the guardian fiend struck Robor to the ground with a swipe of its talloned paw. Robor’s ephemeral shield took the brunt of the attack, but blood still flowed from the claw-marks now running diagonally down his chest – from left shoulder to right hip.
Not finished with its assault, one of the furnace-like mouths then crunched down on Robor’s arm, as he instinctively raised it to protect himself. Bone shattered under the demons flesh-scalding bite and it then reared back – its paw still holding Robor down – attempting to rip Robor’s arm clean from his body. Muscle separated, tendons snapped, arteries tore asunder, and the limb was stretched askew – shredding in the creature’s teeth, but abruptly slipped free before being completely amputated.
Thrice now, Robor had been mauled by some horrific entity intruding upon the physical world. First by the vampire that brought a close to his old life; then by the foul worm summoned up by Mama Kark; and now, this farking dog! All Robor could do however, was scream out, before the shock brought unconsciousness.
Not hesitating at the brutal scene of carnage, Beats leapt into into the infernal monster’s flank, activating his knife fist. The blade of kinetic force manifested with a snapping crackle of paradox – sending a numbing jolt of power through Beats’ wrist, but then stabilizing quickly enough for him to employ it against the demon.
Beats threw a combination of blows, eventually finding a nice gap between the beast’s brimstone plates and sinking the force blade into the molten brass beneath – before drawing the blade sideways. As Beats pulled his cesti-clad fist free, glowing yellow globules of hot metal flew after the arc of his arm, threatening to burn him if he lingered too long at the wound.
The Saint meanwhile, was forced to abandon any thought of offense, to save his companion Robor. Focusing his will, he reached into the fray to pull Robor out from under the demon and heal him. With a holy mandate, he commanded Robor’s wounds to heal – and they did! In an awe inspiring display of The Lord’s power, the Saint witnessed Robor’s arm reassemble itself back to full health. This was not all, as the slash marks up Robor’s chest also sealed back up – leaving no scars to indicate he had ever been injured at all.
Robor snapped back to consciousness, aware that he had been dying but a moment ago, but with a new determination to see this mutt pay for what it had done.
As this went on, Usdiyona channeled her essence into the ground, where the guardian fiend now stood – causing thick roots from nearby trees to burst forth, wrapping themselves around the demon’s form. Immediately the roots took fire on contact with its surface of molten brass, but were thick enough to actually hold it for the moment.
The tree-bear took advantage of this fact and mounted the demon’s back to bite into its spine. Swinging its head back and forth, tree-bear actually managed to tear one of the guardian fiend’s brimstone plates free in the process – flinging it to the side!
“Errrgh!” the guardian fiend growled, struggling to extricate itself and seeing that this was not likely to end in its favor – “Let me go and I’ll return your sword and give you a tribute from my own treasures!”
Emend’s finger was already pulling the trigger at this point.
His glock went off and the bullet struck true – putting out the demon’s eye in a nasty explosion of blood and jelly! It must have gone into the creature’s brain too, because the head abruptly went slack, handing down and exhaling a final breath of super-heated air.
The other head meanwhile, roared in pain, as the body thrashed in the burning roots that still held it fast.
A moment later, the fiend’s terrifying hellform was lost and it reverted back to an overly-large mastiff hound once more. For a second, it appeared as if the hound would simply vanish away – but then its still functioning eye flicked open and the hound whined – “Let’s just call it a draw, shall we? I can be very useful to you all. I guard stuff, that’s what I do. This whole fight was just a little posing on my part, I will admit. It didn’t really mean anything, but you see what I can do. Let me work for you. What say you?”
