Rebirth of the Nephilim

Not wasting one single second, Jadis cast her wings spell and leapt into the air, carrying Alex, Noll, and even Wilhelm with her. There was no time to wait for the Hero to find his mount, nor was Noll the fastest man among them. Not since Jadis had performed Lascivious Empowerment with fifteen participants. With an Eldritch and an Agility score surpassing the one thousand mark, Jadis knew she was the fastest responder around. Possibly on the whole continent.

Though she was, perhaps, a little too fast.

A sound Jadis had only ever heard in movies echoed inside of her helmet as she rocketed forward at her maximum speed. The air around her rippled and shook from the physical displacement caused by her passing. It was only in the instant after the cracking boom spread out around her that Jadis realized that she had broken the sound barrier.

The bolt of deadly magic had come from somewhere in the distance at least a mile away, yet Jadis covered the distance in what had to be no more than five seconds. As she rapidly slowed her speed to get a better look at the surroundings, she was immediately hit with an attack. Only, rather than being magical in nature, the attack was physical. And more importantly, friendly fire.

“Don’t do that again,” Noll snapped as his fist knocked against the side of Dys’ helmet a second time for good measure. “I couldn’t breathe, you idiot!”

“Sorry,” Dys said as she lowered towards the ground, eyes still scanning for enemies. “I haven’t gone all out since my most recent power up.”

While Noll was angry at Jadis for the sudden treatment, he had not suffered any real harm. Worried that she might have caused damage to her other two companions, Jadis checked on both as best she could without lowering her guard.

“I am… Well…” Alex replied to Syd’s question, though there was a shakiness to her voice not normally present. “My health is… Unaffected…”

“I would appreciate a warning next time!” Wilhelm shouted, possibly suffering from some temporary hearing loss. “What happened?”

“We were attacked,” Jay replied as she circled several hundred feet above the ground while keeping the Hero against her chest. “And it came from around—”

“There,” Wilhelm cut her off, pointing to the southeast. “Take us down!”

Jadis saw the movement a moment later and all three of her converged on the shadowy mass that was partially hidden in a copse of rotting trees. Her Dys self was the closest as she and Noll had already come close to the ground, so she got a good look at the attackers before anyone else reached the thicket.

There were fifteen of the creatures, all humanoid at a glance, though more than a second’s worth of examination showed that none were any of the races Jadis had ever seen before. The creatures walked on two legs and had two arms, but the limbs seemed to have extra joints that bent in odd ways. What Jadis had first taken to be some kind of brownish red armor instead turned out to be a chitinous shell. The heads of the creatures sported thick antenna and black, glassy bulbs for eyes. While most of the strange humanoids were somewhere around five feet tall and had wiry frames, two of the creatures were much larger, standing at least six and a half feet tall with far bulkier bodies. While all had insectoid mandibles sticking out of their featureless faces, the two large ones had massive pincers that looked capable of cutting through a man’s torso in a single bite.

“Myrmidon,” Noll called out as Dys carried him towards the pack of partially hidden creatures. “Assume possessed.”

“Got it,” Dys called back before releasing the mercenary and letting him drop fifty feet to land on the ground below.

Myrmidon. Jadis had only recently heard of the magic beasts from Meli and Sabina. They were supposed to be man-like ants, treated as more of a pest than a threat by the locals. They weren’t naturally hostile, only becoming aggressive when their nest was threatened. Since they were scavengers rather than hunters, they were usually left alone unless their extensive tunnels reached underneath structures, which could cause buildings to collapse. Aside from those basics, Jadis had no particular information about the beasts. She didn’t know if they had any natural magic or special abilities, nor did she know of any particular weaknesses. But, if they were all possessed by Demons, as was likely the case, Jadis assumed that they were all capable of abilities beyond what any normal myrmidon could perform.

Jadis was pretty sure none of those abilities would save them from a supersonic Nephilim, though.

The air rippled as a boom echoed across the desolate landscape in the wake of Dys’ charge. With tendril wings spread wide and axe held out before her, Dys rocketed forward, aiming at two of the myrmidons that were on the leftmost edge of the thicket. To their credit, the possessed beasts did attempt to react to her attack. One turned to the side in what Jadis assumed was meant to be a dodge, while the other raised its clawed, three-fingered arms. That was as far as either got before Dys ripped through them both at Mach speed, sending chitin and ichor flying in a gruesome explosion.

“Possession confirmed,” Jay informed Wilhelm as she lowered the Hero to the ground on the north side of the rotten trees. “I’m seeing Demon guts.”

“I am seeing something in the middle of that clump of trees,” Wilhelm replied as he rushed forward, sword drawn. “Be on your guard!”

While her Dys self was circling around for another pass, Jadis’ Syd self settled into a hovering pattern with Alex high above, watching her Jay self, Noll, and Wilhelm move in on the group from two different sides. She wasn’t sure what Wilhelm had spotted, but with a thought she activated her Succubus eyes so that she could hopefully see what the Hero had noticed.

A strange, golden light flickered into existence amidst the rotten wood and scrambling myrmidons. Or rather, the aura had always been there, and Jadis was only just then able to see it. A dark shape that she had taken to be a shadow was vaguely outlined by the aether in the air, showing Jadis the general location of the source, if not the source itself. Still, she couldn’t make out what the shape actually was, other than it was much larger than the man-sized myrmidons.

In the brief second or two that Syd observed the shadowy figure from above, she saw that the remaining possessed myrmidons were rushing to defend their position. Magic flowed through several of them as the earth and stone at their feet rose upwards, creating rough walls around them and the dark creature in their midst. The two larger beasts with the giant jaws did not react defensively, but instead rushed forward, one charging at Jay and the other at Noll. That left Wilhelm unimpeded as he closed in on the enemy’s position.

A sudden surge in the golden aura gave Jadis a half-second of warning, not that she could do much with it. The magic bolt of gold and black energy that shot out of the shadow was not aimed at her, but at the Hero. As were the two more bolts that followed.

The first bolt Wilhelm parried, swiping with his divine sword. The magic was knocked aside easily, striking the ground some ten yards away where it exploded into the same sphere of destructive energy that had grievously injured two soldiers mere moments earlier. The second bolt was similarly knocked away by Wilhelm’s sword and was sent rocketing off into the far distance, where Syd lost sight of it. The third attack came when Wilhelm’s advance had brought him less than a dozen feet from the closest stone wall erected by the myrmidons, and it passed by the Hero’s tilted head by mere inches.

Reaching the wall, Wilhelm swiped his sword in a horizontal slash that cut through the stone barrier like it was no more than loose sand. As the rough structure fell, two of the possessed ant-like creatures hurled themselves at the Hero, claws raised in attack and magic surging through their murky auras. Wilhelm struck with blinding speed, cutting away the outstretched limbs in one motion, then their heads in the next.

As the two myrmidons fell at his feet, only three seconds had passed since Wilhelm had charged forward and the first magic bolt had been fired at him. It was an astounding display of skill and power, one that impressed Jadis thoroughly as she watched from above with her Syd self. But that admiration was turned to horror when the Hero’s forward progress was halted completely by a massive surge in the dark gold aura of the demonic shadow.

A mass of ten long, golden spikes thrust outward from the shadow, with several piercing through Wilhelm’s armor. The Hero was tossed backwards by the attack, his body tumbling across the ground for several yards due to the force of the magic. Jadis couldn’t help but notice how similar the lances of golden energy were to Aila’s Force Lance, though the comparison was far back in her mind. Her main concern was for her friend who had just been knocked on his ass by what looked to be a devastating attack.

Fortunately, there were other gears in motion on the battlefield.

An explosion of chitin and ichor splattered across the foul mud before her as Jay crushed the head and upper torso of the large myrmidon in a single blow. A protective magic shield made from red energy had appeared in between her and the beast as she had swung, but Jadis had anticipated defensive measures from the Demon possessing the ant creature and had already activated her Break the Bulwark skill. The shield was no barrier at all as Jay’s hammer blow broke through and the myrmidon’s shell was just as useless a defense against her. A system notification flashed in the corner of Jay’s eyes, no doubt to let her know of the Demon she had just slain, but she ignored the message as she instead ran towards Wilhelm. Her Syd self’s perspective told her that Noll had also swiftly dealt with the larger myrmidon and was already heading towards the enemy position at a different angle from how the Hero had approached. It was honestly a bad direction for Noll to approach from as it limited the action Jadis was taking in the same moment, but it wasn’t so much a problem that she had to pull out. Instead, Jay just needed to act fast.

“I’m fine!” Wilhelm shouted as Jay reached him, and to her surprise, she could see that he was right.

While the golden lances had pierced Wilhelm’s armor, Jay saw no sign of damage to the metal. No holes, no dents, not even a scratch. Wilhelm’s voice showed some pain, but his tone sounded more angry than injured.

“Good!” Jay shouted in reply as she grabbed the man’s shoulder with one hand. “Just keeping you that way!”

Lunding to the side and taking Wilhelm with her, Jay managed to get out of the way just an instant before the crack of a sonic boom echoed across the battlefield.

Dys smashed into the stone barriers that the possessed myrmidons had erected at Mach speed. While she had also activated her Break the Bulwark skill for the headlong attack, she discovered an unfortunate limitation of the ability. While the active skill would allow her to break through the shields or defensive skills of a target, a free-standing stone wall, even if erected by magic, didn’t fall under the category that allowed Break the Bulwark to function. Whether the skill was active or not, no simple, roughly constructed stone barrier was going to stop a fully armored Jadis moving at over seven hundred miles per hour.

But it did have an effect on her trajectory.

Rock, dirt, and bits of unknown organic material sprayed everywhere as Dys crashed through the walls and whatever was between them. She lost her balance from the impact, her flight wobbling as her body skidded across the ground as she fought to regain control and pull back up into the air. Her Jay self and Wilhelm were hit with debris as Dys passed by, showering them both in the mess her impact had created. It was a chaotic attack, one that Noll was probably going to ream her out for, but the goal Jadis had been aiming for was accomplished. At least half of the myrmidons who had been bunkering down around the shadowy figure had been killed or disabled, and the central spellcaster itself had been hit. The demonic creature, whatever it was, wasn’t dead from the blow, though, as her Syd self could see the body moving. The shadowy effect seemed diminished, however, and Jadis was able to see the creature more clearly.

With the way forward cleared by her other body, Jay turned from Wilhelm and rushed towards the crawling thing Syd could see moving inside the broken nest of dead trees and dirt walls. Her landbound charge was accelerated by her Knight’s Daring Charge skill, and within a second, she had crossed the distance and was on top of the dark form with a golden aura. With hammer raised, Jay had only the briefest of moments to see the creature up close and unimpeded.

The Demon was large, though not tall. A singular round blob-like form rose up out of what seemed to be a melted puddle of black flesh, at least seven feet tall and nearly as wide. The blob was shaped with familiar curves and lines, such that it was only by the clarity of having three refracted minds that Jadis was able to process and realize what she was looking at in the instant of visibility given to her. The round form was a skull in shape, or the top of one, with the lower half below the nasal cavity cut off by the puddle-like cloak that spread out around the central mass. The right eye socket was lidless and oversized and contained a singular, massive eye with a gold iris. The left socket was filled with at least ten smaller eyeballs, each one also golden and shining with an inner light.

Jay’s hammer swung down, her attack already in motion to crush the repulsive Demon. However, as her arms came down in an overhead strike, the skull blob’s aura flashed into golden brilliance. Jay felt her hammer hit the Demon squarely, and with her Bulwark skill active, she knew that no barrier was going to stop her attack. And yet, from her view above, Syd saw, just as Jay felt, her blow slide askew. The head of her hammer went off course, damaging the Demon, but not crushing it as it should have. Furthermore, from her closer perspective, Jay saw one of the Demon’s smaller eyes rupture and burst like a rotten egg despite the fact that the hammer strike had landed nowhere near the left side of the Demon’s head.

While the unexpected deflection disrupted Jay’s follow up flow, she maintained balance thanks to her firm footing. While she was no expert yet, she had been training regularly with Bridget and Noll whenever possible, and the fundamentals had been solidly drilled into her heads. She kept her stance and recovered quickly, which was what allowed her to avoid the point-blank blast of magic that the giant eyeball shot at her chest.

Jay felt the bolt scrape against the front of her chest plate as she pivoted to the side, avoiding a direct strike. Her dodge turned her sightline just enough that Jay was able to that Noll had already entered the thicket, fangs bared as he swung his curved sword through the body of foolish myrmidon that had tried to block his way. He was only a few feet away, and Jay knew that even if she didn’t strike the Demon with her hammer in the next second, the savage veteran would with his sword.

As the skull blob Demon’s eyes swiveled around in their misshaped sockets, it seemed that she came to the same conclusion.

Nine golden lances of light shot out from the Demon’s remaining smaller eyeballs, half of them aimed at Jay and the others aimed at Noll. Dodging back again, Jay tried to avoid the magic attack by two of the five aimed at her struck her, one in the left shoulder and the other in her left hip. An involuntary cry of pain was ripped out of her as the beams of malignant energy pierced through her armor like it wasn’t there and dug directly into her flesh. The sensation was excruciating, like her bones were being broken, and the force the lances exerted on her pushed her several feet back despite her weight and size.

While her Jay self was too focused on her own pain to think of anything else, her Syd body hovering high above was still able to keep track of the battlefield. That was how she saw Noll dodge all four the lances directed at him, though he was forced to give some ground to do so. That was also how she saw Wilhelm leap into the air over Jay, launching himself off of her right shoulder. Turning through the air, his sword struck the Demon with an arc of Divine golden light, cutting deep into the blobby skull. However, as the Hero landed on the far side of the Demon, Jadis saw that the Demon was still alive despite what should have been a powerful, almost certainly lethal blow. Instead, Jay caught sight of another one of the Demon’s eyes bursting like a fetid grape as the golden lances flickered out of existence.

“Stop it!” Noll shouted in his gruff tone.

Jay reacted to the command instinctually, her mind barely catching up to her body. The mass of the skull blob was moving away from Wilhelm and Noll, sliding under and between broken tree trunks and crushed walls. The song of Wilhelm’s divine sword was accompanied by the percussion of Jay’s hammer as the both struck at the Demon, landing a solid blow each. Except, their attacks somehow fell short, not doing as much damage as Jadis expected. In the next instant, Noll’s sword slashed across the retreating monstrosity. To her great shock, even Noll’s blade seemed to miss its mark, falling short of being a killing blow.

As Jay swung at the Demon again, the central mass of the creature seemed to shrink, reducing in size. An instant later, Jadis realized that the surrounding shroud was also shrinking, or rather, disappearing at the Demon fled between two upturned rocks that were surrounded by the devastation caused by Dys’ flyby attack. Jay’s attack fell short as the Demon cast another bolt aimed at her head, forcing her to duck out of the way. Her last vision of the abomination was of its diminished number of eyes glowing as it slid into the shadowy darkness of a tunnel entrance.

Wilhelm leapt on top of one of the stones that surrounded the tunnel opening, sword glowing with divine retribution as he made as if to give chase. However, before he could leap down into the tunnel, Noll put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder, stopping him in place.

“Bad idea,” the old wolf growled as he sneered at the dark opening. “Demons don’t breathe. It could collapse the tunnel on itself to suffocate you.”

“I think it might be doing that already,” Jay said as she fought to control her heavy breathing. “Can’t you hear that?”

After a moment, Wilhelm nodded. The echoing sound of rocks and shifting soil was coming up from the open tunnel mouth, and a slow cloud of dust was drifting upward. If the possessed myrmidons had retained their tunnel carving abilities, which was supported by the fact that they were using earth magic to create walls during the fight, then it was likely that the tunnel the skull blob had retreated into could stretch on for miles. There was no telling where, or even in what direction, the Demon had fled.

“Damn,” Wilhelm cursed, using possibly the harshest tone she had ever heard uttered by the modest man. “Damn it to ruins.”

“What the fuck was that thing?” Jay added her own profanity as she kicked a rock near her boot into the tunnel.

“Better question,” Noll grunted as he wiped the ichor from his sword. “Why didn’t it die?”