The Lady’s Hand (A Dickings & Dalliances Adventure) - (Closed Except By Invitation)

[justspitballing]

Sprite sprints down again from the statue. She spins as she does so, her skirt cutting into the shoulder of the beast, fallowed swiftly by her axe. The axe also makes a mark, but the blow should have killed the devil, yet he still stood. Hurt a bit, but not winded by the attacks.

"I can not get any breaks in this fight?" Sprite states in frustration.

She does not retreat. If she did the devil would just go back to attacking her party members. She couldn't hurt this creature fully, must be because her weapons were not silver, but at least she could act as a distraction and pull fire towards herself.

 

[ICM8781]

As Chasen sees the power Maritia displays and remembers her final command from Aime, he sees and opportunity to get the Devil to listen, if only to grab some information.

"I'm not sure what Aimee has to do with this Devil, And I will deal with her when I can. As for you, I have a very beautiful holy woman ready to banish you. I know that's going to be a pain in the ass for you. If you tell me what Aimee has to do with it all We'll just defeat you and let you recoporeate yourself or however it happens. Hell, if you just tell us and let everyone go after her now you can just do whatever it is for you to do here. I'm not going to stop her from banishing you otherwise."

Aimie's behavior never made sense to him. He could not help but be suspicious of interrogating the band you are planning to put together. And it just got more and more pecular as events progressed. Her insistance not to help the temple, to ignore the Cleric. Once they get there the Devil just lets her by and she abandons the rest of them. Maybe he wouldn't have caught it if his last experience of empoyment wasn't so similar, but he couldn't wait and risk the Devil be too dead to talk.

The devil gives Chasen a curious look. “I like you. I’ll even give you an answer: I don’t know. Letting her pass was in the contract. Frankly, I don’t care why.”

That confident smirk shows he wasn't backing down, but at least he learned that Aimie was not to be trusted. Chasen figured there is more to Devil's knowledge and it will have to wait until the fight is over before he can learn any more. He looks around to plan his next attack and runs to a pew that he can grab a bit more cover from, making sure he is to the Devil's flank opposite of Arx in hopes to draw attention away.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Maritia quickly speaks healing to the changeling, and divine magic begins to stitch her wounds back together. With a flick of her wrist a bolt of light streaks out towards the devil, but it ducks out of the way.

Meanwhile, a loud explosion can be heard from the second floor of the temple, and the rafters shake, dust flittering to the ground.

 

[Poprockz]

Goddamn! That slice and stab combo hurt like a motherfucker. Arx had cried out in pain, briefly wondering if the tail had punctured a lung. However, she wasn't coughing up blood and the healing soon after seemed to get her body back on its feet. She wasn't going to be able to get away from the devil without getting its claws in her ass, so she simply committed to fighting it right there. It was make it or break it time, and she had no choice but to keep fighting.

Ducking slightly, she twirled behind the demon, her whip following suit. Instead of an attack from the back like it may have been expecting, the whip flew around the demon and slashed it across his belly as she pulled it back.

She didn't really care why the wizard was duking it out with the captain upstairs (presumably), all she needed to focus on was the fact that this demon had a contract for their lives and she wasn't really ready to be put in the ground just yet.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The cleric fires off another bolt of divine light. This one connects. "Begone, foul beast!" he cries as the bolt suffuses the devil's form, leaving behind a golden glow. The devil cries out in pain and frustration.


It roars, and turns to lash out once again at Arx, ignoring the other targets. Both swipes of its claw sail harmlessly over Arx's shoulder, but its tail crashes into her thigh, ripping holes in her skin. Another explosion rocks the temple, and the devil turns to Sprite, leaping in the harpy's direction.

The statue in the back of the sanctuary tips forward, creaking, groaning in the rumbling boom of the arcane battle being fought on the other side of the wall. Another bang, and the statue is loose. It crashes into the fight, knocking both Sprite and the devil to the side, prone on the temple floor, before its shadow falls on Arx. The changeling is directly in its path, and the large, serene, holy form of the statue of Yendalaritz lands on her. She cannot be seen underneath the stone.

A dark cloud of dust and debris fills the air between the devil and Sprite on one side, and Chasen and the two clerics on the other. If Sprite looks up toward where the statue had been, she'll see into the room beyond, where a man in a long, white cloak floats in the air, laughing down at a singed, bleeding Amie, crouched on the floor. This sight is obscured for the rest of the group.

Wylonithain Silvergleam, having finally caught and eaten a small rodent he'd seen walking to the temple, finally enters through the main door behind Chasen and the clerics. "Ugh," he groans. "This shit doesn't happen to vedgers, you know." Still, he does his best to quickly assess the situation, and places his hand on Chasen's shoulder. "You can find the others," he says. "I like them. Let's get them out of here."






Amidst all this chaos, Arx sees the pale statue looming over her, feels the crunch of stone on flesh as she is battered and pinned underneath the rubble. Instead of total darkness, she sees warm, flickering light. Orange firelight reflects off stone walls, but not the white stone of the temple. This is a brown stone, outdoors, pillars holding up no ceiling save the sky. The wall behind them shelters that comforting fire from the elements, and soft grass cushions her feet. Trees surround a small clearing, and the night is lit by unfamiliar stars. She's standing, though she won't remember getting up or coming here, but the two voices will be familiar to her. They're the two voices she's been hearing since they started their walk to this temple. She only sees one person, however.

A large woman, nearly twice Arx's current height, stands facing the changeling. She wears nothing, and the first thing Arx would notice about her is her belly. Her figure is taut and curvy, plump and lean at the same time, impossibly perfect, but her belly is round and swollen, gravid with what must be an imminent birth, even though her smooth, chestnut brown skin is free of veins and stretch marks. Her breasts rest on top of that bulbous stomach, full and round, easier twice as large as the changeling's head each, topped with large, stiff nipples and warm brown areolae. Her slit is flush and dripping, framed with a neatly trimmed bush of tighlty curled black hair. The hair on her head is dark and curly as well, falling past her shoulders like a thick cloak. Her smile is divinely comforting, and her eyes are bright and kind.

"She's here!" she calls out, and takes a step toward Arx.

"Tell her to wait," yells the more masculine voice Arx had heard before, thought she can't tell ehere it's coming from. "I'm powdering my nose!"

The woman rolls her eyes, then smiles again at Arx. "Welcome," she says.

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite saw the statue collapse and Arx go away completely from sight.

And just like that Sprite knew she was gone. She could not have lived. In many ways Arx was still a stranger, but in many other ways Sprite had become closer to her then anyone in a very long time. She had relied on her on what had turned out to be the most dangerous quest of her life, shared with her about herself to a level she simply did not do with others, and had her back as much as she could. But she was powerless, she didn't stop this sudden advent in anyway.

"NOOOO!!!!" she screamed out like an animal.

She shot up and spun around, hitting the devil with her dress and cutting him deep, fallowing it up with an axe swing that missed due to her blinding rage. But he did not due this, that spell caster did! She flew up to where Amie and the cloaked man were. The signs of destructive spells being all over the place and Amie looking to be but a step away from death herself.

"I'LL EAT YOUR BONES!" Sprite screamed out at the man, her new enemy, and she would stay true to that statement.

 

[Poprockz]

Was this some kind of concussion-inspired hallucination? No... she definitely remembered feeling the weight of the Goddess's white-marble bosom crushing her bones. She looked down at her hands, two blue-grey skinned hands being covered heavily in scars are visible. Indeed, on her left hand there was a nub where her pinky finger used to be. One might have thought that a changeling simply morphed into whatever it wanted and that was true to an extent. But what of the scars? What of the body parts lost? The fact was that while she could shift into a person with not a blemish on their body, her own body took on every injury that happened to her. It was mostly skin-deep, her scars. She wasn't in her own body most of the time anyway, so it wasn't like it bothered her much.

Some changelings practiced a barbaric practice of consumption, where one would get pregnant and regenerate one's body mass with the mass lost from the loss of a limb. This prevented one from being too light if your limbs were cut off. Still... She could never even think of doing something so disgusting. It was probably one of the reasons why changelings had such a bad name for themselves.

The large woman looked and sounded familiar... Fuck. It was Yendalaritz, but much more pregnant. Who the male voice was, she had no idea. Maybe it was her husband and the people had gotten it all wrong - maybe he didn't disappear, he was just gay and they ended their marriage amicably.

Though it was probably something Gods heard a lot, for her own sake she needed to ask. Her silver eyes looked up at the Goddess and she squinted slightly up at her. "Am I dead?"

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

A sympathetic look crossed the goddess’s face. She reached down and carressed Arx’s cheek with a hand larger than the changeling’s head. “Unfortunately, yes. For now, at least. We have the power to raise you, and we’d like to use it.”

Arx could see a smaller hand wave in the air just over the goddess’s shoulder. “Probably!” the male voice said. “We’re weak! It’ll be a roll of the cosmic dice, as it were! A fun game, anyway.”

The goddess frowned. “Don’t listen to him. We can do it.”

“Probably!” he yelled again.

The goddess ignored him. “We have some things we’d like to talk to you about first, though.” She lowered her gorgeous, divine body to a sitting position with all the coordination of your average mortal pregnant woman. That is, with lots of elegant grunting and a graceful plop at the end. This also left her flush, glistening slit facing Arx head-on. It looked like it was about to see some traffic any minute now, although in which direction would remain to be seen. “Ah, that’s better.”

“You could’ve warned me!” the male voice yelled.

This time, the goddess actually appeared apologetic, but didn’t respond. Instead, she looked at Arx with a shallow frown. “My connection to the mortal world is very weak, and has been for some time. You probably don’t know who we are…”

 

[Poprockz]

Her hand felt warm and comforting, Arx feeling a bit relaxed despite the circumstances. The fact that they intended to try to resurrect her was unexpected, but she wasn’t going to complain any time soon.

She watched awkwardly as the pregnant lady sat down, not quite sure where to direct her eyes. A lot of people liked to say that one shouldn’t ogle Gods, but she was pretty damn hot. Pregnant ladies weren’t usually her thing and of course there was the size difference, but she thought to herself that she wouldn’t mind fucking her silly. The thought dawned on her that the other God could be inside her and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“I mean… you definitely look like Yendalaritz, but more…” she scratched her head while gesturing at the goddess’s belly. “Knocked up. Are you her sister? I think Yendalaritz is supposed to be a chaste while she waits for her husband or something.”

Arx shifted on her feet. It was weird being in the presence of a God- it was like being around a mob boss. You didn’t know whether you would leave with a briefcase full of gold, or without some of your fingers.

Her eyes looked around and she shrugged, “I have no idea who he is though, no offense.”

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The male voice started giggling, then chuckling, and by the time Arx was done speaking he was cackling mirthfully. All the while the goddess had a look on her face like she’d been forced to eat bitter sickleroot when she really wanted greeneberry pie.

“The cleric you spoke to,” she began, “like all our worshippers, currently anyway, is…wrong. About quite a lot.”

The male voice subsided to another giggle.

The goddess smiled again. “My name…is Yenda. The Birth Mother. Matron of Heaven. Proud Cumdump of Gods and Titans. The Holy Lover. The Everseeded. The Expecting.” Her shoulders slumped. “And all my titles have been forgotten.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” the other voice chimed in. “This is where I come in! Introduce me! Introduce me!”

“Yes, yes,” Yenda replied wearily. She started shuffling around, rotating her body so that her back faced Arx. “That’s where my friend here comes in.”

Not just behind Yenda, but literally fused to her back, shoulderblades conjoined, dangled a man, although Arx would sense divinity in him, suggesting that he was a god as well. His skin was a bit paler than Yenda’s, but no less radiant. His face was handsome, but in an untrustworthy way, eyes bright with untold jokes and mouth pulled up in an always winking smile. His body was about Arx’s size, but his torso was a bit smaller, even. ‘All elbows and knees,’ as one of Arx’s “aunts” would’ve said. He was naked, too, so his lean muscles were visible, as well as his cock, comically large on his gangly frame but petite in proportion to his great, heaving ballsack.

He gave Arx an overly formal bow as Yenda leaned back to let his feet rest upon the ground. “I…am Laritz, dear Arx.”

 

[ICM8781]

As Mylo gives him a little needed insight, Chasen rushes over the collapsed floor just in time to see Sprite rushing out of the area. The debris gives and he stumbles back.

"Sprite!!! One target at a time! Finish him off!" Chasen screams as he looses his footing.

He manages to fire one shot twirling through the dust and falling rocks. He misses. Still stuck behind the screen of dust, he realizes it's refracting the light around him. He needs to correct his aim. He hears the familiar thunk of his arrow piercing the beast with his second shot, but can see no reaction behind the collapse.

Still suspicious of Amie, He doesn't know if this new wizard is truely the enemy, but whatever is going on this immediate threat is the Devil.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Amie Buonnice pulls herself up to her feet, cloak torn, blood dripping from burns on her pale thighs. Her eyes briefly flash to Sprite, before she puts a hand out towards the man in the cloak. A blast of frigid ice and sleet rocket out of her palm, pummeling her opponent with freezing temperatures.

The man weathers the storm with almost supernatural calm, just as Maritia, down below, runs toward the statue lying over Arx. On the way, she touches Chasen on the shoulder, and he feels a warm, comforting energy suffuse his body. The cleric’s face falls when she sees where Arx had been standing moments before. The statue has covered her to the point she can’t even be reached without moving several hundred pounds of stone. Her eyes flash between Chasen and the other cleric. “We’re going to need help! Quickly!” She points out the door. “Go!” she yells to the cleric. “Get me enough men to lift this off her!”.

Unaware of what’s going on upstairs, the cleric of Yendalaritz steps into the ruined aisle of the sanctuary, and casts another bolt of holy light in the direction of the devil. Its form seems to glow, an outline of the fiend visible now even in the cloud of dust in the center of the sanctuary. He nods at Maritia, and runs out the front door of the temple.

Wylo reaches down to palm the ground, and only Sprite would be able to see vines grow from the ground under the devil’s feet, grasping for its ankles and reaching up its legs, but it kicks and claws at them, and they fall away.
Meanwhile, the strange wizard recovers from Amie’s assault. His eyes narrow, and he raises his hand just before a glowing red cube of arcane energy snaps into existence with Amie in its center.

“NO! You fucker!” she yells.

The man laughs in a low rumble. “We weren’t supposed to have company, Baroness,” he purrs. “But I believe I’ve bought enough time.” he whispers under his breath and vanishes in the mist.

 

[justspitballing]

The wizard runs away and vanishes. What a coward! She can't blame him for fleeing, but Sprite needed to kill something right now. She turns back around seeing the devil below her.

"You'll due," she calls out and then flies down.

Someone will pay for what has happened to Arx, someone. Sprite can feel a tear dampen her cheek as she reaches the groups main adversary and spins around, hitting him true with the blades of her skirt, only to fallow with the axe. This time said axe actually connects. A good hit to the right leg. Despite how her weapons aren't silver the devil is starting to show harm from all the attacks against it. She can smell the blood rich in the air, he will soon fall.

Sprite sheds a second tear and spits on the beast.

 

[Poprockz]

Her eyebrows raised as she got the run-down from the Goddess. “Holy shit…” she muttered under her breath, wondering to herself how such a slutty God (by her own admission) had been given such “noble” titles as chaste and pure. It made no sense whatsoever.

She watched with interest as the pregnant woman turned, her eyes widening at the sight of the man. Well, God. He was that kind of clever handsomeness that was all about attitude and how he carried himself. She figured he looked like he would make a good thief with how lean he was, though he seemed a bit chaotic. Her eyes were drawn to his cock and she wondered whether it was possible for him to bend it under the other woman to fuck her or not. She supposed it didn’t matter, but she was still curious. What she did know is that she didn’t envy their fused set-up. It seemed rather uncomfortable, but Gods were an odd bunch who might enjoy it, she figured.

“Huh… so you both got lumped together as one God when you’re actually two.”

“Wow, I pity the poor fuck that has to tell them that their whole philosophy about you both is wrong. They’ll probably get beaten to a pulp by your worshippers for such blasphemy. I mean, that one priest would likely pop a blood vessel before right after “cum dump” was mentioned,” Arx let out a laugh that was mirthful at first until it died down into a horrified half-hearted chuckle.

“Wait… you’re not expecting me to do that, are you?”

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Laritz had the wherewithal to look chagrined when Arx mentioned their conjoined state. “Well, you see…”

Yenda pursed her lips. “Go on. Tell her.” It was clear this was a bit of a sore spot for the two of them.

“Well, how was I supposed to know it would go on this long?” He turned to Arx. “I played a simple, harmless prank. You might’ve done the same, right? It’s not my fault that it stuck so well.”

“Not your fault!” Yenda yelled, with all the anger of a mother. “You falsified religious texts, cast who knows how many memory-modifying spells, and burned a Wish! How on Mithileza is this not your fault?!”

Laritz’s expression cycles through guilt and indignation, landing on a rather convenient pragmatism. “What matters now is what our new friend here can do about it.” He turns back to Arx. “Gods are not entirely…immutable. The worship we receive reflects our nature, or at least it’s supposed to. If there is an incongruity there…and if it’s severe enough, for long enough…then our nature begins to change to reflect the worship we receive…”

Yenda puts her head in her hands. “To sum up, several hundred years ago this asshole convinces the world we’re one deity, Yendalaritz, and we’re some, ugh, chaste goddess, and the other I wake up with a lovely new growth on my back and my social calendar cleared.”

“Oh you just want to keep getting laid!” Laritz snaps.

“This baby’s coming out of me soon, and I’ll need someone to put a baby in me! It’s who I am!” There is a pause, and Yenda hangs her head. “Or, it’s who I’m supposed to be…”

Laritz looks at Arx apologetically. “Yeah…we’ll need your help with that later.” He clears his throat. “But, to answer your question, no. You won’t have to proselytize for us. We need more of a divine connection to do that. Someone to act as a priest. But, if we can make a deal with you—“

“More of an eldritch pact,” Yenda grumbles. “It’s all we’re capable of at the moment.”

“Then,” Laritz continues. “Your kids could do it.”



Meanwhile, back in the temple, the devil cries out in pain. Beaten, bloodied, near a death that would put him right back in the hells and likely demoted, he tries the last thing he can think of. In his hands he conjurse twin fireballs, modest orbs of infernal blaze, and he tosses one of them at the pile of debris that separates him, Chasen, and Sprite from the two clerics. The other he tosses at Sprite’s face and runs, not even looking to see if it hits. The outer wall of the temple is damaged enough that he can leap out into the street, so he does.

 

[Poprockz]

“Woah woah woah, back up a second. So you-“ she pointed at the big-dicked God, “falsified the mortal reality as a prank and ended up fused to her back because of it? Kinda sounds like you fucked around and found out.” She paused, “even if it is more than a little funny.” The changeling gave him a playful wink before continuing.

“What do you mean that you want to form a pact? Are you saying you want to trade power for children?” Arx felt a bit weird about the proposal, unsure about selling her unborn kids to Gods she wasn’t intimately acquainted with.

 

[ICM8781]

Finally breaching the falling debri and climbing over the collapsed ceiling, Chasen sees Amie more clearly and rushes towards her. If anything she's not getting away. While he runs, he fires off 2 more arrows one hitting the devil in the side as he reacts to Sprite's onslaught hoping it would finish him off, but he can tell there is still a little left in this monster.

"Any last pearls of knowledge before you disapear from our realm," Chasen blurts out to gloat over the Devil's choice of allegience.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

“THANK you!” shouts Laritz with his arms out towards Arx. “It was funny!”

Yenda rolls her eyes again, but she does have a small smile on her face. “To be clear,” she assures Arx, “we would not be taking the children from you after you have them. But, by having a pact with you when they’re conceived and born, we would have some influence over the course of their lives. One might become a prophet, preaching to crowds of townsfolk, or one may become a leader in the existing church of Yendalaritz, open to hearing their message." She looked over her shoulder. "What do you say, Laritz? Would five be enough?"

 

[Poprockz]

Having influence rather than physically taking them sounded better. It wasn’t as though she was going to be raising all of them herself, but she liked to know that her children would be in good homes if she had any. Being priests or prophets didn’t sound like such a bad idea if they had Yenda and Laritz’s holy protection.

“Okay… five sounds good to me- I already have one on the way back where my body is. Though… I’m not sure if it survived the statue falling on me.” The changeling cringed, hoping that it hadn’t perished with her.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Yenda crawls forward, rotating to kneel low next to Arx (a process that takes nearly a full minute with her unwieldy belly), and places a tender kiss on the changeling’s forehead. “I am the mother of all, dear Arx. I will not allow harm to come to your child from this meeting.” She leans back, and turns so Arx can see Laritz as well.

“Then the terms of our deal are as such:” he begins. “You will conceive and ensure the birth of five children, with these five partners listed here.” Laritz produces a small notebook out of thin air and tosses it to Arx. “Furthermore, you will return to help Yenda remain expecting one month from now. In exchange, you will receive sundry eldritch powers, and be raised to life along with your current unborn child. Do you accept?”

A contract on pale parchment appears on the ground, along with a dark, shimmering quill, dripping black ink from its tip.

 

[Poprockz]

Arx thought about it for a moment as she studied the contract. It was a good deal- being paid in powers and a second chance at life in exchange for fucking people and getting pregnant. Her child would live and get the opportunity for a happy life. One might say that it was like a wealthy couple was paying her to be a surrogate. It would also give her the opportunity to fuck a God, which wasn’t on her bucket list before but certainly was now. Besides… she imagined that they might consider resurrection again if things went sideways seeing as they were making an investment in her.

“I agree to your terms and accept this contract.” Leaning over, the changeling took the quill and signed her name with a flourish. It simply read “Arx Quickfinger,” her last name having been given to her when adopted by the thieves guild.

With that said and done, she picked up the notebook and looked inside. Surely the “targets” wouldn’t be too difficult, right?

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

Yenda smiled in a proud, motherly way.
Laritz smiled in a way that barely avoided making Arx think he was up to something.

"Well, then, shall we get this little one back to the land of the living?" Laritz asked. "Don't forget: just take a nap in one of our temples in a month to fulfill that part of your bargain."

Yenda started to reach out a hand, glowing with warm golden light, to Arx, but then paused. "Wait a moment..."





***




Amie can be seen stomping and cursing inside her arcane cell, but soon she stops and pulls out a piece of chalk from the pocket of her cloak. She begins drawing with it on the glowing red floor of the cube in which she’s trapped.

Maritia begins lifting small rock, bits of the statue of Yendalaritz, and dropping them away from the larger piece lying on top of Arx’s body.

Outside, the cleric calls out, waving in a few of the guard nearby, along with several strapping young men who had paused to watch the conflict at the temple. They begin rushing toward the door to help lift off the statue.

The devil turns as he runs, throwing two more orbs of flame at Sprite. One of them crashes into her, scorching a few of her feathers. He wastes no time getting further away from the harpy and half-elf.

Wylonithain the druid tries to climb over the burning pile of broken pews and torn tapestries, but stumbles, unable to cross. Still, he conjures a handful of goodberries just in case they’re needed.

Maritia and the men the cleric brought in slow to a stop, gaping as the large white stone lying on top of Arx lifts off, floating in the air in golden light. It moves several feet through the air, only to gently come to a rest near the wall of the temple.





***





“There, now that pesky chunk of false statue is off of you.” Yenda says, and she reaches down wrap her long, slender, comely fingers around Arx’s body. Arx would feel a pulse of energy, breath she hadn’t noticed missing rushing into her lungs. Her vision goes white, and then fades to reveal the inside of the temple, now ruined and broken. She lies there on the pale stone, whole and seemingly unharmed. Standing up would reveal Maritia and a small crowd of men staring at her in astonishment, as well as the elven druid climbing back to his feet and grunting in pain. Sprite, Chasen, and the devil would not be in sight. The notebook would be in her hand.

 

[Poprockz]

Arc dusted herself off and felt her boobs, ass, face, stomach, and crotch, making sure that the gods hadn’t neglected to get her body back in working order. They had said that they would make her alive again, but they didn’t specify what shape she would be in other than her unborn child being unharmed. She wouldn’t have put it past Laritz to give her dicks for nipples or a tramp stamp of the letter L just for funzies. Fortunately, she was still wearing the form of the red headed beauty, though.

Looking around, she noticed four things: most of her companions were not present, she was covered in blood, the place looked blown to shit, and everyone was staring at her as though they had seen either a ghost or a miracle. She felt like there was pressure for her to say something, so she snapped her free hand at Marita with a finger gun and said, “hey, turns out it’s not my day to die! So uh… did we win?”

 

[justspitballing]

Sprite had never been so hurt in her life. Her legs had long, red marks from the fire, her arms could hardly lift her axe. her wings missed a dozen feathers, and she could taste coppery blood in her mouth. She was still being driven by rage at this point. Still being forced to press on despite her body demanding this fight to end. There was a crowd forming around the temple, people gathering, but it didn't matter. Her rage swelled up in her with a blast of strength and she she didn't think again. She shot forward, moving like a rocket. She moved threw the sky and for a moment she felt she had lost her target, but then she spied him just off in the distance.

She flew down, axe moving with her. She would likely drop the thing after this swing, but it would hit that devil with all of her might, it had to. She crashed down onto the ground and brought down her weapon. There was a hard thud and then the axe did not move down farther. The blade stuck in the chest of the creature.

 

[Nouh_Bdee]

The devil cried out, a dissonant screech like bending wrought iron, then Sprite's axe was no longer buried in its flesh, but falling through a cloud of smoke, black as night and burning the harpy's nostrils with its noxious fumes. The devil was gone, damaged enough to be sent back to the nine hells. There was a moment of quiet, broken by a crash of one of the temples windows, damaged by the fire.