NationStates

Constaniana wrote:"What? I'm not being reckless! I'm just moving ahead quickly to punch the grey scumbags instead of spending five years in a pointless interrogation and philosophical discussion about thievery and the existential worth of demons or whatever rubbish was going on back there!" Aldraniri pouted, though he stopped going down the tunnel for now. The Northemen blacksmith took a deep breath like Charlie had suggested. "...wait, did you say fiancée?" Aldraniri's cheeks began reddening. "We're...Heilaga and I...we're...uh...not like that...really! I mean, we're just sixteen and getting married that early is completely ridiculous and not going to happen for a couple years and I'm being completely serious and we're...really not like that yet...uh..."

"Aldraniri, it's blatantly obvious what you think about Heilaga. I don't think a simple platonic bond between two similarly-aged neighbours would compel you to run away on a wild goose chase across the world for one attractive girl. You certainly want to move beyond being just her childhood friend. Not that I'm saying it's bad. She certainly looks like quite a catch," said Kroisoto, reaching the head of the group and stopping beside the Wind Elemental. "And Charlie's absolutely right about your behaviour. Barreling down the corridor with your sword drawn, not bothering with any attempt at stealth at all sounds like a textbook example of recklessness to me."

"Who asked you?" Aldraniri grumbled. "And besides Kroisoto, it's blatantly obvious what you think about Charlie. I don't think a simple academic respect between two fancifully educated people would compel you to cheerfully agree with her and take interest in whatever she's engaged in at the moment. You certainly want to have six babies with each other," Aldraniri shot back, "See, I can use spiffy words and make assumptions too!" Aldraniri cried triumphantly.

Tristan stopped eyeing Eric's journal to very pointedly stare at the three of them, blinking once or twice for emphasis, before shaking his head and moving on.

"Gallians."

During the course of the argument, Erosen had indeed picked up on the scent of these abominations, and though the ones in the chamber with him were dead, he could smell more. On top of it all, with everyone barreling down a nearby hallway, he decided to play with them too. Tearing past the group after they had stopped, only to emerge into a cavern, where indeed nightmares appeared to be turning into reality. He growled, a deep, thrumming, guttural growl that echoed down the hall towards the group of those behind him.

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:

Constaniana wrote:"What? I'm not being reckless! I'm just moving ahead quickly to punch the grey scumbags instead of spending five years in a pointless interrogation and philosophical discussion about thievery and the existential worth of demons or whatever rubbish was going on back there!" Aldraniri pouted, though he stopped going down the tunnel for now. The Northemen blacksmith took a deep breath like Charlie had suggested. "...wait, did you say fiancée?" Aldraniri's cheeks began reddening. "We're...Heilaga and I...we're...uh...not like that...really! I mean, we're just sixteen and getting married that early is completely ridiculous and not going to happen for a couple years and I'm being completely serious and we're...really not like that yet...uh..."

"Aldraniri, it's blatantly obvious what you think about Heilaga. I don't think a simple platonic bond between two similarly-aged neighbours would compel you to run away on a wild goose chase across the world for one attractive girl. You certainly want to move beyond being just her childhood friend. Not that I'm saying it's bad. She certainly looks like quite a catch," said Kroisoto, reaching the head of the group and stopping beside the Wind Elemental. "And Charlie's absolutely right about your behaviour. Barreling down the corridor with your sword drawn, not bothering with any attempt at stealth at all sounds like a textbook example of recklessness to me."

"Who asked you?" Aldraniri grumbled. "And besides Kroisoto, it's blatantly obvious what you think about Charlie. I don't think a simple academic respect between two fancifully educated people would compel you to cheerfully agree with her and take interest in whatever she's engaged in at the moment. You certainly want to have six babies with each other," Aldraniri shot back, "See, I can use spiffy words and make assumptions too!" Aldraniri cried triumphantly.

Tristan stopped eying Eric's journal to very pointedly stare at the three of them, blinking once or twice for emphasis, before shaking his head and moving on.

"Gallians."

"See kid, this is why I choose to be single. Avoid all the drama and whatnot. Gives me lots of free time to learn new hobbies. Watch."

He demonstrated the detached thumb trick to no one in particular.

"Took me 10 minutes to learn that. Really kills at parties...by which I mean people think it's a neat trick...I use metaphor a lot."

If Ero-San wanted attention from his growling he would certainly get it. There were ten demons wearing what looked like rusted iron armour, polearms clasped in their hands. The foul beasts were looking around the cavern warily when one spotted Ero-San. The demon snarled back at the Elemental, knowing the smell of one of the ancient foes of its race, and its comrades were alerted to his presence. The monsters began slowly but steadily advancing towards Ero-San, the way a wolf pack encircled its prey, glaives lowered and pointing towards Ero-San.

Tristan looked at Eric for a while, confused. "...You mean to tell me this amuses your people?" He asked, a bit incredulous, blinking a few times again, as was the norm, before giving a mental shrug. "...Well, at least it doesn't actually kill people." He said, handing him back the journal and turning around to keep heading down the tunnel, all while thinking that Halveforians weren't much better than Gallians in terms of weirdness. Things were downright odd everywhere outside his little island, apparently. Not that he wasn't happy to have left that place. Sure, aside from the castle he had grown up in, things up there were nice and calm, at least to him, but the whole place held a lot of bad memories.

Suddenly he heard some sort of growling coming from up ahead. Running forward to see what was going on, he found the guy that had suddenly appeared in the Inferno with Natalie, and also ten demons in rusty armors advancing towards him.

"Ah... Hello?" He said while backing off, unsure of what to do. He focused and exhaled a lot of white mist, before thrusting his hand forward, making it cover the room they were in, and then downwards, causing it to disappear. The ground then became covered in ice, ice which Tristan hoped the demons would slip on.

"We probably shouldn't fight alone, um... Whoever you are." He said to Ero-San.

"Fellas, fellas! No need to lower ourselves to such random violence."

Eric meandered down to the scene of Ero, Tristan, and a horde of snarling demons. He skated around on the ice coating the floor, actually throwing an arm around a random demon like they were good pals.

"We're just here on a little private business. We'll finish up and be on our way. I imagine you got little demon wives and little demon babies you wanna get back to. So how about we just pretend we never saw each other? Now option two..."

He slid around on the ice, dragging Belle Lame on the floor.

"We'll be forced to get violent. And nobody wants that."

The demons looked at the strange skating man in confusion, a few of them letting out uncertain grunts. The demon's confusion probably stemmed from the fact that they asexually reproduced through budding; an obscure biological detail Eric, and most Gaiacans in general, was very unlikely to be aware of. The brutes began slipping around and falling on the ice, enraging them. Four of them managed to get back up on their feet, and began trying to skate around by paddling with their glaives, attempting to mimic the strange human who could move across the white witchery floor so easily. It should be noted they were trying to move towards Ero-San and Tristan, glaring and baring their jagged teeth. The other demons clawed at the floor, trying to get a good enough grip to stand up or move towards the intruders to carry out their instructions.

Instructions to kill.

Constaniana wrote:The demons looked at the strange skating man in confusion, a few of them letting out uncertain grunts. The demon's confusion probably stemmed from the fact that they asexually reproduced through budding; an obscure biological detail Eric, and most Gaiacans in general, was very unlikely to be aware of. The brutes began slipping around and falling on the ice, enraging them. Four of them managed to get back up on their feet, and began trying to skate around by paddling with their glaives, attempting to mimic the strange human who could move across the white witchery floor so easily. It should be noted they were trying to move towards Ero-San and Tristan, glaring and baring their jagged teeth. The other demons clawed at the floor, trying to get a good enough grip to stand up or move towards the intruders to carry out their instructions.

Instructions to kill.

Tristan was, initially, glad that the demons slipped on his little trap, thus becoming unable to continue their attack. But then four of them got back up and managed to imitate Eric somewhat, skating towards him and Ero-San. That was definitely not good. Trying to think quickly of a way to get them back down so that the ones who were actually accustomed to fighting could take them out, the Ice Elemental decided to raise his hands, using his power to raise a steep, curved ramp in front of the demons who were heading towards them, hoping that it would make them fall on their backs and give the others some more time.

But, of course, in case that didn't work, he continued backing away.

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:The demons looked at the strange skating man in confusion, a few of them letting out uncertain grunts. The demon's confusion probably stemmed from the fact that they asexually reproduced through budding; an obscure biological detail Eric, and most Gaiacans in general, was very unlikely to be aware of. The brutes began slipping around and falling on the ice, enraging them. Four of them managed to get back up on their feet, and began trying to skate around by paddling with their glaives, attempting to mimic the strange human who could move across the white witchery floor so easily. It should be noted they were trying to move towards Ero-San and Tristan, glaring and baring their jagged teeth. The other demons clawed at the floor, trying to get a good enough grip to stand up or move towards the intruders to carry out their instructions.

Instructions to kill.

Erosen had initially been surprised to see the demonic beings, but now they were on the ice, and Erosen, very familiar with moving across the ice after having to deal with the freezing winters in his home-forest, dug in the tips of his toes and forced his nails to grow longer. Getting lower to the ground and cementing his position by planting his callused hands upon the white, he dug in his fingers with their now elongated nails and took a crouched and ready to pounce position. This was an unusual stance for him, but one he'd grown accustomed to using over the years. Moving forward with great speed, he moved to engage the first demon that was skating towards Tristan and the rest of the group. That group included the strange woman whom he assumed had teleported them both to these bewitched caverns.

Aiming for the demon's crutch, he reached out to grab hold of it while in flight, moving fast like an arrow across the chamber.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

Eric spun around on the ice, actually sitting down on one of the fallen demons back like he was a chair.

"For the record, I gave you fair warning. So you've really only got yourselves to blame."

Spinning his blade around, he lopped the demons legs off at the knee. But he wasn't done yet.

"You snarling bastards only know one thing, don't you? Killing. I bet you get some sick thrill out of slaying a scared, defenseless human. Not so fun when it happens to you, is it?"

He skated off his back and sliced his arms off at the elbows. He knelt down, looking him straight in the eye.

"I want you to remember my face when your decrepit soul is sent to whatever miserable afterlife your kind occupy."

He put the thing out of his misery by slicing its head off. He whipped the blood at the next nearest demon.

"I suppose your next?"

Tristan's ice ramp succeeded in stopping three of the skating demons, who went flying up the ramp and smacked down on the ice, hard. One of them managed to skate around the ramp, when Ero-San lunged at it. The demon recognized the Nature Elemental's preparation to pounce, and gripped its glaive tightly, expecting Ero-San to charge at it directly. The lunge for the weapon surprised the demon, who nevertheless tried its best to keep its grip on the weapon, but the handle snapped from the two opposing forces. Ero-San continued sliding for a bit after that, but the demon was ready to counterattack. Embedding its feet in the ice using proper claws, the demon rammed its head into the feral man's arse, horns and all.

But while demons may have been unable to get a kick in the nuts, they were still susceptible to the wrath of Belle Lame. The fallen demon's blood landed on one of its comrades that was laying prone on the floor. Realizing the impending danger, the monster scrambled back on its feet and tried rushing at the old knight with its polearm, snarling viciously. The remaining four demons clambered back onto their feet, charging towards Eric when two of them were blasted by jets of flame from Richard's swords.

"Bloody kids are still back there arguing about babies or something. Never quite did understand Galllian teenagers, even when I was their age," the Fire Elemental said, standing near Tristan and launching a few fireballs at the demons that had fallen as a result of the ice ramp.

Constaniana wrote:Tristan's ice ramp succeeded in stopping three of the skating demons, who went flying up the ramp and smacked down on the ice, hard. One of them managed to skate around the ramp, when Ero-San lunged at it. The demon recognized the Nature Elemental's preparation to pounce, and gripped its glaive tightly, expecting Ero-San to charge at it directly. The lunge for the weapon surprised the demon, who nevertheless tried its best to keep its grip on the weapon, but the handle snapped from the two opposing forces. Ero-San continued sliding for a bit after that, but the demon was ready to counterattack. Embedding its feet in the ice using proper claws, the demon rammed its head into the feral man's arse, horns and all.

But while demons may have been unable to get a kick in the nuts, they were still susceptible to the wrath of Belle Lame. The fallen demon's blood landed on one of its comrades that was laying prone on the floor. Realizing the impending danger, the monster scrambled back on its feet and tried rushing at the old knight with its polearm, snarling viciously. The remaining four demons clambered back onto their feet, charging towards Eric when two of them were blasted by jets of flame from Richard's swords.

"Bloody kids are still back there arguing about babies or something. Never quite did understand Galllian teenagers, even when I was their age," the Fire Elemental said, standing near Tristan and launching a few fireballs at the demons that had fallen as a result of the ice ramp.

"It's okay, I don't understand them either, mister." Tristan said placatingly. "You all are really weird." He stated, seeing no irony or the possibility to offend anyone within that statement, before turning his attention back to the battle at hand. Thankfully, it seemed, his tricks had worked well enough in holding the demons at bay while the others took care of them.

The battle was not done by any means, however, and so Tristan knew that he had to continue helping, not wanting anyone to be hurt by the demons if he could help it. Thus, in order to leave them vulnerable once again, Tristan focused on his powers for the third time in this battle, raising his hands once again, though this time creating a different effect. Rather than raise a ramp from the ice on the ground, the ice itself began creeping up the feet of the demons, in an attempt to hold them in place, both so that they could not attack his friends, and so that they could not defend themselves.

"Polearms. Such an overrated weapon."

The old soldier skated around the demons strike, dragging his sword along the ground.

"Long range weapon, yes. But its lethality is limited to the tiny blade on the end. Miss with that and you've just got a stick."

He spun the demon around and jammed his sword through its foot.

"Now a longsword on the other hand. Wide strike range, and lethal all the way down."

The demon took another swing at him. He ducked it and headbutted him.

"You don't have the skill to kill me."

He pulled the sword from his foot and sliced him in half at the midsection.

Zarkenis Ultima wrote:

Constaniana wrote:Tristan's ice ramp succeeded in stopping three of the skating demons, who went flying up the ramp and smacked down on the ice, hard. One of them managed to skate around the ramp, when Ero-San lunged at it. The demon recognized the Nature Elemental's preparation to pounce, and gripped its glaive tightly, expecting Ero-San to charge at it directly. The lunge for the weapon surprised the demon, who nevertheless tried its best to keep its grip on the weapon, but the handle snapped from the two opposing forces. Ero-San continued sliding for a bit after that, but the demon was ready to counterattack. Embedding its feet in the ice using proper claws, the demon rammed its head into the feral man's arse, horns and all.

But while demons may have been unable to get a kick in the nuts, they were still susceptible to the wrath of Belle Lame. The fallen demon's blood landed on one of its comrades that was laying prone on the floor. Realizing the impending danger, the monster scrambled back on its feet and tried rushing at the old knight with its polearm, snarling viciously. The remaining four demons clambered back onto their feet, charging towards Eric when two of them were blasted by jets of flame from Richard's swords.

"Bloody kids are still back there arguing about babies or something. Never quite did understand Galllian teenagers, even when I was their age," the Fire Elemental said, standing near Tristan and launching a few fireballs at the demons that had fallen as a result of the ice ramp.

"It's okay, I don't understand them either, mister." Tristan said placatingly. "You all are really weird." He stated, seeing no irony or the possibility to offend anyone within that statement, before turning his attention back to the battle at hand. Thankfully, it seemed, his tricks had worked well enough in holding the demons at bay while the others took care of them.

The battle was not done by any means, however, and so Tristan knew that he had to continue helping, not wanting anyone to be hurt by the demons if he could help it. Thus, in order to leave them vulnerable once again, Tristan focused on his powers for the third time in this battle, raising his hands once again, though this time creating a different effect. Rather than raise a ramp from the ice on the ground, the ice itself began creeping up the feet of the demons, in an attempt to hold them in place, both so that they could not attack his friends, and so that they could not defend themselves.

Amata frowned, nodding as he watched Tristan's efforts. Seeing that their feet were trapped, he made his Element manifest as well, forcing spears of rock up from the ground. Long, thick prisms of rock, akin to needles - but five feet long - struck through the ice before attempting to impale the poor demons whose feet were locked in ice.

Constaniana wrote:"What? I'm not being reckless! I'm just moving ahead quickly to punch the grey scumbags instead of spending five years in a pointless interrogation and philosophical discussion about thievery and the existential worth of demons or whatever rubbish was going on back there!" Aldraniri pouted, though he stopped going down the tunnel for now. The Northemen blacksmith took a deep breath like Charlie had suggested. "...wait, did you say fiancée?" Aldraniri's cheeks began reddening. "We're...Heilaga and I...we're...uh...not like that...really! I mean, we're just sixteen and getting married that early is completely ridiculous and not going to happen for a couple years and I'm being completely serious and we're...really not like that yet...uh..."

"Aldraniri, it's blatantly obvious what you think about Heilaga. I don't think a simple platonic bond between two similarly-aged neighbours would compel you to run away on a wild goose chase across the world for one attractive girl. You certainly want to move beyond being just her childhood friend. Not that I'm saying it's bad. She certainly looks like quite a catch," said Kroisoto, reaching the head of the group and stopping beside the Wind Elemental. "And Charlie's absolutely right about your behaviour. Barreling down the corridor with your sword drawn, not bothering with any attempt at stealth at all sounds like a textbook example of recklessness to me."

"Who asked you?" Aldraniri grumbled. "And besides Kroisoto, it's blatantly obvious what you think about Charlie. I don't think a simple academic respect between two fancifully educated people would compel you to cheerfully agree with her and take interest in whatever she's engaged in at the moment. You certainly want to have six babies with each other," Aldraniri shot back, "See, I can use spiffy words and make assumptions too!" Aldraniri cried triumphantly.

Charlie's face remained expressionless. And not even due to awkwardness: rather, she was incredibly confused and weirded out by Aldraniri's reply. The Wind Elemental actually reached for her cap, removing it, and brushing her hair, giving herself a few pats on the head, dumbfounded.

"...What did you mean, Aldraniri? Kroisoto just supported my arguments, how could you even connect said support with want for a sextuplet of children and the likes of that?"

"Maybe you're right, kid," Richard admitted, smiling approvingly as the sheltered Elemental worked his magic, entombing the legs of the hell-spawn in ice. "Not bad. Well, better finish up these brutes quick. I don't like the idea of spending more time in this place than we absolutely have to." But he didn't get the chance to further contribute to the fight, as the golem finally made his presence known, forcefully. The remaining eight demons that were still capable of fighting against the group found Amata's stone needles ramming through their chests with grim accuracy. "I wonder what the kids are getting up to," the Fire Elemental wondered, glancing back down the tunnel he had came from, checking if Aldraniri, Kroisoto, Charlie and Natalie had caught up with them yet.

Agritum wrote:Charlie's face remained expressionless. And not even due to awkwardness: rather, she was incredibly confused and weirded out by Aldraniri's reply. The Wind Elemental actually reached for her cap, removing it, and brushing her hair, giving herself a few pats on the head, dumbfounded.

"...What did you mean, Aldraniri? Kroisoto just supported my arguments, how could you even connect said support with want for a sextuplet of children and the likes of that?"

"Aye, but Kroisoto always supports your arguments, and whatever it is you're up to at the moment," Aldraniri began to retort, when the noble cut him off.

"Why is it that you take issue with me agreeing with Charlie so much? She's a remarkably intelligent, perceptive young woman; the fact that she's pretty as well doesn't somehow render all her points null," Kroisoto responded indignantly.

"It's just as ridiculous an idea as claiming Heilaga's my fiancé because she's been my best friend my whole life and she's nice and beautiful and-ah, whatever. Sorry about saying you wanted to make babies with Kroisoto, Charlie," the redhead apologized, sighing and resuming his walk down the tunnel, sword still in his hand, turning around the corner and seeing the sight of demons sliced and impaled.

"Well, I suppose you're only a few years off about Aldraniri and Heilaga," Kroisoto murmured once the other young man was reasonably out of earshot. "Do you think Aldraniri was dropped on his head or something as an infant?" the blueblood asked as the other two teenagers began walking to catch up with the others.

Constaniana wrote:"Maybe you're right, kid," Richard admitted, smiling approvingly as the sheltered Elemental worked his magic, entombing the legs of the hell-spawn in ice. "Not bad. Well, better finish up these brutes quick. I don't like the idea of spending more time in this place than we absolutely have to." But he didn't get the chance to further contribute to the fight, as the golem finally made his presence known, forcefully. The remaining eight demons that were still capable of fighting against the group found Amata's stone needles ramming through their chests with grim accuracy. "I wonder what the kids are getting up to," the Fire Elemental wondered, glancing back down the tunnel he had came from, checking if Aldraniri, Kroisoto, Charlie and Natalie had caught up with them yet.

Tristan, not having anything better to do, simply stood around and looked back like Richard to check on the others once the demons had been taken care of. "In no small part thanks to me!" He thought proudly, knowing that his ice had been helpful in keeping the demons under control while the others took them out.

The white-haired youth poked his head out from behind Richard when he noticed Aldraniri approaching. "Hey. Are you all done talking about babies? We took care of the demons by ourselves." He said, though he wasn't exactly meaning to complain, merely to state a fact. "Where are the others?" He asked him.

Constaniana wrote:Tristan's ice ramp succeeded in stopping three of the skating demons, who went flying up the ramp and smacked down on the ice, hard. One of them managed to skate around the ramp, when Ero-San lunged at it. The demon recognized the Nature Elemental's preparation to pounce, and gripped its glaive tightly, expecting Ero-San to charge at it directly. The lunge for the weapon surprised the demon, who nevertheless tried its best to keep its grip on the weapon, but the handle snapped from the two opposing forces. Ero-San continued sliding for a bit after that, but the demon was ready to counterattack. Embedding its feet in the ice using proper claws, the demon rammed its head into the feral man's arse, horns and all.

Now Erosen wasn't one to be prone to acts of violence, but his arse now smarted like his head and his fists and his ankle. Yelping in pain, he had leaped up and away from the battle, preparing to come around again, and, watching one of the demons below lose their mobility and become entombed from the ankles down in ice, he grinned. Pushing off, with the demon's attention almost certainly not on him, he reached out and bared his teeth, sharpened by years of harsh living, to bite into the neck of the demon and rend its head from its shoulders. That being if the demon hadn't noticed him in the fray of the battle.

"Yeah, we finished talking about babies," Aldraniri responded quietly, his cheeks still red, "And the others are still catching up."

"So, what made you kids start arguing about that sort of thing anyway? Are you and the fancy kid competing with each other over the Wind Elemental?" Richard asked.

"What?!? No, it's not like that at all! You're on the hemp!" Aldraniri passionately insisted, which Richard only responded to with roaring laughter at first. However, the foreign man was interrupted suddenly by an alarmed cry from Aldraniri. "What the hell is the wild man doing?"

Erosen's teeth sank into the demon's neck. Being impaled on a giant prism of rock and dying made it awfully hard for the demon to dodge the feral man's lunge. It was fairly young, and the flesh was still tender, rending easily under the force of the Nature Elemental's fangs. Muscles and sinews separated, black blood spurting out. The foul, tainted ichor was awful as it entered Ero-San's mouth. It was quite possibly the worst taste he would ever experience. It was thick, viscous, rancid and terrible, yet strangely...intoxicating. It had a burning sensation both repulsing and enjoyable as it lingered on Ero-San's tongue and teeth, and the Nature Elemental's heart began to beat faster from the effects of the demon blood.

Constaniana wrote:"Yeah, we finished talking about babies," Aldraniri responded quietly, his cheeks still red, "And the others are still catching up."

"So, what made you kids start arguing about that sort of thing anyway? Are you and the fancy kid competing with each other over the Wind Elemental?" Richard asked.

"What?!? No, it's not like that at all! You're on the hemp!" Aldraniri passionately insisted, which Richard only responded to with roaring laughter at first. However, the foreign man was interrupted suddenly by an alarmed cry from Aldraniri. "What the hell is the wild man doing?"

Erosen's teeth sank into the demon's neck. Being impaled on a giant prism of rock and dying made it awfully hard for the demon to dodge the feral man's lunge. It was fairly young, and the flesh was still tender, rending easily under the force of the Nature Elemental's fangs. Muscles and sinews separated, black blood spurting out. The foul, tainted ichor was awful as it entered Ero-San's mouth. It was quite possibly the worst taste he would ever experience. It was thick, viscous, rancid and terrible, yet strangely...intoxicating. It had a burning sensation both repulsing and enjoyable as it lingered on Ero-San's tongue and teeth, and the Nature Elemental's heart began to beat faster from the effects of the demon blood.

"I think he's hungry." Tristan stated matter-of-factly. "People eat when they're hungry, after all."

Constaniana wrote:Erosen's teeth sank into the demon's neck. Being impaled on a giant prism of rock and dying made it awfully hard for the demon to dodge the feral man's lunge. It was fairly young, and the flesh was still tender, rending easily under the force of the Nature Elemental's fangs. Muscles and sinews separated, black blood spurting out. The foul, tainted ichor was awful as it entered Ero-San's mouth. It was quite possibly the worst taste he would ever experience. It was thick, viscous, rancid and terrible, yet strangely...intoxicating. It had a burning sensation both repulsing and enjoyable as it lingered on Ero-San's tongue and teeth, and the Nature Elemental's heart began to beat faster from the effects of the demon blood.

His eyes lit up, the rancid taste was much worse than the rotten meat he had eaten on occasion yet this burning feeling was incredible. He could feel his heart speeding up and his teeth sank in deeper. It was a taste like none other, and Erosen was famished. Looking up, grinning, face covered with ichor and eyes almost aglow with delight in the sensation, he locked on to the next series of demons currently incapacitated by the stone spikes. Whatever this substance was, this blood, was incredible, and he began to sate his newly found appetite for it, beginning to leap from the back of each demon to the next, ripping away at the throats and attempting to spill as much of their blood as he could. Soon his face was coated in the ichor, masking almost every square millimeter of skin exposed above the neck.

"Uh...you sure that kids not a vampire, right?"

Eric scratched his head while Erosen had himself a nice little bloodbath.

"I mean...jeez. Look at him! I should have whittled a stake before we came down here."

"A vampire? Right, sure. That sounds about as plausible as a giant lizard with wings," Richard replied, still watching Ero-San with a morbid fascination.

"Well, those myths of vampires could have a basis in fact, couldn't they?" Aldraniri piped up, "You saw how those demon corpses earlier had all their blood sucked out, and the wild man is certainly enjoying himself from drinking all that blood. Maybe it doesn't let him turn into a bat or things like that, but he's obviously getting some benefit from it, or he wouldn't be ripping open demons to get more blood like an angry drunk punches his way towards a crowded bar."

"Yep, the Nature Elemental has a sudden alcoholic addiction to magical vampire booze blood. Or, we could go with the far more plausible explanation, which is that the man who acts like a wild animal is simply continuing his wild beast behaviour and mauling a corpse to assert his dominance or some rubbish like that. Maybe he thinks the blood all over his face will help him convince that lass he snogging when he teleported into the Inferno to keep mating with him or something," the foreigner said, skating over towards Erosen and pulling away from the mangled remains of a demon. "Snack time's over, boy. Stop playing with your food," Richard began pulling Ero-San away from the corpse, carefully trying to avoid touching any of the blood.

Constaniana wrote:"Maybe you're right, kid," Richard admitted, smiling approvingly as the sheltered Elemental worked his magic, entombing the legs of the hell-spawn in ice. "Not bad. Well, better finish up these brutes quick. I don't like the idea of spending more time in this place than we absolutely have to." But he didn't get the chance to further contribute to the fight, as the golem finally made his presence known, forcefully. The remaining eight demons that were still capable of fighting against the group found Amata's stone needles ramming through their chests with grim accuracy. "I wonder what the kids are getting up to," the Fire Elemental wondered, glancing back down the tunnel he had came from, checking if Aldraniri, Kroisoto, Charlie and Natalie had caught up with them yet.

Agritum wrote:Charlie's face remained expressionless. And not even due to awkwardness: rather, she was incredibly confused and weirded out by Aldraniri's reply. The Wind Elemental actually reached for her cap, removing it, and brushing her hair, giving herself a few pats on the head, dumbfounded.

"...What did you mean, Aldraniri? Kroisoto just supported my arguments, how could you even connect said support with want for a sextuplet of children and the likes of that?"

"Aye, but Kroisoto always supports your arguments, and whatever it is you're up to at the moment," Aldraniri began to retort, when the noble cut him off.

"Why is it that you take issue with me agreeing with Charlie so much? She's a remarkably intelligent, perceptive young woman; the fact that she's pretty as well doesn't somehow render all her points null," Kroisoto responded indignantly.

"It's just as ridiculous an idea as claiming Heilaga's my fiancé because she's been my best friend my whole life and she's nice and beautiful and-ah, whatever. Sorry about saying you wanted to make babies with Kroisoto, Charlie," the redhead apologized, sighing and resuming his walk down the tunnel, sword still in his hand, turning around the corner and seeing the sight of demons sliced and impaled.

"Well, I suppose you're only a few years off about Aldraniri and Heilaga," Kroisoto murmured once the other young man was reasonably out of earshot. "Do you think Aldraniri was dropped on his head or something as an infant?" the blueblood asked as the other two teenagers began walking to catch up with the others.

"I think it's more due to his attitude, Kroie. Afterall, he grew up along that girl for all of his life, and was raised by a swordsmith who apparently couldn't manage to teach him that being hot-headed isn't always a quite rational thing to do. As a result, he incredibly loves solving dangerous situations by swinging swords at them, and he's motivated to do so by his love for that blonde girl back at the village. It's not really complex to understand, see." Charlie replied, walking forward and keeping herself near Kroie.

Agritum wrote:"I think it's more due to his attitude, Kroie. Afterall, he grew up along that girl for all of his life, and was raised by a swordsmith who apparently couldn't manage to teach him that being hot-headed isn't always a quite rational thing to do. As a result, he incredibly loves solving dangerous situations by swinging swords at them, and he's motivated to do so by his love for that blonde girl back at the village. It's not really complex to understand, see." Charlie replied, walking forward and keeping herself near Kroie.

"That's true, I suppose. Though I have to wonder how long it will be until Aldraniri figures out his approach has flaws. Hopefully it doesn't take some grievous to do it," Kroisoto responded, lightly clasping his hands behind his back, "Did you ever have a close childhood friend the way Aldraniri does?" The blueblood asked, softening the High Standard Galllish accent he had acquired from his tutors in House Aurenheim for a much more common-sounding one you would hear out in the countryside near the Aurenian Mountains.

"I always wondered what it was like for people who spent most of their lives with someone. I only had my mother for seven years, and then I lost the other family that adopted me in Ulfrüs's uprising, and by the time I was adopted into House Aurenheim everybody else already seemed to know each other," Kroie admitted, reasoning that his fellow orphan might understand his sentiments.