Chapter 20-495: Epilogue VII – I Will Meet You There (2/2)
They were starting to close in when his raspy voice drifted to them, and the daemons paused despite themselves. They were all hunters, and his lack of fear made them wary, even if they thought it just bravado. But they were emovores, and felt nothing below his contempt for them, and it truly irked them on every level.
The amusement in his words was something different this time.
“That is its Name, after all.”
Conviction materialized, ruby Runes glittered on the barrel, and emerald light burned with the white and black-yellow upon it as he called to it from life to death, and his Named .45 Magnum Gritworks Warlock Special came to him.
Callable wasn’t limited to just the same world with a Spiritbound Warlock’s Weapon!
Assassination attempt, study your target for three rounds and catch them flat-footed. Master of Assassination/5, study up to five targets! Ruby Enchantment, add Enhancement bonus of Weapon to Assassination Save DC!
Conviction burped silently, alchemical ammunition going off here, and he almost laughed as he felt the magic of its clip surge at full strength.
When the Shroud broke, Abundant Ammunition would only restore one shot of alchemical ammunition a cycle... very slow in combat, but still a big money-saver overall. Here, in this place of death, a Weapon Enchantment that brought more death naturally worked much better!
The little Sound Bubble about the muzzle reduced the noise of the bullets to that of a buzzing insect. The daemons only saw the flash of something in his hand, and then the five strongest of them froze. They slowly collapsed in disbelief at the holes in very specific places in their anatomies, vivus and banefire finding all the happy spots to devour them.
He had studied Fiends long and hard, to fight them in life and in death, just for times like this.
Master of the Grim Hunt: add Favored Enemy bonus to Assassination Save DC!
There was a silent hiss as Responsibility materialized in his off hand, and the same fires bloomed around it, promising death by the Dagger of a Warlock who was also a Master Assassin.
Gloomfire burst up from the ground, scattered the vivus, and went to work on the daemons before those around could leap upon their superiors and devour them, and so steal the fruits of his work for themselves.
The smart ones wanted the others to charge him while they evaded fire, so they ducked for cover, sending a rain of spells at him, but he was already moving, and the Dagger in his hand was glowing wide with hard emerald light about it, ready to reap some more. Conviction flashed from Ruby to Courageous, and his +5 Morale Bonus to kill Fiends rose to +9 as the Healing Edge effect swirled over his injuries and began to heal him rapidly.
He was a Penitent Warlock of Heavenbound Hall, and he hadn’t taken the step to follow the Lady to fight the Shroud because he had believed his path took him home, to make up for the things he’d done, and to protect his people the way he knew how.
His Weapons had been fed the deaths of undead, Cultivators, Fiends, and in the end fellow humans who acted no better than any of those monsters. His Weapons were monsters, too, when in his hand, and no other. Their only use was killing, and so they killed...
His clip refilled faster than he could empty it, and he smiled and smiled as he pulled the trigger... with great conviction!
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Okay, this was finally it, except...
He laughed again, low and rasping. The numbers of daemons in all directions were too high, he’d pissed off the more powerful ones... but that just gave him tons of targets. They realized invisibility and hiding in the shadows wasn’t helping them when he casually began to pick off the sneaky ones with headshots, until finally they couldn’t take it anymore and started converging regardless of how he killed them.
Some saw the Mark light up on his chest, among the many injuries bleeding clear green spiritual blood, but they didn’t know what it meant.
They found out when the hooves landed on either side of him, and monstrous wings came down like great living razor blades. The pinions whipped out in a circle, slashing and tearing in the same motion, and the glorious Pure Wrath of Heaven, Storm, Fire, and Earth raged out to blow the daemons apart even as they were hurled back and away.
A serpentine tail came down, plucked him up, and lifted him up behind their head. He flipped Responsibility into its wrist-sheath and grabbed onto one arcing horn burning with fire and lightning calmly.
Burning words wafted through the air in front of him, and he smiled grimly despite himself as he read them.
I told you I would see you here.
“You do indeed keep your word, Master Fred!” Paco chuckled, and then whooped despite himself as they suddenly launched skywards, massive wings snapping out and beating to send them screaming towards the shadows that were the sky with great speed.
-This is a trap for us,- the /voices of Legion pulsed through his Mark as contact was re-established, severed by death and now returned at the tiniest prick of the lethal tip of her tail. He looked up, and could see the sky seemed to be roiling, congealing... and he belatedly realized it looked like massive clawed hands closing together to block off the sky, trying to snare them here.
Fire roared behind them, the dead and listless wind howled about them, and the Light of Heaven lifted them up on the Wings of Angels, celestial power flaring Runes of Glory in dark draconic wings as they shot towards the center of the sky like a launched rocket, the display of Light and power drawing hateful stares of envy and jealousy for endless miles in all directions.
He laughed as the great claws of power closed in, and he knew it would be close... but not close enough, as Legion drew Idiot and swept it through the air in front of them, shearing through some phantasmal force that was trying to impede them. Gloom split open to a lighter, clearer space beyond, and they were gone into the Astral realm beyond as the trap slammed the Rift closed behind them.
Paco rode on the back of a titanic dark angel towards whatever his new fate and afterlife would be, Conviction and Responsibility riding with him. He listened to the echoes of something very powerful and angry ringing through the void behind them as it was thwarted...
Perhaps especially in the afterlife, there were those who would need the services of a killer who had found things he believed in...