Blazing Glory Ch. 13

"You little bastard!" the red demn growled as he struggled to rise, his hand going to his bloodied visage. He tried to focus his powers to heal himself and was surprised to find that he could not! "I do not understand how you found me or how can you hurt..." Mero's voice trailed off as he observed the human rise from where his crumpled body had laid before. How in the Abyss? This was impossible. He hit the human with enough force to crush every bone and organ within his body. The impact against the wall alone should have split his skull. Instead he was looking into the murderous eyes of the human.

"First you hurt me and now you cannot die? Just what the hell are you, boy?" Mero shouted, his confusion further inflaming his own temper.

Kendra groaned as her mind was able to regain its focus from her beating to hear Merodach's words. Boy? Why would there be a boy in a place such as this? Had one of those fists knocked her mind silly? She could feel her body gradually healing enough for her to open both her blackened eyes. She cried out in shock as she saw Richard rising to his feet. She was about to call out his name in joy when her words fell silent. Instead, the succubus looked on with the same shock as Rae from the expression on his face. It was twisted with hatred so much that she almost didn't recognize him. His eyes. They were darkly hollow, as if they only purpose they saw in life now was to kill. It was enough to make her tremble in fear. Who was this? His always smiling face, confident air and honorable mentality was not there.

As Rae watched the human rush silently towards Merodach once again, she understood what Kiora had told them. The avatar of Stavros had heard of the frightening sight of Blaze coming back to camp after Mero had taken Kendra His whole body was covered in the blood of the enemy. Rae had seen the look in his eyes then. In private with the women of Blaze's group, she had described the incident aboard Captain Red's ship during the Kraken attack. They did not know Kendra had screamed aloud since they were all under the monster's influence. This, Kiora described, had set Blaze off in such a way that she had never been more terrified in all her life. She was worried about his mental state as they went to find Kendra. This was her warning from Stavros to look after Blaze to try and prevent this. But how could she when she had felt similar rage? She doubted she could have stopped him anyhow. The look she had seen just moments ago made the anger in his eyes on the battlefield pale in comparison.

"Filthy runt! Try and live through this!" Merodach said as he leaned back, deep breath billowing out his massive chest, before throwing himself forward, mouth agape to breathe demonic flames at the oncoming human. Both Kendra and Rae screamed as Blaze did not dodge, but rushed forward to become engulfed in hellfire. Rae knees became weak as she had just witnessed the man she loved become incinerated before her very eyes.

A foot shot out of those flames to connect with the jaw of the demon. Flames scorched the ceiling as Merodach's head snapped upwards, revealing a severely burned but living Blaze. The crispy human spun about to lash out with another kick, this time hitting the demon in the throat with enough force to crush it. Hellfire was snuffed out immediately, the fire blowing back into Merodach's body. With nowhere else to go, painful fissures in the demon's body ripped open to allow the flames to escape out in a fiery explosion that engulfed them both.

Kendra could only gawk at what she was seeing. What was happening could not be real. Blaze should be dead ten times over. Even now, she saw Merodach's form appearing as the flames dissipated. Trapped within his massive arms was Richard, somehow surviving yet again.

"Enough of this. I'll squash you like the insignificant bug you are," growled a livid Merodach. Immense muscles bulged as he began to squeeze the human's body.

The creak of the human's bones beginning to give in before breaking could be heard as he struggled within this giant bear hug. Through it all, Blaze wore a madman's grin. Unable to move his body, Blaze did the only thing he could do at the moment. His head snapped forward. The crack of both skulls meeting made Kendra cringe before Blaze reared back and came back with another savage head butt. His insane smile only grew more and more with each hit, blood trickling down his face. Mero's eyes were becoming dazed as his already wounded face experienced more agonizing punishment.

"DAMN YOU!" Merodach roared, stumbling back as he grabbed Blaze and threw him to the ground. Blaze's chilling laughter filled the room as he rolled along the floor before coming up into a low crouch. Merodach could only look at the man with both surprise and disgust. This was beyond the realm of possibility that he could understand. All the while, that blackened face looked at him with deranged smile and demented laughter. If he didn't know any better, he would swear he was fighting another hell spawn demon. A blood vessel in his forehead threatened to burst as the human's mocking laughter rung in his ears. He would end this now! He lunged forward as his clawed hand swung at Blaze with the full extent of his power.

The sharp hiss of metal was the lone sound filling the demon's hearing as the human seemed to just vanish moments before the killing blow. He blinked in confusion as he then heard a heavy thud as a loss of balance overcame him. His yellow eyes looked down to see his arm lying upon the floor.

Rae looked on with the same shocked expression as Merodach as the demon turned around to see Blaze there with one sword out of its sheath. All mortals knew that no normal weapon should be able to pierce the flesh of high ranking demons. If the weapon were enchanted, they would still not be able to cause such damage with the ease she just witnessed. Those swords. They couldn't be! She watched Blaze grin maniacally while his other drawn sword struck with flashing speed to slice into the stunned Merodach.

"I'm such a fool to not have seen it," she cursed herself as Merodach's agonized howl boomed through the room and hallways beyond as his guts spilled out of the large gaping wound in his abdomen. She had never seen Blaze have to sharpen those blades. In all the fighting they had been through, there was never a chip along their edges. They always sliced through their targets where other swords would have been stopped dead. Just as Tyra had described.

"How?" Mero gasped as he dropped to his knees, staring at Blaze in disbelief. "How you doing this to me? No mere human should be able to harm a demon!"

Rae watched Blaze smirked as he crossed both weapons on each side of Merodach's neck before swiftly beheading the demon with the Natori blades.

They would never have known if not for these turn of events. While admitting that she only knew a little about Natori artifacts, Tyra had once explained that they react to the focused intent of the user. Since Kendra was not considered an enemy, the swords had not drained Kendra's strength when she was in proximity. Yet Blaze's fury towards Merodach was so intense, the blades activated and began to draw the immortal demon's strength into Blaze's body even while sheathed. That must have been how he was able to survive everything to happen.

Kendra looked on in disbelief as blood spouted out of the neck of the headless demon's body before it fell to the ground with a heavy thud. She tried to fathom what was happening when Blaze stepped forward, his blade slashing out to pierce the dead body in front of her. Her emerald eyes grew wide as she watched her lover continue to butcher the corpse with strike after strike from his swords. Why was he desecrating his defeated opponent? This wasn't the honorable code he held himself to. That wasn't her Richard. She was witnessing a side a Blaze that none of them could have ever imagined existed. Within the depths of her soul she felt she was losing him with every passing moment as his chilling laughter continued to grow louder.

"Richard! Stop it! Please!" Kendra cried out as fresh tears escaped her, wanting the kind man she loved back. His laughter stopped and he turned to look at her, as if finally becoming aware of her for the first time. She was glad her body had enough time to heal enough for him to recognize her now. The twisted ugliness in his face faded as he stumbled over to her in a trance.

"Found you," he whispered with a faint smile when he reached her before his legs gave out. Kendra gripped her chains tightly to steady herself enough to support his body. She wanted these damn restraints off her so she could hold him in her arms. She looked about in a helpless panic before seeing her friend rushing towards them.

"Rae! Please hurry!" Kendra cried out, not having to state the obvious how badly he was hurt this time. What seemed to take forever were only a few moments before the drow assassin was easing the human to the ground as her magic flooded into his body. Her red eyes looked up to Kendra with a relieved expression.

"He will be fine given a short rest once I heal these injuries up. I am glad that both of you are going to be okay after all this," the drowess spoke, rubbing her cheek. Kendra wondered if she was seeing things as she could have sworn there had been tears in the drow's eyes before that brush.

"Not as glad as I am to see the both of you," Kendra laughed for what seemed like the first time she had been able to in ages. "As much as I wish to hear about how you managed to find me, my desire is greater in trying to understand how Richard just slayed an immortal."

"You still don't get it?" Rae looked up from Blaze to Kendra with a bright smile that bewildered her. Why was the drowess this happy? "Somehow Richard managed to get his hands on the only weapons that can kill an immortal. These twin blades were forged by the Natori. You understand what that means now?"

Kendra looked from the grinning drowess down to the sharp blades lying upon the floor. It was all coming together in her mind as Rae finished healing him before setting about to help free her. The Natori were the ancient race that had been far more advanced than any other races at the time with their magical and technological abilities. Legend said their arrogance in their achievements led them to defy the will of the gods. Not only had they defied them, but developed specific tools to deal with these powerful beings.

"Yes. I know what you mean now," she said as she smiled down to her lover. "Richard has the means to end all of this... to kill a god."