Standard Mission: Terror from the Skies

Nihility|Shoggoth


"If we can't run or hide and the General's army may be overwhelming then why even consider fighting. We are Vanguards, we are taught to fight and protect but you are Merchants, what would you have done if we weren't here? Why not consider using your talents as businessmen and think of talking your way out as professional salesmen?"

Nihility walked out from the back of the tent towards the table to stand behind Fane's imp. "This one informed me that the Imp General has a special trait that works for him in large battles. Apparently he grows stronger the more pain he causes physically or psychologically, directly or indirectly from what I understood. Which I believe is that if we engage his army, the more imps we harm, we would just be feeding him with more energy. To take on someone like that, either we attack and hope to subdue him right off the bat before he can grow stronger, or we avoid battle and find a non-hostile alternative like a compromise or diplomatic outcome or something, after all, Icarus did mention that the leader of the imps has some beneficial information, so if we gain his trust we could get that information without needing to beat it out of him."


The female Vanguard eyed the vial with the White Powder inside that Aesop had placed on the table. "If it does fall to combat, then I suggest we let the White Winged Angel and the Imp General go at each other's throats all they want. But before that, the Merchant leaders should be allowed the chance to speak it out with the Imp General without outside inconveniences such as the hot headed Angel. If these two are polar opposites, then I feel like the moment they spot each other we will get in the crossfire before we get a chance to talk our way out. The leader of the imps will automatically associate us as being allied with the angels and all our bargaining chips if any would just fall off the table. For that reason alone, I suggest this Angel who claims he wants to help us should rather stay behind and detach himself from the caravan group."


Nihility looked at the people around the table and nodded her head. "If talks fails, and we are thrown into combat, only then should the Angel swoop in as an outside party not affiliated with us and head straight for the General." Nihility then softly placed her hand onto the Imp's head. "And as one final trick to stop the general from gaining the upper-hand, I would suggest that this imp here who knows his fellow brethren; he should work on using their personalities into our favour."


Nihility cleared her throat from talking so much and continued. "The imps are playful tricksters first and foremost than combatants. They like to play tricks and pranks on each other as well as other demons and humans. At the same time they like to make money so that they can purchase stuff when not stealing or gather and use it for any personal reasons. I suggest that we work to exploit this by sending this young talented Entrepreneuring imp here to convince the army of imps on not engaging in an eventually doomed and loosing battle but instead of that, start betting on the victor of the grand battle against the One Winged Angel Icarus and the Imp General."


The trickster Vanguard patted the Imp's head and encouraged him. "We can trust you to do that right? You despise the Imp General as well. He has brought nothing but pain and harm to your brothers and sisters. So if there is any opportunity to subdue him, you are going to take it right? It's not like you have to dirty your hands or even your imp brethren's. All you have to do is save your kin from forcefully attacking us and receive endless pain as we will be forced to defend ourselves. But if they don't fight, they don't get hurt and if they don't feel pain, the imp general doesn't get to feed on that and get stronger. If the General is weaker in that sense then the Angel can take him on at equal footing or even higher. We walk away without a fight, the imps are not harmed, and they make a lot of coin depending on whom they bet would win in the fight against the angel and the weaker general without his imp army supporting him. If there was any time to start a coup, a mutiny, it would be now. It is time you took your freedom and removed yourselves from under the grasp of this tyrant."


Nihility gave the imp and encouraging smile, "We believe in you, Imp, you can surely do it and with your own power free your friends and family. You will be their Hero, their saviour."


Looking back at Aesop with seriousness, Nihility nodded her head towards the vials, "Like I said, if all else fails, You and Allison can work on using your personal spells to create more of those White and Black Powdered Vials, and we could use them as last resorts in self-defence, intimidation tactics or even assassination attempts on either victor as the situation demands; that is if we didn't already take the opportunity and made our escape before the battle between the two demons ensue and or if the already injured victor who may pursue us attempts on being hostile."


~~~~
~~~~~~~

Amira

Talking to Icarus

Amira merely watched as the Angel seemed to be having a conflicting mental breakdown. A gift he says, that was actually pissing Amira off. She volunteered to help him and presented her conditions like in any normal negotiation. And instead of him give a counter-proposal, he acts like he's doing a favor. The comtemplation of shuving her sword right through his head was particularly tempting. But she didn't let that come out, her anger and annoyance were all in her head as she merely observed the angel leave.

Planning Phase (Everyone)

To be honest, this was likely Amira weastest point. She could listen to people's ideas, but voicing her own? No, no, that was to much, she was sure that everybody else would have a better idea than whatever she could come up with.

What did surprise her was the level of seriousness that everybody was taking the situation. Almost as if the world could end if they failed, worse yet, that their chances of failure was incredibly large. She couldn't understand that, just move the caravan and kill the imps as they come close, better yet, kill them before they can do anything. Let their morale drop and their cowardice reveal itself. They aren't warriors, they are trickers, meaning that the concept of dieing is not well establiched in the their heads.

And their leader... What does it matter if it goes stronger? In the end of the day, anyone will die if they lose their head regardless of how strong they are... Perhaps Amira was the one who didn't understand the severity of the situation... Yes, that should be the issue, there's no way that her whole team could be overeacting. It must be that she's too passive over the situation.

So Amira walked to the merchants and asked them a question. "You mentioned that the vials have spells inside them, correct? Then, is there a vial with a spell that causes confusion or insanity?"

Planning Phase

“The caravan can’t outrun the imps, and eventually we’ll reach the outskirts of the city and won’t have any cover to hide in.” Aseop stated begrudgingly, as he took out a red pen and pressed it against the map marked a small red ‘x’ on their current position and began drawing a line throughout the city until it trailed off the map.

“That’s our current position. The line represents the fastest route to the main trade route” Aesop tapped the red X again, as he continued to say “However, the trade route will most likely be swarmed by those imps…. And traversing the area off the route is risky since it isn't monitored as well for demon activity. So, we would just hope they don’t check our path since being caught out in the open could end it there.”

The three merchants looked at Nihility as she gave a long, proposed, and surprisingly detailed plan with Fane’s face in particular filling with a look of shock and pride. Fane quickly picked up the imp who slowly stopped shaking the vial when his name was mentioned, as he let out a shocked squeak when he was grabbed, glancing back at Fane who gave the imp a comforting and warm smile to calm him down.

“You want me to talk to the imps commanded by Dantes?” The imp stated in complete shock, as he began flying slightly above Fane with his eyes wide open with mumbles and whispers coming from the other imps above the caravan.

“This lady is crazy!” one of the imps exclaimed as he flew in and began trying to drag the other imp out of the caravan but he was firmly latched onto Fane and resisted the pull with fane squinting in pain from the claws of the imp that were now digging into her.

“NO!” The imp yelled, as he repeated the same phrase repeatedly until Allison pushed the imp out of the tent and scared it off. As she gripped her forehead and shook it for a few moments, before glancing up at Fane and the imp who now covered itself with its large wings so that it appeared like a cocoon.

Allison grabbed the Vial off the imp that it left unprotected during the chaos with the imp quickly un-cocooning itself and latching onto the vial, as Allison swung it around and placed it on the table for Amira to see.

“This would do the trick. We have a lot of these, helps subdue attacking demons quite well for Chaleda colonies.” Allison said quickly, as she released her hand from the vial as the imp brought it back into the protection of its wings.

“Nihility, Look. Imps are more.. Chaotic and demons that are more chaotic value strength over words… they’ll most likely just attack us. So, if what the imp your saying is true about his power, I think our best chance is to assassinate him before he realizes what’s going on…” Allison said with a sigh, as she turned her eyes towards Vayu, and continued to say with a flick of her risk, “And, we don’t know if Dantes is part of something ‘larger’, seeing Icarus at all might stir the pot more. But, I heard I should leave the choices up to your guys anyways.”

Fane glanced between Vayu and Allison with a concerned look as the one imp flew back to her shoulder and whispered a few words in her ear that made her face even more concerned, almost like a brawl was about to break out.

“But uhhh, couldn’t this Dantes just hurt the imps himself to power himself up? After all, Nillus here said they were really afraid of him? We don't know what demon he is either, or his spells.” Fane stated with concern, as she scratched and cheek and frantically glanced between the group.

“Pardon my intrusion” Icarus uttered with an overly kind smile, as he poked his head in from outside the caravan, as Vayu’s Zhen flew in at the same time and landed next to him whispering a few words into his ears.

“Let me translate for the other vanguards… some imps glowing with a strange red color have been spotted… it’ll be a bit before they get here but you should come up with a decision soon.” The angel stated his smile growing bigger as he turned his head towards Nihility for a few moments staring at her, before pulling his head back outside of the caravan. A loud gust of wind could be heard from Icarus as he supposedly took off, and then silence…

“So, we need to agree on something now. Pick someone’s plan… unless any of you have quick last minute suggestions.” Aesop quickly chimed in, as he waited for everyone to decide.

Nihility|Shoggoth

Nihility couldn't help but scowl as Icarus intruded into their meeting, it felt like he had been eavesdropping on their discussions. She finally shrugged and stepped back. It seemed like all her flattery and boosting the Imp's ego had also been washed away by the other Imp and everything that followed.

"I have spoken my mind, it is now up to all of you on how to proceed forward."  

Nudging her head towards the other Vanguard, Nihility agreed with her Though her plan of causing confusion and mayhem to take over the minds of the imp army does sound appealing to me. Anything to intercept their attack or immobilize the forces is okay by me."


Looking back at the entrance, Nihility let out a sigh and shook her head, "Yeah, I still don't trust that being. Somehow I get a feeling of nefariousness every time he opens his mouth or just by his body language alone."

~~~~
~~~~~~~

Slane Ruins
- Vayu -

“We don’t even know how strong the opposing forces are,” Vayu said to Cleo. “That makes it very hard to calculate what losses we might suffer.”

His eyes moved over to Aesop, when he explained his technique of making spells into dust in more detail. There was certainly potential there, but they were a bit short on time to touch on it lengthily.

The subject of creating a sort of bait as a diversion came up again when Scarlet chimed in. Vayu nodded in agreement. Staying here in one place out in the open was the most dangerous and foolish thing they could do. They needed to keep moving.

Suddenly Nihility chimed in with a detailed plan. Vayu tilted his head. It was a good idea, cut short by the Imps refusal to aid in their plan, the refusal mainly coming from fear of this Dantes creature if he understood correctly.

Vayu stepped up to the map and studied the path Aesop had drawn. First and foremost, he wanted to get moving again.

There was a noise outside and without warning Icarus swept in, followed by Vayu’s Zhen, informing them that strange Imps had been spotted. Vayu petted the Zhen on the neck while it leaned into the touch.

“I agree with Scarlet, the main goal is to keep the caravan train moving on its way to Chaldea. So here's an idea...,” Vayu finally said when Icarus had left. “We can’t take the Imps and this Dantes creature on the entire way to Chaldea. So a bait or a diversion is a good idea to separate them from the caravan train.”

He turned to Allison. “All the fake vials you have, put them in the back of the last caravan and pack them loosely. I want them to scatter all over the place.”

“We can’t hide from them, not the entire way,” Vayu stated. He was certain of that. "When they attack, we’ll use Cleo's idea and use one of your explosion vials to create a diversion so the caravan train can escape with a head start. Meanwhile all the fake vials will scatter about, hopefully causing the Imps to focus on them as easy loot.”

“By having a few Vanguards stay behind to re-claim the vials it will make them seem important and sell the bait,” Vayu gestured with his hands, indicating that there focus clearly wouldn’t be on the vials.

“I'm thinking Nihility and Amira would be especially effective for that? Though at least one of us should stay with the caravan train to ensure constant communication." he suggested.

"The diversion plus bait will be our chance to take out as many Imps as possible, to cause mayhem as Nihility put it, and drop their morale.”

His eyes travelled to the map again. He took the marker and drew a slightly different route out of the abandoned city that would leave them to exit far more south. Pointing at it, he said “Take the route out of the city and press onto the main trade route.”

“If this plan works and we can stall the Imps here and take most of them out, we should have a clear shot to Chaldea.”

“Suggestions?” he asked, looking around at everyone present.

He still hadn’t addressed the problem with Dantes as well as Icarus. He was hesitant to include the angel in their plans as he wasn’t sure how far to trust him or what kind of action he would take. However, like Nihility, he was sure that Icarus and Dantes might just be at each other’s throat.

If not…well he didn’t really want to think about that.

- Cleo -

Cleo considered the proposals on the table. Vayu was correct in that they had no clue what the true potential of their enemy was, but he also had concerns about the group's new winged "ally". One of those concerns was easier to voice than the others though.

"While having the imps distract themselves would be ideal," he nodded to Nihility, "I can't imagine that Icarus will honor any sort of deal with them. As soon as their leader is eliminated, he'll want to cleanse them." Cleo injected a heavy amount of derision into his tone. "I, for one, prefer to be a man of my word. So, I won't strike up a deal we can't uphold our end of."

"Vayu's plan seems sound. My only concern with it is how easily distracted the imps will be when there's a bigger force pushing them forward. Will their greed win out over the pressure exerted by their leader, or are we not giving this Dantes creature enough credit?" To be honest, it was difficult to know without having seen the demon in action.

"In any case, we can't afford to stand around and debate much longer. We're losing precious time with this exchange. So, I say we go for it, and if we need to modify the plan later, we cross that bridge when we get there."

Scarlet

Scarlet nodded along with Vayu's plan - it did align with their goals, and it made sense to distract pursuers.

"That plan sounds good, Vayu. I can handle convoy defence if you want, my bow will let me defend the convoy quite well, I think," she responded, bringing her bow up to draw attention to it.

"Although... the Vanguards that go back for the vials should be able to move quickly I guess... so I could have Warg carry two of us, maybe that would be a better idea?"

Amira

Amira eyed the vial passed to her. She wanted something more potent, something that could drive the imps to go insane and attack each other. But this would do for the time being, she saved the vial in her pocket.

Amira wanted to object at Vayu's suggestion of her being bait. She wasn't good against numbers, she was good against single targets... Yet, Amira remained silent, no one else objected and so she would not be the one to object.

Slane Ruins

The room was silent for a long moment, as both Allison and Aesop had a scowl that had a mixture of fear and anger on their faces. Allison seemed like she was about to pop a blood vessel, while Aesop just seemed to be more scared. The two glanced at each other, and Aesop gave Allison a quick nod as he reached out and began to roll up the map in his hand.

"Okay..." Allison stated with a winded and pissed sigh, as he pulled out one of the explosion vials out of her pocket and placed its top on the other empty vial on the table. The dust began seep into the empty vial, as it slowly began to fall into the other vial with Allison staring at it intently watching each speck of dust drop into it.

"There!" She said, as she pulled the original vial off and resealed. A light erupted from her hands, as a duplicate vial appeared out of midair, now one vial carefully clutched in both her hands.

"I'll begin moving the vials from the last cart into the others and start duplicating, it'll be rather packed though.... So we won't have much space to sit around." Allison muttered, as she jumped out of her seat and out the back of the caravan began walking off to the back of the train. Her voice erupting into a overly commanding yell to the co-workers, like she had been bottling it up for a while.

"I'll hand this course to the head driver, since we're going off course though it might be helpful for someone to scout ahead.... don't want to run into hostile rouge demons. The rest of you should prepare" Aesop stated with concern, as he gave a light nod to the vanguards before beginning to say, "Good luck. I respect what you vanguards do, and so does my wife even if she acts rather harsh she only cares for the business.".

Fane who was still sitting in the caravan began to walk over to Amira with a concerned look on her face, as she sat down next to the vanguard and gave her a big smile.

"Hey! You were pretty quiet... Do you have an idea? Maybe I can help you with it? I know my mom's stash pretty well." Fane said to the vanguard with a more playful but sinister look in her eyes now, as she continued to say, "Got to build some connections if I want to become a vanguard right?"

Knock! Knock!

"OUT! OUT!" Allison yelled, as she and a bunch of other works began carrying in bag after bag of vials, as they transferred them into the now storage room.

Caravan Train
- Vayu -

He was quite aware of the long pause between Aesop and Allison that followed his words, however, he simply didn’t care. It didn’t appear that they had any better idea.

Finally, with their agreement, everyone started moving.

Vayu stepped outside. He looked a little nervous and found himself wishing someone with a more analytical mind was here. Bastion came to mind. Or even Zephyr. Taking a deep breath, he focused back at the present situation.

“I think instead of having Warg carry Vanguards back and forth, maybe you can have him scout ahead of the convoy?” Vayu suggested to Scarlet. “Like Aesop said, I don’t want you to run into those powered up Imps without any warning. If an encounter is unavoidable, hopefully we have time to return back to the convoy in time.”

He looked around. Preparations and orders from Allison were hurriedly followed and it looked like they were ready to start moving again soon.

“Stay with the back of the convoy,” Vayu instructed his Zhen demon. It pouted, clearly bored with scouting duty. Vayu glared at it and with a disdainful snort it took flight, keeping a low circle above the last caravan.

Scarlet - Caravan Train

Scarlet remained silent as the group continued discussing their course of action. Eventually, they settled on a plan, with Allison moving to set up the decoy.

“I think instead of having Warg carry Vanguards back and forth, maybe you can have him scout ahead of the convoy?”

"Huh?" Too focused on what Allison is doing, she is surprised at Vayu addressing her. "Oh, yeah, I can do that. I think I should go with him then, so I can report back to the rest of you through the Gauntlet."

She recalled Nekomata, the demon giving a wave as she disappeared. Channeling Maga through her Gauntlet again, the form of Warg appeaed next to the convoy. Scarlet swiftly mounted Warg and the pair moved to the front of the convoy, approaching the head driver to get the new route. Once updated on the route, they took up position in front of the lead carriage.

Amira

Amira eyed Fane with curiosity, connections? I see a favor for a favor... "I don't really have a plan if that's what you're asking. We're a moving caravan that has little options. We don't have the privilege to adapt like our enemies... But does that really matter? What are wasps to a rhino? Nothing. Just move forward and kill every single one that comes close, they'll learn to fear death once enough of them drop dead... But there is a leader among them and that seems to be what had everybody worried."

Amira takes out the vial that was given to her "This vial subdues demons, but that's not what I wanted exactly. I was hoping something more brutal. Something that induced terror or confusion, ideally madness. That way we could turn them on to each other. Let them decimate their own ranks."

Amira blinks and waves her hands in retreat "I'm sorry for the rant... If you were expecting a genius, I bring none..."

Nihility|Shoggoth

Nihility remembered a saying, "There is strength in numbers." It was true that the imps moved in packs but so did the vanguards and there was a title reserved for the upper echelons, "One-Man-Army."

Looking around at the people in the decoy group, all the vanguards and their personal demons, she didn't feel that aura that those of the higher ranked vanguards bore. That didn't mean that each of them weren't skilled in their own field of speciality, but having an extra-strong firepower is always a plus when dealing with deadly characters like this Imp General they were told about. Someone who gets stronger depending on the pain accrued on the participants in the battle. In a sense, the strength in number would be working against them this time.


"As Fane's imp mentioned, this Dantès person, the Imp General, gets stronger the more damage his imps receive. Now, that we have decided on battling this demon, I would suggest that if it comes down to it, we avoid hurting the imps if possible. My demon partner has a binding skill that can currently trap any two creatures at a time. I can temporarily learn the skill from it and use it as well. Depending on how the situation unfolds, the two of us can temporarily capture 4 imps at a time. We don't know how many this Dantès will be bringing along but taking away the imps from him without harming them could stop him from getting stronger and thus be vulnerable to attacks from all the other vanguards and demons that are pure physical fighters."

Nihility shrugged and wrapped up her two cents. "But that is just one scenario we could take. Eventually it is up to all of you on how you would feel is the best way to tackle this battle as you all know what your abilities are and how best to utilize them as the situation unfolds."



Shoggoth crept up behind Nihility and raised her arms, opening up a dimensional portal in front of her partner that sprouted out tentacles that grabbed onto the Vanguard, coiling around her waist and under her arms.

"Oh, you mean these pretty little fellows?" The purple demon snickered as she gleefully watched the octopus like appendages tightening around the young maiden's legs.



With her wrists still free, Nihility twisted them around and clenched her fists tight. Suddenly the all those tentacles and the dark portal disintegrated into reddish energy that flowed inside the spell-caster's body.

"Really, Shoggoth, sometimes you just-" Nihility's frown relaxed as her demon partner cut her off with a stern tone, "Just what!? Hmm." Shoggoth gave her a wild stare, her multitude of eyes all focused at the young woman.


Nihility shook her head and turned away slightly defeated, "Nothing. You are right. That is the spell I was referring to." Turning back to face the other vanguards, Nihility eyes looked blank and empty. "As I was saying, Shoggoth and I could ensnare four imps straight away as needed and then all of you do what you think is best."


Grabbing an abandoned ragged cloak from the slowly moving decoy caravan, Nihility threw it around her body and covered up her Vanguard Gauntlet and attempted to blend in as one of the caravan workers.

Shoggoth positioned herself at the other side of the caravan and kept up with its pace, all her eyes scanning their surroundings but one, one eye was constantly fixed on her Summoner.

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- Cleo -

As the others proceeded with their parts of the plan, Cleo shifted his attention to Nihility. Her demon was all kinds of creepy, but the woman seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. She described a way that she could slow down the imps, and although Cleo shuddered at the thought of what the poor creatures were in for, it was no less than they deserved.

"I'll stay near the caravan itself." He spoke up, gesturing to the wagons around them. Much as he hated to let the others go out while he stayed behind, this was where he would be the most useful. "My magic can significantly slow enemy progress, but only while I'm amidst them. So, I'll make a good last line of defense."

"Unfortunately, I can't entirely pacify the imps without killing them, but I can try to drag out the process to buy us some time if necessary." He thought back to the imps that had fled in fear after him killing one of their number. Would the same apply with their leader nearby, or would they behave differently?

Slane Ruins

"Of course, I'll see what I can find.  My mother specializes in making aliment potions that are too difficult to duplicate so she might have something in her stash that she doesn't want to give up." Fane stated in awe of Amira's genuis as her eyes filled up with admiration that only grew when Amira stated she wasn't a genius, "No need to be humble!  I can't wait to see how the rhino handles the wasps!."

Fane balled her hand into a fist out of excitement her body shaking a bit, as she turned around and began quickly but recklessly climbing up the caravan almost losing her hold on a new spots before she pulled herself to the top and began walking across the tops of the caravans, towards the front of the train.

"Good to see her spirits are still high."  Allison stated with a sigh and a slight smile, as appeared from inside the caravan the group was just in.

She nodded to the rest of the group, "Alright, all packed up.  The plan should be ready to go just give the word when the fight breaks out."

Allison silently listened to the rest of the group's strategy discussion, as she studied each of the vanguards intently nodding in agreement at their various opinions before her face shifting to a more intense expression and holding her hand up to Cleo to indicate for him to stop talking.

"As I recall that imp said how much 'pain' was inflicted, so if you can manage a quick painless death then it might not empower the leader as much." Allison stated, as she uncomfortably looked at the tentacles now wrapped around Nihility like something was about to happen.

"Right.... I'll leave you to it.  I'll cover the east side of the train, and I'll assign some workers to each of your positions to help you out." Allison began to state, as Icarus landed next to her with a overly proud smile and said with a eager tone, "And I'll have the Toufei get into position to help each of you, I'll keep an eye on the main trade route.  The general will most likely check there first."

Icarus began to fly off in a hazardous manner with his one wing, before a toufei latched onto his other shoulder and helped him out before he flew off in the distance.

---


The journey was unnaturally silent, as no demons had been spotted anywhere not even the imps that were approaching from earlier were seen. Scarlet's Warg spotted some remains like demons had been there recently but it was empty as far as they could see.  The also clouds began to darken into an ominous grey color as slight rumbles could be heard in the distance.

Eventually, Scarlet spotted a horde of imps all with the same demonic mark on their chests flying into the clouds in the distance far away from the caravan a few were carrying what appeared to be an empty suite of armor.

"Hey!  I see one of those larger imps, looks like it's trailing us for a while and has a weird glowing demonic symbol on its chest."  A caravan worker who was holding binoculars yelled out, as Allison turned her head in that direction, as she shouted out so that everyone could hear "What the hell?  Are there other ones?"

"No?  It's just the one, though it appears to be saying something, not sure to what." The man called out again, as the various toufei eyed each other with a look of confusion with a few of them beginning to fly off towards the imp their feathers puffed out like they were prepared to fight.

Amira felt a light tap on her shoulder, as Fane handed her a strange pink liquid from over her should as the girl gave her a wink, "It's not was you 'exactly' wanted, my mom calls it a suggestion potion.  You just need to give a command and then whoever is afflicted will follow it if they're weak enough... so it could cause the mass hysteria."

Vayu's Zhen who had been circling the last caravan spotted out the corner of its eyes a shadow that appeared to be appearing on the ground where the slight bits of light where from the openings in the gray clouds above them for a split second.

Slane Ruins - Dante's Attack

Suddenly a large horde of imps suddenly poured out from the clouds, all having the same red mark on each of their chests.  At a glance, There appeared to be 3 fatter imps each holding a large sack that commanded a platoon of 10 smaller imps each.  There were also a few heavily burned imps, their wings a sickening charred black, and they were carrying the heavy hunk of armor that had a dark red insignia on its shield that matched the mark on the imps chest.

Spoiler:

"Bonding Flame!" The armor called out, as it attached a flame like tendril emerged from his mace and attached to one of the imps carrying him.  The armor began to glow a sinister red, as it used the flame tendril to swing down and forcefully slammed his mace straight into the side of the caravan.  A low crackling sound of the wood splintering could be heard, as the caravan was tossed in the air launched the horses with it, as it was tossed onto its side.  The imp who the whip was attached to slammed into the ground gruesomely screaming and shaking as flames consumed it.

A loud explosion went off, as all the vials inside began to toss in all directions with the armored knight raising his hand, as the various imps began swooping down to try and pick up the various vials.  A few of the imps glanced at the Zhen for a few seconds before the mark on their chest began to light up, as a look of terror appeared on their face and then quickly continued to fly down towards the vials.

"Bonding flame" the armor called out again, as he conjured another tendril as it latched onto the next wagon causing the wagon to suddenly grind to a halt, as the fire from the tendril began to spread onto it.

"Hand over the rest of your cargo! Unless you want to be charred to a crisp..." The armor roared with flames beginning to consume it like some savage hell beast.  The horses at the front of the wagon desperately pulled against this new force, but the wagon wasn't budging an inch.

"What the hell?  Quick someone get rid of that thing!  I don't want to lose another wagon" Allison commanded, as the merchants workers began frantically jumping in the caravans and rummaging through the various vials in a desperate attempt to find one that could counter the fire spell. The rest of a train coming to a halt from the panic that ensued.

Scarlet - Ahead of the Convoy

The convoy set out, with Scarlet riding Warg up ahead. She gripped her bow nervously - things seemed too quiet...

Movement in the distance caught Scarlet's attention. She couldn't quite make out what it was, but it looked like it was composed of a number of individual things. "I've spotted something flying-" she began to report, but cut off as the shadows began diving... towards the direction of the caravan! Her eyes widened.

"Warg! Get us back there!" she shouted, cursing herself for not noticing the demons earlier. She had let down her comrades, she had to make up for it. She scanned the area around her as she hurried back, alert for any other surprises.

Amira

Amira smiled as Fane lighten up. What was this? What was happening? She couldn't hide her smile, Fane undeserved praise and false hopes only made Amira ashamed that she can't stand to them.

USELESS, WORTHLESS, INCO--

Amira's smile vanished as she looked above her, Haita's form looking down on her.

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It started. Amira stood on top of one of the caravans. The imps descended from the clouds. I see, again Amira understood her own stupidity. She had assumed that the leader would be a larger imp.

But that was not the case.

One among them was not like the rest. With a single strike he destroyed the back caravan... Could she even win against that? An armored enemy is difficult enough, but the fact that he's on the ground was proving even worse.

Then it came, another trendil towards the Caravan she was waiting at. However, instead of destroying it, he grabbed onto it.

Like a drop of water onto a lake, Amira's mind accelerated as she perceived an opening. She could have Haita remove the tendril. But then, how would she reach her target?

"Aceleration"

Amira pronounces as she begins her dash. Without hesitation and without halting, she sprinted towards the tendril and above. Like putting out a match with one's finger. As her foot landed on the tendril, the air beneath pushed the fire away and before the fire could reshape itself around her foot, the foot was gone already taking another step.

Her sword in hand, Amira rushed through the tendril towards the armored demon. But her target was not the armored demon. No, her sword had only one target, the wings of the fat demons carrying him in the air.

Nihility|Shoggoth

When one of the scouts watching from on top of one of the caravan shouted out that he had spotted a large imp which was visibly branded, Nihility became alert and started scanning the direction where a few Toufei headed off into.

"Best get ready for anything." Nihility suggested to everyone around her.


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Within mere seconds the place was lit with fire. Caravans and Imps alike were burning. The decoy caravan near the vanguard group had toppled over and some vials exploded, adding more fuel to the Spirit Armour's flaming tendril attacks. The enemy had moved on towards the rest of the caravan train where some real vials were hidden among other mining equipment.

They had to redirect the enemy's focus back onto the fool's loot crates.


Waving her arms to attract the Armour hovering above with the help of his slave imps, Nihility shouted out,

"Oh mighty warrior! We have witnessed your Hellish strength. Please, I implore you to cease your attacks. We now know that it is useless to face some overwhelming force."

Nihility cupped a few unbroken vials and made an act of offering to the being in the sky. "Please, take these vials as offerings. This caravan here alone holds our pride and joy." The Vanguard waved her arms over the toppled caravan that had all the fake vials. "We had sorted and categorized all our items from low to the top tier vials in here. You can have them all, I beg you to just leave us be. There is no more need for battle, it is your victory and the spoils all go to you."

Nihility tossed the vials in her hand over to the closest imp and stepped back. "We only want to return to our city alive with our people and the rest of the caravans carrying food, clothes, utensils and nothing that is of any use to you or even close to the value that those precious vials hold."



Shoggoth received a mental command from Nihility and quickly moved towards the other burning caravans. First brisk walking towards it and then taking a running leap. While airborne, her legs melted into each-other and then the purple ooze spread out to reshape into her hideous body. Landing onto and engulfing the caravan, the gluttonous demon converted the consumed fire into energy to heal itself in the process too.

"What are you gapping away for!! Get moving towards the city!!" Shoggoth barked at the caravans ahead that had stopped in their tracks to look at the commotion behind while using her strength and mass to push the fallen caravans up onto their wheels, but also managing to tip some pots and pans and some rugs out onto the ground.



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Nihility waved her hand towards the other caravans, "As you can see, there isn't anything of merit, we had kept our most important items separate for sake of convenience, so once again you can enjoy these crates filling with splendid loot that you clearly earned, and we will be on our way with our tails in between our legs."


Nihility further backed away from their decoy caravan that the imps were looting, hoping that the Imp Leader would take the bait and let them go before anything happens that would sway his mind away from just focussing on the vials and letting the caravan people leave with the rest of the stuff. If it does fall to mayhem, she was prepared to let her frustration out and slaughter all the imps.

Slane Ruins
- Vayu -

Vayu had been sitting on top of the last caravan when suddenly the Imp army and the heavy armor emerged from the clouds.

He jumped off just before the caravan was hit and thrown to the side. Chaos ensued as the armor attacked the next caravan, rooting it in place with its fire whip and the Imps began to frantically collect the spilled vials.

Amira immediately rushed in to attack. Vayu shook his head. Too reckless. Nihility also took action, though in a very different manner. They were like two opposite ends of a spectrum.

Whatever they did, it was sure to bind the attention of the Imp leader for the moment, so Vayu focused his attentions on the rest of the caravan train.

“Get the rest of the caravans out of here!” he echoed Shoggoth’s words. “I don’t want anyone caught in the crossfire.”

He waved to the front of the caravan train, signaling for them to get moving again.

“Zhen,” he called out and the demon swooped to his side. “Use Cyclone Bomb on the flames to extinguish them.”

Waiting for Amira to be out of range, the Zhen encased itself in wind and dove towards the burning caravan to put out the flames.

- Cleo -

As imps flooded through the clouds, Cleo drew his katana. He'd placed himself on top of a wagon near the caravan's center, and he now leapt from one to the next, making his way towards the commotion at the rear. Beside him, Nekomata bounded ahead, using her nimble frame to outpace him.

"Don't kill the imps if you can help it, Kitten. We don't want to make the leader any stronger." Cleo called after her, but the only response was a swish of her tail as she put more distance between them.

Nekomata arrived on the scene as Amira lept into action. Unable to do much to help with that, she landed amidst the scattered vials and flicked flames at any imps brave enough to dart into her range.

One particularly fast one slipped past the fire, and she swatted it aside, raking her claws over it's back in the process. "Stun Claw." The imp came to rest in the dirt with a thud, twitching and unable to move. "Any more of you want to try your luck?" She taunted, tossing out more flames at the imps.

Another group of imps dove towards the vials. "Subjugate." Three of them suddenly fell from the air, as if pushed down by some invisible force, toppling into their companions and sending all of them crashing to the ground in a heap. Cleo dropped to the ground beside Nekomata, frowning at the situation. "We'll handle defense. The rest of you do something about that demon."

Slane Ruins

Dantes' glanced at Nihility for a moment its demonic red eyes piercing into her that would any of the imps shiver.  Its expressionless helmet made it hard to read, but it appeared to be somewhat curious.  The two imps holding the armor glanced at each other for a split second with a large ecstatic smile on their faces in response to the vanguard's offer.

down below, the one imp screeched out as it was hit by Neko's stun claw, as the other imps affected by Cleo's subject slammed into the ground stunned.  The mark on their chests began to turn a bright red color as a small fire began to rupture off the marks searing against the imps, as Dantes' armor began to glow a sinister red in response to the pain inflicted by the mark.

When Amira began moving the armor suddenly shifted its dark red eyes towards her, his metal body jumping at bit from the large imps that were startled by the sudden blur closing in on them. The armor lifted his his shield quickly held it in front of the imp Amira was going to attack and swung it towards her blade.  The shield and the blade collided, as it easily barreled through the blade and into Amira's chest as she felt a painful burning sensation and was sent plunging towards the ground.

"Impressive! If your friends didn't give me power, you might of gotten that imp!"  the armor casually stated laughing to himself, as he pointed to Amira's chest as there was now a mark on her that resembled the other imps burnt through her clothes, "How about you stay still for now dear?  Unless you want to char yourself to a crisp."

Dantes tapped his own chest piece a few times then turned his back to Amira, while Vayu's Zhen flew next to the wagon quickly extinguishing the spreading fire, but it wasn't enough to push the fire tendril off.  The fire was about to spread again, when the armor quickly pulled itself on the wagon and dislodged the tendril itself with the tendril slipping back into his armor like some sort of snake.

"Then give me your food.  Imps are hard to feed, and I know this is a shipment to Chaldea, it's why I targeted it.  You don't have much time left until you get to the city, so you'll live."  The armor loudly demanded at Nihility, as he gave a gesture and the two large imps that were holding him began to sing the eerie song. Most of the horses began fall asleep, as the front two wagons bolted off in the distance before the spell could affect them.  The various friendly imps followed wagons out, some stopping next to Scarlet all bickering about 'Dantes' and what they should do to form an incoherent mess.

"Tsk, Well you can keep those shipments.  I'll be generous, you should understand the difference in our power." The armor uttered in a sinister and demanding tone, as he waited for a response from Nihility.  Various Toufei landed next to Nihility, carrying the head of the one large imp that was in the distance landing next to Nihilty with their feathers now perked up, while the armor now grew viability more irritated its red eyes beginning to glow brighter and darker in response to them.

During the exchange, Allison and Aesop approached from one of the other wagons, the two standing next to one of the wagons with their various weapons drawn both visibility shaken and afraid.

"He's just trying to stall for time!  There's too many imps, once the rest are not distracted by the vials...." Aesop quickly called out.  Suddenly one of the sleeping horses let out a crazed scream, as the horse kicked Aesop in the head with one of his hooves. Aesop slammed into the ground clutching his head from the impact, still somehow moving and conscious from the blow, while one of the fat imps flew into view covered in a mystifying glow and snickering to itself with his finger pointed towards the horse.

"Fools gold!"  Allison yelled in rage, as she fired a single arrow into the air at the snickering imp that soon multiplied and flew towards the fat imp. It quickly and violently flapped its wings to dart out of the way as one of the arrows collided into its left wing, as the imp let out a loud pained scream, but still manged to barely stay airborne.

Amira

Amira's strike did no meet the flesh she wanted. Instead, the sound of metal with metal echoed through her ears. Despite all her momentum, her charge was stopped with ease as the demon bashed his shield on to her. A sizzling pain on her chest began.

Amira's fall was only softened by Haita who caught her. The pain grew. But Amira did not case, again she eyed the demon on the air and prep- PAIN BURNING

The pain was too much, it kept on growing and growing. As if every time she attempted to shove the pain away, it came back with a vengeance. She grasped on to her chest tightly. IT BURNS

"Deny"

Haita casts a spell and the pain was gone. Amira, who was on her knees grasping at her chest, looked intently to her hand. This was a curse. Had she continued to resist without Haita's aid, she would have died.

"He's just trying to stall for time! There's too many imps, once the rest are not distracted by the vials...."

She heard Aesop's voice as she quickly turned her attention. She saw it. Another fat imp "Haita!"

Haita lifted Amira "Acceleration!" and threw her in the Imp's direction. It was not a fast throw, it was impossible to do such a feat, but it was strong enough to send her up towards the Imp was busy dealing with arrows. Her sword was ready, she was not going to kill the imp, no, the imp was her ticket to getting to the other demon. As Amira moved close to the imp Haita whispered "Deny." towards the curse in the imp's chest.

Slane Ruins
- Vayu -

Vayu quietly cursed when things became even more chaotic. At least the flames had been extinguished. In addition, Amira quickly recovered from her attack on the Imp leader and moved in to attack again.

“As soon as those Imps stop singing, get the horse back up and get those caravans out of here,” Vayu instructed Allison and Aesop. Behind him, he could hear Scarlet arriving and he gestured to the singing Imps, hoping she would catch on that they needed to stop them from continuously inflicting their spell.

So for now he could focus on the Imps that seem to be powering up the Imp leader. Cleo and his Nekomata had incapacitated some. However, that didn’t have the desired effect.

“Zhen, use Wing Buffet on the unmoving Imps,” he called out and jumped over the thrown-over caravan. He drew his ninjato. There was clearly one way to stop the pain of the Imps and thus stop them from powering up the Imp leader.

Just after the spell of Zhen hit, he decapitated the first Imp he reached and then moved on to the next.

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Nihility|Shoggoth
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Within a short span of time, Nihility's plan seemed to be falling apart, but out that chaos one important factor was brought to light. The imps Cleo was able to suppress triggered the demonic mark placed upon those imps thus powering up Dantès. This cancelled any attempt on Nihility's part of thinking on immobilizing the imps with the otherworldly tentacles. She had to quickly come up with another tactic and once again the chaos presented her with the answer.

Shoggoth's wandering eye picked up on something that the little Assassin accomplished. The imp that Allison shot her arrows at in response to it having triggered the horse from accidentally attack Aesop had its death brand removed by Amira's interference.

Sending this information over to Nihility, gave the Vanguard some hope and come up with a new plan of action which she transmitted over to her partner.


Shoggoth removed herself from the caravan that she had dowsed the flames from and returned to the one hosting the decoy vials.

Shifting her body once again and this time into a more spread out form, Shoggoth pounced up and engulfed the imps close to the caravan and those engrossed in picking up the vials. From the outside, it would appear as if the swamp-thing consumed the demons and the vial, but those inside would be able to move, albeit extremely sluggishly. They would have the feeling of being caught inside quick sand and every movement would be painstakingly slow. As not to kill them in this process, Shoggoth shifted her thick murky insides to give all the imps breathing space by creating pockets of air around their heads. By doing so, the imps would also be able to see the vials that had been moved out of their reach but still in their line of sight.

Spoiler:

The main purpose of trapping them into such a state was to avoid killing them and also give Shoggoth the time needed to start consuming the maga channelling brands. During this short amount of time from the first appearance of the Imps and the battles that followed, Nihility had analysed the situation and come up with how the maga channelling worked that empowered the Armoured Demon. As long as the imps did not disobey a direct command, the dormant mark would not get triggered. Showing the vials to the imps inside the Shoggoth's body and giving them breathing space, would allow them to continue to focus on their task of collecting the vials instead of attempting to save themselves or push to get out of Shoggoth's Goo terrain. Secondly, if the mark doesn't get triggered, then that could potentially mean that the imps have not abandoned their main objective and Dantès has no need to be alarmed. Initially he can not see what is going inside Shoggoth's terrain of Goo but the mark not triggering might mean to him that his imps are following his command of the vial collection. Though that would also mean that when Shoggoth would be successful in consuming the Demonic Brands on those imps inside, he would still not be alerted of this treachery till the point when Shoggoth releases them outside, which she would eventually need to do lest, too much of the poison in her body seeps into the imps, causing them to suffer too much to the point where they start worrying about their well-being and abandon their prime objective.

It is a race between life and death. Nihility only hoped that the imps would be able to hold on and survive this ordeal. If she could have a hand in saving more imps and make them deflect from their oppressor, like she managed to do with the Imp following Fane; then they just might be able to switch the tide of battle by having more strength in numbers. Also, these imps had been under the ruling of the tyrant Dantès longer and closer to him, so there is a chance that they might know of its weaknesses as well.



Aesop was attempting to reveal what Dantès was after, but that was before he got silenced by the imp controlling the horse next to him. This would make Nihility think that the request for food was not a sincere one.

"I'm sorry, we cannot give what is not available to us. Rations are something we calculate precisely. Unfortunately we had to lighten our load and drop a lot of items back in the ruins while making our escape. What's left might be a few bottles of water that wouldn't even last the trip back home. We decided to starve and rush back to the city. The Vials were the only valuable commodity that we kept, alas now that too has been lost to us by your imps."



Suddenly from Shoggoth's massive body, several tentacles shot out and latched onto Nihility.

"Huh!?" she exclaimed loudly while acting surprised, and in the next second, the vanguard was engulfed into the mass that was her demon partner.


Nihility was in a space where the imps and herself were visible to each other. She then confronted them with her voice.

"Listen up demons. If you want to live, then continue struggling to get to those vials that you have been ordered to collect."

Fearing that there might be a slight possibility for the imps having a telepathic connection to their master Dantès, Nihility didn't give out the part of Shoggoth healing them of their demonic branding.

"If you can get to the vials in time and push yourselves out of this place, then you might come out of this ordeal alive and well. You would have proved yourselves worthy and so my friends outside might be wiling to cure you and rid all of you from Dantès's hold over your life."

Nihility smiled at the poor demons, "Just remember to focus on getting to the vials and nothing else. Whomever comes out alive, will be rewarded."


Shoggoth transferred Nihility to the outside once the vanguard woman was done addressing the imps.


Looking around the field, there were still a number of imps left. Shoggoth would not be able to move in her current state while she was also focussing on converting the demonic brand from all the imps she had taken inside. If the other imps attacked, Shoggoth might have a harder time in capturing them or letting Gluttony run efficiently if she had to go on the defensive.


"The vials and the imps are fine. They're being protected by my partner from other hostile individuals. You need not worry, they are busy in the acquisition of the vials."


Thinking that this would hold some imps from attacking others while shielding them and slowing the process would also decrease the number of imps The Armoured Demon could use to power himself up. The only issue was how many more imps could Shoggoth entertain inside of herself before it was too much. She could also just focus on consuming whole imps instead of eating only the brand on them if the excess of imps become too much to handle. Consuming the imps whole would ultimately rejuvenate her, and theoretically, she could blind the newer wave of imps from the initial few so if they get consumed while aiming to get to the vials, the older blinded ones won't have their morale dropped, by not being able to witness the death of their comrades.