Chapter 20 - fuck up some fucked up cultists

---Nana’s Perspective---

I levitated in place using the wings I'd summoned. I was high up in the air above the town. The wind was pretty cold on the way up, but maybe it was because of the draft from the ascent. 

I could see all of the blocks in vision from up here without any issue. 

Don't think I've flown this high before. Not sure if I've ever flown without Kiwi at all when I think about it. But I've never had wings to use before either, or at least never had the idea to try make some with magic. 

I felt weird, powerful but.. I started gazing at my hands midway through my thoughts. The black armor shifted around, the huge burning claw looked as if it had a wave go through it like it was liquid. Then I clenched my fist tight. The claw solidified and closed as I did and the black fire intensified. I felt one with the magic power gathered on me. The darkness magic, didn't drain me at all. 

I had wings I flew in place with, huge arm extensions looking like dragon arms with claws and all. Spikes sticking out my back. A cloud of ash surrounding me, circulating, that was dark magic waiting to be used. And I still felt like I'd used no mana at all. 

This power, I'm going to eliminate them with this alone. No one else will get hurt. 

I closed my eyes and took a breath. Then opened them as I used detect magic, specifically looking for golems cause it’s likely they have more golem guards at the other sanctum too I suppose.. 

When I used detect magic, red glowing dots appeared in my field of vision where there was what I was trying to sense that was magical, or like an area started to glow, or object. 

in this case, golems, so more dots this time I suppose. 

You could use a similar thing to locate specific locations. 

The better the user gets at using it, or the higher the rank, the more you can filter out and the more specific you can get at locating all things magical. But anything that had magical power in it or was created by it could be located using this spell, if the user is good enough. 

It takes more power the further away it is or if it’s blocked by walls or other things that might be in the way, but given enough power any object will light up and shine so you may see it through anything. Sometimes it's inefficient though if the cost or drain would be to big. But right now I had what felt like unlimited resources. 

There were a few dots lighting up before me in the town, I knew we had some in our bases stationed, just blending in. Like in a wall hidden or a statue so no one would notice. 

Some people had them as guards or helpers in their homes too. Harmless variants that were basically just kitchen-aids. Like the one I made Yuna! That's not a kitchen assistance but it's harmless. I think… 

I suppose I gotta narrow it down. 

“Limit it to golems created with dark magical power..” I mumbled. 

Quite a few lights went out. 

There. 

1 spot glowed in my field of vision, in block 3, the very center of it.

“I don’t know anyone there who knows how to use dark magical power… has to be...” I mumbled to myself, squinting at the location. 

"well, let's do this." I said calm as I readied myself to charge down. 

I flew down quickly towards the glowing area. 

A few birds got scared by my descent as I swooped past them towards the location. 

I landed with a bang, that I chocked the sound of with a trick I tried.. I thought the words "consume sound, consume sound" and somehow, even though I made a damn crater as I had landed at a too high speed to avoid doing so.. It was noiseless.. Hah, darkness magic seems to be a good power to consume things with. Element of the mind indeed, Emin. 

I looked up. 

Nothing. I saw nothing but, it glows. I saw the glow in front of me. 

4 spots, 2 on ground level and 2 further down below the ground. 

They must be here then. 

I suppose it’s a concealment spell on the area. 

It was an alley, going between two roads. 

No entrances to anything, just a shortcut to get from one road to the other since there were a line of buildings that went far. 

Makes sense you’d want some shortcuts to get where you need to faster.

I focused on dispelling any concealment magic. One person walked by looking drunk, it seems he had yet to notice me. Eh. I'll pretend I don't see him. 

The dispel seems to take effect.. 

Sure enough! A part of a building disappeared, dissolved, and an entrance with golems stationed in front of it appeared. Just like before. 

Looked like a small shed in bricks with a door, one golem on each side of the door, armored like the last ones. 

The guy bumped into me and fell down. I looked at him. He just stared at me while I stared back. 

"Wha.." he uttered slurry in his drunk state.

"I.. saw.. nothing.." he said with no trouble all of a sudden, terrified wide open eyes glued at me as he got up. Then he turned around and just walked away very hastily. 

I shook my head. Took a leap up with my wings assisting to make it a high jump. 

I smashed down in front of the golems, creating a shockwave where I smashed down, throwing them backwards.

I stood up, aimed my hand at them and said 

“Devour Magic”. 

They crumbled before me, writhing on the ground as their energy drained from them into my hand forming an orb. 

-They made no sound of course, it’s just, walking magic after all.-

It looked like they disintegrated into ash that flew in a beam towards my hand sort of. It felt pleasant to see somehow, like seeing sand pour down an hourglass as you turn it. 

When there were only the armor left, I threw the orb i’d gathered at the door, destroying it in a blast that disintegrated it in an explosion. 

I flew down the stairs at full speed. But it was as if my thoughts were on super speed too while the world moved in slowmotion. 

I saw the glow down here from upstairs so I assume it's the same arrangement as the last place. 

I heard a commotion down there as I flew down, they must've heard the door blow. 

From the moment I blew the door up to the moment I arrived downstairs only took maximum a whole second, but as I flew down I realised… 

fuck, there might be hostages!

I flew through the door, holding my wings in front of me using the energy they were made of as a disintegration forcefield. It created a big hole in the door with ease, then I hardened and shot my wings out into a golem each that were by the side of the door I'd just passed through.

I'd seen them from above with my detection spell earlier, the glow I had seen underground. 

What now. 

I looked ahead, an altar, like in the other sanctum.

Almost the same layout, differing a bit in the paintings but they depict basically the same thing. 

There were 8 people in robes ahead, they were turning around as I went through the door, yelling things. 

"what was that noise?" 

"is it the military?" 

"what?!" 

Among other things. 

I focused… 

"Harm only the cultists, harm only the cultists, harm only the cultists." 

I mumbled over and over as I aimed both my hands at the cultists. 

I shot out the claws from my hands, towards their heads.

They detached from the black armor and flew towards them at an insane speed. It felt weird controlling 10 razor-sharp.. Well, basically blades, that flew through the air. 

They hit the cultists, their heads were ripped apart, creating explosions of blood and brain substance as the claws made out of darkness power sliced them open and pierced into the glowing wall painting behind, then they returned just as fast and reattached to my hand, slicing the cultists one more time on the way back.

Thought I'd cut them up some more. I wanted their damn blood to flow. It was a pleasant feeling just brutally murdering these fuckers. 

I got them.. 

They only had enough time to spot me and scream out in fear before getting their heads ripped apart, some of them kept screaming a second as their bodies fell to the ground.

Two had their heads cut clean off and they seemed to stay alive a few seconds after decapitation before the light went out. 

Damn, what a mess.. 

Brain substance does not look pretty. But it felt good to know it belonged to those disgusting fuckers. 

Yeah this was effective. From upstairs, it couldn't have taken many seconds to force my way inside and kill them all. 

Right, check for civilians.

I levitated over towards the altar. 

There were cages, 3 of them. 

1 contained a body that looked like it had been tortured, dead since a few days ago by the looks of it. 

No fingernails, no eyelids, no nose left, no lips or ears.. 

Broken knees and elbows.. 

And I suppose the cause of death eventually was the gut being sliced open.. Bleeding out. 

What the hell. 

I should've kept one alive...

There were halflings in the other cages, they looked terrified, 

1 catgirl, 1 hawkman and 1 hawkgirl. 

"Oh god, how long have you been here?" I said, but it came out like that dark echo with a light whisper.

"please, Daimon, don't hurt us." 

"we'll do what you want" 

"spare us whatever you are".. 

Right.. 

I probably looked like a demon.. 

Daimon? 

Isn’t that.. 

Nevermind. 

"Wait, I'm here to save you,” I said as I was about to reach for the lock. Wait, why am I reaching? And waait. I stopped. 

“Hold on.. I sense more of them." I said and turned around. 

Did I miss something? I'm sure I didn't.. 

To the sides, the glowing paintings on each side of the entrance opened up and out poured...

Demonic humans, like, humans infused with demons.. 

Or turned half demon somehow. 

I’m not sure how that’s possible. It shouldn't be possible. 

Pff, talk about hypocrisy calling us halfling filth I thought for a moment. Trying to splice yourself with demons.

There were 20 of them in total. 

"stay put, I'll make a barrier around you" I focused and created a barrier that should withstand whatever they could throw at us using dark magical power and disintegrated their shackles and cages in the process. Hostages were safe. I think. 

“Don’t move outside of it, i’ll handle them.” I said in a serious voice to the prisoners. 

They just nodded, looking terrified as they huddled together. 

The half demons looked armed. 

Some had swords, axes or blunt weapons. A few had them surgically fixated into their limbs. 

Others looked ready to throw spells. 

I sensed dark magic emitting from them. 

"bring it on then you weaklings." I said calmly and showed them my middle… claw I suppose… And motioned with my other arm to bring it with a waving motion. 

14 of them charged towards me and 6 of them started chanting, charging up spells. 

I swung my right hand detaching my arm extension sending it swinging at the front row that now charged me, cleaving them in 5 pieces with my claws, downing 4 of them in a fountain of blood and insides pouring out. 

3 of them slipped and fell in their comrades' guts and blood. A few of them were sort of roaring instead of doing human sounds.. I guess a few were a bit more demon. 

The backrow sent dark energy projectiles at me, I turned around blocking it with the spiked back armor that had formed earlier, which just easily absorbed the energy. 

I then shot out the spikes at them, piercing 7 of them, tearing a few limbs of as they fell screaming in agony to the floor right into their comrades' blood, entrails and.. Well, a pile of gore had started to form. 

I swung my right arm again, cleaving yet another few of them in 5 pieces. 

I turned around again then sliced the ones that had fallen as I drew back my arm along the floor back and reattached it. Leaving huge clawmarks in the ground. Blood found its way into the tracks that was the clawmarks, it looked quite soothing somehow. 

There was a huge gore pool in front of me. 4 of them left chanting something. 

I aimed my arms at them, sending out my arm extensions in full speed, grasping for their throats, decapitating two of them, then swung the claws at the remaining two. 

Guts, entrails, blood, insides, gore.. 

Everywhere. Two alive in total left, one on the ground before me had miraculously survived. Panting on his back, not long for the world. 

One of them had been unharmed, he sat over in the corner, trembling, chanting a barrier spell over and over.. 

I levitated over towards him. On my way to him I slowly split the, almost dead, survivor on the ground in half with a claw that I controlled from head to crotch, starting from the last mentioned part. My black armor was all over the place but I could still control every part of it quite well. 

I say quite well, but, i could control it as if it were my own body. 

"who sent you" I said with my demonic voice echoing around him. Then I smiled at him. 

He screamed. 

"please, I don't… I can't.. She told us you were just a peacekeeper…" he stuttered. 

I repeated 

"who sent you" as I closed in. I dragged my claws around among the corpses and flicked some blood over at him with them. 

Then my extensions attached back on to me, the flames on me grew and my eyes lighted up even more, now burning sort of. 

Turning purple instead.

He grabbed a knife from a pocket inside the robe and cut his throat with it. It turned into a fountain of blood spraying out, figuratively. Well, there was a fountain-like spray of blood with a ton of pressure. So maybe literally… Hum. Well, I don't have many seconds before he's gone. 

He passed out. 

I focused on reversing it, aiming my hand at him, pouring magical power from my body to restore it, converting it to light magic as I sent it forth. 

The blood sort of poured back into him and the wound healed up. 

He woke up with a big surprised breath. 

I then pulled the knife away from him with telekinesis and threw it in the head of one of the guys writhing in pain on the floor. Oh, they weren't all dead I guess. No matter, they were all dying at least. 

Just a disadvantage for them if they're sturdy enough to be able to suffer this long. 

"who sent you" I was standing in front of him now.

 

I lifted him up with my clawed arm, breaking his barrier like it was nothing as I reached for him. 

I stared at him waiting for a response. 

"wh-wha-what are y-you?!" he stuttered, yelling, sounding terrified.

“Who is.. She?” I said calmly. 

We were in the corner of the sanctum, just left of the door, or right from the door if you were coming in. 

I’d pinned the guy up towards the corner wall. 

As I waited for a reply, I heard something or someone coming down the stairs. 

I looked to my right and saw Kiwi, with Yuna and Lilith flying in, stopping beside me. 

They gazed at me. 

“Nana.. Are you?” Lilith stuttered and got off Kiwi. 

The flames got smaller as I saw them. 

Yuna looked a bit nauseated from the travel, got off and threw up in the other corner to their left, across the room from me. 

“It’s me,” I said, trying to use my normal voice, but a faint light whisper and a dark echo accompanied it.