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Tormented Blade "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Vince!" A handful of young boys and girls swarmed into the chamber in which Vince slept, startling him. He had been sleeping, dreaming of things lost and of things to come. Slowly, Vince opened his eyes. "Thank you for the food," one of the girls said as she held a small piece of bread in her hands. It was morning, but one couldn't have guessed it from the lighting. Since they now lived in a cave, their whole world was in perpetual darkness. Vince had forgotten his previous promise to light torches. He had been so tired that day that he just lay down on a rock and fell asleep. Stephanie had to light up the whole cave herself by imbuing stones with Holy magic to make them glow. Luckily, Vince was able to redeem himself by raiding food from Turin yesterday. It had been a long trip yesterday. He and Robert had set out at about noon and, thanks to some Demonic pursuers forcing them on a detour, returned late in the evening. For the second night in a row, he collapsed on the same rock and fell asleep. He vaguely remembered hearing someone calling the chamber "Vince's room" and the rock "Vince's bed" in his sleep. Vince's stomach rumbled. He vividly remembered he hadn't eaten in a while. Slowly, he climbed to his feet and entered the tunnels that connected the various chambers of Paetre. It was a pretty drab place, but Alice had managed to motivate the kids into attempting to decorate the place. Somehow, Alice had decided on a pre-historic theme, and the walls were covered with primitive paintings that Vince was sure had not been there the day before. Perhaps someday in the future, if archaeologists rediscover this cave, they would almost think that this had been a caveman dwelling, except for the fact that most of the drawings were unrealistic--most had things like dinosaurs or machines or other things that cavemen could not possibly know about. "Hey, Vince! Thanks for bringing us the food!" cried a familiar voice. A girl with light brown hair ran toward him, carrying a small bundle in her arms. "Good morning to you too, Mindy," Vince replied cheerfully. "I almost starved," Mindy replied with a smile. "Now, I can eat!" With that, she ran off. "What a funny little girl," Vince thought. At last, Vince arrived in a rather large chamber of the cave. Stephanie was here, closing up supply boxes and re-arranging them. There was a white flame sitting in a small gap in the cave wall, roughly the size of a TV. A small pot hung from a rack that had been set up over the flame. "Good morning, Steph," Vince greeted. At that moment, he noticed that there was nothing sustaining the white flame. It simply floated there, burning nothing. "Oh, Vince, you're awake," Stephanie replied. "Thank you so much for getting that food. It's such a relief." "Dear Heavens, everyone's thanking me today," Vince said with an arrogant grin. "Can't a guy get some breakfast without being swarmed with gratitude?" "You mean lunch," Stephanie laughed as she tossed him a loaf of bread. "You slept so long last night. I almost wondered if you would ever wake up." "Thanks," Vince said, taking a giant bite out of the bread. "Although, something's weird," Stephanie quietly spoke. Vince detected a hint of confusion in her voice. "There's less food in here than I thought there would be. Did I hand out too much to the kids?" "Doof woffy ava dit," Vince said, his mouth so full of bread that not even he was sure of what he just said. After chewing a bit more and swallowing, he tried again. "Don't worry about it, I--" "Dark Fiend of Fire," came a voice from outside the cave. The megaphone that she used distorted her voice, but Vince recognized it easily. Vince cursed as he dropped his bread and made his way for the boxes. Immediately, he pulled open a box of clothing and started throwing the clothing out. "Vince, what are you doing?" Stephanie cried frantically. "There's no way they could have followed us," Vince said as he pulled out more clothing. "There must be a tracking device or something." Vince glanced back up at Stephanie and noticed that his bread was missing from the table. From the corner of his eye, he briefly saw a girl disappear into the darkness of a tunnel. Deciding he had more important things to do, Vince resumed tossing clothes out of the box until it was empty. Something caught his eye. In the very corner of the box was a tiny metal device, no bigger than a fingertip. Roaring with fury, he crushed the device under thumb. After a few minutes of silence, Stephanie finally spoke again. "Vince? Are you all right?" "Damn, them," Vince replied, barely containing his anger. "After the things that they did in Turin, they dare come here to Paetre?" Without another word, he stormed out of the makeshift kitchen. Afraid to speak, Stephanie followed. "What do you want?" Robert shouted. When he had heard the Priestess's call, he had run out to the cave entrance as fast as he could, and what he saw scared the living daylights out of him. The cave entrance was surrounded by hundreds--no, thousands--of Alliatus Paladins, Mystics, and Priests. There were so many of them that most of them had to stand in the lake waters. They formed a half-circle against the cave wall, leaving an open field about 200 feet in radius. A Priestess and a masked man stood in the edge of the clearing. "The supplies you took yesterday," the Priestess shouted, this time not using her megaphone. "We want them back." "The children of Pedos need the food," Robert shouted back. "You have plenty of food. We have none." "It doesn't matter," the Priestess replied. "The people of Turin need that food, too, and that food belongs to us. You have no right to steal it from us." "Without food, our children will starve," Robert argued. "That still doesn't make stealing right," the Priestess said. "If you were truly good people, you should have joined our encampment and surrendered the Dark Fiend to us." "That Dark Fiend is my friend," Robert said, raising his voice. "Will you return that food?" the Priestess asked. "I can't," Robert roared back. "If you do not, we'll have no choice but to arrest you and take the food back by force," the Priestess warned. "Then, come," Robert invited. Lowering his voice to a sadistic whisper, he added, "Come, and I will kill you all." "You have been warned," the Priestess cried. Turning to the warriors of Alliatus, she gave a command. "Attack!" The first row of Paladins drew their swords and gave their battle cries, filling the air with the frenzy of combat. They charged, staggering their lines to avoid collision as they closed in on the cave entrance. Immediately, Robert pulled two hand-held automatic pistols from behind his back, braced himself against a small rock, and fired at the oncoming soldiers. Some of the Paladins saw what was happening and were able to pull away from the incoming bullets. Most of the Paladins, however, took hits. Many of them fell to the floor, bleeding to death. With the first wave dispersed, Robert turned his firepower on the Priestess. Unfortunately, she waved her silver staff, and a barrier formed in front of her, shielding her from the gunfire. "Ranged units!" she called out. Hundreds of mystics weaved through from the crowd into the front lines, each one pulling out a firearm. Once in the clearing, the fell onto their bellies and readied their guns from a protected position. Robert cursed and dove behind the same rock he had used before, only this time he was using it as a shield. Some time later, the gunfire stopped. Cautiously, Robert peeked over the top of the boulder. To his horror, he saw a Mystic kneeling in the sand with a rocket launcher over his shoulder. Leaving a cloud of smoke behind it, the rocket blasted down the tube and across the clearing. Robert cursed and fired at the projectile, but to no avail. The rocket's outer shell was too tough to pierce with his pistols. He heard a roar from behind him, and suddenly, something red dashed down the tunnel, caught the rocket in its hands, and detonated it, all the while containing the explosion in its grasp. "The Dark Fiend!" the Priestess cried. "All units, engage the Dark Fiend." The sword-wielding Paladins who had dispersed before rushed back into battle, encircling the Inferno Fiend. Four of them attacked, three wielding swords and one wielding a spear. They came at him from each of the four corners, attacking him from all sides. The spearman, who attacked from the front, arrived first. Vince kicked his spear downward so that the tip embedded itself in the sand right at his feet. Then, grabbing the spear with his left hand, he leapt into the air, using the former spearman as a kick board. By the time the three swordsmen arrived, Vince was already high in the air, upside down, the spear perfectly vertical just underneath his hands. Completing his back flip, Vince landed on top of one of the swordsmen. The remaining two swordsmen quickly turned around and charged at the Inferno Fiend while another swordsman joined the battle and attacked him from behind. Vince simply parried the swordsman to his front left with his left gauntlet and grabbed the arm of the Paladin behind him, pulling him forward so that his blade would impale the shoulder of the Paladin to his right. He then gave a mighty kick to the Paladin to his left, sending him up into the air. Using the rest of his momentum, he flipped over the other Paladin's arm, twisting it as he went. This also twisted the blade on the third Paladin's shoulder, making him scream in pain. Crushing the second Paladin's arm, Vince forced him to release his blade. Then, he kicked the third Paladin, sending him flying back into the crowd. Letting his momentum pull him to the side, Vince pulled the second Paladin up into the air and positioned him so that the first Paladin landed on top of him. He then tossed the stack of Paladins aside. "Is that all?" Vince taunted. The remaining Paladins looked at one another and growled. Then, seven of them rushed in to attack him. "Robert, what's going on?" Stephanie asked. She had been unable to keep up with the Dark Fiend's agility, and thus, had only just arrived. "It's the Alliatus from Turin," Robert answered. "When they saw that Vince was a Dark Fiend, they refused to let us have food, so we stole it instead. We didn't want to, but they just didn't seem interested in resolving things peacefully." "All right," Stephanie said with a sigh. "I'll go help Vince. You defend the cave entrance." With that, she rushed off to the beach. Two Mystics with assault rifles saw her and moved to stop her. However, before they could even fire, Stephanie swung the blade end of her staff, beheading one of them. Robert provided cover fire and took out the other. Stephanie stopped briefly, gave Robert a thumbs-up, and continued her sprint to the Inferno Fiend. By this point, the Paladins were attacking Vince continuously. As soon as he defeated one, another Paladin would take his place. At any given point, he'd be battling upwards of ten Paladins, and yet, none of them could scratch Vince. Finally, Vince gave a shout, and a shockwave of flame burst from his body, throwing all of the Paladins to the floor and singing their armor. One of the Paladins tried to climb to his feet and ready his sword, but Stephanie impaled her staff through his back and knocked him back down. "Enough!" the Priestess cried in rage. "You incompetent fools, you're useless. Maybe Sikton and I should just take down these minions of Shadow ourselves." With that, the Priestess and the masked man walked to the center of the clearing to meet with Vince and Stephanie. "Stand back!" the Priestess cried to the surrounding Alliatus warriors. "The last thing we need is for someone to get in the way." She turned to the masked man. "Sikton, let's take care of them the easy way, all right?" "Shouldn't be a problem, Klaire," the masked man replied as he put his hands to his forehead. Just like yesterday, Vince immediately felt the weight of the world pressing against his limbs. Something forced his knees to bend, and Vince felt himself fall into a kneeling position. From the corner of his eye, he saw Stephanie do the same. "Vince," she screamed. "What is this?" "He's trying to control our bodies," Vince answered. "Focus!" With a roar, he sent flames in all directions and forced off the masked man's magic. "Stephanie, focus," Vince shouted. "You can beat this. Just focus!" The Inferno Fiend was suddenly knocked off balance by a Holy energy shot from the Priestess's staff. The Priestess prepared to fire another Holy shot, but Vince quickly recovered and leapt clear of the blast. He formed a fireball in his hand. "I wouldn't throw that if I were you," the Priestess said. She pointed at Stephanie. "You do remember how we defeated you last time, right?" Vince turned and saw that Stephanie was holding the blade end of her staff to her own neck. "Stephanie!" he cried. Stephanie screamed. Suddenly, her body glowed a bright white. It was so bright that Vince had to cover his eyes. When the light faded, Stephanie wore ethereal angel wings on her back. She suddenly dashed toward the Priestess, using her wings to propel her. She swung her staff, but the Priestess simply leapt gracefully out of the way and retreated back to the masked man. "They are strong," she said. "Yes," the masked man replied. "The weak one is by the cave. I cannot reach him from here. It doesn't matter. We don't need mind control to defeat them." "You take the Dark Fiend," the Priestess said. "I'll handle the girl." "Yes, Klaire," the masked man answered. With that, the masked man drew several knives from his belt for a total of three knives in each hand. Armed, he charged straight for the Inferno Fiend. The Priestess fired a Holy energy shot at Stephanie. However, Stephanie simply waved her staff and absorbed it, using it to strengthen the white aura around her body. In response, Stephanie flew toward the Priestess and brought her staff down. The Priestess, however, parried the attack with her staff. "You know the magic arts of Alliatus," the Priestess said. "Why do you fight for the Dark Fiend?" "He's my friend," Stephanie replied. "Unlike you, I'm not blinded by propaganda. I know Vince is a good person." "Would a good person steal?" the Priestess asked. "He had no choice," Stephanie answered. "We would have starved." "You're just as corrupt as any of them," the Priestess responded. "Laws are laws, and they must be enforced. To allow an exception would be to allow chaos and disorder." With a swing of her staff, she was able to push Stephanie away several yards. "Now, if this will be a battle of Alliatus magic, then I suppose I should stop holding back." The Priestess's body glowed until her aura matched Stephanie's. Then, angel wings sprouted from her back. "You will realize how weak you are." Suddenly, the Priestess was directly in front of Stephanie. "What?" Stephanie gasped. She felt a powerful force hit her in the gut, causing her to double over. Before she had time to even consider straightening herself out, the Priestess was below her. The Priestess's staff came smashing into her face. Stephanie felt the force of the attack send her high into the air. She felt a breeze from below her, and suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around her neck. "Stephanie!" Vince cried out. The Priestess, hovering about a hundred feet in the air, had Stephanie in a stranglehold. "Don't let their battle distract you," the masked man said. He released all six knives and sent them flying at Vince. If they had been flying in unison, he would have easily dodged them. However, they all moved along different trajectories at different speeds. Vince could not figure out how they had been thrown, nor how it was possible to dodge them all. In desperation, he simply dove far to the right. Several knives flew harmlessly by him, but one embedded itself into his thigh. "Ah, Vesuih, good choice," the masked man said. Vince reached to pull the knife from his leg, but suddenly, it wasn't there. He simply couldn't see it anymore. In fact, he couldn't see anything. He seemed to exist in a field of whiteness. He just floated there. There was no up, no down, no forward, no backward. There was just emptiness and whiteness. Stephanie appeared in front of him. "Vince," she called out to him. "Stephanie, where--" Before he could finish his query, Stephanie flew toward him and slashed across his chest with the blade end of her staff. "What?" Vince gasped. It was impossible for several reasons. First of all, Stephanie would never attack him. Second of all, she had sliced through his armor like butter. There should have been more resistance. Third of all, although there was a huge gash across his chest, no blood flowed. "Stephanie, what's going on?" Vince asked. "She's right," Stephanie answered. "Klaire's right. It doesn't matter if you're my friend. You're a Dark Fiend, and therefore, you must die." "Stephanie, this isn't like you," Vince pleaded. "What did they do to you?" "They enlightened me!" Stephanie cried out in euphoria. With that, she sped toward Vince again with her bladed staff. This time, Vince leapt out of the way and ended up only with a wound on his left leg. "This," Vince said, "this isn't be Stephanie." Gathering flames in his hand, he turned to face the image of Stephanie with a new resolve. "What do you mean?" she said, as she turned to face her adversary. "I am Stephanie. I have always been, and I always will. You, however, are nothing more than street trash." She came at him. Vince waited. Stephanie arrived. Vince moved to smash the flames in his hand into the tip of her staff. There was a bright red flash, and suddenly, Vince was kneeling on the floor with Stephanie in his arms. Her wings were ruffled and disheveled. Her body was completely limp. Her staff was on the ground next to them, twisted and broken. Vince felt sorrow emanating from her presence. "Vince," she whispered. "I'm sorry." A tear welled up in her eye. A tear welled up in his. "I failed," she said. "I'm sorry." "Stephanie," Vince whispered back. That's when he saw it. There was a red stain in her shirt on the left side of her belly. Vince's eyes widened. His heartbeat sped up as panic set into his mind. Slowly, he peeled Stephanie's blouse aside to uncover the wound. There was a gaping hole in her side, and crimson blood was flowing by the quart. "Stephanie! No!" he gasped. Standing up, he ran down the whiteness, trying to bring Stephanie somewhere. Anywhere. It didn't matter anymore. She was dying. "Stephanie, please hang in there!" Suddenly, he felt a jab in his left side. Now, Stephanie was standing in front of him, facing him, carrying a dagger in her right hand. She looked as sinister as she had before. Her wound was no longer there. Instead, it was in Vince's belly. "What?!?" Vince cried. "Not you again." "'Me again?'" Stephanie asked. "I'm hurt." Suddenly, Vince was lying on his back. Stephanie stood above him. "Don't treat me like you don't know me," she said with a sly smile on her face. "I'm your lover, of course." With that, she plunged the blade end of her staff through Vince's belly, pinning him to the floor. "STEPHANIE!!!" Vince yelled at the top of his lungs. He placed his hands on the head of the staff. Channeling flames through his body, Vince quickly set the staff aflame, melting it rapidly. He pulled himself up through the staff, feeling the metal--both solid and molten--sliding through his belly. He climbed to his feet and threw a punch at Stephanie, but suddenly, she wasn't there. Instead, Tina appeared. Vince froze. This was most certainly an illusion, like the Stephanie he had seen before. But no matter how clearly he knew that this was his enemy, he simply could not bring his body to attack the image of Tina. Laughing maniacally, she ran at Vince with a knife in her hand. Vince put his arms up to block, but instead, she phased right through him, and Vince felt the cut somewhere on his body. Alice appeared to the right of him and lunged. Like Tina before her, she phased right through him and left him a fresh bleeding wound. Then, Mindy appeared on his left and lunged through him. Dripping sweat and panting heavily, Vince slowly straightened himself after all the repeated attacks. "These illusions," he said to himself. "I have to start fighting back." Chrissy appeared in front of him and attacked. Vince blasted her with a beam of flame. However, Chrissy phased through this attack as well, then proceeded to, again, phase through Vince and leave him with a wound on his back. "I should have expected that," Vince said to himself. "If I couldn't block before, what makes me think I can attack." Another image, this time of Robert, appeared and attacked, momentarily disrupting Vince's thoughts. "But these blade wounds certainly aren't illusions," he continued. "Something's attacking me. Something real. If only I could find what." Another knife cut, this time from a Stephanie image, cut into his thigh. "Wait, of course!" Vince exclaimed to himself. "The masked man hit me in the thigh with a knife just before the illusions started." He reached for his left thigh. "But there's no knife there," he continued. "Unless... Unless that's just an illusion, too!" Vince reached for the wound on his thigh and grabbed at what he remembered to be the knife the masked man had thrown at him. An image of Alice appeared and lunged through him, momentarily knocking him off balance. But Vince held on. Gripping the air around his left thigh tightly, he pulled on nothing. It couldn't have been nothing, though, because when he did, he felt a sharp pain in his leg and a biting pain in his head. Finally, the knife was out. Vince still could neither see it nor feel it, but he knew it was there. Yet, he was still in the illusionary world. He was still in the whiteness. Tina appeared in front of him with a knife in her hand. She lunged, but this time, Vince felt something else. Whirling around, he threw the emptiness in his left hand--the knife that he had pulled--at the nothingness behind him. A flash of light. The wind was blowing. Vince stood in the middle of a large silver temple. There was an opening at the top, and the sun sent down a column of light. On the other side of the light stood Tina, glowing with dark energy. She formed a Shadowsaber in her hands and leapt at him, screaming his name. Another flash of light. Vince lay in bed in a palace of gold and silver. Chrissy Wolfreid lay beside him. Smiling, she spoke his name. Flash. Vince was in a forest. A great beast spirit stood in front of him, its ghostly proboscis impaled through Stephanie's chest, draining away her life. She collapsed into his arms. No breath. No pulse. In utter despair, Vince roared her name. Flash. Vince was in a dark tunnel, kneeling on the ground. He had been savagely beaten, and fresh blood flowed like water down a river. Stephanie stood in front of him, her staff held in combat stance. Motarius stood behind her. "The Dark Fiend cannot be trusted," he said. "Destroy him." Stephanie took a step forward, saying his name. Flash. Vince stood in a world of red. Seven knives floated in the air in front of him. One of them he recognized immediately. It was the blade that the masked man had embedded in his thigh, the one he had just removed. One of them he had never seen before. It was ornate and elaborately engraved. The knife shot forward, plunged into his chest, and sank into his body. Vince's dragon armor melded with his hide and became scaly flesh. His gauntlets became clawed hands. He felt his muscles inflate, tripling the mass of his body. His teeth lengthened and sharpened. Somewhere, someone whispered a name. Flash. Chrissy stood in front of him. A hole appeared in the middle of her chest, splattering blood in all directions. She fell to the ground, and slowly, her body disintegrated, all the while crying his name. Flash. Vince stood atop a high building. He watched as Tina fell off the edge, falling hundreds of feet, crying his name. There came one last flash of light, and Vince stood on the beach, again, defending Paetre. In front of him was the masked man. He had taken a sidestep and had his side to Vince now, but there was still a slice across his mask. Slowly, the two halves of the mask slid away, revealing the man's face. Bulging lines ran across his skin, forming jagged networks and webs. "Nerves," the man said, turning to face Vince again. "My psionic powers were so powerful that they my own nerves swelled up. I had hoped that no one but my sister would ever see them." "Psionic, huh?" Vince asked. "So that's how you were able to mind control Robert and show me all those illusions." "Not everything I showed you was an illusion," the psionic replied. He pointed to the right. Vince turned and saw Stephanie lying in the sand, beaten and bruised. The Priestess knelt over her, pressing a knife against her throat. "Stephanie!" Vince shouted. "Don't even try it," the psionic said before Vince could take a step. "The girl is the weak one this time, utterly defeated and lying unconscious. If Klaire even thinks she's in danger, she'll slit the girl's throat. You want to save her? Surrender." "You!" Vince growled at the psionic. "Such despicable tactics." The psionic laughed. "All right, I'll give you a few options, then," the psionic offered. "Your choices are surrender or fight me. If you surrender, both you and the girl will be spared, but you will be locked up for life. If you fight me and get yourself killed, the girl will be spared and pardoned. If you fight me and somehow defeat me, however, the girl dies, and after that, everything else is up in the air." "You!" Vince growled again. "You bastard." The psionic laughed again. "Such difficult choices, huh? Personally, I don't care which one you pick. We WILL win no matter what." "I hate you!" Vince screamed as he charged at the psionic. The psionic laughed a third time while pulling of his gloves, revealing hands that were, like his face, covered with bulging nerves. Yellow energy spilled form his palms and formed into a blade, one in each hand. As Vince arrived, he plunged the blade in his right hand into Vince's forehead and the left blade into his chest. They most certainly were not physical blades, nor did they cut flesh. Instead, they put an excruciating pain into Vince's mind and body. He screamed as the psionic laughed. "Psionic blades!" the psionic cried. "The flesh heals. The mind will be scarred forever!" Painstakingly, Vince gathered flames into his right hand and forced it up to the psionic's face. Only two fingers ever touched, but they burned into the side of the psionic's face. He returned Vince's scream, and both fell to the ground. Slowly, both climbed back to their feet, eyes filled with fury against the other. The Inferno Fiend imbued his arms with flame. The psionic clutched his face with his left hand and lengthened the blade in his right until it was a full three feet long. Before they could continue the fight, however, the Priestess ran between them. "Sikton!" she cried. "Demons! We're under attack!" "What?" the psionic gasped. "Again?" Vince looked around. The Priestess was right. He and the psionic had been so focused on each other that they hadn't even noticed that demons had ambushed them for the second day in a row. All around them, the varied Alliatus forces battled the varied Demon forces. "Stephanie!" Vince cried. Two small demons stood around her, ready to carve her up. Vince sprinted with whatever strength he could find. Arriving, he kicked the first demon, sending him flying over fifty feet in the air. Then, he grabbed the second demon a fraction of a second before its claw reached Stephanie. Vince tore the demon in half and threw the two pieces away. Quickly, he picked up Stephanie and ran. A battle between a Paladin and a bladed demon suddenly slid in front of them. Vince threw a fireball between them, sending them flying in opposite directions, then leapt over his own newly created sand crater. Unfortunately, now he was in the middle of the chaos. Crowds of humans and demons were all around him, so thick he could barely see. "Vince, I've got you covered!" came Robert's voice from the far left. Suddenly, everything from that direction fell over. Vince looked and saw Robert briefly salute him. He had cleared a path. While he had the chance, Vince sprinted down that path as demons, humans, and bullets flew on either side of him. Arriving at the entrance to the cave, Vince passed Stephanie off to Robert. "Take Stephanie and run!" he shouted to his friend. "What about you?" Robert answered. "What about the demons?" "I'll take care of them," Vince said. As Robert ran off, Vince turned around to gaze at the battle on the beach and in the water. He saw that the psionic and the Priestess had been separated. His left hand still clutching his face, the psionic was performing a beautiful sword dance with a single small knife. As he carved up demon after demon, he soon disappeared into the chaos. The Priestess was bravely fending off demons with her staff and her Holy magic. However, a small demon leapt onto her back and wrapped his hands around her face. Blinded, the Priestess flailed randomly, and another small demon leapt onto her chest. It dug its claws in, and the Priestess screamed and fell over. Other small demons, seeing successfully subdued prey, gathered around, and soon, she was buried in demons. Now, it was Vince's turn. A handful of demons began entering the cave in single file. The lead demon leapt toward Vince, brandishing claws. Roaring, Vince covered his entire body in flame. Then, as the demon arrived, he let loose every wisp of flame in his body. The demons were expelled from the cave like buckshot from a shotgun. Then, the cave entrance came crumbling down, burying everything. |