More Than Blood, It Goes On

Tibias put his hand on the wall and struggled to his feet. Though he was able to stand he was still tasting blood in his mouth. He had taken two pretty rough hits, one to the jaw and the other to the head, from Mammon's tongue no less. The demon's muscular appendage was a powerful whip and it hit like a freight train. Tibias hadn't even seen it coming.

"Is this the best you can do, Grim Reaper?" Tibias heard the demon prince laughing. He saw Kole blinking in an out of shadows to dodge Mammon's tongue. He tried to move forward and help, but blood was obscuring his vision. He cursed the fact that the blood dripping from the cut on his forehead was covering his good eye. Wiping it away, he caught a glimpse of Kole in his corporeal form. His friend and colleague's body was covered in claw marks and welts. The Grim Reaper had obviously taken quite a few hits during the fight. Mammon was similarly scratched on his arms and chest, but the cuts were shallow. Tibias had only a moment to take this in before Mammon's tongue shot towards him. He felt a rush of cold air as Kole pulled the two of them into the shadows so that they could be safe from the demon's attack.

In the shadows, only Kole could see and hear. There was also a limited air supply. Tibias knew that Kole would resort to pulling someone into the shadows in order to kill them or protect them from certain harm. In this case, it was obviously the latter.

There was silence now and Tibias held his breath. Kole was obviously waiting for opening that would allow them to escape. Or perhaps he was getting reckless and planned to land a deathblow on the demon even if cost him his life. Neither of those options seemed like Kole's ideal strategy, but against a demon lord all typical tactics become defenestrated. They are thrown out the window.

Sooner than he expected, Tibias felt the warm embrace of oxygen. Unfortunately, he was still temporarily blinded by blood. Even more disturbing, he could still hear Mammon laughing. They hadn't gotten away or finished him off. What it god's name had happened? Tibias felt something cold lean against him and realized almost immediately that it was Kole. He felt a few drops of the shadowy man's freezing blood on his back and came to the fearful conclusion that Kole had been cut deeply somehow.

"You're bleeding on me." Tibias said. His fists were lightly clenched. "What's happening?"

"Mammon pulled a fast one on me..." Kole hoarsely replied. "...with an old friend's belongings..."

"What old friend?" Tibias stammered angrily. "You can't mean..."

Tibias rubbed away the blood again so he could see and he beheld exactly what Kole had implied. Mammon's tongue was now manipulating a suit of armor as if it were a light and the demon himself was an angler fish. The golden suit was currently headless and swinging around a large two-handed white blade. Tibias recognized both of these artifacts immediately.

The Magic Nullifying Armor and the Sword of Light... Tibias' brain screamed. ...those were the signature weapons of... of... Matao!

"So that's what happened to them." Tibias said aloud, keeping his more panicked thoughts inside. "That's a real kick in the balls."

Despite his outward calmness, only four words came to Tibias mind at this moment. Those four words were:We are so fucked!!