Defenders of Destiny Book One: Conflux

Chapter 31: Duel of Gods

Nilepyt snapped its massive head forward with speed that belied its gargantuan form. Its jaws shut down over the flaming bird's chest just as its talons scraped deep gashes along its underbody. Nilepyt then slammed the Phoenix down into the city below it with such force that a powerful shockwave spread out across the land, crumbling buildings and tossing every terrestrial creature aside for a short distance. With the demons disoriented and dazed the avian army attacked with increased fervor, descending upon them like a plague and ravaging hundreds before they could recover.

The Phoenix jabbed its curved beak into Nilepyt's middle eye and popped it, forcing the serpent to roar in pain, its mouth opening wide and releasing the fiery bird. The Phoenix then rolled onto its feet and took the air with great, thunderous beats of its wings. Nilepyt recovered, now less one eye, and lunged at its rival, its toothed maw gaping wide. The bird slashed its golden talons across the serpent's bony face, doing little more than scrape it, but managed to avoid the clamping jaws. It flew higher but Nilepyt followed, its long body stretching up with it.

When the serpent had extended its body as far as it could before falling, the Phoenix angled its body to the side and fell for a distance before straightening out and flying to the serpent's right side. As Nilepyt's head descended, hoping to bite down on the approaching bird, the Phoenix reached out with its talons and sunk them deeply into the serpent's body. Using the serpent's bulk as an anchor the Phoenix swung its body around the back of Nilepyt's spine and toward its left side. As it did so it threw its legs behind it, still clutching the serpent within its talons, and Nilepyt went with them. The Phoenix opened its talons and threw the snake behind it. The Titan was too far outstretched to gain balance and flew back several hundred feet before coiling together and stopping itself from hitting the ground too hard. As it skidded to a stop it crushed and demolished scores of buildings beneath it, the rubble creating huge clouds of sandy dust. With its body coiled like a spring, Nilepyt waited for the Phoenix to approach as black blood leaked out of the wounds on its body.

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Victoria had lost contact with her companions and was now amongst a group of six Moharan soldiers fending off against three times that number of demons. They had been split up from the rest of the army and the shockwave that had tossed them to the ground had thrown two of their best fighters into a group of three, red-skinned demons that had disposed of them quickly. Gripping her sai tightly, she huddled behind the soldiers, not wanting to get in their way, and found herself incredibly overpowered. The demons surrounding her and the Moharans were large, frightening, and full of rage and power.

One of the Moharans, a jackal wielding a bow, let an arrow fly into the nearest demon's eye and launched a second with blinding speed, popping another eye before the demon could react to the loss of the first. It screamed in fury and charged with abandon, swinging its clawed arms chaotically. The six Moharans leapt aside and Victoria rolled out of the way just in time as the demon charged past, kicking up sand as it did. The jackal finished it off by sinking an arrow through its skull. Victoria was getting up to her feet when she watched in horror as a demon with armour-like plates on its body and two claws like massive scythes cleaved the jackal archer in two. Another Moharan, a lion wielding a huge mace, swung his heavy weapon at the scythe demon and cracked its armour. It smacked away the claws and then cracked the mace over the demon's head. The demon hardly budged from the hit and shoved one claw into the lion's side moments before stabbing the other into its chest. With the lion disposed of, it turned toward Victoria.

Her eyes widened in terror and she glanced about for somewhere to run but she found herself surrounded by demons, all of them steadily getting closer. She couldn't move back and she certainly wasn't about to move forward thus she stood still, trembling as her heart bashed against her ribs incessantly.